Nature walk

I figured it has been awhile since I have been able to share some nature photos with you. Weather has been kind of crappy, and I myself have been kind of crappy as well. I just haven’t had the drive to get out there. I don’t know where it went, but I really need to find it again, but I needed to do something even if it was wrong. I didn’t want to run, so I decided to pick up Guinness and go for a nice brisk walk today. We headed to Mt. Finlayson (there are many arguments on how it is pronounced— FinLAYson, or FinLAson) listening to Brett Dennen. We started at a good pace; doing the figure 8 pattern I generally walk, meaning we climb the killer hill instead of coming down it. We start in the wooded part, climb the path to the windswept fields, back into the woods, and then finish up in the fields to the car park.

I was hoping that today was going to be one of those walks that would help clear my head. I have been dealing some issues that I just can’t seem to remedy. I talk about them, I try to work them out, but somehow they have a staying power that has a grip over me. If only I had the funding to talk them through with the proper professional (or at least get drugs to help alleviate some of… well what ever it is. The past few times I have gone out, I have been able to just be. Today, I was too busy trying to compose the blog in my head as I walked. I even yelled at myself for this, to get myself to quit. I even had a dialog with myself about typing just that too. Sad, eh?

Anyway, on the walk out into the open there were a couple of eagles and red tail hawks kiting in the breeze. Okay, maybe breeze is a bit of an understatement, it was a bloody cold wind. It took little effort for these large winged birds to just hang in the sky like anyone could do it. Today, I think I would give anything to feel that free.

This blog has not been anything like I was dictating to myself on the trail, but that is okay with me. I took some pictures of my adventure today. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy taking them. Don't forget you can always click on photos to get a larger image to view.



The start of our walk


You just have to admire the eagle


The strange wind swept trees


Crescent moon in the clouds



Looking back at South Beach, down killer hill


Eagle after it flew over my head; see the light house far down below, by the other trail I run. Trees one side, hills the other. Hard to believe this is all on one trail huh?


Eagle kiting out; see how the little Douglas Firs are bent from wind.


Me… yeah… can’t say much more


Guinness after we came back into the forest


I tried to get this shot when the sun was shining down through the canopy on the moss covered branch. To bad that I had to dink with the camera to get the right settings so it wasn’t blurry from movement


The middle path has a lot of under cut going on under the trees


Trees that are bit unstable. Two of the park rangers were going around and cutting the logs off the trail.

Thanks for stopping by.

One thing I think accomplished on my walk today is that I need to spend some more time focusing on me and my needs. I am always too concerned with everyone else that I let myself go by the wayside. In other words, I have let myself go more than I would like. I don't do anything with my hair, I haven't worn makeup in a month, and I just have given up on my overall appearance. time for some change, but being a Taurus that can be hard for me. But I am going to try my best.

Now we are talking really slow

I guess the earth was a shaking around 5:30 this morning. There was an earthquake that was centered outside of Kingston, WA (I don't know the scale) but was said that it felt clear up in Victoria. If I did notice it; it was only because I heard something fall or bump, and I just yelled at Onyx because I thought she knocked something down. I have since apologized to her.

Work, after the release of three animals made for a very slow day. We are down to only 4 critters, and they are minimum care. The biggest excitement came when USF&W officers, Phil and Mark stopped by to pick up the eagle for the prosecution of the case of the beating. We spent some time filling out chain of custody paperwork, and of course they had to witness me writing my statement of the events that took place to best my knowledge. At this point we will see what comes of the deal.

Not much else has happened in my world today. I stopped and picked up groceries and right now am working on laundry. Exciting Friday huh? I guess that is what can happen after being on call for more than a week and work 6 days straight.

I hope you had a good day and a good evening.

Accomplishing a lot while doing not much at all.

It finally happened. No mom, I am still single sorry... the Island doesn't lend itself to good prospects. But, we were able to get 3 of the 7 animals out for release today. The cosmos finally came together with the weather being decent, a volunteer who was available, and a flight. Originally I was just going to send the Grey Squirrel across, but my volunteer was very excited with the number of animals ready to go. She said, "Send them all!" That is exactly what I did. I collected all the animals, got them in the carriers/boxes. Took them to the airport and sent them a flying to mainland to be sent back to close to where they were picked up from.

What all went today? a grey squirrel, from Mount Vernon, Barred owl from between Mount Vernon & La Conner, and Saw-whet Owl #1 from Anacortes. I am quite excited and that means we can upgrade both Saw-whet #2 & #3 to get them closer to being wild birds again.

I have to work tomorrow, it is normally my day off, but Shona is attending a conference in La Conner tomorrow, so I have to pick up the slack and go in. We should be able to get the cages cleaned and the next set of animals upgraded.

I hope you all have a good day. Something I think that you should check out are these amazing photos from David Hemmings, my brother sent me a link to a specific photo that was phenomenal. Anyone who has told me I should try and publish my photos really should see the awesome quality of this guys pics.

One of these things is not like the other...

As I stated yesterday once the Saw-whets are gone I won't have much to take pictures of. Here are photos of all three saw-whets, plus another owl...hmmm..... one of these things is not like the other.

I had to take a break on the floor painting project, as we have a crack (one there on purpose for expansion and shrinkage of concrete) that we have to fill with concrete filler before we can start on the next section. Here is the progress already made. I am so amazed with how good it looks; I am already at the point where I don't really remember what that side looked like without paint. I can't believe we haven't done it until now. After this it will be on to repainting walls in the Iso room, bathroom, and probably the prep kitchen. We will also have to do the yearly strip and rewaxing of the floors.

The most exciting part of my day... I have my Jimmy back, I am suppose to minimally drive it until the lower ball bearings get replaced, but I am just glad I have him back; AND I am not on call tonight. First night in a week!!!

Enjoy the photos!


Where we stand with the floor project.


Barred Owl



Saw-whet #1


Saw-whet #2 , yes all of these owls do have eye injuries but this is the only one that is visible.


Saw-whet #3

not much worth blogging about today

Today was a much needed quiet day that the Hollow. It was also very cold so I didn't want to do anything outside. It was just me today at the center, so I was able to sit down and work on some protocols that were in need of being written. I am just about done with all of them, just in time to go from taking 6 hours to write one down to about 2 hours!

I did take some pictures today, but of course they are of the saw-whet owl. I thought as I was taking them, I am sure everyone is sick of seeing pictures of the same saw-whet owl. I keep thinking, "what am I gonna do when all the little owls get released?"

Other news I can share with you. Is it sounds like the eagle case that I have told you about is going to be turned over the WDF&W so that it can go to federal prosecution, instead of tribal. We will see if it really means that it will result in a higher penalty. So I can fill you in on the rest of the info now. I believed I have told you that the wing had a mass encompassing the elbow and that the leg was broken. Well I can only say "allegedly" the later injure was caused by a person. This person was clubbing the eagle. A man and his kids saw this, the man ran off. Then we got the call and you can read the rest of the story on my blog or Jason's blog. I gotten alittle more information after that. Again, I can only say "allegedly", the man is a meth addict and thought he could some good cash from the sale of the feathers. Of course, it is against Federal law to possess any feathers that are from a migratory bird.

I hope you all stayed warm today, I myself am cooking food for Tasty Tuesday, a weekly potluck held at a lovely house on Cady Mountain.

Have a good night.

progress

So this afternoon did calm down; I did receive another odd call, I think that is what I should call today.. odd call day. I was told there was a Trumpeter Swan frozen in Lakedale. This was just beyond belief and as I talked to the guy about how it wasn't possible for us to do anything at that moment, b/c well the ice wasn't strong enough to support a person (let alone me!) and that we don't have any kind of a boat to get out on the water. As I was saying this and trying to brainstorm what could be done, he told me it moved. It must have kept a small portion clear of ice to move around it. I couldn't image it actually sticking around long enough to actually get frozen into the pond.

I spent the afternoon, getting the large washer and dryer moved back, cleaning the concrete, and applying the first coat paint. It is a good day to do this, as I will be by myself at the center tomorrow, so there will be minimal traffic across it (I chose to do the patch in front of the inner door). I can also then get it painted earlier in the afternoon, b/c well I will be there by myself and I probably won't spend all day there.



paint on the floor that I cleaned last week.


Washer and dryers all back in place.


Floor prepped for next section of the patch-work quilt.


layer 1 on the floor.

Now my tummy is grumbly so I should find something to fill it. I really wish I didn't have to but I gotta.

There is always tomorrow.

troubled day... and it is only noon

Today has been one of those days that doesn't look like anything can salvage it... One of my resolutions was to try and be more optimistic about things, but wow, it is tough today. My pager has been very active over the past few days with a variety of different calls. Today as I was getting ready to head out the door for work, I was getting a page about a downed trumpeter swan on the Skagit River.. I should have known then that it would be tough. I got one of our volunteers working on that, but then there was the logistics of getting a "Raven" across this morning that I got paged on last night. Numerous phone calls about the Eagle from the other day, and me waiting to get a call on the Eagle from WDF&W, because there may be some impending things that I have not mention about the case. The raven, was a crow with a badly broken wing, so yeah, the deed was done.

As for other things, my truck is in the shop. Gonna be 2 weeks before I can get him back. I also found out some other issues that I need to fix. So goodbye to the mini vacation I was planning to get away from work and family, and hello fixing my truck when I get my income taxes back.

Emotionally, I haven't been in a good place at all this year. I have to only hope the year will get better, but at this point I don't know. We will see.

How much fun can one person have on a Saturday night.

Well after my post yesterday, I can let you know it leaded to being a completely rough day. I was on-call all day yesterday (my day off) because Shona is off playing at the Skagit Eagle Festival. So Heather manned the Hollow for a few hours and then turned the pager system on, giving me the responsibility.

It was quite for the after noon, after me drinking way to much coffee and putting myself in the place where I felt like I had a severe hangover. I finally decided food and other liquids would be the best thing for me. Just as I start to make dinner my pager goes off, /groan. I call the person back and they have a Bald Eagle in a box that had been downed for almost a week now, but never in a place that it could be "rescued". I called my list of volunteers on mainland and finally got a hold of someone who could collect him. I wasn't sure at that point if she would hold him over night or try to get him over on the ferry. After she did a visual exam of him, she decided to send him over on the last milk run ferry.

I had headed over to my friend's house to hang out and took my dart board over that has just been living in my closet plus the two extra dart sets I have to see if he liked one of the sets. So we were playing some various games that are on my electronic, plastic tip board. when I got the call that he would for sure be on the ferry and to expect it to be in around 10:30. Whee. I asked Jason if he could help me; he has had experience working with eagles as a conservationist in Arizona so I knew he would be up for the challenge.

So, we picked up the bird, headed out to the center. Did an exam and found a few things wrong. The original "grounding" of the eagle was something to do with the left wing. right at the elbow there was a very hard mass encompassing the entire joint. I would say it was roughly the size of two golf balls. That was something that could be looked at later, after an x-ray, a biopsy of the tissue (or draining of if it was pus or fluid). Moving on I checked the other wing, looked great; and then I uncovered the head (as I had it protected from both the light to keep him calm, and also to keep that pointing thing under control since Jason was controlling the other pointy bits. His mouth was a bit pale, hydrated, but pale; shock will do that to you. His keel was slightly sharp. Hard to tell if it was that much weight loss (probably some weight loss even though the fish plant the eagle was by was supplying him with fish), but probably mainly atrophy in the muscles from being on the ground for over a week. After that I checked the legs.... this is where the no good part of the story comes in.

His right leg was a jagged break to the Tibiotarsus. and the bone, was no where near being in stable clean break place. Muscle and nerve damage had been done. The hard part was really knowing that what I was going to do was the best thing. In my opinion it was, the decision was made to end the birds suffering. Always a tough decision when there is doubt playing in the back of your mind, thinking.. "there has to be a way to set this leg".. "really come-on it can't be that bad". But as they teach you in a euthanasia course, you also have to look at the fact that Eu =good, and Thanatos=death. And is preformed as a painless and stress free with compassion and dignity for the animal. (Though they also tell you that there is ERS (Euthanasia Related Stress) for the persons) I do feel a sense of guilt, but also respect the animal, and understand it is an individual, which I appreciate and enjoy --the animal, not having the "license to kill". Enough with that heaviness.

If you want to have another take on this case I HIGHLY recommend you check out Jason's blog, he put things quite well in it.

Today I did take radiographs of the wing and leg. The leg was a very jagged break to the Tibiotarsus, and even broke the tip of the Fibula. As for the wing, there was high calcification in the distal humeral head, but nothing that extended outside the natural bone (I don't know if it was an impact fissure, or a chip).

Hopefully it stays quiet, healthy, and alive around here. The cold outside has me pinned up inside today. I really don't want to do much outside work today.

lack of motivation

Today I lacked something important, drive. It was a cold grey day here in the San Juans. I have only ventured out of my apartment to get my mail and to take the garbage out to the dumpster. I would have thought the pot of coffee would have helped, but all it has managed to do was make frequent bathroom trips and the feeling of nausea.

I spent the majority of my day watching tv, answering Heather's questions from the Hollow, playing MSN Live Search Games, and listening to my iTunes. That is basically it. I put laundry away & cleaned out old food out of my fridge. Exciting life huh? I really don't anticipate that my day will get anymore exciting.

Sorry to be such a bore, but sometimes that is how life can be. And right now it is full of that. /sigh

I hope your day was more productive and happier than mine. Tomorrow I am back to the Hollow; probably continuing on with the floor painting project.

options

I really don't have much to say today. Started out okay, ended crappy.

I give you this:



I myself try option A, but it always seems option B is the winner even with all the work I do

Today we had our Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife facilities inspection. Meaning I was at center quite early this morning. We even got the washer and dryers moved back to their "home" as the paint was dry. There are only a few touch-ups we will need to do from sliding them back into place. I would say that the inspection went pretty well. There are a few things I am sure that will appear on the report that they would like us to change. But we can still be open for business! After it was all said and done, we got the other washer and dryer moved, the vents cleaned out, and the floor swept in prep for it getting cleaned and what not over the next few days.


The picture of the paint from yesterday, coat #1.


The trumpeter swan today, enjoying the sun.


A picture of saw-whet #1 today, with mouse in tow.


Washer and dryer back, the other set moved out.


the washer & dryer set off to the side.


looks soo pretty.

By 3 pm, I was ready to get out of there as all week has been very busy, and this next week will not be any easier. Shona has a few off island education events she is attending. Meaning that I will be on call all week long, and I will have to work one of my "days" off since she won't be at center. I got all the kids fed and headed out around 4. Err... that really wasn't a short day was it?

Anyway, I picked up the dog and did want I wanted all week, I headed to the South end of the Island and went and walked Redoubt at sunset. I really debating going down to the beach, but decided against it. It would have been gorgeous as well; tide was going out so the beach was quiet. The water like glass so there was very little wave crash. I saw a few foxes and there was a pair of birds in bushes talking to one another, one-- rise and fall in pitch... the second-- a trill with a rise in pitch. Quite cute.


look at that water!!



Golden sun


A fox watches me and Guinness.


Tall green grass, Calm blue water.


One of the singing birds.


Going... going....


After the sun was behind the clouds. The top of Redoubt.

Painting in the dark...

Eerr.. that is actually what happened today. Of course being a busy little beaver at work can have its advantages and disadvantages. Today was one of those days that I never thought would end; as much I really wanted it too.

I really want to list out the advantages and disadvantages from the day but it looked way to silly. I was able to get the first coat down on the floor where we moved the washer & dryers first thing this morning (I did take a photo but my camera is somewhere else). After taking care of the normal cleaning routine, I was able to finish cleaning the wetpen from yesterday with the a dilute bleach solution spray. Plus I scrubbed the entry chambers to it as well; I could tell I really worked my triceps yesterday in the scrubbing, but I had to get this work done.

I prepped to paint the floor again, but knew I wouldn't be able to do it until after I got back to the center with two owls I was picking up at the airport. Here in-lies the downside of today. The plane was originally a direct flight, but after I got there I found out it was going to Orcas Island first. Meaning that I would be at the airport an hour waiting for them to arrive. Grr.. I really wanted to get back, get them checked in, paint the floor and still make it to the beach for sunset. NOT GONNA HAPPEN! The plane arrived around 4:15pm. I got back, checked in the new Saw-whet no problem, just a head injury that we would have to wait to see the progress. The new Barred owl on the other hand. Is in need of some major help. It was a hit by a car; it has a horrid head injury. It has neurological issues- star gazing, ear trauma, eye trauma. The owl is also very dehydrated so we had to do subcutaneous fluids. We will just have to see how it is in the morning. It was dark by the time we finished that, so it meant it was pretty dark in the warehouse by the time it came to painting the second coat.

Not much else to add, just cross your fingers that our inspection goes well in the morning.

I hope you had a good day, better than mine.

Cinderelle, cinderelle, wash the dishes, do the laundry

I always seem to sing this song when I end up on the ground scrubbing the floor, and what pray-tell was I scrubbing... The floor, where our washer and dryers sit. In the past few days we have been working on painting the floor in our warehouse to make it cleanable, especially when baby season hits & things get spilled and what not.

Here are a few photos. from the process.


The hall to our radiological suite that has been painted over the past few days.


The floor after the washer and dryers moved, with some of the dust bunnies.. err.. rabbits...err... bison swept up.


A dust rabbit, one of several.


The floor with the concrete cleaner on it.


After the process was complete. Notice that the Concrete crack filler is bright grey in this photo, as opposed to the nasty brown in the previous photos.

Other than that we got the two Canada Geese went back over to Lopez Island today. So this afternoon, I got a chance to get outside and do some scrubbing and cleaning on a cage. I like to clean this cage because it was one that you can actually see progress being made. Especially when you take the scrub brush to the green algae! It may not have been incredibly warm out (as items still in the shade were frosted), but I was exerting so much effort in cleaning that I took off my fleece sweatshirt! For anyone who knows me well, that is quite a feat to get me to that point. I was really thinking about stripping down in the WetPen... haha.... that would have been funny.

I tried to get out of work early enough to go pick up Guinness to head to South Beach for a sunset walk but unfortunately I didn't get out as early as I wanted to. So I would have made it to South Beach right after the sunset. :( I really wanted some time with the dog today at the beach. We will try for another sunny day. I did get these photos on my way home of Mt. Baker looking all nice and pink.




Mount Baker from No 2 School Bus Road (yes that actually is the name of the road)


A shot after I was driving down San Juan Valley


A photo over top of the Best Western


And as I approached Caines St. Where I turn to head home.

I hope you had a productive day. I know I did. I am sure I will feel it in my shoulders tomorrow. I was even able to take a few minutes this morning and listen to Obama give his speech!!

Frosty

The past few days have felt bitter cold in the morning. It has been beautifully clear on the island with temperatures getting in the upper 40s but also means that when the sun sets, the temperature goes right with it. It has been just over 32 degrees when I get up and head to work, but still there is a layer of frost and ice on everything. I have had to scrape my windows and even be cautions as I drive to work and feel my truck get a little squirrelly on me.

This also requires me to do a little ice breaking when it comes to the animals, just to make sure they can get to their water bowl, or can take a dip if the mood suits them. I also love the fact the ground gets "crunchy" we have so much muddy puddles right now that is nice to have some crust to walk on. It doesn't take too much time for the sun to start thawing everything, which is nice.


The frozen wet pen pre-ice break.


The swan decided that a float in the water would be nice, which is great for her bum leg!


Frost encompasses the "Hollow"


A close up of the frost crystals.

I also was able to get another one of our many patients released today. We have so many that are ready to go, but we need to get them back to mainland and we have recently encountered a problem of lack of flights to when our volunteers are available for pick up. Grr.. thank goodness this was just an island release. It was a funny one. I have stated before and I still believe that pigeons are one of the most uninteresting, lest successful releases. Generally instead of flying away (like you see them do in those corny wedding releases) they just do their head bobbing walk away. I try to encourage them to fly to make sure I know I am doing the right thing with the release that day, but as much as I had to chase this pigeon around the cage this morning; I didn't bother and let him saunter off into the bushes.


Bye-bye Birdie!