Just watching

  These are definitely the hot, lazy days of summer here on the Bayou. Things are great during the early morning hours and then again late evening but at just about eight o'clock in the morning, whew!  It gets hot!  Most of my outdoor chores are accomplished at daybreak.  It is then that I move indoors to do the household drudgery such as cleaning.  All of this has to be done before noon, as then, even indoors starts to warm up and get uncomfortable.  So, once again, I move outdoors but not to work.  Then I do my "watching".  

  Early this afternoon, Ms. Ez and I were sitting outside trying to catch a cooling breeze.  It was far too hot for the old dog to play fetch so she lolled on the grass beside me.  Our time was spent watching a wasp crawl around on the bench beside me until that guy got a bit too brave. (No more wasp.)  Then a flash of blue caught my eye.  Ahh, somebody is smart!  A male bluebird landed on the birdbath.  Funny thing, though, instead of splashing about, the bird started calling.  Hmmm, now this might be interesting!

  Sure enough, this was Daddy Bluebird!  Not far behind was Mama and the little ones!  The parent birds were teaching their fledglings how to find water during these torrid days of late summer.  I watched the family as the three little ones played in the water under the watchful eye of the parent birds.  It seemed to me that these little birds were having a grand time splashing in the water.  It brought back memories of how my siblings and I would go swimming in the Bay back when we were kids. Our chores would be done in the early morning hours and then we would run down the road to my grandparents' house.  Their house was just next door to where the Little Bayou House sits now.  (My brother lives there now!)  We would jump right off the pier and frolic about for an hour before Grandmother would call for us to come up the hill. She would give each of us a cookie and send us back home again to another round of chores.  Those little bluebirds were having their cooling swim before heading back bug-hunting.    

  After the birds left the bath, I wandered into the garden to find a passel of bluebirds in among the tomatoes.  The old tomato worms had better watch out, those hungry birdies will find them!  It did not seem to bother the birds one bit that I had the sprinkler going in the garden. They were darting in and out of the plants all the while chirping to one another! Great fun on a lazy, hazy day of summer!