LadyBeezy

Jubilee on Mobile Bay

LadyBeezy — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 01:22:00 GMT

We had been out to eat in Fairhope on Friday night. I had wanted to get down to the Fairhope pier in time to see the sunset, because watching the sunset over Mobile Bay is one of my favorite things to do when visiting Ann, but by the time we left the restaurant, it was just dark. It was still hot, and strangely airless, because there is usually a breeze, no matter how slight, off the bay. Ann drove Jane, Mike and me down to the pier, which was crowded with even more people than usual. Many people were netting and fishing. Even out on the pier it was airless, except occasionally there would be just a breath of breeze. The water was glassy. We starting noticing that the fishers and netters were catching a lot, and then started noticing that shrimp and crab, along with eels, were swimming near the surface. We were so ignorant that we didn't realize that it was a jubilee, until someone told Mike that it was the beginning of one. As I understand it, the locals don't consider it a true jubilee until the flounder come to the surface, which is after the tide turns. Tide turn would not be until around midnight, two or three hours from then. One lady was netting for shrimp, and was perturbed that she was getting so many crab, too. Other people were catching crab with fishing gear. Jane, Mike and I were tired, having just driven down that day, and the heat and airlessness were oppressive, so we went on back to Ann's apartment. It turned out to be a true Jubilee, we heard later, with the flounder rising to the surface.

A "Jubilee" is when shrimp, crab, and other sea-dwellers come to the surface, or even ashore by the thousands. There is nothing wrong with them, they are perfectly edible. Jubilees only happen in Mobile Bay.

Saturday evening, we went down to the Daphne pier, this time before sunset. The weather was much the same as the night before. As we parked, we noticed a horde of seagulls, hundreds, maybe thousands flying at the end of the pier. As we walked out on the pier, they ignored us and everyone else there, which is unusual, because the gulls there live in hope that people will feed them. As we stood at the end of the pier, we could see that they were flying in a limited area, from the end of the pier to maybe 150 yards out, and possibly 200 yards to the south. We couldn't see the northern limit, but we could see gulls returning from it. We kept watching them (as well as the sunset) and I said that it appeared that they were looking for something or waiting for something. As the sun set, the gulls started diving to the water. They were catching eels. As each caught one, it would fly away, with other gulls tying to snatch the eel from it. For some time, there was a frenzy of swooping and squabbling gulls, but as more and more flew away with an eel dangling from their beaks, it got quieter and quieter and then they were all gone. As we looked at the water around the pier, we could see eel swimming near the surface. As we watched, shrimp began to surface, and then crab. Another Jubilee. What amazes me the most was that the gulls knew that it was coming, and knew where it was going to happen, long before it started. Again, we did not wait to see the flounder rise. So-called "jubilee weather" may be great for jubilees, but it is uncomfortably enervating.

I am glad to have seen not one but two jubilees before Ann left the Mobile Bay area.

College Basketball

LadyBeezy — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:25:00 GMT

One of my favorite things to watch on TV is college basketball, men's that is. The season is nearly over, again. The NIT semis are tonight, the NCAA this weekend. My most favorite team, Duke, lost out in the second round, so I haven't been as avid, but I still watch. I played basketball in high school, but I don't like to watch women's basketball, maybe because I was playing instead of watching, and then, because we travelled together, watched the guys play. Bu I really think that no matter how athletic a women is, she isn't going to match the athletic feats of the men, so those games just aren't as interesting. I'll miss the games when the season ends next week. Pro basketball is no substitute. I can't stand it at all.

This Easter was Different

LadyBeezy — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 22:39:00 GMT

Yes, there was something different about this Easter...the extremely early date. It is possible for it to be one day earlier, but that hasn't happened in any of our lifetimes, and won't. Only those among us 95 and older have seen it this early, and none of us will live long enough to see it this early again.

Folk wisdom says an early Easter means a late Spring and the reverse. So far this Spring has seemed more or less on a normal schedule. I'll have to remember to note if there is a late freeze or the like. Last year spring was late, with an unusual late April freeze here, and Easter was right in the middle of its range, so folk wisdom is not always all that wise.

Gray Day

LadyBeezy — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 15:26:00 GMT

It is a gray, cloudy day here, with a storm front moving in. Weather affects arachnoiditis like it does many other conditions, so this is an elevated pain level day, as well. The gray clouds, though, intensify the new spring greens of leafing out trees and newly sprouted grass until it almost glows. I suppose it is somewhat of a trade-off, even if not a very good one. I am not going to try to go to church today. I know from experience that I can't sit through it on a day like today, even with my cushion and a chair instead of the pew. Maybe next Sunday.

Watching my Birdfeeders

LadyBeezy — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 13:19:00 GMT

Spring is arriving here in North Mississippi, which means many of the birds who have crowded the feeders outside my window all winter are heading North. Just this week, the goldfinches left. Monday or Tuesday there were two dozen or more clamoring and jostling for a place on the large thistle seed sock. But I noticed that instead of their winter olive color they were starting to turn gold, and I never get to see them turn entirely gold. Today there are no goldfinches, and just a few purple/house finches. I will leave the thistle sock up as long as I see any of them.

There are fewer customers, too, for the black sunfower seeds, although the squirrels snatch as many as they can. I will leave them out for migrating birds for another month. Last year I had a huge flock of Rose-breasted grosbeaks stay and eat for two weeks or more, the first time I had ever seen them. I was amused at how they drove away the pesky squirrels. No squirrel stole a single seed as long as they were around. When they left, the males left a week before the females.

I leave the suet feeders up year-round. Four different kinds of woodpeckers eat from them and feed their young from them, and they are such magnificent birds to see closely.

It is sad, though, to look out now, at what five days ago was a maelstorm of bird feeding activity, and see two cardinals having a leisurely meal.

Having arachnoiditis, continued

LadyBeezy — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:58:00 GMT

Arachnoiditis is one of the "unknown" diseases, but is probably more common than once thought. With MRI diagnostics, it is being recognized sooner than it once was. Another possible reason for its relative anonymity is that it is almost always caused by a doctor, and they don't like to advertise their mistakes.

Mine came about when a neurosurgeon failed to completely close the Dura after lumbar surgery, then refused to acknowledge anything was wrong while I leaked spinal fliud for a month, first under the skin, which destroyed a lot of my lower back muscles, and then pouring out repeatedly. I was finally transferred to another neurosurgeon,at my request, by the insurance company. I finally healed, but the damage was done and not only did I have arachnoiditis, I had to have lumbar fusion several months later, because the muscle damage left my spine so unstable.

Having Arachnoiditis

LadyBeezy — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 02:02:00 GMT

It is a strange name and a strange disease. Most people hear the name and say "spiders"? The less sensitive snicker and laugh. It has to do with the arachnoid layer of the spinal covering, which when healthy, looks like spider webs, but is actually nerves. With inflamation, the "iitis", the nerves clump and calcify.Nerves impnge on nerves. It is incurable, and extremely painful. Some days are easier than others, but one never knows what to expect.The pain can be electric shocks one day (or one morning) and change to the sensation that the leg bones are being crushed the next (or that afternoon) or be burning and stinging , or oddly enough, partially numb while aching. Sensations of water pouring down the back and legs or insects under the skin are common. Balance, gait,and other dysfunctions occur. However, the overriding problem is the intractable pain.