Sea Center Texas

Tuesday some of the Sr. Adults from church went down to Lake Jackson to tour Sea Center Texas. This is a salt-water fish hatchery. It was rather interesting and different from the fresh water hatcheries that I've visited in the past.


First room -- several exhibits -- "touch tanks", an aquarium,
and a gift shop.

These large tanks are spawning tanks -- the fish inside (viewable through small windows) are "tricked" into spawning, even if it is out of season, and the eggs then pass through an opening and end up in a side tank that is open on top so that the eggs can be skimmed off every day. Then the eggs are put into special hatchery tanks to begin their growth into fingerlings. The different types of fish are kept in separate tanks, both inside and outside.

A Purple Martin.

Some of our group viewing the wetlands.

A child touching a spider crab in the "touch tank."

A wetlands resident

We had a guide who explained the entire process to us. One thing we heard was very interesting. He said that fish prefer to eat something that will fill their mouth. Therefore, you should always bait your hook with the size bait that would fit your target fish. A tiny minnow, for instance, would not work for a large mouth fish. I never knew bait size made a difference. Of course, I'm not much of a fisherman! Too boring for me.

Directions for viewing

I posted several items -- scroll down and start with "My Blue Heaven" The cows are the last entry.

There are still cowboys in Texas!

After we left the wildlife refuge traffic came to a halt on the road. We discovered that a small herd of cattle was being moved from one pasture to another and we were sharing the road with them.

Below: These are some of the ranch hands who were involved in moving the herd.

The cows and calves made it safely! The bull was taken in a livestock hauler, however. Perhaps he would not have been as easy to move.

Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge

During our trip to the beach we visited the Anahuac (pronounced Ana-Wac) National Wildlife Refuge which was just a few miles away.

The bird pictured on the sign is a Roseate Spoonbill. I saw one of these about 14 years ago, when we first moved here. It was exciting. I'm not a "birder" but I love birds!

There were several school buses at the visitor's center -- the students were divided into groups as they learned about the refuge.

At one point it is possible to walk out into the marsh by way of an elevated walkway which ends in an observation deck. Sweetie and our friends are watching the birds.

It was suggested that we watch the banks of the waterways as we drove along the road.

This is what we were looking for -- this is the first alligator that we spotted! Alligators grow about a foot a year so this one may have been 6 - 7 years old. The dark area in the center top of the picture is the entrance to the alligator's den.

Later, in another waterway we found this alligator as he entered his den.

This was a very interesting place to visit.

More Beach Houses

Where I'm standing to take this picture is where the first row of houses washed away during Hurricane Ike.

Home owners often put up houses for the Purple Martins. Looks like these were made from gourds.

Crystal Beach -- Bolivar Penninsula

My friend strolling along looking for shells.

The water was quite choppy since the wind was blowing hard.

Jelly fish -- something you don't want to step on or handle!

Crystal Beach -- "My Blue Heaven"

Sweetie and I joined long time friends for a short visit to a beach house on Crystal Beach (Bolivar Peninsula) An earlier attempt to visit this place was aborted due to the arrival of Hurricane Ike.

Fortunately, the beach house only sustained repairable damage and is now back in operation. It belongs to my friend's sister and is used by a large number of people throughout the year.

The family refers to their beach house as "My Blue Heaven." It sits a way back from the beach, which is probably what allowed it to survive Ike.

The area under the house is used for storage and has "blow out" (or wash out) walls so that water can flow under the house during a hurricane.

It is early in the season so the area was quiet. A good time to relax.

Deadly Nightshade (belladona)-- a common "weed" in this area. I was amused, one time, to see a gardening book recommend this as an excellent "flowering plant" for flowerbeds.

Having a great week. When Sweetie retired (and I tried to) I designated every Monday as my "sewing days." Two times a month I go to quilting on that day so I decided that the other two Mondays I would sew at home. Hummm, didn't work out that way. Not Sweetie's fault -- I just never did it. ************This Monday I sewed -- I'm joining the squares our quilting group made as a joint project. It is going to be a sweet quilt -- not large enough for the Cambodia children's home so it will stay here and go to the Pregnancy Help Center. Doesn't look babyish but it will do. ***********We were using a pattern I saw on Fons and Porter (TV) that also appeared in Love of Quilting magazine July/August, 2006. The pattern is called "Late Bloomers" and was designed by "Little Quilts." They used buttons to center their flowers but we didn't, because of the choking hazard for the babies. We also used the pineapple block to create our blocks because our group had just learned how to make that block. We then cut our flowers and leaves from scraps and used fusible web to stick on them onto the center of each block -- a first for some of our newer members who had never used fusible web. We used blanket stitch around the flowers and a running stitch for the stem. Again, something new for some of our members who never learned to embroider. *************Each person got to choose their own fabrics and we got a wide variety of patterns and a variety of sizes. That was not on purpose - that some came out larger than others. I trimmed them all to 8-3/4" when I squared them up. Now I'm sewing a dark green sashing to surround each flower square and it is really looking nice. I'll take a picture as soon as I get the top finished. I worked on it Tues, also, and may get to do some more tonight. **************Tomorrow I have to put it away and start on the house -- we will have company Sun night -- then Mon and Tues we will be on the beach with friends. I'll miss the quilting class that week but am looking forward to our beach time. *************What are you doing this week? Drop a line and let me know!

Hello out there! It is a windy day here -- temp about 81 deg F. We had a great church service -- one new family joined -- father, mother, and three children. ***After church Sweetie and I came home and I cooked some chicken for our lunch -- had green beans and zucchini (squash) and he ate rice. Then I had a couple of Clementines for my "dessert". ***Yesterday V and I planted some new flowers in the front bed -- impatiens. The slugs and snails love them so we will see if they survive! They were still looking good when I watered this afternoon. I'm sure their address will soon appear on the slug/snail web site, however, so we will have to start watching for slime trails! ***I've been cutting some 2-1/2 strips to make a strip quilt. There is a video on U-Tube, under "Jelly-Roll Races" that show what it will look like. It is a great way to use up lots of scraps and left-over pieces. It takes about 800 inches of strips to make one quilt-top so I have to cut lots and lots! ***Besides those strips I have the sashing cut for the "pineapple" block quilt (with flower appliques.) I used a friends "GO" cutter to cut the sashing. Made it fast. All the blocks are squared so I need to start sewing the sashing on. I have declared tomorrow a "sewing day!" The pineapple block quilt is supposed to be a group effort but after the squares were made by different ones, I find I am supposed to put it all together. sigh. ***Two friends and I went to a quilt show Friday -- it was a first quilt show for one of the friends. She was amazed at what she saw! We saw some really beautiful quilts -- sorry I didn't take my camera. I particularly liked one made as a memorial to a family that had 19 children. Around the quilt middle was a wide border of "pieced houses," each one separated from the next by an appliqued tree. Under each "house" the name of the child was embroidered -- from oldest to youngest. It was rather unique! ***Hope all of you have had a great week and weekend -- take care and drop a comment if you have time.

Good morning blog friends. It is spring -- we have 88 deg one day and then 78 deg the next. (Those are Fahrenheit readings, of course.) We desperately need rain but it isn't happening. Perhaps this week...

P.S. -- today (Monday) it is 60 degrees and will be in the 40's tonight!)

It is wild flower time -- we have seen a few flowers -- the pink evening primrose and some bluebonnets are blooming along the freeway -- that combination of colors is delightful. It is so dry, however, that our flowers aren't making a grand show this year. We have bluebonnets but they are only 1/2 their normal size.

Meanwhile, we have bought a new car! This is a big event for us -- we keep our vehicles for a long time -- Sweetie just sold his pickup -- he bought it new and drove it for 20 years! My car is a 2003 and we will keep driving it -- it was a year old when we bought it. Usually we buy less than new cars -- in years past they were called second-hand but now the most used phrase is pre-owned. Our new vehicle, however, is NEW -- and it is pretty. It is a small SUV and that is not my favorite type of vehicle, but it was Sweetie's time to choose and this is what he wanted!

It has a lot of bells and whistles -- the electric driver's seat allows me to raise the seat until I have a clear view through the windshield. No more peering over the steering wheel!

We also get On-Star free for 6-months. I think that will be nice. The car (through On-Star) has a hands free phone -- isn't that a hoot! Our new car has it's own phone and it's own phone number. Other features are pretty standard in today's new cars -- they are just NEW to us since we have been driving old, old vehicles!

Today is quilting day and I'm looking forward to the fellowship and the time to work on a couple of projects. Gotta run -- hope you all have a great day!