Hello, Gator!

  Early this morning brought a pleasant surprise.  With all of the mess of algae bloom, polluted waters from the spillway openings and runoff from northern farms, the Gulf, bays and bayous have had a hard time.  The first part of the summer saw us in a tizzy over the tainted seafood that is so important to our area.  Also to suffer, were the critters of that live here.  During the early part of the summer there was a great lack of waterfowl, fish, aquatic mammals, reptiles and crustaceans.  Things were not the same without my friends.

  The hike to the pier proved to be a happy time since an old friend paid a visit.  For the first time this summer, a lone alligator lingered just outside of the pier.  That was good news.  If the gators are back, that means the food supply is back.  Sure enough, schools of mullet and menhaden were breaking the surface of the water and a lone redfish was stalking the bull minnows in the cut.  Moe, the heron, was hanging out on the next pier over and a pair of pelicans was diving for breakfast.  Life was getting back to normal.  A slight bit of blue/green algae still floated near the marsh but not enough to cause problems, it seems.  Now, barring any other incidents, the bayou could start being its old self again.  Happy times!