Approaching Fall and Beach Rides Greetings from the off-grid Matagorda Peninsula barrier island, located approximately 5 miles off the coast of Port O’Connor, TX., with West Matagorda Bay to the north, and the Gulf of Mexico bordering the south side. Many people that are not associated with an isolated homesteading lifestyle, are not familiar with […]

Fall has returned to our radars and so has Fall allergies. For me it’s kinda funny because besides knowing I’m allergic to dogs and cats (and honestly not caring one bit), I did not have a lot of seasonal symptoms until living for over a year in Knoxville, Tennessee where the locals claim: “If you […]

In one of his essays, Sir Richard Steele (1672-1729) described a day he spent with a younger child. He said, “I found upon conversation with him, though he was a little noisy in his mirth, that the child had excellent parts, and was a great master of all learning on the other side of eight […]

As the construction of the Matagorda Ship Channel began back in 1962 to allow ocean-going vessels to travel from the Gulf of Mexico into Matagorda Bay, a small island started to be formed from all the sand and mud dredged up from the bay bottom. It didn’t take long for the new island 3 miles […]

Whistling Ducks, Heat And Tar Balls Greetings from the island everyone!  I hope that all of you are doing well and hanging in there with this brutal heat.  Being on my 24th year total on this barrier island, this is the driest and hottest summer I’ve experienced.  The dim light at the end of the […]