I've
joined Heather this morning, sitting quietly on the front porch with
our cups & laptops. Morning birdsong sounds all about and the
sparrows at the front steps feed their raucous and nearly-fledged second
brood. Occasionally they all quiet enough that I can hear the trees
sighing in the breeze. Not many midges, a few puffy clouds in a blue
sky, temp about 70: this is quite tolerable.
So, what news? Back in fall of 2011, Andrew and I found odd
flexible tubes, empty, encrusted with debris, made of silk or mucous or
?, and embedded in the sand. Since then we have seen more and more, but
never found any occupied until last week. I saw a squirt from the sand
on Morris Island, dug beside the hole to lift out the clam, but came up
with one of the tubes instead...with something inside. After a bit of
demolition I managed to get the inhabitant to emerge. It measured about
8" long and appeared to be very much like a seaworm, although with very
different mouthparts.
Peter
& Angela and their friends John and S and all four kids sailed with
me from Morris Island to the lost clam beds of Atlantis...well, to the
very inaccessible clam beds south of the south cut. Lots of walking,
pulling the boat, trying to avoid the nests of poison ivy roots eroding
from dunes, etc.....but we got there and found richer and richer beds of
clams as we worked, eventually getting to areas where we could collect
two or three quarts out of a single hole....although the hole might
measure 2' wide and 10' long. Fun! The tide had not gotten high enough
by the time we headed back, so we had to do more dragging, but the wind
helped and we soon got home. The clams remained on the mooring in the
Mill Pond for nearly two days, then we ate about a bushel for lunch
yesterday. Everyone had plenty, no cooked clams remained uneaten, and a
gallon still remain hanging in the Mill Pond.
Peter
and I scouted for mussels on the breakwater north of Walter's Beach
recently. The tide still covered them, but we could see many ready for
the picking. On the way back, we noticed a fox relaxing in the morning
sun and stopped and watched, trying to maximize the time before it fled.
It rose, stretched, and began playing on the beach, prancing about,
digging at interesting smells, sledding down small dunes. A person
walked past it, unaware until she had passed it and we pointed it out.
After another five minutes, we all headed off on our various errands,
leaving the fox to the empty beach. I've tried to photograph it since,
but only saw it once of the three times I've looked and startled it into
flight that time. And now I can't find my camera charger...but at least
I got pics of some of the footprints showing dance steps...
There
have been some really nice sunrises and sunsets. Here are a couple,
including a sunset I captured using the panoramic feature of the camera:
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