Another Family

OK, so I did mammals and fish. For the next three days I do birds – Sandhill Cranes, to be precise, at the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge in Othello. That is 70 miles north from Richland, near Mesa. The refuge is a wetlands and has the reputation of a resting place for the cranes. You couldn’t prove it by me. I stay at the Othello High School where folks come to learn all about the Grus canadensis. The bird is a gangly sort of critter, long legged and long necked, stalking about in marshes, prairies and fields, foraging for grain with their short bills.
Kids play at being cranes, folks draw all manner of the bird, and high powered scientists make presentations about various aspects of the environment and critters that also live there. These are very educational and the festival lures teachers to sit in on these presentations to earn clock hour credits. That is a unique way of adding to the education of classroom teachers.
That is where I am involved. I verify teachers’ attendance and collect the fees. There are ten opportunities for credit and besides the intellectual aspect, people get to enjoy a noisy and colorful affair. That is only Saturday. Otherwise I am free to enjoy the folks with whom I have worked for the past five years.
March 20 cannot pass without remembering Ethel Sherer Patton, born on this date in 1912. She was the youngest of the Sherer women, and as a sixteen year old was a surrogate mother to Ronald. She was a dear to me while I lived as a ‘foreigner’ among the Sartellites and was our guest as a fellow gambler after we settled out west.
Naomi Sherer