Suits Me To A "T"

  Sorry, folks, but I am not ready to end that social distancing or self isolation thing just yet.  No, I never feared for my life nor felt that I was going to get some dreaded illness.  I just prefer to be alone and away from all of the drama being stirred up and spread around by "Oh, so wonderful people!"  Sorry...not sorry.  As far as I am concerned, the Bayou is still off-limits.  Since I have had plenty of time to do soul-searching and reevaluating, I find I am much happier!  This blog is enough social interacting for me.  Perhaps I truly am becoming a hermitess...or I am truly just tired of peopling.

  Today as I was out investigating what Tropical Storm Cristobal left behind, I had to laugh when I came across a "T".  It is quite apparent that this was not some accident that the storm created but rather something that was made by human hands.  Why?  I have no idea other than perhaps someone was cleaning and did a bit of a balancing act.  A cutoff chunk of wood was laid neatly across the top of  a stump.  Twined partially around it was some sort of aluminum strip.  The whole thing made me think of a crude monument perhaps akin to stone balancing!  What had I happened upon? 

  This "T" is in the middle of a small clearing on property next to ours.  There is no mysterious tale behind it other than how much it reminds me of me.  Here is a somewhat quirky item out in the middle of nowhere that is fully happy (as happy as a tree stump can be) being by itself. It just fit.  So much so that I wish my "T" was on our property.  Perhaps I should start erecting some bizarre monuments here and there just to confuse anyone traipsing around the place. It could be interesting!

The New Little "Bayou" House!

  While we are doing a lot of renovating on the Little Bayou House, the new little Bayou House is not ours.  Several years ago during December, Son found a hollow stump back in the creek and lugged the thing home to me. "Merry Christmas, Mom!" was his only explanation.  None other was needed.  He knew that I would love having the stump as an addition to the garden.  Well, the thing did not make it to the garden as I decided it would be much nicer to have IN the Frog Pond.  There the thing sat for years without much attention.  Every now and again, a frog would venture into the stump but, for the most part, the thing sat there looking pretty with its moss covered bark.  Well, since the bullfrogs have moved into the little pond, things have changed drastically.  Not only have these frogs taken over the pond but they have also laid claim to the stump.  I have to admit that they are rather adorable peering out the little "windows"!

  Speaking of these bullfrogs, I have befriended the big male.  He has lost all fear of me and will not budge an inch when I pester the poor fellow. Today, I was actually able to "pet" the critter as much as a frog can be petted.  Yesterday, just out of curiosity, I tied a small piece of jute cord to a longer thin string.  After fraying the ends of the jute, I swung it out over the lily pads.  Yep, that old frog decided the makeshift bug looked awfully appetizing.  The more I would wiggle that string, the more he would give chase.  He and I had a fine game for about ten minutes.  Yes...I do play with most critters here on the Bayou.

  I am still a bit worried about my tree frogs and toads but Son has offered to help me modify the small "bogs" that we created for the clue hunt last October.  These should suffice as nurseries for the tiny froglets if we can get the adults interested in moving into the area.  I hate to make the bullfrogs vacate their new home if we can find accommodations for the other critters!  That way, everyone will be happy!

Shopping in all the Wrong Places

Michael went back in the creek bed to see if any dead trees needed to be removed.  These he chopped down and hauled up the hill to be further cut for firewood.  Michael prefers to use an ax instead of the chainsaw as he says it gives him a good bit of exercise.  (Only my son would see the extra work as a good thing!)  He made several trips back and forth until he had several logs to chop into firewood sized pieces.  His logic being that it was far easier to haul a tree out of the creek bed than to haul armloads of small twelve inch long cut logs.  When I heard his ax chopping through the logs, I went out to stack the wood.  All of the twigs were cut into "starter" and put in the bins near the woodstoves.  The larger logs were stacked on the rack near the garden.

After working for several hours, we were a bit exhausted.  I suggested it was time for a cup of coffee to which he readily agreed. "I'll be right back.  I have to get something." he said as I headed to the kitchen.  As he jogged back down to the creek bed, I thought perhaps he had forgotten a tool.  Michael is a stickler for caring for his tools!  He always collects them and wipes them clean before storing them.  He is so much like his two grandfathers!  After just a few minutes, he was back at the door.  "Got you something!" he said.  Hmmm..I am not sure this was a good thing.  Just what does one bring his mother from the creek bed?  Back in the day, I would not have been surprised to find a frog, turtle or snake being hauled into the house but hopefully, he has outgrown those days.  I stepped outside just in time to see him turning on the water hose.  Uh, oh.  Now what?

He actually had something rather neat.  Most women would cringe at his "find" but the wheels in my mind started twirling!  What could I do with this and where would I put it?   "Merry Christmas, Mom!  I got you a Gnome Home!" he grinned.  There sat a stump.  Yep, a stump.  When he chopped down a dead tree, he noticed that the remaining stump was rather oddly shaped and had lots of nooks and crannies among the roots. Several parts of the tree had rotted leaving holes that looked a lot like little rooms and hallways.  On the outside, a lovely green moss covered a good bit of the bark. It was, indeed, a most interesting stump!  With that, he pushed and pulled until he had uprooted the thing.  He knew that I would find it intriguing!  Wow!  This thing was so neat!  I am quite sure that I will somehow find a perfect place in the garden for my little Gnome Home!  We giggled a bit about the fact that he could give me something like this and I would find it perfectly normal.  I really do love it!  He looked at me and made the comment that it was easy to get presents for me.  "Anyone that cannot find the perfect gift for you, must be shopping in all the wrong places, Mom."....only my son...only my son.  You have to love someone who knows you so well that a tree stump is a great gift!

Castles in my mind...

Years and years ago, my cousin, Margie and I used have great imaginations! (I have been told that I have not outgrown this..hmmm?)  I used to stay a lot at her house during the summer and one of our favorite play places was down the lane from their house in a little clearing.  This area was hidden from most views by the large azalea bushes and a few wild huckleberry bushes.  What made this area so appealing to two little girls was an old stump.  Once a mighty tree, the stump had rotted down except for a number of spikey points.  There were hundreds of little crevasses and niches in what remained of the old stump.  Most folks would have rid their yard of such an eyesore but Margie and I were fortunate..since the stump was in an out-of-the-way area, her folks let us have our fun. "The Stump" became a castle!  To our eyes, this was the most beautiful castle in the world and it was filled with fine adventures!  Faeries, knights, dragons and wizards all lived there!  Everything that we read in our storybooks was acted out in and around our castle! We saved everything to decorate the walls of the stump castle.  Marbles, broken beads, pieces of glass and other odds and ends were all pushed into the nooks and crannies of the rotted wood.  IT WAS GORGEOUS!!!  Well, maybe not to anyone else, but to two imaginative little girls, it was magnificent!  Our "Wonderland", our escape into a fantasy world that we found in books.

Nope, this one sure does not look like a castle!

This would have to be a cottage..not a castle!

Now as I walk around the hillside, if I see a rotted stump, I wonder just what the appeal was.  Today, I prodded one old stump and several vicious-looking spiders leered at me..daring me to poke my finger just a little too close.  Centipedes, ants, beetles all roamed around on the decayed wood.  There were holes under the stump that very easily could have housed a snake or rat.  It is a wonder that we were not eaten alive while we played!

This would make a rather derelict castle!

Ok, so this would totally have to be renovated to even remotely resemble a castle!

I also noticed that the stumps were not "built like they used to be".  The ones I found today were merely rotted.  There were no spires, no dungeons, no parapet walks, no turrets..just rotted wood.  Has my imagination diminished with age?  Can no stump be a Medieval Castle ever again?  I am now on the search for the perfect castle stump.  It seems to me that I saw one down in the creekbed back during winter. I dare not venture into the creek area now for fear of stepping on a cottonmouth moccasin but perhaps during the coming winter, I will find my castle!  If it is not too much trouble, maybe I can convince Mark or Michael that I desperately need to have a stump castle in the rose garden! It would be nice if they could cut it off and carry it home for me!  Then I can secretly decorate it and relive all the wondrous storybook tales of a lifetime ago.  The search is on for the perfect stump castle!!!!....And maybe my imagination is still intact!

The New Home!

Between my house and my brother's house there is a new house being constructed. It is a multi-level home and the dwelling has pine siding. From what I can see (without appearing to be too nosy!) it is going to be quite a cozy home. My new neighbors and I are actually old friends. They come to eat quite often and I wonder if this had some bearing on their choice of building sites. Not that this would bother me..they always appreciate the meal and actually "sing for their supper"! I do appreciate their efforts to entertain me but just between you, me and the fencepost..their singing sounds a lot more like a squeaky rubber ducky that any aria at the opera. Still, I welcome them with open arms and will be more than willing to cater a few meals for them. I guess I will be at their beck and call now that they are so near.

These friends are a pair of Brown-headed Nuthatches. They have chosen a dead pine stump as a nesting site and have been quite the busy little things excavating the woodpecker hole and lining it with grasses and mosses. They will make trips to the feeders..eat a bit.. hunt for building material and then disappear into the hole. This process is repeated over and over again during the day as they work at homebuilding. I came across the nest purely by accident. My brother had given me a lot of two inch flower pots which I toted home in a large bucket. An old pine stump was off to one side of the path and as I neared it, a tiny bird fluttered out of a hole in the upper part of the stump. I did not think too much about it but then another came out, flew to the nearby Black Gum tree and started scolding me. It then dawned on me that I was intruding on their territory. I eased away to give them space and sure enough, one flew back to the stump. I watched for a few minutes and the other tiny Nuthatch soon returned as well. I am glad that I did not disrupt their nestbuilding for long. Perhaps soon, there will be a nest full of the little Nuthatches!

As I left the birds to finish their work, I sat and pondered the strength of a spiderweb. Earlier in the morning, I had taken pictures of two spiderwebs that were laden with beads of fog. Now these were not the fine misty type droplets but were quite large. There were many, many droplets on each strand but still the webs held. These truly did appear to be jeweled necklaces..amazing.