PEACHFRONT SPEAKS

the first copperhead of spring

2003-03-15 - 10:02 a.m.

Yesterday I went to the ribbon-cutting for the new visitor's center for the Big Branch National Wildlife Refuge. I should have brought my camera. They had a Mississippi Sandhill Crane who was there as a public relations bird, and she was a kick, rapping boldly on a camera lens when a photographer got too close. The grounds used to be a seminary, and the brothers must have had a beautiful garden, because we had the last of the winter camellias in full bloom, along with a beautiful display of azaleas. The only dark spot was a guy who kept hitting on me.

They had Krispy Kreme doughnuts, so I gave them a try to see what the fuss was all about. Sorry, folks. They're just doughnuts. I even ate a second one to be sure.

Here is my bird list for the day, which includes the circuit from my house to the refuge back to Fontainebleau State Park, where spring was in the air and I spotted a Common Moorhen carrying nesting material. Italicized species were seen only outside Fontainebleau.

Notable: Two sora (two soras?) went right under the boardwalk where I could see them close but briefly. When I spotted the first one, I thought, Hey, a rail! Just about the time I had decided that I was imagining things, I saw the second bird well enough to see that it was a small rail with a light bill.

Paranoia-inducing Notable: A small (less than twelve inches long) but beautifully marked Copperhead relaxing in one of the many puddles along the trail.

1. Pied-Bill Grebe
2. Brown Pelican
3. Great Egret
4. Blue-Winged Teal
5. Turkey Vulture
6. Sora
7. Common Moorhen
8. Rock Dove
9. Mourning Dove
10. Belted Kingfister
11. Red-Bellied Woodpecker
12. American Crow
13. Fish Crow
14. Blue Jay
15. Carolina Chickadee
16. Carolina Wren
17. Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
18. American Robin
19. Northern Mockingbird
20. Northern Cardinal
21. Swamp Sparrow
22. Red-Winged Blackbird
23. Boat-Tailed Grackle, male

Meanwhile, her dad is trying to make it about the Amber Alert, ignoring the fact that cops did talk to his daughter, on multiple occasions, and that she flat-out lied about who she was. I don't have a problem with the Amber Alert, but let's get real. It will help girls who want to be found. It will probably also lead to innocent people getting stopped because someone doesn't like their looks. But it won't help girls like Elizabeth who put on wigs, costumes, even veils according to one report, and then claim to be somebody they're not when questioned by the police.

And the press is making it about the police chief who didn't release Mitchell's picture in a timely fashion. Well, we all know what that's about. They thought they already had the guy, who then died in suspicious circumstances while in custody. They're sure not going to be crawling under too many rocks looking for the full truth about this story.

People seem to forget that this "miracle" from God involved an innocent man dying in a prison hospital bed. That bothers me. A lot.

Well, enough on that subject...

Exhausted and cynical as I may have been, I managed to get freshened up and put on the "Op Art" dress and "like crockwork" boots with fishnet stockings for dinner with the BF at the new Italian restaurant in town, called Vincent's. We tried the Ferraro-Carano Fume Blanc, which wasn't half bad. It was an old-fashioned Italian place, with classic recipes like Fettucine Alfredo and Veal Parmesan. I had a Stuffed Shrimp to die for.

On the publishing news front, the literary house voted against adding his book to the catalog, but the editor who championed him is going to try to find him an agent and/or an in with a more SF-y house. We shall see what we shall see. I don't really see how he can lose at this point. If he can get a conventional publisher, it will save trouble and might make individual copies cheaper for his readers. If not, his readers have already raised enough money to go the Print on Demand route.

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