Today’s high in Bagdad was 119 degrees. On July 14, the weather forecast is 114 degrees. The nightime lows are 88-91 degrees. Help a soldier keep cool with a cool pack.

40% Off the soldier ‘Cool Pack’.
Regular price: $22.00
Specially priced: $13.20

Click here to order. Note: You must use the coupon code july40 in the shopping cart to take advantage of this special offer.

This pack includes: 10 otter pops, 2 cool scarves, 5 tang with electrolytes, 2 water soakers, 10 electrolyte tablets pks, 9 wet wipes, 1 Thank you for your service card, 1 Bonus CD added and Donated Mary Kay Lip Balm, Sun Screen and After Sun Gel at no extra charge.

Offer runs Saturday, June 28th through Saturday, July 5th only.

Willie Nelson, God love him and let him live to be 100 years old, is holding his annual Willie Nelson Picnic in Selma, which is just outside San Antonio. I do not know where he gets the energy, but if you have a chance to see him, go.

There are still tickets available, click here.

Fri, 07/04/08
12:00 PM
Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
Selma, TX

From Austin/San Marcos/New Braunfels
- Take I.H. 35 South toward San Antonio
- Take Exit 174A Selma/Schertz (FM 1518)
- Go through intersection of Evans Rd. and turn right on Retama Parkway.
- Turn right on Lookout Road and follow it to Amphitheater entrance

While looking around for new information on Port Aransas (last post), I happened to check the website of the University of Texas Marine Science Institute.  What a wonderful place.  Next time we visit Port A, we are going to the Visitor’s Center.  Now, if I can get Michael into the idea of Elderhostel, I will be on that barge trip next January.

University of Texas Marine Science Institute

The University of Texas Marine Science Institute (UTMSI) Visitor’s Center has seven aquaria that depict Texas coastal habitats and the organisms that live in them, including Spartina, black mangrove marsh, oyster reef, open bay bottom, rock jetty and offshore artificial reefs.

The planned Wetlands Education Center, known as Windows to the Sea, will occupy over three acres next to the UTMSI Visitors Center and the South Jetty. A marshland pond, planted with sea grasses and surrounded by coastal vegetation, fed by water from the Aransas Pass Ship Channel, will serve as an outdoor exhibit demonstrating the power of wetlands. Visitors may view migratory waterfowl and resident marsh birds from a surrounding boardwalk. Guided tours will penetrate the wetlands on interior boardwalks.

UTMSI sponsors an exciting Elderhostel Adventures Afloat program each January beginning in Galveston. The beautiful hotel barge, R/B River Explorer, navigates the intracoastal waterway through salt marshes including the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, ending in Port Isabel on the southern tip of Texas. Elderhostel programs from November through mid-April include a field trip to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge to observe and study the endangered whooping cranes. The programs held in Brownsville and McAllen specialize in birding.

Teacher workshops and summer programs at UTSMI are aimed at upgrading the proficiency of classroom teachers at all levels by the introduction of marine science topics and techniques into the curriculum of all subjects, from science to art and history.

Summer camps for kids are learning experiences about science on such topics as:  about bays and beaches; seaweed, sea grasses and salt marshes; life as an oceanographer; sea creatures adaptation and ecology.

During the school year, visiting classes are taken board the R/V KATY to develop an understanding of the marine environment through measurement, observation and sampling.

Visit the website Science and the Sea for an understanding of the sea and its myriad life forms. Or the educational and Interactive Beach Debris website.