It's difficult some times for Jeanette and I to discern the difference between work and play in our lives. The last three days are a good example of that dilemma. We set up a few days of camping with friends Don and Mary Schultz during our volunteer Plover Patrol assignment at Nehalem Bay State Park. Don and Mary pulled their Airstream trailer down from their home in Stanwood Washington, and we drove our Leisure Travel Van from Salem, and we shared ajacent camping sites in the B loop campground. Don and I have recently reconnected. We were in grade school together in the Golden Valley School, a one-roomed country school-house east of Lebanon Oregon. The eighth grade class was made up of myself and Don's sister Pat. The seventh grade class was made up of Don and my sister Nancy. The four of us made up the "big kids" of the school. Don and Pat had a little sister Vicki who was in the first grade, and Nancy and I had a younger sister Kathy who was in the fifth grade. We all walked the gravel road to school and back each day. If I remember right, only about six other students filled our the school. The Schultzs and we arrived at Nehalem Bay on Monday and began immeditately recalling old memories of 62 years ago. We shared meals and got in some nice walks and got caught up on the events of our lives these many past years. This morning, on Wedsnsday they went with us on our four mile hike on the beach to do our Western Snowy Plover survey. It was great to show them "our" beach and explain a lot about birds and in particular plovers.
