Today Travalon and I went to Patrick Marsh in Sun Prairie, which we pass every time we go to Horicon Marsh. I had been curious about it for a long time, and the last time we had passed it, we saw a bunch of pelicans on Patrick Lake. Today we saw plenty of them too.
I like how the one on the right in this picture is all scrunched up as it swims.
We also saw this pretty bird. I think it's a kingbird.
And cormorants! This is what they look like outside of the water.
We followed the trail back into the woods and discovered a small, green pond.
We got most of the way around the lake, then doubled back and hiked on the other side of the little green pond. Then we discovered another trail on the other side of the lake. From that trail we could see the cormorants swimming. They are really interesting when they swim - only their heads and necks are above the water!
Don't they look like synchronized swimmers in this photo?
We also saw this duck (a teal?) with lots of teenage offspring.
Supposedly Patrick Marsh has the largest population of yellow-headed blackbirds east of the Mississippi, so I was keeping my eyes out for one. All we saw were lots of red-winged blackbirds, but then I did see a flash of yellow! It wasn't a yellow-headed blackbird; it was a yellow warbler!
So we are adding Patrick Marsh to the list of excellent birdwatching spots.
This morning I met Richard Bonomo at the Schoenstatt Shrine to pray a rosary with the Pope, then we went with Travalon down to State Street and had lunch sitting outside at Dubai, a Mideastern restaurant. As we were waiting for our lunch to arrive, Ma Hat called to tell me about the protests in Minnesota, and just then a big protest group came marching down State Street, chanting, "I can't breathe!" I wanted to join them, but my instinct was to avoid it because in so many other cities, outside groups have infiltrated the peaceful protests and turned things violent. Sure enough, there is a riot going on downtown now, but we didn't know anything about it, because Travalon and I went back to the Necedah Wildlife Refuge.
I think there is a "whooping crane sighting or your money back" guarantee at the refuge, because the first thing we saw when we got there was the pair of whooping cranes we saw last time. Sadly, they do not have any babies, and they were also being harassed by a red-winged blackbird.
Then we walked on the boardwalk and saw lots of swans.
All the other swans were sitting or swimming sedately, but this one was acting so crazy!
We saw this pair of swans with two cygnets.
We walked along a woodland trail and saw lots of blooming lupines.
There were a lot of young oak trees with pink leaves.
There were ferns that were as tall as I am!
And other interesting plants which I do not know what they are.
And we saw this beautiful view of the moon.
Then we went to the observation tower we hadn't gotten to last time, and we saw another whooping crane by itself.
Or was it? Because we also saw this sandhill crane, seemingly also by itself, on a nest. Don't tell the Crane Foundation, or they will split them up!
We also saw a pair of swans with seven silver cygnets.
Then we went back to where the pair of whooping cranes were again.
As we were leaving the wildlife refuge, we saw people slowing down as if a deer was crossing the road... but it was actually a big, black bear! Unfortunately since we were driving, we didn't get a chance to take a picture of it.
In Necedah we saw this abandoned building which used to be the church hall of the old St. Francis Church, and oddly the steeple from the old church is now on top of the entrance. Travalon found an old photo of it from the 50's, so that's how we know. Of course there is now a big new St. Francis Church on the outskirts of town.
We went to the carwash again, and here is a video of the tri-colored wash:
When we were almost home, we passed this patch of poppies on River Road:
And we saw a stunning sunset!
Here are the adorable crane babies in our neighborhood:
So we don't even have to go all the way to Necedah to see amazing birds!
Back on the original Tax Day this year (it's been postponed at least once), I was looking at rosaries online because why? Because rosaries. I found a really cool one-decade one made of green glass with an unusual crucifix depicting the Holy Face of Jesus, and it cost six pounds, so that's like ten dollars. I ordered it, and of course with postage the whole thing was around $24, so shipping was more than the actual rosary, but how often do I order rosaries from Scotland? And the anticipation was exciting, but after two weeks of my package not showing up in the mail, I contacted the seller and asked how long it had been taking packages on average to ship from over there to over here. To my surprise, they had not even shipped the rosary yet, which certainly explains why I hadn't gotten it. A few days later I got an email that my order had been processed, and then some time after that I got another one saying it had been mailed. So again I waited with great excitement.
When two weeks had again passed with no sign of my Scottish rosary, I emailed the seller to ask if there was a tracking number. There was not, but I figured I could give it until Travalon's T-shirt arrives, which he ordered even longer ago. (For some reason it was shipped to China, and now he has no idea where it is.) Yesterday Travalon brought a small box to me, and I was so excited: my Scottish rosary! But when I opened the box and pulled out the rosary, it was nothing like what I was expecting. It was a wooden one-decade rosary with a clay rose for the Our Father bead and a plain cross on the end. You know me, I can get very angry, but my email to the seller was relatively calm. I simply explained that the rosary had arrived, but it was nothing like what I had ordered, so please could they send the correct one or refund me. The seller emailed back and said that was odd, there were two rosaries in the package, so where could the one I ordered have gone? I looked in the box - nothing. Then I remembered that I had opened it over the dining room table, and when I looked there, I found the rosary I had ordered sitting on a cloth napkin. What must have happened is that I had not been expecting two rosaries, so when I pulled one out, I didn't notice the other one slip out, and I didn't hear it because it landed on the napkin, and I didn't see it because the tissue paper it was packed with covered it. So I actually got two rosaries! I did go for a walk in the rain and pray with the wooden rosary yesterday, because even if it wasn't what I was expecting, it's still a rosary so I had to pray with it. I am about to pray with the glass one.
I think what I like best about quarantine is that all my important communication is by email, where I can reread it and ponder what I want to say. In person, I am always putting my foot in my mouth, but it has been months since I've said something I regret. However, written communication has its shortcomings too, and there must have been something I didn't understand in Ma Hat's texts, because she let me know yesterday that she most certainly didn't stick the hibiscus outside in the winter to kill it. I'm still unclear on whether she purposely stopped watering it, or if it just... died. I certainly know all about plants just dying despite my best efforts, and I would never hold that against anyone.
Is anyone else feeling like screaming lately? How can it be that if you happen to have more melanin the police can kneel on your neck and kill you for allegedly committing a minor crime, while a white kid who killed two people and kidnapped a third is completely unharmed during arrest? And then I suppose people will start in with the victim blaming, about how maybe the guy killed by police had some minor violations in his past, as if that excuses giving him the death penalty without a trial. Well, guess what? Plenty of the white doctors I used to work with had misdemeanor charges against them for disorderly conduct or whatever, so would it be okay for the cops to kill them if they pulled them over for speeding? What the actual [expletive]? Who among us is perfect? If it's okay for cops to kill black people because once years ago they wrote a bad check, then couldn't we all be executed? And then there was that white woman in Central Park who didn't have her dog on a leash like she was supposed to, and when a black guy asked her to please leash her dog, she called the police and said a black man was threatening her, knowing that encounter could end up killing him. If it weren't for videos, so many of these wrongs would never come to light, so how many times do they happen and we don't know about it? Even the protesters get treated differently: if you are white, you can show up heavily armed at the state capitol or the governor's mansion to protest that you can't get a haircut, and nothing happens to you, but unarmed black people protesting another unjust death get tear-gassed. This is not fair, and it is not just, and it has to stop. NOW.
I keep forgetting to mention that Travalon and I got to go to Mass on Thursday, which was the Feast of the Ascension, although they move it to Sunday in our diocese. Then I took an even longer lunch so we could go to the outdoor store for kayaks, but they aren't selling kayaks this year - apparently the supplier is running low and only sells them to chains, not independent stores. We just got astronaut ice cream, and Travalon got a T-shirt with a map of the Ice Age Trail on it.
Remember Rich's housemate who had us all take care of his avocado tree while he was on an internship, and then he came back and left it outside for the winter, prompting Tiffy and me to write a haiku epic about his crimes? It seems I am related to a killer myself! Remember the coral hibiscus I gave to Ma Hat around the time of my wedding? Yesterday she texted me a picture of a cute little hibiscus with bright yellow flowers, and when I asked about the one I gave her, she said it got too big so she left it outside for the winter. Which is exactly the excuse "Ed" gave, and in neither case did they think to ask if I would want the plant. Looks like it's time for Tiffy and me to write another haiku epic about another plant murderer! I will notify Tiffy when we have our weekly chat on Friday night. The last line of each haiku can be: "Why did Ma do it??"
Today Richard Bonomo went along with Travalon and me to Horicon Marsh. First we went to the part with the white-headed goose, and we saw this adorable killdeer right where it was supposed to be:
We also saw this beautiful great blue heron in the area by the Visitors Center where the geese usually hang out:
No sign of the white-headed goose, but further down the path we did see a number of goose families with teenage goslings:
And this much larger family with younger goslings:
We also saw this beautiful male wood duck and his plainer mate:
Then we went to the hill from which you can see a lot of the marsh, and we saw four pelicans swimming, and then a fifth one joined them.
Travalon shot some footage of the pelicans bobbing their heads in the water, and I made it into a video with Compay Segundo singing "Saludo Compay."
We also saw a deer, but Travalon was too busy filming the pelicans to get a picture of it, and Rich and I were too busy gazing at it through our binoculars to think of it ourselves. So you will just have to imagine what a white-tailed deer would look like near the water in Horicon Marsh.
After that, we drove to the part of the marsh with the boardwalk, and everyone was looking at this male mallard, so Travalon called him "Wonder Duck." Finally he must have gotten sick of everyone looking at him, so he flew away.
On the woodland part of the path, we saw lots of lovely pink-tinged trilliums (trillia?).
I felt bad that Travalon and I had not been able to summon a whooping crane for Rich, so I asked God to show us some kind of cool bird, and look what He showed us! A scarlet tanager!
So it was another successful birdwatching day at Horicon Marsh!
I am a third-hand gift, a straw hat with a wide brim. I used to have natural and navy stripes, but after much time in the sun, the navy ones have faded to a sort of chocolatey tone. The big blue flower around the brim was my wearer's own touch.
