5 11 13

Ketchup!

 

Sorry I have not been posting but been a wild and woolly two weeks.  Drove 1600 miles for two funerals and am currently planning a third for my computer.  The first two were real and in both cases a shock, but we weren't put on this planet in perpetuity.  I have to try and remember that when I do my next annual marketing plan.  Part of the trip was to western Virginia which is an area of the state to which I have never visited in the past.  Really great country east of the blue ridge and west of Richmond.  Wish I had more time and energy to really shoot the place up.

 

And example

 

 

 

 

4 30 13

CHAPTER 4

 

The birds along the River Walk have certain human people whom they trust and actually liked more than others.  The human brain, as wonderful as it is, is just not adapt at understanding the activities, let alone the thoughts, of the little creatures in the woods.  Mostly we think of them as cute little critters that God put on earth for our own amusement.  Forgetting that they actually have a purpose, not to mention personalities and rarely do we think of them as we do our domestic pets.  To our pets we assign human traits because they become "Part of the family".  Rarely do we do the same for the wild inhabitants of nature.  Shame really because they are so observant of us.

 

  Saint Louis is gradually learning his environment, is a keen observant of the live styles around him, and more than willing to teach the young birds and animals anything that he has learned. 

 

While Charles, the chickadee, is a curious critic of human behavior, he nonetheless willing to accommodate said behavior.  Raucous, the blue jay is the purveyor of woodland food sources, danger and conspiracy theory.  Lil Bits is the little Screech Owl shadow of Uncle Julius the Barred Owl Barrister of the Owl Woods at the south end of the River Walk.  But there are others who comprise the wild community that we humans all too often take for granted.  Often and smartly not so the other way around.

 

"PEEaweee, peeyoooo, peee-didip!"

 

"St. Louis, the water in the river has risen overnight.  How is that?"

 

The young fly catcher, not long out of the nest looks at the rising waters thinking that only world he has ever known is coming to an end.

 

"I can't even find some of my favorite perches...!

 

"What's happening Louis?  Peee-didip!"

 

If birds could smile, and I contend that they do, Louis would be doing just that.  Having survived many high water periods that the humans called floods, he was undisturbed by the natural ebb and flow of the river.

 

"My little friend, Zipper, you will find that this is normal and we simply have to adjust to the water.  It is the source of all the life around us.  It gives us new growth and takes away the old.  It provides cover in which to hide and food for our bellies.  Up and down is normal.  All you have to do is literally go with the flow."

 

  Chuckling at his own joke he flits from branch to branch keeping a protective eye on his young student as would all good teachers.  He notes that his favorite human has quietly passed with his camera and walking stick.  This reinforces the calm that Louis projects to the younger bird.  Perhaps all is right on the River Walk today despite the rising waters!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4 28 13

 

RAINY DAYS AND SUNDAY.

 

Or is that rainy days and Monday.  As a friend of mine once said about momentary confusion...."Its all in-venereal to me"! But it is Sunday and God is crying!  We are finally getting some much needed rain which drives the city managers nuts as it reduces the need for us victims to use city water and that reduces their daily income.  Politicians are all of the same stripe I am beginning to think, but I am glad we're getting some moisture on the tender new plants trying to become mature weeds in my garden.  No photos today as the good Dr. of Blogology over at Google seems to think that Sunday is a day of rest or something and the uploader is down.  Of course if you are in real need to look at photos, go to the website and spend a few hours with your credit card in front of you.

 http://skip-willits.artistwebsites.com/

 

When I have climbed my personal mountain to find that bearded guy sitting cross legged in front of an open cave and he tells me I have one question I can ask...Well I've been thinking of that question.

 

I think that all I can hope for is that the old guy is not "Uncle Si".  You know you've seen him on TV or in the corner of the room at family reunions, quietly babbling to himself.  Or maybe he's the weird uncle with too much happy water at the last wedding you attended.  You find he's full of wisdom, but only when you finally peel all the layers of onion away and can understand what it is he's saying.  And you better be happy that it is "Uncle Si"...Jack!

  I so want to be that guy when I grow up.

  Maybe the good Lord has just such a cave where I can sit and answer all the questions of the newly uninformed.  If so, just don't ask me to tell you where to get the best deal on used tires, or used cars, or the best bait shop, or how to raise your kids.

Kind of a blue weekend.  We lost a country and western singing legend, which I am counting in my personal bad things of three.  George Jones.  I actually met him once at a concert we were giving up in Flemington, NJ.  He was actually more drunk that was I at the time.  And that was going a country mile.  I guess we both cleaned that act up to a degree.  At least I did.  He barely made the concert.

We lost a young man some thirty to fifty years too early, and it's just plain sad.  RIP RJ, you will be missed.  We have another friend in critical condition who needs all the prayers one can muster....Give it hell John!  And for the rest of you who just need praying for in general, please accept my humble concerns and prayers for you and your family.

And for those who claim they don't need praying over....well, we'll just wait and see and you better hope that it ain't me at your cave door.

I'll continue to work on that question.



4 24 13

CHAPTER 3

 

 

"My God Lilbits, that song is enough to wake the dead.  Can't you wait till the rest of us are awake before you rattle the forest?"

 

"But Louis, I am full of field mice, in a good mood, and besides my music is the finest in all the forest.  I have been hunting and gorging all night and am headed back to the owl woods for a good day's nap.  Uncle Julius is already on his perch in the old sycamore tree on the hillside by the path.  It has been a good night indeed and I am late in returning.  I spent way too much time this morning watching the otters play on the upper end of the walk.  Now they know how to make their day go by quicker...always full of fun and frolic and never indulging in any of those human behavior skills like jealousy, depression or anger.  Just a fun bunch."

"OH, Hi Charles and how are you this fine morning?"

"Wide awake, thank you very much Bits. You're worse than all the roosters over at the chicken plant with that call.  Can't you go somewhere and take some voice lessons?"

"Why would someone with a voice as good as mine need lessons you twit!  I am the "Voice of the North!"

"But this is the South.  And don't you dare wake Raucous this early.  The din would be unbearable to those of us with any sophistication at all.  And where is Uncle Julius speaking of sophistication, I have some questions of him regarding the behavior of those humans?"

"If you had been awake,  I told Louis that Uncle was back on his perch.  Which is where I should be instead of dawdling with the likes of you two."



 

 

 

 

 

4 22 13

CHAPTER 2

 

"Chicadee dee dee dee"

 

"Charles", the Black Capped Chicadee announced his presence to St. Louis.

 

"These humans have taken over this area.  They even want me to land in their hands for a few paltry seeds.  Of course I do humor them.  I have even gone so far as to pose for their stupid photographs!"

 

The little bird, as though dressed in formal attire, flitted up to a tiny branch well beyond the perches chosen by larger birds.  Weighing only 11 grams he was tiny even by Louis's standards.  Friendly to humans, if only as a way to make it through the winter months, Chucky was a fun little friend to have.  Despite his diminutive size his call was large and distinctive.  His sense of humor a delight to all his friends.  And teasing to humans as he waited until they were just within reach before flying off was his speciality.

 

"Charles, you are such a tease but beware you get to close to all those much bigger creatures.  Cute doesn't always carry the day you know.  And what are you doing here along the river and not at those feeders in all those neatly groomed back yards over the ridge?"

 

"I heard Raucous and had to check out what was going on.  You know how humans just have to stop and watch a car wreck.....Well, if that noisy bird starts, there must be something to it.  And all I find is you sitting here in apprehension and hiding from even a mild north wind.  You are a way to nervous an individual!"

 

"P-shaw my friend.  One can never be too cautious and besides all that purveyor of conspiracy theory was doing, was a noisy greeting.  The river walk is void this morning.   No thin skinned humans and their obnoxious pets.  I must admit it is funny to see them straining the way they do at the end of a vine attached to a wolf like animal of questionable lineage.  They tell each other that it is good exercise to walk the animal.  That is when they actually talk to each other.  Well, if it was such extraordinary exercise, why don't they keep up with the beast?"

 

St. Louis was far more realistic than most of his friends.  He had a clear attitude toward things even of which he had no knowledge.  If it was new to him, his caution exceeded that of the feral cats that over populated the area and were not only a nuisance but an actual threat to life and limb.

 

 

"I was luxuriating in a bath of black oil sunflower seeds that my favorite human had left by his back window.  I heard Raucous's announcement of glee and it so startled me that I just had to come and investigate  for myself.  What a disappointment, I thought he had cornered Uncle Julius and the war was back on."

 

Uncle Julius is the all wise, all seeing, Barred Owl who inhabits the "Owl Woods" about two miles down river and just about at the end of the Riverwalk.  Older than most of the birds along the Congaree and much wiser, he is often shadowed by Lilbits.  She being a diminutive screech owl living in the same general area as Uncle.  She always seems to be his shadow.  While the larger owl announces his presence in the evening with the deep hooting that humans love and are familiar...Lilbits emits horrible screams  that resemble a pair of mating fox or a small human child being pulled slowly apart.  Only way to describe her song, of which she is immensely proud and for which universally derided.

 

"That reminds Louis to ask Julius what it is about those humans.  I mean they have no feathers and even if they could get both feet off the ground, they would only fall on their back sides.  Flying is obviously out of the question for them.  They can't keep warm in winter as they are as bald as the turtles in the river.  I mean I have seen them in the summer....not a pretty site!"

 

 

"You do have a point chuck!  But look at the beautiful walk they built.  Before this, those poor souls unable to fly had to crawl, walk, run or slither through the meanest of landscapes.  And now they even have bridges across the river.  Do what end I know not.  But we have to give them credit for something."

 

 

 

 

"Perhaps so Luis, but then you see the way they treat our world"

 

 

"I just don't understand and am just going to have to ask Julius about all this!"

 

 

 

4 21 13

CHAPTER 1

The dead of winter along the River was not a solid freeze by any stretch of the imagination.  One from a more northern clime would enjoy it is as simply,  a crisp day.  St. Louis of Cayce hid amongst the leafless limbs of a wild marsh along the Congaree of South Carolina.  A distant descendant of the first St. Louis of the sand bars, he was young and in need of food found sparse at the river's edge this time of year.  It would be a month or so before the warehouse known as spring would be open for business.  All species of wildlife and particularly the songbirds worked hard for their rations.  In most cases the effort almost equaled the nutritional value found in those sparse findings.
 

 

This was his second winter.  He had learned during his first to puff his feathers up to conserve body heat and provide insulation from the cold.  He learned to stand facing the wind, tucking his head under a wing only when the sun finally dropped beyond the western horizon.  His kind is the last to roost at night and one of the first to rise.  His inerrant nervousness also kept him safer than most of his species.  Those who where more trusting of the human invention and their nonchalant attitude towards the native songbirds.

"Toolili toolili SKRRR?" 

 

Broke the solitude of the marsh making the red bird shutter his feathers and tighten them in preparation for flight.

 

In human terms..."Why do you sit there freezing, you silly red bird and not join me at the humans smorgasbord beyond the ridge?"  Such an intrusion could come from none other than "Raucous of the Wood".

  

 

Raucous was an acquaintance of sorts and the neighborhood first responder to all things deemed dangerous or eatable.  Loud, brash and even pushy this friend was always looking for the angles and in human terms was the explainer of all conspiratorial activities.  It was thought that he always told the truth or as close as he thought he had to get to it.  You just never knew if he was screaming as an alert for a new source of food or the danger of a voracious snake climbing a tree in search prey.  His approach was pretty much the same for most things.  But his favorite activity other than pontificating was to chase the numerous Barred and Screech owls of the bordering hardwoods.  There was nothing more fun than to swoop after the much larger bird and pester it to distraction.

 

"But there are cats, dogs and those hideous squirrels that all frighten me so.  I intend to live a long life and so I am not willing to take that chances of which you are so fond.  Besides, I prefer to feed on the ground and all those feeders or whatever they call them are six feed in the air.  Just doesn't instill confidence!"

 

"Pa-shaw, you should have been born a chicken instead of a songbird.  There are so many of us at these breakfasts that you would have enough warning to save your precious tail feathers.  Some of them even have gooey stuff with seeds mixed in.  I heard one of the humans call it suet and they can buy it for only a dollar ninety a cake at the Piggly Wiggly."

 

"Raucous what in the world is a Piggly Wiggly or for that matter a dollar ninety?"

 

"St. Louis, you really don't know much do you?  There is this big place where all the trees have been chopped down and the humans drive their shiny horseless things and put them between all the white rows of paint.  I guess their not too smart because somebody has to tell them how to stay between the lines.  Then they all walk into this big square place and disappear for hours on end.  When they finally reappear, they are pushing things that look like tangled wire on wheels. Then they have to put all kinds of stuff in their shiny things and leave."

 

"Really?"

 

"Yes, and the seagulls tell me that there is always food found round all those white lines.  Bags and boxes that smell like human food are lying all over.  But I don't think that's were the suet comes from.  Probably, they find it where ever they go in that big square place."

 

"Sounds much more complicated than scratching around the leaf litter and finding seeds, or a worm.  But I do see those bags and boxes along the walk here at the river.  Generally, they are right next to those big wood an plastic things with the black plastic bags inside.  I have looked through those things just before dark and found some tasty morsels.  Not many seeds though."

 

"Well you see Louis, you are part of the way there to feasting with the rest of us at the humans expense.  You already look through their leavings, why not just ease on over and  knock off lunch at the feeders.  Evidently they make a big an effort to feed us as they do their own kind that are not willing to provide for themselves."

 

"Well Raucous, I do provide for myself and am very proud of it.  And when the time comes to raise a family, I will provide for it as well.  I don't intend to take handouts unless it is absolutely necessary.  Even if the humans are foolish enough to provide for me and my family without my participating, I just don't think it's right.  Just like I don't think that it's right to create a mess along our river, it's just too beautiful"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4 19 13

FINDING A WAY

~

PROLOGUE

 

St. Louis, the 1st., spread his bright crimson wings and caught an easterly puff of wind sufficient to carry him across the broad expanse of the Congaree River.

 

 

His chore this day was two fold.  First and foremost he needed to find a mate in a completely new area in order to keep the lines pure.  Secondly and perpetually he was looking for food. 

 

He was one handsome fellow, strong and vibrant.  He knew he needed to lead his kind into the next few generations as change was coming.  He wanted to find just the right mate to accompany him on his journey.

With the crossing accomplished he perched in the top of a mature holly tree, still showing the remains of the bright red seeds matching his own distinctive finery. 

"My name is St. Louis and I come from the east to visit your fine river bank in search of food and perhaps foolery.  But I am a gentleman and will not mislead!"

Human inhabitants would only have heard a high, clear, mostly slurred whistle "Woit woit woit chew chew chew chew chew!"  But then again humans were mostly slow and dim when it came to using God given talents long lost in some European cave.

"Pichew pichew tiw tiw tiw tiw tiw tiw"  The answer of Princess Cardinalis of the western shore.

"I am Princess Cardinalis and you seem to be a Princely southern gentleman, have you come to Court? I am amidst the lovely Camilla blooms and you must seek me out as you are but one of many to whistle this day!"

Both songbirds were, at a year and a half old, in their prime and weighed only an ounce and a half.  Both knew that the future depended upon their attraction to one another and so it was that St. Louis took up residency along the sand bar of the Congaree.  And for a number of years now Queen Cardinalis bore many offspring to sire future generations for years to come.