Dog comes to class and birds on the bay

This was parent's weekend, and the parents of the juniors could come to class on Friday.  One of my students asked if her parents could bring the service dog they are training, and I had no problems.  I noticed the dog at the beginning of class, sitting along the back wall of room, but after that there was no sign or sound from it.  I hope the dog got as much out of class as the younger sister who came up at the end of class and asked if I liked collecting minerals as much as fossils.

This was the weekend of the full moon, and probably effects from cyclones farther south (maybe the one that missed Alabama), and we got a good high tide in the very early morning.  By the time we got out, the water was down significantly, but still covering the road (the bay is beyond the stone curb at the back of the photo).  The ducks were enjoying swimming on the road and diving for food; the water must have brought in something munchy.  Our future, should we decide to acknowledge it, will have more pleasant surprises like this.

Cormorant the day after the ducks.  The sun was out, and the photography much better.  Last weekend the Coast Guard's Cormorant was tied up along the seawall, evacuating during the hurricane threat, and we saw another cormorant diving about the boat.  I wondered if the crew had a pet mascot.