Texas City Museum & Dike

Today I went to the Texas City Museum. Best 5 bucks I ever spent. The wind is blowing hard here today so I can't upload all the pictures but I told the woman at the desk that they might want to charge more for admission. We started out with historic  Texas City during Civil War battles. A couple of fellers from Duluth, MN came down here to hunt and fish. They decided to build a pier and start a shipping business. If the wind blows more slowly tomorrow I will try to post more pictures. I left there to buy carbonated water at Krogers and to recycle my recyclables at the Biosphere Recycling Center. The staff at the recycling center were very friendly. The admission lady said her Grandmother lived in Cloquet. The lady near the plastic bottles told me my earrings sparkled like diamonds. I told her she had nice red earrings. She said a guy told her that her rubies were beautiful. She didn't know what he meant. He explained rubies are red. She laughed and said she had plastic earrings from Goodwill. She suggested I go to Goodwill for jeans. I said I was in Texas, why would I need jeans in Texas? I already had one pair of jeans. At this recycling center they recycle used cooking oil. I don't think I ever saw that before.

Then I headed to the dike which I read in my Texas birding book was a great place to see rare birds. I parked a ways up and thought I would walk for 45 minutes and then head back. The gulls and pelicans were circling this man working at a table. I walked over. He was cleaning a fish that was about 2 feet long. Those birds were looking for a handout. I kept walking. I saw a red truck and a 40ish man adding bait to his hook. I asked if he had any luck. He said they have been here for 2 hours with no luck. This feller was a chatty Cathy. He started showing me pictures on his phone of fish he and his friend, Alejandro, had caught. Alejandro caught, well, I think he said it was an alligator gar and it was taller than Alejandro. This fish was six feet long! I would have liked to feel that tug. I told him I used to fish for sunfish, bass, perch, northern pike, bullheads, and walleye. He talked about cleaning fish. I told him I used to be able to get all of the Y bones out of a northern pike. When he was young and living in Mexico he caught fish for a living. He would snorkel and fish with a spear gun. That sounds like fun too. He could hold his breath a long time. Things happen, he said. Now he lives about an hour from this spot on a small farm with his wife and his children. He butchers his own cows. He showed me a picture of the cow hanging from a forklift. He told me how he cooks brisket with liquid smoke and salsa and Himalayan sea salt. He skewers jalapenos and shrimp and mussels and bakes them in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. He said when he was young he used to drink and smoke every day after work because he was bored. Now he never smokes and never drinks. He wants to be a good example for his kids. I said it sounds like you are a great father. He and his family travel to Salt Lake City. While the kids were sleeping he and his wife drove to the Mormon Tabernacle to see the lights at one in the morning. Then they took a walk in the snow. His kids like the snow. I told him about fishing in Minnesota. I told him he could drive his big red truck right onto the ice, drill a hole 2 to 3 feet deep with an ice auger, and pull the fish up through the hole. Or, I said, he could cut a rectangle in the ice with a saw, put a tent over the top, and wait in the dark with a spear in his hand for the fish to come buy his lure and then spear the fish. His eyes were dancing with disbelief. After a half hour visit I said I had better let him get back to his fishing. He said his name is Hector and asked for mine. Maybe we will see each other again. I hope so. In the picture above are some of the six kite surfers I saw having fun in the surf. On a positive note, I got exactly zero mosquito bites today.