My day has started out with two unexpected sightings. First, in the same
lilac that recently hosted a Townsend's Solitaire outside my window, two
beautifully plumaged Golden-crowned Sparrows sat quietly for ten minutes or
more. For whatever reason, this is a species I rarely observe. 45 minutes
later, while outside talking to a neighbor, a Green Heron flew past not
fifty feet overhead. It's gotta be a good day!

Michael Brown
Puyallup, Washington

"to announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we
are
to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and
servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."

-Teddy Roosevelt

"...I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of
what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?"

-Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac