The parking lot at Moon Dog is no more. They are expanding to double the size of their restaurant. Notice also in the background the number of oyster boats tied up. The bays have been closed to oystering since a toxic algae was found in the area.
I noticed the construction on Saturday when Chuck and Sandy(107) took Jerry and I to lunch there. Three of us had the grouper sandwich. Jerry said it was the best fish he has ever tasted. We had a table outside and the weather was great, but there was one problem. The yellow jacket wasps were all over the place. At one point our waitress was refilling a water glass from a pitcher at the table next to us. I noticed a wasp fly up undetected and land on the bottom of the pitcher. At that moment she raised her right hand to balance the pitcher and I shouted watch out. She didn't immediately respond so Jerry jumped up and grabbed her hand(probably scared her) and reached under the pitcher to pinch the wings of the wasp and throw it to the ground. About two minutes later another waitress just behind us got stung and dropped her tray and got everyone's attention. Otherwise we had a great time.

Last month we were about $400 over budget for water. Jerry has been checking for leaks. Today he found a small leak near the maintenance shop. When he began to dig it up, the whole thing came apart. He was drenched and we had a geyser. He turned it off and baled out the water.  Unfortunately, he did not have a 1 and 1/2 inch cap to repair it. He called me while I was downtown running errands and I picked one up for him and brought it out. The water was off for almost two hours and everyone was happy to get it turned back on.

We had a costumed youngster today who thought is would be a good idea to play king on the mountain on our debris pile. I told his grandfather that there could be some dangerous debris in the pile and it was not a good idea to be playing in it. The child refused to come down. When his grandfather started up, he decided he had  had enough fun for one day.

 Jack Gibbs and his crew came out today to get ready to complete the work on the new bulkhead. They hauled the old shoreguard out from under a building and cut the lengths they will need next week. This center section will be slightly lower than the other parts of the wall to allow for water runoff.

Jerry was resourceful today. We just got some new tools from Harbor Freight. The first time he used the saws the plastic handles broke. The blades were sharp and strong so he took a 2x6 and used other new tools to carve out new handles with two bolts through the handles to secure the blades. Pretty impressive.
Later this morning two young ladies from the General Land Office came out to evaluate our stewardship of the mitigation site. They had a whole notebook of things to look at. We have a contract with the GLO that we have to take good care of the site for habitat viability. They seemed pretty impressed with the job we are doing. I had never seen anyone come out for an onsite inspection.

The high tides associated with the vernal equinox were just a few days late. Yesterday during the afternoon the tide came up as least a foot. The higher tide appears to have washed out part of the site we are working on, but in reality it's just a case of much higher tide than I post a few days ago.

The tide did wash out a part of the new sand placed behind the repaired bulkhead. This will have to be done with stabilized sand to achieve any long term repair.

Before the tide came up Jerry borrowed my waders and went into the water just north of the fish cleaning stand on the pier to retrieve this old tire. This tire had been there for years and we expected it would be covered in lures, but it was not. It was, however, home to a large number of crabs who had taken up residence inside. It doesn't show in the picture, but the tread was about 12 inches across. I don't know what it may have come off of or how it got there.

.

News Release 
Media Contact: Steve Lightfoot, 512-389-4701, steve.lightfoot@tpwd.texas.gov

March 27, 2014

5-Fish Seatrout Bag Limit, Guadalupe River Trout Conservation Rules Adopted

AUSTIN — Expansion into the Texas coastal bend of special harvest regulations on spotted seatrout, and harvest modifications to the state’s only year-round freshwater trout fishery have been approved by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission.

As part of the 2014-15 Statewide Recreational and Commercial Fishing Proclamation, the Commission adopted rules to extend a 5-fish bag limit currently in effect in the Lower Laguna Madre up the coast through the Highway 457 bridge near Sargent with a five-year sunset date. The Commission modified the original proposal to set the possession limit on spotted seatrout for the area from the Lower Laguna Madre to the Highway 457 bridge twice the daily bag limit (10 fish in possession).

This 5 trout limit will go into effect for the Rockport area on Sept. 1,2014.

 Jerry called me this morning and asked me to look out my window toward Copano. At that time the fire plume was at least twice as tall. An oyster boat had hooked into a natural gas line and a spark set it off. If you look very carefully at the right hand side of the plume, you can see the water plume being thrust into the air. That plume looks about four stories tall itself. You can size it against the boats nearby. Interestingly, in fires like this, the water does not heat up. The gas ignites with oxygen in the air and all the heat goes upward.
In the photo below, the pelican wonders what is drawing the crowd around. All he is looking for is a handout at the fish cleaning station.

Jerry finished building the enclosure around the dumpster yesterday. It looks like a big pad for a single dumpster, but because the truck has to take an awkward angle to pick it up, the large pad was necessary.
This last weekend Gus(former owner of 203) and his family came in for a stay. Out of all the people fishing over the weekend they were the only ones to land a fish. It was a 20 inch drum. There are still no trout or reds around. The water was very low all weekend and then today the strongest wind so far this year came from the south and blew some of the tide back in. Tomorrow the wind will again be from the north and I guess the tide will be low again.

The top picture here shows the state worker's truck who came out to mark the underground utilities to prevent damage during the work on the beach property. Notice just about the truck's hood that HEB has put up another clean sign about their private property. Let's see how long this one lasts before someone decides to deface it. Someday we will catch them in the act.
The picture below was taken just behind the truck in the sand and shell of the HEB shoreline. It's interesting how this flowering plant can thrive in this harsh environment. I would think the nutrient level is pretty low. Also today, Sean Ward came out to tune up our irrigation system for the spring season. We have to take good care of the St. Augustine to just keep it alive while this indigenous plant gets alone just fine without our intervention.

 After the spillway was prepared, attention was turned to leveling more of the parking area. That big bucket can move a lot of dirt.

 The two palm trees were easily removed with the backhoe.

The palm trees were carried down the road to be relocated along the entrance.

 At the first light of day P&D trucking sent out a crew to remove the concrete trash placed placed on the beach property by the previous owner to mitigate the erosion. It is costing a lot more to remove and dispose of it than it cost to have it put it.

 Their huge trailer made four trips to the dump with the debris.

 By early afternoon, the pile had been whittled down.

By mid afternoon it was almost all cleaned up. Jack Gibbs will now put in more bulkhead and a concrete spillway. The new bulkhead here will be lower than the adjacent bulkhead.  When I see this, I think at the current rate of erosion, this could be a good place for a boat ramp.

This is the circuitry that runs our lift station pump. One of our pumps has failed and cannot be economically repaired.  This panel is designed to run a one phase pump. Those are manufactured in Sweden and can take up to three months to arrive. We were able to find a more efficient three phase pump and ordered a three phase converter to power it.  Notice the panel is labeled #1 and #2. Each section powers one pump. One of these sections will be removed and used for parts when needed. The three phase converter will be installed in its place. The new pump will cost us $8,090  turnkey, if all goes well, and should be up and running in two weeks.

This area between 210 and 301 had filled with sand blown from the beach. JR had Jack Gibbs come in with his bobcat today and level off the area and remove the extra sand buildup. Probuild delivered three pallets of Floratam. JR and came by to place and water all the grass, but Jerry had already left for the day. JR had to do most of the work himself, but he got it done and it looks good.

A lot of concrete was poured on Friday. It took two trucks. The crew came out today to take the forms off this bulkhead wall. It was interesting that just after this cap was poured, an adult guest in 107 decided he couldn't resist the temptation to write an inscription in the fresh concrete. His eight year old son told every one in sight what his dad had done.  Fortunately, the concrete had not dried and the workers were able to erase the inscription.

 This big Motel 6 is going up just behind the Exxon at Broadway. The large LaQuinta has open for business. Another development is going up across the street from the Motel 6. It will be private housing.

Someone has been defacing the HEB beach sign for years. I sure wish they would stop. HEB is correct that the land to the water is private property. Most everyone I talk to argues that the vegetation line is the boundary. That was researched years ago and does not apply to bay systems.

I've heard from a number of owners about their electrical bills this winter. All I can say is it's not the fault of the renters. Sunday before last I was lounging on the deck and the thermometer read 72. The next day the digits were reversed. I had my thermostat set at 69, but the heater ran non stop and couldn't make it over 67. For the day I used 244 kilowatt hours of electricity. Extrapolating that for a month would make my bill $720. Presently, I have Infinite Energy as my provider and paying 9.6 cents per kilowatt hour. I've heard from some owners that they are paying as much as 50 percent more. Owners need to shop and be sure they are in a contract with their provider. This continues to be my coldest winter in Rockport and I'm sure most owners have never seen bills this high.

 The east-west part of the bulkhead repair is ready for concrete. It is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow. The center section will be dealt with when the other parts are completed. Notice also the kayak tethered to the bulkhead. It had been there for a couple of weeks without anyone knowing who it belonged to. Jerry moved it yesterday to a location behind the maintenance shop. Last evening the owner called out the local police because he thought it had been stolen. This illustrates again why guests need to identify their boats, trailers, and kayaks with the number of their unit.

 Jerry is working on installing another basketball backboard and post at the north end of the tennis court. He may have to relocate a couple of water lines in the process.

 Jack Gibbs operates his bobcat here to prepare for a pad for the dumpster. Tomorrow's concrete will be used on the bulkhead as well as this pad. The plan was to put two dumpsters here, but the dimensions just did not work out. The plan is to put another pad and dumpster just north of the shop area.

Chuck and Sandy(107) have been working this week to increase the size of their downstairs bathroom. They were able to sheetrock over the closet in the bedroom to increase the width of the bathroom by two feet. This allowed them to relocate the toilet. They went with a walkin shower on the right side here. They also increased the door opening from 24 inches to 30 inches. This was all possible because their electrical panel was mounted on the south end of the closet instead of the east wall like others in this building. The panel is now in the bathroom.