BORDER FENCE, Texas 2013

I'm thinking most of my friends have no idea what the border fence looks like separating US from Mexico.  Well honestly it's a joke.  What purpose it serves totally escapes me.  It is not a solid continuing fence.  It's a panel here and there, big openings with no gates and no "protection".  Most of the time the "fence" goes along the levee, which in reality is not on the border.  Sometimes it leaves lots of US federal land behind the fence before reaching the Rio Grand.  There are some sections of it that make me think of the movie Jurassic Park.  You know when they are entering the walled in area and there is a big gate.  Some sections of the border fence have big gates.  I don't have any photos of those yet.  But it's my goal to get some.  Here's what I've got so far.  The fence is probably 15 ft high and it's made of metal.  When we went to the Sabal Palm Sanctuary we had to drive through the fenced area to reach it.  We had our passports so I wasn't worried about leaving the country, but once we reached the sanctuary we realized it was still in the US.

We actually don't have a fence like this along the river, here at the refuge.  There is a chain link fence, though.  There are lots of places along the river that have no fence.  We got a great look at the Rio Grand when we were at Sabal Palm Sanctuary. 

SABAL PALM SANCTUARY, Texas 2013

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.  A few days before Christmas we took a drive to Brownsville.  We went to the Palo Alto Battlefield and the Sabal Palm Sanctuary.  The first battle of the US-Mexican war started on May 8, 1846 at the Palo Alto Battlefield on the edge of Brownville.  The National Park there has a very nice facility and tells all about the situation leading up to the battle and the circumstances afterward.  Dale found it interesting that this took place a little over 100 years before he was born (May 17, 1946).  After checking out the battlefield we drove over to Sabal Palm Sanctuary.  The vistor center there is in a 2 story Victorian home that was recently renovated and just opened.  They have some wonderful walking trails there.  We really enjoyed our walk there.  There use to be over 50,000 acres of Sabal Palms along the Rio Grand.  Now all that remains is approximately 500 acres there at the sanctuary.  We have a few at Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge but less then 20 trees, I'd say.  Sabal Palms are native to Texas, withstanding the occasional cold weather we get here.  It takes them 100 years to reach their full height of 50-60 feet.

 

 

 

 

HI - Long Time No See

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted updates.  We actually left Aztec, NM on October 3rd and arrived at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge on October 6th.  We hadn't planned on leaving New Mexico so soon, but because of the Government Shutdown they gave us 48 hours to leave.  Fortunately I had already  been in touch with the Santa Ana folks and they said "come on down" their volunteer campground was open and they had room for us.  So we were able to camp out there until the park opened back up and we were able to get to work.  Dale is a Tram driver and I'm  his narrator.  We started our training on October 21st.  Sam and Bette Learned have been coming to the refuge for about 7 years and they were our instructors.  We're sort of short handed because the 3rd couple that was expected had to cancel.  So the tram is only able to run 6 days a week instead of 7.
The Tram didn't actually start running until November 1st.  We are really enjoying ourselves and like being on the "Tram Team"  The refuge is located about 7 miles south of Alamo, TX right on the Mexico border.  When we arrived the first thing we said was "This looks just like home".  As most of you know we were born and raised in California and lived in the San Joaquin Valley until 1984 when we moved to Missouri.  There is lots of agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley.  Well there is LOTS of agriculture here in the Lower Rio Grand Valley, too.  There is always something going on.  Lots of produce, here.  There are Grapefruit and Orange groves, as well as, almost any produce you can think of.  Cabbage, lettuce, Swiss Chard, Broccoli, Cilantro, squash, carrots, tomatoes....too many to name.
They are either plowing, planting, spraying, picking, cutting, crop dusting.  Always something.  We love it.  The weather has been great.  In the 80's most of the time.  We did have a cold spell a few weeks ago.  That was a shock to the system.  One day the high just got up to 45, Brrrrr.   I know you folks in Missouri aren't too sympathetic :).  I'll try to post some more photos soon.