Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Well, this weather certainly has been very strange for Texas. I watched the trees around here turn orange and red in the fall last year. It seems in the past we have only had 2 seasons - spring and summer with only a very mild winter ( people up north would definitely not call it winter). Fall was very nice to observe. Now we are having a very cold winter. I am extremely tired of this. I want to wake up in the morning, get my coffee and go outside and commune with my ducks and watch the other activity on the lake. I really miss that. My routine now is to wake up, get my coffee, go outside to feed my ducks then immediately come back inside. If it is raining I have to use the umbrella and Hester is definitely afraid of it. Even when she use to come up on the land she was leery of it. Back then I could sit in my doorway, prop the umbrella between the roof and the door and throw their bread to them. Instead of being able to sit outside and have the view of the entire lake as my living room, I now come back in and have a 12 x 8 room for my living area. This room only has about 8 x 4 as a walking area - very small and cramped feeling. I do have a TV in it so I have a means of entertainment. The redeeming feature is a nice big window that looks out on the lake. I do have several projects to also occupy my time. 1 is writing the history of my experience with Hester and the other is a 27"x20" latch hook wall hanging for my grandson.

Hester and Arthur continue to come over several times a day and immediately swim back to her nest area afterwards. Whenever they swim over there is a Daryl that thinks he is entitled to his share also. I don't feed him but unfortunately David does. I have asked him not to but I know he wants to feed them also.

In the last several days the people at the end of the bulkhead have been throwing out some sort of food that is very large and floats. I can't see exactly what it is but it looks like large rolls. Its too large for the ducks so it attracts a large amount of gulls. They fly over, swoop down and grab 1 then fly to the end of the bulkhead where I am. I guess they drop chunks of it when they fly because about half way thats where the ducks gather. The gulls turn around and head back for more. And this is repeated over and over until its gone. Its funny to watch - I'm not sure who comes out ahead - the ducks that just sit on the water and wait for food to mysteriously drop down from the sky or the gulls who grab this enourmous quantity of food and not be able to eat it because it's too big.

The lake is wonderful to watch in all kinds of weather - I don't think I will ever be tired of it. When it's windy there is the white caps that rise and fall; when its calm it looks like a mirror and I see everything reflected in it. I wish I was an artist so I could capture all the beauty of it.

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