A Mississippi Kite at rest on a power line.-Photo by Mike Williams

I recently moved into a different home, leaving the bayou front for a wooded city block. We will miss the water birds, but we’re already finding a whole new set of birds to enjoy! To me, exploring new places to see what bird species, and other flora and fauna, are around the next corner is what makes birding so interesting and exciting! What will I encounter next? I can’t say how many hundreds, maybe thousands, of times, I had my breath taken away by nature’s beauty, complexity, and intricacies.

One of the first birds I heard from the trees behind the yard was the distinctive call of a Mississippi Kite! I’ve never lived in a place where kites nest in the neighborhood before. I knew they used residential neighborhoods to nest and to raise their young, and I’ve seen them in other’s yards before, but… here is our “own” pair! It will be a pleasure to walk out into the yard in the morning hearing that call! It will be nice just knowing that they’re there, at least till it’s time for them to head south for the winter. We had a pair of Great Horned Owls we enjoyed watching across the bayou, on the island, at the old house. Now we have the opportunity to watch these kites!

And who knows what wintering bird may show up! There is always a rotation of different birds coming or going, or just moving through. It’s part of that newness that really never gets old in the birding world. And at the same time it’s also a welcome reoccurrence when the winter birds show up or when spring brings the summer birds, and so on. There’s always something to enjoy and look forward to.

Birds, besides being little engineered marvels, can take your mind off the daily issues of this world and your life. And they normally bring you outdoors, which is just plain good for you anyhow! We know, through studies and science, that spending time outdoors helps us in so many ways, both physically and emotionally. And there is nothing like the peace one gets when you can escape into the wilderness, even just a tiny, wooded patch somewhere, or on the water, anywhere really. It reduces your stress level greatly.

There are so many ways to enjoy birds and birding, even if it’s just through your kitchen window at home. Maybe you put up a feeder or two, or a big array of them! Maybe you enjoy the birds in the city park, or on the beach when you visit. Or maybe you get really bitten by the birding bug and buy fancy binoculars and travel all over the world. That’s the beauty of enjoying birds… you can do it at any level and anywhere you wish. I have the privilege of enjoying birds through my work here at the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory! It’s still work, but what a very nice perk!

Take some time and watch the birds around you this summer. They are everywhere, albeit in a much-reduced number than years past, but they are here. Enjoy them. Do what you can to protect what we have left. And let them help you through the day!

The Calhoun County Republican Club will hold their monthly meeting on Monday, September 1 at the VFW Hall in Port Lavaca.

The meeting starts with an optional dinner at 4:45 and business commences at 6:00 p.m. The featured speaker will be from Texans for Vaccine Choice.

All are invited to attend, but reservations must be made if you would like to have dinner. The cost is $12 each. If you wish to have dinner, please contact Connie Hunt at 361-552-0917 or 361-935-0677.

The Port O’Connor Library Branch would like to thank Susan Wallace of POC Swim for her generous donation of an AED machine to the Port O’Connor Library Branch. Susan is donating this much needed item in honor of Marie Hawes’ service to the community as a medical provider.
Pictured: Susan Wallace with Librarian Michelle Marlin

“Beacon of Light…Anchor of the Community”
Library News:
The POC Library continues to be the hub of activity for the POC Community, and patrons find its amenities (cool A/C, free 24/7 Wi-Fi, current periodicals, bountiful books and movies, computers, and comfortable interior) irresistible in this summer’s heat! In addition, the Library’s “Welcome Committee” Librarian, Michelle Marlin, and Margaret Claiborne, greet everyone with smiles and eager assistance, doing whatever it takes to keep things running smoothly! The Library’s “2022 Summer Reading Program” was a huge success, and was enjoyed by all who participated! At the Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, July 26, participants were recognized and awarded with refreshments, certificates, and a bag of goodies. Audrey Rhoads was the Grand Prize winner of an Apple Ipad. Congratulations to Audrey, and all of our participants- we are very proud of you!

The Library also partnered with Kaleigh McCauley of POC Liquor Store for a “School Supply Drive” benefiting Port O’ Connor Elementary. Thanks to the generous donors of Port O’ Connor, we collected two barrels full of various school supplies and money, which will help our students as they start the new school year. Thank you to everyone who made both of these events successful! We would also like to thank Susan Wallace of “POC Swim” for her generous donation of an AED machine (Automated External Defibrillator) to the POC Library, in honor of Marie Hawes’ service to the POC Community as a medical provider.

In addition, the Library is excited to report that the Friends of the POC Library will be resuming their monthly Children’s Programs, beginning in September with “Explore The Ocean”. The Friends also have two Adult Programs scheduled for the Fall: “Riders of the Orphan Train” and “Wreath Making”. Please see program dates and times listed below.

Friends of the POC Library:
The Library’s support group, the Friends of the POC Library, continues to work closely with Library Staff to provide funding and support for supplies, services, programs, and extras that are needed to enhance the Library’s success and efficacy. The Friends are able to provide the funding to support the Library by holding various fundraising events throughout the year, and from donations by its Members, Community Partners, and generous people of POC. All funds raised go directly to the POC Library. The Friends are currently holding their annual Membership Drive, and welcome all who would like to join this hardworking group in supporting the POC Library. You can contact the Friends at “libraryfriendspoc@gmail.com”; follow us on Facebook at “Friends of the Port O’Connor Library, Inc”; or on our website, “www.friendsofportoconnorlibrary.org”. We also have membership applications at the Port O’ Connor Library for your convenience. The Friends appreciate your generous support!

POC Library Hours:
Tuesday-Friday;
10:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Saturday 9:00 a.m.- 1:00 p.m.
Closed Sunday and Monday.
Phone Number: 361-983-4365
Fax Number: 361-983-2014
Address: PO Box 424;
506 W. Main St., POC 77982

The POC Library hosts the following Activities and Programs in the Library’s Multipurpose Room. All are welcome!

Wednesdays: 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. – “Coffee and Conversation” Come visit with your friends and neighbors over a hot cup of coffee!!
Thursdays: 1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.- “POC Bridge Club”
Fridays: 1:00 p.m.- 3:00 p.m.- “POC Mahjongg Club”
Saturday, September 17:
10:00-11:30 a.m.
Children’s Program- “Explore the Ocean”
October 27, 2022: 6-7:30 p.m. Adult Program “Riders of the Orphan Train”
November 29 2022: 2:00 p.m. Adult Program “Wreath Making”

Submitted by Alane Haardt, Publicity Committee
Friends of the POC Library

Alexis Carreon and Kelley Ashley present an Apple IPad to Audrey Rhodes, the Grand Prize Winner of POC Library’s “Summer Reading Program”. Congratulations, Audrey!

The September meeting for Calhoun County Democratic Club will be held Tuesday, September 6, 2022 at the Calhoun County Library, in the community room, 200 W Mahan St., Port Lavaca.

Social/potluck is at 5.30 p.m. and the meeting starts at 6:00 p.m.

The October meeting will be on Tuesday October 4, 2022 and will have Port Lavaca City Manager Jody Weaver as speaker on what projects are going on in Port Lavaca.

I’m not sure if it’s a complaint, and it certainly is not a boast, but in my forty plus years on this planet I’ve experienced pain beyond my years.

Since my mid twenties I have had a variety of pain, mainly in the legs and back which was not able to be eliminated by conventional means at my pay grade.

I’ve spent, and probably will spend again, hours in pain doing the simplest jobs if they involved standing for more than four hours at a time and the conditions have admittedly left a lot of life on the cutting room floor.

However, I can say that of the pain I have experienced, back pain and tooth pain are the worst forms I’ve ever had and seemingly the most debilitating as well.

However, my back pain in the past, even the bout I had earlier in the year, did not have the radiating annoyances that are all part of sciatica, the pain that can at higher levels make it hard to sit, stand, walk, and possibly even find a comfortable position to rest in bed in.

The first day was OK, felt like regular back pain until I made the mistake of falling asleep on the couch that had caused me to start feeling twinges in the first place.

When I awoke, I could not sit upright without pain and then spent the next two weeks being bedridden besides short bathroom trips and fixing meals for myself.

In some ways it was an awakening experience, considering that it made me more self aware of the mitigating factors of sciatica, like carrying extra weight or the years of smoking I did before finally ditching them last year.

Relief tactics varied, from heat to ice to walking it out (which I could not do) to those pages that said there was no method to really help the healing process besides time.

That, along with losing my main source of income after it closed without warning a few days earlier, lead me to being a bit down while lying down.

Having a back that goes ‘out’ as it were once or twice every couple of years or so, I had experience in being bedridden and bored, but usually the rest of my situation was not as depressing so it was only boredom.

So it began…

The next couple days were spent in a depressing state, not able to think any direction but down.

Depression always leads to anger for me, usually taken out on those close to me sadly, and this time was no different…a close friend got annoyed with me, it was the only place I felt comfortable venting even in a negative manner so ‘better out than in’ so I did.

And for that I apologize.

It was through that friend, however, that I found my way back out through spirituality, not in the sense of scripture or study but more in a reflection of who I am.

And for that, it was worth the pain and being stuck in a bed for two weeks.