Things are still going snap, crackle, pop and lighting up the night around these parts. As if the night needs lighting up! Did we tell you that it doesn’t get truly dark here until well after 10 p.m.? Yes, that’s right. And at around 3:30 a.m. the light starts coming in the windows again.
But we digress… The Fourth of July seems to be a week long experience in these parts. In addition to the store-bought variety being set off at the cabins during the week, on Saturday, the marina next door to us had a big Fourth (x 3 or + 8 = 12th?) party on the beach. It was followed by fireworks which were followed by music and mayhem lasting well into the night.
The barge that shot off the fireworks was located about 200 yards off of our dock.
The lights dotting the ‘horizon’ are boats lined up for the show.
Was this week after finale the actual end to the Independence celebrations?
Time will tell.
Speaking of time and things going ‘crack’… Remember these?
Nicole has spent the last three weeks guarding these speckled cuties.
Then one day she goes over for her morning check and sees something new.
Actually, there were four somethings new. You can see one here peeking out from behind Papa. By the way, we’ve learned that it is the Dad not the Mom who sits on the eggs and tends to the Spotted Sandpiper young.
As soon as their down is dry, the adventures for these little ones begin. They were led on a three plus hour journey away from the nest and toward the shoreline. It was only about thirty feet away but…
There were plenty of random wanderings (usually in four different directions) which prompted a very nervous and busy Papa to run back and forth peeping and a whooping. There was also plenty of resting.
Like this.
And this!
Navigating these was a special event. Periodically, a chick would completely disappear having fallen into a hole between the rocks. Do you see Papa’s watchful eye in the upper right corner?
How about now?
Fresh legs with feet nearly as big as your body can take some getting used to.
Success, at last!
Hey, this thing keeps following me!
In about seventeen days they’ll be ready to hit the road. Meanwhile, our little beach is a great big world of new and different.
Papa keeps a close eye but is getting more comfortable with Nicole’s daily monitoring. By day three the chicks had become more aware of their surroundings and photos of them just a blur as they zip here and there.
Speaking of chicks. The day that the Sandpipers were born we had a visit from our Canadian Geese families.
A couple of months old now, our little yellow balls of fuzz are growing up.
Check out what Darlene found inching his way onto her shoe on the beach.
Point of perspective… the white things are grains of sand.
Last but certainly not least… the HUCKLEBERRIES are coming in!
We’re used to hearing noises in the woods and seeing a deer pop out now and then but with the Huckleberry season in full swing there are random people popping out of the woods with buckets and bags.
Darlene, on the other hand, spends her time foraging through our own private wild strawberry field located next to our water spigot.
These little sweet treats are fresh from the field.
That’s all for now. Time to enjoy our two days off. See ya later…