Hurricane Laura....A Monster

   As I write this, my heart is heavy for the good folks in the path of Hurricane Laura.  That is not a storm that anyone wishes to face.  The devastation is going to be far worse than many can comprehend.  After riding out Hurricane Katrina on the Bayou, I can tell you first hand that Hurricane Laura is a monster.  I have dear friends right in the path of this storm and they stand to lose everything they own.  Hopefully, they will stay safe.  Sadly, however, many people will lose their lives if they did not choose to evacuate.  It is gut wrenching to watch the satellite videos knowing the hurricane is still strengthening.  Its going to be a long, hard night for the folks in the path of this storm and the days after are going to be equally as hard as nothing...I repeat NOTHING will be the same for them.  

  I can only ask that each of you reading this will rally around the good folks who stand to lose so very much.  Open your hearts.  Help them in any way you can.  Give what you can.  Pray for them.  They are going to need it.  They are going to need to hear that you care.  We did.  Here on the Mississippi Coast, those of us who rode out Hurricane Katrina needed to hear that others cared that our lives were turned upside down.  We needed to hear that you cared that, even years and years later, things would never be the same.  Be kind, folks, be kind.  

Fishing, a Spaceship and a Priest

  I had a very fitful night of tossing and turning due to a backache.  I awoke at midnight in a fit of agony and only got intermittent sleep thereafter.  Well, there was nothing to do but get out of bed at 4am and head to my happy place, the pier. Walking seems to be the best remedy for any type backache so walking is what I did.  Since it was still quite dark outside, the pier seemed to be the safest place to do any sort of hiking.  Being several hundred feet long and well above the marsh, I felt relatively safe from stepping on a moccasin.  The pier planks seem to grasp any bit of moonlight and are a lot brighter than any path under the trees.  Back and forth, I hiked the length of the pier twenty times and soon was feeling some better.  It was while I was on the pier that things took a turn to the wild side!

  Once I stepped up on the ramp going to the main pier, it became obvious that a heavy fog had laid in overnight.  Ahh, my favorite hiking time!  Things seem so different when cloaked in fog.  The mistiness can sure make things look kind of creepy but. at the same time, beautiful.  This morning, things were slightly different than our usual, winter fog days.  Now, there were leaves that filled out trees making them appear to be huge monsters but, monsters aside, it was that spaceship that caught my eye!

  Yep, the spaceship is what got my full focus once I was on the end of the pier.  It is not often that you can have an actual sighting!  In reality, the "spaceship" was merely the gazebo across the Bayou but it looked a whole lot different when shrouded by fog.  The imagination ran wild and memories were brought back into the open after being stowed away in the dark corners of the brain.  A story about fishing, a spaceship and a priest.  Does it get any better than that?

  One day after an early morning fishing trip, Pop came home with a pretty wild tale.  This was when I was a youngster and before all of the homes and gazebos were built.  As Pop was fishing from his skiff, his good friend arrived to fish near him.  This friend was a priest from the local church.  The story was related of how they were catching flounders and talking when suddenly on the horizon, there appeared a strange craft.  This "spaceship" came toward them and stopped to hover several hundred feet away.  Pop said it was round, had lots of lights but never made a sound.  After it hovered for about ten minutes, the lights started flashing and it shot straight up in the air until it was out of sight.  Pop went on to tell how his friend, the priest, was shaken and asked if it was a spaceship.  Pop, trying to be strong and reassuring, said he did not know but it sure may have been.  Both fishermen decided to ease their way closer to the old pier and wait until sunrise before venturing any further.  

  To this day, there has been no explanation as to what Pop and the priest had seen.  It could have been anything but it left them both with ideas of it being aliens.  This morning's "spaceship" did not fly off into the wild, blue yonder but sat grounded.  I guess my imagination went a little overboard.  But...that Godzilla like creature that was as tall as the trees sure looked real to me!  

On High Alert For The Marsh Monster!

  As a rule, the cat and I are the first to awake in the morning and it is our habit to spend a good ten minutes snuggling before either of us rises.  She loves to get her ears scratched before starting her day.  Then, Ms. Nycto decides that it is breakfast time so we venture into the kitchen for her to eat and me to brew the first pot of coffee of the day.  Our morning ritual rarely varies.  After her meal, she goes outside to wander the hillside.  She has to make sure that nothing has changed over the course of the night.  I usually head to the pier at the same time.  After a bit, the cat joins me and we head back to the Little Bayou House.

  This morning, things went as usual but when she trotted herself out the front door, she turned in her tracks and trotted right back up the steps, raced inside and hid under the big rocking chair in the corner of the room.  She was not budging from her hiding spot! Well, now!  I pondered what could have scared my sweet cat to the point that she refused to go outside.  I peered out in the near darkness of the early dawn and could see nothing intimidating.  Well, if the cat was not going out in the dark....I was not either!  This was a case of being led by a cat's intuition.

  About an hour later, she and I both headed out the door.  She was still leery but made her rounds as usual.  I did not go to the pier as I had chores to do in the garden and it was already getting late. She did but was not the happiest of cats.  Once there, she stared down into the marsh as if there was some monster hiding beneath the marsh mats.  Ms. Nycto was on high alert!  It did not take her long to scurry back up the hillside to be near me and, as soon as my chores were complete, she was ready to retreat to her hiding spot beneath the chair.  She made no noise about going out again all day.  

  I am still not sure just what frightened the cat so much that she refused to bask in the sunshine but something strange must have wandered about the yard last night and, perhaps, was still there this morning.  I may just have to set up the night camera to catch our "monster" in the act of traipsing around the hillside.  It would be interesting to find out what is out there!  My poor Ms. Nycto!  

Acid-spewing Monster!

  Life is full of lessons.  Some we learn from books.  Some we learn from past generations' teachings.  Some we learn the hard way through experience.  It matters not the method of which we learn but rather THAT we learn and that we never stop learning.  Our brains need the constant stimulation if we wish to remain mentally healthy.  Pop always used to say it was better to wear out rather than rust out. He did just that.  Up until the day he died, he was as sharp as a tack.  Physically, his old body just had enough and could go on no longer.  I would like to do the same.  So, with the urging of Son and Darling Daughter, I learn.  Maybe not as easily as in the past but I push myself to learn something new every day.  I want to wear out.

  Today's lesson was one that I should have known from experience but that part of the brain probably was taking a nap or something.   Son had put the boat battery on the back porch and connected it to the battery charger.  No problem...sort of...maybe.  The problem did not present itself as the battery on the floor but rather with trying to charge a faulty battery.  When I went out to feed our "new" cat, I noticed what appeared to be water around the bottom of the battery.  The battery was also making a rather strange hissing noise. Hmmm?  This was not good.  Batteries are not supposed to hiss and spew like some dragon monster!  That was not water but battery acid.  It seems that the thing had sprung a leak!  Sooo....now I had acid leaking all over the porch.  Not being able to lift the battery without getting the stuff all over me, I unplugged the charger and called Son.  He came to look at the thing and said to grab the box of baking soda from the pantry.  Aha!  Yes!   Baking soda!  Why did I not remember that nifty fix?  I had learned about that way back in chemistry class in high school. (In all fairness, that was eons ago so perhaps I had a reason for the lapse in good thinking.)

  While Son removed the battery, I poured soda on the spill.  Immediately, the stuff started fizzing and foaming!  The baking soda being a base reacted with the battery acid and neutralized it.  Now our porch was safe again albeit a messy safeness.  Son assured  me that once the stuff sat there a while and we washed it down with the water hose, the porch would be perfectly fine for our feral cat visitor to come eat his supper.  

  So...lesson for today...if a battery decides to spring a leak and spew battery acid everywhere, that trusty box of baking soda is the answer! Just cover the mess and let it fizz and foam.  Well, that and never try to charge a faulty battery in the first place.  And...maybe remember some of the things from high school chemistry class.  Fun times!