Bugman Jack is back

My good friend Jack is staying at Rainbow’s End in Livingston, TX, for a week, so today he drove down to give me a visit.  As some of you may know, Rainbow’s End is the home of the Escapee’s RV Club and where many full-timers call home.  On this visit, he brought his long-time best friend, Carol, with him.  They go back 35 years as CLOSE friends.  I know Jack is a veteran, but I can’t remember with what service.  If I had to guess, I’d say the Navy, with a girl in every port! 

Anyway, when they both arrived this morning, one of the first things Jack asked me about was my windshield wipers.  One went haywire again as I was driving down here, and the other one fell off as I tried to put on my wiper sun shields the other day.  He figured out that they were installed incorrectly, and after a bit thinks he got them on the right way.  We’ll see.  Rain is forecast for Wednesday, so you can be sure I’ll be checking them out.  I sure hope he is right!

The first item on our agenda, after the wiper blades, was to drive down and over to the Bolivar Peninsula to have lunch at Stingaree’s Restaurant.  Directly out the windows behind us is the Intracoastal Waterway that makes its way through Galveston Bay.

Jack ordered the seafood platter that included gumbo, crabs, grilled shrimp, red beans and rice, and a catfish fillet.  Carol had a trio of fried shrimp and whole crabs done two different ways.  There were at least six crabs on her plate besides the shrimp with a side of green beans.  I simply went with the fried shrimp with onion rings.  I’m a very slow eater, and I would have been there for hours if I’d ordered those crab dishes.

After that delicious meal, we drove back to the refuge to enjoy a drive down most of the roads.  First up was the Shoveler Pond auto route.

The first bit of wildlife we encountered was this little crab that was slowly making its way across the pavement from the brackish waters to the fresh waters of Shoveler Pond.  It was only about three inches from side to side, so I had to get on down on the pavement for this shot.  I shoed it along on its journey so it wouldn’t get run over.

Jack brought his new toy along with him which is a new lens for his camera.  We put it on my camera to take this shot of a gator on the pond.

Pulling it out to the full 400 mm length resulted in this much closer pic of the alligator sunning on the berm.  That was the end of my use of the lens, as the rest of the ride gave Jack the best view out his window, so the following pics were taken by Jack with my camera and his lens.

            I think we all had a fun time bantering back and forth as we made our way around the refuge.

                                                                   Fulvous Whistling Duck

I couldn’t believe the number of roseate spoonbills we saw today on easily accessible roads.  They just seemed to be everywhere.  If someone wanted to see spoonbills, this was certainly the day to be here and do it.

It was great seeing Jack again, and meeting Carol.  After our tour, they had to head back to Livingston.  Tomorrow I’ll be working at the hunter’s check station.  I hope everyone remembers to “Fall Back” tonight…

                                                                                THE END!!

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy