Has it really been over a month since I last posted? Getting married sure messes up a woman's routine, let me tell you. Of course, the wedding ceremony itself was just about the shortest piece of the whole deal - I think the ceremony took all of 20 minutes, maybe. One minute I'm walking down the aisle and the next minute I'm married. Our bachelorette party, on the other hand, lasted way longer than it should have. I managed to talk Melody out of a crazy bar night in exchange for our own version of Birds and Beers: five of us went birding one afternoon, and the deal was you had to take a big swig of beer for each lifer you saw. Since my girlfriends aren't birders, it didn't take long for them to swill enough beer to float an armada; I now know that even a Canada goose can be a 'find' for a new birder. Unfortunately, I didn't see a single bird I didn't already have on my life list, but that was a good thing since I was doing the driving. Okay, so I sort of had my bachelorette party rigged, but I think I got some new birders out of it, which is always worth it.
And now my most recent lifer - the Scott's Oriole I saw in Flagstaff back in August - has apparently shown up in Duluth! If it really is a Scott's, then it's only the fourth one seen in the state. I guess it's another example of just when you think you know what to expect, you get surprised - both by birds and life. Take marriage, for example. I thought I knew what being married to Bob would be like, but I was wrong. It's WAY better. He even lets me wear his fuzzy Loon slippers....
