Friends on the Marsh

I'm sick to my stomach right now. The memory card, while I was able to retrieve it, is so damaged that I am not able to get the irreplaceable pictures I took on Saturday.
Still, Laura was right there with me, so if you would like to see Delia and Kat's special day, go check out her pics.
I had never been to a commitment ceremony (well, technically, I still haven't, since Laura and I, the two biggest directionally-challenged people in the world missed it). The reception was just like any other reception I have been to...except the couples were of the same gender.

I have long been a gay-friendly sort, and miss my mo-folks since we have all scattered across the country. So my little cotton-pickin' heart was filled to the brim this weekend.

The best part of the trip? The fact that I don't have to call these women my "Bird-blogger friends". I think now we have achieved plain old "Friend" status.


*These pics were stored on my internal memory, so for all my time getting to PA, I have a total of 14 pictures*


This is Kisses the Cat...one of three kitties in Delia's household.


Anyone remember Delia's "Mystery Egg" post? Well, she showed us the spot where she found it.


Chain of events:
1. I peered into the grass at the spherical white object.
2. I saw that the spherical white object had a seam.
3. I picked it up and said, "Delia, this is a ping pong ball."



The best part is that we put it back. Maybe Delia was visited by a rare migrant ping pong table and maybe this ball will hatch into a paddle or something?

First-of-year tree swallows greeted us as we headed around the first turn into the marsh.



Tree swallows are possibly the bravest, most non-concerned-about-people birds there are.

We saw a muskrat (life mammal for moi), lots and lots of wood ducks (flying away because we could NOT SHUT UP long enough to be sneaky) two northern pintails, a coot doing a walk-on-water drive-by, mallards, deer, song sparrows, a red-tailed hawk, a sharp-shinned hawk and two Cooper's hawks doing an aerial courtship display.
Also cat poop, dog poop and coyote poop. The coyote poop was thoroughly Chimped by yours truly. I think someone got pictures of that. Yummy.
We also found the remains of a raptor kill....a bunch of bloody mallard feathers.

Did I miss anything, girls?

At the end of the marsh path, Delia said that here is where she usually turns around and walks back instead of crossing a very wet stretch of ground.
Now, I don't really remember whose idea it was, but we attempted to cross this wide expanse instead of just going back the way we came.
Shoes and socks and pants were sacrificed to the Marsh God.
Laura was the last to cross:

Susan: "Come on, Laura! You can do it! Just run!"
Delia: "No! Don't run! It will cause much splashing!"


Help!

If you look closely, you can see just how far she is sinking. It was hilarious.


The cap at the end of this adventure was the Official Inspection of the Outhouse.