For the Birds

The title could actually go to any of the Wolf Hollow posts I have made this past month and probably the rest of the winter. See, most of our clientele this time of year are birds. We only have one mammal in house right now and that is an adult squirrel who will probably be leaving us in a week or so anyway. But back onto the topic of today, birds.

We started the day doing the normal routine, and around 9:30 we got a call from a local who works for the ferry and they got a seabird last night that landed on the ferry deck. He kept it overnight and wanted to make sure someone was at center to get the bird. When it came in this is what we saw:










An Ancient Murrelet! It isn't very often we see them in, and usually it is a quick turn around. This is because they are seabirds, and if they land on something that isn't water, they are unable to take off. So a false landing on the deck of the ferry caused such a problem. Those little feets are soo far back that they aren't able to get up and walk away. That is exactly what it was today. I quick check over, a distilled water wipe down of the feathers & then off him and I went to Deadman's Bay for release.


Here he is at release, I went to a rock sheltered spot so that it wasn't such a wave shock when he went in. I flew across the water, landed, dove down and I didn't see the Murrelet again!

Once I was back I did some upgrading of animals we have in house. The fox sparrow got moved to a larger fledgling cage into Iso room. Then I moved the saw-whet owl to Aviary #1. Jessica, you remember this little girl, she came in at the beginning of October!! She is finally up to a stage were we just need to get her fit enough to release again. We had moved her out to Willow's Mew to first test her flight ability and soon found out that she is a calm little bird. Then with the storms we had to move her back in. Now, we are hopefully in final stages with her as well!!






Soon after coming back in someone approached the door with a bag, in the bag was a little bird that was found in the middle of the road. It wasn't until the finder was headed out the door and I looked at the intake form and went, Duh! I know him.. that was Liam! He brought me in a little Golden-crowned Kinglet, and when I say little, I mean little.. like 6 grams. According to one of our books they are the next smallest birds to hummingbirds. The kinglet was pretty mobile upon arrival and I kept him calm and quiet for about 45 minutes before taking him out for frolic with the other GC Kinglets in our woodland!










As you can see he flew up and landed on my arm, and kept climbing around on me jumping from shoulder to shoulder. This made me a little fearful, but talking to Shona they seem to be more oblivious to the actual person than to it just being a perch. You can also see that his "crown" isn't exactly straight b/c of me having to continue to grab him and put him back in the basket! It is also very hard to see, but it is a boy b/c there is some orange/red streaks in that bright yellow feathers.


We are currently working on finding the owner of a Black Swan in the area. Over the past few days we have gotten numerous reports of a black, very friendly, swan out in Fisherman's Bay on Lopez island. So far we haven't had any luck on finding its home. We are now working on finding temporary placement for this "domesticated" swan until its owners come forward.


I am soo excited that I am not on call tonight, as I have been on call the last 2 holidays, and it also means I won't be picking up any eagles like last year!


I hope you all have a great night, and the new year brings about positive changes!

Dear Neighbor

Dear Noisy Neighbor,

Hi-- yes you the one who likes to turn on your TV between 10:30pm to 11:30pm and leave it on until 6 am- I just want to let you know that other tenant can hear it and recently, the volume has increased. To the point where I can hear word for word what is being said on the boob tube, from the infomercial for the flute concerto compilation to that really annoying Oxy cleaning yelling fellow.

In the summer I could live with the low muddled sound that emanated through the walls, but that was b/c I worked from 6pm to generally 6-7pm and was so tired I could care less. Now that I am on the winter schedule 9am-4pm, I am more easily disturbed at night. I don't think that I should have to put in earplugs in my own apartment for something that isn't taking place in my own apartment. Besides, if you haven't noticed I have a tendency to leave at odd hours, this is because I am on call. I have the company pager 57% of the week, they don't make pagers that loud.

So if you could please do me the favor, and shut the F**king TV up that would be great!

Yours truly,

Rel estate plot sharer.

I'll Huff, & I'll Puff, & I'll Blow Your House Down

And I felt like I was in the little stick house today, ready to be blown over. Today we had it all, and I think it is going to continue through the rest of the evening. Outside went from dark grey, to pissing mass quantities of rain/sleet/slush, to blinding sunshine, and then too wind. For anyone who knows me well, knows that I dislike wind. I don't know what it is about it; it just kind of makes me nauseous. I wanted to run home and jump in bed and hide under covers! I was bundled up with my coat zipped up to my neck even though I was sitting inside, and my face was bright red.

I was checking the winds online and this is what I found:

Yikes!!!!!!!!!!

I wouldn't have been anywhere near the water today except for late this afternoon I got a call in which I needed to respond, it wasn't anything urgent as it was to pick up a dead swan (it seems to begin... we have been fearing this with all the bad weather). I headed down to the south end of the island. The person lived near the very end of one of the south most roads. I couldn't believe the rolling waves when I got there! WOW! I don't think I had ever seen anything like it, only because, well, I hide in my house on days like today. The swan was no where to be found, either had been gotten by the foxes and drug off, or I am just blind as a bat (which could be true).

Today is a friend of mines 25th birthday, which I am sure there will be some celebrating to do. Right now, I need to call my folks as their shipped Christmas presents have finally arrived so I should best be calling them before I start to open them.

all that remains

From the title I think you can probably guess that is is about the snow. Just one short week ago I was barrelling though ~6 inches of snow to get to work. Today, not the case what so ever. Yes, there is still lingering patches on the ground, a lot of them being really icy patches where someone walked once and trampled it down just enough to allow the melting snow to use it as the flow channel. I don't know how many times I about biffed it this morning walking down the hill to feed the trumpeter swan and check on the barred owl. Even the two little deer aren't as anxious to find you for food, as they can now get to greenery on their own. Sadly though, Filchner is now just a pile of snow on the platform. I am really surprised he has lasted this long.

Looks like the construction company came and got their bobcat over the weekend.

With the calmer, warmer weather we can now try to get a lot of the in house animals outside, or back outside if they came in for the storm. We have been able to move the barred owl into a larger more open enclosure (hence why I don't have any after photos of the woods of WH since I didn't have a need to go back there). Plus I got the rock pigeon, and gray squirrel outside for them to become more fit and acclimated before we send them off to be free animals. We still need to get the first saw-whet back outside, but as with all the water. The aviary where she would go has some issues with the panels going back into place b/c of moisture swelling. Hopefully in the next day or two I can get the panels back up and her outside. The other thing I am waiting for is our pool in the wet pen to thaw so I can move both Canada Geese outside. That may take more than just a few days as it is about 2 1/2 feet deep and roughly 8 foot x 3 feet.

Other than that, it is 43 degrees, sun is shining and everything is sloppy. I suppose I should be getting myself back to doing something productive at work :D

lazy dayz

I haven't done much that is blog worthy over the past few days. Like I said on Christmas it was just like another day for me, just without anything on TV or any stores being open. I did make myself some kick-ass chili & cinnamon rolls on Christmas. Plus, I had a few calls on the pager, nothing I had to run out and take care off, but it kind of scares you when it seems like it was going off every hour in the afternoon.

I also haven't taken my buddy Guinness for a walk b/c well, I am still trying to get over a cold, and think it would be counter productive to go out and slope around in the slush. Speaking of slush, this what my back patio/section of "greenery" looks like this morning.


I was pretty shocked as when I came home last night, the only part that was down to ground was where people have walked. I don't know what our parking lot looks like right now, but it does give me encouragement in wanting to go pick up Guinness for a walk/jog. Besides having this linger cold, the holidays always make a ting sad. And I have learned that my trips with the G~dawg always perk me up a bit. It may be just what the doctor ordered today. That is if I can get off my bum. I way over-slept today; now I kind of have the grumpy, groggy feeling --:S yuck!

Here are a few photos I took last night, when I took some of my left overs to a friend, b/c I love to cook. After I do, I generally loose the want to eat, so it works great as I can pawn off all the extra food I have on friends. Which makes everyone happy.





Here is Guinness, he looks soo sad right now. He really wants to get out of the house and he is missing his owner who is home visiting his family for the holidays.







This shot was taken in the Peppermill! I have never ever seen this place so slammed. Generally when our group of friends go in, take up one of the long tables and that makes them "busy". You can't even see the # of people outside in this little hotel bar.




Will, and I wait in the restaurant while Lyle, Britton, and Spaulding all lallygag behind.

We will see how far I get today, it may just be a day of coffee, water, leftovers, and movies.

quiet Christmas

Not much to really blog about today, as it is a quiet Christmas for me. I started my day with the normal routine. Went into work and feed the critters. On the way out to feed the Trumpeter Swan and the barred owl, I took a peek at the seal pools, Filchner had made it through the night, but had a fissure at the neck.. I guess it is fitting to the name, but I am sad to know that he will loose his head today. Other than that, Shona and I tinkered around work until about 11:30 AM and then said... forget this, time to go home.

I should go take Guinness for a Christmas day walk, but with this lingering cold and the fact that I have spent everyday wet from work, I think it is smart for me to try and stay dry and warm for a few days. So here I sit trying to decide what to make for my "dinner", watching movies, reading Christmas cards, snuggling with my kitty, and having my pager beside me.

I was in SoDak with family a few weeks back, I didn't really have anything to open today. I got a beautiful book that I wanted from friends last night Hubble: Imaging Space and Time and a book today from Shona One Wing's Gift. There is suppose to be a UPS package coming from my folks, but with the Pacific NorthWest weather the way it has been, who knows when that will get here.

I hope you all have a great day!

The End.

Oh Santa Baby...

I really can't say much for you, but I know Santa isn't gonna be visiting me. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I have been wearing, "I've been Naughty" and "Be Naughty Save Santa the Trip" tee shirst all week. But I have recieved some nice and even quite unexpected gifts. I want to say thanks to all for everything. The gifts, and the promised gifts, have been greatly appreciated.

We have been experiencing warmer temps on the island, and right now it looks like we are going to get rain for the next several days. It is slowly melting the snow away, and I am sure that Filchner will not survive through the night. If it does get below freezing, I have a feeling the the roads to work are going to be fabulous!!

For now:



I hope that you all get joy, happiness, and cheer on your holiday. I will bes spending my morning with the critters at work, and then home for I am sure movies.

Have a great day

another blanket

This morning I was greeted by another blanket of snow on the ground best guess 3 more inches (?). Though I figured this would be the case as it was snowing when we finished changing my tire last night. The spare has held (thank God, as I know it has a tendency to go flat in my truck and it gets filled back up, roughly once a year). Off I trod through the snow to work. Today, the roads had not been untouched, I am pretty sure someone had run a plow down them, but they were a beautiful pure white, not dirty with slush, gravel, or what appeared to be any other impurities. The trees all hung heavy with the new accumulation, as it was a frosty wet snow last night (the temp bordered 32 degrees). Meaning it was absolutely gorgeous on my drive to work. I may dislike the snow, but sometimes, like this morning, it made me smile. I couldn't resist getting my camera in hand and snapping a few photos on my way into work. You can tsk-tsk me later for doing such a silly thing.

Right before getting to Douglas Rd.

At one point I was rounding the corner and facing Wood Duck lane a breeze came up and whooshed some of the snow off of the trees and it just created a domino effect from one tree to the next knocking snow down, all the way to the power line that dropped snow on me as I passed under. (click the photo to see the cascade better)

Another breeze caught snow, blowing it across San Juan Valley right before the Wold Rd./Boyce Rd junction. Really words, and a quick snap of the camera cannot express just how beautiful watching the swirling snow curl up and then back down and then get swirled again. It was a very intricate dance that played out through the breath of wind and the light complex flakes.

Work to this point, I sit typing on my lunch break, has been much smoother than yesterday. I am back in the rhythm, only took a little over an hour to feed all the critter, and there hasn't been any major water issues at this point. I have even been able to do three load of laundry in the one machine that has water still running to it. My snow seal has survived the night, I should go brush the snow that has landed on him to make him look smooth again.

Scary clouds hung overhead, but only briefly


Winter Scape.. this is back in the "forest" of the hollow

Looking up through the canopy, sun to the east.


I left the trumpeter swan bowls off to the side of the trail as I didn't want to carry them all way way back into the woods... hmm... wonder what decided to try to steal a snack??

It was this little guy/gal, a Spotted Towhee (also known as a Rufous-sided Towhee :D)

Here are the 2 returning jail mates looking for a free meal.

Just can't refuse them in this weather!

Keep warm and safe. It looks like our temps are going to hold around 32 for the next few days, and then up to 38 with a good chance of rain on Christmas Eve.

Too many titles, it needs subtitles

Yeah, this blog is gonna be a dozy so hold on to your hats for a fun ride. As the title suggests it is true, there are going to be subtitles to hold everything together. :D

I make my own Path:

So basically I made the initial path down San Juan Valley/Boyce Road today. And once at work it was the same thing. I just about slid into our closed gate, and set foot on virginal snow. I have to tell you I felt slightly dirty and almost like a rapist leaving my marks on the virginal snow all over the hollow today. I felt slightly better after seeing little birdy, rat, mice, deer, raccoon, and fox prints after a while.

Tracks from my truck (note: tire is full, keep reading for that info)

How the eagle flight looked today, we weren't able to test the netting yet, but if they needed to breakaway, they would do exactly what they look like here, hanging down to the side.

Our two little escapees from the Deer Release day, they are probably the lucky ones, b/c we are supplimentally feeding them through this storm.

Water water everywhere but not from melting snow:

This could quite possibly sound self explanatory especially if you are one of the many who have been worrying about busted pipes due to the freezing weather. While it happened to us, as much as Shona tried to brace Wolf Hollow for this, by having heat lamps and keeping the heaters on in the building, but it didn't help. The pipe went in one place we couldn't get too. Hindsight of course is 20/20, and we we now know where we will have to shut the water off if we need to prevent this again. For now, we have all the water shut off to the building if we aren't there, and only have water to 1/2 the building until the weather cooperates for us to fix the issue. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of this, as it was more important to get the 2 inches of water out of all but 2 of the rooms out of the building. Needless to say I was soaked up to my knees for using a squeegee for roughly 4 hours.

Seals in December?

After said morning I decided to give myself a little play break at work, even though I was soaked to the knees (I know this isn't going to help with my cold)-I went out side and build this:

It's a snow seal!! I named him Filchner. He only took me about 30 minutes to make (so figure that to be my lunch break, since I was working on my lunch). The snow is great packable snow, the kind that stings and leaves welts when hurled in snowball form. It isn't the best roll able snow for a snowman, but since I basically made the head outside of the pool and the body and flippers in place it worked great! I did remember once I was up there, that I had broken one of the pedestals for the platform two days after we released the seals, but I just stuck to moving on the sides that were supported and carefully brushed the snow off the rest of the platform with my foot.

Pop goes the tire:

And the latest thing to lead up to this very moment. My tire on my car. When I left my brother's house the other day I checked my tires and filled up em up. Well, today when I came out of the Hollow to head for home I noticed my tire was 1/2 flat. So I carefully drove to town (not that I wouldn't b/c of the snowy/icy roads :P) where I went to IPS to fill my tire and my spare if it was needed. Yeah, their air sucks, I called a friend of mine to find out who else had compressed air and found out Petro San Juan did. I ran over there filled my tires at which point I found out why my tire was losing air, I was down to the steal belts!!! OMG, guess I need to go get me some new tires. I got home called my friend up to say head, my way to give me a hand. I got to the point where I had the old tire off; called him up and said aww forget it I am half done. I then turned around to put the new tire on, and with the snow and everything the star lugs were too low... back on the phone saying aww I do need your help, b/c I need another jack for under the springs to get my tire on. He said "okay, I'll head out". In the mean time, I called my folks to let them know the good news, basically.. since you haven't gotten me anything "big" yet for Christmas, it would be greatly appreciated if you could help me with tires :D (there was a big grin in my voice, but since my voice is next to nothing and even talking sounds like I have been crying for hours it was hard to tell). Still no Lyle, to help me with my tire. I rang him back and got voicemail; I figured that meant he was on his way. Then my phone rang.... awww... yeah, water issues in the garage/outbuilding behind his house...waiting for landlord... won't be able to get over for a while.... you get the drift. I tried to call a few more people with no success, around 6 ish he was finally able to head over and after just a few more minutes, a jack under the springs, tire up and on. I was good to go with my spare...Whew! What a story.

One Helluva Day:

As for now, I need to get me some dinner, and make some cookies for our thank you plates we give to the business that do a lot to support us at Wolf Hollow.