Sum Gai a-Birding

A couple of days ago, this guy shows up at the Dump (excuse me, that would be the Transfer Site) hoping someone there could tell him how to get into the sewage ponds, which are located on the river road not many yards from where I am sitting right now. In hand was a pretty cool birding book about where to find what, obviously written for those compiling a list of some sort ("if you still need a Pileated Woodpecker...") which mentions the sewage pond boss man as being amenable to letting birders into the ponds to look for duckies and stuff. Alas, the boss man (who is the only man) had locked up and gone home early and so our visiting birder slogs up to the dump and discovers that the guy Chris at the dump is the brother of one of California's most famous birders, Kimball Lewis Garrett. (Of course I may be prejudiced; I am his sister.) So I took Sum Gai to one of the old barns to look for roosting owls, but there weren't any. And we walked down to the sewage pond gate that fronts this property, but it was locked. Alas, lamented Sum Gai, his fence climbing days are over, but he did take a walk around the perimeter and saw Swainson's Thrush and something else I can't remember because when it comes to birding I am a disgrace to my family. --kg