Max on the Beach

 

Max on the Beach

Most days that we were on Galveston Island, at least part of the day was spent letting Max run and have fun on the beach.  And, just watching him made me smile, sometimes laugh, and truly gave me a sense of joy.  So, I’m not sure who really got the most from these visits!!

Sometimes I felt like Max thought he was just racing all the Jeeps and other cars we saw on the beach….and of course, he won all the races!!

And, when he wasn’t racing cars, he loves to play with his dad, Jeff!  I guess you could say this is Max tag, as he swerves away just in time to have Jeff miss tagging him with his cap!

For a pup who was truly fearful of the waves and water the last time he came in contact with a large body of water, he certainly has left that fear behind!!  He loved to run and splash among the waves, altho we did need to watch and make sure he didn’t decide to pick up a new toy – a fish head!!

Max also loved exploring the dunes at the beach.  He was always careful to stay on the path, which rather surprised me since he’s such a boy at most other times!!  I guess he loved playing his version of King of the Hill!

At times, when Max would race around on the beach, I’d be concerned that he would accidentally put his foot into a hole someone had dug for whatever reason.  But as he showed me – nothing to fear!!

And Max believes in fair play – meaning, since he played with Jeff, it’s only fair that he plays with me.  The only problem is that I’m holding a camera and sometimes he has cut it way to close in the past and knocked me down.  So, when this 85-pound Shepherd came barreling toward me, it was a true test of faith to just stand there and capture his photo!  I’m not sure faith in what, but it all worked out!!

Shortly after we got Max (or, rather, he adopted us!), I commented to Jeff that Max was a true happy soul.  This was confirmed the other week, when a friend said to his wife that Max was the happiest dog he thought he’d ever seen.  You can really see just how much he loves his life and how happy he is doing the simplest things, like running on a beach!!  If you look close at the top image, it looks as if he’s smiling!  That’s our boy!!

Enjoy!

Historic District and Painted Ladies

 

Historic District and Painted Ladies

In the historic district of Galveston, there are many mansions and other interesting buildings of historic interest.  Not far from the historic district, there are Victorian Homes there – Painted Ladies.  We walked the historic district and then got in our Jeep to find the painted ladies!!

The most impressive of the mansions has to be the Moody Mansion.  It was built in 1895 by W.L. Moody, Jr. who was one of the wealthiest Americans during the first half of the 1900s.  His daughter, Mary Moody Northern grew up in the house and lived there for 3 decades after her father and husband both died in 1954.  She established the Mary Moody Northern Endowment, which restored, owns and operates the Moody Mansion.  There are tours of the mansion, but we didn’t do it on the day we were there.

This metal work was just above the entryway for carriages to arrive on the days there were formal dinners and celebrations at Moody Mansion.  If you look on the far-right side of the first image, you’ll see the driveway and the scroll work above the entryway.

This grand home/mansion was just a couple of blocks down from the Moody Mansion.  It’s called Open Gates and is also known as the Sealy Mansion.  It was designed for George Sealy, Sr., by New York architect Stanford White in 1889.  It was donated to the University of Texas medical Branch, which uses it for conferences and meetings.

Just a block down from Open Gates is Aston Villa.  It’s the oldest of the mansions along this street in the historic district.  It was built in 1859 and was the home of the James Moreau Brown family.  Mr. Brown was a banker, merchant and entrepreneur.  There was a smaller home next to it the seemed to be a sort of guest house.

We came across a number of churches in the historic district as well.  The two in the image above are Reedy Chapel (left) and First Baptist Church of Galveston (right).  The First Baptist Church is home to the oldest Southern Baptist in Texas.  It was founded in 1840, and the church was built in 1958.  The current building is the 4^th on this site.  Reedy Chapel was built in 1887 and is home to the oldest Black Methodist Church in Texas, established in 1848.  Between the two, I admit to liking the Reedy Chapel better – love the windows!!

A couple of other churches we saw on our walk were the Trinity Episcopal Church (left) and the Eaton Chapel(right).  The Trinity Episcopal Church was built between 1854 – 1858 and is the third Episcopal mission in Texas.  The Eaton Chapel, built in a Gothic Revival style, is adjacent to Trinity Episcopal Church.  It was built in 1882 and built as a memorial to Rev. Benjamin Eaton, who died in 1871.  After a city-wide fire in 1885, this chapel was used by St. Paul’s German Presbyterian Church, during their church’s repair.

Rounding out the sights we saw on our walking tour of the historic district (but not in the order that we saw them) are the Rosenberg Library (upper left), Galveston City Hall (lower left) and the Texas Heroes Monument (right).  The tie between the Texas Heroes Monument and the Rosenberg Library were that they were both gifts from Henry Rosenberg, a banker and merchant.  The Monument honors the heroes of the Texas Revolution, and was dedicated in April 1900.  The Library is the oldest free public library in continuous operation in Texas.  It was established in 1900 as well.  City Hall was built in 1914 – 1915, and housed Galveston’s form of city government, the Commission form of government.  This form of government was invented by Galveston and was used until 1960, when it moved to a Council-Manager form of government.

And now the fun driving part of our explorations on this day – the Painted Ladies!!  The first two that we saw were just a few houses away, so after I got out of my car to photograph the first (left), I just walked down the street to check out the 2^nd (right).  The lattice work and bright colors of the second really caught my eye!

And, speaking of bright colors, check out these two ladies!!  They had to be the brightest colored homes we saw.  The bright green almost made my eyes water!!  The yellow with the red trim was just so happy looking, it made the day brighter just looking at it!

Now, this house technically isn’t a painted lady for obvious reasons, but it was a very pretty Victorian style house.  I especially love the turret (I’ve always called it the Mad Sister Room!) and the intricate scroll iron work on the balcony.

These next two painted ladies weren’t nearly as bright as the green and yellow ones, although the one on the left seems to be in the middle of a paint job that will rival the others on the block!!  I liked the pink and green painted lady simply because her nice pastel type colors gave my eyes a rest!!

And this last un-painted lady is my favorite.  Why?  I just love thinking about how grand she can look once someone applies some TLC!!  She’s got a fabulous front porch and second story balcony, and, of course, my Mad Sister Room!!

Enjoy!!

  

Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge

 

Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge

One day, we decided to drive around and explore to see if we could find a wildlife refuge that my reference book for bird sightings mentioned.  At times, we thought we had gotten lost, but eventually, we did find the refuge and the treasures that live within.

Although most of the refuge was geared toward an auto tour, the first part of the refuge had a boardwalk over some marshy lands.  This marsh was home to several types of birds, one of which was this black cormorant.  I must admit, I was mesmerized watching this little guy glide thru the marshy water and plant debris, without getting any on his wings or body!

I should have known better, but I allowed myself to forget that there could be alligators around in these waters.  My reminder came in the form of a nest of baby gators (top photo), Mama Gator hanging around (bottom left photo), and another little guy who just decided to strike a pose for us (lower right photo).

As we continued our drive, we did see an ibis flying over a lake in the refuge.  It was a rather shallow lake, so maybe calling it a pond might be more accurate! I really love his long beak, easier for him to seek out his meals.

A bit further down we saw an anhinga drying his wings.  Anhingas fish by diving into bodies of water to swim after their food.  When they surface, they strike this somewhat unique pose to allow them to dry their wings fairly quickly, so they can again take to the air.

Another shore bird we saw wading through the very shallow waters of some parts of the marshy refuge was the whimbrel.  It is in the sandpiper family, and its name originated in England, and sort of sounds like its call.  It didn’t call when we saw him, so I can’t verify that!

Here was a rare find (for us!) – a tri-colored heron.  This bird used to be known as Louisiana heron, and although solitary in its feeding habits, when it nests, it does tend to be social and can often be found in colonies with other herons and egrets, who are part of its family.

And, finally, we saw a snowy egret.  I did manage to get somewhat of a close-up of him, but then, he took off in the awkward way of egrets and herons.  Once in the air, they do strike quite the graceful pose.

I’m ending this post with another image of the snowy egret.  I loved how peaceful he looked as he glided over the marshy refuge, his white feathers contrasted by the brownish gold grasses, not yet green in the early spring.  You can see the silhouette of taller trees in the background.

Enjoy!

 

Misty Beach

 

Misty Beach

We visited the beach just a short trip away from our campground (5 minutes tops!) and, as frequently happened on this trip, it was another misty morning on the beach.  Still, it made for some interesting images!!

Although it doesn’t necessarily look misty in this image, you really can’t see out on the horizon – it’s sort of a cloud bank closing in on the beach. 

As the fog closed in on the beach, it seems fog and mist doesn’t bother the seagulls, who seemed happy to wander the beach, watching for any small little sea creatures that wash up on the shore, offering them a tasty treat!!

When the light began to lift, we could still see the seagulls along the beach.  A few moments earlier, they would have been hidden from view, due to the fog.  I thought the combination of mist and sunlight created a nice mix for this image.

Enjoy!

Harborside

 

Harborside

On a couple of different occasions, we decided to visit the harborside of Galveston.  Once, we went to lunch and also took a ferry ride over to the Bolivar Peninsula.  The main action seemed to be the pelicans and seagulls!

One day, when we were having lunch, a shrimp boat came in from a day fishing.  I thought it was curious that the pelicans (and some seagulls) followed the boat so intently (upper left photo).  They even sat on the stern of the boat, almost like very attentive students!  My question as to why they did this was soon answered, when the fisherman sorted through his catch, and tossed the fish he didn’t want out to the pelicans as a treat (center photo)!  Even after they got their treat, they still followed his boat as it again made it way down the harbor (upper right photo).

As we rode the ferry to Bolivar Peninsula, seagulls joined us for the entire 15-minute ferry ride.  At times, they flew lower than our perch on the ferry, and I really liked the play between the birds and them shadows they cast.  At other times, they flew even with our viewpoint – I especially liked the way the gull held wings as he flew along with us (upper right photo)!

And, finally, when we were waiting for the return trip on the ferry, I noticed the pelicans were feeding on their own, with no help from a shrimp boat!!  I watched one of them dunk his head underwater, searching for a tasty fish, and then gobbling it down!  Yum!!

Enjoy!!

Texas Gulf Coast Birds

 

Texas Gulf Coast Birds

Galveston Island is part of the Texas Birding Trail.  Now, neither Jeff nor I are “birders”, people who are truly devoted to finding and cataloging birds they have seen, but we did take a few days to see what birds we could find.  As it turned out, it wasn’t quite the peak time for birds, but we did get to see a fair number!

One of my favorite shore birds is the Great Blue Heron.  I remember seeing them when we lived in the Midwest, and it was nice to see this one along a roadside marsh one morning.  I find both herons and egrets among the most awkwardly graceful birds when taking off.  I’m always semi-amazed when they actually make it into the sky!

Both the above and below images are of ibises.  The above images are of a white and black ibis.  I had never seen a black ibis before, and I kept doublechecking images on the internet of the bird to make sure I had seen what I thought I saw!  The images below are of several black-winged ibis and some friends – some ruddy ducks and some turtles.  These images were taken along a boardwalk that was in somewhat of a neighborhood.  The birds were protected from the shore winds and could feed in peace and quiet!

Here’s another image of an ibis and the only cormorant that we saw on this trip.  They just seemed to be enjoying a moment in the sun, perhaps resting after a hearty morning meal.

The above and below images are of egrets.  The above image was taken just off the beach in the early evening, before sunset.  The sun is warming the glow of his white feathers.  The below images were taken as we drove along another marsh area.  Although these birds do look awkward taking off, once airborne, they are very graceful flyers.  I especially like the image on the left, below.  The crisp, clean white of the egret’s wings really contrasts with the dead, brown leaves of a nearby palm tree.  We saw several brown-leafed palm trees.  We visited this area just a few weeks after Texas suffered the unusual freezing cold weather for several days, and the toll could be seen in the trees.

Another of my favorite birds when along the warm shores of the Gulf of Mexico are pelicans.  I love to watch them glide ever so close to the surface of the water.

Of course, what’s a trip to the shore without seagulls?  These birds seem to be full of character, and, if they weren’t busy, gracefully flying, I felt like they couldn’t quite understand the crazy human taking photographs of them!!

Finally, this bird is called a Roseate Spoonbill.  I had never seen this bird before.  It does make its home in various locations around the world, but only along the Gulf Coast and Florida’s Central Atlantic coast.  It’s a sort of bird cousin to the ibis (my terminology) and I was especially taken with its bill – called a spoon bill for obvious reasons.  When fishing for food, it will swing its bill from side to side in the water as it wades in shallow water.  It can fly, but I didn’t see any doing that during this trip.  What a treat!

Enjoy!!

Seawolf Park

 

Seawolf Park

One morning, Jeff and I visited Pelican Island to see the ships at the Galveston Naval Museum, the historical arm of Seawolf Park.

The USS Stewart was also known as the “President’s Escort”. She was called that because she escorted President Roosevelt’s yacht to rendezvous with the USS Iowa in 1943 for its mission to Egypt and Tehran.  It was commissioned on May 31, 1943 and conducted over 30 missions in the North Atlantic.  It was the ship that rescued 15 merchant sailors when 2 freighters collided.  It could go as fast as 21 knots and had a range of 9100 nautical miles.  It carried a crew of 209 – 8 officers and 201 enlisted men.  It is 306 feet long and 37 feet wide.  The USS Stewart was a destroyer escort (DE).  The main mission was to hunt and destroy Hitler’s submarines during WWII.  This ship was one of 563 built for the same purpose – to “break the back” of the submarine blockade Hitler had placed around Europe.

When We started our tour of the ship, we thought we’d start with all that was on the deck.  As it turns out, we started with the stern (rear) of the ship.  There were several weapons located here.  Depth charges contained about 300 lbs. of TNT.  They were either fired from the “K” guns (the image on the right) or rolled off the back of the ship (center image).  They were detonated by a spring-loaded firing pin that went off when a certain water pressure was reached, usually between 30 feet and 600 feet.   The photograph on the left side was of a deck canon.  Those were located all over the ship, and not confined just to the stern.

Here are some deck cannons that we saw at other parts of the ship, and the rounds (center image) that were used in the deck cannons.  Needless to say, the supply of these rounds was located all over the deck, handy just in case they were needed.

The small green mortar bombs were called hedgehogs.  They were fired from the “stand” on which they are shown and were launched about 250 feet forward and to the side of the ship, in an elliptical pattern.  The pattern allowed for them all to hit the water at the same time.  They did not explode unless they hit something.  This weapon had a higher “kill” rate regarding submarines than the depth charges had.

Located at the bow of the ship were the two anchors (image on the left) and the search/signal light (image on the right).  Although there are two anchors, usually only one is lowered at a time, depending on conditions. There’s also sometimes an anchor on the stern of the ship, although we didn’t see it on this tour. The search/signal light has two purposes – to search for aircraft above, ships or submarines on the surface, or possible survivors.

We couldn’t leave the deck without mentioning the anti-aircraft guns located on both sides of the deck.  The other weapons I mentioned so far were manual shooting weapons, in that they had to be re-loaded after every shot.  Anti-aircraft guns are automatic weapons which fire multiple rounds when the trigger is pulled.

We couldn’t see the full areas below deck, but we were able to see a few areas. The Combat Information Center (CIC) was the room that tracked air, surface and sub-surface contacts that were analyzed, evaluated, and then passed on to the commander of the ship, so that he could make decisions about the course the ship would take.

The Bridge of the ship is where the piloted on its journey.  The information from the Combat Information Center is relayed to this area, so the commander can choose the best possible course for the ship to take.

Finally, the accommodations onboard the ship a leave something to be desired from today’s perspective, but when one needs to use the facilities, it’s good to have them handy!  The sleeping bunks were located on a lower deck, accessed by a very steep and narrow ladder that I chose not to attempt!!

The USS Cavalla, dubbed the “Lucky Lady”, is a submarine that is 311 feet long, and 27 feet wide.  It was commissioned on Leap Year Day (Feb 29), 1944.  When on the surface, it could speed along at 21 knots, and 9 knots when submerged.  It could be out 75 days and cover 11,000 nautical miles.  Its crew consisted of 60 men – 6 officers and 54 enlisted.  This is the sub that sunk the Japanese navy Carrier, Shokaku, that attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.  It was her first mission.  It was decommissioned in 1946, and then recommissioned in 1951 – 1952, and then again from 1953 – 1968, this last time for Cold War Operations.  Aside from this brief entrance (and later exit), most of the tour is below deck.

We started our tour at the bow (front) of the submarine.  While at sea, the crew ate in three sittings in the crew’s mess.  The kitchen facilities were next door to the mess.  Breakfast was served at 7:15am, lunch at 11:15 am, soup or light snacks at 3:15 pm, and dinner at 7:15 pm.  Bakery items (pastries) were served at 11:15 am and 3:15 pm.  Submarine messes received extra funding, so that the food served on submarines was the best in the Navy.  The image on the right is of another kitchen – the one for the officers.

Sleeping accommodations were also a bit different, depending upon one’s rank on the sub.  Captain’s and Officer’s quarters were semi-private, and even when the officers had to share a room, their bunks were quite nice, relatively speaking.

Enlisted men’s sleeping accommodations were very different.  The men would have “hot bunks”, meaning that when your shift was over and you left the bed, another sailor was sure to take it over for his sleeping shift.  The other interesting thing about these bunks is where they are located.  The green item shown below the two bunks in this image is a torpedo.  Enlisted men slept with the torpedoes.

There were a couple of rooms that were responsible for the navigation of and directing of the submarine.  The lower right image is the room where the route the sub will follow is plotted.  The other two images are of the room where the route developed in the plotting room is carried out.

There were also a couple of other rooms that we saw on the tour.  The image on the left is the ship’s office, where the day-to-day issues are handled – transfers, promotions, mail distribution, etc.  The communications office is where, obviously enough communications between the submarine and other ships, commanders, etc., occurs.

And, finally, there are 4 engines in the submarine, General Motors, each with a bank of 8 cylinders arranged in a v-design.  The engine drove an GE 1100-kilowatt generator.  This is an image of just one of those images.

Enjoy!