I SURE DO LOVE THE BIRDS OF TEXAS

I have found a lot to love about Texas and one of them is the birds. Texas has birds that live here full time, summer only residents, winter only residents, and birds that just migrate through twice a year. Many of the birds of Texas are larger birds that are truly awesome.

It is great to see special birds but here you will sometimes see huge flocks of them. There are Cranes, Herons, Egrets, Ospreys, Storks, Gulls, not to mention Road Runners and Eagles and over 500 total species of birds!

Why are all these birds here! First because Texas is on the central flyway, one of the major migration routes. Also, the great variety of climates available all drawing different species. There is the Gulf Coast, Piney Woods, Cedar Brakes, Eastern Hardwoods, Prarie, Thorn Forest, and Subtropical to name a few. Toss in a bunch of water both saltwater and freshwater and the birds will love it!

I am jealous, I wish I could fly about this world at will. Maybe I can't do that, but I can live in a migratory fashion! A great friend in Michigan tells me the Sandhill Cranes arrived back there this morning. Those birds have long been a favorite of mine. It is almost time for the Starship to join the migratory flights back to the north country!

SPRINGTIME RAIN & FAIRFIELD LAKE

Texas is getting some badly needed spring rain. Already the grass is green everywhere and the blue bonnets are in bloom along the highways. Gentle rain would be better than these heavy thunder storms, but you gotta take what life throws at ya! This rain will help fill up the resorvoirs and make the coming hot summer more bearable for Texans. Did you know all lakes in Texas except one are man made by creating a dam on a river to hold water? This rain drove me out of a state park on a man made lake known as Fairfield Lake. When the rain is coming down this hard for days, being in a forest near the lake is generally not a good idea. And when the Texas red earth turns to mud, you and your vehicle don't want to be there!

Fairfield Lake is special. It is not big by Texas standards, but has more big fish and birds than you would believe. The secret is that power plant you can see across the water in picture 3. It doesn't look that big from a distance but look at the water tower to the right of the plant in picture 4. That will give you some reference as to the size of the plant. It is an old plant, fired by coal and uses the lake water for cooling. The water gets so hot, that redfish can live here as a freshwater fish and grow to enormous size. If you want to read more about this, here is an excellent article:

http://www.tpwmagazine.com/archive/2006/aug/ed_3/

This may not always be a fisherman's paradise. It seems environmentalists are pushing to shut down the polluting old power plant which would mean the end of the redfish in the lake. So, after this rains stops I plan to go back here for more fishing before that happens!

GDAY MATE HAPPY B DAY TO ME!

Thanks to all who called , txt'd, or emailed a birthday greeting to me today!It is so nice to first have another birthday, and second, to actually show up on multiple people's calenders!

I decided to go fishing on my birthday, so went online and found a state park, Fairfield Lake, that I had never been to before. Six hours of Starship travel on two laners put me there into a super spot on the water on a special lake that has fresh water redfish. These are the fish with a black spot on the tail, and usually you find them as a saltwater fish. Great eating and fun to catch, they hit like a freight train and fight well.

This lake has them as a freshwater fish and the current redfish record here is 36 pounds! Also huge crappie and bass in this lake. You can fish from shore at your campsite with live shad (minnows). If you ever come here take spot 109, second choice take spot 67, both are waterfront sites and fantastic, we are in 109. All state parks have a best spot, come on a sunday afternoon when everybody is leaving and you can have the best spot. Always drive through a park before registering to find the sweet untaken spot.

Texas does a great job with their state parks, here is a link to their site to give you an idea of this park as well as others in the state::

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/fairfield_lake/

Look at this great tree in the park, talk about losing your roots! Just shows a flash flood in Texas can be serious business.

Spanky says walking on the sand inspecting the catch is good back therapy! We may just have to stay here a couple of days!

SPANKY SEEMS BETTER

Wow, lot of calls, emails, & txt from the fan club wondering how Spanky is!

Well he is better so far as in being easier for him to get around and being in less pain, but he still does seem to have a drunken sailor walk on his back legs. This week should show if he is getting better on his own or will need surgery.

I know in my last post when i told you about Spanky needing to be "caged" to prevent jumping, you immediately thought of big iron bars as are used to cage other fierce animals similar to Spanky, like mountain lions's for example!

Not liking all the cages available, we hit a garage sale for this fine pictured model. I don't suspect it was what Fisher Price had in mind, but it works well to keep him from jumping when i am not with him. And let me tell ya, telling a wiener dog not to jump is like telling a fish not to swim!

We are going fishing in the state parks this week and just r e l a x!

SPANKY IN DISTRESS

I am back in Texas and somehow my little buddy Spanky has hurt his back. This can be a very bad thing for a Doxie, as they do have a well known genetic defect in this regard. It seems a high percentage of this breed can have this condition known as IVDD and can result in them being paralyzed.

Spank was in a lot of pain so i found a local vet. I wasn't real happy with him or his advise so did some on line searching. I found that one of the premier surgical facilites for this condition happens to be right here in Dallas. You can find our more about them at http://www.dfwvetsurgeons.com/

We had a exam this morning and will have to see how he does over the next few days of recovery to see if he needs surgery or not. He is on steroids (prednizone) and must be caged to keep him from doing any jumping. A sudden movement during recovery could paralyze him if a disc ruptures. He is not at all happy with this whole deal as you might suspect. Please keep him in your thoughts.

BOON DOCKIN PADRE & MY MOM

Just got the word that my mom has passed away. I was ready for the news and then found out i really wasn't ready at all. The easiest part, is knowing she had a good life, truly loved & missed her mate, and was ready. The hard part, well thats all the rest of it. My mom was the best!

I am boon docking on the beach of the barrier island, South Padre. That is Texas, as far south as you can go on the gulf of mexico. You can park overnight right on the beach, just above high tide line. There is over 100 miles to pick from but a lot of it is 4 wheel drive only. Close to town you see a lot of spring breaker's, but as you go north you can find all the seclusion you want.

I am leaving this morning to drive the 600 miles back to Dallas. Will leave the Starship at CJ's, and Spanky and I have a flight back to Michigan on Monday. Here are a few pictures from this area!

MUSTANG ISLAND

I am spending a few days at Mustang Island state park. This is a beautiful spot on the gulf of Mexico, outside Corpus Christi . To get here, the Starship came across the Aransas pass on a ferry. We were rewarded to have two dolphins playing in the water and guiding the ferry across.

There is good fishing here, large jetty's have been constructed of lots of huge granite slabs placed out into the water. A wide variety of salt water fish can be caught here, today my catch was a mess of whiting which made an excellent meal on the grill.

If you look closely at the 3rd picture, you will see some small dots at the horizon. These dots unfortunately zoom up to picture 4. I can count 25 of these off shore rigs from where I am standing, which i just think is too bad! I didn't see these my last trip through here and i wasn't paying $2 a gallon either. I know it is only a matter a time till a broken pipe, accident, or hurricane causes a major disaster to this natural area.

SPANKY'S FAN CLUB

I want to go on record here that being president of Spanky's fan club is a lot of work! I mean not only scheduling appearances and dealing with fans, but there is fan mail, calls, etc. He doesn't care a whit about money, and it is expensive carting him around the country for his performances.

He is a ham! And he loves a pretty girl. I mean look thru these posts, this 10 pound casanova gets into a girls arms faster than you can say cute wiener. Any of you guys think your fast with the ladies, ha you should watch the Spank at work!

For the most part he isn't so bad. We don't argue much, although we are at the moment. I want to go back to the Ozarks in April trout fishing on the way back up north. He wants to go to the weiner dog races in Buda, tx - same weekend. I keep telling him, dude your 9 years old, you can't win against them young bucks! But there's no telling him anything, when he gets a thought in that little wiener brain of his, nothing else matters.

If you enjoyed this post, or have more fan mail, send a note to paul@amazingone.com