Morning entertainment at Bayland Park

Pelicans wait for the fishing boats to return.

This week's adventures as a water monitor at Bayland Park for Galveston Bay Foundation.

• As I walked toward the dock, a guy was standing at the side while his buddy backed the boat into the water. "Curb!" the guide shouted. The driver stuck his head out of the window, "Huh?" "Curb," the guide repeated much quieter. The driver seemed unhappy. "I can see the curb! I'm not even close!" I was walking along the curb side, and the driver was right. He had plenty of room.

• A guy who drove a beat-up van stopped by to ask what I was doing. I explained I was just taking measurements. He said, "Oh, I thought you were homeless like me and trying to catch some shrimp." He didn't catch anything with his cast net. He said it was too cold. I wondered if he lived in that van. Down by a river.

• As I was counting drops during the dissolved oxygen test, an opossum strolled about 30 feet away.  I couldn't stop the test to get out my phone for a pic. It ambled  along the top of a ridge before going into a ditch.

• The last time I was out at Bayland Park I lost my license and debit card, which I had stuffed in a pocket with my keys. A fisherman had found the debit card when I returned to search, but the driver's license never turned up. My mother, who was visiting during this mini-crisis, sent me a 15-pocket travel vest so I could keep cards, keys and 13 other things secure and tidy. Thanks, Mom!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This new sign is about dredging from Morgan's Point to Exxon.

Water testing at Bayland Park

A quiet, still morning.

This is my water testing site.

Last fall someone gave up the site at Bayland Park, so I took it over this spring after going through a Galveston Bay Foundation training class.

This month the water was very calm and the salinity was up.  I'll know better after going through a year of testing, but I'm guessing this is normal for August.

A kayak and four boats launched during the couple of hours I was there. A man and a boy were casting a net from the bank on the other side.

In the past a nosy pelican was hanging around the boat launch, and a skinny cat would come toward the tables looking for a handout. But this time I only saw a few shorebirds gliding past plus the usual grackles patrolling the picnic shelter.

It was a nice, quiet morning if you could ignore the highway traffic.

Reading the hydrometer is always a challenge for me.