Subject: Gulls and jobs
Date: Dec 2 09:55:56 1994
From: Burton Guttman - guttmanb at elwha.evergreen.edu


Well, Dennis, my situation is pretty easy this year. Usually we teach in
teams here and I have to clear any birding (mis)adventures with my
teammates (who are always very sympathetic). But I'm only teaching one
evening class right now. As soon as I read the notice about the Ross's
Gull early Monday, my twitching muscles started to twitch, and I quickly
got out a map to figure out how much of a drive it would be. I had
obligations on Monday and an evening class on Tuesday, but I thought I
could get away on Wed. I was "talking" to my book editor in Iowa by
e-mail, and even she thought I ought to go twitch the gull. So I got
away by about 6:30 Wed. morning and had a good day of it, although
driving in the hard rain and wet freeways south of here and all around
the Portland area was pretty hellish. But what the hell--a good look at
a bird and another check on the lifelist are certainly worth all the
danger of passing semis at 70 mph on slick roads, aren't they? (I once
had a sense of values, but then I became a birder.)

Burt Guttman guttmanb at elwha.evergreen.edu
The Evergreen State College Voice: 206-866-6000, x. 6755
Olympia, WA 98505 FAX: 206-866-6794