Counting Horseshoe Crabs

A new volunteer gig we've started is working with inland bays.org to monitor horseshoe crab population.  Each May through June with the full and new moon we will show up at a designated location to do a count using statistical sampling and also tagging some of the crabs.  

Last night was the first night for Dave and I doing horseshoe crab counting with inland bays.org.  And what an interesting and varied day.  We left Delaware yesterday morning dressed for a protest march in Washington, DC, Bans Off Our Bodies.  We picked up our daughter along the way and she attended her first protest march with us.  She is 30 years old.  I attended my first protest march after Trump was sworn in - the Womens March, 2017.  I was in my 50's.  

After the protest march (and we left a tad early) we went back to our daughter's house so she could do a phone interview for a new child with the Make A Wish Foundation.  After the phone interview we went out to eat, then Dave and I headed back to Delaware, arriving to our horseshoe crab location at 9:30 pm, in time to get signed in and instruction in how the counting and tagging would go.  There were only about 20 crabs that got counted.  The weather was too cool.  Frequently, the counts involve hundreds of crabs.  

So what a varied day from a protest march in Washington, DC to a Make a Wish Foundation interview to counting horseshoe crabs in the moonlight.  

On the way home, just because our day wasn't full enough, we got pulled over for speeding in a small rural town, 49 in a 35 or something like that.  I think the speed trap was set up just inside where the speed limit dropped down because we are rarely in a hurry these days, drive a lot, and try to be very careful about speed.  So the officer pulled us over just shy of the gas station we were bound for, literally fifteen feet from it. The officer seemed professional, courteous and looked over our documents.  When Dave told him we were cutting through the town to go to the gas station, the office said to pull on up and fill up and he'd just pull in behind us.  There was no one else at the gas station in this sleepy little area.  So as Dave was pumping gas I heard the officer start chatting him up, or maybe it was the other way around.  They got into a nice long discussion of horseshoe crabs and the officer was filling us in on local events we might like.  I eventually was invited out of the car and into the conversation to discuss what else horseshoe crabs are sometimes used for.  I was chuckling inwardly because I realized Dave was wearing his ball cap that said "Paw Paw, WV, Clothing Optional Resort".  Cracks me up.  He had it on at the protest march in Washington, DC, earlier in the day, which was funny enough.  The print and coloring on the ball cap is subtle so you really have to be looking close to see what it says, which makes it even more fun.  So I don't think the officer read the logo on Dave's ball cap.  

The officer gave us a warning.  We had all introduced ourselves.  I commented that I hoped we ran into him again sometime, just under other circumstances like a festival or something fun.  And as we drove off I remember a friend of mine, a police officer, saying that he'd never been talked out of a ticket, but he'd been talked into several.  So we got lucky.