Tuesday, January 26, 2021

More Birds

I have to admit yesterday was a wonderful birding day and I know that a lot of you Magnolia Blog followers also enjoy the birds that are down here. Many of you have already seen this on my own Facebook page but for those who are not on Facebook I want to share this with you.

Yesterday, in the early morning when I was out for my usual morning walk the parrots once again arrived and this time a few landed just down the street from our RV so I came back and got the camera. It was a dark cloudy morning but still, they showed up pretty well.

Then yesterday afternoon after the sun came out we went birding over at Estero Llano World Birding Center in Weslaco. I'm sure some of you have been there. This entire winter there has been a very rare bird there which until now had never been seen in Texas anywhere. It is a female Elegant Trogon and she has been very hard to catch sight of. We have been there several times without finding her but yesterday was different and I happened to catch sight of her and she cooperated beautifully. I got a bunch of photos and they do show her off really well. This is a good-sized bird with a very long tail and it was a thrill to be able to actually get some pretty good pictures. There were lots of other birds out to so it really was a great day!!




Saturday, January 23, 2021

Just like Old Times

 Remember the days when the parrots would land in Magnolia Park?? They did and it happened pretty often, early morning and then again late afternoon or early evening. They had some favorite trees down on Pecos where they found something to their liking. Well, this morning we were over at Chet & Irma's here in Trails End and the parrots finally landed. We were busy planting some plants but I ran (yes, ran) back to our RV and got the camera and managed to get some pictures. They aren't great but they are better than nothing. It did remind us of the good old days. They were as noisy as ever and you can hear them coming and going for quite some time. It was a huge flock, one of the biggest I have ever seen and it was fun!! It was a very cloudy, dark day for picture taking but it was better than nothing.





Sunday, January 10, 2021

Having Fun!

 Last Thursday here at Trails End where many former Magnolia Park residents now live some of the Red Hat ladies got together and had a golf cart/bicycle parade. It was fun to watch them. Every so often they would stop their carts or bikes and get out and do the Hokey-Pokey. They went up and down every street and brought back many memories of our Christmas Parades. I asked someone if they were going to throw candy but they didn't. Maybe next time!

If you can figure out who these are, you are pretty darn good.

 Chris Pearce




Irma Johnson


Marty Harper


Tuesday, January 05, 2021

This and That

 January 5, 2021 already, hard to believe! We have been down here in the Rio Grande Valley since Thanksgiving Day and even though in this park, Trails End, everything is locked down the days still seem to fly by. It is a very friendly park and there are lots of Magnolia people here so it's almost like being in Magnolia (in the old days when it was still Magnolia Park). I see Magnolia people every day sometimes, several times and that is good because it is hard to get to know new people when everyone has to be so darn careful. We figure we've made it this long without contracting the virus and we sure don't want to get lax now that the end may be in sight. We have registered to get the vaccine down here and some people who registered just a day of us have already been called and gotten their first dose so there is some hope that we may get them before we leave for home at the end of March. Like most other places it is a slow roll-out down here but it is happening.

The Covid 19 numbers are going back up just like in other parts of the country, actually in most of the world. We just have to all hang in there a bit longer and not do anything foolish.

I think there will be one or two more Magnolia residents or former residents, who will end up over here at Trails End sooner or later and there will be a very few of the original Magnolia people who for one reason or another will not be moving but staying put.

For the last week or so I have been hearing and seeing the parrots go over in the morning and sometimes they come back in the evening, just like they did over Magnolia Park. Some settled down across the highway and I did get a photo but very far away so really not good enough to put on here. They still make a whole lot of noise as they come and go.

I have not heard about anyone having the virus lately, at least none of the former Magnolia people down here have had it as far as I know.

The weather has been typical, quite warm most days, windy and then a cold front will blow in for a few days and the furnace will run and then in a few days it changes back to typical warm/hot. The weather people are saying that for the most part, the temps are way above normal for this time of year. I have a lot of sweatshirts along but have had one on only in the morning a couple of times. It is very dry and we could use a good rain. I do need a light jacket in the morning  when I walk but not for long as when the sun is up it usually warms up in a hurry.

We went birding today and saw that cabbage is being harvested along 281 and we thought of Dave Greening who liked to go out to see what kind of vegetables he could find that were left laying in the fields to be gleaned.

Stay safe and if you have news you would like posted, let me know and I will put it on.