Hodge Podge.

Well this blog is going to be filled lots of different things.. So hang on it could be a bumpy ride.  First off it was an amazingly busy day yesterday and at work today I felt the pain of the lack of sleep.  It started out with the new show being opened at my friend, John's, gallery.  The work, very different than the last artist featured and I really like her work.  It is amazing if only I wasn't such a lowly peon I would really like to have few of the pieces.  

Shortly after that I walked even more downtown (2 more blocks in) stopped in the new Discovery Sea Kayak store and got to see Guinness. I haven't seen him for nearly a month!  Sad, I know but it was great to see him again.  Then it was over to Herb's for the relay idol karaoke finals.  They had some technical difficulty and were about an hour behind, but soon the show got going and we it was great!  Great singers, great entertainment, good friends, good drinks and food... aww not much more you can ask for!

Guinness has an organic sticker on his head.  Every single person who walked in the door commented on it.

Steve joined us at Herb's for awhile.

Travis and his dad, Travis.  Now I know where Travis gets his humor.

Tony sports the wife beater as it was quite a warm afternoon.

Family love.

Janelle stops by for a short time, to support her fiance, Travis.

Tony gives it his all.

Steve returned after taking his ducati home.

Bob prepping self to sing, and clapping for other singers.

My coworker Jen joined me for the festivities... like I told her today every one named Jen is a bad influence on me. I would have been in bed hours before we actually left.  John, behind her is being good and sticks to water.

Jen, you look awfully innocent.

Daven, the bouncer for Herb's decided to Mohawk his hair that night.  We estimated about 10 inches of height that added to his already six foot height.

Today I returned to work and it felt like the weekend was just way to short.  Next weekend I should be heading down to Seattle to visit the bro and just get off the rock before life gets way to hectic here, though it has been feeling like it already is!  We got in some new arrivals on my days off, a new fawn, 8 new merganser ducklings, and 2 coonlies!!!!  They are very cute at are a good age for handling still.

Coonlies!!!

A flowering tree outside of our office.

The 2 boy otters, getting stronger and healthier after their recent bout of tummy issues.

Nom nom nom

Again... another video: otter feed.

Anyway tonight I am just going to relax, watch some tv and get some rest!

newest group at Wolf Hollow

Well, it is that time again for another set of babies to come into Wolf Hollow.  These are the ducklings.  We just got in 2 small ducklings that are still inside and a group of 5 mallard ducklings that are starting to get their big kid feathers, so they are outside.  Sadly I don't have any pictures of the mallards but I do of the other two.  The other sad note, I found out last night that the little wood duckling actually pass away last night :(  That is a very sad thing.  We have had good success with wood ducklings in the past even though most centers find them very hard to take care of.  But it will just push us to do better with the next ones we get in.  In the past 2 years we have raised our wood ducklings with success, so this is a sad thing.  

Wood Duckling and Common Merganser enjoy their swim time.  Yes, an unusual couple, but they only get to see each other in these brief moments as their size is so different it is fearful to put them in together in the same housing.  Plus their diet differs greatly.

Wood duck seems to think the merganser is his/her mommy.

Rubber duckie you're the one!

Swim little ones swim.. and eat those meal worms!

So damn cute! so if you haven't figured out, the little one is the wood duck.  Their coloration differs from a mallard by the eye stripe stopping at the eye and not going to the bill. And the Merganser is mainly brown/black with a few white spots on the back and white cheeks.  They also have a longer bill as they are diving ducks and eat fish & lots of bugs!

So snuggly!

Time for a video.  I hope you enjoy!

I also heard that we have gotten in the other group of youngsters that have been expecting to come in soon; those being coonlies!!  I don't have any pictures as they came in yesterday and I didn't work.  I didn't do much of anything.  I was planning on getting out and enjoying the sunshine and beautiful weather we are having this weekend, but was just to beat to do anything. 

Today I am going to be heading down to Concepia for the newest photo show gallery opening.  It will be pretty interesting, and I am not quite sure what to expect at this moment.  I just hope it is a success for my friend John.  Afterwords, I will be heading to Herb's for the Karaoke finals for the Relay Idol- a fundraiser for the Relay for life (American Cancer Society) event on the island.  It should be good as I have 3 friends in the finals and it will be tough b/c all of them are great singers in their own right!  I hope you all have a chance to get out and enjoy some sunshine, friends, and have a great day!

finally right.

I know I feel into the slack pattern to get some posts done.  I have been out and about, but haven't had out my Nikon too much.  And work, well it has been crazy hectic.   Here is what we currently have in house: 2 adult bald eagles, an adult great blue heron, an adult spotted towhee, 3 house sparrows, 3 American robins, 3 barn owls, 11 European starlings, 1 American crow, a common merganser, a wood duck, and five mallard ducklings, mammals: 6 black tailed fawns, 12 cottontail bunnies, 3 river otter kits, a fox kit.  Doesn't look like much but when it takes roughly an hour to feed all those bunnies, and quite a bit of time to feed the fawns since they are in multiple locations.  The time really racks up.  Like to the point where we are trying to get some extra prep projects done to prep for other animals that may be coming in soon but aren't able to. :(  We happily got our 3rd intern today so that should help pick up some of the extra work once she is all trained up!

So I do have some pictures to share with you from the hollow over the past few days.

The apocalyptic mess after trying to feed the otters a bowl feed.  They aren't quite getting it.  Today we tried something different- we tried fish bits since they are having trouble with their formula.  I got bit in the process, so did Shona!

One of the bunnies!  This one is about ready to be off formula.

Isn't it a cutie!

This little swallowtail decided to visit us in the food prep kitchen today!

Very pretty!

Right before I shooed it out the window.

Our newest bald eagle.  I don't think I have ever seen one with such a white head!

Feathers a little wanky... not sure what is wrong with him/her.

Okay, that is about it.  The weather is looking like it is going to be very nice for the next few days including my weekend.  I will try to be getting out-  as my friend will be in Vegas so I won't be helping her at her shop!  Stay tuned.

soul

I'm gonna eat your soul for breakfast with my pancakes and bacon, and it is gonna taste real good!




Sorry for the lack of posts over the past few days. It has been pretty hectic and insane. Not much to report on though and not much in the way of photos either.

a few snap shots.

Today I left my electrical equipment at home, except for my point and shoot camera.  Which of course was a mistake.  Well at least not taking my new Nikon with me.  I surely didn't have time today to sit down at my laptop and do a bit of dabbling on the tubes.   As it was a run run run kinda of day.

The day started out very weird.  I was doing the first feed of the day, a cottontail bunny whose eyes just opened and s/he was feeding very well.  So well in fact that it was just actively swallowing all of it down.  I thought it was a bit strange so I pulled the nipple out of the mouth and it wasn't moving!!  OMG, this little bunny died while I was feeding it.  I held it head down and did a few compressions on its back and then s/he took a huge deep gasping breath.  Holy crap, I resuscitated the rabbit!  Next on my list was upgrades; I was able to get many of our little songbirds upgraded, which is what I wanted to get done over the last 2 days and finally just set at gettin r dun.  I also had to run to town to pick up a new songbird arrival who we also got set up.  Shortly after, we had someone drop off a white footed mouse, they are oh so cute.  This one is not quite an adult and had been caught by a cat, so we will keep her for a few days and then get her out the door.

Since we have a few interns in, it was time to treat them to a nice lunch.  So I did the order pizza and pick it up.  It was pretty damn good.  I had heard that Jimmy's pizza hadn't been very good lately, but they pulled through for us today!  Like our seasonal rehabber said after the first bite... "this is damn near orgasmic!"  lol

The day continued on with more feeds and witty banter between staff... oh some days I love my "Fridays".  The 2 pm feed was the second attempt to get the otters to start to feed from a dish.   Oh I will tell you that the pictures do not convey the hilarity and the epic mess this creates.

Whoops, walking through the formula.. aww more on them than in them.

Shona trying to convince them to take the nipple down into the formula. I try to syringe some slurry at them from the bowl.

look at the mess on the floor.

Just keep trying..

the little girl which Shona is feeding is very slurpy at the nipple and biting on it.   She was just going to town without getting much.. Of course both the boys had walked away from me.

Back at trying to feed.

nom nom nom

Our Great Blue Heron is up on a perch!  Yeah he can fly!

Close up!

Not much happened at the end of the day.  I was thinking about going for a run after work, but since I left my Nikon at home, that meant I didn't have my iPod either since it is in my camera bag.  I thought about Lime Kiln too to whale watch.. but again, without my camera it would have just been depressing.  So home I am with not much else going on.

Sounds like it will be nice for my two days off.  Hopefully I can get out there and do something in the sun.

just 2

Well, today was just a blah day for me.  I slightly feel like I hit the self destruct button and I am slowly blowing up.  But don't worry too much, I will be okay.  Here are the two best photos I took today.  We moved the barn owls out to the slatted flight so these will probably be the last 2 photos of them, unless I am able to get some at the capture and release time.

Recovery

Today was a long and interesting day.   We had surgery scheduled for our little fox kit today which was great.  The fox has a broken femur (from being stepped on by a deer!).  The vet was able to put a pin in the leg that she will remove in just a few short weeks!  Until then she will be getting some antibiotics to fight infection and pain management (NSAID) medication to help with inflammation.  We also got a new arrival this morning, a new fawn was brought in.  I probably would have sent it back out the door except for one thing.  Something grabbed this little guy by his head!  I can't be certain, but it looks like it may have been a dog (but who knows, maybe it was a fox)... humm now that would be interesting if both of the cases I am talking about today are deer vs. fox and fox vs. deer!  Anyway, b/c of the damage that was done, puncture wounds and lacerations all over the head, I wanted to take some radiographs.  Because the fawn was a bit jumpy I gave it a very mild sedative to help make it easier to xray.  I couldn't make heads or tails of the graphs, so when I picked up the fox I dropped off the rads there.  Like I had mentioned, I gave it a mild sedative but deer are very strange creatures--  either the sedative just doesn't take, or it knocks them out quite well.  Well, he is on the quite well scale and even when I left for the night he was still sleeping quite soundly. 

Here are a few picture I took today.. I would say maybe someday I will quit taking photos at work, but I know that is what you come here for :)

The three barn owls, up on perches.

Soo funny

put the wings out and sway!

little tea kettles.

I was really trying to get a photo while they were sleeping there, but every time I peeked through the window they would start their threat display.

The fox after surgery today, before being moved into her carrier.

Aren't I just adorable!

shaved leg and stitches

back in her carrier, ready for food

I hope you enjoyed the photos.