finally pictures

I will start out with something simple: a sleeping kitty.  Onyx has decided lately that my lap is a great place to sleep either over my blanket or under.  I just can't resist taking a picture of her, too damn cute.

Onyx uses my knee as a pillow.

She also thinks that sitting on my coffee table and staring at me will cause me to do something like give her a treat.  Here she sits a book Shona as loaned me called Dewey about a cat who lives in a library.

Here she is sleeping on my leg and actually straddling it under the blanket the other day.  She was a bit pissed I lifted it up to take a picture of her.

Well.... I haven't given you any work pictures for a while and today I did take some with the work camera.  We have had some unfortunate deaths at work over the past few days, the lead eagle died yesterday.  We got our first babies of the season in too, a group of 3 nestling barn owlets.

Warning some of these pictures of the territorial fight eagle could be considered graphic.  I have told you it took the majority of the battle to the head, the beak has hole punctures, cracks, she has a scalped spot, and also damage that we don't know how bad to an eye.  So if you don't want to see them I would suggest stopping here, or scroll through fast as there are pics of the barn owlets on the bottom.

Okay now that you have chosen to continue.

The "loser"

Here you can really see the damage to the right side of her face.

The unfortunate use of the flash, they are hard things to take photos of b/c of their coloring.  You can see all 3.  One in front being fed and 2 in the back (the littlest in the back).

The large one and the smallest one.

waiting their turn for food.

Okay that is about it.  Not much else to share.  I hope you have a good day.

redirection

Today I don't have much to share.  My body has been in lag mode all day.  I did leave my house for awhile; I went down and helped Jason unpack and hang the spring merchandise in the their shop.  It was a good break from my normal work and actually kind of fun to do something retail again.  I would have done it for free but Richard came back with coffee at one point and even brought one back for me.  Score!

I will encourage you to visit my friend, Richelle Mead's, blog as her and her boyfriend are visiting Ireland right now and have many lovely photos and even pics of animals (owls & hawks) today!  Sorry if you are looking for updates on her upcoming books; she doesn't have any up right now.

break in the weather

Well, I caught in a break in the rain today and took Guinness out for a run.  Ugh!  That is about all I can say.  When I did pick up Guinness down at the shop while Jason was putting away all the new seasonal merchandise he got in, it was raining.  As we headed to the south end of the island to our (Guinness and mine) old haunts, redoubt - no not the erupting volcano in Alaska- but American Camp, the rain stopped.  I haven't gone running with him in probably over 2 months, and again ugh is what I have to say.

The last intense thing I did was my 4 mile walk around downtown Seattle nearly 2 weeks ago in 3 inch heels, so as we started to jog my calves immediately let me know that isn't what they wanted to be doing.  I pushed through for a bit, but soon quit jogging and turned to a brisk walk.  I didn't get as far in the jogging as I normally did, but I haven't for a while and I am just getting over a cold -- no excuses, I just need to out there more and with the upcoming Spring and new people getting trained I may have more time for it!

I didn't a chance to take any pictures as my camera battery is still with Jason after his kayaking expedition in Johnstone Strait. Plus, there really wasn't much to take pictures of today. I saw some very large ravens that looked like there were playing the courtship game on the ground, a spotted towhee, and a few red-winged blackbirds.  

I will throw another plug out there for my sister.  She just sent me an email saying that the company she works for is going on another venture (it is a funny combination with their current ventures but well all know animal loves love coffee so check it out).  

I hope everyone has a good day and can get out and enjoy some unrainny weather.

Wine Dinner

I failed, or should I say phailed.  I forgot to get this up before the first wine dinner was hosted, but Coho Restaurant at 120 Nichols St is hosting 4 wine dinners...err.. 3 more to go.  Here is the info:  Keep these dates open and come out to support them and us!

Coho celebrates its one year anniversary April 11th. We want to thank the community for helping to make our first year a success. Our 4 spring wine dinners are our way of saying thank you. Coho will donate $20 per ticket to Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. Enjoy great evenings of food, fun and friends while helping our feathery, fluffy and furry friends at Wolf Hollow.

In return, we would like to ask each guest to bring in something to help Wolf Hollow - whether it be a gently used blanket or towel or perhaps some bird food. The staff at Wolf Hollow is putting their wish list together.

Save the Date:

April 17th - Japanese Sake Tasting - Toast to the end of your 2008 tax returns with a Japanese inspired dinner and sake tasting. 


May 22st - Battle of the Winemakers - California vs. Washington - We will taste 4 varietals (sparkling, chardonnay, cabernet and dessert wine) from the same year and compare how differences in weather and soil give each state its characteristic style. 


June 19th - Southern Hemisphere Barbecue Favorites - As you think about firing up the "barbie", we will look to New Zealand and Australia for those perfect summer patio wines.


All of our wine dinners begin at 6 p.m. and are $70 plus tax and gratuity. Reservations are recommended.

Coho Restaurant

120 Nichols Street, Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, Washington

360.378.6330

Make a Reservation

busy busy busy

It has been a very busy week, already!  We don't have babies in and you have heard me elude to the critical case patients we have (2 eagles).  Well we just added to that a HBC (Hit By Car) Fox.  He has some head trauma going on, and has many teeth broken :(.  We did radiographs first thing while he was still under sedation and couldn't see anything obvious.  I ran the rads into our mammal vet and will hopefully hear from her tomorrow morning, if not I will call her and set up a time to bring him in as we would like to know a little more what is going on in the mouth and see if there are any more teeth fragments (as he was waking up as I was cleaning his mouth up) that need to be removed. 

As for our patients, the eagles are doing better.  We did a blood draw on #2 today, the veins looked great and I was very proud that I didn't blow it, I did give a very small hematoma but I call that a success when many of the times it ends up worse (it is what happens when you don't do avian blood draws too often).  This evening we decided to try solid pieces of venison instead of tubing the eagle again.  She is getting very smart to the catching and tubing process and is becoming quite the little bitch.  Shona force fed 2 pieces and then she started to grabbing the pieces off the forceps, AND then she got very agitated trying to bite Shona b/c she wasn't getting fed fast enough.  Shona picked up the tray we were using to feed and she was grabbing the bit size pieces off all by herself!!!!!  Amazing, she of course started to move a lot, moving her feet and trying to buck forward which lead to me having very shaky arms from trying to keep her steady.  Tomorrow we will throw some venison in with her to eat on her own.  Plus have our avian vet come and see if we can do some better clean up on the face (she will need to be gassed down) from all the dried blood from the territorial dispute.  

Here are some pic of our "good animals" at center.

Our Northern Pygmy Owl.

Shona removes the wing tape I put on to try and keep him from using the Right wing to much, there is most likely a corocoid break.

Our great horned owl,  remember him with the 90 degree head tilt.

Just about ready for release, about 5 more days here and away he goes!!!!

This isn't a rehab animal, this picture my brother emailed me from the National Geographic Site.  I thought it was just an amazing photo of a Great Egret taking on a rainbow trout!

I hope you enjoyed your day.  

Oh a gull wind.

Today was the pretty typical work day, feed animals, clean animals, clean center, work on projects.  PS I was reminded today just how much I love to use a pressure sprayer.  I didn't care that it was slightly cold and breezy out, that my pants were getting soaked, and my hands felt like ice; just as long as I saw the results of the algae, paint residue, and dirt melt away.  Shortly after finishing pressure washing the cage cleaning slab and the seal nursery drain trench, I decided it wasn't too breezy out that the gull couldn't be released.  

This is a very happy thing.  It isn't too often that we get to release an adult gull, let a lone, an adult gull who has been shot, a broken bone, AND still has the pellet in the Ulna.  Our vet thought it was not an issue to leave it in, and it could actually cause damage and longer healing time if removed.  So I headed to False Bay with our Thayer Gull visitor after talking to our local Audubon rep to make sure that we had some hanging out in the area.  The wind was actually much stronger on that side of the island.  He took off out of carrier, and hit the wall of wind.  He did a beautiful hover and then dropped his head, and plowed right through the wind over to the silty water by other gulls.  Check it out. 

Right out of the carrier after take off.

Hunkering in to head to the other gulls.

I thought I would share with you the latest photos of our eagle flight cage.  It is almost done!  How exciting, especially since we have a couple of eagle in house right now.  I don't know if either of them will make it to this point, but good to know we have it if they do.

The front of the eagle flight, with the large sliding door.

Inside facing the back corner, the top drop panels are released at the moment.

View towards the front of the cage, where the eagles will soon live.

Vanessa has arrived as our new rehabber, we will be spending lots of time getting her up and running.  Time to get ready for the busy baby season.

Okay, time to eat some dinner.  Have a great day!

going topless.

So tonight I have heard a lot about Redoubt, and Alaskan Volcano that has been very seismically active over the past week and over the past 24 hours has erupted 6 times coating parts of Alaska in a wave of ash.  This is a bit concerning for me b/c well, it will be heading this way first.  I was too young to remember Mt. Saint Helen's eruption, and from the sounds of it, this isn't as intense, but still I haven't really thought about the disaster planning that we have been working on at work to include volcanic debris.

I uploaded the +24 hr puff predition for Potential Eruption at Redoubt for 16 km Plume from the Alaska Volcano Observatory and here is what they predict. 

Pretty crazy huh!  Down past Jun.  I am going to keep monitoring this b/c I think it is interesting and will most likely affect here in some way.    The other thing, Cleveland Volcano in the Aleutian Island is listed as advisory and there has been small plumes from it earlier this year (but it appears to be a bit more active).  You do wonder with this kind of seismic activity going on in other parts of Alaska just what is brewing under the surface there.

a bit better

So, today I have been feeling a bit better.  I don't know if it has to do with me doing nasal flushes, getting loads of sleep, or maybe it was just a quick cold.  

We got another new critter in at work today, a male evening grosbeak.  We don't get these in to often as they aren't numerous on the island.  He is very handsome with gorgeous yellow head stripe.  I may have to break out my old camera to take some pictures at work.  It never fails, you do something nice for someone like letting them borrow your camera battery and then you get some new animals in that you want to take pictures of.  

We did some radiographs on the second eagle today.  I couldn't see much but think it would kind of tough to see a skull fracture if there was one, we also wanted to get rads of his feet and of course the lead gloves of holding his talons didn't allow for a good photo.   We also did a radiograph of the pygmy owl, but unfortunately the film was too dark and we were quite far behind that we will have to redo it later.

Tonight, I have just been chilling at home, snuggled in my fleece sweatshirt and pants.  I had a great dinner of spaghetti and homemade meatballs.  It was fabulous.  Then had a brownie with mint M&M's for desert.   I will probably get some mint tea soon and just relax with TV before bed.

I hope you all have a good night.

bummed

So, I am a bit bummed.  I have been waiting for nicer weather and the urge to get out and run again.  Well, I have caught that bug again and another one too.  One that makes me sniffly, sneezy, and run down, not up and running along cliffs.  Booo!  I hope over the next few days this cold subsides and I can get out there and run, I won't be able to take any pictures b/c I left a friend of mine borrow my camera battery as he was going on a week long camping/kayak expedition an knew that his battery wouldn't last him through the whole trip, so what can I say, I'm a nice person and let him take mine too (good thing we have the same camera).  

Well I suppose I should take some sniffling, sneezing, so you can rest your head medicine and get better quick.  I need some good outside air and exercise to help me ditch some of the winter weight I have ungraciously put on  (double boo!).

PS we got a new Pygmy owl in at work, oh so cute!

PPS I added a photo to tailbone post

Sure thing

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Taken it easy.

Well, I think my suspicions were true.  My sniffles are cold related.  In the past few days I have been sniffly and sneezy, with a thick throat first thing in the morning.  So, today I didn't do much of anything.  I did go pick up a few groceries, a load of dishes, and washed my futon cover and sheets, but other than that I have laid on my futon watching tv and playing games on club live today.  

I do feel a bit restless, but know that the best thing for me is to just stay at home and relax.  It may only be quarter to 9 but I am really contemplating going to bed.  I hope that I can kick this rather quickly as the weather is getting warmer, the sun is out longer, and I need to get back in the swing of things of going back out and exercise.

I hope everyone is well and feeling better than me. :)

Spring has Sprung

This can be a two fold statement.  B/c in the animal world that means mating, making babies, and even having territorial disputes.  Babies keep me busy during the summer (which again is a blessing and a curse at the same time).  Right now, of course you will find courtship behaviors going on between many of the birds, especially birds of prey.  Also, many birds of prey are defending or trying to claim new territory.  We just got in an eagle in who was in one such fight.  This is a controversial issue in the rehab world.  B/c on one side there is the "these animals would be doing this if we weren't here, so why do we interfere and rehab them" and the other hand "how can you let an animal sit out there and suffer".  The really tough spot with this one is that it is a bald eagle and someone called it in to WDF&W.  Of course they want us to pick it up b/c well it is a bald eagle.  The other thing, how do you tell someone one, sorry it is nature we can't do anything.  We do say that when they want us to come save the bunny that an eagle has landed on for dinner.  On that case we can say, if we save that bunny, he is going to go out and get another one so might as well let him have that one and save a completely healthy one for the moment.  (PS I want to let you know that this is my thought only, this is not a reflection on the center what so ever.  Everyone is subject to their own opinion).  It is tough b/c I don't know if I could let the animal sit out there and suffer and slowly die if that is the case.  I don't know if the eagle we got in would survive on his own or would die a slow painful death if there wasn't an intervention.  The eagles attitude is very well, it did have a huge injury to the right eye, the beak has some traumatic injuries, the wings are quite bruised so maybe after a few days it could have gotten up the strength to fly away, and it had enough flesh on its body that it could go a day or two with food.  So, I can discuss this till I am blue in the face, but it doesn't change that we do have the eagle in care and will work with him to see if we can "save" him.  Meh, just one more critical care patient.

But other things, it is quite lovely outside today, even though it was listed to be raining.  The air smells very fresh and clean outside today.  I have my window and patio door open to help give the air some fresh air.  I am pretty sure Onyx enjoys it as well.  It is nice to be back on the island for a day off and just not have anything that I have to get done.  

I hope you all get the chance to enjoy some of the fresh air of spring!

back in the swing of things

I have been having a tough time getting back in the swing of things after my trip.  Last year I came back to a much more stress filled time and jumped right back in.  We had many more babies, there were a lot more cleaning projects that still needed to be done, and I returned to start training the new rehabber the day I got back.  I just don't know what it is, maybe the fact we are still trying to figure out the volunteer coordinator position (we now have one), get things arrange for the girl scout troupe that is coming to help, and meshing through all the information from the conference.  Ugh!  I think the fact that I haven't been with it mentally and emotional doesn't help.  

At work we have been working with a bald eagle that we got in yesterday.  He is thin, and has green, not lack of food green, but toxic green, output.  I commented yesterday how his tongue was quite yellow, well my shock came today when I went to take a blood sample and found out that his skin as well is that sickly yellow- Jaundice!  I spoke to some rehabbers and vets and found out there really isn't any kind of vitamin I can give to help him  combat it.  Like I was saying I did do a blood draw so we will find out his Blood Chemistry and a Lead test.  We did see a metal piece in his abdomen area (possibly in stomach or gizzard) in a radiograph.  We will have to do a lateral view so we can visualize better where the metal piece is.  But, we have been tubing him 3 times a day with an activated charcoal mix,   it isn't that fun; this eagle is a biter!  It comes out just as black as it goes in.  Tonight we started caloric therapy and tubed a chicken food based slurry.  I can't wait to smell that tomorrow b/c it doesn't smell good going in, and smells much worse coming out.

I hope that everyone else is able to focus and get things done.

happy st. paddy's day

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Oh what a week.

Oh what a week and a whirlwind week at that.  You have already seen some pictures from Chicago and sadly I really don't have any more to share with you.  So, at this point I expect to have 50% of you you tuning me out at this point b/c of the lack of photos.  Don't worry I am not offended, that is the only reason I come here as well :).  All the fun started with a 4 hour tour of Willowbrook Rehab center in Bloomingdale, IL.  Later that night there was an ice breaker welcome to all those there for the symposium.  The next day, Wednesday, was the day we got down to business.  After the 3 hour opening presentations, it was off to lunch, and onto learning!  

To let you know the kind of schedule I was on I will be moderately detailed in my listings.  I won't list out ever lecture I went to, you want to know just let me know.  Wednesday afternoon was a block of 4 hours of lectures and then dinner and then back again for another 2 hours of lectures.  This is the night that I went out with some of the girls from PAWS of Lynnwood, and met up with people from Texas and also the Feather Project people.  Thursday I attended 4 hours straight of Pharmacology talks; all in the same room, in the same chair, ugh!  The afternoon was broken up a bit, I did 2 more regular lectures and then 2 lectures that related to the two workshops I would be taking. I crashed early this night, falling asleep at 9 pm while watching tv.  Friday morning was again another 4 hours of lectures, followed by 2 more hours of lecture and then doing a 2 hour workshop on Wound Management.  Friday night was the banquet night, so we had good food provided, great speakers, and fun raffles.  I didn't buy any raffle tickets b/c I had traveled carry-on only so if I got something big or with fluid I wouldn't be able to transport home. Then Saturday once again was up bright and early to participate in my second workshop, Clinical Diagnostic sampling, I learned a lot like how to prepare in house blood stains, as well as bacterial stains.  I caught another 2 hours of lectures before I had to prep to leave on my flight home.

My flight was pretty good, relatively quick, we got in a 1/2 hour earlier than scheduled which was great b/c I was headed into Seattle for a concert with friends.  Doing a quick change in my car before I left the airport. I headed that direction.  I got a great parking spot right next to the venue and called my friends to find out where they were.  Let's just say I have an internal compass issue and getting directions from 2 different sources I headed off in the wrong direction.  After walking 3 miles I finally found them.  After that we headed up to concert.  We went to see Brett Dennen, which had a sold out show at the Showbox at the Market.  It was a good show, my friends all headed in different directions in the show, which was kind of sad for me as even if not talking during a concert it is still nice to have your friends around (maybe that is just the me girl thing, or the me hating to be by myself thing).  I had already spent the entire week in Chicago doing everything on my own and forcing myself outside of my comfort zone that I really didn't want to have to endure that with friends around.  After the concert was over I headed back to North Bend, with my friends following me for a place to crash.  It was nice to get back to something familiar and to see my cats and brother again!

Sunday was a travel day to the island, which was a mix of snow, wind, and rain. Once back on the island I had such a dehydration headache I thought my head was going to explode.  I settled in with lots of water, juice, and tea and the weeks work of DVR programs to watch.

Today, I feel incredibly lost at work and am trying to get myself refocused.  I need to put all my notes from the symposium down the computer before I forget what I have learned so we can utilize the information later.  I am really worried that we are hitting the calm before the storm.  It is way to quiet right now and I know that other centers in the area already have their first baby bunnies and squirrels of the year! YIKES.  I returned home to the many animals having been released.  The swan was released in Whatcom county by the direction of the WDF&W.  We called and asked them what they wanted the next step to be as we had taken her as far as we could in rehab and could only cause more damage the longer she stayed with us (more deterioration of flight muscle, foot injuries from being on substrate they normally don't spend 24 hours a day on, etc.).  She received a neck band and number so she can be monitored in the future.  The cooper's hawk and gw gull had also been released leaving with just the great-horned owl, thayer's gull, and a new arrival of a hit window robin in care.

Other than that, I am trying to get back to normal of island life.

Photos I took with my phone at the concert.. my camera was in my luggage in the car.

Another shot of Brett Dennen during his encore.

Stay tuned...

I would love to do a blog today catching you up on all the things that have happened over the past few days.  Right now, I am absolutely exhausted.  

So, tonight I am just going to veg and catch up on all my DVRed programs.  Hopefully tomorrow I can get something up for you.

the day I bruised my tailbone from sitting...

So I don't have any pictures to share with you today. I have spent my day sitting in lectures, over 8 ours of lectures. I did do some "networking" last night and it was a lot of fun. The one regret I have, I only ate a small bag of Cheetos for dinner. Aw, not much for absorption of alcohol. I did get very nervous this morning when I couldn't find my camera, and I remembered exactly where it was. That meant I had I knew I had to stop by the exhibitors tables before lunch. Because a group of us went and hung out in a room after we left the bar and I remember setting it on their ironing board and they were leaving at to head back to there respective homes, Redmond, WA and Somewhere, New Mexico. They have a project in the works, call The Feather Book. Basically what they are doing is getting rehab centers, and museums, and zoos to send them feathers from adult birds that they are photographing and are going to put them into a book. I didn't get a chance to ask Dave or Casey how they were treating birds that have many color morphs, or even regional differences. I can tell you that I have noticed much richer brown shades of some of the BoP (Birds of Prey) here in the Midwest. Anyway, we have been in contact with them already and have sent them numerous samples. Anyway, I am getting a bit of subject. I ran in there and got my camera, they weren't sure whose it was but glad that someone had come to claim it before they took off.

I have been told they are having salsa dancing tonight at the bar (Izzy & Moe's not The Cave Bar) and have been asked if I was going to go. Initially I said yes, but after today I think I just want to relax in the quiet of my room with the tv and my butt not flat on any surface!

I have another day and a half of sitting in the conference chair before my 4 1/2 hour flight. I learned some good things today about medication, pox, waterfowl, wound management, and diagnostic technique sampling.

I hope you had a good day.

Today's fun

Today has been a day of learning and I am currently on my dinner break before I have to head back for 2 more hours of lectures.  I already have conference butt.. aurgh, my tailbone is soo sore.  I have gotten some good information and of course I will be getting much more over the next few days.

Here are a few photos I took yesterday and today of things around the hotel.

This is the ceiling in the atrium.

The cave bar in the middle of the atrium.

The outside of the hotel, see not square.

the wagon wheel at the mini golf course.

A problem for me, this is a night light that is the light switch for the bathroom.  For anyone who knows me well. I hate lights when I am trying to sleep.. hmm... how can I solve this problem.

Take one tea bag package.

And tuck in the light corners.. done.. problem solved!

The golf course looks better in the sunlight.

Looking the other direction out of my other hotel window.

Aww look a fox squirrel enjoys berries at lunch time.

He spotted me.

nom nom nom

Okay... does anyone else see the fail in this photo??

Okay well, I think it is too late to get a real dinner now before I have to head, but I can pick up a bag of chips in the gift shop before my next lecture.

Have a great night.

Willowbrook

Today is an unofficial day of the NWRA symposium here in Chicago.  They offered field trips to a local rehab center, Willowbrook, the Field Museum, or the beginners rehabbers course (which I took last year).  So I opted to go see the Willowbrook facility.  It is something among rehabbers to always want to visit other centers, even when we are on vacation we have a tendency to scope out rehab centers to learn new things and see different caging.

Now I have a bit of time before registration begins, so I thought I would post a blog with loads of pictures from the center.  And then later tonight is the standard meet and greet/ice breaker social.  I am currently charging the battery for my camera so I can get some photos of the interior or exterior of the hotel.  You will really see why I keep saying bees nest/honeycomb.

This is leaving my room back to the lobby... I only took 3 photos but could have taken another 3 to get back to the lobby, but they all start to look the same, just alternating sides.

again.

and again.

Willowbrook is part of a reintroduction program of the endangered Brande's Turtle. They gather eggs from gravid females, incubate, hatch and raise for 3 yrs before release.

"Spring" a female kestrel exhibit bird.

"Tanka" a most likely female great horned owl.  They look really different than ours on the west coast.  All the pics of the ones I have had in house are far more grayish in color.

A female coyote in rehab.

A golden eagle, exhibit bird.  first for me actually seeing one.

A Turkey Vulture. exhibit bird

Exhibit raccoons, raised by people as pets so they are non-releasable.

I don't remember if Jack told us the name of this male Peregrine.  He was a bit flighty and took several attempts to glove up, but once there, he just wanted to stretch his wings a bit.  This peregrine is actually blind.

stretch!!

had to air the pits.

never let go of the glove though.

you can see just how fast they beat their wings.

one of the 2 sand hill cranes that were acquired by Willowbrook as part of McCormick donating his land to the State preservation foundation.  The state put it as a stipulation that the cranes had to come with the property.  McCormick had received them from Sand Hill Crane Foundation for his "fund raising" help.

The beady little eye.

A red phase Eastern Screech owl.

Male cardinal

a very pretty mourning dove.