Western Cesspool?

There were some seagulls down there and I think the one pictured on the right was one of them. Seems that severe beachfront storms sometimes knock seagulls inland, where they start hanging around large bodies of water there.

I remember this from Virginia, where we lived about 150 miles in from the shore.

The marsh also attracts curlews, loons, sandhill cranes and dozens of other types. It was a windy day when we went in and I enjoyed watching the birds in their heroic attempts to navigate across the marshway. For a while, a couple of birds traveling together started sending out distress calls between each other, as the high winds started separating them. We were hoping to see a bluebird of happiness, and I’m sure one passed our path that day; only we didn’t notice him.

Listening to the birdcalls reminded me of an incident at the last place where I watched someone’s dog. At that house, each morning a morning dove came out with a peculiar triple call. Where most of these birds’ calls seem to follow a distinct pattern, this one made its calls in triple patterns. The mourning dove’s call reminded me a little of the whippoorwill Maybe it was a tripperlewill.

Lucas is a border collie. He’s about seven or eight and belongs to Doro, my equestrian friend, who is trying to start up a sanctuary for older and troubled horses. One of the coolest things about Lucas is his unique gait. He sometimes sneaks up silently from behind, on the people who walk with him. His gait is very confident and he gets a lot of comments and smiles. He also enjoys Bluegrass music and usually likes to howl along in accompaniment. I feel lucky that I sometimes get to pal around with him.