The Night Before

   Sitting and waiting is one of the hardest things for me to do.  The day was busy with hurricane preparations that must be done when you live on the water but now that the chores are completed, the waiting has started.  Is Hurricane Marco going to come our way?  Is Tropical Storm (maybe Hurricane) Laura going to follow the same path?  That, my friends, is anybody's guess and that is what makes the waiting so difficult.  What if all the preparations were done without purpose?  If the storms decide to go elsewhere, my hard day was for naught.

  This evening, I made one last run to the pier to check on the small skiff.  The boat has been pulled up into the yard but with the incoming tidal surge, it will need to be checked often.  It was on the final run before dark that the sky was ablaze with color.  Yep...the Night Before.  Those brilliant colors were the sun's rays bouncing off the gathering storm clouds.  Within a few hours, our weather can change dramatically...and for the worse.  Still, I am sitting here safe and sound in the Little Bayou House.  It has taken care of us through far worse storms and we are depending upon it to do the same with Marco and Laura.  The show on the horizon tonight was a bit deceiving for what is to come.  By morning light, the Bayou should  be rockin' and rollin' with Marco.  Stay safe, folks, stay safe.

Cleaning House

  The rains kept me housebound today so there was no hiking about the hillside.  My outdoor time was minimal.  I would step out the door just long enough to grab another armload of firewood for the old woodstove.  It was doing a fine job ob keeping the chill away but needed stoking often.  I was certainly glad that I had the opportunity to take a leisurely stroll yesterday because I would be a fine mess of stir-craziness today had I not.  Instead, I baked, wrapped gifts and cleaned house in preparation of Christmas.

  Yesterday, someone else was busy cleaning house.  A quick flutter in top of the old black gum tree told me that the red-bellied woodpecker was quite busy.  Without stopping to acknowledge my presence, the bird worked on her nesting hole.  No, she is not planning on having a brood any time soon but is clearing out and preparing her site for herself.  She will spend the cold, wintry nights bedded down in the snug nest.  Yesterday, she was pulling out old nesting material, hammering a new escape route and making general repairs to her hole.  New grasses, mosses and leaves were being brought in to line her own little home.  She was preparing her "she-shed" for the winter.  Come spring, if she decides to reuse the same hole, she will, once again, gut the inside and rebuild her nest.  Everything will be tossed as she remodels!  Out with the old and in with the new!

  I watched for a bit and thought of how thankful I am that this bird will have a snug, cozy nest to sleep in during the winter months.  With the cold rains of today and tomorrow, I am sure she is thankful as well.  A little work on her part will keep her well protected.