Saturday, March 03, 2007

Adams County Birding Symposium


I am getting to really dig these bird symposiums (symposia?). Lots of smart people as keynote speakers, and room full of birders who just want to learn more about their passion: BIRDS.
singing happy birthday to Bill
How cool would it be for 300 people (most of them strangers) to sing "Happy Birthday" to you?
Bill of the Birds got that today.
Happy birthday BT3
The next three pictures by Kathi (aka katdoc)
Lucy and kestrel adams county


The kestrel and Lucy the Peregrine did a great job today, as ambassadors for RAPTOR, Inc.
Lucy and me Adams county

Lucy likes the new perch
Lucy really enjoyed the new perch. (Marc, make me some more of these!!!)
At one point, Lucy made a jump toward the perch as I was holding her. I wondered if she could be relaxed in this environment (We were in a shed off the main room and it was a little crowded) but she took to that perch like a duck to water. (Don't you love bird analogies?)
Julie in the dark Adams County
That's Julie up there in the dark. We were in Amish country, and the only electricity was I assume batteries or generators to run the PowerPoint show and the microphone.
While I look forward to these events where I get to see Julie and Bill, it's not like we are all hanging around with nothing to do but socialize. They were there for Julie's talk, and I was there with my birds, so we were two ships passing in the night. Oh, well.
Eider license plate
Birding get-togethers are great for finding fun license plates.
Buggy in the snow
I love Amish country. Kevin, my brother-in-law, syndicates a cooking/slice of life column written by an Old World Amish woman, who took the column over for her mother when she died. If you like cookbooks and would like to support members of my family, go here and buy a book from Kevin.
When Geoff and I were just starting our relationship, we got the chance to go visit Elizabeth (the original Amish Cook) and her family. I knew some basic stuff about the Amish, but I was not prepared for them in person. They are not quaint, cutesy people out of the Dark Ages. They are devout, hardworking people who just happen to take parts of the Bible literally. They have a familiar sense of humor that I enjoyed immensely, they cook wonderful food that many of us would be loathe to eat, just because the Amish don't really give a hoot about things like calories and fat grams. That first meeting, my face actually hurt from smiling and laughing with them.
Yes, they eschew technology, from electricity to zippers, they tell stories by candlelight in the evenings, they use horses instead of fume-belching tractors. But they are loyal tax-paying citizens of this country, they love their families, they laugh and cry the same as us. What makes them special, in my humble opinion, is that they have what they want, and want what they have. Simplicity is their way, and by simplicity I do not mean that they are simple. Theirs is a beautiful way of life.
*this ends my public service announcement on the Amish*
A few fun pictures from this week:
Baker Party!
Hey, Chet! Looks like this is for you!
Dr. Krapp

Oh. My. Lord.
This is a real sign in a nearby town. This is a doctor, and his last name is Krapp.
Now, just imagine being the receptionist for this office:
"Good afternoon, Dr. Krapp's office."
As my Mom would say...
"I would rather have a number."
That reminds me of some other names that are hilarious, especially considering the professions:
Dr. Youngpeters, pediatrician. TRUE. I kid you not.
Dr. Zitful ( I think that is the spelling), dermatology.

And THAT reminds me of some names that friends and I came across back in high school, that our favorite bands used when they were staying in hotels and wanted to be incognito:
Justin Case
Bill Fold.
Harry Paratestes
Rosie Palmer

Oh, I have gone way beyond the scope of this blog...time to catch up with other blogs.


11 comments:

Anonymous said...

That was a perfect description of the Amish, and thanks for that book promotion! Kevin and I had a great time. You and the birds were awesome and so were the speakers. I do think Lucy looked comfy on her perch, and so many people left with lots more raptor knowledge.

entoto said...

I liked the name digression. It made me laugh at work!

Mary said...

When I lived in Delaware, we were close to the Amish - I shopped with them at the mall and I bought their goodies at the Amish market every Tuesday. They even did the masonry on our house. You described them perfectly.

Sounds like you had a great day!

I love the name thing...if I was more alert, I'd share some names I've encounted from being in education for 20+ years - one from last week: Dusty Furr. Out here in the Carolinas, you hear it all!

LauraHinNJ said...

Nice Amish rant. Did you bring home any pickled beet eggs?

Dave Dorsey said...

Are you holding your arm up with lucy? :) What kind of glove is that?

I worked for a Major Payne when I was in the military.

Susan Gets Native said...

Rachel: Thanks. Did you guys stay for the lake trip?

Trixie: Just one of the many services we offer. : )

Mary: Dusty Furr! Good one!

Laura: Nope, no pickled anything. I ate leftover pizza from last night. Not that I can taste anything anyway, with this darn cold/allergy attack thing.

Dave: I held for quite a bit today, so yes, I was propping my arm. Don't you DARE call me a sissy! :)
Major Payne. That's priceless.

Anonymous said...

Susan:

It was great watching you "work it" at the Adams Co Amish/Catholic Bird Symposium. Aren't birding events the best?

Got some good waterfowl at Adams Lake, nothing really rare though, and it was WA-A-A-Y too cold and windy to hang around for very long, so I skee-daddled on home.

FYI, the Higginsport Bald Eagles are back on their nest! I visited them (briefly) Sat pm on the way home, then tested my duck ID skills on a mixed flock of Ring-necked Ducks and Lesser Scaup at the Crooked Run wetlands in Chilo.

~Kathi

NatureWoman said...

So nice to see you again Susan with the birds. You're so pretty with Lucy!
Mmmmm whoopie pies, have you ever had an Amish whoopie pie? They're one of my fav desserts from them. We have Amish and others here in NY, too. They come to the public market and they also have stores that I visit. One even has a unmanned stand out in no-man's-land that you just drop your money into the slot and take what you paid for. Now that's trust, huh?
Well, Dr. Cox on Scrubs always cracks me up (the name and his character), but you *know* how I think!

Anonymous said...

looks like those falcon's are really putting on a wonderful show for everyone! I always love going to meetings like this! It had to be great seeing Birthday BT3 and Julie again!

Anonymous said...

We've got a dermatologist, Dr. Zizmore, here in NYC. His ads have been plastered all over subway cars for years. LOL

Unknown said...

My husband had to go see a doctor named Dr. Croak.

The only other funny name is something we used to see a few years ago. There was a smoothie place called "Footloose Juice" -- the problem . . . they were right next door to a podiatrist. Ewwwww! They went out of business very quickly so I'm guessing that we weren't the only one who thought that was a little icky!