Looking Ahead

[Ducaholic]

No point. Only saying that Eric DC stopped using spinners for a year or two and now he's back using them. Maybe he will tell us why. You may do the same if you don't get the desired result.

Sure might, but for now, full speed ahead without them. I just haven't seen birds break from way high or finish in close for them any better (or at all) with them in the field. Guys in the next blind over from us? They run 3, every day, all day.

We kill more than they do, though.

[SpinnerMan]

Why are y'all urbanizing waterfowl?

This got me curious about why they like that pond. Clearly it is not a food source.

https://wildlife.org/jwm-water-management-can-help-redhead-duck-conservation/

They forage in the saline lagoons along the coast south of Corpus Christi, Texas on underwater shoal grass meadows. But their appetite for these plants means they also ingest a lot of saltwater. To reduce the salt concentration in their blood, the birds are driven off the coast in search of freshwater to drink.

I'm sure that is what is going on there and why it is nearly all redheads. Looking at the satellite, the sound right near there looks like a whole lot of green under water.

I also looked and you can't hunt in the sound near there

Those redheads in the park. That's a different area but also not far from a shallow coastal area that is probably another feeding area for redheads and they hop over to the park for a drink of freshwater and little bread for dessert. I saw a bay down in that area the other year that was just wall to wall divers.

[Rick]

Darren, you hunted with us at Doug's long for me to forget if you knew Miss Betty when she was our cook, If not, you missed the best of them. If so, you might want to know she's passed on and might want to send a prayer with her.

[Darren]

Darren, you hunted with us at Doug's long for me to forget if you knew Miss Betty when she was our cook, If not, you missed the best of them. If so, you might want to know she's passed on and might want to send a prayer with her.

Thanks Rick, and I'm thinking I missed her but sounds like she was a key piece of that fabric I loved so will certainly send prayers.
Jenny Rose ran the kitchen from my first trip and off and on thereafter for a while before misc. others came and went. Enjoyed sitting with her in the kitchen a few times learning a few tricks, reminded me so much of my late Broussard area Mema, below. Always a big loss of those from that area and of that era, many of which were still rare ties back to fluent spoken Cajun French.

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[Rick]

Jenny Rose ran the kitchen from my first trip and off and on thereafter for a while before misc. others came and went. Enjoyed sitting with her in the kitchen a few times learning a few tricks, reminded me so much of my late Broussard area Mema, below. Always a big loss of those from that area and of that era, many of which were still rare ties back to fluent spoken Cajun French.

DSC01779.JPG

Betty was the first I saw stuff ducks and geese in pockets cut, fore to aft, between their breast meat and ribs, and it hadn't been but a day or two since I thought of her while doing so when I learned she was gone. Also told me to ignore Douglas' attempts at French, "That's not real (Cajun) French." Will be interesting to see how much of it I will be heard at her funeral this afternoon.

[Darren]

Spent last week in England, specifically Birmingham, Oxford, London and Newcastle.

Saw some nice fowl around Hyde Park in London , including the "specks" of sorts below.

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Also thought this was a neat painting in Kensington Palace. While art portraying our favorite species is commonplace in the US, it's pretty rare to find it of that era and style. Kind of cartoonish, typical of that age.

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Waking up Friday morning to Heathrow being without power was a bit of a problem, but we scrambled and re-booked via Newcastle for the next morning....and hopped on the train headed north! English countryside is really pretty.

[Rick]

Business or pleasure?

[SpinnerMan]

Very cool. I've only seen England from 30,000 feet. I'd love to go sometime, but there are so many places I'd love to go that I'm not sure that will be one of them.

[Darren]

Business or pleasure?

Play trip, wife and I's 15-yr anniv was last Wednesday. Really liked the whole experience more than I thought, from a concert in an Oxford theater to the food scene, and off-the-scales quaintness of the countryside hamlets. Sure made me realize that, though we do a lot right in the US, we are doing a whoooole lot flat wrong.

[Rick]

No question.

[DComeaux]

Sure made me realize that, though we do a lot right in the US, we are doing a whoooole lot flat wrong.

I had a different perspective after being in Holland for three months and some in Germany with work, though this was in the late 80's early 90's?. Vietnam seemed to be the hot topic for many of those who came to visit the Americans at the Inn. I elected to take a layover, though short, at Heathrow rather than a direct schipol to Atlanta for my return trip. The country side was stunning from the air at low altitude on approach and I wished I had more time to venture out.

Definitely a totally different time in history. I'm not sure what I'd think today. The world is not in the same place it once was.

[Darren]

I could go on for days but I'll try to portray the gist....

Perhaps the largest thing was a nearly unanimous sense of pride in their trade or workplace role, outward politeness to all, pride in their appearance, all with zero apparent sense of entitlement, factors being those we have severe problems with here in the US.

My kids (and thus my wife and I) spent a lot of time watching the British cartoon Peppa Pig over the years, where everyone's just jolly and polite, from the grocery store worker to the roadwork man to the train operator to the airline pilot to the local dentist...........

It literally seemed oddly just like the cartoon over there, and just such a stark contrast to here at home.

We weren't on the ground for an hour when we were in need of assistance I figured we were to be totally SOL on. The kiosk that issues their Oyster cards (pay-per-ride train system card) spit out just one when it owed us two. I mistakenly judged the first fella to come by as likely to be of no help, and was floored by his attitude and willingness to see it through until it was rectified, all simply going by our word. That's but Exhibit A of what would become a long list, but really set the tone that things were different there from jump.

Had that happened in one of our local airports or train stations, I'd have likely just had to eat the lost fare and move on, sadly.

[DComeaux]

I could go on for days but I'll try to portray the gist....

Perhaps the largest thing was a nearly unanimous sense of pride in their trade or workplace role, outward politeness to all, pride in their appearance, all with zero apparent sense of entitlement, factors being those we have severe problems with here in the US.

My kids (and thus my wife and I) spent a lot of time watching the British cartoon Peppa Pig over the years, where everyone's just jolly and polite, from the grocery store worker to the roadwork man to the train operator to the airline pilot to the local dentist...........

It literally seemed oddly just like the cartoon over there, and just such a stark contrast to here at home.

We weren't on the ground for an hour when we were in need of assistance I figured we were to be totally SOL on. The kiosk that issues their Oyster cards (pay-per-ride train system card) spit out just one when it owed us two. I mistakenly judged the first fella to come by as likely to be of no help, and was floored by his attitude and willingness to see it through until it was rectified, all simply going by our word. That's but Exhibit A of what would become a long list, but really set the tone that things were different there from jump.

Had that happened in one of our local airports or train stations, I'd have likely just had to eat the lost fare and move on, sadly.

Ahhhh, Peppa Pig. I've logged a few hours with the grandkids watching this.

[Rick]

Need more Peppa Pig in the world.

[Darren]

Oh and essentially no tipping. Tap your credit card for instant payments at bars and restaurants, none of this "would you like to leave/add a tip?" prompting.

Some high end restaurants had a listed 15% service fee, fine, but vast majority of service received had no expectation of, or opportunity for, tipping.

[Darren]

Made a trip out to the marsh lease Saturday mid-morning, part of a fishing/lease recon outing with the family. We all took pirogue's into the back blind so that I could pull some of the brush out of it to allow local growth for offseason. Was pretty disappointed by the lack of SAV showing back there, but for whatever reason, our Redhead Pond/blind had bumper crop of predominantly wigeon grass coming along so that was a pleasant surprise.

Old brush out, scraped the marsh grass off the floor. She's good to go for summer growing season, just wish I saw more SAV, very unusual for that hole to be free of it.

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buttoned up duck boat for a nap

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