Mammoth at Cagle Day 3

Wednesday, 2 March 2022

I think I might have seen a Hairy Woodpecker today.  but I can't be sure. It was at the top of a tall pine tree, of course.  Then I saw a trio of infuriating small birds that looked exactly like female white-throated sparrows, but they were feeding in the branches of a small deciduous tree. Do white-throated sparrows ever do that? I've only ever seen them on the ground.

After the normal breakfast and a short walk around the loop trail by the boat dock, we went driving. Our destination was Lake Sheldon State Park and Environmental Education Center, which turned out to be a pretty interesting little place around a lake (and probably a water treatment plant, too) in the eastern suburbs of Houston.  They'd built an array of little ponds, with fishing stations set up for the children. There were alligators there, too--or so the signs said. We saw alligator. (Not alligators, plural) One little twelve-to fourteen inch dude, sunning himself beside a shallow pond.

There was a great egret in that pond, or maybe it was the next one. He let us walk almost all the way around him, and only when we were coming up on his left side did he move away. Silly bird--he should be used to people by now. Or maybe he was, and he was just ready to move on.

There were tons of robins there, and cedar waxwings.  And I just remembered--on our morning walk, I heard a white-eyed vireo . Not unusual, for the area, but pleasing. They don't overwinter at our house but they should arriving back from their winter vacation in about a month.

Houston ship channel:

So that was a fun outing, but a little too much driving in big city traffic for my taste. We made things worse by going another twenty miles further south to see the San Jacincto Monument:

Pretty boring, however, that was my fault because I stayed in the grassy lawn with the dogs. In my younger days, I'd never have missed a chance to run up the stairs and look straight up at the top from right beside it. What do they call it, a spire? Edifice? What is that word from 2001: A Space Odyssey? That thing.

Looking straight up would have been dizzy-making. And cool. Instead I looked at the flag display and while I was there, got distracted by the sight of a couple of big birds battling. Very big birds.  One of them was definitely a Bald Eagle--the other most likely an Osprey. I didn't see the reason for the battle, but some guys standing nearby said that the eagle made the other bird drop its catch and then took off with it. What a fitting behavior for our national symbol--just like the behavior of the people it represents.

We could see the battleship Texas in the distance, but we didn't go over there. It was time to be getting back to our campsite. Soon. Why so hurry?

Pappadeaux. When I was looking at restaurants in the area, trying to find some good Mexican food near the campground, I first explored restaurants of Huntsville and then those of Conroe. And suddenly, I saw a word I knew so well--Pappadeaux. And that was the end of my search.  The address was in Conroe, but I would have called it more like The Woodlands. Still, only 20-ish miles from our campsite. And so very worth the drive.

I don't know if it was worth the price, because I don't know the price. We ordered off the lunch menu, not because we're cheap but because that was where the items we wanted were listed. But we asked for the "dinner portions" of each entree and didn't ask the price. Ed of course got the Crawfish Etauffee + Fried Crawfish. He said it wasn't as spicy as it used to be. And I got the Mixed Seafood Grill.  Very, very good, alhough it came with dirty rice which just didn't complement the meal. Plain rice would have been much better.

And that made the day. Stuffed to the gills, we rolled home.