Weird Beach Day

Today was a weird day at the beach sort of... it started raining last night and rained until this morning... thought I would skip the beach today but then it cleared up and the sun was shinning. I took that as a sign, I did take my rain coat as it only seems to rain on me if I am at the far end of the beach with no rain coat. I am glad to report that not only did I make it all the way down but all the way back with no rain.. even had some beautiful sunshine!

I got down there and the tide was just starting to go out, which is perfect, well any time at the beach is perfect... this just assures me I can spend more time there :) I started down the beach looking for treasures... was a bit dark out but there were some beautiful things on the beach today. Only found one agate but it was a big one and has a cool white streak through it.. not sure what it is.. but it looks great. I also found a small ( dime size ) pink sea glass heart... treasures!

I saw a beautiful star pink star fish being left behind by tide and then as I went to grab some seaweed to stick over it (to hide it from the seagulls so they do not peck at it) one seagull flew right up and grabbed it.. the whole thing.. and then just sat there with it in his mouth.. no way he can swallow that.. and he has no teeth. I gave him a strict talking to about eating things that have no brains and that do not even stand a chance of getting away from him.. and of "eating" something he is not even going to be able to eat. Then I headed down the beach a bit further.

I did not go very far that direction because it includes some climbing over trees and I was just not in the mood today so I headed back to the dock. I passed the seagull again... he is still sitting there with the star fish hanging out of his mouth.. it has gone limp and now I am thinking he just sits there and waits for it to go all soft so he can fold it up and swallow it maybe.. I have no clue.. can not even imagine it in his tummy.

I walked past the dock/road home and down a little further since I saw a friend with her dog out... visited with them for a few minutes then headed back to the dock and headed home. As I get closer I notice there is a woman there, one I saw the other day for the first time. I smiled and said hi.. she gave me a funny look, I asked how she was doing, she turned around.. put her hand on her hip and said... "are you always here?" I said "not every day but a few times a week for sure" ok this is where it gets really good... she said to me " I really wish you would not come beach combing here ALL the time it leaves nothing for the rest of us" I am pretty sure that starfish would have fit in my mouth at this time ( if the seagull would have shared ) as I am sure my bottom jaw hit the ground. I do not know this lady and was not sure if she was joking or what was going on. She then says to me "I drive all the way out here from Stanwood (neighboring town) and thanks to you it is a wasted trip I am sure" ok so I sort of laughed.... she had to be joking right???? She says "this is not funny, this is a public beach and you are hogging it" I told her I was very sorry she was not finding the beach to her liking.. but that it is NOT a public beach.. that it is in fact private.. and that I DO have beach rights because I DO live here... and not only that but I DO have permission for the owners of the surrounding beaches and that is how I know where the good stuff is because they have shared with me. I then explained to her that she might want to check out one of the local state parks.

I am so not sure what her issues where... there are about 4 or 5 of us that walk on the beach regularly looking for treasures and none of us have ever had a shortage of things to find. Sometimes 2 or 3 of us will walk together and we are all able to find lots of goodies. In fact most often the best pieces are often found on the way back... walking in the sand stirs things up and often uncovers the best. I am sure this person is not very mentally stable...in the end I was not sure if I wanted to laugh or cry.. the beach is plenty big enough for all of us.... sharing it is one of the joys.