At Home on Centerline

South Texas is our home in the winter months into early spring.  We pass the time at the Gladys Porter Zoo, visiting with friends, going to Harley's Beer Garden and sitting at home on Centerline Road.  We like to play games; here we are playing a new game of puzzles and logic and seeing which one can win the joust.  The sportbrella blocks the ever lasting Texas wind and gives us a place outside the Roadtrek to extend home.  Usually south Texas is warm, warmer than most of the country.

But it got pretty cold with wind blowing shoving cold air everywhere so we drove over to McDonald's on South Padre Island and did some internetting in a nice warm place.  Will met, John, a fellow Navy guy and they shared stories of days on the big ships.

Mary called and reminded us of the Docent meeting at Gladys Porter Zoo where Jerry Stones was talking about the apes so we headed down to Brownsville.It was an interesting talk and we again enjoyed Jerry's stories about the apes.  Many of the chimps had been pets that had just gotten too big and ended up at the zoo.  One of our favorites is when one of the chimps got away and was in a small grocery story a few blocks from the zoo.  Jerry gets a call and he and a few others go there to get their chimp.  The cashier wasn't going to leave, but Jerry told him they would not steal anything and it would be best for him to get out.  Jerry and the man with the tranquilizer gun went in.  They saw the chimp walk between some aisle and the gun went off and put a Coke can to sleep.  Then the chimp ran into a storage room.  They went in and closed the door; the chimp was confined to a smaller space.  It had climbed up on the shelves and up through the ceiling tile to the attic area.  After a time listening to the men talk the chimp came out and again the gun when off, this time putting a ceiling tile to sleep.  The chimp ran into the bathroom and Jerry closed the door; now he was in even a smaller space.  The men cracked the door just a bit and reached in to turn on the light.  Then they saw the chimp.  The gun went off again and it hit, but the chimp was scared and ran everywhere toppling over rolls of paper towels, cleaning supplies and even the toilet back cover all the while leaving a messy trail.  When all calmed down they went in and carried the chimp back to the zoo.  The cashier asked what about the mess.  Jerry told him to tell the owner some men would come in the morning and clean everything up.

Another time the chimp got out and ended up on the porch of an elderly couple.  The lady got up in the morning and saw the chimp; she went inside and told her husband who said, "yea, right!" and opened the porch door.  That chimp came running in and up on to the kitchen table and proceed to eat the man's breakfast.  By the time they called Jerry and he arrived, the chimp had made himself at home.  The lady came to the door with a half loaf of bread in her hand; she had just had a tug of war with it and the chimp got the bigger half!  Jerry had the couple go outside and he went into the kitchen.  they tranquilized the chimp, but he had made a big mess in the scare of being shot.  Jerry stalled as the couple wanted to come in until he got things cleaned up.

Okay, one more good one:  The orangoutangs were out of their enclosure and up in the trees.  A worker came running to get Jerry yelling, "they are up in the trees!"  Jerry had to climb up the tree and lead each one back down, hand it off to a handler and go back for the next.  They finally got them all back into the enclosure.  Jerry checked and a door had been open so he told the keepers to make sure that the door was always locked.  A few days later a worker comes running yelling, "they are up in the trees!"  Again Jerry climbs the trees and leads them all down.  This time Jerry really yells at the keepers and tells them someone is going to loose their job if this door is not locked.  Yep, a few days later a worker comes yelling "they are up in the trees!"  Jerry gets them down and now he is really concerned about that door and how it is getting unlocked.  As the orangoutangs are being let out into the enclosure Jerry just happened to see a shiny glint at the corner of one other their mouths.  He turns down the lip to find a piece of metal; that orangoutang had been carrying around his own key!
We looked out our window this morning and what did we see?  Ice!  Looks like Jack Frost and his friend Iceman came for a visit.

The huisache  tree is a design of dripping water frozen in time.

The soft white on the trees behind the bold white of the vehicles all against the gray skies today.

The frozen rain on the trees and grass with the flowing water of the resacca behind.

The mesquite tree hangs heavy with frozen water.

The strong palms are being pulled down with heavy drips at each needle.

The tables are covered with bubbles of frozen water where rain water hit the picnic table and froze in mid bounce.

The barbwire fence not only shows it barbs, but also the frozen drips of icy water.

It is a pretty site, but it is very cold out there.  The air temp is 35, but the windchill is 26 degrees.

The sportbrella is also covered with a layer of ice.  We are not sitting out today; we are inside with the house generator on, the electric heater going so we stay warm. As the morning passes to mid-day the ice melts and we see strips fly through the air as it is blown off trees like soft icicles.  They say it should be warmer by the weekend.