Cellphone on a Kite by Steve Coons
Issue 554
Free
The voice of The Island since 1996
The Island Moon
November 27, 2014
Weekly
The Island where every day is Thanksgiving
New Traffic Light on SPID to Get Hearing on Tuesday
Around The Island By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com
By Dale Rankin
We took a hit from three blustery northerns this week but we’re still here. The Weather Wonks predicted 80 mph winds and hail the size of dinosaur eggs but all we got was a bit of brisk air and just enough rain to fill the bar ditches.
A plan to place a new traffic light on South Padre Island Drive at the Aquarius intersection near the base of the JFK Causeway will get a hearing at the Island Strategic Action Committee (ISAC) meeting scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 2, at Comfort Suites on Windward Drive.
Here’s a little tip for Island Weather Watchers…when the Weather Wonks say the wind is going to blow 80 miles an hour for an hour figure 40 mph for thirty minutes. If they say it’s going to rain an inch figure half an inch. In the world of Weather Wonkery it’s much better to spray gloom and doom and be wrong than to underestimate the weather and leave people wading through deep water when they didn’t expect it. The Weather Wonk’s life has so few rewards. Look for the rains to bring back a healthy crop of mosquitos and add a few new steps to the Skeeter Dance. Red polka dots are in for golfers this season as they leave blood spots while doing the Skeeter Dance while out there whacking whitey.
The developers of a $30 million project on the east side of that intersection, including a 101 room hotel and retail sites are scheduled to make a presentation to ISAC members.
The Island in Autumn, photo courtesy of KII
La Posada 2014 Shaping Up to be Biggest Ever Kickoff is Tuesday at Scuttlebutt’s By Dale Rankin The 40th Annual La Posada Lighted Boat Parade festivities begin on Tuesday, December 2, with the kickoff party at Scuttlebutt’s Bar and Grill and culminate with the lighted boat parade on the Main Canal on Saturday, December 13.
There’s a lot going on Around The Island and here is some of it.
Go Hornets! The Flour Bluff Hornets continue to plow their way through the football playoffs. Dotson has the whole story in this issue. Go Hornets!
KIII camera
FREE
La Posada Begins December 2! Full Schedule on A16
In between, eight different events are on tap with the addition this year of the Land Parade on Monday, December 8.
th 0 4 Annual
LA POSADA
Lighted Boat Parade
“Each year we have been adding a new event, and this year we are adding the Land Parade in cooperation with the Yorktown Fire Department,” said Vic Schreck, Commodore of the
La Posada continued on A16
Walter Busby, Managing Partner with Turner Busby Development in San Antonio, is the developer of the project, which is called Packery Pointe Subdivision. Busby said the light is necessary in order to attract the hotel development which is essential to the entire project. “We need the hotel to make the retail development viable,” Busby said, “and we need the light in order to attract the hotel.”
Turner Busby Development developed the 3500-acre Alamo Ranch subdivision in San Antonio, several hotel projects, and Eagle Ford Landing which is a $31 million, 378-unit apartment community on the southeast side of San Antonio. Busby’s partner in the company is Tom O. Turner whose grandfather was the founder of Sigmor and the developer of Sonterra Country Club in San Antonio. Aside from the hotel, Busby said a Starbucks coffee house and other retail developments are planned, along with a small bar/restaurant operation which would be located on the portion of the site which fronts Packery Channel on the east. He said in order for the hotel to be included in the development a traffic light is needed at the intersection of SPID and Aquarius. “We need to have something to slow down traffic in that area,” Busby said. “It will stay green most of the time, but it needs to be there for safety.”
Traffic Light continued on A8
Sports Talk
Flour Bluff Smashes Mission Veterans Memorial Advances to Third Round of Playoffs Next Game Friday at Alamo Stadium
Watch Friday Release Of Cold Stunned Green Turtles By: Donna J. Shaver, Ph.D. National Park Service, Padre Island National Seashore E-mail: Donna_Shaver@nps.gov
KIII Television now has a new beach camera on top of the Holiday Inn which can pan the beach from Bob Hall Pier to Packery Channel. So far the camera is only being used for weathercasts but maybe in the future it will be available to surfers, boaters, and fisherpersons to use to check conditions.
By Dotson Lewis Special to the Island Moon The Flour Bluff Hornets football routed the visiting Veterans Memorial Patriots (Mission, TX), 48-14 in Friday's Area game. The Hornets advanced to the Region IV semifinals of the Class 5A Division I playoffs. They will play the Austin (Leander ISD) Vandegrift’s Vipers at 7:30 p.m. Friday at San Antonio’s Alamo Stadium. Vandegrift is a third-round participant in the postseason for the first time.
It’s a great vantage point from up there.
Turkey bowling This Sunday afternoon marks one of the bittersweet days of the Island calendar. Each year the Back Porch Bar closes for the season but not before defying the laws of gravity. Yes, it is true turkeys can fly; but only for one day of the year when the Back Porch hosts its Turkey Bowl and some lucky soul gets to spend the next year with bragging rights as Turkey Bowler of the Year and gets his/her name on the trophy and a little glimpse of immortality. It’s a great day when the locals line up at the Fowl Line and knock down bowling pins for fun. This year will mark the first year without the Island’s most Infamous Bowler Lighthouse Rick who is the only Turkey Bowler ever known to take out a motorcycle by flinging a frozen turkey over the roof and into the parking lot. Rick has now moved to Nicaragua so there may not be any parking lot action this year but it will be the last hurrah for the venerable Back Porch until next spring when they re-open for the season. It’s an especially sad day for Island dogs who visit with their dog friends while their humans exchange fish stories at the Back Porch. Our favorite story heard at the Back Porch this season was about the fellow who broke his arm in two places. Wow, two places we said. Where? At Shorty’s and the Flats! Now that’s a story friends. Ah well, we look forward to next season and at least we still got the Belt Sander Races. We’ll see you trackside. In the meantime say hello if you see us Around The Island.
Due to a rapid drop in temperatures over the last few weeks many green sea turtles were rescued and rehabilitated by several agencies with much help from volunteers. It is now time to return these sea turtles into the Gulf of Mexico. Members of the public are invited to come watch
the release of about 60 cold stunned green turtles at 2:00 pm on Friday November 28. The release will be held in front of the Visitor Center at Padre Island National Seashore (on North Padre Island), and will be open to the public free-of-charge.
Turtles continued on A6
A Little Island History
It Wasn’t Official – But the First Thanksgiving in America was Celebrated on the South Texas Plains in 1534 By Dale Rankin It wasn’t an official Thanksgiving as there was no such thing yet. It was November, 1534 and four shipwrecked Spanish wanderers making their way across the prairies of what is now South Texas had little to be thankful for – at least until the end of November rolled around and their fortunes began to change.
A Moorish prediction Before 1536 there were 95 Church holidays, plus 52 Sundays, when people were required to attend church and forego work and sometimes pay for expensive celebrations. In 1536 reforms reduced the number of Church holidays to 27 and the Thanksgiving holiday as we now
know it began to take shape. Days of Fasting were called for after the drought of 1611, and for relief from the plagues of 1604 and 1622; in 1588 it was the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and in 1705 the deliverance of Queen Anne, then the failure of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605. These were Protestant celebrations that were foreign and probably unknown to the four Catholic Spaniards who had found themselves washed upon what is now the Alabama shoreline on November 4, 1528. The men had set out from Spain in 1527 to seek their fortune in the New World. On their voyage to Florida by way of Santo Domingo a Moorish woman had predicted that few of the men who went ashore would survive and anyone who did
History continued on A6
Dotson’s note: In order to keep you as up to date as possible as the Flour Bluff Hornets work their way toward the 5A Division I Texas UIL football championship game, the following are reports of the Area games won by the Hornets and the Vipers. Hopefully these reports, gleaned from many sources, will give you in-
depth knowledge as to the way each team plays, thus providing you with information to help you enjoy the game.
Vandegrift Outlasts Lockhart to Win 5A Division II Football Playoff Vandergrift outlasted Lockhart and the weather to storm into the third round of the UIL football playoffs on Saturday. Jamie Hudson accounted for five touchdowns, and a much-maligned defense stole the spotlight as the Vipers posted a 42-13 victory. Vandegrift’s 29-point win in the Class
Football continued on A8
Inside the Moon
Thanksgiving: An Alternative Story By Dale Rankin We all grew up hearing the story of Thanksgiving. You know the one, the Pilgrims suffered through a tough winter with the help of their Native American friends and then threw a big party to celebrate and bang, we got Thanksgiving. Well, that makes for a warm and fuzzy story but that may not be exactly how it went down. Author Richard Zacks in his book “The Pirate Hunter – The True Story of Captain Kidd” tells a slightly different version.
Airtales A9
North Beach in the 40s A12
England 1695 The story begins in England in 1695 when some of the most powerful men in the Empire put financial backing behind the voyage of ship captain William
continued on A5
Live Music A16
A2
Island Moon
VFW Chili Cook-Off
Photos by Ronnie Narmour
Last week a Moon reader asked us if the POD storage units were for private or commercial use. Well the units are in fact being used by United parcel Service to store packages during the holiday season that will then be delivered by golf carts to Island residents. Photo by Miles Merwin
Island Jewelers GO
Don't Sell Your Gold or Silver!
To Island Jewelers
Let's Make Something New Together!
30% Off Catalog Sales! On-Site Repair Watch Repair Watch Batteries Ring Sizing Link Adjustment Starting at $15 Loma Alta Plaza • Next to Scuttlebutts Open Tuesday - Friday 11-6, Saturday 11-5
361-867-8028
Wishing You and Your Family A Most Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving! Padre Island Campus 15205 SPID Ste 200 Join us Sundays at 8:30AM,10:00AM & 11:30AM (Live Satellite Feed at 10:00AM & 11:30AM) WEARECHURCHUNLIMITED.COM DISCOVER THE UNLIMITED LIFE WAITING FOR YOU!
November 27, 2014
November 27, 2014
Island Moon
Moon Monkeys Mike Ellis, Founder
Letters to the Editor Community Center
OTB
Sorry Dale I must have missed something. $2.4 million for a community center? For birthday parties? They must be joking right? My experience with community centers is they get used by 10% of the population 90% of the time. Seems $2.4 million could be used for better purposes. And if it can be constructed without raising our fees or dues maybe we're paying too much. Sounds like money burning a hole in someone's pocket.
The first time someone said I was an "OTB" I thought they were questioning my mother's virtue!
Rick Beekman
Distribution Pete Alsop
Community Center
Island Delivery Coldwell Banker Advertising Jan Park Rankin Classifieds Arlene Ritley Design/Layout Jeff Craft Contributing Writers Joey Farah Andy Purvis Devorah Fox Mary Craft t Christiansen Jay Gardner Chad Peters Todd Hunter Dotson Lewis Ronnie Narmour Brent Rourk Dr. Donna Shaver Photographers
I'm stunned that the POA can approve a 2.4 Million dollar project on the basis of the approval of 30 people who attended a meeting. I saw that there was a meeting to consider it, thought that such a project would take considerable study and hearings, and now read that it seems to be a done deal. What happened to quorums? You can't do a project of that magnitude without truly consulting the property owners. I feel like I've been lied to. I always thought that there was just not enough money to take care of the things that would make this a nice community - cleaning up the trash on the streets and lots, fixing our multiple parks so that they could be used by real people and animals who don't have to deal with stickers, perhaps having true beautification with seasonal plantings, adequate irrigation systems to keep them healthy, gardeners to tend to them rather than rely on volunteers. Who is going to clean this community center? What about liability insurance? Taxes? Where is the study that shows that the residents of the island really want such a center? If we have this kind of money, we should have an effort to determine the priorities of the residents. Susan Comer
Miles Merwin
Water, water, everywhere…
Jeff Dolan Mary Craft Ronnie Narmour Office Security/Spillage Control (Emeritus)
Is it normal to still have so much standing water out here on the island after a little storm like that? It worries me if we ever got a real storm or even storms for a couple of days. We would flood so quickly! Kristen Tate Tomscha Kristen,
Riley P. Dog Editor/Publisher/Spillage Control Supervisor Dale Rankin About the Island Moon
The Island Moon is published every Thursday, Dale Rankin, Editor / Publisher. Total circulation is 10,000 copies. Distribution includes delivery to 4,000 Island homes, free distribution of 3,000 copies in over 50 Padre Island businesses and condos, as well as 600 copies distributed in Flour Bluff, 1,400 copies on Mustang Island and Port Aransas businesses. News articles, photos, display ads, classified ads, payments, etc. may be left at the Moon Office.
The Island Moon Newspaper 15201 S. Padre Island Drive, Suite 250 Corpus Christi, TX 78418 361-949-7700 editor@islandmoon.com Facebook: The Island Moon Newspaper
Where to Find The Island Moon Port Aransas Lisabella’s Restaurant
Sandpiper Condos WB Liquors Port A Arts
Stripes @ Beach Access Rd. 1A
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A Mano
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CVS
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Whataburger
Spanky’sLiquor
Doc’s Restaurant
IGA Grocery Store
Isle Mail N More
Carter Pharmacy
Island Italian
San Juan’s Taqueria
Ace Hardware
Wash Board Laundry Mat
Texas Star (Shell)
Pioneer RV Park
Port A Parks and Rec Public Library
Snoopy’s Pier
Holiday Inn Jesse’s Liquor Scuttlebutt’s Restaurant Subway
Chamber of Commerce
Island Tire
Duckworth Antiques
And all Moon retail advertisers
Back Porch
WB Liquor
Woody’s Sports Center Shorty’s Place
Flour Bluff
Giggity’s
H.E.B.
Stripes @ Cotter & Station
Liquid Town
Gratitude Gift Shop Keepers Pier House Port A Glass Studio The Gaff
Whataburger on Waldron Ethyl Everly Senior Center Fire Station Police Station Stripes on Flour Bluff & SPID
The Island is unique in that we actually have a fresh water lake not more than about ten feet under the surface which floats on a layer of salt water which is at sea level. The water that you see in the ditches is the top of that layer of fresh water. The layer of fresh water is about forty feet thick but only a small portion of it is actually above the salt water layer. The next time you drive into Padre Balli Park notice the two holes that are next to the roadway, they contain fresh (brackish) water that is the top of the fresh water layer. A few weeks ago there were only a few inches of water in them but now there is more than a foot. Many Island gardeners have hand-drilled wells to tap into the fresh water for irrigation. The current design plans for the refurbishment of Billish Park call for a pond to capture the fresh water to use for irrigation. A test well drilled there a few months ago hit fresh, brackish water at about five feet.
Send letters to the editor to editor@islandmoon.com
When I learned they were just saying I lived "Over the Bridge", I decided I would never again admit that I didn't actually live "On the Island" unless they came right out and asked me. I could never hide it for long, though; those islanders recognize each other almost at first glance. They have a certain "Dress casual but don't forget your jewelry "style that the mainlanders have never quite been able to copy. They all seem to have great tans and, somehow, their hair never looks windblown no matter how hard the wind is blowing! (How do they do that?) They mostly just look rested, relaxed, and confident that everything is right with the world - at least their world. Most of them know each other - where everyone else lives, where they're from, what their handicap is and where they went on their last cruise. Many islanders tell me they wouldn't live in Corpus because of the traffic, but they all seem to spend a heck-of-a-lot of time in Houston and Dallas! None of them wants to go OTB any more than is absolutely necessary and if they had a good grocery store I suspect they wouldn't leave the island at all. I can't say I blame them. I grew up on the California coast and spent several years living in Hawaii so I enjoy the casual, stressfree lifestyle, and the real feeling of camaraderie that thrives in that environment. If my husband wasn't such an old fuddy-duddy who swears he will never, never, never-ever move again, I'd be living there now! I guess I'm what you'd call an Island Wanna-be! Well, to each his own. I will say there are some good things in life off the island. There's a lot of shopping over there in non-Island country. We have the college and the symphony. We've got some pretty good live music and, of course, there's Whataburger Field, the Aquarium and the Lexington. There's also that great Marina and all those good restaurants downtown. I guess what it comes down to is we're all pretty lucky, wherever we are in Corpus Christi. I've been all over the USA and lived and traveled in quite a few other countries and I've never found anywhere I liked better - except, maybe, Italy. (And my husband says that's just because I was young and cute and the Italian men had a thing for redheads). So I, for one, say if you are on the Island side of the bridge, and we non-islanders are on the other, isn't it great that we can all enjoy being OTB occasionally? Ms. Wells
Port A Plant Exchange Thanks to all the folks who braved the weather for our Plant Swap and electronics recycling. We were lucky to go all morning with almost no rain. A big thanks to Pam Greene, Colleen McCue, Diana and Glenn Vondra, Sandra Maynard, Joan Snyder, Dave and Peggy Srader, Mike and Darlene Secich, Deno Fabrie, and Betty Newman, as well as city employees Scott and John, for helping run the event, and for all the members and cities who took part. Thank you also to Planeteers: Varsha, Traver, and George, for their help. We filled two big Gaylord boxes with used electronics, collected eyeglasses, cell phones and printer cartridges, and exchanged many plants and books. What wonderful examples of reusing, recycling, and sharing! Thanks to all who work to keep Port Aransas a great place to live! Julie
Letters to Riley DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! I barked as loud as I could. Our village has been invaded by Big Mean Uglys and they have sprayed their disgusting yellow foulness all over the village. Big Mamma came running out trying to see what was bad enough to warrant my battle cry. My bfff(best Fido Furry Friend) that lives across the path came out too. His name is Studley. He calls himself a schit zoo, that sounds really gross to me. But he don’t smell cause I tailpiped him. Then he checks my breath cause his ma read in the Island Moon that i used to eat cat droppings. I hate it when he sticks his face in mine so I show him my sharp teeth and growl and sometimes he makes me yell. Mom gets mad at me. I don’t care. He is rude .i digress again, sorry. Big mamma put on my leash and let me lead the way to find more pruff of the invaders. Studley was watching for traffic and scratching his ear wayyyy tooo long. With that stupid grin on his face.... he drives me to drink. Oh darn it , I will try to focus! At the edge of the yard, in Studley’s yard was a clump of squished up grass with matted up fur and slime.. Ma said "what the heck is that? "So I ran over to perform a cursory olfactory investigation. Mom screamed "Billyjack don’t eat that" Oh my goodness....does she think I will eat anything? Shut up already! Alright..it smelled amazing. The musky hide of a rabbit, with that beautiful pungent smell of vomitus. I will openly admit to everyone except Ma, wanted to taste it sooooo bad. Rabbit tar tar with fresh salt grass and mucus glaze. You are feeling it with me, right? Then the Lovely Roseann(the most beautiful hooman in the whole park) says, as she is bending over in an attempt to get her mature eyes to focus on the culinary delight. "That’s COYOTE leavings" I almost peed on my OWN leg. Never EvER say coyote in front
of your pets. The word alone strikes fear and terror into the heart of all furry friends. Freddy Kruger and Micheal Myers combined are little hello kittys to coyotes.These coyotes are scary dudes. So please watch what you say around your furry family. And Never Take us off our leash even if we beg you and promise you the moon. Never Ever Leave us alone outside. Like Big Mamma says "use the brains God gave ya" . Cause the truth is, they are here and so are we. And I for one Ain’t leavin’. Billyjack Dear Billyjack. Coyotes are nothing to jack with Billyjack. They are natural born cat haters – Stoopid Cats! We can only imagine what it would take to make that coyote upchuck BillyJack. It’s better not to think about that. But there are also other Island dangers that too many humans don’t think about – like the Island canals that can be impossible for dogs to get out of if they fall in. They claimed another of our dog friends this week over on Dasmarinas. You humans don’t leave your dog out on the deck by himself unless he knows about canals and how to get out if he falls in. The same goes for swimming pools. The next danger on the Dog Calendar is Thanksgiving and some humans will be tempted to slip their dog friends some turkey under the table, the turkey is okay but turkey bones are not – no turkey bones for dogs! Also some dogs – especially Chihuahuas – may like spicy food but don’t give it to them. No onions, garlic, chocolate, raisins, grapes, macadamia nuts, the sugar substitute xylitol, and raw or undercooked food can create major problems for pets. Make sure friends and family aren’t sneaking treats to your pets. Poinsettias are also toxic to pets – but really what kind of a dog would eat a Poinsettia? Probably only little yappers – they’ll eat anything. So all dogs have a happy Thanksgiving and stay away from canals, coyotes, and mean humans. And most of all stay away from cats – Stoopid Cats!
Did Ya Hear?
A3
by Mary Craft mkay512@aol.com or @padreeyelander on twitter
New Advertisers Schlitterbahn Beach Country Club Golf Course will host a Toys for Tots Golf Tournament on Saturday, December 13th at 9 am. Registration is limited to 60 players and the fee is $35 for members and $45 for non-members and includes an Italian buffet. You can get $10 off the entry fee with a toy. Call the Tenth Hole Pro Shop at 949-8006 to sign up. Statesboro Revue will be playing at South Texas Icehouse at 6601 Everhart on Friday, November 28th at 10 pm. You will enjoy an evening of great Southern rock music with Corpus Christi native singer/songwriter Stewart Mann. Gratitude in Port A near Beach & Station Street is having a Pink Friday this week and is giving away 200 address/password books. This “most eclectic” shoppe is a fun place to shop for Christmas stocking items. Hanley’s Pool Cleaning Service can keep your pool sparkling. Call 443-6972 for more info.
Business Briefs Island Italian now has happy hour 4 – 6 pm with $2 beer and $2.50 wine. Also, special appetizers that change weekly like spinach and sausage stuffed mushrooms, fried lasagna bites with marinara, and two topping flat bread pizza and poblano bites with ranch dressing. They have live music on Thursdays with John Eric, Fridays with Brian Winfrey, Saturdays with Ruben Limas. Reservations for dinner are recommended call 949-7737. Isle Mail & More has new owners. Scott and Andrea Ford have purchased the business and have some exciting new updates planned. The couple who also owns the Port Aransas Business Center says they are adding many of the services that they offer in Port Aransas like Graphic Design and Printing Services. They are planning to sell much of the merchandise currently there at sale prices during the holidays. La Barataria at Island Moorings Marina in Port A is a great idea for Sunday Brunch with its really, really special and different brunch menu items. They serve eggs benedict over lobster cake and croissant crust, Cajun porridge with grits, Gulf shrimp and bacon bits, French Battard (toast) with bourbon infused whipped cream and Vermont maple syrup and Pofferjes which are Dutch pancakes with drawn butter and fresh strawberries to name a few. A Sunday outing here is a great way to impress your out-of-town guests. The Island Moon Art Walk will be held at Schlitterbahn 10 am – 2 pm on Saturday, December 13 with live music. If you are interested in being a vendor at the event contact jgreer@schlitterbahn. com. The Enchanted Christmas Tree Forest at Funtrackers has a great display of decorated trees and lights donated by local businesses. Bring the kids to enjoy a walk through this wonderland with Santa and Mrs. Claus there to greet them before they exit. It will be held the next two weekends starting Friday, November 28th noon – 4 pm. Mikel May’s Bar & Grill now has happy hour daily from 3 – 7 pm with special pricing on draft beer pints and pitchers, all well drinks and margaritas. They are located on the beach at Bob Hall Pier. Scuttlebutt’s will be the host for the La Posada Toys for Tots Event on Tuesday, December 2rd 5 – 11 pm. There will be live and silent auctions, door prizes and live music. Don’t forget to bring a toy and remember not all the kids are tots. This event is sponsored by the Padre Island Yacht Club. Aunt Sissy’s Kitchen will be closed the month of December for take-out because of all the holiday catering. Island Jewelers next to Scuttlebutt’s can make something new with your old gold or silver jewelry. They now have 30% off catalog sales just in time for your Xmas shopping and best of all you don’t need to go OTB. They also do on site repairs, link adjustments and ring sizing. They are open Tuesday – Friday 11 am – 6 pm and until 5 pm on Saturday. Palmilla Beach Resort & Golf Club in Port A has golf course lots, condos and homes available with beach access and a planned marina access. There are currently 3 -4 bedroom homes under construction from 2504 sq. ft. – 2840 sq. ft. Call 877-2152855 for more details. The Back Porch in Port A will have its last open day of the season Sunday, November 30th with Turkey Bowl. There will be live music this weekend with Jake Ward performing on Friday and Cruise Control on Saturday.
Dearth of Retail Dale, as a comment on your article "Dearth of Retail" just let me say that what we do NOT need out here on The Island are more gas stations, convenience stores, pharmacies, hotels and restaurants. And please, not another Mexican restaurant. But what we DO need is a food store, sorta like a combination of Sprouts and HEB. And, of course, that is very unlikely to happen within the lifetime of anyone reading this. Natch. Robert Danesi
A4
November 27, 2014
Island Moon
Hardcore Camping
The front that blew through overnight Sunday pushed water to the dune lines and made beach conditions challenging to say the least. But as always a few intrepid souls, the hardcore folks who tough it out not matter what stuck to their campsites in the county campground and on the county beach. From those about to freeze we salute you! Never say die!
Turkey Bowling
5th Annual after Thanksgiving Sale 20% Off Store-wide
Parks and Wildlife Looking for Illegal Fishing Suspects
Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Nov. 28, 29, 30
Friday, 10am-7pm Sat. 10am-6pm Sun. 11:00am-5pm
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the U.S. Coast Guard are currently investigating multiple cases involving illegal fishing activities along the Texas/Mexico Border. These activities include illegal long lining, gill netting, crabbing, hoop netting, shrimping, etc. The Gulf of Mexico, Rio Grande River, Falcon Lake and
Amistad Lake are include in the affected areas. These acts of illegal and unreported fishing adversely affect both the recreational and commercial fishing industries. Any information related to such illegal fishing activities should be reported to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department or the U.S. Coast Guard.
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now available for sale
available homes currently under construction 877.215.2855
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palmillabeach.com
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137 Sunrise 4 bedroom 4.5 bathrooms 2,504 sq ft
3628 Island Moorings Parkway
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Please contact our Welcome Center for more details on these homes or available homesites.
Port Aransas, Texas 78373
We are in compliance with Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. We have not, and will not, either directly or indirectly, discriminate against you or any other prospective purchaser on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. This is not an offer to sell, or solicitation of offers to buy condominium units in states where such offer of solicitation cannot be made.
November 27, 2014
Island Moon
Stuff I Heard on the Island
News from your POA By Maybeth Christensen There have been several people who have asked questions about the planned Community Center on the MOON’s Facebook page. Dale asked that I respond to the questions in my column. Several folks said they had “never heard about a meeting.” I wrote about it in my column several times. We also sent out an email blast a week before the meeting. In addition, I know one of our Board members did an announcement on Facebook as well as several other people I know who were interested in seeing it built. So, I guess I can only encourage folks to read the MOON and call our office to add your email to your record. There were questions about competitive bidding and hiring contractors who will take their money off the Island. The building committee sent out a request for qualifications to several architects. They were asked to submit their information and proposal. The committee used a scoring system and chose to go with a “design/build” contract. This is different than a design, bid, build concept but the committee felt the proposal scored the highest and decided to proceed. The various “wants” for a community center which were gathered at our annual meeting in March were given to the design team to incorporate into the building. A pool was not included because of the high maintenance cost. Tennis courts are park amenities, not part of a building. The outdoor restroom will not be open 24 hours a day. We already have had problems with the port-a-potty being a “great” place for some of your young residents to smoke dope, etc. So, we are well aware of how it needs to be designed and maintained.
by Dale Rankin We already have had problems with the port-a-potty being a “great” place for some of your young residents to smoke dope, etc. The Board is planning to finance the construction of the building rather than take the money from the investment account. Early numbers indicate we earn more on the investments than what the financing interest will be. It makes sense to finance. We continue on the program to repair our bulkhead caps. The year before I started this job, we did not have the money to keep our contractor busy for the entire year. We now have him working thru the whole year. He does take a couple of weeks of vacation for his workers, but he works about 50 weeks. The fees were set by a change in the covenants. The Board does not have the ability to change the fees. As far as knowing the maintenance costs, as the design is better defined, we will be able to determine those numbers. The new facility is not a “party place.” We expect our residents will find all kinds of ways to utilize the facility as they have already told us many of their needs. The redo of Billish Park is a City project. The POA has been working with the City and feel we have a good plan which will make the park a wonderful place without stickerburrs! The project has been delayed due to the death of the landscape designer who the City had under contract. We expect a replacement contract to be in place shortly so the final design can be completed and the project started.
Congress: Repeal the Medicine Cabinet Tax Taxing Over the Counter Drugs Costs Americans Billions: NCPA – Repealing federal and state sales taxes on over-the-counter, nonprescription drugs could save Americans more than $2 billion dollars a year, reduce unnecessary office visits, and curb national health spending, according to a new study by National Center for Policy Analysis Senior Fellow Devon Herrick.
Considering the immense benefits of convenient access to nonprescription drugs, it makes little sense to erect barriers to their use
With the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Congress essentially put an additional tax on over-the-counter (OTC) drugs by making them ineligible for reimbursement through programs like health savings accounts. Prior to the passage of the ACA, account holders could use pretax dollars to purchase OTC drugs, resulting in significant savings on medication. For example:
significantly less expensive than prescription drugs, with just 1 percent of health spending going towards OTC drugs each year. Many OTC drugs are $10 or less and will last for months. By contrast, the average price for a name-brand prescription was $268 in 2011, compared to only $33 for a prescription filled with a generic drug.
• A middle-income family may face a marginal tax rate of 25 percent, a payroll tax of 15.3 percent, and possibly a state and local tax of 5 percent. • Thus, if an individual can use his pretax income to purchase OTC medication, he escapes that 45.3 percent tax. • This so-called Medicine Cabinet Tax costs Americans $400 to $500 million in additional taxes each year. While most Americans think of hospitals, doctors, and prescription drugs when discussing medical care, many overlook the importance of inexpensive, OTC drug therapy. OTC drugs are
According to Herrick, OTC drugs would save Americans nearly $5 for every $1 spent on a nonprescription drug by not having to schedule physician visits. “Considering the immense benefits of convenient access to nonprescription drugs, it makes little sense to erect barriers to their use,” says Herrick. “Congress and the states should repeal taxes on nonprescription drugs. The benefits (and cost-savings to the health care system) will far exceed the foregone revenue.” The National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research organization, established in 1983.
For some reason Thanksgiving is one of those holidays that conjures up memories that are well, unique to Thanksgiving. Halloween is wild and wooly, Christmas is warm and fuzzy, Thanksgiving is quirky and not long after the last turkey leg is consumed family members start looking for ways to sneak out to the watering holes to watch the last football game with friends who done the same thing. You all know it’s true.
An angry woman or a burned up engine It started early this week when Ronnie called the office in My Hair Is On Fire mode. “I’m stuck at the airport man, you got to come get me!” Then he told me a story about a broke down car. Seems he was driving a friend to the airport when somewhere about Ayers Street he heard a pop from under the hood and pretty soon smoke is coming out or every crevice of the car. So he’s making his way down the highway weighing the pros and cons of an angry woman who missed her flight against the very real possibility of burning up the engine in his car. By the time he got to the departure lane at the airport he’s starting to feel a little bit like Dick Van Dyke and his car is right out of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. While there are any number of places about our fair city where you can pull in with a car blowing a cloud of smoke without arousing suspicion at the front door of the airport is not one of them. If you show up at the airport with a smoking car or a smoking shoe, or a smoking anything else for that matter it’s going to draw attention. Ronnie’s passenger jumped and ran and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang limped his smoking way past security to Long Term Parking where he made it as far as the Handicapped space where his car squatted down and died. Now under suspicion by at least two federal agencies and in danger of a Handicapped Parking violation he called the Word Factory seeking salvation. His Thanksgiving was that he escaped the airport without coming under federal indictment. A very good thing to be thankful for indeed.
Old Tipper can flush ‘em! When I was a kid every Thanksgiving my family would go to my grandparent’s house in Sayre in the wilds of far west Oklahoma and go quail hunting. Of all the types of hunting that my dad involved me in during my youth quail hunting was my favorite because you didn’t have to get up before dawn and it didn’t involve laying on your back in a maize field covered with a burlap bag (geese); wading through icy winter water and shivering in a blind (duck); sitting in blind waiting for sunup and shivering (deer). When stalking quail in the wilds of Oklahoma you start well after sunup and walk them up. I always thought of quail hunting the way Winston Churchill thought of golf – a nice walk ruined. But my grandfather had a “hunting” dog that
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didn’t answer to the name of Tipper. In fact it was commonly believed that the reason Tipper was called a hunting dog was because when you called him you had to go hunt for him. But for whatever reason my grandfather was convinced that Tipper was the best quail dog to ever draw dog air. Tipper was a square-headed Heinz 57 without a lick of bird dog in him but I’ll say one thing for him, he could flush birds. He would go abounding through the sage barking and wagging his tail until he flushed every quail in six counties – every one of them about fifty yards out of shotgun range. Over the many Thanksgivings we must have walked a hundred miles of the backwoods of Oklahoma and flushed every quail there; all flushed by Tipper about fifty yards out of shotgun range. If we got off a shot it was from pure frustration and increasingly in Tipper’s direction. Finally one Thanksgiving my father managed to lock Tipper in the tool shed and we set off with our new hunting dog Sadie, an Irish Setter wearing a new set of rubber boots guaranteed to stand up to the nastiest sandbur the wilds of Oklahoma had to offer – which they did. She flushed the first covey of quail right in front of us and we dropped two of them then stood and watched as Sadie, deathly afraid of the sound of the shotguns, ran full gallop back to the tool shed where she forced her way in the door and out came Tipper who disappeared into the underbrush howling and flushing a sky full of quail – all about fifty yards out of shotgun range and the hunt was over. I could see that my father was itching to fill Tipper’s backside full of #8 shot even as my grandfather shouted, “Just look at old Tipper flush those birds. He can find birds even where there aren’t any!” I was thankful that we made it back to the house without having to pick any #8 buckshot out of old Tipper’s backside. A very good thing to be thankful for indeed.
Island Thanksgiving One Thanksgiving I went to the home of a nice elderly lady in Alamo Heights who I had never met at the invitation of a friend. They fussed and picked over that turkey discussing the right amount of cooking time, spices, heat, and a dozen other culinary details getting everything just so. Then out came my friend Phil carrying the luscious bird on a silver tray and just as he got to the table that bird rolled off onto the plush pile carpet and just laid there like a burned offering to the gods of floor covering while we all said nothing as Phil rolled it back onto the tray and we all bit through our lips to keep from laughing as thanks was given then we checked for dog hair before we took every bite. Now this Thanksgiving my father, my grandfathers and grandmothers, and my uncles are no longer with us, but as some family members and friends have gone on we have added new ones and the extended family, and my mother who is now a new Island resident, will celebrate this Thanksgiving at our home here on our Island. Everyone have a good Thanksgiving. A very good thing to be thankful for indeed.
Kidd continued from A1
Kidd whose mission was to put to sea and raid the ships of England’s enemies for plunder and profit. Four-fifths of the cost for the venture was paid for by noble lords, including the Earl of Orford, the Baron of Romney, the Duke of Shrewsbury, Sir John Somers, and Lord Richard Bellomont a tall, gout-ridden, sixty-year old Irish aristocrat who was heir to a baronetcy in Ireland but broke. Bellomont managed to bring King William III of England into the project and Kidd was presented with a letter of marque, signed personally by the King which reserved 10% of Kidd’s captured loot for the Crown, and subsequent historical evidence suggests that the King may have even fronted some of the money for the voyage himself. At the time, Bellomont had secured an appointment as Governor of Massachusetts Bay in the New World and was looking to add the governorships of New York and New Hampshire to his resume in hopes of garnering a combined salary of 1800 pounds a year and to reverse his falling fortunes, which he eventually did.
Scheming governor Kidd did indeed put to sea but when he found the pickings of foreign vessels too slim for his liking he was accused, subsequent historical evidence also casts doubt on his guilt, of instead raiding ships belonging to the English East India Company which did not win him any friends in Jolly Old England. Kidd was subsequently arrested in New England where by this time Bellomont was in fact Governor. Charges of piracy were brought against Kidd and he was clapped in irons. Bellomont, while scheming to get his hands on part of Kidd’s loot, was also scheming to keep himself from being blamed for bringing King William into a pirating adventure which could have landed him in the Tower of London or worse. Battling fits of gout with visions of being drawn and quartered made for a chilly October in Boston town for the scheming governor.
October thanks Boston at the time was under the staunch ecumenical spell of father and son ministers Increase and Cotton Mather whose beliefs were far enough on the conservative side that Bostonians didn’t celebrate Christmas based on the belief that is was a pagan holiday. Since the 1660s ministers and governors in New England had been singling out various fall days in October for a thanksgiving, usually based on the harvest season for the local crops. The day of thanksgiving varied by region according to the ripening of the local harvest and in the northeastern portion of the continent that was always in October. But as Governor Bellomont wrung his hands and pondered his uncertain future in Boston he had little to be thankful for until the middle of October when a letter arrived by ship from England. When he opened the letter he learned that Parliament had given orders to the Admiralty to send a ship to Boston to bring Captain Kidd back to England to stand trial. Immediately, instead of facing trial for making the King a financier of a piratical
cruise Bellomont now would be absolved of any guilt, which would now fall exclusively on the woebegotten Captain Kidd, and in fact the Right Honorable Governor Bellomont would be entitled to any of Kidd’s loot that he could find.
Oh Thanksgiving! If ever there was a man with a reason for giving thanks it was Governor Bellomont. He decided that all his loyal subjects should share in his joy and in his jubilation on October 23, 1695 declared that then and forever more the last Thursday in November of each year would be the day of giving thanks for the good fortune that had befallen him; no Tower of London, no drawing and quartering. Thanksgiving for all!
A gouty Lord and a burnt rope His euphoria didn’t last long. The very next day the ship St. Antonio which Bellomont had dispatched to the island of Santa Catalina in what is now the Dominican Republic sailed into Boston Harbor and presented him with a burnt rope, called a “bass cable”, that had once been attached to the treasure Kidd had left there. The rope ended at the water’s edge and had been burned asunder by another pirate who knew of the treasure and sailed off with it. The gouty lord was left to sit in Boston and finger his burnt rope and think of the treasure that might have been. On the positive side, Americans got the Thanksgiving Holiday followed by Black Friday. Captain William Kidd was convicted in a show trial in London then hauled through the streets in a cart from Newgate Prison to the banks of the Thames River in Wapping to be hanged. Along the way he was informed of the death of Governor Bellomont and celebrated in a pub so that by the time he reached the Execution Dock was drunk as, well, as a drunken sailor. He proclaimed his innocence as the floor under him fell away but his bad luck was not over. The rope around Kidd’s neck broke leaving him dazed and sprawling to the ground as he looked up at his three companions on the gallows and saw his fate; he was lifted back up and ten minutes later told the clergyman present, one Paul Lorrain, to send his love to his wife and daughter back in New York, saying that his greatest regret “was the thought of his wife’s sorrow at his shameful death.” Nonetheless the clergyman Lorrain rushed to the printer where he published the “deathbed confession” of the notorious captain which immediately sold 5000 copies in London. Kidd’s body was left hanging until the waters of Thames washed over it three times before it was removed and carried twenty-five miles down the river to Tilbury Point where the river meets the sea where it was hoisted in chains on an oak gibbet to be “plainly seen” by all the ship traffic going in and out of London. For the luckless Kidd there was little to be thankful for, but today 319 years later we still celebrate the holiday that his exit from America engendered from a gouty governor with a burnt rope instead of a treasure.
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November 27, 2014
Island Moon
Home for the Holidays
History continued from A1 survive would be blessed by God who would perform great miracles through them. By November of 1534 the four survivors had arrived on the Isle of Misfortune and had little to be thankful for other than their simple and unlikely survival. They talked with a “click” On the blustery night of November 4, 1528 a group of Karankawa Indians were huddled around the hearths of their open-sided wigwams on the Isle of Misfortune sheltering from the violent storm which was upon them. As they had always done they migrated to the Texas Coast each fall, leaving behind the long hot summers of the upland river valleys where they ate fruits and seeds and hunted the bison. They came to the barrier Islands, now called Galveston, Mustang, and Padre, where fish and cattail roots would keep them fed through the season of the Blue Norther. The Karankawas had seen passing Spanish ships on the horizon but they were now about to come face to face with the Spaniards for the first time. The Karankawas were later described by the Europeans as tall and angular people, unlike the builds of the squat, thicker Indians they would later encounter inland. Little is known of the Karankawa culture as they left little behind in the way of structures or writings. Their unusual appearance and the peculiar “click” which was part of their language and was also peculiar to the tribes of the African shore has lead modern linguists to speculate that their origins may have been from that part of the world. Their origin is still the subject of speculation. As the storm abated the Karankawas set about their business; the men inspected fishing traps set along the Laguna Madre, others waded out with their bows ready to shoot the large black drum and sheepshead that came to shelter in the calm shallows. The women searched for fresh water and uprooted the tubers which the tribe ate for their starch, and searched the beach for driftwood for fires. It was there they first sighted something rising and falling with the sea as it came closer to them and their shore. It was a boat much larger than the canoes they knew and the children were dispatched to tell the men of the approaching boat which by now they had realized was filled with men.
The first Thanksgiving Now, six years later, in November of 1534 only four of the original shipload of men ad survived to make their way to South Texas. Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado, and an black Moroccan Berber slave named Esteban (later called Estevanico) who had made the Atlantic crossing in bondage, had seen much hardship and suffering at the hands of the elements and the cannibalistic Karankawa. They were trying to get to the Spanish settlements in Mexico. The four had survived thus far by making themselves valuable to the Karankawas along the coast by gathering wood and performing whatever task they could find to stay in the good graces of their captors. Six years of living among the Indians left them little but their survival to be thankful for but had taught them a few things about life among the Karankawas and their roles had eventually evolved to that of shamans whose charms were valuable to the primitive coastal peoples. Cabeza de Vaca’s account of his journey, Shipwrecks, would later fascinate Europe. It told stories of shamanism, miracles, and how the four survivors became the first celebrities of the New Word, celebrated from the Indian campfires of the Texas plains to the court of the Spanish King. How it came to be should be regarded as cause for the first Thanksgiving story of the New World.
The season of the tunas Castillo and Esteban, who were kept together among the Iguace band of the Tonkawa Indians, began to work as “doctors” among the Indians as early as 1533. De Vaca did the same among the Karankawas with whom he lived. The American Indians, unlike their Spanish visitors who were fresh off the Inquisition, were tolerant of other belief systems and were inclined to incorporate other religious practices into their own. The Indians found comfort in the incantations and rituals which the Spaniards brought with them from their training in the Catholic Church. Their acceptance as shamans was helped by the long blonde beards of the Spaniards and the “sunburned” skin of Esteban which made them mysterious to the Indians. Each year in the late summer the scattered bands of the Karankawas gathered in the area just south of the Nueces River. Their daily wanderings took them from the mainland to the island in search of food, but as the days grew shorter they migrated to the inland prairies in search of the ubiquitous prickly pear cactus which grew there. It was during this time of year when the tunas fruit of the prickly pear ripened to a bright red and became the staple of the Indian diet. “It was the best time of year for these people,” Dorantes later told the Mexican Audiencia. “For, although they have almost nothing else to eat other than these prickly pears and a few snails they search for, they fill their bellies day and night. That makes them very happy, because for the rest of the year they waste away from hunger.”
The first Thanksgiving It was also the only time of year when the four Spaniards who lived apart, got to see each other and in the Prickly Pear Season of 1533 they had begun to plan their escape. Now in autumn of 1534 it was now time to move. As the new September moon waxed they bided their time until its full face would shine its light on the trails they would follow to the place of rendezvous they had agreed on. The tunas season was winding down but would provide sustenance for the four as they fled their captors. As the four men gathered they made their decision. “And so, Oviendo recorded, “believing that it were better to do their duty as Christians and as noblemen, which each of them was, than to live like godless savages, they entrusted themselves to Our Lord” and fled. “And Jesus Christ in his infinite mercy guided them, showing them the paths they should follow, while God tamed the wild hearts of the indomitable savages.” As so it was they rushed headlong into the brush country of South Texas with no idea of where they were going or how they would get there. With fear driving them forward at the end of the first day of their journey Oviedo later recorded, “It pleased the Mother of God that the very same day at sunset, they came upon some Indians of the kind they had hoped for. They were very gentle and although they had heard something of the Christians, they know nothing of how badly we had been treated. This was a very good thing from the point of view from a bunch of sinners.” By now the end of November was approaching and the three Spaniards and the former slave were free of their captors and headed out across the South Texas flatlands. They had plenty to be thankful for in what history will record was almost one hundred years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock and was in fact, the first Thanksgiving in North America – if not in record at least in deed.
Next issue: The wanderers become the first celebrities in the New World.
Turtles continued from A1 Currently, favorable weather conditions are predicted. If the forecast changes and we experience cold temperatures later this week, we may need to postpone the release. We encourage you to periodically check our Facebook pages; https://www.facebook. com/nps.pais.seaturtles or https://www.facebook.com/nps.pais. You can also find out more by calling our recorded Hatchling Hotline (361-949-7163) for the latest information on the release.
Editor’s note: Our friend and long-time Islander Mindy Niles passed away last year. In spite of a life-long battle with heart disease Mindy never lost her optimism, love of life, and most of all her sense of humor. Mindy was a great friend of Mike Ellis and his Island Moon and she left us this story of a Thanksgiving long ago which we are proud to publish here in her memory.
To attend, follow park road 22 out to Padre Island National Seashore. Drive approximately two miles past the entrance station to the Malaquite Visitor Center and park there. Walk through the visitor center complex to the boardwalk and proceed down to the beach, this is where the release will be conducted.
We miss our friend. By Mindy J. Niles Thanksgiving. Ok, ok, ok, I suppose I should begin to categorize all that I am thankful for which, I might mention, is no slight undertaking. Having exactly nine days to complete the task I better get started.
Representatives from the park and other organizations involved in the rescue and care for these turtles will be present and will provide information and instructions about the release starting at 1:30 pm. Park entrance fees will be waived for people attending the release.
Not wishing to bore the Reader anymore than usual I am not going to list either alphabetically or chronologically all the blessings bestowed on me in the past year or worse, in my life. Instead, a single momentous memory.
Cold stunning background Sea turtles are reptiles and cannot control their body temperature. They are ectothermic, meaning that their body temperature fluctuates with their surrounding temperatures. When air and water temperatures dip, sea turtles become less active, and when they plummet rapidly during the passage of strong cold fronts, they can become immobilized and float to the surface. They bob at the surface or wash ashore with prevailing winds. If these helpless turtles are not found rapidly, they can be killed by boat strikes, predation, or exposure to the elements. Fortunately, the prognosis is excellent for those that are quickly located and transported to rehabilitation facilities. .
While pondering a subject suitable to write about, something that might include at the least an insinuation of Thanksgiving, a vivid memory popped into my cavernous cranium that just won’t let go.
Green, dark, and gelatinous It was green, slick, and gelatinous, like moss on a Kansas farm pond in August. That would have been an excellent alternative locale; however I found this less than delightful vision on the dining table. On Thanksgiving, at a friend’s grandparents home. Folks kind enough, generous enough to include me in their celebration of the season. I guess it was a celebration.
This month, nearly 200 cold stunned turtles have been recorded in Texas. About 75% of these were found in the Upper and Lower Laguna Madre. All were green turtles except for one Kemp’s ridley and one loggerhead.
Gross. That was the only word to describe it, and at the time, that was the expletive of choice of the “in crowd”. I wasn’t even sure what it was, but I was soon to discover it was dressing (stuffing) AND it was supposed to look like that.
Nearly all cold stunned turtles are located in the bays, estuaries, and passes. The relatively shallow waters there cool rapidly, and the turtles residing there become immobilized and trapped. The species and numbers of turtles found during these events are dependent on the turtles that remain in these areas during the late fall and winter.
At first thinking that someone made a major faux pas`, it didn’t cross my mind that I would be forced to mind my manners and EAT some of it. It did come to pass, and what appeared to be awful sludge from the bottom of some old witch’s cauldron found its way onto my plate. (I should turn Fear Factor onto that stuff, it would rank right up there with live slugs or blood worms.)
In Texas, cold stunning affects nearly exclusively green turtles. Green turtles are herbivorous and feed on the algae present on jetty rocks and the lush sea grasses in our Texas bays. Cold stunning also occurs elsewhere in the U.S. For example, this month about 900 cold stunned Kemp’s ridleys have been located on the shores of Cape Cod Bay in Massachusetts. Kemp’s ridleys predominate in that bay. Kemp’s ridleys are primarily crab eaters and crabs are plentiful there.
Worse, I had thought it so “cool” to go somewhere besides my own family’s home for the feast. Nobody got out of that command performance, and I don’t know how I pulled it off that time. Never asked again.
Broken thermostats
Thanks to the hard work of many people, all but 8 of the cold stunned turtles found in Texas this month were rescued alive. Live turtles were taken to rehabilitation facilities to slowly warm and recover. Most found in our area were taken to the ARK. After receiving great care there, most quickly recovered and are ready for release. Most found alive in the Lower Laguna Madre were taken to Sea Turtle, Inc. on South Padre Island. Those also fared well and were released in the Gulf surf earlier this week.
I admit it was the boyfriend of the week whose family I enjoyed that year. The house was about 110 degrees inside, as they were older and their body thermostats were most likely broken. That’s what I deduced at the age of 19. Now, my house is about 100 degrees, and I know my thermostat is assuredly deteriorating just as theirs was those many years ago. The green sludge tasted just as bad as it looked, but it slid down like an oyster on the half shell. No chewing, didn’t dare. The green I discovered was sage, which I also discovered, I don’t like. There was ham and a small turkey, and some mashed up orange mush which I had never experienced. Sweet potatoes, but mashed, and no marshmallows on top. At my house they were having marshmallows. There were no bread plates, and no salad forks, no centerpiece and no flowers, and no real whipped cream either.
In collaboration with state and federal officials, we release cold stunned turtles in the south Texas Gulf of Mexico surf. This allows the turtles to disperse into warmer Gulf waters further offshore or south of our area. This helps ensure that they will not become trapped in the bays and affected by cold stunning again this winter. Release is important to maintain health of the turtles. Release of these healthy turtles also frees space in the rehabilitation facilities so that there is room for severely injured turtles and new arrivals found during subsequent cold stunning pulses.
Tupperware trouble After the family ate, the men retired to a den that was lighted by lamps, while the windows were covered with air raid curtains. They read the paper and drank coffee in the hot, close room, and spoke not a word to each other. Women folk retired to the kitchen where they argued over which Tupperware to use for leftovers, each speaking over the other using volume for leverage. It was a tiny room with metal cabinets and a small aluminum breakfast set with a bright red top. It was a trip, as they say.
Cold stunning began in Texas on November 13, which is nearly two weeks earlier than last year. The cold stunning event of 2013-2014 extended intermittently for more than three months and involved more than 1,000 turtles. We hope that there are not any more bouts of cold stunning this winter, but this remains to be determined. Each time that the temperatures dip into the 40s, we will send crews of people to search for more affected individuals. However, reports from the public are also vital. Please continue to watch for and report cold stunned sea turtles. If you find one (dead or alive), please call 361-949-8173, ext. 226 (business hours) or 361-876-8462 (after hours) if you are at/ near the Upper Laguna Madre and North Padre Island. If you are at/near Corpus Christi Bay and Mustang Island, call the ARK at 361-749-6793 (business hours) or Tony Amos at 361-442-7638.
My Mother always believed that “travel was the best education”….. better than school even, which often resulted in exciting adventures in other cities, and exposure to other cultures. This trip however, was within 30 miles of home and was one of the most educational experiences of my youth.
Blessings found
Thank you
How I missed my Grandparent’s home that day, and the family that gathered round the beautiful Duncan Phyfe table set for fourteen. There would be silver candlesticks with long white tapers, flowers and linen napkins and sometimes individual salt servers. A gorgeous turkey brimming with dressing (that I recognized as such) along with Waldorf salad and too many pies to count.
We thank the hundreds of people that have helped search for, rescue, document, transport, rehabilitate, and release cold stunned turtles in Texas. Thank you to the staff and volunteers from various groups that aided. We also thank duck hunters, anglers, and other citizens that spotted and reported cold stunned turtles. Working together we have saved the lives of hundreds of green turtles this year.
How I had taken for granted the wonderful environment I had been fortunate enough to enjoy all of my life. It wasn’t the ornamentation that made the difference. (Although I must admit it added to the ambience.) I think it was in the genes. I have no doubt that some of you are thinking I must be a real spoiled brat, and some would probably agree with you. (There is no age limit to being a brat!) BUT, I will tell you that I just didn’t realize how well I had it. The fact that my family didn’t argue, there was no fighting and that we laughed, a lot, had way more to do with the enjoyment of the day than the accoutrements. Well, and the dressing. I was and still am so VERY thankful for the family I have been given (which now consists of as many friends as it does those genetically associated.) This year I wouldn’t care if I ate on the front porch, as long as I had the company of my friends and family. Well, at least as long as they don’t serve green sludge.
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November 27, 2014
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Island Moon
Backwater Adventures By Joey Farah Farah’s Fishing Adventures After living here most all my life I am still reminded of how lucky I am to call Padre’ Island my home, perhaps more than most since I am in the outdoors every day. This is why I enjoy writing these weekly articles hoping to remind a few souls to take a moment and look across the water and count our blessings. I enjoy and feel lucky to have the opportunity to touch so many, and guide them to some of the best days of their lives. Each of us here along the coast should take a few moments, as well as grab someone’s hand and share a sunrise or sunset. Perhaps put some of the first footprints along the Ocean at first light. Slow down and smell the wind, void of smog and dust that fill large cities. Listen to the waves roar in the night and the wind blowing the palms, so much nicer than distant sirens and trains. We are blessed to have settled here in a place that holds so many of the world’s dreams and memories, from travelers across the globe. Thank you for all of your support and friendship over the years, get your feet wet!
More Than a Turkey
You may remember seeing her with a big Packery flounder now she is hitting the drum hard too! Baffinshads. a VERY small circle hook with a small piece of peeled shrimp. You will catch them on the shrimp, but what you really want is a perch or something to use as cut bait. Filet the fish and cut it into small squares, the size of your finger nail. This is what you will catch most of your whiting, sand trout, and croakers on. There is no limit size or number on these three species. They make the best fish fry fillets on the planet. The break waters along the Ferry Landing in Port A, the pier at Charlie’s Pasture, the jetty across from the Coast Guard station, Horance Caldwell Pier, and the big jetties casting towards the beach side are the hot spots in Port Aransas. On North Padre’ fish the Packery Channel in any area along the Intracoastal Canal, the Boat Hole, under the JFK Bridge, The piers under the JFK are on fire. The Marker 37 Marina Pier is going off during the morning hours for flounder and some nice reds along the edge on finger mullet. This is an easy one, buy a half dozen live finger mullet, they will stay alive for almost an hour in a bucket. Hook them in the nose and fish the drop off along the edge of the pier. Then under the lights at night the sand and speckled trout are everywhere chasing shrimp. Take some time this week to get out and wet a line, bring a friend or loved one, or better yet a gang of kids and enjoy why we live here on the Island. We are all guests to our MOTHER LAGOON AND PADRE’ ISLAND.
Soft Plastics are Working Best in The Flats
Giant 48 inch Baffin Bay Reds, captain Allan Siffard Packery Channel Well the colder water has subsided the populations of pin perch that have been keeping anglers from using shrimp most of the time. Now with the colder waters and winter settling in fish the area with live and dead shrimp. The large school of resident black drum that live between the flats close to Packery and in the channel are HUNGRY. They will be following their nose and looking for food as winter approaches. The black drum are in the deeper parts of the channel, when boat traffic comes through it drives the schools towards the bank. Live shrimp works best most of the time, but when it gets very cold I like to head and peel the fresh live shrimp down to a tender easily eaten bait. Adding additional smell is key to consistency right now. If they can smell it it’s going to get eaten, I use PRO CURE scents from Marker 37 Marina. For my live and dead shrimp I use the SHRIMP and CRAB flavors. When I am on the water using soft plastics I turn to the MULLET and MANHADEN to entice strikes. Any questions about if it works will be answered when you hide it in your pocket and keep it away from your fishing partner. You will out fish them guaranteed. I see a big difference, it is a petroleum based product that stays on your bait for a long time. I’d like to share some other helpful hints to doing well in the Packery and Port A areas this week so many of you with a few days off can get out and tighten your lines. Fishermen should be using a Carolina Rig with a slip weight on the main line to a swivel, then a length of leader line to the hook. This increases the amount of sensitivity over pre-made leaders. The length of leader should vary on the species and aggressiveness of the bite. A short leader of 12in should work best for trout and whiting, a longer leader will allow drum and reds take the bait without feeling you. Trout strike the bait, while drum and reds often suck the bait in and out a few times before they commit to eating it. Circle hooks are by far your best bet, #2 and #4’s are my favorite sizes. I use the #2 when I am rigging under a cork or live shrimp in the head, #4s when I am using larger shrimp pieces or bulking up baits on the bottom. DON’T SET THE HOOK WITH CIRCLE HOOKS! Just tighten the line. Whiting, sand trout, and big croaker are everywhere along the Packery, ICW, and all over Port Aransas! These are great eating fish and easy to catch. THANKSGIVING KIDS FISH!! Use a small hook, #10 treble hook or
The practice of drift fishing is a pastime here that allows anglers to cover a lot of open water, and is the most relaxing form of fishing we have. The water flows with the winds and carries us over changes in the bottom, sand pockets and grass beds roll in front of us like a movie. I enjoy picking apart these scattered sand pockets looking for fish hiding in ambush. Soft plastics are more productive, especially on keeper sized fish over shrimp and popping corks this time of year. The live shrimp is held towards the surface in 4’ of water or more, most fish will be holding on the bottom. My absolute favorite bait right now for drifting is the smaller DOA CAL Shad. This bait is small and very affective bait because it is the same size as the mud minnow, a popular food source during the winter months. The action is unbelievable when rigged with a DOA CAL jig head. The jig head has a smaller shank and a super sharp OWNER HOOK. The colors this week have been by far the best BUBBLE GUM PINK and ROOTBEER/CHARTRUSE. Depending on where you are fishing they prefer one or the other and that can change by the hour. While wade fishing I look towards the larger flutter bait the AIRHEAD. This bait imitates a shad stunned in the shallows, an irresistible target for big trout. Look on the DOA Web site, there are so many colors it is confusing but I haven’t tried one that didn’t work. The fishing along the ICW has been great, we have had a lot of fun pitching up along the grass bank and catching lots of trout, reds, and flounder. The fish move between the drop off of 7 feet to right up along the grass. I’ve been seeing reds up in the shallows when the sun is out and the water is warm. Top waters have even worked under southeast wind conditions. Vary your presentation between slow scraping motions along the bottom, small hops, and raising the bait up 2-3ft then letting it drift down again. Most of the trout out in the flats are staying along the deep guts out in Emmorts Hole and the big flats south of Bird Island. They move from the deepest parts that have gravely sand to the edges, then when they are warmed up to the scattered sand pockets out in 4ft of water. Some very big trout are in 2ft of water along the shoreline but drifting with a large boat and multiple anglers makes it hard to sneak up on them, wade or fish from a smaller boat. The crowds are gone with hunting season at its peak, get out and enjoy the best of Fall Fishing now. In the first two weeks of December we have a break in the Duck Season that usually gives me a break as well. I am offering a $200 discount for any trip during the week for anglers wishing to go on a soft plastic clinic. This brings it down to $500 for a trip for up to 3 people to go learn spots and techniques on fishing with soft plastics in the Laguna Madre’ for specks, reds, and flounder. Hope some local anglers can team up and take me up on it. This week is Thanksgiving as well as my son Joey Farah IV’s 13th birthday. Over the years all of you have seen some of his catches and watched him grow up into a young man. I continue to be amazed at this boy/man, he is my best friend. He is as good of an outdoorsman as any man I know, hunting and fishing, tracking, bow hunter, and 7th grade football starter. He loves to surf and is side-by-side with me in the line-up. Above all he is polite, caring, protective and tolerant to his sister. GREAT STUDENT AND A/B HONOR ROLL. When I get blinded by life, he puts it in prospective. When I’m so sore I can’t move he walks on my back, when I think I’m overburdened he inspires me to get busy. I see my father in him and my grandfathers. Happy Birthday Joey, you are MY PARTNER. Coryne and I love you.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOEY FARAH IV Dropped two redheads with one shot this week.
Kelly with her birthday redfish from the mouth of Baffin Bay fishing with live shrimp.
Thank you lord for all that you have blessed us with, let us see the good and give you praise. Help us to share with others and overcome all that comes before us. Happy thanksgiving padre island!
PINK!!!
Trout are inhaling the BUBBLE GUM PINK DOA CAL shads.
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November 27, 2014
Island Moon
SPORTS Football continued from A1 5A Division I area-round playoff took nearly five hours to record as the game was delayed twice by weather. “The Vipers always have a fire,” said Vandegrift junior Paxton Segina, whose team also secured its first 10-win season. “No matter how many delays there are, no matter how many times we have to wait, there is always going to be a fire that’s out on the field. Vandegrift and Lockhart’s players spent much of the first half inside their locker rooms at Reeves Athletic Complex as a two-hour weather delay overshadowed the 14-10 lead the Viper eventually took into halftime. The two teams ran 6:11 off the clock in the second half before another weather delay postponed play for an additional 49 minutes. On the first play after the second delay, Lockhart kicker Enrique Villegas pulled the Lions within 14-13 with a 26-yard field goal. The one-point differential didn’t last for very long.
first possession, but a Vandegrift defense that had allowed 146 points over its three previous games limited the Lions to two additional field goals. “It’s such a relief,” McGee said. “We knew they were going to be fighters, they were going to battle. That delay, we refocused and we got settled.” “We’ve got to learn how to finish better, “said Lockhart coach Brian Herman. “When it was 14-13, it was still a ballgame, and we felt like we had a good recipe for success. Vandegrift made some awesome plays and took some momentum away.” Flour Bluff’s offense puts pressure on its opponents to keep up on a points-for-points basis or play for time of possession, try as they may, given the Hornets’ penchant for lighting up scoreboards. It’s no secret that most teams can ill afford to squander scoring opportunities by punting or turning the ball over against the Bluff. Mission Veterans Memorial was just the latest to find out the hard way. The Hornets scored on each of their first three possessions, five of their first seven, while the Patriots came away empty-handed with their first five possessions, resulting in an early, sizeable deficit that Flour Bluff turned into a 5528 win Friday evening at Hornet Stadium. There was no slow start for Bluff this time, mixing up the play calling between the pass and run.
Vandegrift’s Paxton Segina is about to catch a long pass over Lockhart’s Ronald Hutchinson Hudson threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Segina on the ensuing possession, and the senior quarterback’s 1-yard run with 10:22 to go in the game gave the Vipers a 28-13 lead. Hudson threw another touchdown pass with 4:48 remaining, and senior Ryan McGee finished off the 28-0 run with a score off an interception return. “I told the kids at our multiple halftimes, each time I kept telling them the team that handles this the best will win,” said Vandegrift coach Drew Sanders. “Obviously, we did that.” Vandegrift (10-2) intercepted Lions quarterback Nick Sanchez on Lockhart’s final two offensive plays, and the second turnover completed the Vipers’ best defensive performance of the season. Lockhart scored a touchdown on its
Port Aransas Art CenterTwo December Receptions! First Friday Christmas Party– December 5th 5:30-7:30pm Food, Fun, Music & Shopping! The Art Center has jewelry, glass & metal art, pottery,prints,photos,cards & paintings in all sizes. Come out & get Original Art to gift this Christmas!Support the artists & your Art Center!December Sponsors – Family Center IGA and Karen Winship
Sunday Reception- December 7th 2-4pm Middle School & High School Student Art Show Students of Marilyn Cook & John Speck from Port Aransas ISD, students of Ryan Williams, Lori Lee,Valerie Lichtenberger & Charlotte Walker from Flour Bluff ISD and students of Nancy Kneupper from Seashore Middle Academy. The show will be judged & places 1st thru 3rd in each grade & Best of Show awarded.Refreshments will be served, come on out and support all the young artists in this annual event!
plunge.
Cody Brewer completed 4 of 4 passes, two of which were first downs, and Reidel Clayton capped an eight-play, 75yard drive with a 2-yard
Mission Veterans Memorial’s response: a three-and-out, gaining two yards. The Bluff’s second possession also was eight plays long, topped off by a Brewer 2-yard touchdown run. The Patriots, facing a 14-0 than halfway through the first, again went three and out. Then, The Bluff turned to its ground game, going back and forth between Brewer and J.J. Winfrey for a seven-play march capped by Winfrey’s score from the Mission Veterans 1. In the second, the Hornets demonstrated the extent of their aerial attack. Brewer went 4 for 4 on his team’s second possession of the quarter, connecting with Kevin Dewitt on a slant pattern for a 12-yard touchdown. Mission Veterans answered with its first points of the night, as Robert Tovar was on the receiving end of a 34-yard touchdown from quarterback Santos Villarreal. The Patriots’ score didn’t carry the weight of a momentum changer; the Hornets went ahead and left no doubt as to which team was in control with its next play from scrimmage. Brewer dropped back and let the speedy Dewitt, as he’s done so often in his two seasons as a receiver, get behind the opposing secondary. The 6-foot-6 quarterback unloaded a deep pass, which Dewitt ran under to catch and finish what became a 70-yard touchdown. Dewitt finished with seven receptions for 204 yards and two scores, adding a touchdown pass early in the fourth when he hit Thomas Evaristo with a 7-yarder on a trick play. Between Dewitt’s second and third scores, Mission Veterans scored just once, struggling to keep Bluff within reach before adding a pair of late touchdowns with their second and third units finishing the game. Good luck to the Hornets. We will attempt to keep you up to date on Texas High School Football playoffs. Comments/Questions, call the Benchwarmers 361-560-5397 weekdays, Mondays thru Fridays, 3-6 p.m. or contact me. Phone: 361-949-7681 Cell: 530-748-8475 Email: dlewis1@stx.rr.com
Enchanted Christmas Tree Auction Gala Sponsored by: Doc’s Seafood and Steaks
Donald McClure TX 12482
Funtrackers
Texas Auto TItle
UPS
This new exciting event will be fun for everyone. It is really two events in one. Enchanted Forest
Christmas Tree Auction Gala
First is the Enchanted Forest which starts Friday, November 28, 2014 and continues on Saturday and Sunday (29th& 30th). It reopens on Saturday and Sunday December 6 and 7, 2014. This is a FREE event for local kids. It will be held from 12:00 noon until 4:00 pm each day at FUNTRACKERS. The forest of decorated trees are donated by local businesses, groups, individuals, and schools. Kids will walk through a winter wonderland of beautifully decorated trees and lights. Just before exiting the Enchanted Forest Santa and Mrs. Claus will be greeting each child.
On December 10, 2014 the fun continues as the trees are moved to Doc’s Restaurant located on the ICW on Padre Island. There we will have a beautiful GALA amongst the beautifully decorated trees. The GALA begins at 7:00 pm with wine, soft drinks, cash bar and Doc’s great hors d oeuvres. Around 8:00 pm we will auction off the trees one at a time. Tickets are $20 which includes 2 glasses of wine and soft drinks. Proceeds from this event will be donated to Timon’s Ministries to help with the much needed services they offer to the community. For further information or tickets contact Linda Walsh at lawalshva@ yahoo.com or Norma Wright at normas_wright@yahoo.com
Run for Fun and Fitness
By Andy Purvis Special to the Island Moon
I would like to thank Dale Rankin and all the folks at the Moon for their support and help. This column represents my third year of writing sports articles. I have received many kind words and hope you have enjoyed. I believe that if we know something about our past and have a good idea of where we are right now, then we can see the future. I dare you to become great. Happy Thanksgiving! Remember when you used to run and play outside until it got too dark to see, or until Mom yelled, “Supper’s ready.” Running, jumping, skipping and playing outdoors was what you lived for. Being inside meant chores, homework, and looking after your younger brother or sister. Heck, back in the day, kids could take a stick, a ball of any kind, and a rock or the corner of a broken cinder block, and make up more games than you can download on your IPhone. They exercised their bodies while expanding their minds and using their imaginations. Now, unless they are playing an organized sport, the only moving body parts appear to be their thumbs. “This cannot be good for our youth,” said local fitness guru, Victor Betancourt. “So, we decided to put the fun back in fitness for the kids.” And they’re doing it for FREE. “What about social media,” I asked. “Is too much television, texting, games, Facebook and Twitter creating unhealthy kids?” “Moderation is the key,” answered Betancourt. The message, get them involved in physical activity even if it’s just swimming. Have you ever met a kid who didn’t like the water? So, if you want your child to be well-rounded (that doesn’t mean just physically but mentally as well), get them moving. V-Fit Productions started in 2010, but Victor Betancourt has been a personal trainer for well over eighteen years. Visit their studio at 2001 S. Staples and you will find 6,000 square feet of specialized equipment designed to put you back on the right track for healthy living. No frills here, just hard work and results. “Exercise doesn’t do it alone,” says Betancourt. “Sleeping right, eating the right foods in the right amounts will help make a difference.” V-Fit has organized well over 60 races of all lengths since their inception, but now Betancourt, a father himself of a 15-year-old son, feels the time is right to capture the kids of Corpus Christi. “Kids Get Fit,” a nonprofit event, is just one of four each year that directly benefits the kids. And now Kayla Butts, a well known local registered dietitian and nutritionist, has joined the V-Fit team. This program will make a difference you’ll see, and I hope someday you can say your child is healthier because of companies like V-Fit Productions. Now for the best part, here’s the skinny. On Saturday, December 20, at Cole Park on Shoreline Drive, you and your kids are going to show up at 8 AM with your running gear on and with jingle bells tied into your shoes laces. For
Light continued from A1
The company hired Urban Engineering to conduct a warrant study last November to determine if the traffic volume at the intersection was sufficient to warrant a light and found that it was sufficient. Busby said his company would spend $425,000 to pay for the light and install a radar sensor on the JFK bridge that would adjust the timing of the light according to traffic flow. Busby said under the plan the City of Corpus Christi would spend $550,000 to alter the road and median structure at the intersection to allow for the safe passage of traffic. “The sensor would make sure the light stays green if traffic started to back up onto the bridge,” he said. Busby said that the Texas Department of Transportation has been studying the need for a light at the intersection since 2009. As part of the project a loop would allow motorists who turn left on Aquarius into the new development could go south and re-enter SPID just north of the Best Western Motel. The ISAC has the option of voting to recommend approval of the light to the Corpus Christi City Council, recommend against the light, ask for further study, or do nothing and leave the decision to city staff and/or the city council. The meeting, like all ISAC meetings, is open to the public.
$25 each, there will be a 5K run for anyone who wants to participate and a 1K fun run including a laser tag, FREE for the kiddoes. The name of this event is “Jingle All The Way,” and it benefits The Boys and Girls Club of Corpus Christi, located at 3902 Greenwood Drive. You can also sign your kids
up for FREE classes right now by visiting www. bgccorpuschristi.org/. There will be a costume contest and lots of great door prizes to be given away. All V-Fit asks is that you register @ vfitproductions.com before you get there, or go by The Boys and Girls Club and sign up. V-Fit is giving the gift of health this Christmas. Now, that’s what I call a great present. V-Fit, making it fun to be fit. P.S. Don’t be surprised if Santa is waiting for you and your kids at the finish line. I wonder what you will ask Santa for this Christmas. Andy Purvis is a local author and radio personality. His newest book “Greatness Continued” in now available to order online at bn.com, Amazon, Google Books, Bookamillion, etc. You may also purchase all three of his latest books at the local Barnes & Noble Book store in Moore Plaza. All three books are also available in e-book format, Kindle, Nook, Apple I Pad and Kobo. Please visit www.purvisbooks.com for more info and leave a message in the guest section. You may also contact him at purvis. andy@mygrande.net and don’t forget to listen to Story Time with Uncle Andy on Tuesdays 5-6 PM and Dennis & Andy’s Q & A Session each Thursday night from 6-8 PM on ESPN 1440 KEYS.
Police Blotter Fiery Crash on the JFK A fiery three-car crash occurred in the southbound lane of the JFK Causeway Friday evening when a driver tried to pass on the outside shoulder of the roadway and slammed into the back of a stalled car. The vehicles burst into flames and burned for several minutes backing up traffic into Flour Bluff. The three vehicles involved were a Chevy Trailblazer, a minivan which had stopped to assist a disabled Chevy Cobalt. There was no loss of human life however, two dogs perished in the fire.
Police Calls 13900 block SPID 12:30 p.m. Nov. 17 Shoplifting under $50 14300 block Dorsal 2:53 p.m. Nov. 19 Criminal mischief $1500-$20,000/burglary of habitation 14300 block SPID 9 a.m. Nov. 17 Terroristic threat 15300 block SPID 10:45 a.m. Nov. 22 Theft vehicle parts $50-$500 15000 block Windward 10:29 p.m. Nov. 18 DWI 15400 block Seamount Cay 6 a.m. Nov. 20 Burglary of habitation 15400 block Dyna 2:33 p.m. Nov. 20 Injury to a child/elderly with injury 15400 block Cruiser 5:29 p.m. Nov. 18 Theft vehicle part $500-$1500 15600 block Cruiser 12:06 a.m. Nov. 22 Criminal mischief $500-$1500/assault with injury
November 27, 2014
A9
Island Moon
Airtales
The Travelling Moon
By Jason Towns Hello, my name is Elizabeth Towns and since my deedah has a pretty busy day I’m going to take care of his silly column this week. I know as much about airplanes as he does only I call them by their correct name: beebines.
BeeBines Everywhere! For those of you unfamiliar with my almost-two-years-refined vocabulary, this is actually pronounced “BEE BUY een!!!!!!!” and I usually scream it while jumping up and down and pointing in the most voracious manner a kid can point. I am an avid beebine spotter and can spot a beebine almost anywhere—while riding in my carseat, swinging in the backyard, fishing with deedah and of course when I’m helping out at the Mustang Beach Airport in Port A. I often spot them when deedah isn’t paying attention and I’m sure to make him aware of them, because as far as I’m concerned he owns all beebines and needs to keep better track of where they all are. So along with jumping and pointing at the beebine I always exclaim “deedah?!?” whether it’s a Navy trainer, an executive jet, Mark Grosse returning to Port A or an airliner passing over at forty-thousand feet. I love rides in any beebine that’s around but usually the most convenient is one of deedah’s skydiving planes. The great thing about those is that when not in the air they’re usually sitting right there with the door wide open! I discovered this little fact long before my first birthday and climbing into the beebines when nobody’s looking is one of my trickiest tricks. Once inside a beebine I like to check out all the controls and make sure they’re functioning properly—this doesn’t take long then it’s time to get deedah’s attention: “DEE DAAAH!!!” I scream as I slap my left hand on the pilot’s seat. This obviously means “come sit here, start the engine and take me up!” but sometimes he is so dang busy it takes him a while to figure out even the most obvious of obvious. Once airborne I enjoy sitting in deedah’s lap and sticking my arm out the window. I point at all the birds (buhz) down below us because, well, that’s not where they normally are. And that’s pretty cool!
The Island Moon went to China this week with Kevin Brown to the ancient town of Yangmei, Guangxi, in southern China about an hour from the Vietnam border. Yangmei survives from the Ming and Quin dynasties, and is tropical with sugar cane, bananas, rice, and many other crops.
My favorite beebine trip is to see the beebine mechanic over in Rockport. His floor is greasy and so is everything else so this gives me a chance to redesign some of the girly clothes mommy buys me. Plus I know exactly what a “screwdriver” is as well as “pliers” and “wrench” and can retrieve any of these upon request. That last one gets me though as there are so many different sizes…
Girlz Fly, too Not really a columnist per se, I’m going to include a “Photo Essay” of my experiences thus far as a beebine enthusiast, not the least of which is my easily acquired expertise at being a “Jump Pilot”. Enjoy!
Sally and Marco took the Island Moon to Laughlin Nevada last August but Sally forgot to send the picture. Sadly Marco the love of Sally’s life passed away recently. Here’s to Happy memories of the good times.
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Island Moon
November 27, 2014