Confusing...To Say The Least

  Early this morning, I headed to the pier to catch the sunrise.  While I am always enamored by the view as the sun starts to peep over the pines, this morning was a bit different.  It almost appeared as if somehow during the night, our place was magically shifted to be a bit closer to the casino across the Bay.  In fact, that thing appeared to be looming overhead like some huge, lurking monster!  How in the world?   Even though I have a zoom lens on my old camera, it is difficult to get a good shot of the opposite side of the Bayou much less be able to read the signs on a building miles away.  In fact, road-wise, the casino sits almost four miles away...as the crow flies, it is closer at nigh on three miles.   This morning, however, the casino seemed a mere stone's throw away.   This is NOT good!  I do not want a casino in my backyard!  (Even if it is miles away!)

  Imagining that the casino had magically moved nearer was a bit unsettling so I turned my attention to the only critter in sight.  A small grebe paddled happily in the calm waters.  I tried photographing the little bird but had no luck making it magically appear closer like that ominous building!  The little grebe stayed far out of range even though it was only fifty feet away.  I am still bewildered about the building, the grebe and my photography skills.  It was a confusing morning, to say the least!

 
 

 

Golden Moments

  It may seem to be a strange habit to some folks, but I search for all of the golden moments that I can find.  There are precious times in each day.  It is my goal to find and savor the golden moments that occur. Here lately, it seems that we are all too wound up in our lives to even sit back and reflect on just how good things are.  Not me.  I try to open my day each morning being thankful that I am alive and doing well.  Likewise, the day's end is met appreciating what I was given during the day.  This is a way of understanding that good times/bad times are all fleeting and to find a bit of happiness anywhere is a true blessing.  I find mine here on the Bayou.  Moments that make you appreciate life are what I call the golden moments.  I find a good many of these occurrences at sunrise.  It seems that there is a certain serenity at that time of day.  

  We have had very few days in the past month that I was able to get out to the pier to watch the sun rise above the pines or, for that matter, make an appearance at all.  Rainy days seemed to have been the norm so far for this winter.  Yet, there was one morning that was deemed most perfect.  It was full of those golden moments.  As matter of fact, the entire morning was golden.

  I arose before dawn and headed out to the pier. Without Ms. Ez, the old Bayou Dog, there to guide me, I had to tread carefully.  She would always nudge me away from slippery slopes so I would not fall.  Boy, I miss that dog!  Still, I did make it to the pier in time to watch the sun peep out of a bit of fog.  As it did, the entire Bayou and Bay were filled with a golden wash.  It was gorgeous!

  As I sat there staring out at the different waterfowl as they tried to find breakfast, I thought how that old dog would have loved this.  My golden moment was not just the sunrise and beauty around me but thoughts of my departed friend.  Ms. Ez was a golden moment.  Boy, I miss her.

Poodledoos...

When I was young, I fished a lot with my dad. I think this played a big role in my love of being around the water. "It is in my blood" or at least that is what I have been told! I have been talking a lot about the odd names that have been attached to things connected with water. The jellyfish, ground mullet..etc.. and here we are again. My dad was never one to use foul language especially around the youngsters. He always said that it was a needless thing and it was best not to ever get into the habit. Being on the water with him, there were many times that curse words would have readily slipped from others mouths but not Dad. There was even a small water fowl that had the common name of "Hell-diver". Now used in this sense, it would not be considered a curse word, but Dad was careful never to use this in my presence. Instead he created a name. He called them "Poodledoos". I have no idea how he came up with such a name but I always thought that was their true name. Poodledoos! There are a lot of common names for this little fellow.."dabchick", "water witch" and "devil-diver". According to birding books, this little duck-like bird is really a Pied-billed Grebe. Now had Dad told me that a bird was called a "pied billed" anything, I would have surely thought that he was teasing me, but "Poodledoo"..now that is totally believable!

The other day, my son and I were on the pier trying to catch our lunch when the grebe paid us a visit. It swam closer and closer to the pier, diving after the menhaden that were plentiful that day. Those who are familiar with the Pied-bill Grebe will tell you that it spends a good bit of its time under the water and this little one was no different. It would dive for seemingly way too long before bobbing up a good distance from where it dove. Closer and closer it came.. always cocking its head to look at us from different angles, I thought at first it was just being curious but when it was quite near, I realized that it was blind in one eye. Poor little thing, it must have been attacked by something at one point in its life. This did not seem to hinder its fishing ability though..it was catching minnows one after another.

Pied-billed grebes are smallish water birds..not nearly as big as the common mallards. They are mostly brown with muted markings. Several interesting facts make them stand out though, one being that they rarely fly. They prefer to escape predators by diving. If and when they migrate, they will do so at night. Also, even though these cute little birds swim and dive, they do not have webbed feet! They are able to paddle along because they have lobes on the sides of their toes. And swim they do!..on top of the water and below! Another thing that I found interesting is that a group of these grebes is called a "water dance"! At least the group has a pretty name!