Life on the Bay

The most affectionate creature

in the world is a

wet dog. 

 ~Ambrose Bierce

Hey.. you guys where is everyone?  The Fourth is over and the bay is quiet, Weasley has no more big wet dogs to play with....

Come back to the beach!

A man travels the world over

 in search of what he needs

 and returns home to find it.
~ George Moore

Today is the first day that the village was quiet in a very long time. Most of the people went back to their other homes with dreams of coming back.

 

The water is warm and it's high season for water toys and fun. M has a waiting list for Jet-Ski rides and our front yard looks like a water land funhouse!

 

We have been wanting to try Longboard paddling for a long time now. Basically, you stand up and paddle a giant surfboard with a single paddle. Once You are confidant, you find some waves and ,,,,, well,,, surf! It's growing into a huge sport because even when you are flatwater paddling, it's a perfect core workout. Sooooo,,, off we went and rented a paddleboard. What a blast we had as we entertained the neighbors while learning to control the board. M,,,,, to his credit,,, took off right away and stood up but soon crashed and splashed mightily. He fell off the board many times but dug in until he was doing O.K. I guess I have to brag a little here, but it felt very natural to me and I got up on the board and cruised and paddled and never wanted to stop. I didn't fall and even learned to back up and turn,,,,, what fun! Finally some of those years of Yoga have paid off. I really liked it and I'm thinking I might have to have one.

 

We took a nice ride on the Jet Ski and then before sunset, We took the boat and fished for a couple of hours. One of M's fishing buddies showed up in his boat and they had their one millionth fishing contest ending in a tie at five to five. Even though M had a jump start of about an hour, you can't really tell him he was out fished! I spent some of my time marveling at the mercurial smoothness of the water. It mesmerizes me.

 

The sunsets continue to be stunning and inspirational.

I love to live

Like a river flows 

Carried by the surprise

Of it's own unfolding 

~ J. O'Donohue 

 

 

The beginning of knowledge

is the discovery of something

we do not understand.

~ F. Herbert

This summer has been so exciting and so full that I have been blogging only in my head. There are great stories and great photos to share. I thought that Hollywood and all of that was going to be the highlight of my Summer, and it almost was, until the Turtle came. 

M&I were at our Summer family vacation at the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Many of you might know the place, but if you don't, it's miles and miles of rugged wild remote beach where nice people gather and M loves to fish. We have been going there for decades and always feel happy when we are all the way down by Hatteras or Buxton.  It was a hot,,, hot,,, night under a full moon when a little boy came screaming up the boardwalk from the beach "Turtle,,, Turtle,,, There's a giant Turtle"  M & I literally dropped our food and had the cameras and were on the beach in a moment or less. Sure enough, a giant Loggerhead Turtle had crawled right up behind our beach house and begun to dig in.

 

The tracks looked like a bulldozer had come from the surf. She had to weight all of 250 lbs and maybe quite a bit more. Her giant flippers pulled her along with amazing strength. She had chosen her spot and soon was laying eggs into a small cavity she had scraped out with a flipper. Sometimes she was dropping two and three at a time and we soon lost count. Her eyes were glazed over and full of tears as she performed a predetermined ritual that left us feeling reverent and humbled as we watched.

As quickly as she had appeared, when she was done she was done. She covered the hole and took off at Turtle speed wallowing back into the surf and she was gone. We all knew we had just witnessed something that we might never see again in our lives. Everyone was quiet, careful, and respectful. We knew how lucky we were, and had a new bond between all of us because we got to share this as a family.

 

We gathered the young ones to help us make a grass ring and mark the spot so that no-one hurt the eggs until we found out if they needed help to be protected. The girls were very proud of their (Turtel) plates. Back at the House we found the number for the National Park Service and we called and left a message about what we had seen.

 

M & I were up at first light and soon a truck from the National Park Service came rolling up. The Ranger informed us that there had been four reported or discovered nesting's last night and that we had seen a rare and wonderful thing because the loggerheads were on the endangered species list. She went to find more help and told us that they would like to re-locate the nest above the high tide line and mark it to try and help the Turtles hatch successfully.

 

Back she came about a 1/2 hour later with two other rangers and they (dug in) in an attempt to locate the eggs. Layer by careful layer they remove the sand until (Bingo) they find the clutch of eggs. The eggs are so tightly together you would not believe it. They count and remove them one by one while making sure to layer them with the actual sand from the nest-hole

 

We took bets on how many eggs there were and M came the closest. He bet 104 and there were 107. The Loggerhead turtle will lay eggs like this up to four times in a season.

 

The rangers moved over slightly and went up higher on the beach towards the house. The used a post-whole digger to simulate the original; nest at 1 1/2 feet down and carefully replaced the sand and the eggs in the reverse order of their removal.

 

All was safe now. The entire move took about two hours. The rangers were amazingly friendly, knowledgeable,  and sincere in their work with these eggs. We were lucky enough to get to see a miracle that they do not take for granted.

 

We are all home now, but this story was just to incredible not to share.  Don't tell anyone,  it takes about 60 to 68 days for the babies to hatch. I'm hatching my own plans to try and be there to see them come out of the sand. How incredible it would be to see them run to the Ocean.

  I'll keep you posted, I promise!

A sunbeam to warm you,
A moonbeam to charm you,
A sheltering angel, so nothing can harm you.
~Irish Blessing

May your time be filled

with relaxing sunsets,

cool drinks and

sand between your toes.
~ Unknown

 

And it's a remembering...

of how filling a day of nothing can be....

of how magical quiet can be....

Quoted from " How to live at the beach" by Sandy Gingras

It takes courage to grow up

and become who you really are.

~e.e. cummings

Today we celebrate our freedom.

Happy Fourth of July!

Gardening is a way of showing

that you believe in tomorrow.

~ unknown

Maybe you have been following the plight of the bee and want to help .

   Please vote for Save The Bees  at  Pepsi Refresh Project.

When the Summit Township master gardener Chester Lee designed his first Bee pole, he did it to combat what is called (colony collapse disorder). It is a mysterious worldwide epidemic of bee die-offs that was disrupting his garden vegetables and fruits. His Bee pole attracts and encourages a stable colony of local bees. We are trying it out in our community garden and it  has thus far been a success. We are seeing many more bees and the flower garden has never looked better.  I'm asking you to please help us get the grant from Pepsi so Chester can continue his work.

All you have to do is follow the  link and VOTE TO SAVE THE BEES and please send the link to ten of your friends and ask them to vote....

Thanks for your help!