Hot Half Marathon, Bob Suffers - Sun., Nov. 17

After our wonderful cool temperatures earlier in the week, today turned out to be quite warm...to the tune of 88 degrees and high humidity. This weather is not conducive to running marathons or half marathons.

One time when Bob ran a full marathon in Kona, Hawaii (very hot, no shade), he passed out at the side of the road and mobile medics rehydrated and cooled him. He could not finish that marathon.

I called Bob 4-1/2 hours after his approximate start time and there was no answer. He didn't call for quite a while. Because the full marathon passed very close by our RV park, I kept hearing ambulances. Even though the half marathon didn't pass by here, hearing the sirens made me wonder if Bob was okay. If you know me, you know I worry. 

He finally called while I was walking at the Mitchell Lake Audubon Wetlands. (He hadn't taken his phone with him.) Apparently toward the end of the race, Bob was really dragging. After crossing the finish line he had to go to the medical tent for very low blood pressure and dehydration. He was treated with IV fluids and ice packs to his head. They kept him for a while. He was told by medics that quite a few people needed medical care today because of the high temperature and high humidity. Scary stuff. Three years ago, someone died on this course. After relaxing all afternoon, he is fine now.

Around 12:30 p.m. I headed over to Mitchell Lake Audubon Wetlands for a 10K Volksmarch. When I started out, it was hot, but there was a little breeze blowing. However, by the time I walked down the hill and into the trees, no more breeze. It felt almost as hot as a summer day and it was miserable. Not to mention that  spiders must have hatched because I kept walking through single-strand webs. Ugh! I hate spiders.

Today, the ducks were out in force! It's the first time I've seen so many ducks in the polders.

Hundreds of ducks in East Polder.

Explanation of polders.

Northern shrike

American avocet and ducks

Northern shoveler

Blue-winged teal

Cinnamon teal

American avocets eating

Two turtles

Spider with butterfly (?)

Checkered white butterflies mating.

Checkered white butterflies

Checkered white butterflies

When I looked up the above butterflies online, the description said they can only be found in Raleigh, NC. I beg to differ because these two were at the Mitchell Lake Wetlands Audubon Center in San Antonio, TX!!

Turtles on the opposite shore.

Great egrets and American white pelicans.

Snowy egrets

Black-necked stilt and two American avocets

Just plain hot trail.

Weird-looking beetle

Northern shoveler - adult male

Northern shoveler - adult breeding female

Ducks and American avocets

Ducks with small shorebirds.

I was very happy to finish this walk and hop into my car and blast the air conditioner on my way home!

As promised here is a photo of my hair. It's very blonde and very short. She chopped off my sideburns which I wasn't happy about. (Are they called sideburns on a woman??)

Cheesy selfie, but you can see my hair.

Tonight Bob took me out for dessert at Olive Garden as a pre-birthday celebration. I had Black Tie Mousse Cake and he had Chocolate Mousse Seven-Layer Cake. Very decadent.

Tomorrow, I am going to see "12 Years A Slave" with Sharon from our RV park. She's as much a movie buff as I am, so we'll probably be seeing lots of movies together.

Enjoy your week before Thanksgiving. Safe travels everyone.

For the Birds - Tues., Nov. 12

Not working for four days in a row has given me new energy. Three days in a row, I have been walking. Today, I revisited Mitchell Lake Audubon Wetlands a few minutes from our RV park for a 5K (3.1 mi) walk.

I had a late start to my day because I didn't go to bed until late, then the cats woke me up at 4:00 a.m. Long story short, I finally slept until 1:00 p.m. The Audubon wetlands close at 4:00 p.m. I hustled over there by 2:30 p.m. and I had 1-1/2 hours to walk, take photos and leave.

Each time I go to the wetlands, I strive to find different birds, i.e., ones that might be passing through or ones I haven't seen before. Today, I felt lucky to see two new birds for my list: the Northern shrike and the ruddy duck.

A definite cold front is passing through south central Texas. The wind was chilly, but it was a sunny day. I had on a T-shirt, fleece sweater and jeans. The temperature was wonderful for walking. Tonight, however, the temperature is supposed to drop to 34 degrees and there will be a wind chill making it feel even colder. The propane furnace will be running tonight!

Anyway, back to the walk. I enjoy walking in nature so much. The more I do it, the more content I am in my life. Beautiful and interesting scenes keep me going back.

Mitchell Lake Audubon's "office" and gift store.

Take a close look at the bird house below. Does it remind you of the office building above? Pretty cool bird house.

Audubon bird house.

A small bit of fall color: seed pods.

Looks like an invasion of UFOs.

Bird blind

Bird Pond.

Northern shrike - note the hooked upper beak.

Mourning dove.

Least grebe.

I want to hang out here!

American pelicans.

Northern shoveler

American avocet

Great egrets

As I walked (or ran) along, flurries of fritillaries flew up from the bushes beside the trail. In the photo below, I found four fritillaries, one open and three closed. Can you see them?

American avocet eating.

Ruddy ducks - I've never seen these before.

Northern shrike.

Because I love taking photos, I knew 1-1/2 hours wouldn't be enough for my 3.1 mile walk in order to make it back to my car by closing time. Every time I stopped to take photos, I ran for a couple of minutes to make up time. If you know how much I hate running, you will then know that I love taking photos that much more.

I made it back to my car at 3:59 p.m. At home, I had checked the location and time of "Gravity 3D." It started at 4:30 p.m. and I knew I could make it there in time. I hopped in the car and had freeway all the way to the theater. Just before I got out of the car, I was going to grab my credit card so I wouldn't have to fish for it at the ticket window. Epic fail. I forgot to put my credit card or cash in my fanny pack before I went walking. So, no movie today.

Tomorrow, I plan to walk in the morning, see my hairdresser at 1:00 p.m., and meet Bob to set up an account at a Texas credit union. U.S. Bank, where we have banked for years, is not in Texas.

Update: Jim and Peri whose 5th wheel was totaled by the flooding in San Marcos, Texas, now have a new-to-them 5th wheel and are all moved in. That was really quick. They found a used 5th wheel (in almost new condition) in Marble Falls, Texas. Congratulations, Peri and Jim!

Travel Bug out.