The Ten Week Hitch

Well, it was a long hitch to be sure, but the days have a way of slipping one into another in a pleasent blur, and 'fore ya know it, time passes by. That's a danger when ya ride long hitches, ya tend ta let the days go by without really savoring them. I have to be constantly vigilant or else I'll go days without taking any pictures. I forget that not everyone sees the things that I am privileged to see; take this sunrise for instance. It was my first day at work and I must say this hitch started off right.

When the weather gets rough, seagulls ride on the barge, instead of chasing behind in our wheel-wash. I never tire of watchin' them as they bob their heads and strut, and do lots of interesting things. They seem to have a greeting and pecking order, so to speak. Ya can tell who the leaders are. I can watch 'em for hours as they strut about on the barge, but every once in awhile I get an urge to kinda pick on 'em, and blow the horn to make 'em fly away. The only bad thing 'bout that is, the sound of the horn scares the poop out of 'em.

I just love lookin' at the flowers in the Spring and early Summer. There are several beautiful wild flowers in the swamps and I love seeing them. This hill caught my eye one morning as we passed by. The big advantage of driving a 'tug' is that ya go slow enough to enjoy the scenery as it slides by the wheel-house windows.

I am thrilled to tell yall that the American bald eagle has returned to the bayou country of Lousiana. They were, like all big birds, almost wiped out by DDT, the insecticide they used years ago. It is finally dissipating from the enviroment and giving the big birds a chance to return to our area. When I was a kid growing up in the swamps of South Lousiana, ya never saw eagles. Imagine my Joy, that now ya seldom go a day without seeing them.

I was pushed into the bank one morning, waiting for a bridge to open, when I saw this young egret fishing for breakfast. As I watched, he musta caught 20 li'l fish, like in this picture. This made me wonder how he can stay so skinny if he catches like that every day. Heck, I gain weight just by passin' by the bakery in the grocery store.

It was a long hitch, no doubt about it, but it sure ended pretty. This last picture was taken the night fore I got offn' da' boat. I felt like it was God's way of sayin' "See, it wasn't that bad, now was it?"