How Do You Like Them Apples is a Pretty Corny Blog Title...

While on out recent Chicago visit we drove about an hour over into Indiana to visit County Line Orchards. I know in East Texas there are places to pick blue berries, I can remember as a child going to a field where you could pick black eyed peas, I've pick figs, gathered mayhaws in the river bottoms and last summer while exploring an old cemetery I discovered a tree with great tasting pears but this was my first apple picking adventure. 

Judging from the parking area available this is a pretty popular place as it seemed to be about half full on a week day. That barn has every thing in it you can think to make from an apple. Also available for picking are large sunflower heads and for $12 you could purchase a pumpkin that would fill a shopping cart. 

We had a couple of apple eaters with us. I think they left owing the place money. Heck, I left owing the place money. Apples you pick from the tree are about $1.79 a pound. The seasons were different for the various varieties but at least 4 or 5 were there for the picking. I picked about four pounds and should have picked more as I have only a few left.  

I wonder what the loss is to people walking through the orchards and eating apples is each day? There were many fallen to the ground so probably not as much as that loss. 

Another attraction was the corn maze. You go in with a map and visit various checkpoints as you find your way out. Me and Miguel found our way our pretty easily and I suggested we sit on a bench and await the others but he insisted we get lost again as a way to avoid a possible tongue lashing from the wives for us doing nothing. He's pretty smart. I usually don't think that far ahead.   

Lost! That's Luca in the stroller and with the fall temperature in the 50s he allowed it was the coldest he had ever been.  

Keep an eye on the short people. 

These people need to pay for what they ate. 

It was a pleasant trip on a beautiful fall Indiana day. I usually buy the organic apples at the grocery store because they seem a little crisper. I don't know if this crop was considered organic or not but they were sure tasty when picked right off the tree. 

 

Morning on the Canoe Trail...

I headed over to Lake B.A. Steinhagen for a paddle on the Walnut Slough Canoe Trail this morning. Texas State Parks, with their $4 day pass are sure a bargain especially on a week day with more deer than people in the park.    

This laydown stopped me before I had gone very far. Seemed like the salvina mats were thicker than they had been in the summer and I could have struggled through this one around the right side of this tree but I had already fought through one patch just to launch and would have to negotiate it again on return so I gave up here. I loaded the boat and headed to another part of the park to give it a try as the big bream and goggle eye had vacated the places they held over the summer.  

The only fish I caught today was a very small bass. And the color of that lure is rose, not pink and just like the vestments a priest wears once each during Advent and Lent it gave me hope I might catch some more but the were very shy today. 

With few people in the park and the deer completely ignoring me I was left to the green and blue herons for company. I thought this big blue was standing on the mat of salvina but as I examined the photo at home he's on a log. I have heard stories of salvina so thick a dog could walk on it. I think this lake was drained several years ago to kill off overgrowth. As you may know salvina is an invasive species that kills wave action and reduces oxygen content there by it's bad for fish. I had to make sure I got all off and out of the boat so I'm not transporting it around.   

More deer. They have a good life in the park. I have a good life too, out in the woods with fall coming down. Cathy wanted fish for supper but she will have to eat something else today. 

 

Family Visit, New Neighborhood to Explore...

With Miguel at the wheel, me on the tunes and Cathy, Mary, Ezra and Luca holding down the backseats we made a drive to Chicago to visit Katie, Peter and Wallace. Round trip that's 2100 miles, 34 hours of driving and 455 tunes played out 4100 on my usb drive. It was a smooth trip. 

Kind of a walk in the park like you see the crew doing right here. 

One of the reasons to visit was to see the new house. The PK and Wallace moved from the Humboldt Park neighborhood to an area called Bridgeport. Here's a street view. While Humboldt Park was many 100 year old homes, some possibly original to the area you can see a mix of old and new in this area. The Tulloch house is an new construction.    

Here's a look down the street. Bridgeport is a old area dating to the French fur trappers. An originally mostly Irish area it's been the home or birthplace to five Chicago mayors and was known at one time for racial intolerance. Today the area is largely Hispanic or Latino and Chinese (Chinatown is nearby) and is a model of a diversified neighborhood and is the new hip place to be.  

The new house. 

The back deck and garage. We all worked together to apply the weather protection stain to the deck. There is not any yard as the house pretty much takes the whole lot. 

Another deck view. There is a garage for parking and the house is total living space on two top floors and a finished our basement with a play room and two bedrooms. 

I made a couple of hundred photos so this trip will make blogging material for the fun experiences we had with family. 

 

Family Fun and a Woods Hike...

Looking around for Labor Day Fun the gang took a tour to the old Heritage Village in Woodville, Tx. Most of the ids have fond memories as I think this is a pretty standard second grade class field trip destination. I think I even chaperoned a trip or two here. 

The Wallace Family has some history in the area and I've been told that some of the tools in the blacksmith's forge belonged to one of my grandfather's, Sam Wallace's brothers. I was not able to confirm this with the only hint that they came from Comesneil, Tx donated by the Dutton family. The Wallace family settled in Comesneil first arriving in Texas and some are still there.  

As we were early to the Village we were the only visitors and there was plenty of room to romp and play. 

Ali and Mary show there was pretty good stroller access.  

She should be in jail. 

Parker and Ezra, the cousins. 

While there is a restaurant, the Pickett House, we took a hike down the nature trail to a picnic table and had our on dinner. 

Morgan and Ali have moved back to the area with Morgan taking a job as Reliability Engineering Manager at Norboard in Nacogdoches. He's out of oil and gas which from the standpoint of his old job looks like a slow comeback to the stability and profitability of the recent past. I think also they are glad to be back to the small town and proximity to family.  Today is his first day on the job and they are in process of house buying and selling and all that that entails.  

This is me and Cullen on a hike. 

Cullen and Luca enjoy the woods. They will have more days like this in the very near future. 

 

Breaking in a New Fishing License...

September 1st is the day to buy a new fishing license. This blog post title is a little misleading because here's a photo of the only keeper fish I caught on a canoe trip to lake Pinkston. Gotta break it in slow. probably a good idea for an old retired guy, go slow. 

I could use the excuse that this was a new lake to me but I do have a bit of a history with Pinkston. In the lake 70s when it was first build as a water supply for the city of Center, Tx I was a college student without a boat and we went out here wade fishing. Many years later, I can't recall the exact year but I had a 1992 Dodge pickup and I took my dad's old bass boat out there and on my return to the isolated, vacant except for my vehicle parking lot I found the window busted out and a box of homemade cassette tapes stolen. That should give another tip to how long ago this has been, long enough for cassettes to make a come back. 

I got lucky on my stolen items. I met a sheriff on the way out, reported the theft and as is often the case he probably had an idea of who the local bad actors were and went right over and recovered these important tapes. I would imagine they are on a shelf in my record room right now. If I remember how to work the cassette deck I might play some of them.    

Anyway bites were few and far between and the wind got up a bit so I headed home. As the heat index was supposed to be 104 today I can give that to the fish as an excuse. Myself I was glad to tough out the hot weather, drinking plenty of water to stay hydrated and hoping that I keep myself in shape doing things like this. As a retired guy I don't want to get soft and I spend as much time outside as possible. I would guess I spent about 8 hours outdoors today. 

With all these lily pads I fished frog baits today but no takers. 

Look at this scene. I would imagine there would be a tropical peacock bass under that overhanging tree shade or at least an anaconda slithering around up in there. 

Did I just see a tiger? Do they have those around here?