Walking the Beach #74 (Jul 07)

It’s several days since Jul 4th.  Many homes along the beach are occupied, probably through this weekend.  More pleasure craft are parked along the beach, all power type except for one tiny sailboat.

A tiny pier, more of a short platform about six feet long with a short ladder on the water side, is close to where we first enter the beach. This is near the onion patch on the bank and a patch of morning glory flowers are on the beach below. One day a small front end loader was parked at the base of the bank. No stairs are present for the home at this point so it looked like preparation for some stair building; however, the tractor was gone the next day.

The tiny pier had been missing the platform part until a few weeks past. One day several pieces of treated lumber appeared and a week later they were gone but I didn’t see where they had gone – to repair the tiny pier. So the tiny pier is at the start of our walk, then comes the fancy pier, then the low pier – previously damaged and now repaired.

Being on this river across from the populated areas offers a view of multiple fireworks displays every Jul 4th.  We could see eight going on at one time this year, the weather conditions being just right, except for mosquitoes. The disadvantage is that the displays are tiny because the closest one was about eight miles off.

Most days, now, a single heron is present somewhere on the beach. One or two eagles, too. Oftentimes no commercial boats are working or just one crabber will cruise along during our walk. A flock of about twenty-five starlings sometimes swoop about between the tiny pier and fancy one. Aircraft activity is more limited, too.  Even though we are walking earlier, that shouldn’t make a difference.

The bald cyprus have grown new seed pods. These are green balls about the size of a ping pong ball. When ripe they turn brown, cracks form and open to release seeds. The pods also exude an aromatic sap. Crushing the pods or a handful of leaves releases an aeromatic smell. Storms with winds strong enough to rip leaves from these trees leave perfumed air for several weeks afterwards, a small positive result compared to damaged from such storms.

We’ve been walking the access road more often this week because of increased human activity on the beach. Trees and brush are slowly intruding on the road as summer progresses. Walking earlier allows us to see more wildlife. Most days we see several deer. One time it included a six-point buck in the middle of the road. This morning was the first time I’d seen a coyote crossing a hay field and the road in front of us. They are not numerous, yet, but the newspapers reported they are about. Bears are also coming back, so that could be an interesting encounter some morning….

Walking the Beach #73 (Jul 07)

The last few days went from hot, humid, rainy and hazy to cool, clear, dry and partly cloudy. An inch of rain fell one day, but didn’t clear the haze and humidity. That took a cool front. However, runoff from the raindid leave dirty fingers of soil on top of the sand a foot or two from the river bank.

The onion field is down to about twelve visible flowering heads out of the hundred we started with. The others are still there, but buried under the kudzu.

Near the onions on the sand the morning glorys are still out and more plentiful than two months back when they first appeared. They come in different colors, but these are all the same with light purple (mauve?) and white stripes.

It’s so cool this morning that when the sun peeks through for a minute it really feels good. The water, at low tide, is corrugated with waves parallel to the shore superimposed in dappled patches where gusts of air touch down. It’s quiet, too, despite the periodic lapping of each wave against the shore. Over this the crickets or cicada can be heard. A male cicada is lying on his back in the road on our return . Females have an inch-long lance or ova depositor to pierce bark and lay eggs. It can pierce skin, too, which I nearly found out from still bug that came to life after I picked it up.

This cool air seems to capture flower smells. At one place a pleasant smell can be traced to a few honey suckle blossoms. A little further on another leads to the small mimosa tree surviving at the base of the bank and now covered with pink flowers.

More work is being done on jettys. Four of the five we pass extend to the bank or stop a foot or two shy. Only one starts several car lengths out. The work is just adding height by piling more odd chunks of concrete from uprooted footings for posts, to broken pavement and landscaping blocks. It’s as if everyone is preparing for stormy weather. More likely this is renovation time for the aging places along the bluff, and the jettys are receiving part of the fallout.

Work on the low pier may be completed, unless a shelter is planned out at the end. Yesterday afternoon another boat pulled the pile driver upriver past our place, so it looks like no more piles will be installed. The pile driver isn’t self-propelled.  Its driving device goes where an outboard would normally be placed.

Only one old contrail shows where any blue sky can be seen. The sound of a plane can be heard at one point, but not seen. Another sound like the motor from a fishing sized boat can be heard over the water, but no boats are visible, so the source never appears.

Past the big promontory the osprey carcass on he sand is even more dissipated. The talons have gone from gleaming black to dusty gray and the skin of the feet is misshapen. You can see why old talons are not a desirable collectible, like antlers or shells.

Several herons are about and one small shore bird, but no evidence of deer, otters or other bird life is about. Tidal action has smoothed away evidence of the otter’s sand box.

An owl flew out of the tree tops close to the turnaround point the last time we were down this way. That’s the second time it appeared that I’d seen. It could have flown by silently other times and I’d not have know, of course. I’d like to photograph it and keep a watch on the trees in this area, but nothing appears this trip.

This is the 4^th of July week and more folks are about during the week than usual. Monday, yesterday, we turned back after barely starting out to avoid bothering people sitting on the bluff. The alternate route up the access road is less entertaining. Grass alongside the road has half grown back. Hay has about half grown back, too, in the two fields harvested a month back, but may not do well because rain is pretty scarce….