POTR #39 Moving North

PEACE ON THE ROAD
Moving North
April 10, 2008

With the onset of April we have started our move to parts of the country that will be a little less hot. It seems a bit odd to be saying that when the objective for the last four month has been to stay where it was not cool. In Mission, Texas a day that was in the eighties was not uncommon for the last three months. There was even one day that the thermometer on the Jeep registered 1080F. Even when I am wanting to stay away the freezing temperatures and snow that is a bit on the high side. We have not moved very far north so far but we are on the move. Our speed depends somewhat on the weather.

Someone told me that I had gone to the birds. In a lot of ways I would say that is a correct statement. I am more than happy to photograph any animal, big or small, or any pretty flower, or any scene that stimulates my imagination. I have also been known to photograph spiders, caterpillars and other tiny creatures. Here in Rockport there are a lot birds that get their food from the ocean or ponds or other water bodies so mostly I photograph birds. There are a fair number of Roseate Spoonbills at certain times of the year. They are also known to some as Texas Flamingos. Texas does not have any native flamingos. By any name these birds are beautiful whether they are in flight or feeding in the water.

ROSEATE SPOONBILLS DECORATE A TEXAS SALT FLAT NEAR ROCKPORT

During my lifetime I have had to revise my definition of certain words as I learned more or had a new experience. As an example, my parents farm was big until I knew about larger farms. It also had big trees until I saw the California Redwoods. There are other words that I have changed my mind about also. I was struck the other day with the fact that the meaning of "home" has made a bigger change than I realized until that day. I think that home will always be a little town in Kansas called Princeton. That was the place that I spent my youth and went from a baby to a young man. I only spent eighteen years there but it was the only place I knew as home. While I have not lived there for nearly fifty years it will always stay home in my mind. Unless I should delve into the changes that have taken place there. If I did that I might start wondering when Princeton disappeared. Living and working in Colorado for forty two years and having a family there made it my home for the greatest part of my life, and it will stay that for a long time in my mind. When I left Mission, Texas I felt a bit like I was leaving home on vacation. I think perhaps that feeling was enhanced by the fact that some friends of ours were going with us for a few days at our first stop. But when I got into Rockport I felt a bit like I was coming home a from a vacation. I have had the privilege many times of being a tour guide for people that came to Colorado on vacation and wanted to see the sights. The same thing had happened a couple times in Princeton and then here in Rockport I planned to show the high points of the area to friends. To be sure I tell people that home is where I turn off the ignition. My home has a foundation of six rubber tires instead of concrete. One thing that I has observed over the years is that as many people age their world or their homes become smaller. I can say that about me also. My first home that I owned was a trailer house that was smaller than my motorhome. But I share the larger motorhome with two other people and a cat, whereas I had the trailer house all to myself. Well at least until I got married and then wanted a cat. While the square footage that would be my fair share may be smaller than it has ever been thus far in my life, my front and back yard has expanded to include most of the United States. So in a way I have a home in Kansas, Colorado, Texas, New York, and maybe in another state or two, or I will have. I doubt that South Dakota will ever become home except for the official designation on my drivers license and a postal mail box.

A WHITE PELICAN NEAR CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS

If there is any bird that is a throwback to prehistoric times it has to be the pelican. Especially the brown pelican. I love to watch them come flying along the dunes of the beach catching the wind and traveling with only the minimum wing movement or gliding across the ocean just a few inches above the waves, But no matter how graceful they seem to be in flight I cannot get away from thinking that a pterodactyl or a least its modern relative is flying towards me. I have never seen any scientific writings that would indicate that they actually may have existed a few million years ago. I have read that the alligator has been unchanged for that long. So why not a bird? The feeding habits of the brown and white pelican are so different for birds that are so similar that it is surprising. The brown will be flying along fifteen or twenty foot above the water and suddenly fold its wings and plunge into the water to catch a fish. Several of the white pelicans will form a circle in the water and work together like a net to surround fish and feed with their beaks below the waterline like scoops. Neither one is adverse to taking advantage of the fish cleaning stations and the free food that is available there. They are a lot of fun to watch, almost as much fun as feeding the seagulls.


PURPLE WINE CUPS SPRING FLOWERS OF TEXAS

While some places are still getting winter snows and other places are having so much rain that floods are happening the spring flowers here in southern Texas are fighting each other for room to display their beauty to the world. It is impossible to look anywhere and not see some kind of bright flower. Some of them are extremely small and some are quite large. One very beautiful flower that seems to like the lawns of the city is the wine cup. It is a cup shape that is about the size of a quarter. It seems that when they grow there are thousands of them. In a way they rather remind me of the dandy lions that try to take over the lawns in Colorado. I don't know if people here try to kill them out like most people do the dandy lions or if they just let them grow and the blooming season is over in a short length of time and them they disappear. I enjoy seeing a yard covered with the purple blooms.

At the current time we do not have any specific plans for the summer months. There are several places that are vying for us to spend time. I think that we will head towards the west. It is going to be necessary to go to South Dakota at the end of summer to renew my drivers license in person. I don't really want to go there but as far as we can tell there is not another reasonable choice

Until Later This is Doug Of
Peace On The Road