Just Another Mud-covered Bottle

  We all see bodies of water and marvel at the beauty but we rarely think about what lies beneath the surface.  Sure, we realize that there are any number of critters living there and that way down deep there is a bottom of either sand or mud but do you ever ponder what else the water may be hiding?  I do.  I do simply because eventually whatever is under the water winds up on my shoreline.  The mud cannot hold things forever.  A good strong tide from a gale can churn up the bottom and send all sorts of...umm...treasures (yeah, I wish) my way.  

  The other night, we had a strong east wind that whipped things this way and that.  This was one of the first high tides that we have seen since the start of winter.  Usually, the north wind pushes the water far away from the pier but this wind did just the opposite.  With that wind whipping the waters into a frenzy, the mud was churned and a multitude of junk came floating to the top.  One has to wonder just where the stuff comes from in the first place.  A milk jug, a myriad of beer cans, drink bottles, tennis balls, logs and one mud-covered, unidentified bottle all made their way to the pier.  Most were fished out and discarded properly (something some folks obviously cannot do).  The mud-covered bottle bobbed just out of reach and, to this day, remains unidentified.  I was in hopes that it was another old milk bottle, an antique medicine bottle or a vintage soda bottle from years and years ago.  I guess I will have to wait until another storm enters the Bay to retrieve the bottle.

  It amazes me just what the mud hides.  Each hurricane that pounds the area dumps literally tons of stuff into our little bay.  There it sits just long enough to become mud covered and then slowly sinks out of sight.  Some of the stuff has been there for decades before it is suddenly roiled from its grave and shoved to the top. Once it resurfaces, it rides the surf onto shore and becomes mired in the marsh.  There, it sits if I cannot reach it with the long-handled net.  Eventually, another storm with higher tides will shove the junk far up into the yard and leave it in a debris line that is sometimes ten or more feet deep.  Yep, just another one of those lovely perks of living on the water.  I get to clean up other folks' mess.  Just once, it would be nice if there really was a treasure and not just a mud-covered bottle.