Low Tide Disappointment

   After a more or less sleepless night of worry about family members being in the midst of Hurricane Ian, I grabbed a mug of coffee and headed to the pier.  That is where I can soothe the mind of all its anxiety and find peace in the soul again.  The wind was chilly this morning so I did not even stay to watch the sunrise.  Later, however, I headed back to help Son do some repairs on the small skiff.  Once I figured out that I was more in the way than anything, I meandered back to the end of the pier.  The north wind had blown the water far from the marsh and left mudflats for some thirty feet.  That was not surprising but the next thirty or so was.  Maybe surprising is not the word.  Maybe disappointing is more appropriate.  

  With the water only a mere six to eight inches deep, I could see everything that is normally hidden.  While I knew what was there, I had no idea the extent of it.  As far as I could see there was a mass of weird green, growth.  Never before have we had "grass" under the pier.  This is not truly grass but is a pond plant that was sneakily dumped in the Bay by someone.  It took hold and now has spread like wildfire.  It is clogging all the bayous and now has begun its spread outward from the shoreline.  The stuff makes it almost impossible to throw a net or cast a line.  It also winds around boat propellers rendering them quite useless if not untangled.  It is just a mess.  I am torn between calling it Coontail (which is what a biologist told me) and Hydrilla (which is what Google told me).  Either way, it is highly invasive.

  Like I said, it was disappointing to see that this growth has spread so rapidly.  It is also disappointing that, although reported to the proper authorities, nothing has been done.  The usual "run-around" was given and nothing...NOTHING...has or will be done.  The bay and bayous will continue to become more and more clogged until nothing can survive. It is saddening...disappointing...to say the least.  Rant over...I am tired.

  For any who may be interested, my family members all made it through the hurricane with little to no damage.  I am just so thankful they are all safe and sound.  Hurricane Ian...go away now.

Fried Green Tomatoes, Anyone?

  The gardens were doing so well.  You noticed "were"?  Yeah, well, they were doing so well.  The tomato plants had outgrown their crates and were so heavily laden with green tomatoes that it seemed that we were to have a bumper crop.  The squash plants were three feet tall and had dozens of blooms and tiny squash on them.  We were already enjoying daily meals.  The bell peppers were full of blossoms and tiny green peppers.  The key word in all of the statements is "were"...past tense.  Today, Son and I pulled all of the squash plants, cut back our beautiful four o'clock flowers, picked all of the green tomatoes, snipped every leaf off of the bell peppers and literally mowed the sweet potato vines to the ground.  None of these things were to my liking but were necessary.

  Tiny caterpillars first attacked the four o'clock plants and then quickly spread to the tomatoes and bell peppers. Finally, they made their way to the sweet potatoes.  Every leaf on these plants were riddled with holes.  This happened within a span of three days and during those three, I sprayed with numerous "organic" pesticides.  I refuse to put toxic chemicals on my vegetable gardens so found several things that touted to do the job safely.  None worked.  Sadly, the plants had to go.  Since the sprays contained nothing but herbs that are non toxic to fish, the plants (with caterpillars intact) were tossed to the frogs.  They loved them!  Hopefully, that will get rid of a lot of future moths.  The squash plants met a similar fate due to the squash bugs gnawing the stalks.  Nothing works on them other than to eradicate each larva...one by one by slitting the stalk and removing the critter.  Nope. Gone.

  The tomatoes were not only being attacked by caterpillars, the squirrels have taken a liking to them.  Every day, the thieving critters would steal ten or fifteen green tomatoes.  I could have lived with that but when they started knocking off dozens and dozens to get one tomato for one bite, something had to give.  All remaining tomatoes were picked and are in trays in the entryway.  Now, every table, shelf and even the floor is covered with green tomatoes!  Hopefully, the squirrels will not figure out how to open the door!

  Now the gardens look barren.  It saddens me but, at the same time, I am thankful for what we did harvest.  I told Son that I am going to plant flowers for the remainder of the summer then try again with a winter garden.  I am not adverse to spraying insecticides on non-edible flowers and during the winter, there are no caterpillars!  Oh, well.  Things are what they are and we cannot change that.  On the bright side, fried green tomatoes are always tasty!