Walked at Bentsen State Park today

Hello, everyone. Today started out cloudy and cool, but we went over to the park anyway. There were a lot of birds for a change.

The turkeys were hanging out on the access road for the canal, later they went farther into the park and started vacuumung up all the dropped seed at the feeders. The boys did some tail fan displays but the girls didn't care.

There was a lone white pelican near the boat put-in, and a solitary roseate spoonbill as well. (Think big pink bird, not a flamingo.) 

The weather was good for walking, not too hot or cold and not much wind. The park has upgraded one of their bird blinds to have a roof and seating like their premium on on the ring road. This newly upgraded blind is in the very middle, accessible to a walk or bike only path. We saw a lot of cardinals and waxwings there. Green jays, of course. On the way out we also saw some chachalaca. So it was a nice bird-seeing day.

We got in a little over 2.5 miles today, this was a training walk to maintain fitness.

Back on track with walking

Hello, everyone.  We're having pleasant weather this week, and we're getting back on track with walking. 

Yesterday we returned to one of our favorite training walks, the Mission Hike and Bike. This trail has a paved track with gentle inclines along the way. We walked 3 miles there yesterday and it was purely relaxing.

We also saw a little bit of wildlife. There was a first-time sight:

He or she had crawled out of the burrow, probably because the cloudy sky looked like evening to a "little " fuzzy spider.

There were also some roadrunners.

Today we walked at Bentsen State Park. We had a good pace and the 4 miles were so peaceful. 

Progress report on WIP

Hello, everyone. It's been busy lately, with the run-up to Easter and training. 

This is a progress photo of the new purse/tote bag.

All it needs now is for the zipper to be sewn in and the top panel to be sewn down. It's a little tricky to access the key parts, as y'all can see from the line of pins. I  am leaning towards removing the pins, stitching the top panel down, and then stitching the zipper panel in place on top of the other stitching. Then the bag will be done.

Re:training, I am doing a little mild weight work with my arms and exercising my ankles and feet and legs, even on days I don't do a formal walk. As the first part of our resumed Camino is expected to be fairly flat, things should be okay. 

Government Canyon State Natural Area walk

 Hello, everyone.

We took a little "training road trip" this weekend, to San Antonio. (A drive of a couple of hundred miles for a weekend visit is completely normal in Texas. We're all so spread out across our large state.) "What is there in San Antonio" I hear some of my readers wondering. Well, besides the famous Alamo historical memorial, and the usual shopping, restaurants, etc. to be found in a large city, there are Government Canyon and REI. Well, one of the REI coop retail locations, anyway. They sell various hiking supplies and equipment. Sometime mail order over the internet just won't do and we need to see the things up close and personal, to assess size and so on.

Government Canyon is a state park, conveniently located at the edge of the city in Helotes, a town which is being enveloped by the San Antonio metro area. It has two parts, a dog friendly area called the Front Range and a no pets allowed area called the Back Country which is most of the park.

A map of the park. This is much more complete than the paper maps at the headquarters, those really only covered the Front Range area.

This is a tree alongside the trail we walked. I have no idea what kind of tree it is. Those brown things are seed pods (empty now) from last year.

I was not expecting to see Spanish Moss in San Antonio. Yet there are some trees covered in it here!

View from the Overlook, which looks down onto the site of the dinosaur footprints, and also onto a really pretty view.

We walked 7 miles (11 km), per our Strava, in almost 3 hours. It was a wonderful walk in great weather, and we also met very nice people there. (Out of respect for their privacy, I won't say anything more about them on the public internet.) 

If you are in San Antonio over a weekend, you really should visit this park. 

First tomato!

Hello, everyone.  Today I picked our first tomato of the year! It's an early tomato, so it's only about 2 inches across (about 5 cm) and it's red all over. So it came inside to be enjoyed. 

The little green  things are onion thinning.

On the training front, today we walked about 6 miles at Bentsen State Park and served a banquet to the mosquitoes. Well, we had applied repellent but on the part of the trail near the River, it didn't keep up. Still, we had a pleasant walk in the early afternoon. Temps were in the low 80s F. We expect that when we walk from Sevilla things will be similar.

Estero Llano Grande Stare Park

Hello, everyone. Recently we drove a few miles over to the city of Weslaco and did our training walk at Estero Llano Grande.

Estero is very pleasant to walk in, with a gift shop/pay admission place and restrooms near the parking. It seems to have been created out of old farm fields that were converted to large water features to attract birds for viewing. And there are so many to see!

There is a pond that is reputed to have an alligator in residence, but none were visible there that day. We walked every bit of trail, going up to and down from the levee several times, and on our way out we encountered a friendly couple with large telescopes on tripods (likely serious bird watchers), who pointed out a young gator sunning on a log in the pond they were observing. 

He's such a young one! 

We looked at DH's Strava at the end and discovered that we had walked 6.62 miles--more than 10 km. 

That is more than the distance to be walked if one goes from Seville to the Roman ruins of Italica in Santiponce. ;-) Not including any wandering in the ruins, of course!

Spring has sprung, or at least some rain

Hello, everyone.  We returned to Bentsen State Park the other day and discovered that there hD been rain there recently. (At our place, not so much.) There was moisture on some of the pavement and everything that could throw on a flower seemed to be doing so.

Tulipan is our native hibiscus shrub. It's related to Turk's Cap but the flower looks different. 

A small sample of the happy trees and shrubs. This yellow flowering tree is retama. It resembles paloverde from a distance but it grows where there is moisture.  The white flowering tree in front is wild olive, also called anacahuita, another native. 

We had a very enjoyable walk, for about 4 miles. (6K about.)

A cute little critter we saw a while back

Hello, everyone.  I had meant to post this a couple of weeks ago and forgot. Oops!

We were walking at Bentsen State Park and almost stepped on this little guy.

This is a young tortoise, who was crossing the path. He was about the size of my palm. As he was in the middle of the path, we moved him over to where he was going so he wouldn't get stepped on or run over.

Seen while walking

Hello, everyone. 

Among the native birds to this area is the Whistling Tree Duck. There is also a black one, which has black patches, I think on the wings.

They're called Whistling Ducks because instead of quacking like mallards, they make a sort of squeaky, whistling sound when they fly.

They're fairly comfortable living near people,  too.

as witness this flock we saw while out on a training walk. 

Turkeys strutting their stuff

Hello, everyone. A few days ago we went back to Bentsen State Park and were walking during the bird feeding time.

(They're still filling the bird feeders now.)

Aren't they gorgeous? 

The bird blind by the resaca was full of birds. I thought they were the teen-ager male turkeys. 

I know people often use "turkey" as a synonym for fool, but these wild birds have obviously figured out that the park is a safe place for them.

Training for our next Camino walk

Hello, everyone. Yes, we're getting ready to walk again. We are now officially training: defined as the last 3 days we have walked about 2-ish miles each day. (3 km about) Today we went down to the Hike and Bike and did the 5K loop. (3.1 miles) between the blooming mesquite trees. The trail was very busy today! And amongst the many walkers, bikers, and runners, the natural wildlife just keeps on keeping on.

The javelina trotted across the trail about 20 feet ahead of that group of walkers. The roadrunner, one of 2 or 3 we saw, crossed ahead of us and started pecking at things in the scrub.

More birds, different place

 Hello, everyone.

Last week DH and I went over to Bentsen Park for a refreshing stroll. (3 or 4 miles. Why, yes, we want to return to the Camino paths!) We wanted to see birds, but as we entered the park we saw hawks flying overhead. "Oh, well, guess all the birds will be hiding today."

We were walking down to the bird blind, the one with  seating, and saw the resident wild turkeys. On the road! 

This was a zoomed shot when they were far off.

Here they were walking past us.

When we got to the blind, we learned that the local birds weren't totally hiding under cover after all.

One of our local specialties, the chachalacas, sipping from the pool at the blind. They also like to hop up and take peanut butter from the stick feeder--which is much smaller than a chachalaca! 

Another local specialty, the Alta Mira Oriole, who is usually very shy about being photographed, even from inside of the blind. This day he was brave and posed next to the water and I was able to capture a reflection portrait of his glorious plumage.

The Alta Mira Orioles are sometimes seen on the blooms of the large agaves. 

Camino training is starting

 Hello, everyone. We are resuming our walks in hope of walking the Camino once again. We were not able to walk the Via de la Plata in 2020, as had been planned. Perhaps it will happen this time.

We have found a new series of YouTube videos, by an Australian fellow with the screen name GreenEnergyGavindelaplata. It's interesting. He, like us, is interested in how the local folks live. He learned a lot about cork culture (this is a crop, the bark of the cork oak tree) and shared it in his first video.

Today, though, we were just practice walking. We went to Bentsen State Park and saw the Green Jays, the doves, the Chachalcas, the orioles, and even the local flock of wild turkeys.

Mister Cardinal at the feeder

Mrs. Cardinal thinking about the feeder

Orioles and Chachalacas considering the feeder. (The Chachalacas did eat some peanut butter mix.) The orioles didn't seem to know what to make of the feeder. Theywould fly over to look at it and not eat. Perhaps they thought the yellow-orange peanut butter mix was cut up fruit.

A Green Jay eating peanut butter mix. Almost all of the birds love the peanut butter mix the park feeds them in the winter season.

Coping with the mosquitoes, maybe

 Hello, everyone.

In a recent post the mosquito problem encountered walking after the the area received rain was mentioned. 

On that walk, we encountered a couple of fellows wearing insect veils--whole head coverings. The mosquitoes were very interested in the faces inside the veils, but couldn't get in to bite them. We continued walking and decided that fighting off clouds of bugs in front on the veil beats race-walking to try and stay ahead of them.

Research online not only told of various things like the ones we saw--the one man said his came from L.L.Bean--but also a number of DIY suggestions. The one I went with was the observation that, for keeping no-see-ums out, one can go into almost any fabric store. The fabric is also called "bridal veiling." AKA tulle!

I have a lot of tulle lying around so pulled out the big chunk of green--I keep it rolled on a paper towel roll--and got to work.

The concept: A full-width piece of the green tulle that looks long enough to go from the top of the head down to below the collarbone, gathered onto something at the top.

Ready for hemming. The white serged seam was only for the first go-around. The second time, I switched to darker threads. Attentive readers will note that the sewing clips are making an appearance here. As well as my old, but beloved, sewing machine table!

Tulle from stash, purple-ish cotton binding from stash.

The last stage of hemming: folding over the binding (like for a quilt) and then zig-zagging the edge down. I used green thread for the top, but since the bottom is the outside edge I used lavender in the bobbin.

On the dress form. It is almost completely see-through, so we can view the wildlife while wearing it.

The plan with these nets is to pin them to the top of our bucket hats so the brim will keep the netting from touching the face. Then we will tuck the hem into the collar of the shirt.

Missing the Camino Paths

Hello, everyone.

Things have been calm around Ye Olde Homestead this past week. No real developments or finished projects to report to y'all.

This morning we "got after it" as we say in South Texas, and left for our walk about 0600. It was dark. If there hadn't been street lights we couldn't have done our two miles. (Cracks in the sidewalks and unlevel panels in the cement will take you down very efficiently.) We were discussing light conditions early in the morning and after musing about best times to leave, as the days are shortening, we remembered leaving Logroño in the dark before dawn.

Arriving in Logroño

(Sorry no pic of the next morning...we depended on street lights that morning too.) 

We are continuing to walk nearly every day and will do as much walking as possible on any road trips that materialize. 

It's not entirely sure that dashing out first-thing almost every day for a couple of miles is really enough distance, but we went to Bentsen Park last week and the mosquitoes chased us hard the entire loop. It was the fastest 3.5 miles we have ever walked! It's been a rainy summer and the places we normally walk for training have all kinds of standing water...these would also be known as "mosquito farms." We don't want to lose a pint of blood while walking, and we really would rather not come down with something lovely like dengue fever! So it's up and down the streets for a while. This too shall pass.

Training is in progress

 Hello, everyone.

As the title says, we're officially in training. Slowly. In hopes of walking the Camino again.

We've been walking just about 2 miles (3K) most mornings...traffic considerations chop off a few hundred feet at each end of the 1 mile long block as the morning drivers are a bit rushed.

A couple days ago, this photo during our morning walk:

A few seconds, a few steps, earlier the sky was pinker...I wanted to get mostly past the light pole and lost the moment. Still very pretty as the sun was coming up.

Today, DH didn't walk, so I took Die Pup out and we put on just about a mile and a quarter (2K?) as she's older and not in athletic shape. Also she wanted to turn around and go back home. (This is the same pup that was happy to stroll for 2.5 miles in Albuquerque, NM, a month or so back. Around home, she doesn't expect as much of herself.)

Yesterday the sky wasn't beautiful, but the air was nice. It was cloudy much of the day and rained some in the afternoon. It was unseasonably cool in the late afternoon: only 90F and then a cool breeze came through before the rain started and it dropped into the 80's. 

New hiking socks!

 Hello, everyone.

I have a new pair of hiking socks! They're Merino blend ones, and they don't turn into warm, wet sponges on my feet! (Darn Tough, I'm looking back at you here.)

These socks from Icebreaker and they're made as different socks for different feet. It should minimize the rumpling problem when hiking. 

The light gray rectangle on the top of the foot is thinner and breathes. There is some padding underfoot and at the toes, but not enough to be huge. These are ladies' quarter socks, in a summer weight. 

These socks are really comfortable so far, but we're just beginning our training for the next Camino walk and I really want to see how they work out on the 7 mile tram loop road, plus fire towers, at the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. 

There are other gray socks around the house, so I took some wool yarn and embroidered a little wine-colored granito on the outside edge of each ankle. This is my sock marking method, it keeps pairs together and keeps DH from trying to mash his feet into my littler socks. 

The need for sock marking became clear in 2015, actually, though I didn't act on it until much later. We gave our wash load of sweaty stuff to a nice man at a place we slept for him to run it through the washer. He brought the pile back later and my three identical looking pairs of Injinji gray liner socks were in balls. The next morning I was shocked--hey, the eyes weren't even open yet!--to discover that he'd apparently rolled pairs without realizing that Injinji toe socks come in left and right. I had 2 left socks in my hand. The next ball was 2 rights. It took a bit to wake up enough to cope with this! Later I put a granito of green on both halves of one pair, and red on another. I can't remember if I dotted all three pairs in different colors of yarn or decided that no-dot is also a mark. Later when my navy/white socks got mixed up with DH's black/white same-brand socks, mine got a blue dot on their ankles. Because folding laundry is so much easier when I don't need to stress out about sock matching.

Returning to road trip notes

Hello, everyone.

The last post about the road trip showed the Magdalena Driving Way information sign.

After the drive north on the back roads from Quemado, New Mexico, we took a right on the US highway into Albuquerque.

This was convenient as our hotel was on that side of the city, anyway. Our hotel was also convenient to the Petroglyphs National Monument, which after vigorous city growth is now actually inside of the area of Albuquerque. 

We looked into the site and discovered that it has three walking trail with petroglyphs. (Plus a fourth recreational area with none.) One allows no pets. One only allows pets on the portion of trail that doesn't actually allow viewing of the art. (That seems rather pointless for a traveler that wants to see the art and walk the dog.) The third one is very welcoming to your leashed dog--bring the little bags in case he/she gets the mood to make a deposit alongside the trail--and is also easy to access. 

We parked the vehicle at the little parking lot and headed to the trail. It split very soon and we had to decide whether to go left on the flat sand or right up onto the lava ridge. We went right. (This may be backwards to what a lot of folks do, but it was very much the right thing that day.) 

Walking along the ridge gives a lovely view back toward the city and across to the Sandia Mountains.

The sun was out when we parked the car. The mountains across the way seem to have generated this rain.

This may actually have been from later in the walk--but it does show the view of the Sandias and the oncoming weather.

The weather was why going up onto the ridge first and then returning by way of the mostly-flat sand was so very much the right plan. If the rain is coming, having it hit when you're walking on level sand is infinitely preferable to having it hit when you are trying to descend on a mix of black lava rocks and beige sand.

Our walking companion was also interested in viewing the various plants and rocks. She was very good about staying on the marked path!

Looking back toward the top of the ridge

The way down from the ridge was marked by convenient cables, which were sturdy to grasp if one felt nervous going down the sand and rocks. There were already some petroglyphs to see during the descent. 

There were a lot of petroglyphs to view after reaching the level sand area. In fact, I felt like by walking the less-traveled trail that welcomed dogs we hit the jackpot. There were a lot more petroglyphs to see than we had expected. (No I'm not going to upload every single photo!)

This is a sample of the interesting artwork:

I liked this image of the bird. Is he pulling something out of the water?

The present-day city of Albuquerque has a river. The people who made the petroglyphs seem to have been very interested in water birds, as well as snakes and leaving hand prints and such. 

They made these artworks by using a pebble to chip away the black, weathered surface of the lava stone and reveal the paler underlayer of material. Their art has survived for hundreds of years.

When we saw the first few of the petroglyphs I wondered if this was another way of demonstrating status, based on how difficult the first ones we saw were to reach. Later on we encountered many more that were easy to get at and I had to revise my theory. 

If y'all should find yourself in Albuquerque, this is a very interesting and worthwhile walk. (You can take other interesting walks in the Sandia Mountains on the other side of the city, too, but I think this one is unique.) As far a walking goes, it's not very long (around 2 miles) and the climb is not very great. You can expect to get some good practice at stepping over and around various rocks and then some practice at walking on loose sand. All very good for maintaining conditioning! 

There are no facilities or concessions at this path, but there is a visitors' center which has a flyer with the trail information and a restroom. We understood that there were displays with more information inside the building also, but since we had the pup with us, we moved directly on to walking the trail.

 

Returning to Bentsen Park

 Hello, everyone.

It was a pretty warm day here today, but in the morning it wasn't too bad. We went to Bentsen Park to take a walk and view the birds.

The birdseed feeders were empty, but orange halves had been put up on the fruit boards. Every feeding station was full of birds who were waiting for the chow to come. (They usually feed through the end of February at least.) The first station was full of chachalacas on every branch hoping for the food truck to stop for them. 

At the third feeding station, where the loop joins with the entry road, we saw a sight.

There is a flock of turkeys that lives in the area--wild Rio Grande Turkeys, not loose domestics--and they had come out to the open-area feeding station to look for food. The tom was majestic! With them were also (at least) a dove, an oriole, a kiskadee, and a cardinal. The kiskadee is on the ground by the pole in the first picture. The cardinal is perched on a branch in the second one.

The last time we walked at Bentsen, we had seen just the tom by himself, at this same place. And once before, we had seen the flock at a different feeding station.

It was a pleasant walk today, and we enjoyed watching the turkeys.

A small walk report

 Hello, everyone.

We went for a walk at Bentsen State Park and enjoyed it very much. We went later than usual because the morning woke up very chilly--so it was around 9 am. 

My favorite of the pictures we took (so far) is this shot of the Rosa de Montaña vines near the entrance:

Also it looked like the painted map sign had been redone.

We found a new bird blind (with roof and seating) along the Kiskadee Trail which runs in a straight line and crosses the center loop. (Hiking only, shown as a pink line.) Saw cardinals, titmice, orioles, kiskadee, of course chachalacas and green jays. Also javelinas at the older bird blind hut near the resaca. And a pair of coyotes along the road while driving over there.

The La Coma were in bloom and smelled wonderful. (Yes, for those excessively picky people: "la" is the article. But I think that when using a word from another language there's nothing wrong with going with that language's convention of attaching an article to the front. "Las Tules", anyone? And a lot of people refer to La Coma trees not Coma trees. Which sounds in English like a medical condition: coma. Disambiguation is a good thing.)

It felt so good to walk again. Probably did around 5K but didn't really calculate.