Cruising the Western Caribbean - Day 1; 4-5-2015

My family loves to go on Cruises and it had been awhile since we had gone on one as a family.  So for Spring Break this year we decided to go ahead and go on one.  This time we choose Royal Caribbean - Navigator of the Seas.   We decided to go on this cruise mainly because of the times it was available and also it left out of Galveston, Texas.  Galveston is so much easier for us to get to since its a day drive to there, unlike the ships that leave out of  Florida.  We are leery of flying to Florida because once before our plane was delayed and we missed the ship and over half the cruise. The cruise line put us up at a resort hotel at our next port of call but it just wasn't the same as being on the ship.   Now if we can drive we much rather do that.

These are the images that were taken that first day as we left Galveston.
The ship pushes itself away from the dock by using its thrusters.  Its such an unusual feeling having the ship go sideways.  When it gets to the middle of the channel it then starts to move forward.

This looking towards the back of the ship.

 Looking at the cruise terminal you can see all sorts of birds in the water.  The thrusters stir up the waters and it obviously brings food to the birds for they to be so concentrated in this area.

 I thought it was so neat to be able to look down and see the birds flying below us.  It's not often you can watch the top of a bird as it is flying.

 The Navigator of the Seas wasn't the only cruise ship making this voyage.  Here's a Carnival cruise ship doing basically the same trip.  We had traveled with Carnival before but the kids didn't like it as much as they do Royal Caribbean.

 This is part of the pier shopping area.  I've been to it before and have enjoyed it.  The sailing ship to the right is  the 1877 Iron Barque 'ELISSA',  and I've been on it before.  2011/09/beautiful-flowers-other-things-around

Going past it and looking back at it.

This is the Ocean Star Oil rig.  I've been here before and written about it as being one of my favorite places to visit./2011/09/ocean-star-offshore-rig-museum-galeston  I wished I could have visited it again but time did not allow it.  At least I got to take pictures of it from a different angle.

Here's another view of it.

It was interesting to see this tug boat hard at work pulling this barge away from the pier.

It was a pretty overcast day and we did have rain as we were driving down so I was not able to get some good picture of Galveston. 

I did like this showing the channel marker and also the coastline of the city.

This was looking back up the channel towards Houston.

The birds around there were magnificent.  It was so much fun watching them fly all around us.  What really amazed me was the size of some of the sea gulls.  

This was not a sea gull but a brown pelican.  Galveston always seem to have a lot of pelicans hanging out by the waters edges.

Another brown pelican flying.

The rest of the day and for the next couple of days we just took it easy since we were at sea for 3 days.

2015 My azalea's in bloom.

I went on a Spring Break trip.  I'll be posting those pictures soon.  This post is a quick and easy one to do so I'm doing it first.
   While I was gone the azalea's came into full bloom.  Normally I go to the Norton Art gallery and enjoy theirs.  This year I missed it all.  I was disappointed I had missed them until I went to take my trash out.  The azalea's at the side of my house was in full bloom.  I guess because its in the shade and gets less sunlight it took longer for them to come around.

I've always loved the color of these azaleas.  It used to be the yardboy would hack them so much that in the spring they wouldn't bloom much.  He's been gone for awhile and we've just let them grow and do there thing.  Now they're doing quite well.  And I just love having them.

Easter Chicks -2015

A friend of mine likes to raise free range chickens for their eggs.  She used to have some awhile back but then there was a fox and a neighbors dog that kept on getting them.  The neighbors moved and she hasn't seen the fox for awhile so she figured she get some more chicks to try it again.  We went and visited them when they were 4 days old. It was the day before Easter and they sure were cute to see. These images just doesn't do them justice.

 As soon as someone would sit down they would run to get into the protection of the legs.

 At this point she had all 6 chicks there.  So we could see them she went ahead and stood up. 

 They scattered about and I was able to get a few individual shots.

 The white one was so cute because it kept on following my husband around.   I joked about it being the only young chick he'd probably ever have him follow around.

 Then they started to migrate around to each other.

 I thought it was cute the way they wanted to sleep on top of each other.

 The multicolored one took to me.  And I had a fun time holding it.  They were so small.

 I thought I had finally gotten a picture of all of them together but then realize I was missing one.

 My friend sat down again and they all started to head back to her.  This was going to be the best I could get of them all together. 

Now I can hardly wait until we can start having free range eggs again.  They sure are good. 

Herons nesting in a tree 3-30-2015

I like to go walking with my dogs.  There's a tree we pass under on our walk.  For the past couple of years we've noticed some bird poop around this time under the tree.  It can be quite voluminous at times.  I've see the birds that are the cause of it but never really could get a good shot of them.  I tried again.  Not the best pictures but at least I got something more than just a head sticking out of the nest which is what I normally see.
   As you can see the nest is quite up there in the tree.  At least they make new nest every year but it usually is in the same tree and near the same area.  This time it was more noticeable than before.. 

 I cropped it so you can see it better.  There is one bird in the nest and one to the left of it.

 I walked around to the other side and took this one.  The sun was glaring and made it more shaddowy.

 Here it is cropped again.

I went walking again and tried getting another picture. Again it is cropped.  This time you can see both birds sitting on the nest.

As I was trying to take these a neighbor came by and told me they were a certain type of heron but I couldn't remember what he said - it was something about golden but I couldn't get it exactly.
Here's the Wikipedia link to herons http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heron

I've been gone on Spring Break.  But right before I left I went walking again and as I was walking I was able to get these images.
   This is a cropped image I like this one the best.

 This is what always alerts me to their presence.  What got me was with all the rain we have it doesn't stay long.  One good storm and its gone. 

I'm glad I did take them because when I got back the birds were gone and even there poop marking was gone.  That didn't surprise me because we've had some very heavy rains lately.
  In the past I noticed they didn't stay very long but I didn't know how long they would stay.  

Lake Bistineau on 3-28-2015

Last November we visited the lake and it was so dry.  It's been a wet spring and so we decided to go see the Lake again.  I was so happy to see it had filled up again. 

My dogs just having so much fun running around.

This is how the area looked in November

   This the inlet that was so dry.      And over here you can see the water in it.


My dogs were so eager to be able to go out and play in the field, but every once in the while they had to come check in.  Then they couldn't wait until I said okay to play.

 Here's the area in the front yard filled in with water.  This is how it normally looks.  .

 The same direction in November

  Here's the boat dock at the end of March

The boat dock in Nov.

Last Nov. I could walk under the boat house.

In March there is no way I could.

This was looking from the boat dock in November
 
I thought this was a pretty tree  and have taken some pictures of it.
 
Here's that tree in November

 

Here's some more to give you a better idea of how the water has risen.since November 2014.

 The water in March 2015.  You can't even see that barrel anymore.

I guess because the lake changes so much it makes it so interesting to go see it.  You never know what to expect.

With all the rain we've been getting I'm now appreciative that the lake was so low.  It makes me less worried about our area flooding.