Happy Birthday Young Bob!

Fulton Oysterfest tents along waterfront; Tom and Bob wait for the gals by Big Bertha
Friday, February 26, it is sunny this morning at 7:00 a.m. We have a light breakfast as Bob nixes my pancake idea for his birthday--too much Red Velvet Cake last night. I checked email and find our Tuesday birthday/happy hour is off. The Seabreeze folks have a cookout. I find pictures from my brother Mike (signed his email 'Gramps') of baby Ethan. My niece Megan is home from the hospital (Tuesday) and is doing well. She must be because she posted pictures on her Facebook page. Ethan looks really cute bundled up in his winter clothes so Dad Casey can take him for a 'run' in the stroller. Megan says "Mom may have overdone the bundling up." How cute! I tried to call Megan and got her voice message.

A Roseatte Spoonbill forages for lunch

Today I get the rest of my friend Jean's 'undeliverable' email and discover she's schedule for knee surgery next Friday! I called her and we had a nice chat. Her trip to Tierra del Fuego sounded great. My thoughts are with her as she 'gets all better.'

Nan and I walk with Roxy at 9;30. We wave at Jerry working on the doors of his 'man-shed.' He says he finally got a nice day to paint them. We had a nice walk. I'm spoiled having a walking partner. Back home I stretch. As I get cleaned up I keep noticing some odd smell in the back part of the bedroom. Of course I never figure out what it is and can't really describe it. We open all the windows and fun the Fantastic Fan. Probably just all the humidity down here on the Coast.

Nan and Tom at The Big Tree

At 12:45 we head to Charlottle Plummer's with Nan and Tom. Tom says my blog called them 'overbearing' wine and cheese. Egads! I better shape up and proof read these things better is somebody's actually going to read them. Spellcheck missed that for sure. As we park at the restuarant on Fulton Beach Road we see the big tents are up for Oysterfest the first weekend of March. We get a table overlooking the docks. Two couples come in and sit next to us and recognize Tom and Nan. They were in Kerrville at the rally! It really is a small RV world. One of the gals names is Nancy; they are from Wisconsin. This is their third year to stay at Ancient Oaks in Rockport. But they are moving next year to one of the two new places in Aransas Pass (The Palms) due to the mud situation at Ancient Oaks.

Nan tells our waitress right away that it's Bob's birthday. Of course he's thrilled about that-Not! Our young waitress immediately goes into a spiel about her first boyfriend being called Bobby and does Bob go by that? Not! Way too much. Nan then proceeds to make us look bad by ordering just the salad bar. Tom and I go for it all and order Shrimp Sholten. Bob of course has oysters. Our waitress redeems herself by bringing Coconut Cheesecake for Bob's birthday dessert. Yumm!

Bob drives the Fulton Beach Road north to Copano Bay Bridge. On the way I hop out just past Alice Fay's on the Bay to take a picture of this Roseatte Spoonbill splashing in a pond for fish. After we cross the bridge and turn east towards Goose Island State Park we troll the back roads searching for The Big Tree. Tom spots a small sign at the last minute. We pose for pictures and read the placques like all good tourists. We talk to a couple on the bench from near Rockford, IL, where Tom's sister lives.

Back across the bridge we drive along Copano Bay to Airport Park where we walk on the oyster shell beach. The wind is blowing the waves hard into shore. It is warm with a high of 69 degrees but it sure is windy. As we head back to our RV Park an EMT vehicle passes us on 35 Bypass. It turns out there is a wreck across from our RV Park. That always makes you wonder if it's one of your fellow campers.

The birthday boy and Reet pose in front of The Big Tree

We arrive home with no newspaper. Bummer. Nan, Bob and I walk at 4:30. We find Tom in Tiny (their big truck) hunting up their liquor stash for happy hour later. We climb up in the cab and get a view. They sure have lots of great storage in there. Our walk is without Roxy as she went for a swim earlier. Terry and Jerry invite us around back to join their happy hour so we use her cell phone to call Tom. He brings a Reisling and joins us. Ann and Jerry are there too. Ann is nice enough to walk to their place for chairs for us. We chat, drink and have snacks as the sun goes down and the wind comes up. We leave around 7:00 and reconvene at Nan and Tom's for Braunnsweiger Ball, cheese ball and birthday cake.

Roscoe and Roxy entertain us. We get to watch some curling as they have satellite. Later we tune in to Short Track on NBC as the wind howls and interferes with the TV reception. Those guys surprise Bob with a 6-pack of Killians and a birthday card. How nice! Tom and I polish off his Kaluha. We head home at 9:45. The wind blew our bikesover. We should not have moved them. That darn cover catches the wind. My mirrow got broken off.

I missed a voice message from new grandmother Linda (she emailed three pics of Ethan) and another call from Glenda wishing Bob a happy rush to geezerdom.

It's 4:25 p.m. and 69 degrees with 27% humidity.