Seeking the Baby Otters

   Today warmed enough for me to work the gardens a bit.  This was a long time coming since the combination of rain and cold is not exactly to my liking when it comes to being outside.  I have a tendency to hole up inside the Little Bayou House and hover around the old cast-iron stove or head to the kitchen to bake.  Son is the recipient of all of those baked goods so he, too, was happy for me to be outside.  After everything in the greenhouse received a nice dousing of water from the rain barrel and the cabbages, spinach and broccoli were weeded, my thoughts turned to the pier...as usual.  

  Earlier, I had noticed some baby otters playing near the boat cut and a few hooded mergansers out by the end of the pier.  I would try to find the otters and, then, I would try to get a few photographs of the hoodies.  Perhaps SOMETHING of interest could be found.  Slipping silently down the pier planks, I could hear the tiny squeaks of baby otters but never got to see them.  Mama Otter had them well hidden under the marsh mats.  Their playtime in the cold water was over and it was time for them to snuggle down in the den again.  Neither did I find the mergansers.  They had skittered across to the other side of the Bayou far out of reach of the camera lens.  Well, now!  That was boring!

  I did find the remnants of the otters' meal.  Several mollusk shells were on the mudflats.  These had been pried loose from the clusters at the base of the marsh clumps and opened with the skillful "hands" of Mama Otter.  She had demonstrated the method to her little ones and let them have their first taste of the delightful shellfish.  This was a life lesson that would help the little otters survive.  

  As I was about to leave the pier, the winds shifted from the southeast.  My warm day had ended as the winds picked up the chill from the water and made it highly uncomfortable to be outside.  I am getting old.  This never used to bother me.  Now it does.  Time to head back and stoke the fires for the evening.  Brrr!

Finding Beauty In Odd Places

   As I am free to wander about the Bayou now, my hikes have taken on a new vision.  I see things differently, in a lot of cases.  A common weed now has beautiful blooms whereas before I never noticed.  The smell of fresh pine needles is almost intoxicating as is that of the leaves of the camphor tree.  Moss is delightfully soft and cool even on the hottest of days.  Things are just different....or perhaps I am.  

  Early this afternoon, it was too hot to work in the gardens and I have had enough of being confined to the Little Bayou House so I headed out back.  Down behind the greenhouse right on the marsh edge is a huge pile of oyster shells.  It is here that Mark sits patiently for hours to shuck enough oysters for not only us but dozens of our elderly friends.  The mound is getting rather large.  Occasionally, the raccoons forage through these shells in hopes of finding some tidbit of oyster even though those are long gone.  They can, however, find worms and insects so their grubbling is not in vain.  All of the rummaging about does create a mess.  Shells are everywhere!  This afternoon, one of those shells fascinated me.  This was not an oyster shell but a common saltwater mussel that sometimes is attached to the outer part of the oyster.  Mark does not open these but lets the critters have their fill of the morsels found therein.

   This particular shell was about three inches in length and nigh on two inches wide. While the outer part of the shell was the usual muddy brown, the inside was a deep, rich purple.  All salt water mussels are similar.  When freshly opened, this "nacre" glistens with an iridescent glow.  I reached down to feel the shell. It was smooth and quite warm.  My mind whirred with thoughts of how a mollusk can create something so breathtakingly lovely.  To me, the inner lining of the shell is every bit as lovely as any pearl.  That thought also got me to thinking of how expensive pearls are when the shell is just as lovely.  Hmmm, maybe folks just look at things differently.  Or maybe I do. 

Nothing Goes To Waste

  Back in the day, I was taught never to waste anything.  If something broke, you repaired it.  If something was not longer needed as its original purpose, you made it into something else.  You repaired, reused or repurposed everything.  Items were saved because money was tight back on the farm.  Nowadays, we live in a throwaway society. People cringe at the thought of reusing items or remaking items but that was not the norm years ago.  Now, as garbage dumps are overflowing, folks have a toss it attitude even when things can still be used.  I guess I still cannot break the train of thought that "Put it up. Some day, you made need that!" drilled into my head.  To this day, waste is a pet peeve of mine.  Use it until it is gone.  Make it over to be useful again.  Give it second life.  

  Critters on the Bayou are much the same.  They make do.  They use what they find.  They do not waste.  Just this afternoon, I noticed critters making use of something that others had tossed the wayside. The family of otters are great scavengers that will crack open and eat the mollusks that are embedded in the marsh.  It only takes a second for them to crack the shell, fish out the tasty treat and go on to the next one.  Once they drop the (almost) empty shell, others that cannot crack the shells, feast upon the remnants.  I observed as a small crab was pulling the shreds of mollusk from the now opened shell.  The little crab was a happy camper at his good fortune.  He would not go hungry tonight!  Once the crab had gotten his fill and buried down in the mud for a rest, a school of bull minnows raided the shell.  The shell was flipped, turned, uprighted and twisted.  Every tiny tidbit was being pulled from the mollusk shell. The minnows were in a feeding frenzy! Dozens of the wee fish fought over each and every scrap until the shell was pulled clean.  Nothing was wasted.  The shell sat empty.  That empty shell, itself, will not go to waste.  Algae will grow on the shell and Olive Nerites will harvest this as their food. Over time, the shell will slowly sink beneath the mud and give stability to the shoreline.  The marsh grass will become better rooted because of the presence of the shells making erosion from tides and storms less likely.  As the shell eventually deteriorates,  calcium is returned into the soil.  Nothing goes to waste.

  If only people could follow the example set forth by Mother Nature, this world would be a far better place.  There is no need to constantly replace what can be used again.  Waste is a terrible thing.  I think I will stick with the teaching of those long ago.  Reuse, repurpose, repair or recycle. My critter friends are onto something good here.