My girlfriend and I went out to the Marsh near my home yesterday. It is a nature preserve that holds some of the most breath taking views of water birds in our area.

My girlfriend and I always love to go out and have girl's time out. She sends her hubby off to play golf and I just leave the cats sleeping on the bed and we take off for lunch, shopping, or walks on the trails near the canals.

Our walks this year will be much shorter as I get tired fast and it's hard to use my walker on some of the trails because of the stones used to pave them but we still get together and go as far as I can walk, gabbing about the men and children in our lives and how much it drives us crazy that kids do what they do nowdays.

Anyway, the marsh has several platforms that help people view the birds better and one of them reaches out to the very edge of the water. They have benches built on them to give you a place to sit while you watch the birds, turtles, fish and muskrats go about their lives.

The Canada Geese are back for their nesting season and they always nest in the same area every year. They stake out their territory in the marsh and are very unafraid of people. They swim right past the platform honking away at one another. There were mallards and huge carp in the water too.

I always think it's amazing how the animals and birds live together so well. The fish don't seem to mind the muskrat swimming over them with twigs for his home in his mouth. The geese don't bother the crane fishing for frogs in the shallows near their nests. The turtles sun themselves oblivious to the birds that could use him for their dinner floating next to his log. He would slip quickly into the murky water if they showed interest in him anyway.

We stayed for about an hour and then she dropped me off at my house and left to make dinner for her family.

It was a beautiful way to spend an afternoon.