SUNDAY

Today was a beautiful sunny day but a disappointing one. It was Mother's Day and not a word from my daughter or son. I did get a beautiful card from Phil so Mother's Day wasn't a total loss. Oh well.

Took a walk down to the pier this afternoon and shot a few pictures. Seems today was the day the female red ear slider turtles chose to go up the hill to lay their eggs...

Once again the photo doesn't do the size justice. This was a big turtle. In the photo she is leaning over looking up at me... funny to watch her. The name comes from the red patch of skin around the ear. The slider part of the name comes from their ability to quickly slide off of whatever they are on into the water. As soon as I left her I found another one that was bigger yet. Later I saw two more but didn't take their pictures...

I had a bit of excitement when two river otters came out of the brush to eat at the waters edge. But my excitement quickly faded as I realize they were not otters but were nutria instead. They were not very large as nutria go and I would guess about half grown. For those not familiar with a nutria is a member of the rodent family. It was imported into the U.S. back in the 1930 and 40's.  They were brought in for their fur and soon escaped and now they are a invasive species that can cause a lot of damage to the land. They are host to a parasite that can infect the skin of humans causing dermatitis similar to strongyloidiasis. It is called "nutria itch".  I didn't try to get closer for they can be very aggressive if threatened...

They left the area when Phil put the borrowed canoe into the water.

I chose not to take my camera and go out with him on the canoe.  So I took a couple of pictures of him fishing on the lake..

That was the last I saw of him until a couple hours later when he came home soaking wet. He tipped the canoe and went for a swim. Sure glad I didn't go with my camera. Once he got his phone cleaned and packed in rice to try to save it he went back out fishing. I stayed at home and worked on a logo for the owner of the campgrounds. This what I came up with...

I had the drawing of the bass because I had used it on the steps that Phil uses. It was just a matter of putting the look together. I knew that whatever I designed would have to work for business cards, signs, and for the webpage so the logo had to be simple. That should give them a new look.

Oh my, I just looked at my clock and it is Monday already lol. Only 12:11 Am but the blog will list this as Monday lol. That said I am out of here and off to bed.

May angel wings surround you and you keep on dancing through life with the angels too.....

                   

THE SIMPLE LIFE

Here it is Saturday already.  This little fishing camp isn't busy in the RV part but the boat ramp parking is sure full. Lots of people going fishing today. The park is humming but not buzzing with activity... it's a simple life here and very peaceful. Lots of squirrels here and even they stop and smell the flowers...

Yesterday while taking the girls outside I notice something weird going up the hill. Put the girls inside and grabbed the camera. What I found was one of the biggest turtles I've ever seen...

The pictures don't do the size of it justice. Just as I took the last photo of the turtle Phil drove up. I showed it to him and he said it was a snapping turtle. Most likely a female going to lay her eggs. He warned me to beware of it because it will take a finger off. He then showed me using a stick... it was fast and had the stick crushed in no time. I couldn't believe what I had just seen because it struck out like a snake and grabbed the stick. Had the stick been a finger the turtle would have bitten if off. Needless to say, I left her to her egg laying lol.   

Most excitement I've had here was with the turtle and the community garage sale just down the road from the campgrounds. From that the best buy was a pair of Bose speakers. Someone broke the end of the wire off into the hole and didn't know it was easy to pull the wire end out of the hole.With just a little bit of efford Phil got an excelllent set of Bose speakers for almost nothing. He is one happy camper lol.

The weather hasn't been good enough to go exploring so I don't have a huge amount to talk about. Guess in a way that is a good thing because it makes me stop and see the little things in life.  Such as the little male cardinal that lands on the old wooden post just outside my window.  I think he watches me as much as I watch him. Every time I look over at him he is peeping in at me lol.

Guess while it isn't raining I will take a walk outside. Sure getting tired of looking out windows and peeping around the door...

So I will close this until tomorrow.  I'm out the door to dance with angels.. May Angel Wings Surround You.

    

LAKE CADDO

Finally I was able to take a few pictures of Potters Point Campground. It is a fishing camp but is like a community. There are four permanent residence families but two of them have been on vacation. I met Peachy today. She and Gary help take care of the place. The owner and his wife live on site but he has an outside job so isn't around that much. Did a swap with Peachy for  tree riped plums. Everything she grows is organic. I gave her a package of fresh shrimp and she gave me all the plums I wanted. Shrimp is frozen up here and it cost a lot. They live on social security and can't afford it. So, I was happy to share. We were invited to the community crawfish boil. Hopefully, we will be here.

I really like the peacefulness of this camp. I've seen what I think is an eagle twice and heard it calling once. It landed in a tree on the next property.  There is an old dilapidated pier that is going to make a nice painting. Will post the pictures of it later.

Phil checked out the town of Vivian, Louisiana this morning. It has a small Walmart with not much in way of groceries. But the town has a IGA supermarket. So we are stocked back up except for a couple of items. We didn't do much grocery shopping on the island because everything except seafood is imported in and outrageously priced. Here it is seafood that is imported lol.

I walked out into the road with my camera and took a couple of pictures. In the first one our campsite is the second trailer with the white truck...

Then I turned around and took this next picture...

Next I walked down to the end of the pier in the upper picture to get this next picture...

Today was gray and not a good day for taking pictures so I will wait until this next storm system passes before taking more pictures. With the water lilies and huge cypress trees I can tell you this lake is gorgeous. I love the feel here.

I found walking from the pier up the hill to our camp  to be hard for me. So that is my daily goal... to walk the hill. Tomorrow I will walk down to the water's edge with my grabber and pick up the cans and trash left by the ramp users. Walking the hill is a big thing for me because last summer I could barely move because of back injury. It was all I could do to get out of bed. I refused surgery and chose to heal myself... so watch out hill here I come lol.

It is that time again and I must close this for the night. But before I do I would like to share something that happened on the road while traveling here to this camp. We were on the other side of Shreveport and it was starting to get dark. Phil asked me if I smelled the gas. I rolled down my window and there was no doubt there was gas. We thought somewhere there must be a gas leak maybe from a gas well or pipeline. Farther down the road we smelled it again and stronger. Then it dawn on me... marsh, bogs, mud flats, and swamps are know for their will-of-the-wisp methane gas. The lights went on upstairs lol. There for awhile the gas sure had us wondering what was up, should we report it or not. Glad we didn't lol.

Well off I go... Angel Wings Around You and May You Dance To The Tune Of A Blessed Life.

ANGELS WATCH OVER US

We arrived here at Caddo Lake last night. All is well. We spent most of this day finishing setting up the inside and outside of the camp.

This morning I received an email from Jim telling us that two waterspouts hit the island a couple of hours after we left. I knew that a storm was going to hit the island and there would be heavy rain. Told Phil that a storm was coming a few days in advance. Fatima (my Angel) let me know about the storm coming. So we got off the island in time. Sometimes I can hear Fatima, sometimes she gives me mind pictures, and sometimes she puts the information into my mind. When Angels watch over us we are blessed. Everyone is born with a Guardian Angel. When we are little children we are open to them but as we grow we tend to quit listening to them for various reasons. But they are always there to help, guide, and protect you. I am blessed with five Angels. To know of your own Angel just ask them and then have faith that they will communicate with you.

But back to the waterspouts at Grand Island. One of the waterspouts turned into a tornado that was a quarter of a mile long and 400 feet wide. There was significant damage from them. They formed in the Gulf of Mexico and came inland...

The store in the below photo was about five blocks from where we were staying.

Here are a few more pictures...

Please note that I did not take any of the pictures shown.

When I awoke this morning I felt a large release of energy in the area of my back where I am injured. Immediately I was relieved of pain. I raked the yard area and didn't feel pain. Raking, sweeping, and things like that are things that I avoid because of back pain. I am still amazed at this event.

Well it is late so I am going to close this and get ready to call it a day...

May Angel Wings Surround You With Love And Peace...

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Well the time has come to bid this beautiful island in the sun goodbye. We have enjoyed our stay but it is time to get on the road again. I bought a couple of souvenirs to remember our stay here. Picked up a new fishing hat for both of us. Mine has two mosquitoes embroidered on it with the words "Bite Me" lol. Phil's is a cap with the Grand Isle, La logo on it. Has a zip pocket and places for his fish hooks... Here he is wearing it...

Phil told me that I needed to take a photo of myself so just for the heck of it I did.

I will miss this island. The beautiful birds..

The marshes  and the Gulf of Mexico

But there are so many more places to visit. From here we are headed up to the top of Louisiana and will then cut over to Caddo Lake.  I have always heard that it is very pretty there with large cypress trees and spanish moss. We will be staying at a fishing campgrounds four miles across the border into Texas. It will not be as fancy as the state parks but there isn't much in way of parks around that area. From the looks of the area we may have problems with phone and internet.... we will just have to wait and see. If I can't get on line then I can't post on here until we move again.

It has been a long day of cleaning, packing, washing clothes, and getting ready for the move in the morning... so I will say "goodnight" and "May Angels Dance With You In The Light."

BLUE CRAB MYSTERY SOLVED

Gosh, where did the time go? Seems like ages since I put something into the blog. I've been concentrating on research, setting up my computer, finding lost items, checking out the town and fishing.

About the research... when we were at the Grand Isle State Park I took a photo of a handicapped blue crab. Here is the photo...

I feel sorry for the little crab with no claws to defend itself or to use to bring it's food to it's mouth. But there was something else that was bothering me and that was the why didn't it have claws. Well, my research finally paid off in an article that ran about the mutated crabs born with no claws, shrimp with no eyes, fish with tumors and open sores  around the Barataria Bay. Grand Isle is between Barataria Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. This area was hard hit by the Gulf Oil Spill that shocked the world.  I read in the article that the mutations and sickness was not caused by the oil itself but by the chemicals used to clean up the oil. This poor little crab was not tortured but was born with it's claws.

What the article brought to the forefront of my mind is that this area has not healed yet. Will it ever? Will this mutation be passed on through the altered genes into it's offspring? I wonder.

Then there is the issue of the shrimp in this area. This area is one of the major seafood suppliers of the world. Not all of the shrimp are mutated or sick but enough to worry about if they are toxic to humans. I wonder about those that we ate. I am going to start with a detox program using green tea and milk thistle. There is also another issue with the shrimp and that is that there is an aggressive Asian Tiger shrimp invading the Gulf waters. This Tiger shrimp is three times the size of the Gulf shrimp. It will eat the young of the Gulf shrimp. I was told by my spiritual guide that I would see the extinction of many species. So that leaves me with the guestion are we seeing the dying off of the Gulf species?

I spoke with a local lady today about the area and the Gulf is still sick. The economy is still suffering here. She said that at this time of year the tourist and fishermen used to pack the island on weekends but not now. They are hoping that memorial day things will pick up. She said that sometimes it took a car two hours to drive from one end of town to the other because of the traffic and people. But that they have not seen it that way since the oil spill.

I also noted on the beach that there were a lot of dead pelicans, gulls and fish. There is a crew that keeps the beaches clean so it is not so noticeable. But when I was going out on the long pier daily I could see them.

We are staying at the cheapest RV park on the island. Being that the speckled trout are biting right now this park should have been packed full over the weekend but it wasn't. They still had empty spaces for rent.

What this is leaving me to believe is that there is trouble in paradise...

His Eye Is On The Sparrow

This is an email that I received and found very touching. I am sharing it with you.
Birds are fragile and vulnerable. The amazing photos captured a drama with two of these little creatures that is every bit as poignant and heart wrenching as any human story. Kudus to the photographer.

HIS EYE IS ON THE SPARROW

A female bluebird was hit by a car as she scooped low across the road, and the condition soon proved to be fatal.

Her male mate brought her food and attended to her with love and compassion.

He brought her food again but was shocked to find her dead

 He tried to move her... a rarely seen effort.

Aware his mate was dead and would never come back to him again, he cried out with his pain and sorrow as he grieved his beloved mate.

Many people believe that animals and birds do not have brains and and feelings. Here you are witness to the love and sorrow felt by one of God's little creatures.

Some would suggest that I am trying to put human emotions upon animals and birds. Maybe they would interrupt the above differently. But I have studied and observed animals and birds enough to know in my heart that they are just as capable of compassion and love as we humans. It is important to remember that God's eye is upon the sparrow as well as all creatures big and small. Remember to be kind to all living things.

But most of all be kind to yourself ... Live simply, love generously, care deeply, and laugh often. Enjoy life while it is yours....

                       

Angels wings around you ... Let their wisdom be your guidence.