One thing I don’t like when I am driving is when unexpected guests that drop in - the ones with 8 legs. That happened to my sister when she was a teenager and she wrecked her vehicle. She walked home – bloody, bruised and all she could say is get it out. It dropped down her shirt. I feel it is because of her experience that I learned not to freak out. With this little guy I blew on him hoping he would cling to something and not bounce back into my face. He rode down the road curled up in a little nook in the door. I know because I kept an eye on him. I finally pulled in for gas and he was released by the gas pump. I figured he can hitch another ride down the road and I hope the driver is a kind soul. Mom and I went to a marina to see a the Barcelona Lighthouse and take a walk around Lake Erie. I walked up to the lighthouse and out of nowhere this robin dive bombed me. I felt it hit my head. I tried to leave but the darn thing followed me screeching and attacking. Instead of running I started taking pictures of it and that just mad him angrier. He was going for the throat, the ears, the nose, the face. No matter how far I walked from the lighthouse he was trying to pop me upside the head. I did what any sane person would do….. I started chasing it. It would swoop and I would run towards it. When it landed I went up to the tree or bush. For a while there I thought it was going to win but I wore it out. You know life is good when you stop caring what people think….
About the Barcelona Lighthouse and the harbor. In 1679 the French were the first Europeans to explore Barcelona Harbor and its neighboring Chautauqua Creek. In 1753 their troops built a wagon road on the portage. It opened the whole middle of the North American continent to French conquest. In 1802 the first settlers moved in and in 1804 John McMahan built a grist mill on Chautauqua Creek. The first steamboat arrived in 1818. Two boats, the “Fashion” and the “Diamond,” established regular steamboat service to the developing port. The Barcelona Lighthouse was built in 1829, the first of the gas-powered lighthouses. It is 40 feet tall. The walls at its base are 3.5 feet thick, tapering to 2 at the top. Construction cost was $2,600 dollars. It is privately owned.
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