Moe, the heron that comes to feed at the pier, was not overly happy with the turn of events of the day. He usually waits for me to come down to catch minnows for him. Yes, he has gotten to be quite the lazy bird, here lately, and refuses to work for his breakfast. He gets to the pier long before I do in the mornings as I need that first cup of coffee before I head outside. Once the coffee is sipped and Mr. PJ, the old dog is fed, we head outside. That is the routine of every morning. Moe on the pier, me sipping coffee, Mr. PJ eating then we all meet together. This morning that did not happen and Moe was extremely agitated with me.
That "turn of events" happened to be a nice rain pelting the Bayou. Since we have not received any rain in several weeks, it was much appreciated and deserve a bit of "rain watching" which I promptly did! As soon as I made the first mug of coffee, I heard the gentle rain pelting the rooftop. Ahh, nice! I headed to the living room, threw open the French doors that overlook the Bay and pulled up a rocking chair. Those three things got a burr stuck in the craw of Moe. While I lounged in the rocking chair watching the rain through the screen doors and sipping my morning brew, Moe sat perched on a pier post IN the rain with no breakfast. All I could think was "Go catch your own breakfast! I am going to sit right here."
Obviously, Moe did get a bit miffed at me as later when I finally made it to the pier, he refused to come eat. Mr. Smartypants Moe sat and glared at me from my brother's pier. He was having no part of my laziness and he was going to let me know that! Well, so sorry, Moe. You will have to fetch your own minnows this morning if you are too high and mighty to come eat when I offer. In the meantime, a second cup of coffee and that rocking chair sounded mighty fine. Mr. PJ and I headed back to the Little Bayou House and poor Moe went hungry.
Early this morning as I stumbled to the kitchen, I heard a funny sound coming from some unseen entity. At 5am without coffee, I am not much in the mood to go searching for something making a tippity-tip noise so I left it be...for the time being...or so I thought. As usual, a pot of coffee needed to be set to brewing if I was to wake at all. Then, the cat needed to be fed. She has the loudest meow when she is hungry and she is always hungry which is why I was up before sunrise. That goofy cat decided to sit on my chest and meow until I forced my eyelids to open. With her fed and quiet (thank goodness!), Mr. PJ wanted his share of breakfast. Ms. Nycto's loud meowing woke up the dog so he came running to the kitchen nearly colliding with the cat. Big ruckus...poor brain...need coffee. Finally, the coffee..nice, hot coffee to waken the brain was brewed!
With that mug of coffee in hand, I pulled out a chair to have a seat. That is when I came face to face (literally) with the tippity-tip maker. A rather large crane fly decided that my glasses needed attention so it was flippity-flipping all over my face! Actually, I had disturbed the critter from its busy work. The crane fly must have come in last night with the cat and decided that indoor life was not its cup of tea. The insect was bouncing around on the window curtains trying to escape the confines of the kitchen. Its attraction to my face is still unknown unless it was seeking my help in its getaway. I did...the critter was set free and seemed happy to take leave of the place.
Crane flies are some of the most misunderstood insects there are. At least down here in the Deep South, they are seen as enormous mosquitoes that can bite. Nope. They do not. Other folks claim that they are "skeeter eaters" (which would be a good thing). Nope. They do not. Some even claim that they will "ruin your tomatoes"! Nope. They do not cause the ugly marks on the tomatoes in the garden. Put the blame where it is due...those blotches come from stinkbugs. So, the crane fly is a pretty innocuous critter that does little more than flit around aimlessly hunting for a mate. The larvae can sometimes cause dark spots in the lawn but, other than that, they pretty much just live and make tippity-tip noises on your window...at 5am...before you have had your coffee.
