A Few Birds and 2 Dogs - Texas 2014

For my first blog entry for the new year I have just a few photos to share. Frankly it has been too cold to get outside too much since we got here to Lake Conroe about an hour's drive north of Houston.  We are staying until January 13 and will have been here for 6 weeks then.  This is a Thousand Trails Resort and it is quite busy with lots of full time residents as well as travelers passing through.

Lake Conroe was completed in 1973 and was built to serve Houston as a source of drinking water.  The lake is 21 miles long with a convoluted shoreline which has given rise to extensive residential development which continues today. New construction offers are from $300,000 to $5 million for waterfront properties!  The Thousand Trails is situated on one of the tributary streams and has lake access for boating, fishing and birdwatching.

I have been looking for a way to make it easier for us to enter and exit the rig. Ever since Cathy had her fall taking Dixie outside I have been looking for a solution. Our stop at the Escapees Park in Livingston TX was fortuitous as another member had just what we needed and he gave me the contact information to get the handrail you see in the pictures below.  It extends automatically as the steps extend and retracts with the steps for travel.  So this week it arrived and we had it installed by a local RV Tech.  

Handrail Extended

Handrail Travel Position

We have been treated to near daily visits from Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers at a tree just outside our table.  I have taken some photos through the window so they are not as sharp as they might be.  This bird, as the name implies, feeds on the sap from trees which is accessed by small holes made from pecking the bark. Birds must constantly maintain the holes and enjoy not only the sap, but any insects which may be trapped in it too.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

It is the only woodpecker to have the long white stripe along the folded wing.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

There seems to be a few resident ducks, mostly Mallards, but I did spot a Northern Shoveler in the boat launch area. I spoke to another geezer who had taken pictures of the Bufflehead but it was not around when I returned with my camera.

Northern Shoveler

And the last of the bird photos for this time is the ubiquitous Black Vulture, Nature's Clean Up Crew!

Black Vulture

This, I think is a young one and a sibling is just out of the frame. Larger birds were perched atop boat shelters.  Interestingly, there was a single Mallard lying on the dock nearly motionless until a woman and her dog walked on the dock and the duck raised his head in alert. This morning when I returned it was gone and the Vultures were circling overhead.

Now to happier images...The folks next to us live in Houston and have a rig parked here year around. They came just after Christmas with an Australian Shepherd puppy they had been given by their daughter as a Christmas gift.  Since then, Dixie and Honey Bear have become pretty good buddies and enjoy a romp with one another.  I picked 2 shots of a series from a recent "play date". 

Ya wanna play?

Why I oughtta...

Thanks for looking.  I'll be adding more new pictures as we move around and hopefully find warmer weather, but we are keeping toasty with just two electric heaters and have only had to use the gas furnace rarely.  Since we have to pay a flat rate for the elecricity we might as well use it!

I am also contemplating posting some of my favorite pictures from 10 years on the road.  Since my original Pixagogo albums were lost when the company folded, I thought I'd preserve some of what I deem the best in future, but irregular posts!