Our January Visit To Marge
We were all settled in at home in front of the fire and enjoying a good old-fashioned Wisconsin winter when we got a call from Michael Kathrein. He wanted to inform us of Marge’s status after her medical proceedure to treat blood cancer. CAR T-cell therapy, which stands for “Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell therapy”, is a treatment where a patient’s own T-cells (immune system cells) are genetically engineered in a lab to recognize and attack cancer cells by adding a special receptor called a chimeric antigen receptor, allowing them to specifically target and kill cancer cells when reinfused into the patient. This is considered a form of immunotherapy.
After her hospital stay Marge was required to quarantine due to her compromised immune system. A friend from Madison came to stay with her for two weeks after her release from the hospital, buying groceries and taking her to her appointments.
When her friend went back home Michael stayed with her for a week. But Michael had a few other pressing matters to attend to. He and his family had to evacuate from thier home due to the the proximity of the Palisades Fire. Brookes parents’ home is in the Pallisades, so they had evacuated also. Brooke took the kids to stay with her parents at thier condo in Santa Barbara. Sadly thier childrens’ school burned down. Michael was on the team to relocate the school temporarily. Fortunately, thier home and the home of Brooke’s parents were spared.
So it was at this point that we spoke to Michael. He wanted us to know what was going on with Marge but it was clear that they had no care plan set up for the next couple of weeks. Eric and Jonathan were probably expecting to take off of work but that was not a good situation either. So we offered to fill in for a few weeks until they could come up with a plan. They were all very relieved.
On 1/17 we packed up and took off, flying Southwest out of Milwaukee. It was an uneventful flight and we got into San Francisco at 1:40 pm. We were so grateful that Eric could pick us up. We just looked for a guy who looks like Reed driving an expensive car. On the way to Marge’s we took the scenic route, right past Eric’s condo.
When we got to Marge’s Jonathan was there too, so we had a nice visit with everyone. Most of the time we spent haning around the house. There is a path behind Marge’s house that circles a few school and social work buildings plus a small retirement community of tiny houses. She enjoys walking the path and it is of course very familiar to her. The birds in the yard and on the path were numerous and very vocal. the crows and the California Scrub Jays were the noisiest. I found Marge’s hummingbird feeders and got them set up outside the windows. It didn’t take long to get a customer. The default hummingbird there is Anna’s Hummingbird.
The appointments Marge had were right in San Francisco. On Sunday the appointment was for an infusion, which can take up to three hours. Fortunately we were able to walk to the Golden Gate Park, a few blocks away. This park is huge andset up like Central Park in New York City. We only walked a small portion of it and had to concentrate not to get lost. We found some birds and enjoyed watching park goers skating, playing tennis, running, walking. There is every sort of activity available at the park and we were just at one end of it.
The routine at home was pretty quiet, the side effects of the treatment were fatigue among other things. Bill cooked dinners, of course and I helped in the kitchen as I could. We shopped for groceries and did other errands. I helped Marge with a few online banking transactions.
Temperatures were in the low 30’s in the early morning but warmed up as the day went on, usually to high 50’s or low 60’s. Every day was usually sunny. Marge had three days of appointments in a row, each one was an hour’s drive from her house. I stayed home for most of them, birding the neighborhood and the area behind the subdivision.
Birding hotspots near Marge mostly consisted of marshes and wetlands. There is a wastewater treatment plant nearby with some nice lagoons full of waterfowl and herons and shorebirds. Other spots were pull-offs from busy highways that had short trails near streams or stream beds. A lot of birds seen from these spots were distant and hard to identify if they were small. We saw a lot of species but no lifers.
On Saturday and Sunday Eric came by, bringing Cole with him. Cole had just celebrated his 5th birthday and brought his brand new little bike. He had so much fun riding around the path that Marge usually walks. On Sunday Eric brought Quinn (2) also. There is a preschool playground in the area behind Marge’s house and we had a lot of fun with the boys there.
We finally had a free day and went to the coast, to Kronkite Beach, where Jonathan sometimes surfs. He was sure we would see gulls there. It was a pretty spot but there were no birds at all.
When we talked to Jonathan he mentioned a lot of spots, some birdy and some scenic within an hour’s drive.We were only an hour from Point Reyes National Seashore but Marge didn’t want to go. I politely persisted and Marge said we should go without her. She had everything she needed at home and wouldn’t miss us. It was a beautiful lday trip. The skies were clear and it was warmer than most days. It is a very big area and we did a lot of driving. The first destination was Limantour Beach(the red marker on the map below). It was the only ocean beach where we saw any birds. We had Surf Scoters, Loons, Grebes, and shorebirds.
After that we drove back north and around to the south western tip.
Here there was a lighthouse on a rocky outcropping. From the veiwing area we saw Gray Whales breaching. They were only visible for an instant and impossible to photograph. Also, far below us was a colony of Common Murres. There were at least 2000 of them all crowded together on the bare rocks. This is an image from eBird so you can see what they look like.
It was a beautiful drive back to Marge’s. I’m so glad we didn’t go all the way to California and not see the ocean.
The next day we met with the manager of the in-home care-givers that Michael recommended. Marge insisted she didn’t need this help but without the means to get groceries and get to appointments she did need something. We explained that the boys could not relax unless they knew she had this service at home. She finally relented. She had a friend coming to stay a week later so she only needed the care-giver for a week.
We drove to Sausolito and to Tiburon which is on Richardson Bay. The map gives an idea of the general location. Here we finally saw some gulls. There are so many west coast gulls that we never get to see so I was very excited. The tide was out so the shoreline was exposed and full of little shorebirds, mostly Least Sandpipers. While we birded Marge walked on the trails. We had lunch in Tiburon at a restaurant on the wharf with outdoor seating. As we waited for our food a Red-shouldered Hawk flew overhead.Â
That was our last bird list. Later that day Reed stopped by for a visit. It was very nice to see him again. He’s familiar with the park where we saw the gulls.. He is now a symphony goer and we talked about the search for a new conductor for San Francisco Symphony. He’s doing well. Early the next morning we got a Uber to the airport. We had breakfast and enjoyed a lovley Mimosa. It was a long haul with a long layover in Denver. But it’s a nice airport and we settle in until our 7:10 flight. Our car was waiting for us in the parking ramp at MKE. By 11:50PM we were home. It was so good to be home and in our own bed!!!!Â
The link below shows an eBird trip report, including all of species we saw and the attached photographs.