High Tides Bring All Sorts of Things

  It never ceases to amaze me just how many things wash into the Bayou on a good high tide.  Besides the usual driftwood pieces, we receive every piece of trash folks toss overboard.  Some trash confuses me a bit, however.  There was the time that Mark pulled "Santa" out of the marsh.  Why Santa was ever in the marsh befuddled me.  Another time, a doghouse washed ashore and, albeit unusual, at least it was sans the dog.  We have found antique bottles, boat seats, rods and reels, stuffed toys, soccer balls and a poodle. (The poodle was sans the doghouse.  It swam all the way across the Bay before making its way ashore by the pier.)  Finding other folks' belongings makes you wonder about the how and why behind each one.

  This afternoon as the Mr. PJ (the old dog) and I were meandering around the hillside and marsh line, I came across another "find" that made me ponder.  A fire extinguisher had washed ashore under the old oak tree on the east side of the property.  The extinguisher was obviously from a boat and obviously, from the looks of it, had been pretty battered at some point.  Since I make this hike several times a day, I pondered why I had never seen the extinguisher before.  Perhaps this had come in on the high tides associated with Hurricane Nate earlier this year but was covered with other debris until now.  Winter tides are, as a rule, low due to the north wind so it could not have ridden the waves recently.  Who lost their extinguisher?  Had a boat sunk during that recent storm which was not much more than a good squall?  Did someone just toss the thing overboard as pathetic people tend to do?  Was it a working extinguisher when it was lost?  How long had it been in the marsh?  So many questions with no ready answers.  My find for the day is just another piece of trash at this point.  It will be fished out of the mud and disposed of properly along with the several dozen beer cans and drink bottles that I also retrieved today.  I sure wish folks would stop dumping their trash in my front yard (also known as the Bayou!).