Sunday, 6/1

- Took the Girl Scouts out for a canoe ride up to the Patuxent. Someone had to stay back in the VC (where the power was out) and tell visitors they couldn't use the bathroom. That person was me, and the visitors were a never ending parade of cyclists in spandex.

- Animal sightings: Painted turtle, swimming in the pond behind the VC. Lots of bullfrogs, but they wouldn't hold still for a picture... every time I walked by they would go "BREEEP!" loudly and jump into the pond with a loud splash. I tried sitting on the bridge and waiting for one to poke its head out, but they're too smart for me.
Painted Turtle:


- Also saw a brown thrasher attacking a black rat snake! This is apparently the national crest of Mexico (sort of), and it was the sign that it was time to found a country.

The seal of Mexico:

Memorial Day Weekend

Animal sightings:
- Saw two snakes in the water while canoeing. One was hiding underneath a lily pad, and Mae noticed it while furiously washing her hands off after grabbing onto some poison ivy. She pointed it out to me shortly before I ran into some overhanging poison ivy with my face. With the help of a lot of antibacterial wipes that I got in my Christmas stocking last year, we both escaped without long-term consequences. The snake was never identified because we were both a little bit distracted. Saw another snake with a fish in its mouth. Took like 30 identical pictures of it.

- Many angry ospreys. Some carrying fish.

- Lots of herons, mostly flying overhead. No heron babies, sadly.

- Tree swallow living in Wood Duck box. Poked his head out and stared at us for a very long time.

- Dogs barking (overheard, all night long).

- Barred owl (heard going 'hoo hoo hooHOOOOO. hoo hoo hooHOOOO." so cool!)

Saw a minivan with kayaks driving the wrong way down the CADT (which was closed that day). Almost had a car chase, but didn't. Turned out to be the Patuxent River Keeper who can pretty much do whatever he wants, as far as we're concerned. The only reason I am mentioning this is because my friends started calling him the Trapper Keeper, and I thought that was hilarious.

Later, heard a bunch of teenagers walking down the CADT near our campsite.