The javalinas have been out as well as armadillos, wild pigs and an assortment of shore birds. With four days off each week we get some great time to check out all the locals.
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Category Archives: South
Steak at Canales Café in Tivoli
It is a small town place. As we climbed out of the car our senses were met with the smoky, yummy smell of steaks being prepared on an open/cut-drum grill out back. We enjoyed delicious steaks and a fun evening getting to know our fellow snow bird volunteers a little better. I think we might try that again! The waitress was pretty amazing. She knew how many of every type and size steak that they had in house. She scurried around to cover the entire restaurant and even ran the cash register. It was almost tiring to watch her.
Yikes
The wild cry of a pissed-off bobcat 
was a bit un-nerving even in daylight. The beautifully marked sleek coated cat strode across the road just in front of us like he owned the place. His short curled tail was tipped with bright white. He was in no hurry and seemed unconcerned with us humans standing statue-still wanting to make the encounter last as long as possible. He disappeared into the thicket of live oaks. Encounter over, we thought. Surprise. A loud, wild cry leapt out of the thicket. A half dozen paired howls/screams left no doubt that we had seen a wild animal that many a creature had reason to fear. I was glad it was daylight and that we spend the night inside solid walls.
Whoopers
Whooping Cranes, alligators and armadillos call Aransas home. We have seen them all everyday so far. It is a great place to bike and once we get some trail maintenance done, a fun place to hike. They have nearly all trails closed for some type of maintenance which is a bit of a bummer for visitors. We hope to help remedy that.
I’m back in Texas
It was a great visit with Mom. We cooked a little. We listened to the Christmas banders. We just hung out.
Today we moved to Aransas. We get a couple days to settle in and do all the clearance paperwork required to volunteer at a National Park or Refuge. It’s quite different than what is required at a Texas State Park. We even get finger printed and a background check. We ought to be able to get to work by Thursday.
It looks like there will be 10 or 12 of us in the RV encampment helping out with whatever the local staff decides is most pressing. We met three other couples today.\
We are looking forward to getting started.
Moving on from Sea Rim State Park
We met and enjoyed working with some really great folks here. The staff was considerate and a pleasure to work with. Kudos to Ben, Linda, Russell, Laura and Buddy. We also met some exceptional volunteers. Gary & Denise, Dan & Carol and Jim and Sharon made the time a pleasure. Hopefully we will cross paths again someday soon. Significant progress was made during our stay toward the park’s grand reopening in Mid April. The cabin is ready for exterior paint and the beach area has water and will have electric when the power company arrives to install the wire. The last couple of weeks I spent in the campground instead of a host site. It made enjoying sunrise much easier when you only need to roll over and look out the window.
For now we must move on to honor previous commitments at Aransas National Wildlife but, we’ll be back.
Texas snowmen
Fun and tasty.
A new twist on apple pie
It was delivered in a mason jar 
decorated in festive red and green. I felt a wonderful warm feeling all the way down when I sipped it. It’s a bit moonshine and a bit liqueur. Thank you to our new southeastern Texas friends.
Getting ready to paint
We are puttying nail holes and caulking seams. Our hope is to get the primer on the cabin before we head out. Finishing out the inside of the cabin is months away so we will have to head back through here some day to check it out.
It was all about candy for the kids
Fire trucks, police cars, motorcycles, and the corvette club led the way in the lighted float parade in Port Arthur. It was classic small town with decorated wagons and pickup trucks for clubs, the elementary school, and churches. 
Everyone threw candy and the kids scrambled everywhere. 
I even ended up with a few tootsie rolls. Middle school and high school bands made a showing as did Santa, The Grinch, a Dino Santa and Blue Santa and Mrs. Santa. Not the fanciest display but the locals showed up in great numbers even on this cool, windy evening.