What I see out my window...

RAIN...

Yes Sir and Ma'am it's raining...

not much but it's wet, damp and maybe it will continue for a bit...Every little bit helps...

Our little snow bird....

has flown the coop and gone back to the North Country!

We LOVE you and are glad you made it home safe and sound!!

Thank you Mom for coming to stay and for putting up with my Grouchy butt!! Michaels un-ending chattering and Freds Television obsession...We enjoyed having you and hope you come back soon...as you know you are welcome anytime!!

MWA!!

Birds and Blooms from our Hill Country Vacation!

On Day #5 we headed home and I didn't take any photos worth posting so I am skipping right to the Birds and Blooms I photographed while we were on our vacation...with links to my sets on flickr for more photos...

White-winged Dove, Leakey Texas

Female Rubythroat Hummingbird in Concan Texas

Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Concan Texas

Bloom on a Tree and I haven't a clue...lol...I do not know my Texas Trees!

Possibly a song sparrow...

he was singing a beautiful song while we walked the summit of the East Trail at Lost Maples...

Possibly a Claret Cup Cacti

Juvenile Red Tailed Hawk.

He flew by us on the Summit at Lost Maples while we ate lunch, too cool!!

Male House Finch...another beautiful singer! Lost Maples, Texas.

That is all the photos I have gone through and thought they were worth sharing...

Below are the Flickr sets for the photos with a few more photos included.

Birds and Blooms photos

Day # 1 - March 17th 2009

Day # 2 - March 18 2009

Day # 3 - March 19 2009

Day # 4 - March 20 2009


Thank y'all for stopping by and taking a peek at our vacation.

Day # 4 of our Hill Country Vacation...

Today was Friday, March 20 and we decided to take it easy and hang out around the house/cabin...

I caught Fred reading in the morning light...I was just playing around but liked the streaks of light on him from the window blinds....New Hair doo perhaps? LOL

I then went out to the spiral staircase and took a photo of the view of the Frio river from the top of the staircase...

Then I went down to the river and tried another view of the Frio River...

I had the tripod and was playing with the shutter speed at the little falls we had near us...

Then back up to the yard and the bird feeders...

These are American Goldfinches and Pine Siskens fighting over the feeder!

We then decided to go for a drive on some of the back roads...

I love the low water crossings and driving through the river!

A view of the Frio and the cliffs...with people out enjoying the river.

We then went to Concan a few miles away to enjoy lunch at Neal's Cafe.

This place was built in 1929 and is still owned by the same family. A lot of history here, the cafe was re-modeled a few years ago and is a great place to enjoy a meal with a beautiful view of the Frio river.

Another low water crossing on the river and people getting ready to tube the river, Brrr...

More power to them...I've tubed the river in August and it was great but I wouldn't think about doing it this time of year, it's just too cold!!

That was our day Friday...just a lazy relaxing day...I took a lot of bird and flower photos and that will be on the next post with links to my flicker folders and all the photos from the different days...

Stay tuned for the birds and bloom post...and thanks for stopping by :o)

Day #3 of our Hill Country Vacation...

This was Thursday, March 19 and we had decided to head to Fredericksburg for the day.

A 1.5 hour drive but well worth it...

First objective of the morning was a visit to Enchanted Rock State Natural Area.

Oh My goodness if you are a Texan or live in Texas I recommend you go here it is absolutely wondrous and the views were Fantastic!!

(stupid electric poles and wires, grrr)

Us posing in front of the Main Dome.

Turkey Peak



Not quiet to the top yet but still the view is awe inspiring...

looking out towards the saddle and smaller dome.

Fred checking out Turkey Peak and NO I am not climbing over there today!!

On top and heading to see the view from the other side...

We honestly didn't think Michael would make it but he did a terrific job. We carried 4 water bottles with us and we had Michael stop every so often to rest and drink some water. It was a really steep rugged climb but so worth it...

I was stunned by the views...if you used your imagination you could just see settlers out there traveling West...I am a fan of our western history and this just pulled at my heart seeing this view and imagining what people 150 yrs ago thought when they saw the expanse before them...

It was considered sacred by the North American Indians and offered much needed protection for the early settlers. It is one of the oldest trail landmarks in Texas, the rock is the 2nd largest granite formation in North America. So much history here and I loved it!!


I handed the camera to Michael...

He didn't do a bad job of taking photos of us and he didn't drop the camera either, lol.

I know I could have straightened this photo but I liked the angle...That's my boy!!

Headed down and time for a water break...

Almost back to the Truck!

See the little ants (people) on top of the rock...(click on the photo for a closer look)

The summit trail climbs 425 ft in 0.6 miles...very very steep.

Fred and I kept thinking we might slip but we had good shoes on and the rock was dry...I wouldn't even want to think about climbing it if it was wet, Yikes!! If you go, go early as the park was full by 11am and they closed it...we really enjoyed this!

We then were off to the Airport Diner at the Fredricksburg Airport/Hangar Hotel for lunch to meet up with Cousin Sandy...

Sandy and Gerri

Michael was so excited to be eating lunch at the Airport and watching the planes land and take off....WOW!!

But just wait after lunch...

We walked over to this HUGE Helicopter that was on the tarmac.

Michael was in Dream land...

But then the Pilot came over and invited Michael to board and sit in the cockpit!!

Fred and I were laughing as the pilot was showing Michael how to start up the engines, Ekk....We told him that may not be a good idea, lol.

Oh goodness did that make our son happy...he was just tickled...

This copter and crew were part of Columbia Helicopters and they are a fire fighting unit. They are based out of Oregon and have been all the way to Alaska to fight fires. They are stationed in Fredericksburg due to the drought conditions in the area and fire hazards. I didn't get the pilots name but he was wonderful and totally made Michael's day...Thank you!!

We had promised Michael a trip to the

National Museum of the Pacific War (WW II)

Home of the Admiral Nimitz Museum

What a great museum and a wonderful memorial to all the men and woman who fought in the war....

Of course we pretty much ran through the museum going from gun to gun and model ships to model ships and airplane display to airplane display, lol...one of these days I hope our son slows down and studies the different displays...

Michael and Fred walking through Veterans walk of honor and memorial walls...

To all you Veterans out there, thank you so much for what you have done!!

You are our Heros!!

Okay so I always thought they were called propellers but they are actually called ship screws...I learned something new....

Michael was awed by the sheer size of the ship screw...This is the size of the ship screws on the U.S.S. Lexington (aircraft carrier) in Corpus that we have gone to numerous times...

A Japanese Mini-sub...

And of course let's NOT forget the BIG guns! The boys were shocked and thrilled as this gun actually turned when you turned the gears....

Our boy was grinning from ear to ear....

The museum tour was 3 hours long but Michael enjoyed the whole thing and was really good through out...

We had a great day....climbing enchanted rock, eating lunch at the Airport Diner, visiting with cousin Sandy (we need to do that more often) and touring the museum...A very long day but a memorable day....

Stay tuned for day 4 and more of our Spring Break adventure...

Day #2 of our Hill Country Vacation!

This was the view from the back of our cabin/house at 7am Weds. morning, not too promising a heavy fog and light mist....

We headed out to Lost Maples State Natural Area wearing jackets and walking in a light mist. Grammy stayed back at the cabin/house with Michael. Thank you Mom! It was nice to go hiking in such a beautiful park...
We took the East trail, 4.6 miles with the highest elevation at 2,200 feet.



This sign is NOT a joke! The trails are very steep and rugged!

But the view is and was awesome!!

So glad I spent the past month walking! We weren't at the top yet but almost!

We had another couple come up on us while I was setting up the Tripod and they offered to take our photo...


Fred spotted this cacti blooming at the top of our climb.

They were gorgeous!
So we decided to stop and eat our lunch and it gave me some more time to play with the camera and get some photos of the cacti blooms...I will have a blog post on the birds and blooms we saw on our trip...so stay tuned for that.

Fred checking out the view at 2,200 feet!!

We were both checking out the view and the trail to the bottom of the canyon!! Yikes!!

The water below is what are called the ponds.

They allow primitive camping down there.

After getting to the bottom of the Canyon this is looking up to where we ate lunch and saw the Cacti.

The canyon was beautiful and we've discussed later on going back to camp there with Michael.

I am going to add the rest of our Lost Maple photos to my flickr site so stay tuned for the link.

I had promised Michael when we got back home I would take him swimming in the "Frio" River...It took us about 4 hours to hike the 4.6 mile trail...it was beautiful but also very very rugged...I'm just glad we made it and didn't suffer the worse from it...

Frio is spanish for COLD....That should tell you the "Frio" river is pretty darn COLD!!

Too darn COLD for swimming, lol...But I promised him!! The photo above was when he jumped in and you should have seen the look on his face...He was a bit shocked!! As you can see I am trying NOT to get the upper half of my body wet....YoWsERS!!!

And of course Grammy is telling me it isn't that cold as she was in it the day before...but like I told her I do NOT have jeans and a t-shirt on for insulation!! Na Na Na...it was COLD!!

Grammy and Michael in the Frio River!!

Michael attempting to fix the dam....

We swam for a bit and played in the river...

I asked Michael the other day what his favorite thing was about our Hill Country Vacation and he said "his Logar (Lego) Airplane"...LOL...Boys and their toys!! He knew I had bought him a new airplane/jet/helicopter Lego kit but I told him he did not get to open it until we got to the cabin...Guess what was the first thing he wanted to do upon our arrival at the cabin?? Betcha don't have a clue, lol....Open his new lego kit!! Sigh!!

Michael showing off his Logar (Lego) plane...it is kind of cool!!

This was the house/cabin we stayed in...Not really a cabin, more of a house but it was nice...hot showers and comfy beds...lol...beats camping in a tent on the hard ground!!

That was Day 2 in a nutshell....I absolutely love Lost Maples, the trails were gorgeous!! I wish we had a place like that near us so that I could go once or twice a week to hike...I truly appreciate Mom watching Michael too...Not sure he would have been able to hike the whole East trail...

Even though the morning was a bit dreary it cleared off at about 10 am and turned into a beautiful day....

Stay tuned for Day 3....