The Beauty and The Beasts of the Bayou

Living on the bayou has many pleasures.  This weekend, as I was sitting in my shop looking toward the bayou, I saw a beautiful axis deer.  Although the white tail deer are native and abundant to this area, the axis buck is not.  It probably belonged to someone that had exotic animals and they escaped during either Hurricane Rita or Ike. 


Every evening we are greeted by a dozen or more white tails awaiting the deer corn feeder to go off.
The red tail hawks can be routinely seen landing in the pasture to garner some tasty morsel.  Most evenings around dusk one or more great horn owls can be seen flying from tree to tree. 


The birds are plentiful.  Cardinals, bluebirds, mockingbirds, blue jays, hummingbirds and my favorite of the woodpeckers, the pileated woodpecker are present.




On occasion I have seen a gray fox, coyote, feral hogs and footprints of a "really big cat".


Squirrels, rabbits, turtles possums, raccoons and armadillos will make an appearance of a frequent basis.  A Texas rat snake was even responsible for blowing an electrical fuse to the main transformer.
A beautiful Sonoma Mountain king snake lives in my barn.  They are very colorful snakes, but, you gotta make sure they are "Red next to Black" before you admire them.


If you love nature, you will love living on Pine Island Bayou.

HOWEVER

With all of the beauty to observe, there are some drawbacks.  If you have ever felt the sting of a hundred fire ants biting you on the ankles, the evening bite of the marsh mosquito or a horsefly, you start to wonder about the beauty of nature's creatures.  The sting of a red wasp can last for hours and  then  itch for two days.  Just yesterday I was stung by a yellow jacket as I was trying to eradicate the nest it had made between the brick and siding at my front door.  My daughter once disturbed a bumble nest while mowing and had over fifty stings requiring a trip to the emergency room.  Cleaning up after Hurricane Rita, I was bitten by a copperhead snake. During certain times of the year you can be annoyed by little biting flies and gnats. 

Considering all of my encounters with Mother Nature on the Bayou, my worst encounter occurred 800 miles away on Lake Chickamauga outside Chattanooga, TN.  We were entertaining some new friends for a day of picnicking, water skiing and swimming.  I brought the boat up from the marina and tied it to the pier.  As I was walking to shore on the pier, I felt something buzz into my nose.

As it turned out yellow jackets had a nest under the pier.  One flew up my nose  and stung me inside the nose.  I don't think I have ever felt greater pain.  By the end of the day I was breathing out of my mouth.  If I hadn't been with family and friends, I would have probably laid down on the bank and cried. 

So if you think about the beauty of living on the bayou, you better be prepared for the little beasts as well.