One thing about all of this rain, it really makes one realize that things may not be as they seem. During the midst of Tropical Storm Cindy, Son and I were out trying to retrieve some of the wayward pier boards. The waves had battered the poor pier to pieces and planks were skimming across the water like surf boards. The boards would invariably wash up on my brother's place causing us to have to take the hike over there to pull them from the muck. Son was busy at the moment so I trotted myself over to the spot where one board was seen. Or, at least, I thought I might trot. I took just about five steps. Then......I sank. What I thought was firm sand was so saturated that it was more like quicksand! I was rapidly sinking up to my knees in the goop!
Help! Son looked at me and started to laugh! Instead of coming to my rescue, he LAUGHED! "Come get me!" I demanded. He laughed harder. Finally, my demands became pleas as I was sinking even further. Eventually, he got over his fits of giggles and came to give me a hand. I pulled up one leg and stepped back to the harder ground. Oh, no! I had lost my shoe! I pulled the other leg out of the sinkhole only to discover that shoe had also been swallowed by the mire! That stuff stole my shoes!
I had to hobble back to the house in my socks which by this time were not only wet but coated with an inch of mud. That was some of the stinkiest mud ever! So just a word of advice! If you are ever out retrieving pier boards in the middle of a tropical storm, never....I repeat...NEVER step in any spot that appears to be pretty sand. It is not. It is mucky mud that will eat your shoes!
I have a terrible habit of not wearing shoes. I will wander about the hillside barefooted as if nothing will ever happen to make me regret the lack of footwear. When I do put something on my feet, most likely it is only a pair of leather moccasins but at least those provide some bit of protection. Even in the dead of winter, those moccasins are the shoe of choice but, as I stated, I do have a bad habit of trotting around sans shoes. So far, I have been fortunate. Other than a few nail punctures, some thorns and maybe a splinter or two, nothing terrible has happened. It is waiting, though, I am sure. Perhaps now that I mentioned it, tomorrow will be the day. It was almost "that day" earlier this week.
The wind was blowing a gale on one particular day this past week so I decided to go to the pier and check the skiff. The moorings would hold I am sure but it boiled down to that old "better safe than sorry" mentality. The storm system was supposed to dump a bunch of rain on us but, so far, nary a drop had hit the Bayou. Of course, I was my usual barefooted self but was keeping a keen eye on where I placed my feet. I make this hike dozens of times a week and could probably do it blindfolded. Still, this is one time that I was happy to be aware of my surroundings. Trouble was hiding on one of the pier boards.
That trouble was in the form of a wasp. A Yellow Jacket had nestled down between the boards as an attempt to get alee of the wind. Had I not seen this wasp, my foot would have received a nasty sting! Instead, I was able to study said wasp without any unfortunate events. The Yellow Jacket stayed put between the boards for quite some time. There, it was protected from the wind but was also able to soak up the warm sunshine. Smart critter. I am sure that some day down the line, I may regret the fact that I bypassed the sure chance at eliminating this wasp but I figured that there was no harm done. My feet were still sting-free as I headed back to the Little Bayou House. Shoes...I shudder to think of how my feet would react to wearing something like that every day! Now, where are my moccasins?
