Have you ever felt like some bit of gloom and doom was just hanging over your head? Perhaps you felt threatened by some unseen entity that was there, yet not? My threat was there. It was real. The gloom and doom that could have happened did actually lurk just above my head. Today...it is gone. No longer is the threat of bodily harm (or worse) looming just out of reach. Poof! It is no longer there! Whew! What a relief that is!
Back last hurricane season, we had a minor hurricane whip in on the Bayou and stir things up a bit. Hurricane Nate did not do damage other than a few branches being thrown about the place and a high water line of debris that needed removing. We were finished cleaning in a matter of hours...or so it seemed. High up above us on the west side of the Little Bayou House, danger lurked. Unbeknownst to us, the top of a huge Water Oak had been topped out and the massive piece was suspended between the crotch of the original tree and a branch of a nearby Live Oak. Since both trees were full of foliage, we never noticed the broken tree for a couple of weeks. Then, try as we might to pull it, the huge branch (a good 15 inches in diameter) stayed in its wedged position. Son had thrown a rope over the broken treetop and tied it off to a nearby pine tree. This was to keep the thing from slamming the rooftop. It did a good job.
Here lately, though, the thing started creaking and groaning with the high winds of springtime. It was time to get that thing down! Being as it was still a good thirty feet up, the ladder was useless and I was sure not letting Son shimmy up that tree with a chainsaw! Getting a ladder truck in here was nigh on impossible so it came down to brute strength....Son's brute strength. After a bit of ingenuity and a makeshift winch of sorts, he had the treetop groaning more and making appearances of it falling soon. One last heave on the rope and I heard a loud cracking! The treetop came crashing down! Once it hit the ground, a huge limb broke off, bounced high into the air and smashed into the window screen of the living room! Miraculously, only the screen was smashed! Earlier, I had raised the windows to let the breeze cool the house! Another sigh of relief!
Now, I can breathe easier! The broken treetop is down leaving only a mess of tree limbs to clear from the yard and a window screen to rebuild! Whew! Glad that is done...now to get ready for the new hurricane season that is nigh upon us!
Gus and Cinderella are our pair of resident brown pelicans. They stay year round next to our pier or my brothers. The birds are smart. They know that free food is for the taking here. When we clean fish, all of the scraps are given to these birds. Don't get me wrong...at the moment, there are dozens of brown pelicans on the piers but these, two, are special. They were named by my little granddaughter during one visit to the Bayou. She had heard me calling one pelican "Gus" and declared the other to be Cinderella. Before this naming, all pelicans were Gus. There were no Cinderellas, Penelopes, Brunos or any other named birds. They were all Gus....male or female.
Yesterday, dozens of the pelicans were sitting on my brother's pier. Each pier post had its own bird and the edges of the pier, itself, were lined with resting birds. This is normal. What is not normal is the two pelicans that were swinging on a rope. My brother has several large boats tied off to his pier. The ropes are strung from boat to post. This crisscrossing of ropes made for an inviting pastime for a couple of pelicans....maybe Gus and Cinderella. The birds would fly in, land on the rope and swing back and forth in the stiff north breeze. Then, since their feet are not exactly designed for perching, the birds would lose their grip and start to fall. The rope kept swinging causing the birds to have to take flight again. The balancing act did not dissuade the birds from trying. Both pelicans would fly a large circle around the pier and attempt the swinging perch again. Gus and Cinderella were having far too much fun to let a wee thing like webbed feet get in the way of their playtime!
Pelicans are some of the most comical birds around the Bayou. Besides their crazy antics on the swinging ropes. I become amused at their waddling gait, their begging for food with their huge, gaping bills and their awkward splashdowns. But, at the same time, they are some of the most efficient flyers being able to soar just inches above the water and they have great fishing techniques. It is no wonder that I love these big old birds! Just keep swinging, Gus and Cinderella! Just keep swinging!
