BYC Officer's Installation Banquet 2010

I spent 4 hours on Saturday shopping for a dress with my friend Mimi. I must have tried on 30 dresses before I settled on the perfect one. I was so excited to go out all dressed up. It's not so often we get to put on our finery and step out. The occasion was the annual BYC Officer's Installation banquet.

It was held at the Bay Club on the Naval Base. We arrived just in time to meet friends for the mixer in the bar. Let me tell you, that bartender was not stingy with the rum!

We moved on to the banquet room where there was more mixing and chatting. I got to talk with some others who will be going with us on the upcoming "Hijack the Jack's Cruise" in 28 days. As you can imagine, we're all very excited about getting out of the cold for a few days.

Soon, dinner was served. It is the last to be had at the Bay Club. The times are hitting the Navy base in decreased bookings and they can no longer afford to maintain the staff. I don't know what this will do for future Navy Day Regattas...

After dinner, our departing Commo- dore, Walt, took the podium for a very long list of presen- tations. I think half the club's membership got some kind of award or honor. They recognized all of the outgoing officers and committee chairs. There was a near epic poem written and presented by one of our members chronicling the year's events. It was simply done but an amazing accomplishment.
This was the last hurrah of the outgoing committee chairs...

Walt swore in our new Commodore, Harry, who then took over the podium.

Harry swore in his new group of officers first. All very hard- working people who make our club a success!

Next on the agenda was recognition of the new Committee Chair people, including myself. I was asked late last year if I would be on the Dinner Committee, to which I agreed. Next thing I knew... I was somehow the Chairwoman. I don't have a clue what that means, but I guess I'll learn. I've got a great group of committee members to help me out.

After all of the presen- tations were done, we joined the Padre Island Yacht Club group next door. They had graciously extended an invitation to our club to attend their banquet, which included a very nice band. The didn't play ANY current music... only oldies and more swing, big band, old fart stuff. It was fabulous! We had such a great time dancing the night away.

Bruce and I stayed until the lights came on and the band packed it in. We didn't get home until midnight. Uncommon for us. It was a wonderful kickoff to our year and we're both very excited about the upcoming events.

Sunday morning was lazy with brunch with some club members at Water Street Seafood Company. They have a generous and delicious brunch buffet for $16.95. For another $10 I got a bottomless Mimosa. Yum! Of course we felt obliged to gorge ourselves. I was so hungry by the time 10 am came along, that I had the shakes. These were quickly replaced by the need to take a nap. We went to the boat and slept for a couple of hours then it was over to the club for our planning meeting.

We spent a couple of hours there mapping out our year. It's going to be a great one. We're so glad we have the luxury of spending our weekend frivolously.

A Saturday Drive to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

Saturday morning, Bruce read in the paper that the Whooping Cranes had arrived at the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. We had nothing on our agenda so we decided to take a drive out there and see how lucky we were. It's a good thing to be able to change directions on a whim...

We did a bit of Antiquing on the way and found ourselves getting hungry. We couldn't decide on a place for a snack and by the time we realized it, we were literally in the middle of nowhere. Guess what? There are no restaurants or convenience stores in the middle of nowhere. Now What? We were starving... so we took the first likely looking road at a sign that read Hopper's landing to see what we could find.

Now this place was really it as far as choices. I was feeling adven- turous, so we went on in. I heard a discussion inside while I waited for this picture to be taken that went something like this.... "whatdaya think she'll want to drink... beer? Nawww... I'm thinking more like wite wiiine." This was a little local bar right up from the "landing" where boats brought in the oyster harvest.

We walked in and looked around. It was like something you would find in the mountains or back woods. Very rustic, with a couple of rough looking guys sitting around drinking and smoking. We walked to the bar and sat down. The surprised looking owner's husband, asked us what we would like. I told him we needed a snack, and he said it would have to be chips or pickles. So we settled on chips and Bruce picked out a beer. They even had a wine cooler for me but they had to make a phone call to the owner... (the wife) to see if the cost was $2 or $2.50... which took a while.

Meanwhile, we chatted with the local guy and found that they had brought in 72 bags of oysters the previous day (which must be good). And that they drag the bottom and cull out the ones under 3 inches, which are illegal. Unfortunately the illegal 2 to 3 inch size are more desirable on the "half-shell market". So the game wardens periodically reduce the day's haul by showing up and making it difficult to get away with bringing in the 2 to 3 inch size, as they make the guys throw back the whole boatload if they possess more than about 20% of the illegal size. Bummer!

So anyway, now that we know all we need to know about the oyster trade... We said our goodbyes and headed on over to the refuge. http://www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/texas/aransas

It was about 3;30 and they quit taking people in at 4:30. You can stay until 30 minutes after sundown, however, so we still had plenty of time. We got in free since Bruce has a Golden Pass which gets us into any National Park for life! Perks of marrying an old guy...

Our main objective was to catch a glimpse of the elusive Whooping Crane.

This picture at the park was as good as it got. We don't know if it was because they were hunkered down for the cold weather (although it was much better than it would be where they come from) or if it was the noise being made in the repair of the new skywalk right near the old viewing tower... probably the latter.

We climbed the walkway up to the old tower, which has a com- manding view of the shoreline. There is a viewing scope up there which gives you a better look at the shore, but it would probably help to bring your own binoculars, which we did not. But there weren't too many people around this day so we got a crack at it.

The wind was so cold up there and we weren't able to stay long. The cold was really making my nose hurt and Bruce only had a light jacket. The view was spectacular though... I looked everywhere through the camera lens but found only a few birds. A couple of Egrets were hanging out near here and I got a couple of pictures, but not great ones at this distance. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egret

This one was hanging out near the marsh...

We were driven down from the tower by the cold. We took the car on the loop to see if we could find any other critters along the way out of the park. There were some white tail deer frolicking in the road up ahead. There were two cars in front of us so we couldn't get very close, but we could see them pretty well.

Finally when the cars began to move towards them, the deer scampered off into the brush along the road. We got to watch them flick their tails and jump around in the trees.

We drove along and found another spot with deer and egrets both. There was a little freshwater pond where the birds had gathered and while we were watching them, this lone deer came walking up for a drink. The bird is not standing on the deer.

We drove on and just at the exit of the park, there is a marshy spot with a fence and a sign that says not to get on the other side of the fence as alligators bite...! Well I guess there weren't any gators in attendance today as there were a bunch of moorhens hanging around.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorhen

They make the cutest little sounds. It was neat to watch them and to listen to their call in the still day. There were screams from some child off in the marsh... probably found those alligators. The cold drove us on and we left the park with the intention of coming back again soon to try our luck with the Whoopers. We drove home by way of The "Big Fisherman". I swear, this is the last binge before the big diet starts! It was a fun day out with my favorite husband.

New Year's Day

Bruce and I had dinner with Steve and Jacquie on New Year's Eve. The dinner was a bit too good, as was the Champagne Punch. Jacquie and I nearly finished two bottles before we left. Our next stop was the boat. We had planned to go to the BYC party... but I wasn't making it. I crawled into our warm soft v-berth and was out. Bruce did make a short appearance at the club for the 9:00 toast, then joined me. So much for the party animals.

New Year's Day, we were up bright and early. There was a breakfast at the BYC given by the past Commo- dores.

These were the host/hostesses. Yes there have been women Commo- dores...

We were there early and visited with some new members and some old. Bruce has been unable to take the boat out as he has been nursing me for nearly two weeks. I felt sorry for him as my surgeon has expressly forbidden me to go sailing... I got a bright idea and rounded him up some crew so that I could be absolutely worthless.

Neil, Teresa and a rival captain, Larry joined us on the bay at noon, after the winds from the arrival of the Norther' blew out somewhat.

The winds continued to die down and the guys decided to play with Bruce's spinaker. Bruce had been sharing his secrets with Larry the whole afternoon, so what's another out of the bag. Larry doesn't even have a spinaker... So they got to work on it.

Teresa was on the helm and I was hiding inside as the cold really hurts the schnoz. She was a bit nervous when the sail came up and the boat started to do things... but she did great! After a while, she didn't even accept the offer to be relieved of the helm.

Unfortunately, the winds died off so completely, we ended up taking the sail down and motoring back in. Oh well, it was good practice for the guys and Bruce got a taste... so he was happy. He began this day with no idea he would get out on the Bay at all...

We ended the boat ride early in the afternoon so that we could be on to the next item on our agenda. We had a wedding to attend. The daughter of a long-time co-worker was getting married in a very cute little church uptown CC. The wedding was very pretty with a huge bunch of attendants. Mary, my co-worker, looked lovely as Mother-of-the-Bride.

The reception was held at the Ortiz Center near the port. We joined my friend Mimi's family at a table.

There were Mariachis roaming around through the tables. It was kind of fun and uplifting. I was having a hard time with my nose, however. Bruce and I stayed through the dinner and when the dancing began, we made our exit. I was a bit disappointed about missing all the post-wedding craziness, but it's painful to smile much and figured I'ld pay for it if we stayed. Sorry to Mary for missing the cake and whatever she had in store for our entertainment. I can't wait to hear the stories. And thus ended our first day of 2010