Day 309, Year 9: An Insect, Crustaceans, and Lots of Water Fun
Date: Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Weather: Beautiful Day . . . again, High in the Upper 70’s F
Location: Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Massachusetts
The days of summer are flying by. Mark and I spent the morning at home with the boys. We had an early morning visit from a praying mantis, played in the pool, and then had some quiet time. Somehow the praying mantis made its way inside and was crawling up the dining room window. All of us were surprised by the colors of this mantis as it was brown with a pinkish-red underside, instead of bright green. Mark had his computer on the table, so I looked it up and found that mantises can be a variety of colors—even white and pink! After the praying mantis episode, Mark headed out to Windbird to run the generator to charge the engine. He did this early in the day as we hate to disturb the peace and calm of Quissett Harbor in the evenings. He then returned home and stayed with Ollie during his afternoon nap and Sam, Jonah, and I headed to Woodneck Marsh for an afternoon of fun with Jonah’s friend Luke. Luke’s grandparents are here helping with child care for a few weeks and Luke’s grandfather and I watched as the boys as they frolicked in the water. They first caught crabs and grass shrimp (Palaemonetes spp.). Today we caught a big blue crab and a spider crab and then lots of Atlantic sand fiddler crabs (Uca pugilator). Luke taught Jonah how to net the grass shrimp and Jonah became the expert at this. Then all three boys decided that jumping off a mud bank with their boogie boards was just way too much fun and they spent the next hour doing this—over and over and over. I was a bit sad that Ollie didn’t get to come with us, but this rowdy activity would have been way out of his comfort zone. Heather dropped by after work and the boys delighted in showing momma their antics and their wildlife catch for the day.
Tomorrow morning the Coast Guard is doing search and rescue practice at the beach close to Heather and Jed’s, so the boys and I will head there in the early morning to watch. It will be quite exciting when the helicopter lands. Unfortunately Granddad has to go to the Town Hall tomorrow morning for a hearing about a parking ticket. There is a little parking lot down by the dinghy dock here at Quissett Marine. We were told that we could park there all summer. But evidently the lot is owned by the city and not the marina and for the first time in ten years, this Sunday the city decided to fine all the cars parked in the lot . . . a $50 fine. We asked for a hearing as we need to park here every night. There is no other place for people to park and lots of people have boats in the harbor and like to go out for the weekends. What a hassle. We are very anxious to find out what the city officials have to say to Mark.
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| 140826 Day 309 Cape Cod, USA–Praying Mantis, Backyard Fun, Woodneck with Luke |
