Let's Go Fly A Kite

This is where I was hoping to fly a kite on the Texas City dike. This sandbar off to the left of the dike road would have been great. Unfortunately the winds were gusting above 25 mph which is what the kite manufacturer said was the upper limit. My car is parked off in the distance. I collected a few shells today. Lots of laughing gulls were flying by. I got real close to four sanderlings. I wondered why they flew off so suddenly. Then I saw the wave coming at me and I understood.

I took off my sandals and put on socks and my rubber boots. I intended to walk 45 minutes up one side of the dike road and 45 minutes down the other side of the dike road. This pier has 4 boards missing.

This bird was on my way back. I could not identify it. My camping friend, Cathy, said she thinks it is a greater or lesser yellow legs. She could be right. She is an excellent birder.

I think these are shrimping boats. There are nets hanging off the back of them. I saw one man cast a net from shore. I talked to one sweet lady for 45 minutes! She told me about her life. She has caught hammer head sharks, white tipped reef sharks and one other kind that I can't remember. Someday she and her husband and brother will rent a guided boat and fish for the big fish like sailfish or tuna. She has a brother named Leslie and a crabby sister named Stormy which I thought was funny. She has a 32 year old daughter. Hold up I said. I thought you were 32. She liked to hear that. She is 52. She got a cancer in her 40's. After the first treatment she was in menopause but she is healthy now. She started painting with acrylics. I told her I think I go to the Dollar Store too much. She goes to the Dollar Store near her employment twice a day to buy more craft supplies. She wants to do mosaics. Now her 7 year old step son paints too. She was raised to be a Mormon. She was told to stay in the kitchen, cook, clean, or listen to the radio in her bedroom. She did not like that. Her father let her ride with him on the brush cutter on the ranch and she liked that. I told her I bought a kite. She asked where. I told her where. She said she shouldn't go there. She just bought a drone. She could handle the in the house. She took it outside and off the drone went down in the tall grass of the neighbor's pasture. She called the neighbor to ask permission to enter but they didn't pick up so she had to crawl over the fence to get it. She likes to watch fishing shows set in Alaska. I said I went to Alaska last year. I told her about the state trains and how luxurious they are. She likes trains too. She has never traveled outside of the state of Texas. Wow. She said she got real close to the border with Louisiana once but did not cross the line. This lady was a hoot and a half!

Then I drove down to the end of the dike hoping to see more dolphins. The guy next to me thought he had a fish but actually he was hooked on a rock. I saw pelicans of both colors, lots of gulls and terns, but zero on the dolphins. When goose bumps formed on my bare legs I climbed down off these giant pink granite boulders and got back in my car. I planned to be home by 5:30 and I arrived 15 minutes late. This was still a good day.