The Fall Trip Continues

Remember the oil spill last year?  Until this week, we haven't seen any remnants of the great spill of '10.  This week there have been people walking on the beach with small nets picking up tar balls - actually one lady was doing the picking, the other two guys were just mozying down the beach. 

Then a day or two later we found this on the beach:

Tar balls on the beach. 

Fortunately, that was the only tar we've seen.  The local TV station had a story about a "tar pad" being dug up about 1/2 miles west of the beach where we swim. 

On Monday, our niece Stephanie showed up to stay with Pam and Dennis for four days.  We were very excited to see her. 

Dennis, Pam, and Stephanie enjoying the fabulous weather. 

Stephanie is a dog groomer at a PetSmart in Georgia where she lives; she was kind enough to bring her grooming supplies to give Butch a much-needed haircut.  Butch stood perfectly still while Stephanie turned him into a very handsome dog. 

Butch watching as Steph carefully trims his belly.

We made a few trips to the fishing pier last week. 

These rays were right by the shore line.  A couple of weeks ago, a school of them swam inbetween the four of us when we were standing out in the Gulf.  They definitely startled us.

Butch loves to harrass Pam's cats when she puts them outside in their crate.

After eating at restaurants the last two nights, we decided that we had to walk a bit longer this morning instead of our usual 45 minutes to an hour.  We started on the road and then headed to the beach to walk by the water.  An hour after starting, we ended up at the fishing pier.  It looked a lot closer than it really was. 

We decided that we walked almost six miles this morning.  My toes are still killing me.

Except for this past Wednesday, the weather has been perfect.  Wednesday it stormed all day long.

Butch hates storms.  The only way he would settle down was for Mark to wrap him up in a blanket and hold him - he's such a weenie!

 The cold front came in yesterday.  Even though it gets to the low 70s, it gets down to the low 50s at night.  Unfortunately, we have no heavy blankets with us on this trip.  Tonight it's going to be 48!  This just confirms our suspicions that it's too cold to spend a winter in Gulf Shores.