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Fish Camp and Becky the Cat

I’ve been sitting out here at 10 Cuttin Sage on the screened porch for about an hour this morning having my coffee and quiet time with my Heavenly Father enjoying a cool, strong, and more humid breeze. The weather is changing and I can feel it in the air. 

A blue heron has been quietly and carefully tiptoeing (that’s what it looks like) between the marsh edge and canal edge pecking for his breakfast; hermit crabs, minnows, snails?  I don’t know what these birds eat but I know those are what live along the canal and marsh. I photographed it from a distance, but when I tried to get closer, it flew quickly away, along with at least 2 other blue herons I hadn’t even seen yet. So I still don’t have a good photo of a blue heron to post in my blog. But at least NOW I know the difference between the herons and the snowy egrets.





Here is the best shot I have right now of a blue heron.  And this is as big as I can get the photo.  Look hard!


Anyway, 10 Cuttin Sage is at the very end of a street (Cuttensage Lane) and beyond our little cottage is Fish Camp, a boardwalk that extends from the end of the street out over marshland until it just, sort of............dies. Along the boardwalk are small fishing cabins with small docks on the canal that the locals use to store their fishing gear and small fishing boats.  Brandon, Our Neighbor, owns the first one right next to our house. His grandfather, a descendant of some of the original inhabitants of Ocracoke, was instrumental in starting Fish Camp.  This is private property and not extremely welcome to tourists, but at the same time, friendly to folks who have cottages here.  (I feel so special!)  It’s a great walk out to the end of the boardwalk. There are 9 cabins. None have plumbing and all use cisterns for  water supply. Some have air conditioning units in windows.  All are charming and quaint.  Some have been remodeled with a second story added on. None are really livable but they look like tiny getaways for the Ocracoke folks who maybe, just need to get away from tourists!





The view of Fish Camp from our front yard at the end of the street.





The far end of the boardwalk where it “dies” into the marsh.  It’s like more cabins were planned but never built.





This is the view looking from the far end of Fish Camp back toward our cottage.





My favorite Fish Camp cabin.  Clearly there was a woman involved in this rehab project.  I may sound a little sexist, but how much do you want to bet it’s true????

  

There’s no good segue into this next subject but this island has a very large cat population.  It must be typical of islands since cats are quite prolific and there’s no place to migrate!  Ocracoke has a very humane cat neutering and spaying program which the islanders enthusiastically support to keep the cats under control. Most shops have contribution jars for the support of “Ocracats". (If you are a cat hater, this might not be the place for you.)

Brandon, Our Fish Camp Neighbor, takes care of a cat named Becky.  Becky the Cat belonged to one of his beloved school teachers on Ocracoke who happened to live in the house next door to 10 Cuttin Sage.  Her name was Becky.  Her children are grown and long gone from the Island.  She passed away a few years ago and left behind a very sweet calico cat.  Brandon, having his cabin so close by, took Becky in and adopted her and, of course, named her Becky after her owner and his teacher. Becky has multiple health problems and we think she’s deaf, but she hangs out at our house and on his Fish Camp dock all day long.  We often find her snoozing on our front porch railing in the sun. 





Here’s Becky the Cat.  She’s a little sad looking but so very sweet.  In the background is one of the many black and white cats that hang around our house.  We’ve given them names like Chester and Mustache-io (thanks to my daughter). All are sweet and fairly well-behaved cats!






I don’t know how much longer Becky is going to be around, but she has given each of us an Ocracoke memory.

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