Changes

 It's been a busy past seven days. I took a long weekend off Friday thru Tuesday so I could take my son's dog to him since he recently moved into a dog friendly apartment community. He lives down on the Texas Gulf coast so I was planning on some time at the beach and doing a bit of bird watching at the Botanical Gardens and Nature Center while there. I also took him out shopping to get him some new decor for his apartment. Well as usual things didn't always go quite to plan and I didn't make it to the beach. I did get to the Gardens and had a nice stroll around and did get to do some bird watching while there. While I did see several species that I hadn't seen before the best bird I saw was just outside my son's apartment. A Texas Red Crown Parrot - actually there were two of them together. I unfortunately did not get to my camera before they flew off. That happened several times over the weekend. que sera sera. 

I did manage to get in a few yoga workouts while there. I didn't take my stair stepper, but his apartment is on the third floor - 40 steps up and 40 steps down... I lost count of how many times a day I went up and down. I know that on Saturday I had down 5 up and 5 down before lunch time! It was great though as I never tired on them event when carrying heavy loads. I could really tell a difference from just a few months back going up the same number of steps at my daughters flat. Baby steps I know, but it is progress. 

So now that I no longer have my son's big dog my hiking companions will be my little Runt Mutts. The weather is finally cooling off nicely so I am hoping to get back on the trails in the next week or so. I might do so this Sunday, but will have to see how the weather and my schedule goes. I might just take them one at a time for the first few outings to see how well they can handle a hike. The smaller of the two may require a harness as she is a bit of a tugger and chokes herself when she pulls out too far. I guess I will wait and see first. 

 The Autumn EBC trekking season is in full swing. Unfortunately the weather isn't cooperating at the lower elevations and flights into Lukla have been grounded for the past six days. I heard that there are over 2000 people now waiting on flights. Many are giving up on EBC and are going to Annapurna instead. Some are managing to get helicopter flights up and others are going by jeep and taking a longer hike in. The talk has been that in recent years the Monsoon season is staying later and it makes trekking in October a bit riskier. It is one of the reasons I am looking at a November trek. It is quite a bit colder in November, but it is usually dry and sunny. I would much rather be faced with that than rain and delays. I'm still hoping that I can get a Volunteer job in that area where I can start my trek from there and then just finish in Lukla. Time will tell I guess. It is still too distant to be concerned with it. Things can change all too fast. 

 
 
           Pictures taken at the South Texas Botanical Gardens and Nature Center