OK, let's try this.

PJOB

 In a message dated 7/18/05 7:22:47 PM,  writes:



> I know that friends and family have often thought that I was a bit
> unbalanced to visit Hart-Miller Island year-round for 10 hours almost every
> Saturday.  This past Saturday, I began to question my own sanity.
> 
> 
> 

Gene,

You are a genuine hero!  I have been expecting this epiphany year after year 
after year and it finally came.  In case nobody has mentioned it, the data set 
you have accumulated is invaluable.  It is in the same category as Claudia 
Wilds' Chincoteague surveys, maybe better.  But I would rather there be an 
occasional break in the data than to have it stop altogether.  Please let less 
insane friends talk you into skipping the more dangerous surveys so you live to 
complete the less dangerous ones.  I know what it can be like out there, both in 
summer heat and in winter ice storms, and I can tell you that I don't expect 
to test my endurance on Hart-Miller at my age in any but ideal conditions.  
Well, if you turned up a state bird...

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Paul O'Brien
Rockville, Mont. Co., MD