The Beach

I actually went to the beach twice today. This morning we went to the Nerita St. beach to go for a walk. Despite having to walk into a heavy breeze going east, we made it to Summer of 42 which is about a mile. And of course it's another mile back. :) The Monsoon we had yesterday played some real havoc with the beach. Lots of little ditches dug into the beach from the wave action. One of the ditches was pretty big though and was about 5 to 6 feet across and at least a foot deep.When we got home I decided to head down to one of the West Gulf beaches to see how the shelling was after the storm. It's always such a pretty walk from the parking area to the beach.

The beach was relatively empty. Season is definitely over. There were lots of birds on the beach--probably enjoying the uncrowded beaches like I was.

And--there were several sting rays scaring the heck out of the minnows and kept coming right up on the beach with the waves. They were so fast I couldn't get a decent picture. The shelling wasn't all that great but it was so nice on the beach I didn't really care. Lots and lots of ghost crab holes. I saw one but by the time I got close enough to take a picture, he saw me and went down into his hidey hole.So, I had another dog encounter today! This time it was a puppy and was on a leash but when these people passed by me, I just had a feeling. So I turned around and was ready to take pictures. Remember all the bird pictures I took? Well, I walked up on the beach and around the birds knowing full well that they were resting. I always have and always will do this. Why do others feel that they own the beach and the birds should get out of the way??? Anyway, This couple with their leashed puppy proceeded to walk towards the birds which meant the birds had to high tail it up on the beach. At which point, the puppy pulled at it's leash to chase the birds. AND---the gal let the leash out to it's full length so the puppy could go after the birds making them all fly away. WHAT IS WITH PEOPLE ANYWAY?????Interesting--there were no ditches on the beach like there was at the East end. One thing I like about the West Gulf beaches are the flowers growing on the dunes.As I was leaving the beach, nature presented me with one other beautiful sight--nice big puffy white clouds.