There are times that the Bayou presents me with things. These items come from parts unknown and are washed in on high tides. Let a tropical storm or hurricane whip in here and the trove is quite unbelievable. One never knows what will be found in the yard. These "treasures" are often mostly trash that needs to be discarded but occasionally a true "treasure" is found. After hurricanes, I have found furniture, household items and tools strewn about the property. A lot of it is beyond repair but there are pieces that can be restored to be useful. Trust me when I say, I am not so high and mighty that I will not use the stuff. I have. We were always taught that it is purely wasteful to not at least try to repair and reuse items.
The past week has brought some odd weather to the Bayou. A tropical storm hurried through only to meet up with a cold front coming down. Mother Nature's whims sent things into a bit of a turmoil. Not much was hurt in the wake of this but a few things were tossed around. No biggy. Then, we were bombarded by the system that sits on top of us now. This one is "no biggy" either but it gave a bit of wind and copious amounts of rain...and is still giving us rain. Last night, one squall gave up a "treasure".
Early this morning, I carried the old dog out to do his business. While I was headed to his favorite spot, I noticed something strange. A beach ball had obviously flown in on the wind. While this is not overly unusual, the spot where it landed and became lodged was. Son built a "brig" or jail (of sorts) for the clue hunt. Since the hunt takes place on an uninhabited (almost) spot, the pirates that were shipwrecked supposedly had to use what material was on hand. The brig is created out of reed fencing and canes from our huge canebrake. Somehow, that beach ball was tossed inside of the brig! Now, the only thing that remains locked in our jail is a faded beach ball that came in on a storm.
Strange tides bring strange things. The treasure trove of oddities continues to grow with each storm that surges across the Bay. For now, the ball will remain in the brig. There is one team left to compete in the annual hunt so we shall see their reaction to something so out of place it is hilarious. Will they think this is some odd clue? Or will they realize that Mother Nature played yet another trick on us all?
"Its mine! Its mine! Its mine! All of them are mine!", thought the catfish that lived in the Bay. "Its mine! I want this minnow and this minnow and this minnow. I can eat them all and grow up to be as big as my daddy. Its mine! One more! Oooh! There is another. I shall eat it, too." The greedy fish ate and ate and ate. Then, the unthinkable happened. The greedy catfish's gluttony got the best of him. Two...yes, two of the minnows that he ate contained hooks. These two minnows were fishing baits and the greedy catfish gulped them down along with the other minnows. Now, he was in trouble. The catfish was pulled this way and that. Two fishermen (or one fisherwoman, in this case! Me!) thought they had hooked two different fish. They reeled and reeled almost competing with each other. At first, the fishermen thought that their lines had become tangled but the realization that they were catching the same fish soon became apparent.
Yep, we did. Mark and I set out fishing early this morning. Before I got to the pier, he had already landed a nice trout and a beautiful redfish. We were excited about perhaps catching enough fish to share with our elderly friends so we kept tossing out the baits. Then, both lines went out at the same time. We both fought our fish only to soon realize that we were landing the same fish. The catfish obviously bit Mark's bait first then went on to pick up mine. This was a first for us! Never before have we had this happen! The fish had been double hooked.
Lucky for the fish, after a few photographs, Mark carefully removed the hooks and tossed the fish back into the water. I can only imagine the stories that fellow is telling to his friends deep down under the water. Perhaps he learned his lesson and will not be quite so greedy in the future! Strange things happen on the Bayou.
