Being a bird isn't all that bad. Being a Snowy Plover happens to be great. We even have our own private fenced land at Pismo Beach. I guess we may be a little spoiled, but what we really want is some peace and quiet ... Well listen to this---

It was coming up on Labor Day weekend. All of a sudden, that Thursday it started innocent enough. Three vehicles pulled in. I later found out their names were Rooster (a near relative), Gadgetman, Partsman (my contact), Mariana, Victor (Hugo), and Daisel.

They were driving around like people with their heads chopped off looking for a place to park. I hoped they would go away, but when I saw Gadgetman putting up that big bird roost, I knew they were here to stay.

I saw Partsman leave and come back mad saying that something was wrong with his vehicle. I was hoping he would leave, but he said he could still drive in the sand, just not that well. They didn't make much noise that night, and were all asleep by 9:00.

The next day another person arrived early. They called him Sundance. He said he had left before 5:00 A.M., I like this guy, he gets up with the birds. Later that morning Rooster and Partsman left to town to see about fixing that ugly truck of his. While they were gone, 2 more showed up, Zookeeper and Lynn towing their nest. I don't know why, but I thought I smelled my cousin who lives somewhere in Los Angeles, I guess it's just my imagination. As soon as they got done fixing their nest just right, more humans came. They called the man Fearless Leader and his wife Rhonda, along with Jason and his friend Brandy. They brought an old bird house with them. When I first saw their vehicle had eaten Garfield I really liked them, but they brought that terrible wind with them!!!

In the middle of the sandstorm, someone named Iceman came with Wayne and Jolene. They were pulling a birdhouse too. All of a sudden, they all left to drive around in my sand. Finally a little peace and quiet!

No sooner did they get back that a bunch more came in. Snoopy, Tony, Nikki and friend, followed soon after by Sandman, Sparky, Diane and Sean. Sandman had a nice birdhouse, and kept yelling "Look at me, I'm camping". It was funny watching everybody trying to put up their tents in the wind Fearless Leader had brought with him. About that time Rooster had started to try to cook over the fire. I don't know if he had more sand or chili in the pan by the time he was done cooking. He's a nice guy, I'm just not sure how much he has upstairs (if you know what I mean).

They did good at the fire that night, I made sure the fire wasn't over 3 feet in any direction. They were telling jokes about some-thing called an O.J. and worrying a lot about something called cholesterol in their food (they must be old people)

Montego and Shiftless were there when I woke up. It was a perfect morning - sunny and warm at Pismo!! The nearest I can figure, God felt sorry for what he had done to us the day before and gave us a great morning.

Around 9:30 almost everyone went out to play in my sand. They came back talking about how much fun they had, except Sundance. He left right after they came back, I don't know if it was because his front locker wasn't working, or because he felt bad because Jolene kept punching him in the arm every time he scared her. They also found a possible new member - I think Rooster may have found a new friend as this guy's Bronco had problems starting, just like Rooster's!! As quick as they came back, everyone left again to go see a Blazer that had flipped over just over the first few dunes outside of camp.

People kept coming in! Cutri, Pattie and Paul showed up and went right out to play. I saw them coming back on a tow strap about 30 minutes later - everyone said not to worry, it was normal. Jason, Brandy, Wayne, Jolene and Nikki kept taking turns driving around in the Jeeps. I'm glad I have a nice, safe, fenced in area! That evening Hot Shot and Magpie (another relative) showed up and set up camp.

A couple of the Roughwheelers got tired of the ATCs running through the middle of camp and decided to dig a deep hole to trap them. I didn't see them catch any ATCs but I did count at least 6 Roughwheelers that fell in (And they call us birdbrains). Later that night some of the wilder ones left to go driving around. They met up with Mike, Dianna, and paddle tired Isuzu - we think with one more engine it would be unstoppable. They came back talking about Fearless and Shiftless getting in an accident on Idiot Hill. I wondered what those 2 were doing in a place called Idiot Hill in the middle of the night.

Sunday morning was finally a normal Pismo morning - cloudy. They were all telling different stories about how Rooster had ended up on his back with Wayne holding on to his feet. It had something to do with Rooster getting sand on his blanket, Wayne having his head in the sand for a second, and Rooster ending up on the bottom. This is how Wayne got his new handle- Chicken Hawk. Everyone got off to a quick start when a guy ran into camp asking if anyone would winch his truck out of the bottom of a big bowl. Of course everyone had to go see. Iceman and Sandman made quick work of it with the help of Iceman's winch. Sunday was peaceful enough, everyone was in and out of camp all day. At night the fire got a little higher than 3 feet, but I didn't call the ranger, I was having fun watching these humans. Magpie seemed to be the smartest one, she kept exchanging back scratches for quarters from the drunk people.

By 10:00 Monday morning just about everyone was gone. No matter how crazy it was, I hope they come back again next year!

PARTSMAN PS: Elan, sorry for calling you Magpie!