I'm a Butterfly at International Migratory Bird Day 2012

May 12th Was International Migratory Bird Day here at Anahuac Wildlife Refuge.  I was the "big Monarch" in charge of 48 Monarchs in our butterfly tent.  The kids loved going into the tent and letting the butterflies sit on their fingers.  "Puddles" the blue goose is the US Fish and Wildlife mascot and she came to visit my babies.  We had little wings for the kids to wear while their parents took their photos.  I'm sure they got some good shots.  We had a little 4 yr old girl in the tent with the wings on holding a flower with about 6 butterflies sitting on the flower.  We had an official Butterfly Release at the close of the event.  It was alot of fun for all.

Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge Farewell

Well it's about time for us to leave.  We'll be leaving here Monday, May 14th.  We have learned alot here.  When we agreed to volunteer here we didn't realize what an impact it would have on us.  In 2008 this refuge was almost totally destroyed by Hurricane Ike.  In the past 3 years they have made great progress in returning the refuge to it's pre-Ike condition.  We have seen some major changes since we've arrived.  When Hurricane Ike came it brought a 20ft wall of water that tore down buildings and all that salt water killed wildlife and plants and trees.   When the 20 ft wave receeded it left 9 ft of water standing on the refuge, inside buildings. Storage containers were washed away and found 3 miles down the road.  Everything in those buildings were swept away.  Then the following 2 years they had a drought.  Last year they replanted 250 trees and planted a butterfly garden and hummingbird garden.  When we arrived in January there was very little water in the ponds.  A sad sight.  All the rain we've had since we got here has really made a difference.  Ponds are almost full, plants and grass is green and wildlife is returning.  Dale has built butterfly houses for the butterfly garden and nesting boxes for screech owls, wood ducks and warblers.  We have seen birds that we didn't even know existed.  These are hardy people, here in Anahuac.  They have rebuilt their homes and have made great strides in getting this refuge back on it's feet.  There is a group called Friends of Anahuac Refuge.  They manage both gift shops with all the proceeds going to the refuge and they planted the gardens. For the time being the refuge gift shop is a little 8x10 storage shed.  There are plans to rebuild the refuge gift shop soon.  The complex office and the Visitor Center were just completed May 2011 and how gorgeous they are.  So I'm expecting the new Refuge gift shop to be awesome.  Even though we have been attacked by mosquitos and bees while we've been here, I'm so glad we came.  I feel good knowing that we've been some help in their recovery efforts. 

Coastal Carnival - Galveston, TX 3-24-2012

The Coastal Carnival was held at Oppe Elementary School in Galveston, TX.  There were several bouncy houses, a petting zoo, a dunking tank and a booth from U.S. Fish and Wildlife.  There were karate exhibits and a science fair and a coastal bird demo also.   Dale and I and Donna Anderson from US Fish and Wildlife manned the Fish and Wildlife booth.  Oh the kids loved it....and the parents too.  We brought over from the Refuge...5 Alligators, 2 snakes, 2 crawdads and 2 turtles.  Three of the alligators were hatchlings....about 9" long...well except for the one that had it's tail bit off.  Then there were 2 larger gators ( about 2 ft long) that had their mouths rubberbanded shut so they wouldn't bite anyone.  The kids REALLY loved them.  Dale and I got over any apprehension we might have had about holding the alligators. Dale even held the bigger Ribbon Snake...I never could do that.  Talk about getting out of your comfort zone.    I did hold the crawdads...but that was a have to situation.  Let me start from the beginning.  We left our RV spot, with the critters, in the refuge Surburban at 8:45a....we couldn't even get out of the gate.  There was a herd of about 500 head of cattle being herded down our road....in the same direction we were headed.   So once they got past and we were able to open our gate to get out, we had the pleasure of slowly driving down the road behind them.  After about 15 minutes the cowboys did herd the cattle over into an unfenced field so we could get by...along with the other 5 cars behind us.  As we turned onto the main road to the Ferry the container with the crawdads goes flying.  Dale pulled over and I hopped out to check everyone.  When I opened the back of the Surburban the dishpan with the crawdads in it comes tumbling out...water dumping everywhere and crawdads hitting the pavement.  I'm crawing all over the road trying to capture my crawdads before they get squashed by passing cars.  Just about that time Dale gets out too and gathers up a critter cage so I put the crawdads in that.  Thank  goodness we had some extra containers.  Once everyone was stowed away we went.   We made good time and got to the ferry by 10am.  After a little wait we were underway.  We actually made it to the school in Galveston around 11:15..no problem.  The event started at noon, so that gave us time to unload our critters, meet Donna and get settled.  Kids started showing up right off the bat.  They wanted to touch everything.  We had alligator skulls, turtle shells and snake skins, too.    We never did take out the baby snake or crawdads but the turtles, bigger snake and all the alligators were exhausted by the time 4:00pm came.  I know we were.   We traded them off as often as we could so we could give the little guys a break.  We had pond water in their boxes so they could get refreshed.  No pond water for us.  It was a lovely day.....about 93 degrees.  We had a popup tent for our shelter and we were happy for that.  We started packing everything  up at 4:00pm and were driving out of the school parking lot around 4:15p.  We drove by the beach which was swarming with people.  Hard to believe it's bikini weather in March.  Once we got onto Ferry Rd we came to a screeching halt about 2 miles from the ferry boarding dock.  We'd heard about lines getting on to the ferry but this was our first experience of this.  All in all we got on the ferry at 7:15pm...3 hours from leaving the school.  And no we didn't make any stops along the way.   We finally made it to a restaurant about 8:00p.... Stingerees in Crystal Bay.  We've heard alot about it so decided since we were HUNGRY and it was there we stopped.   It was wonderful and well worth the little wait we had.  We both had Fresh Gulf Shrimp (fried) it was great.   We'll have to go back another time to try some of the other things on the menu.  We finally made back home at 10:10pm  I'm quite sure we were about to turn into pumpkins.  We are NEVER out that late.

Houston Space Center.....NASA

"Houston We've Got a Problem"  ......not.  We had a great time at the Houston Space Center today.  First off we were able to go online and get our tickets half off.  We pulled into the parking lot....which costs $6, at 11:30.  We got an audio player, so we could listen to astronauts tell about the exhibts.   I really recommend that, if you plan on a visit there.    We spent 5 hours there....non stop.  We enjoyed our 1hr tram ride which included a visit to Mission Control.  We actually were able to observe a live feed from space. The astronaut was doing some hacky sack minuevers.  He was using a microphone but in the observation area we were unable to hear what he was saying.   We drove by several buildings where they would have prepared meals for the asttronauts before lift off, a building that housed the moon rocks and other "treasures"   Then we went to the Rocket Center.  I was pretty surprised when we walked in the door and the entire building was filled with the Saturn V Rocket.  After the tram ride we watched a movie that told about the Shuttle Program, then we went to the Starship Gallery, watched a movie there, about the space program then on to the museum part...there were , items that were actually carried into space...like books the astronauts read, personal property things..like toothpaste,  a display showing the lunar vehicle plus models of astronauts all suited up.  Stars were twinkling all around us.  It was awesome.  There was a mock up of Sky Lab, plus spacesuits, moduals that were actually used in the space program. I touched a piece of a rock from the moon. Awesome, awesome....what a day.

Another Adventure....Duck Banding 3/8/2012

What an adventure.....There have been biologists on the rufuge the past 2weeks capturing and banding birds.  Dale and his buddy Don went to help at the beginning and they were not able to capture any birds.  They came home disappointed that they had not felt the thrill of holding a duck in their hands.  Well....Thursday March 8th they left at 9am and did not return home until 7pm.  They got a ton of ducks.  What they were actually wanting was Teals...and they got them. Actually about 700 in a 2 week time period.   Probably 200 of them that day.  A rocket releases the net over a group of birds, then people....Dale and Don included wade out into the gucky, muddy, water and reach under the net and grab a bird...then they bring it back to shore to put in a holding pen so someone can later do a fecal swab, blood test, sex and band the Teals.  They did some Koutz too (sorta like a duck) .  The closeup of the bird is of a Cinnamon Teal....not a common sight around here.  Everyone was quite happy to see it.  They were capturing the birds at a place called "Cattail Marsh" which is a pond at the Beaumont Sewage Treatment facility. (yucky..but not smelly) There are lots of birds around there....plus numerous alligators.  We didn't get any pictures of them.....sorry. 

Round Up those Doggies

Honestly we are on a wildlife refuge.  However on our way to town the other morning.....what did we encounter.  Cowboys and cattle in the middle of the road.  We just stopped and let them pass.  Quite exciting I must say.  There is grazing land across the street from our RV spot, plus right next door.  So where do you think they moved those cattle.  Yep you got it.  Right next door.  We had the pleasure of mom's mooing for their little lost babies all night long.  Everyone must have reconnected with their lost children because all is quiet once again.

Anahuac Wildlife Refuge

We've been at the refuge since Jan 25th.  Dale has had a variety of jobs.  So far he has helped build about 2000 ft of fencing.  It's snow fence that they use along the shore to help with the eroding shoreline.  He's definately getting his exercise.  He has also helped build hog pens to trap the wild hogs that are trying to take over the refuge.  They've got 40 so far.  They shoot them and leave them for the coyotes and vultures. Unfortunately because they are not USDA inspected they can not be given to people. Yesterday he was up at 4am to help catch Teal ducks so they could inspect them and band them.  However....no luck.  I think the ducks were smarter then the humans. Today Dale dumped trash and will mow if it doesn't rain.  There has been alot of rain since we've arrived.  If you'll remember we arrived on the tail of a big storm.  Nothing as bad, so far.....but rain almost everyday.  I have to admit that it's been in the 70's and 80's.  Maybe that's why the mosquitos are soooooo bad.  I still can't figure out how they get inside our trailer.

  I'm fortunate enough to work inside.  Either at the main Visitor Center & Nature Store or Administrative offices or at the refuge visitor center & book store.  I have been helping the event planner with an upcoming March Madness event they will be having for families. I've volunteered to do the face painting.  There will be a bird of prey show, plus a butterfly tent and crab catching. , Kayac demonstration, fly casting....  All sorts of fun activities.