Saturday morning I got up early and drove to Lake Ray Roberts State Park, Johnson Branch, for the 8 a.m. bird walk. I listened to a good Digital Music Today podcast on Mixcloud about digital music streaming services and youtube's announced intention to remove music vidoes unless indie labels sign up with youtube on youtube's monetization agreement form.
The bird walk drew eleven participants, including four from the ranger's family. In the 80 minutes we walked we saw lots of birds. Here is the list I submitted to ebird.org:
18 species
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Turkey Vulture 1
Mississippi Kite 2
Killdeer 1
Mourning Dove 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 2
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher 4
American Crow 1
Cliff Swallow 72
Carolina Chickadee 2
Carolina Wren 1
Northern Mockingbird 7
Northern Cardinal 6
Red-winged Blackbird 2
Common Grackle 5
Brown-headed Cowbird 3
Orchard Oriole 2
The cliff swallows were abundant. My count of 72 is probably low. Dozens upon dozens hung out on the scrub near the lake. One of the kids also spotted a handsome Texas brown tarantula, which we enjoyed watching.
Here is the pictorial evidence:
On the drive home, I listened to Netlabelism volume 24, a great collection of netlabel music on Mixcloud. I arrived back in my area around 11 a.m. I went to Dickey's BBQ for a lunch of turkey, green beans, corn on the cob, and a roll. I mixed the regular, hot and sweet sauce into my own dipping sauce for the turkey.
When I got home around noon, I took Beatrice for a walk. She loved seeing the squirrels. I enjoyed seeing the robins, killdeer and blue jays.
I saw a man, perhaps a bit older than I am, who stood on the shore of small Glendover Pond and reel up, then throw back, a small catfish. Ducks swam and rested in the shade. A woman walked by in Summer-y casual attire, accompanied by her English Shepherd, who had a fresh short puppy cut.
In the afternoon, I worked on my upstairs office. I had lots of paperwork to sort and file pertaining to my father's estate. I spent most of the rest of the afternoon sortng papers, taking periodic breaks to go downstairs because downstairs was cooler than upstairs. I got a lot done, but must do more today. Tuesday people come in to box
our possessions. I want to have all those papers and the little metal file cabinet in which they reside moved over to my office before then.
During my breaks,the television remained set to the Home and Garden Television Network. The cycle of shows featured people who were choosing homes to buy. One episode about beach homestook place in Rockport, Texas. We visited Rockport twice in the past. The episode made me want to go back again. The episode did not make me want to buy a beach house, though. The prices discussed were $ 350,000 for pleasant but ordinary bright pastel abodes on stilts. I'd rather live inland and rent places to stay when I visit. Besides, my pet theory is that as luxury beach living goes, the less-populous part of Galveston Island is more affordable, and that for a really scenic place to live, little Austwell in Refugio past the Aransas National Wildlife Reserve near Rockport offers promise. I am more a rent-a-cabin-or-room type than
a "buy a resort home upon retirement" type.
Another couple tried to choose which of two fixers to buy and have the show hosts renovate. They ended up with a great home, but it was painful to watch one spouse change his mind about whether to destroy a wall after they had begun to destroy the wall. Fortunately, this, and the great bathtub size suspense builder, all worked out.
I appreciate the low home prices in my region when I see what people have to pay in New York and California.
The young friend I mentored through Big Brothers called me in the early evening. We had a nice chat. Then my actual little brother called me and we had another good chat.
My wife and I went for a late dinner at the sushi restaurant Wasabi in McKinney,then had frozen yogurt at a place with the word "berry" in the title of its name.
I dreamed of meeting postal chess opponents in person by driving with one competitor to another one's home , including a fellow,
bardcat, whom I know through this service (but who does not, I believe, play postal chess). Afterward, in the plot of the dream, I helped my brother, who was driving, find his car in a supermarket parking lot. Then I dreamed of meeting another friend I know on-line via this weblog service,
toluene, along with her two of her co-workers. The co-workers including my friend were all looking at computer monitors for something but were also heading to or were at a business convention in the south. I rarely if ever dream of people I know through livejournal but today proved an exception. I'm always intrigued, too, at how much dream will fit into a short space of sleep. Also, though I've met bardcat in person, and have not met toluene in person, both seemed equally vivid in my dream. I am not sure why bardcat and I drove to meet the third postal chess opponent in person. Postal chess works very well on a remote basis.I fell asleep, slept until 3, read some, fell asleep again, and woke this morning at 5 a.m. I let Beatrice walk in the back yard, ate raisin bran for breakfast, and composed this post. I notice that I made the persoal acquaintance of some chiggers yesterday, which suggests that I must be more assiduous in my administration of the repellant Bullfrog next time.