The Comeback of the Whooping Crane

When I was little I loved things like Easter Egg hunts, scavenger hunts, and anything else that involved finding treasure. Now, I find treasure through geocaching. It might seem easy, but it's not just following your GPS to the right coordinates. Geocaching is a treasure hunting game of the grandest kind involving searching all kinds of odd places until one finally finds the "treasure chest" under a rock, in a tree hole, among a pile of leaves or any other good hiding place. Then, if you're really lucky, you might find really cool treasure to swap with something of your own.

Last Saturday, our treasure hunting elevated to a much grander scale. We went to the Hiawasee Wildlife Refuge to see the Sandhill Cranes during a geocaching jaunt. It was a beautiful day, and the cranes were making great music for quite a few birdwatchers. I was disappointed that there were too many people to be stealthy treasure seekers, and then a nice birdwatcher showed me a much better treasure. His scope was on a beautiful Whooping Crane, a grand white bird, much taller than the rest of the smaller brown Sandhills, who was calmly preening among the excitement around him.

Why is this bird such a treasure to find, you ask? Well, in 1941 there were only 15 Whooping Cranes left. This small flock, who nest in Canada and winter in Texas, barely escaped extinction. Although many efforts have been made to save it, there are still only about 200.

Enter a bunch of white robed scientists with bird puppets and ultralights, stage right . . . I mean, east. These scientists have created a way to breed the birds in captivity and then teach them a new migration route, nesting in Wisconsin and wintering in Florida. This eastern migratory route hadn't been used by Whooping Cranes in over a century. Now thanks to these efforts by ultralight fliers in bird suits, they are making quite a comeback, slowly, but surely.

So, to see a Whooping Crane here in Tennessee, stopping over on his migration back home . . . that's a wonder to behold. It's a treasure that has been saved.

My Happy List

Recently I've been kind of down. Life has seemed to become meaningless as my friends and family have passed me by in their careers and families. I used to be independent and an overachiever. I knew what my goals were and how to achieve them. I was on a great track . . . until it was torn away from me . . . again, and again.

Yet . . . I think that even my forced dependence is good in some ways. I need to learn to let go and let God. How that figures into what I need to do, I'm not sure. However, with that state of mind, I was inspired by an aunt's "Happy List." There are many things that I should be thankful for and happy about. So, I thought I would create my own in an effort to lift my spirits and possibly help me in finding a current life direction.

So, without further ado, here are the things that make me happy: 1. fuzzy animals 2. my cats, Chiquita & Shadow 3. a loving husband who understands me 4. clear nights with lots of stars 5. thunderstorms 6. a loving God who saved me and saves me in an everyday sense 7. books 8. music 9. owning my own home 10. not having to worry about money 11. loving parents close by 12. myspace, trillian, gtalk, & gmail which allow me to keep in touch with friends who are no longer close by 13. my birdfeeder 14. playing in the dirt and actually sometimes getting fresh produce from it 15. LOST 16. having doctors that listen to me 17. good health insurance 18. spring flowers 19. living in a free country 20. geocaching 21. nintendo 22. cool words 23. Christmas 24. learning new things 25. taking pictures 26. good restaurants 27. cooking for those I love 28. waterfalls 29. people that aren't afraid to completely be themselves 30. fire 31. swings 32. creeks 33. sleeping in 34. a good Southern breakfast 35. fruit 36. chocolate 37. good in-laws 38. acquiring a brother & a sister when I married 39. playing board games 40. reading to children 41. scrapbooking