Archive for January, 2007

Jan 29 2007

Posted by CyberCelt under Did You Know, Golf

Did Someone Say Golf?

Golf at River Place.
Golfing is a great sport and Texas is home to some awesome golf courses. You may golf at more than 900 courses in Texas, including two Tour 18 golf courses, one in Houston and one in Dallas. These golf courses recreate world famous golf holes for a challenge at each hole. For fast free information on golfing, click to order FREE Texas Golf Guide. You may also wish to Search for Texas golf courses by fees or by whether it is public, private or resort golf course.

Here are a few popular golf courses in Texas.

Some of the most well-known golf courses in Texas are:

Scheduled 2007 PGA tournaments in Texas:

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Jan 29 2007

Posted by CyberCelt under Beach, Birding, Other Countries, Wildlife Watching

Texas Birding Festivals in February

Whooping Cranes in TexasWhooping Cranes

February 10-11, 2007
Eagle Fest in Emory, Texas - Barge Eagle tours on Lake Fork, exhibitions and lectures, Native American art and performances.

February 15-18, 2007
Brownsville International Birding Festival - Enjoy field trips, seminars, explore the biodiversity of south Texas and northern Mexico.

February 18-22, 2007
El Cielo Nature Festival, Ciudad Mante, Tamaulipas, Mexico - This festival is sponsored by the McAllen and Brownsville Chambers of Commerce. El Cielo is located in northeast Mexico includes the northernmost cloud forest in the North American continent.

February 23-27, 2007
Annual Celebration of Whooping Cranes and Other Birds in Port Aransas - Guided tours of birding centers, wetland habitats, art exhibits, seminars, singing zoologists and more.

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Jan 28 2007

Posted by CyberCelt under Lakes, Nature, Skywatching

The Stars at Night are Big and Bright …

star field

Star Parties in Texas

In Austin, there are Star Gazing and Moonlighting Tours (weather permitting) at Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve each month. Star Gazing takes place with the crescent moon and Moonlighting Tours happen around the full moon.

For a list of the Austin Astronomical Society’s planned star parties for 2007, please visit the website. The star parties are held, weather permitting, at the Eagle Eye Observatory at the Canyon Of The Eagles on Lake Buchannan.

The 29th Annual Texas Star Party will be hosted on the Prude Ranch, a 3,500 acre mile-high ranch located six miles northwest of Fort Davis on May 13-20, 2007.

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Jan 26 2007

Posted by CyberCelt under Birding, Day Trips, Family Fun, Kayak/canoe/tube, Rivers

Blanco River Flowing Over Five Mile Dam

Blanco RiverBlanco River, Dudley Johnson Park


Yesterday, we went to the Blanco River at Five Mile Dam, just outside of San Marcos. They call it Five Mile Dam because it is five river miles from Wimberley, Texas. The name of the park is the Dudley Johnson Park, in memory of a fallen police officer.

Five Mile Dam on Blanco RiverFive Mile Dam, Blanco River

What a wonderful sight met our eyes. The Blanco River is flowing over the dam and the pool behind the dam is deep and wide. Several years ago, the Blanco pretty much dried up during a drought and it broke my heart to see this magnificant river reduced to stagnant pools. Since we have been in a two-year drought, I have not wanted to return.

Dry as a Bone BlancoDry as a Bone Blanco

I found the picture above on Notes from The Cubicle blog. Sean snapped this picture of the exposed backside of the dam on July 19, 2006.

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Jan 26 2007

Posted by CyberCelt under Did You Know, Product Reviews, Trouble

Precious Cargo : Infant Car Seats to be Retested

Parents, frightened by the infant car seat ratings report featured in the February issue of Consumer Reports magazine and on the website, ConsumerReports.org, will be happy to know that the Consumers Union will be retesting all the car seats, using in-house labs.

The crash results and report, performed by an outside lab, concluded only two of twelve car seats tested passed the side impact test. Consumer Reports is suspending the article’s ratings and other recommendations regarding specific car-seat models until this retesting is completed.

In an email dated January 25, 2007, the president of Consumers Union, Jim Guest, stated:

One of our tests was intended to simulate how infant car seats perform in a side-impact crash at 38 mph. That’s the speed at which many new vehicles are tested in side crashes by the government’s auto safety agency. But upon reevaluating our data, we believe our tests simulated crashes that were much more severe than that.

I rely on Consumer Reports for information and testing results on any major product that I might purchase. In the past year, I have used Consumer Reports.org to complete research on front loading washers and dryers and used car safety and repair ratings. This inaccurate report, while disappointing, is only one of four mistakes made by Consumer Reports in 70 years!

The others errors were: Suzuki Samurai (1988) and Isuzu Trooper (1996) road test results, ingredients in dog food lacking essential nutrients dispute (1998), and a depreciation miscalculation involving hybrid gas-electric cars and trucks (April 2006).

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