Monday, July 22, 2013

Selfies

Do you know what a "selfie" is?  I didn't either until recently.  A selfie is a photo that you take of yourself with your phone.  Typically, people do this and post the photo to FaceBook or something.  I did this several times on Friday (brace yourself) which started out pretty dull with a full day meeting in Wilmington DE with my boss and a few coworkers.  The day got a lot more interesting at 3 PM when the boss let us all go early for the weekend.  Yay! 

I seized the opportunity to chase a few rare ducks that were reported in Rehoboth during the week.  These are Black-bellied Whistling Ducks which are normally only found in the deep south like Texas, Arizona and occasionally in Florida.  The reports stated "private property" but I found out that they were really on a Country Club's golf course so I decided to try my luck sweet talking the golf pro into letting me go look for the ducks.  You may or may not know that a few of the Bird Nerds belong to a local Country Club so they gave me tips on how to dress in order to have the best shot at getting onto the course.

I showed up a the country club at 5:15 PM dressed in my polo shirt and tan khakis and met a young guy in a golf cart in the parking lot.  I explained that I was here to see the rare ducks and put on my most official demeanor - leading the young man to think that I was an official of some sort.  I didn't lie, I just let him draw his own conclusion.   I was shocked when he said that I could get on the course at 6 PM after the tournament finished.  Great!  Then he even told me to go inside when I asked him about a restroom (it was a 2 hour drive from Wilmington). After a trip to the restroom, I decided to hang out in the air conditioned Pro Shop rather than out in the 100 degree parking lot.

Here is the first selfie - me in the new golf top that I bought at HALF PRICE in the pro shop!  I needed a new top to wear to the work since it is so hot in my office.

Bargain
At 6 PM on the nose, I went outside to figure out where to start walking to find the ducks.  I figured that I needed as much time as possible to cover the expanse of the course and get to the ferry before it shut down for the night. The young guy in the golf cart showed up and I asked if it was OK to go out.  He said yes. Then, I pressed my luck and asked if there was any way that I could use a golf cart - why not, all they can do is say no - but he said "Sure, take this one". Holy Crap.  Here is selfie #2 (ignore the wrinkles).

on the course
So off I went - bombing around the private golf course looking for rare ducks.  I found them pretty quickly on the 3rd pond that I zipped past.  Yup, rare ducks. Check another one off the list for the stupid contest. It took all of 15 minutes thanks to the cart.

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks (BBWDs)
With that completed, I returned the golf cart, ordered a large cheese pizza from Grotto, picked it up and headed for the Cape May - Lewes Ferry to make the 7:45 trip.  I love Grotto pizza. It is only available in Delaware so I get it when I can.  Selfie #3 is me eating a slice in my car while waiting to board the ferry.

Grotto Pizza - Delaware's #1 export
The day just kept getting better at this point.  Who knew that they had Happy Hour on the ferry?  That was good enough, then they announced that the LIVE BAND was starting on the back deck - a live band!  That rocks.  Selfie #4 - me on the ferry.  I will save you from watching the videos of the band but suffice to say they were pretty good for a band that plays on a ferry.

Happy Hour on the Ferry
That's about as much of me as anyone can take. I promise more birds in future posts.  I just couldn't resist telling you this story.  Sometimes everything works out great like it did on Friday.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, Linda! These are the best pix of you that I have ever seen. Real keepers. Thank you for sharing. HH

Anonymous said...

Holy Cow! This is a great story! They even gave you a cart!!! I laughed so hard. Love it!

After a day like that, you deserved that drink o' beer!

MD