I find the weirdest things on my hikes about the Bayou. Ms. Ez and I try to take several hikes each day just so she can get some exercise. The dog is getting older and wants to sleep more and more each day but I insist she accompany me on the treks. It is good for her old bones and gives me a bit of company. Ms. Ez is usually a willing companion even on the most bleakest of days. This morning was wonderful, though, so we hiked a bit longer than usual. Down near the marsh edge, she bolted from my side and made a beeline for an old stump. There she stopped dead in her tracks as if mesmerized by something on the ground. Uh, oh. This usually meant one of two things. She either found a snake and wanted to make friends or she found an orphan of any species and wanted to adopt. Neither bode well for me. I almost wished it was the snake since I could shoo that down into the marsh and be none the worse for wear. An orphaned baby would tug at the heartstrings and, more than likely, I would become a foster mother once again. This has happened far too many times. Anything from birds to 'possums have been found by Ms. Ez and fed by me. NO MORE!!! I do not need this!
However, today, Ms. Ez found something far more interesting and, I admit, far more suitable to my well-being. No snake, no orphaned baby animal...this time she found bones. I am still not sure just what type critter perished and left behind its spine (?) or whatever. The trail of (I am assuming) of vertebrae was only about five inches in length and had almost a dozen individual bones so whatever critter it was, could not have been too very large....I think. Or perhaps this was the tail of some critter? Who knows? Not me. And how did the bones suddenly appear in this spot just overnight? Ms. Ez and I make this hike twice daily and have never come across evidence (aka smell) of any dead critter.
While I do feel for the critter that lost its life, I breathed a sigh of relief that the old dog did not find another baby that needed a home. I petted her on the head, told her "good job" and bade her to continue our hike. I surely did not want her to find (and roll in) some dead critter! "Come on, Ez. Lets go get your baseball!" She was willing.
No, not really. This is not some horror tale of Bayou monsters or evil spirits. Well, maybe the Bayou monsters but it is definitely not about what our imaginations could let it be. At least, I hope!
Early this morning, Mark and I took a hike about the hillside for no apparent reason than just to do so. We started out with our usual hike to the pier then wound up back behind the peach orchard. It was there that things went strange really fast. Vertebrae were scattered about on the ground. Hmmm...well, now! That sent chills up my spine! Actually, I was a tad more confused than frightened. This was a fish spine and it was far from the water's edge. Some critter had obviously dragged a fish carcass a good ways up the hill and then feasted. Or, perhaps, a hawk devoured the fish up in the treetop and then discarded the bones. The spine was quite large with each section being a good inch in diameter. This was one big fish!
It soon dawned on me that this fish matched the scales that I had found a few weeks earlier. Aha! Mystery solved! This has to be the remains of the large redfish that Mark caught back in the fall. He cleaned the fish and tossed the carcass overboard so the crabs could feast. It is rather clear at this point that the crabs were deprived of their free meal. Some other critter snatched up the large carcass and finished its meal far behind the house.
I felt just like a detective solving this mystery! The scales were the first clue and then the spine became the clincher! Now...I am ready for my next challenge! What mystery lies just around the corner? What clues shall I uncover? Who knows? Anything is possible on the Bayou!
