Thursday, September 30, 2010

SAND IN MY SHOES




On Thursday 9/30, a rest day in Orange Beach, Alabama. We fixed a rear wheel flat on Ann's Surly Long Haul Trucker (affectionately known as Shirley) and caught up on journals/email. We also spent time on the beach watching several pods of dolphins swim by less than 100 yards from the shoreline. Ann swam out several times in an attempt to get closer to these remarkable creatures. It will be hard to leave the warm gulf water, beach, and the dolphins. At dinner this evening, our 80 year old waitress, Mama Dee was a wealth of information. She advised that at one time this area was thick with satsuma orange groves, a variety of mandarin orange. Sometime during the 1940's, a big freeze devastated the industry. Mama Dee also said tar balls from the BP oil fiasco made it to the beaches here and machinery combs the beaches at night to remove them. She is hopeful that no hurricane damage will occur this year to further exacerbate the problem. As visitors, we have seen no evidence of the devastating spill. We saw this worm fiddling sign a few days ago. who knows what worm fiddling is? How are the walkers doing? Are you having fun yet?

2 comments:

Kelly said...

Great view from the chairs on the beach! I had that same type of view last week and wish I was still there! I was able to look up "worm fiddling" as it was a new term for me. Evidently it is a way to attract worms to the surface of the soil in order to catch them for bait. You drag a saw across the surface which creates a vibration that causes the worms to come up. According to researchers (yes researchers did a study!), they think it is because the vibration is similar to that of a digging mole which prey on the earthworm. It truly is amazing what you can learn! Thanks for the updates. Hope you enjoyed the day off.

Joe and Georgia said...

Hi Ann & Norb,
We've been enjoying your posts and all the great photos. I took a little hike at the Nature Center Wednesday and saw American Beauty Berries outside the entrance; had never seen them bofore. Would definately like the gumbo recipe and had to look up doppleganger! You are truly adventurers. Joe & Geor