Things that make you go hmmmm

Did you know that if you Google "Great Blue Heron Poop" that my blog is the very first result??? How did that happen? I don't even think my blog is the first result if you Google "Stay-at-Home Dad's Guide to The Galaxy".

In case you're wondering why I was Googling Great Blue Heron Poop at 9pm on a Wednesday . . I wasn't. I was going through my recent visitor activity on Statcounter.com, and one of the things I always check out is the Referring URL. Basically if someone clicked a link on another page that led to my blog, it's recorded there. The nice thing about Google searches is that the URL contains the text that was searched to net the results. Some other interesting searches that have recently produced visits to my page are "wilson's snipe recipe", "lil panties", "cherrystone camping", "lili poo stay way", "amazing amanda instructions", "blow up toddler beds", "toddler bed cannot escape sleep", and "how to do a fox hawk hairdo". Oh, and how could I omit "american airlines nonrev dress code policy". I'm not making these up folks.

Anyway, in honor of the impetus for this rambling post, I leave you with a photo. Enjoy!

Eastern Shore Birding & Wildlife Festival

I'm super excited to announce that I've made plans to attend this year's Eastern (Virginia) Shore Birding & Wildlife Festival in Cape Charles, VA. I have never been to a large-scale birding or nature festival of any kind, so this will be my maiden voyage.


In addition to the adventure that comes along with birding a new location at the peak of Fall migration, I've added additional intrigue with my decision to camp outdoors rather than stay in a hotel. The camping bug really bit me last month when Avery and I went to Morrow Mountain State Park for the weekend with a group from CharlotteAreaDads . I tossed around the idea for a few days before I had totally committed to the trip, but as details came together and some well-directed Google searches netted me a high-quality option for camping, I made up my mind and locked it all in. The campground I chose is called Cherrystone Camping Resort , and while it's not exactly primitive camping it will still offer me the chance to be outdoors and spend the weekend totally immersed in my surroundings.

The festival is September 18-21, with the majority of the activities crammed into 48 hours from Friday at noon until Sunday at noon. I sent my priority selections in last week for the festival's many program choices. They offer a wide variety of field trips to some of the local National Wildlife Refuges, parks, and even some on private land. And while birding is the focal point of the festival, there are also numerous butterfly and dragonfly workshops, some of which I look forward to taking advantage of. I will keep you updated as the date gets closer and I find out exactly which trips and workshops I will be attending.