Rainy Days on the Costal Bend

Our friends Dave and Jane,(see Michigan posts), told us it has rained fourteen of the first eighteen days of December so we are seeing the effects of a strong El Nino here along the Coastal Bend. Its quite different than the dry and scorched Texas we have been used to seeing for the past two years and its a welcome relief from the extreme drought.
Not surprisingly we haven't been outside as much as we have would have liked to but the fish have been biting when we are, everything is green and its bitter cold where our kids are so no complaints.
The speckled trout are running large this year and nothing I like better then speckled trout, well maybe grilled pompano or black drum. Renita and I had a feast of fresh trout, sheepshead, and black drum which we cooked the same way and were able to compare on the same plate. Our favorite was the black drum, followed closely by the speckled trout.
Our friends around the park have kept themselves amused and a rubber duck has appeared in Vals Lake, a pool of water that collects in a low spot if front of their fifth wheel,(She didn't put it there it just magically appeared while she was cooped up inside and sick).
Dave baked a blueberry pie with blueberries that Jane picked in the UP and brought us two pieces and Pete stopped by to give us a jar of his and Wernas homemade red raspberry jam. Others have left for the Holidays and the park has a lot more empty spaces,(economy?), than last year but the happy hour bunch still meets at four pm, when the weather permits.
The weather is finally breaking today and dry and clear skies are forecast along with a warming trend,temps have been in the fifties and even as low as the forties for daytime highs and sixties and seventies are forecast, so we are all excited about the nice days and hopefully some canoeing and kayaking. The water level in the bays is really high this year and the oyster beds are not as obvious a hazard, Big black drum are coming from the campground shore at Goose island State Park and our friend Wayne even caught pompano back inside Copano Bay. Not much more to report, basically lots more water and that's always good to us as we spend so much time in the desert. Clear skies.