Austin City Limits. Bikinis, TX. Oldest Town. Mad Island Marsh Preserve. Oysters. Bill of Rights. Satchel Paige. Irish Republican Army. Soaking Grains.

For “Travel Tuesday”:

ACL Festival 2012

Connect with us October 12-14 at the Austin City Limits Music Festival.

Zilker Park ACL Festival © Ashley Garmon

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Nature is resilient, and with the right help can manage impressive comebacks. You can help us with this awesome conservation work! What will it take to ensure the survival of Texas’ rivers, lakes and streams? Visit The Nature Conservancy’s ACL booth to find out how you can help (and pick up some cool stuff)!

• We’ll be giving away some cool “communication devices” made exclusively for the 2012 ACL Fest! You’re definitely going to want one of these. 
• Enter to win a brand new standup paddleboard*, courtesy of SUP ATX. The winner will be chosen at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 14 at our booth.

We’ll also have Conservancy staff on hand to talk about one of the biggest issues facing Texas – clean, fresh water. Right now:

• Texas has a population of 25 million people. That’s 25 million straws in our lakes, rivers, streams and aquifers.
• We’ll have nearly 50 million people in Texas by 2060.
• In that time period, demand for fresh water is expected to increase 22%, but existing water supplies are actually expected to decrease by 10%.
• Our conservation work helps to protect nearly a dozen Texas waterways and over 100,000 acres of land above precious groundwater supplies.

Stop by our ACL booth—in the ACL Cares section—to see what you can do to make Texas a better, wetter place to live, work and play.”  More at: http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/texas/acl-2012.xml

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Bikinis, TX:

“The town of Bankersmith is pretty much a ghost town. But soon it will be full of women in bikinis, which entrepreneur Doug Guller hopes will bring in the crowds. Guller, who owns Bikinis Bar & Grill recently purchased the small town and renamed it Bikinis, Texas.  Guller is hoping to turn the town into a “world-class destination.”  Guller writes:  “Bikinis, Texas, will be a world-class destination, and I am thrilled to expand the Bikinis brand to include town ownership… There can’t be a better way to put Bikinis on the map, literally.”

Guller didn’t say how much he purchased the town for or who he bought it from. Guller did disclose, however, that he made the purchase after seeing an ad on Craigslist.

Bankersmith, now Bikinis, Texas, is located 29 miles north of Boerne and 10 miles south of Fredericksburg. The town was founded in 1913. In 1949 Bankersmith had just 20 residents. Today, it has none.”    Read more at: http://www.inquisitr.com/279437/bikinis-texas-restaurant-owner-changes-name-of-bankersmith-to-bikinis/#i1yK2wEX5pHyqzHm.99

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The oldest town in Texas? by Bob Bowman

“For longer than most of us can remember, Texans have been squabbling over which community is the state’s oldest.
The principal players in this ongoing feud are a couple of East Texas cities, Nacogdoches and San Augustine, and a West Texas village, Ysleta.
Now, it appears there may be another contender.

History watcher Billy Bob Crim of Kilgore recently sent us an article from Marfa’s Big Bend Sentinel indicating that Presidio, on the Texas-Mexico border in the Big Bend country, may also be a player in the oldest town competition.
While it recently observed only its twentieth anniversary as a municipality, Presidio claims it was first inhabited about 1200 A.D., more than 500 years before the Declaration of Independence, and was founded in 1683 when Jesuit priests from El Paso established a number of missions in the area, an event commemorated by Presidio’s Santa Teresa de Jesus Catholic Church each fall.
Archeologists claim hunter-gatherer tribes came to the valleys of the Rio Grande and Rio Concho rivers about 1200 A.D.

Every town seems to have its own way of staking a claim in the oldest town sweepstakes.
We like the story told us by a Nacogdoches resident with a good memory. He says a local booster wanted to make the claim that Nacogdoches was Texas’ oldest town and went to a historian at Stephen F. Austin State University. He asked him: “Can anyone prove we aren’t the oldest town?”
The historian thought about it for a few minutes and concluded, “Nope, I don’t think they can.”
“Okay,” said the booster, “from now on, we’re the oldest town in Texas.” More at: http://www.texasescapes.com/AllThingsHistorical/Oldest-town-in-Texas-BB109.htm

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Mad Island Marsh Preserve

Clive Runnells Family Mad Island Marsh Preserve

“Mad Island Marsh Preserve is part of a network of coastal wetlands that once stretched from the
mid-coast of Texas to the central Louisiana coast.
The preserve is an integral part of maintaining a healthy, functioning ecosystem in Matagorda Bay. The combination
of fresh and saltwater wetlands, along with thousands of acres of native prairie act as a nursery for thousands of species of plants and animals.

LOCATION : Situated around Mad Island Lake on West Matagorda Bay, the preserve is located off FM 1095 in Matagorda County, southeast of Collegeport.    SIZE : 2,860 ha (7,063 acres)

HABITAT : Mad Island Marsh is a mosaic of habitats. Upland native coastal prairies are crisscrossed with freshwater wetlands on the north end of the preserve. As one moves toward the south end, the wetlands become more
brackish, finally terminating into Mad Island Lake, a tidal saltwater lake fringed with saltmarsh vegetation. A corridor of native shrub-land growing atop an ancient shell ridge is also found on the south end of the preserve. This rare strip of trees, shrubs, vines and flowers is especially attractive to songbirds.

BIRDS : Over 300 species of birds have been found at the preserve. During the winter months large numbers of Sandhill Cranes flock to the site along with numerous waterfowl including: Cinnamon Teal, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Pintail, Canada Goose and Snow Goose.  Winter also brings various birds of prey such as White-tailed Hawk, Peregrine Falcon, White-tailed Kite and Bald Eagle. During the spring, Mad Island is a primary stopover point for neotropical songbird migration. The heat of the summer slows down the species count, but it is the time to find Wood Stork and several species of nesting waterbirds, including Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, Great Egret, Roseate Spoonbill, Yellow-crowned
Night Heron, Mottled Duck and Black-bellied Whistling Duck.

CONSERVATION : Mad Island Marsh Preserve is always undergoing habitat restoration or enhancement. Prescribed fire is used during the summer and winter to keep the coastal prairies healthy and productive. Freshwater wetlands are managed to suppress invasive species such as cattail, Chinese tallow trees and giant cane. Erosion control keeps salt
marshes from being inundated from the neighboring bay. This site also serves as a demonstration for combining compatible agriculture with
conservation. Cattle are raised on native prairie using a rotational grazing
program and about 400 acres of rice are grown each year. The rice fields
are left flooded during the winter to provide additional wetland habitat for
migrating and wintering waterfowl and shorebirds.” From: http://www.gcbo.org/html/madisland.pdf

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They have Audubon Bird Counts there too:

Annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count at Mad Island Marsh Preserve

“Every year the Texas Chapter of the Nature Conservancy hosts the Annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count at Mad Island Marsh Preserve. This video highlights the count for 2011. We used footage and photos from multiple sources to create a fun and engaging piece about one of the biggest and more important bird counts in the US.

Travel along with the Conservancy's Anne Zuparko as she participates in the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count at Mad Island Marsh Preserve. This count has been ranked #1 in the nation for 14 years, and this year 244 species were spotted! Bird counting is more than just relaxing with a pair of binoculars—participants in this count embarked on 4:00 a.m. ATV trips through the mud, got up close with alligators and more!   Learn more at:  http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/texas/explore/mad-island-bird-count.xml

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And there is oyster restoration, too:

Half Moon Oyster Reef and Mad Island Marsh Preserve

“Matt & Riley hit the gulf coast to report on oyster reef restoration projects. Alligators, lots of mud and everything you need to know about building an oyster reef.”

 

 

 

Time-lapse: Oysters Filtering Water

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From me: When I went to Matagorda Bay, many years ago, there was no sand on the beach, it was all clam shells.

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Then there is the shipwreck:

RAISING THE BELLE
In 1686, La Salle's last ship sank in Matagorda Bay.  

• Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle claimed Louisiana for France.  La Salle sailed from France to claim Louisiana for his king; today, his ship is being reclaimed. 

• In East Texas, somewhere between the Trinity and Brazos rivers, La Salle was murdered by his own men in 1687.  No one knows where La Salle's body ended up.  Today, a statue of the explorer overlooks Matagorda Bay.” 

• More at: http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/belle/index.html and: http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/belle/excavations.html

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On This Day:

Bill of Rights passes Congress, Sep 25, 1789:

“The first Congress of the United States approves 12 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, and sends them to the states for ratification. The amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, were designed to protect the basic rights of U.S. citizens, guaranteeing the freedom of speech, press, assembly, and exercise of religion; the right to fair legal procedure and to bear arms; and that powers not delegated to the federal government were reserved for the states and the people.”

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Fifty-nine-year-old Satchel Paige pitches three innings, Sep 25, 1965:

“On September 25, 1965, the Kansas City Athletics start ageless wonder Satchel Paige in a game against the Boston Red Sox. The 59-year-old Paige, a Negro League legend, proved his greatness once again by giving up only one hit in his three innings of play.

Leroy Page was born on July 7, 1906, in Mobile, Alabama. Page’s family changed the spelling of their name to Paige to differentiate themselves from John Page, Leroy’s absent and abusive father. "Satchel" got his nickname as a boy while working as a luggage carrier at the Mobile train station. When he was 12, his constant truancy coupled with a shoplifting incident got him sent to the Industrial School for Negro Children in Mount Meigs, Alabama. It turned out to be a lucky break, as it was there that Paige learned to pitch. After leaving the school, he turned pro.

On September 25, 1965, Paige’s three innings for the Kansas City Athletics made him, at 59 years, 2 months and 18 days, the oldest pitcher ever to play a game in the major leagues. Before the game, Paige sat in the bullpen in a rocking chair while a nurse rubbed liniment into his pitching arm for the entire crowd to see. Any doubts about Paige’s ability were put to rest when he set down each of the Red Sox batters he faced except for Carl Yastremski, who hit a double.

Arguably the greatest pitcher of his era, Paige was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971.”

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IRA officially disarms, Sep 25, 2005:

“Two months after announcing its intention to disarm, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) gives up its weapons in front of independent weapons inspectors. The decommissioning of the group s substantial arsenal took place in secret locations in the Republic of Ireland. One Protestant and one Catholic priest as well as officials from Finland and the United States served as witnesses to the historic event. Automatic weapons, ammunition, missiles and explosives were among the arms found in the cache, which the head weapons inspector described as "enormous."

Although many Northern Irish Protestants did not trust that the IRA was truly giving up all of its weapons, the disarmament represented an important step toward lasting peace in the long-troubled region. In the aftermath of the disarmament, IRA splinter groups threatened to continue the violence.”

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Yesterday:

Ray’s back was hurting him, so we didn’t get anything done.  I took the garbage cans to the road, so he could stay on his heating pad.  Mostly, I just puttered around doing odd jobs, and getting sidetracked while looking at different things to put in this journal.

I had found some more nuts in the cupboard, but this time I soaked them overnight, and made more nut butter in my auger juicer.   This is the reason for soaking: http://www.healthbeyondhype.com/hidden-dangers-your-whole-grains-beans-nuts-seeds-ezp-138.html  as Sally Fallon points out in her highly recommended cookbook Nourishing Traditions… So Who Is Sally Fallon?http://www.angelfire.com/folk/realmilkalliance/page11.html

The nut butter was better for the soaking.  It is also better to soak brown rice, (I don’t eat the bleached non-nutritious white rice), and quinoa before it is cooked, so I will try that today.