Healing Rains

    The other day, I was surprised by a sudden rain shower.   While in the garden, everything was bright and sunshiny, then a few moments later, I was being drenched.  Raindrops fell with a delightful burst of energy cooling the afternoon heat...but...that sun just kept on shining!  I was caught in the midst of a sun shower.  It felt good.  It felt refreshing.  I felt as happy as the raindrops seemed to be.

  There are a lot of weird little folktales or myths attached to sun showers.  The most commonly heard is that the devil is beating his wife.  That sounds just about right for the devil but why would it be attached to such a lovely sight as the sun shower?  Nope.  Don't like that one.  Another is that a witch is getting married.  Hmmm?  Well, I guess if she wanted to spend the time to conjure up a weather phenomenon just to be crafty on her wedding day, this would suffice but that is purely up to her, I guess.  Then, there is the belief that a sun shower is the harbinger of severe weather to come the next day at the same time of day.  Since we did not receive a bad storm the next day...rain showers...but not severe, that one is discredited, I suppose.  Most of the other tales were all connected to animals getting married...huh...especially fox.  Alrighty, then.  After digging around in the wonderful world of the internet, I finally came across a "good" thing connected to sun showers.  The rains are supposedly healing.  This...I like!

  To be honest, all rains are healing.  The water heals the earth and allows for life to continue.  Without rainfall, all would soon wither and die.  It does not take a phenomenon such as a sun shower to prove this.  There is a scientific explanation, however.  It seems that sun showers occur when a single cloud jumps the gun and moves ahead of the crowd and drops some rain. The angle of the sun is not blocked by the single cloud allowing for a sun shower.  While this is all well and good, it is not as fun as being all magical and stuff!  I think I shall keep with the healing raindrops.

I Was Wrong

 Unlike some folks, when I am wrong, I am wrong and I admit it.  No problem.  Why argue a dead point?  If a mistake is made, own up to it.  Do not try to justify your mistaken ideas.  Do not try to prove the other person wrong.  Just say "I was mistaken." and let it go.  SO...that said...I owe my husband an apology.  I was wrong.  He was right.  I had long disbelieved something about a critter here on the Bayou.  I fully thought it was a myth that male catfish will actually brood the eggs after the female lays them.  I had to see it before I believed it.  Well, I saw it so now I am a believer.  He does, indeed, carry them in his mouth.  During the month or so of brooding the eggs, the male catfish does not eat.  He survives on built up fat in his body.  Sometimes even after the eggs hatch, the little ones will linger in his mouth for protection from predators.  He guards them until it is safe for them to be on their own.  Discovering this, I have a new found appreciation for the lowly hardhead catfish.  

  Late this afternoon, I headed to the pier.  It had been a long day of pushing the lawnmower about the hillside and I needed a break.  As usual, Moe, the heron, visited making net-throwing a necessity.  The bird was hungry so I caught him a few little mullet.  Also in the net, was a medium sized hardhead catfish.  My first thought was to use the catfish as crab bait so I shook him free from the net and picked him up to de-horn him.  There was no use in getting stabbed by one of those prongs!  That hurts!  It was then that I noticed his bulging lower jaw.  Hmmm...interesting.  Just about that time, poor Daddy Catfish gasped for breath and three eggs fell out of his mouth!  Oops!  After a few photographs, Daddy Catfish was gently placed back in the water with his horns intact!  Hopefully, he will find the three errant eggs that were also dropped back into the water.

  So, Mark, I cede to your wisdom on this matter!  I have lived on or near the Bayou all of my life and never knew about the struggles of the male catfish.  I have learned something new and interesting!

Have I Been Duped?

  Once again, I spent a good ten minutes of my morning splitting persimmon seeds.  There was a little "madness in my methods" since I was checking the weather forecast for the coming winter.  My trial of the seeds is still being processed.  Question???  Can persimmon seeds predict the severity of winter?  I am still pondering the fact.  

  According to the Old Timers around the area, if you slice a seed and find the image of a fork, the winter will be mild.  If you come across a knife, the weather will prove to be stabbing cold.  A spoon, on the other hand, will see you shoveling snow or, at best down here, having a dusting of powder or perhaps sleet.  For the past couple of years, I tested.  Knives and spoons seem to be the most prominent symbol in the seeds that I have tested over the years.  Ice and snow!  Well, that did work out a couple of times with ice storms.  Forks were not often present but warm winters are almost the rule down here.  

  I am thinking that perhaps this system is purely a myth and the Old Timers who keep swearing by it, are fudging a bit on their finds.  When I cut the seeds today, I found spoons....lots and lots of spoons. Mark and I mulled over the discovery.  Should we lay in an extra cord or two of firewood and perhaps weatherize the windows?  Perhaps an investment of some more blankets would be prudent?  Spoons...lots of spoons! Bring on the snow!  Or have I just been duped by a couple of old geezers who were pulling my leg?