Icy's Playce

2011-03-18T10:15:00.002-07:00

Okay I know I haven't posted in awhile, but I wanted to share a link to our San Diego photos posted on facebook for my friends and family who don't have facebook. It was a wonderful week filled with many many miles walked and lots of cool things seen.

Vacation photos

Vacation photos II

Vacation photos III

Fell behind

2010-08-21T10:04:00.002-07:00

Well I just looked and realized it has been over 2 months since I posted!!! Wow when did life get so busy. Oh wait that is b/c work is busy, personal life w/ softball, island adventures and off island adventures. I wish I had some pictures to post today but a few weeks ago when down in Seattle, I left my camera at my brothers. I really don't have to many work pictures that I can add as I really haven't been taking that many photos this year. I don't know why just haven't. I do have some pictures from when we (Shaun and I) went off island, up to Beckler River and then out to SeaFair on a buddy of Shaun's boat. I will try to get those on here, if and when my brother sends me my camera, otherwise it will be awhile before I will be down to see him to get it back from him.

I hope life finds everyone happy and healthy.

An attempt to stay on top of things.

2010-06-07T17:28:00.009-07:00

Okay Shocking isn't it? Posting again so soon, I figure maybe it will be easier if I actually keep up on it :). Weather has been back and forth one day rain, the next sun, rinse and repeat. Which can make getting some projects at work done a pain. Plus it can make for getting out and doing things can be a bummer from time to time. grrrr.. but we (Shaun and I) have been making the most of it. So here are some pictures from around and the hollow.

Saturday we took a lovely little walk out by the light house ridge; saw lots of pretty poppies.

a gull cruises the updraft of the cliffs

soaring by.

Shaun w/ the lighthouse in the background.

Work work work... well you can tell this was a rainy day. Some of the Hawthorns are blooming.

Deer laying under the tree by the golf course

Shaun tees up

Putter.

another swing.

He's in the deep stuff.. and the muddy stuff too!

3 little balls all in a row. These boys are good

Out fishing on the lake by John's. I actually caught me a little fish as well as a sunburn.

Shaun grabbed my camera... Punk :)

Back to work stuff.. Still a bit slower than normal but there are a few things to take pictures of.

banana slug at work, what a doozy!

The mallards are getting so big

Where have you put me??

a caterpillar down at coon cleaning area.

Our little LBB is getting feathers, we can now say it is a House Sparrow.

The coons are now taking trips outside.

Okay that is about it for now.. hope you have a good week.

It has been awhile...

2010-05-26T18:25:00.000-07:00

So I will apologize, it has been a very very long time since I have updated here. I would have to say that life has got a bit busy for me (and I have been enjoying it greatly). So I will put up a few photos b/c well I have many many to choose from and that would just be a very very long post (meaning taking hours for me to upload them all.)

They are going to out of order so I will best to caption the pics.

Last weekend we did a little bass fishing on John's lake, I didn't catch anything while the men landed a few bass (John and his 2 1/2 lb bass).

Shaun and his 2 1/2 lb bass.

John's wife Janis has some lovely flowers this one catches the dew drop right in the middle.

Wildflowers at work.

A Hatchling Little brown bird, still has some growing to do before we know what it is for sure (I am horrible at baby bird id).

OOPs, sorry this is sideways thought I had it flipped before upload. 2 barred owlets.

Here is the lbb after just a few days, feathers coming in. Still don't know what it is.

Hooded Merganser baby, he was tiny and yes I did say was :(

Here is one of the other set of little brown birds we have... still not sure what they are, they thrill when you feed them.

Our Stellar Jay baby. S/he learned awfully quick how to eat on their own.

Still acts hungry.

Baby great horned owl outside in a mew.

I am scary!

2 baby barred owls, one has a quail leg.. yum.

Humming birds x4 at my feeder, 2 sitting on it, one flying in from the left, and one just below the feeder flying in.

Yum yum.

Most days they don't play nice and share.

Late day feeds means for more cooperation.

Apple blossoms at work.

rain drops on them.

flowers.

more flowers from a paint job I have been helping Shaun on.

Oops, sideways again. more flowers from a paint job I have been helping Shaun on.

more flowers from a paint job I have been helping Shaun on.

more flowers from a paint job I have been helping Shaun on. (really I do help with the painting)

more flowers from a paint job I have been helping Shaun on

Flower at work

Flowers at work.

One of the squirrels we just recently released. He has a cashew and is hoarding it all for himself.

One of the fox kits we have in.

Baby Mallards, they look really different now, their big kid feathers are in.

This loon made an unfortunate parking lot landing. After picking him up, we put him in a tub to make sure he was waterproof, gave him the once over and sent him out for a release all within 2 hours.

And here the loon is flying away.

The baby great horned at admin.... fuzzy wuzzy.

a short tailed weasel we got into work.

little bitty raccoon babies having breakfast.

Some times they just need to be scruffed!

One of the barred owls when they first came in.

Once again baby great horned owl.

I will try and keep you up to date a little better. I didn't even get anything off my Nikon camera for this post, b/c I happen to put them in my folders and don't know what was new and old to all of you. I hope the weather is treating you well. Not to hot for the people it gets way to hot for and warming up for us that have been way to chilly.

I'm Sorry, so sorry.....

2010-02-24T10:59:00.002-08:00

I know I promised a new post this weekend and I completely dropped the ball. The weather was so nice out that it meant for some time to go play outside. Which in turn meant one tired Penny, so I didn't post. I have been thinking about it since then thinking.. man I need to get some of those pictures up, but have just been too lazy to do it. I won't make any promises but I will say soon. Soon my friends, I will put up a new post.

busy bees

2010-02-18T12:02:00.003-08:00

Okay I have some great photos and funny stories to share with you, but don't have the time right now on my lunch to be able to cram it all in (if you are a blogger yourself you know how long it can take to upload pictures and well I also have to do some self-editing to figure out just which ones I want to put up). I know it is highly unlikely for me to get to a posting tonight, but I will definitely get one out over the weekend. Hold me to it!

From the sounds of it the hummingbirds are starting to come back up to the island, so that will mean me getting my feeder set back up and my camera poised once again. I also saw 2 bald eagles in a *blushing* compromising position today on my way to work. /sigh this is a good feeling, but also means we may start getting busier before our "normal" season. I also saw my first bumble bee today as I have the work door wide open to let in fresh warm air and gorgeous sunlight (it is helping the floor wax cure faster too)! Looks like spring is trying to sprung here.

Okay that is about all the time I have right now to fill you in. I will give you a picture or 2 though just to hold you over.

Eagle flying over Wolf Hollow.

Female Downy Woodpecker back by our Eagle flight cage.

Bald Eagle taking off from a tree across from a deer carcass.

Hope you enjoyed those!

time has been flying

2010-02-12T20:32:00.006-08:00

Okay, I have become a bad blogger. Once a month... sorry? What can I say I have been quite busy and it has been great! It has been really nice. So I guess I need to rewind to give you some catch up time. A few weeks ago Shaun and I headed off island for what was to be a fun day; a scouting trip for his up-and-coming boys winter camp out (well, it is happening at this very moment). We caught the 8 am ferry off the island and headed up to Baker Lake. There we explored many different roads and found some snow to go play in and attempted to get the truck stuck.. not good when these are roads that help probably wouldn't be coming along for days. Soon we headed back down from the Mountain/Lake to hit up the big city of Burlington for some dinner, mainland shopping, and then back to the ferry to make it back home for the night. Well, the plan got diverted.

How you might ask? A flat tire, and a truck that the lug wrench was missing and a jack that wasn't tall enough to lift the truck to change the flat. What should have been a 15 minute exchange took us 2 1/2 hours. Once we knew we had to go on a mission to find a star lug wrench, all bets were off on getting it done before eating (we were both fading fast from not eating). After dinner at Red Robin, we went on a search for a lug wrench finally getting a collapsible wrench from Shuck's Auto. The work began... once the tire was off that is when we found the jack wasn't tall enough, put the flat back on, attempted to put a 4x4 under the jack.. now it was too tall! ugh.. looking around we both saw Office Depot.. both of us thought at the same time.. ream of paper? I walked over to buy one as they were locking their doors @ 7 pm WTF!!!! Well, good thing Target was right there so I walked over and bought one. Success. Too bad that the last boat was leaving Anacortes at that time. Very tired, we did the shopping we needed to do and then discussed what the game plan was going to be. Shaun's mom and step-dad were up at the Skagit casino for her birthday, so we decided to head up there and spend time with them. Dan did well at the penny slots (that is all they have for slots) but Shaun and I both played for fun (i.e. donated all the money we put in). It was pretty fun that is for sure. Well we all got some sleep and caught the afternoon ferry back to the island.

Shaun & I catch the 8 am ferry off the island.

He kept calling me Miss Macgyver b/c I kept coming up with ideas to help.

Using the collapsible wrench with my hair tie as the jack spinner since the lug wrench was mia.

Just last weekend was a fully packed weekend.. first came an all girl's party on Saturday night, Sorry no pictures to share as there was male entertainment and he didn't give his permission for any of his pictures to be used online. Which is fine b/c well, I wasn't that into the whole scene anyway (been there, done that, have the picture with me and 6 of them :P). I headed over to Shaun's sister's house where he was watching his niece to play some video games after she went to sleep for the night. His sister (at the same party as I was) came in shortly after I arrived, that can tell you just how good it was. She challenged me to some Guitar Hero... I actually did better than her, but I think that is b/c she was a bit on the inebriated side (it has been a very long time since she has had anything to drink). She has asked for a rematch so probably tomorrow she will take the title back.

Shaun snaps a picture of me "rocking out"

Erika looks on as I play a song.

Of course the next day was Superbowl Sunday so there was a whole lot of fun to be had. We went up to a friend of Shaun's house, John, to watch the game and have some fun. And that we definitely did. With a bit of clay shooting, beer, football, great food, and hanging out at the fire pit.

Bob shoots at clays while Tony pulls.

I Love this photo. Classic photo of the life I know from back in the day.

John's turn

Of course you always need wood for the fire pit. All pregame.

Now work stuff. We have a Canada Goose in that appears to have been shot, there was a break to the tibiotarsus and a pellet in the under part of the foot. We did surgery to remove the pellet and then used a metal spatula as a splint. We had to cut it down to actually fit the leg better.

We also have quite a few raptors in: 2 bald eagles, 2 red tail hawks, the wintered turkey vulture, and a sharp-shinned hawk. One of the eagles has a broken wing we will just have to see how it heals. The sharp-shinned had an injured wing and right now we are hoping that he just needs to regain strength in it. One red tail hawk has tendon/ligament damage to a wing (crossing our fingers it gets better). The other red tail just seems to have had a minor bump and is in the process of getting fit for release. The vulture is good to go, just waiting for more vultures to be around in the area. As for the last eagle, well that one is a tough one. Has been at the center for almost 3 weeks and just isn't processing foods well. Losing weight even with all the calories we are pumping into him. Plus he had blood lead toxicity upon arrival, we treated for the blood lead, but we don't know what kind of damage it has already done to the organs. Just looking for a change positive or negative to know what our next step is. Okay after that sadness here are some photos from work.

Michelle (DVM), uses some precision tools to cut down the spatula.

Cutting it down, sorry I don't have any pics of the procedure (Shona took them all as I was acting as the tech and monitoring breathing and the equipment)

The red tail prepping for release.. lunch (a quail) is in the talon.

Getting ready to fly off with the quail.

Just a parting shot.. This was the view when we went and picked up the sick eagle from Lonesome Cove Resort. I thought it was pretty cool. Wish I had my good camera with me instead of my point and shoot.

Okay that is all for now, hope to keep you more informed in the future.

new year new happenings.

2010-01-17T16:27:00.006-08:00

No better place to start the New Year's Eve it was a very interesting night, and a very enjoyable night. After spending a few hours getting all girlie after I got off of work that day. My friend, Shaun and I headed out to the town. Our first stop was my friend John's shop for some electric blue margaritas and catching up with the rest of the normal crew. We popped upstairs to one of the apartment/condos above (one that I had looked at renting with my friend Jenn) for some drinks and fun. Soon it was off to the good old watering hole of Herb's. Getting there at about 11 made me a bit concerned with how it was going to be at midnight, b/c well there was a lot of room in there. Soon, as in about 11:30pm it became a situation of the person limit had been reached and Daven had to keep people outside. Midnight came, Happy New Year's were exchanged and soon it was heading home because the night had lost it's luster. I don't think it was a moment too soon, b/c the champagne at the end of the night did its duty (once again, you think I would learn) and I spent some time sleeping on my bathroom floor. 'nuff said.

Gabby showing off her beautiful black strapless dress and stunna shades up in the apartment.

Me and my mask at Herb's.

Mask on, oh what a great night.

Shaun checking the time. We were only minutes away.

Gabbers striking poses.

Inness saying hello, Happy New Year.

G-money and I... killers in strapless dresses.

Eric's stock. Bud Light and his midnight Champagne.... I am kind of strange but I really like this shot.

Happy New Year everyone!

New Year's Weekend Shaun picked up a side painting project and asked me if I wanted to help. I said sure, I don't mind painting much, but ask me that after we get to working on painting a lot of the things we need to paint at work. Towards the end of the day, being high on paint fumes after painting the house's downstairs bath, I let Shaun finish some of the more detailed/cutting/places I didn't want to reach while I snapped a few pics.

Shaun getting behind the toilet, b/c well yeah. I think I had had enough at that point. :)

After being done with that part for the day, ran out of paint and what not. We had talked to our friend Daven about coming over and hanging out. Shaun hadn't ever played beer pong so we planned on that.

Daven chilling (literally the fireplace wasn't going) in the house.

Shaun, post painting & post pong.

Okay now onto what I am sure you want to read about, work... I really don't have too much to share. As of Friday we only had 5 animals in rehab (3 raptors, 1 vulture, 1 wood duck), and I know the wood duck was released yesterday. So yeah, not much to share work besides just a few photos.

The electrocuted eagle sitting on the rope perch. Soon he/she will be heading out to Bellingham for release.

In flight.

The wood duck when inside. it is pretty tough to get a good pic in low light with a stressy critter like this.

a Great horn owl that came in that had been unable to get out of a yard. I think she (most likely) was stunned and just a bit sore, b/c she has been doing fine since arrival.

Here is the wood duck in his couple of days of outside time. B/c of the stress level they attempt to fly into the screens, once we knew his waterproofing was good and heard there were some chilling at a near by lake, Shona took him their for release.

The great horn owl outside after just 1 day with us.

The barred owl also got moved outside the same day as the Great Horn Owl. Off of eye meds from the ulceration on the eye from being hit by a car.

Okay that is basically the update. Hope you all are having a good new year thus far and surviving the winter. /brrr

Seattle Christmas.

2009-12-29T18:18:00.009-08:00

So I need to get you caught on the happenings. Numbers are slow at Wolf Hollow and I got to take it down by one a week and a half ago by taking our Juvenile Bald Eagle for release up past Rockport along the Skagit River on my way to Seattle for Christmas vacation(though they did take in some critters while I was away). If you recall this one had been with us since the middle of June so he had lots of time to grow. Releasing him/him on the Skagit gives him a fairly easy chance of finding fish as the salmon are running and the eagles are congregating. Giving the best opportunity.

Eagle in the carrier just prior to release.

Less than a minute after the carrier was opened, out and in flight.

Had a great flight up and down the river before settling on the far bank.

After that I headed to Seattle to spend the holiday with friends and my brother. Had a good time, hung out with a few friends on their birthdays, especially a fun Seattle trip with my friend Zee. We rode the monorail, played at Pike's Place, and then went and explored the aquarium (man had it changed since my last visit, plus we spent a lot, A LOT, of time at the touch tanks).

The Monorail approaching West lake center!

Tropical exhibit at the aquarium.

That be a rock fish perched on her arm.

The well known Lion fish.

This guy was avoiding me taking his picture.

Nemo!!

Any guesses?? looks like an sucky disk of a octopus to me.

There he is.

This guy hangs outs in the Octopus tube.

this is a toy in the gift shop, it is suppose to be a sea cucumber.. hmm... looks less like a kids toy to me.

Oh, look they have a glow bead in them.. Thanks Zee for a great day!

I want one of these such a cute limpet!

Otters (but they weren't holding hands like the famous viral video)

They have river otters. Why the heck did I take pics of river otters when I have soo many of them already?

And so Christmas morning came, opened presents and got a new long lens for my camera!! Excellent so of course I had to try it out. Later that morning we went to brunch in W. Seattle at friends and then off to watch Sherlock Holmes at Lincoln Square. I highly recommend that movie. Home to North Bend to make a Christmas feast for Mark and I.

A close up of Fally's face.. look at those eyes. He is such a good kitty.

Chilling in the living room while we are opening gifts.

Onyx being bombarded by Mark's new toy a Nerf "tommy gun"

Another shot.

And another.

Mt. Rainier over West Seattle.

The Elwa docked in Anacortes, why I don't know??

Duck in Fidalgo bay!

Playing with the macro on my camera... my antenna.

another fun play with my camera.

Mt. Baker.. looks pretty close, but yet soo far away.

The rescue ring on the ferry.

The straits.

Birds outside my apartment. My guess? Warbler of some variety.

Robins in a tree.

So that is about it.. Came back to the island on Saturday and went to see Avatar on Sunday.. another movie I highly recommend. Love the story line, the message, and the blue people.

I am am looking forward to New Year's Eve and the good things to come in 2010. I think it is going to be a great year!

Finally!

2009-12-12T16:15:00.006-08:00

Okay getting to this quicker than I thought. Back from helping my friend and you will see pictures later on that. So here I will share with you what has been going on and getting you up to day.

A few weeks ago I started up running again, and was doing really well I went running 4 times that week. It would have been more, but I hurt my back at work prepping for our fawn release and had some pain in my lower back :( It was better after a few days and then.... it got cold here... like below freezing and my drive to run got zapped. Temps are starting to come back up so I hope to get out there again soon, and also do some running when I head down to North Bend at the end of this week.

Sunset at American Camp Redoubt.

Click on this to see a larger panoramic.

Mt. Baker illuminated by the sinking sun

Eagles perched at work.

Animals were really slow coming in.. .like hadn't had any new arrivals in almost 2 weeks, then we got 5 in 2 days. Crazy for being December, some of the new kids include a Western Screech Owl, a Cooper's Hawk, a GW Gull, Fox Sparrow. But with getting all those in we also released our 5 fawns of the year. That makes me very happy, and hopefully the last time we have to use my truck to haul the trailer, as we now have the jeep which is being equipped with a tow hitch/receiver.

Our new little owl, hit by a car. I think there may only be minor head trauma there. at least I hope.

Cooper's Hawk, hit a window.. Seems to just have been stunned and weak. He/she is outside gaining strength.

Mr. Whitenose decided beside the compost was a warm place to sun himself in the freeze.

What happens when temps hit freezing and a stand pipe leaks.

All 5 of our fawns wander off. The last one is the wonky leg girl!

The big dark guy is in front. Remember the dark little fawn?

Checking on the others.

Making their way out of the trailer.

Of course there has been some nights out.. Karaoke, playing pool/darts, and just having an all around good time.

Gabrielle sings "Girls Just want to have fun".. pre-hair cut of the next morning.

Belting out.

Photo of the hair.. she was chopping it the next day... and then....

Gabby and Eric hang out for photos.

I stole Gabby's hat for a photo!

Gabby's new do and me :)

Playing some pool. As usual.. I lost :(

Gabby in her fuzzy hat.

Gabby loves her ESB.

First photo of the new do! Speaking of new dos.. Here is another, the one I just helped out with.

Eric as a candy can. Red and bleach stripped.

I hope you enjoyed the catch up! Til next time... have fun and keep out of trouble. I will be leaving for North Bend next Thursday to spend over a week at my brother's for the holiday. We will see what that week will bring.

please hold... life in progress

2009-12-12T14:02:00.002-08:00

Okay, so I obviously broke a promise. I didn't write a blog in the next few days. I know exactly what I want to post but haven't had a lot of down time at the computer it takes to get the pics and words on here. I will not promise I will try to get one done this weekend. I actually was intending to do it right now, but I just had a friend ask me to come help him dye his hair ("holiday" spirit). So yep, need to head his way to give him a hand.

Sorry

lag time

2009-12-08T22:47:00.002-08:00

Okay, I just looked at my blog and realized I haven't posted since Tday weekend. I figure if I write on here that I will post in the next day or two then I will actually do it. It is a bit to late to get started tonight as I have to figure out where my most recent pictures are.

I will say it should be easier as we have been very cold this week (as I hear a lot of places are this week). Hopefully I can bring you something that will warm you from the inside. :)

Til then, thanks for stopping by.

Attention Facebookers.

2009-11-27T19:51:00.002-08:00

Chase is donating money to small local non-profits. So of course I am going to do a shameless plug for my little non-profit I work for. These kind of donations can really help us to start new projects. This year we have been very lucky with some huge donations so we were able to rebuild our eagle flight, redo our septic system (it may sound like a luxury item, but when you use as much water in the summer as we do on laundry and cleaning, our system was failing miserably), and a new maintenance building. These were brought to you by applied for grants, private donations, as well as a few bequests (sadly this means someone died, but they were gracious enough to include us in their legacy).

So in a nutshell. Chase is giving away $5 million to various charities and needs you to help pick which ones. Simply vote for your favorite nonprofit (they are generous and give you 20 votes) and then get friends and others on Facebook to do the same. Give your charity the recognition it deserves and needs with Chase Community Giving. Right now we are in the voting stage which ends Dec. 11th. on the 15th of Dec they will announce the top 100 who will get 25k each. Jan 15 to the 22nd there will be final voting and on Feb 1st they 1mm grants and 100k for 5 charities is announced.

There you have it: come find Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre on the list! Plus vote for a few more of your favorite non-profits.

Thanks!!!!

slowing down

2009-11-20T21:57:00.004-08:00

So we have definitely slowed down at work. Which is nice, but it also means a lot of meetings to go over how the summer was and things we need to do, fix, and prep for next year. It is hard to believe that we have to already start prepping for March now, but it will creep up on us. Especially with staff members taking their vacations, holidays, conferences all coming up quickly.

Because of that I only have a few pictures to add from work. Here is what we currently have in house. Birds 5 Mammals 7 Total 12

Birds

Bald Eagle Juvenile, weak and thin (Anacortes),

Great Horned Owl *Adult, wing injury, tangled in soccer net (Whidbey)

Saw Whet Owl Adult, wing injury, cause unknown (Sedro Woolley)

Turkey Vulture Adult, weak, thin, missing feathers (Orcas)

Dark Eyed Junco *Adult, wing injury, HBC (San Juan)

Mammals

Black Tailed Deer x5 5 fawns, O/S, 1 was HBC, 1 was attacked by animal (Orcas, Anacortes, San Juan, Port Townsend)

Douglas Squirrel 1 juvenile, weak, broken leg, fell from nest (Burlington)

Harbor Seal 1 pup, O/S (San Juan)

That is right, only a few things left like I said. The coons were released earlier this week when we had a short break in the weather. The Douglas squirrel and harbor seal are just about ready to be sent on their happy way, once our weather finally breaks. The Great horned owl will be leaving at the end of the month when the volunteer who sent it to us is back for the release. And the fawns as well will hopefully be going at the end of the month once the modern firearm hunting season is over.

We are getting into winter raptor season, so that means the adults are coming in. The other big thing, the Swans have returned! That is right Trumpeter swans are back in the area and we have already received many calls already. Especially with the weather, which I will explain in a few minutes after the pictures. We don't have any in house yet, but I feel it will only be a matter of time. Okay onto pictures.

Wedgemussel on the latest release on 11/13/09.

Our brave little soldier, okay Douglas squirrel. he came to us with a broken femur after falling 20 feet out the nest as a little guy. All healed and hanging out until the weather clears.

I don't think I have shared a photo yet. This is the turkey vulture, came to us from Orcas Island. Poor thing is missing a lot of wing flight feathers and feathers on his/her back. We don't know what caused this, but it meant that s/he couldn't make the migration when the rest left. So we will be wintering this critter.

Our little Saw-whet, is actually getting quite close to release as well. Today s/he got live prey to see how well s/he hunts. We put the the motion sensor video camera in facing towards the container with the mouse in it so hopefully we get some good footage. If so, then off to the wild it will be!

The next great horned owl ready to go. This one like the last was caught in some netting (this one, a soccer goal) Goaaaaalll!!!

Okay that is it for critters and I don't have any personal photos to share this time. I went home to Seattle last weekend to hang out with friends and my brother. I got to see some cool things in the back yard. A late season juvi grey squirrel picking up berries, a Douglas squirrel doing the same, many Stellar Jays, a black capped chickadee, and of course many juncos (the only one of those I get to see in the wild on the island is the juncos)! It was great to see the kind of critters I care for in the "wild."

The weather has been atrocious so I have hunkered down in my apartment for a couple of weeks. The wind has been very strong gusts up to 60 mph on many days. Causing horizontal rains! Cold, pounding, painful rain :( So now you can see why the releases haven't been happening. It isn't fair to throw them out in the adverse weather.

giving credit where credit is due.

2009-11-04T18:06:00.002-08:00

I completely spaced off giving credit yesterday for one of the photos. I mentioned that I was not at the release of the otters yet I still showed a picture. Well, that photo was brought to you by the letter H. Heather, one of our board members/volunteers/ blog writers went on the release and I stoled the photo off of her facebook photos (don't worry she does it to me too, but we always try to acknowledge who gets the credit). So thank you Heather and thanks to Chad Foley who boated the critters and the 3 passengers to Shaw island for the release.

been a long time, sorry!

2009-11-03T18:03:00.010-08:00

I am very sorry about the length between posts. I have really thought about it on many of evenings, but just have felt too pooped to do one. This time of year sends me into hibernation mode. /sigh.

The time change this week has seemed to have given me a bit more of a boost. Work wise we have released a far number animals recently which is good because we are down to just staff being on site now. In the past few weeks we have released 7 seals, 4 river otters, 5 raccoons, 9 grey squirrels, 3 flying squirrels, 1 douglas squirrel, 1 euro rabbit, and a few raptors as well (barred owl, red-tailed hawk, great horned owl).. my list could go on with this. What we have left on site is 4 raccoons, 5 fawns, a baby douglas squirrel (just about ready for release), 4 harbor seals- 2 being released next week, and an subadult opossum (can't figure out what is causing her ailments), a saw-whet owl, turkey vulture, and the juvi bald eagle that we are waiting to release once the eagles return to the Skagit for salmon hunting.

Construction continues around the hollow. The septic has been done for quite awhile, but they have moved onto the maintenance building. Here are some pictures of how that is going.

The leveling of the ground.

after concrete was poured they worked on getting the walls set up.

Sorry they are out of order, I didn't mean to do that. walls up.

Wrapped.

Framing nearly done.

yes, it looks like a building.

Scott and Shane raise the roof!

Here are the animal shots.

Pre-release.. chilling out on the platform.

The first seal release. That is Segundo.

Second release: Chitenango hung around longer than the other 2

The rough skinned newts are in their spawning migration: we brought one in to take a look at it and get some photos.

very beautiful girl (the boys don't have rough skin at this time).

did not know that we had them.

And the flying squirrel babies grew up!

last picture before being moved outside and then released.

and way back when.....with the otters

The otters waiting for fish.

wrestling while I was cleaning.

And at release! I wish I could have been there but someone had to man the center.

Remember this little girl.

Well here she is now!
The coonlies all cuddled in sleep.

nom nom nom

Great Horned owl before release.

Our Turkey Vulture.

And the Red-tailed hawk who have a very short stay with us. Most likely got tagged by a car but on was in a sore stunned state.

Life outside of work has been busy. We had a fun weekend in Seattle for a bachelorette party at the beginning of October.

The car we took.

Janelle rode the bull in Seattle.

A day of shopping.

View from our hotel room.

Plus there was Halloween of course!

Boo from Mario party was the pumpkin I carved.

Night out on the town.

Dancing at Herb's

Gabby had a handmade dress for Marie Antoinette.

Dave got his eyes full.

The crowd.

How fun was it!

There are also pictures here that John Sinclair took at his photo gallery.

Okay that is about it... Hope you enjoyed.

Cheating.

2009-10-09T22:24:00.002-07:00

Okay so I am cheating a bit... I sent an email to an old coworker/friend tonight and decided I would copy and paste most of the email into my blog since it looked like good sharable information. I will not be including any photos tonight and I know I never did explain the photos from the last blog. I have been pretty drained the last few weeks, the changing weather, days getting shorter, all seem to be a major key in my drive sometimes.

We still have 11 seals which are all the survivors for the year. With Shona taking a 3 week vacation right when we got to the point of being able to do blood draws on seals it complicated things a bit. So we have been holding onto them. I also wanted to be able to show Vanessa how to draw blood so I needed someone seasoned to sit on the seal (aka Shona). We did do a blood draw on 4 seals on Thursday and the plan is for a Oct 17th release. Next week we will draw blood on another 3 seals and get them out the following week. We have one seal who is ubber slow (18.8 kg for the past 3 weeks) and just won't eat on his own. He has been a problem child from the get go and unfortunately had some health issues so he got a little more use to us than we would have liked. Today he finally started to associated the fish slapping the water as food instead of just staring at the person for another fish. Hopefully we have seen the last of our babies.

Late season brought us 9 grey squirrels (all in the w mammal cage now), 2 Douglas babies (one in the orchard cage and one just came in 2 days ago and is still on formula, she also has a break to the femur that we will just have to wait and see how it heals), 3 flying squirrels that are running around the indoor mew, a few cottontails that have gone to mainland, and a euro rabbit who has probably just a few more days on formula before we can get him/her out to a hutch. Recently we got in a turkey vulture, one that is still alive and not in a horrid state, looks like some bad molting or feather loss so it looks like we may be having this one over winter. We also have a RTH and a Saw-whet owl, they both got tagged by cars and it appears to just be soft tissue damage on both so hopefully we can do quick turn around on them. Some of the coons are getting big, so I will be working on getting 4 or 5 out over the next week or so. The fawns are doing well, big, and no major fur loss like last year. And of course the otters are otters, they have gotten to enjoy live fish and live crab, which was very amusing. Something that I am working with that I am just not sure what to do with is a garter snake that might have been hit by a car, it has some abrasions and the head looks a little misshapen, I tried to take him/her outside to see how it did and there is just no sense of direction. when it lifts its head it basically falls backwards on to the back of the head then turns over onto the belly. You can stomp and shake the ground but the snake just sits there not feeling threatened or anything. Feels strange to think about putting it down because it is a snake, but the thought of putting it out and letting it slowly starve to death or freeze to death, or be come way to easy of a target for a predator seems unfair. /sigh

That’s about it for things from the hollow. Besides construction type work. Both septic systems got revamped while Shona was gone on vacation and it was a nightmare, the work went fast but the tearing up of the ground, lack of them communicating with us, and having to be very conscious of how much water we were putting down into the septic tank until it was online was nerve racking. All the permits have been approved for the maintenance building so they are going to start on that on Monday. Hopefully that goes quickly too. Once it is done, we will be moving stuff from the warehouse into the building, so that we can move some things inside. We have to become ADA friendly so we have to change the radiograph suite a bit and the processing room has to be changed (nothing major in either just some moving of equipment).

Shona and Ross are planning on heading for the hills for her weekend so I will be on call tomorrow night even though it is my day off b/c Vanessa took some time to go to a family function in Minnesota. I just want to get the kids out the door before I think about taking an extra day or two off. Then I feel like I will be able to take a deep breath and not worry so much. It has been chilly here some mornings, about 40 degrees, I just am not quite ready for it.

Everyone on mainland enjoy the changing colors for me, that is one thing I miss.

sorry

2009-09-29T19:03:00.002-07:00

Okay so everyday I keep picking up my camera and thinking I am going to do a new blog update. Then I sit down, get a little sleepy, take a nap, and then just loss motivation. Including right now, I had good intentions for doing a blog tonight to also fill in some of the details from the last picture post.

So yeah, maybe tomorrow I will have enough energy to fill out a true blog post.

just a taste.

2009-09-20T14:46:00.006-07:00

I posted that I should have some stuff for you this week and I do I really do. I just don't exactly have the momentum to post right now so here is just a taste of what I can hopefully get up tomorrow.

Only short explanations today: Septic system redo at work

Run foxes run

Obvious? Seals.

Fly Barred owl Fly.

Cute little frog.

Fire is soo cool.

Day at the beach.

catch up

2009-09-13T11:36:00.002-07:00

Well, I didn't keep up like I thought I would but that is partially b/c it is slowing down at work. Which is a much needed break. We actually are getting just a bit of down time to do some teaching with the interns; I am very happy about that. I am hopeful that by the end of the week I will be able to piece together a much better post as we have some major releases that we will be doing this week!

As for regular life it has been buzzing. A large quantity of the tourist are trickling out, the only lingerers are the ones with out kids or the retirees who come after school has started. I have had lots of fun the past few weeks going bowling and just having some chill time with friends. I have pictures I could post (both of work and some of the animals at work), but my camera isn't close to me and I have marooned myself to the couch by mopping my floor. Sorry! I am extremely happy to have finally cleaned my apartment, no half assing it, but a full fledged cleaning. It has been awhile and with the time it took me I will have to keep that in mind to not let it go again for another full month.

I know short and only words but I thought I would let you know life is still chugging along.

Drive with Guinness

2009-08-29T16:08:00.010-07:00

Well first we will start off with a few work things before I get into the title of the blog. We got in an adult Canada Goose in who is severely emaciated, so we have to tube the goose to slowly introduce food into the system so we don't over load him/her. Jen is tubing the goose.

Slowly putting the tube in the mouth.

Down the hatch.

All done.

Time to go back into the kennel.

Next up is the flying squirrels, I don't have the best photos once again, but I wanted to share this.
Look my eyes are opening. 2 of the 3 had their eyes open when I left on Friday afternoon!

We had a work BBQ for our interns, staff, volunteers, and board Friday night. These are the clouds that loomed over head.

And it wouldn't be a week with out another incident by me. What you might ask this time? Well it is a seal bite. We had a seal who was acting a bit lethargic and opening and closing her mouth. She would try to boo but couldn't. I was provoking her, but never expected her to turn her head and completely snap at me... silly of me to think not. I think she might have just had a bone stuck from the fish feed she got earlier.

Now for the meat of the story. I month or so ago I mentioned how my friend's dog Guinness was having some issues. Well, talking to him recently Guinness had gotten a lot better and has peaked at his recovery. He still doesn't have complete full use of his back legs but he can go for walks and get in and out of my truck pretty well through the side doors; he never will be able to jump up on the back of my truck again like he use too. I will definitely take this over anything. He was very excited to go for a car ride and to get out and play a bit when we got to where we were going. Where were we going?? Well, it is actually a sad story. I wanted to see how the south end of the island looked after a purse seiner sank last night. Here are some photos.

A commercial crab boat moves through the South Beach area.

A look toward Vancouver island, upper end of South beach/Eagle Cove area. Not all those boats are there to help clean up.. some of them are fishing boats.. makes you really wonder what you are going to eat huh?

I was shocked by the number of boats up that area.

If you look along the beach you will see part of the cabin from the Anna J.

Clear day.. I really don't see much of a slick so that makes me a bit worried about how much it dispersed.

Part of the cabin.

Looky!! Guinness, licks his mouth.

What is over there boy.

He is looking at me wondering when we are going to walk some.

Up and moving. I was soo elated!!

coming to me.

He was sniffing the air, must have been a fox near by.

Didn't like me sitting still.

Come on Penny, let's get going!!

On our drive down I ended up right in the middle of a classic sports car ride, here are a few pics I snapped out my window as the last part of them drove by me as I pulled off.

a closer view of the cabin.

the crab boat.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures and I know a few of you have been wondering how Guinness is and I hope you are as happy as I am that he is up and moving. If he tries to run he ends up bunny hopping as the rear right leg just isn't as coordinated as it use to be and about the third time in and out of my truck was a bit tough for him, so I gave him a hand. He still has his I am still young attitude (even though he really isn't) and full of life. Like I said earlier. I am soo excited with how he is compared to how I saw him after the incident.

Thanks for stopping by!

yay! I actually am keeping up (at this moment)

2009-08-25T18:34:00.010-07:00

Okay well looks like I am keeping up, at least for this week. Not much has happened besides me causing more physical damage to myself. No, not another staple- that has healed nicely by the way and is only sore if I push on the place where the staple actually entered my hand, but from me whacking myself in the nose with my cellphone. Short story, I had my cellphone in a hoodie pouch and when I went to take the hoodie off the cellphone decided to stop on my nose, giving me my first nose bleed in years as well as much pain.

Work has been interesting as well as quite challenging this summer. It seem that there have been many scenarios that I have never come across hitting me one right after another, sicknesses, injuries, and just plain animals- one being showcased further down in pictures. So I will quit boring you with words and get right into the pictures-okay- :) as always don't forget you can click on a picture to make it bigger.

Kanab checks me out as I check on the seals.

Dragonfly and Lotis enjoy the haul out as the sun is getting low.

Chitenango keeps a flipper over the edge.

Not quite feed time, but they don't care you are they they want food.

Chitenango comes to visit. sorry no fish yet dude.

Found something more interesting to watch.

Abalone is napping, yes under the water.

In just a few minutes came up for a breath and moved to be wedged between the pipe and side of the pool all while still napping.

Segundo is curious to what I am doing.

As is Fatmucket.

Swim little man swim.

And the newest arrivals at Wolf Hollow and animal that I have not had the pleasure of raising yet and I am extremely excited to get this opportunity they (3) even spent last night at my house in my bathroom, so I could get them a late night feed.

A baby Northern Flying Squirrel!!!! How stinking cute!

The skin that will later be used for gliding.

sleepy time as we are getting ready to feed at 11pm.

stretch out!

yikes this picture looked good before I added the others from my Nikon.

Itty bitty feet.

an Itty bitty tail.

The extra skin attaches to the knee.

found the gray squirrels all cozy asleep right before a feed I couldn't resist a photo.

back to the flyers.

whiskers.

big head.

so small in my hand

stretched out.

Caught in the act.. in the food dish eating on his/her own.. Wait a minute.. that is a barn swallow they catch on the fly... what is he doing.

Checking out the moving meal worms.

Last but not least a video for your viewing pleasure. We have in a Juvi barred owl that got tagged by a truck (actually the side mirror on the truck). He most likely have a coracoid break so is on cage rest. S/he loves to hoo at me when I peek in the kennel.. soo cute.

Hope you enjoyed!

I know I know

2009-08-22T23:50:00.000-07:00

I can already hear it.... where have you been, why no new blog?? Well I have been busy and exhausted. I come home, look at my photos and just go ugh, I need to do this but then put it off and put it off. So we will start now to catch you up. I just realized I should look at my blog to see where I have left off... please hold...oh that is right Fatmucket and his first swim. Well since then we have had 3 other seals venturing out to the pools and over the next few days they will be full time in the pool with Fatty. Now we have lots of seals out playing in the pools at least part time. I figure all I am going to do in this one is put up some pictures and tell you about them as I go, and the pics will be in order of taking so they will seem quite a bit out of order, sorry about that but if you want a blog this is the only way you are going to get it this week :) hopefully after this catch up I will be able to give you blogs in a more cohesive/coherent manner. Okay that is a bit of a lie.. I will put days and nights out separate from work.

So recently I took a trip to South Dakota.. why you might ask. To surprise my mom for her birthday. My brother and I flew out am of Aug 5th, got picked up by my sister at the airport and we beat them to the restaurant, barely to surprise her.

She was chocked full of smiles that night.

Mom's cake.

Again with out flash.

My niece doing what she does best.. texting.

my mom's begonia.

I <3>

look at that.

Of course my mom's bday falls during the busiest time for my home town of Sturgis, The motorcycle rally. This year was number 69. I haven't been there since I moved to Seattle in 2001.. I was stoked, but the weather while we were home was all over the place.

Cops from all over the country come in to help with the rally.

Bikes..

the Buffalo bike.

Boobies.

I want that hat!

more bikes.

Killin some time.

Some things just don't need to be seen.

Buddha!!

That is right.

One of my favorite paint jobs.

Welcome rally goers!!

My sister's Mark and our dad.

Tammy, you so funny.

My parents cat.. Buddha belly!

The sandstone rock at the cemetery.. I decided to go for a walk to visit a good old friend. this rock use to be where we would hang out during the day, watch the stars at night, fly kites by.. /sigh

The Sturgis hill

Me sitting on the rock.

hello shadow.

peering over the edge.

what exactly do you want me to do?!?

looking back towards town.

this tree needed to shave its branch pit.

Life and death.

beyond me is.....

Bear Butte peaks over the trees.

a turkey feather on the ground.

Edges.

floating.

another feather

another pretty feather.

on the ground with it.

<3,>

unusually combinations make for unique pictures.

Turkeys!

Little did I know what was to come of this storm.

Lions Club park and HWY 34 as viewed from the cementary.

Woodpecker holes.

Lichen.

darker clouds.

a play with smother and rough.

Texture.

The sun hidden by the clouds.

a piece of hail in my had as it was still falling.

sucks to be those bikers.

wow.. scaled up.

The sun literally 15 minutes after the storm started.

unusually hail.. looks like it froze at it hit, or was a fried egg.

perspective.

my feet got cold and I used my brother's shirt as a place to dry my toes.

a limb knocked down.

leaves stuck to the side of the house after the hail.

The clouds break shortly after the storm.

I placed the hail there, for effect.

isn't it pretty.

Damage done to a car at the court house.

on my Nikon... the moon at the intern bbq at South Beach.

Just a cresent.

Eric shooting his guns at me while we help/hang out with Jenn prep for the San Juan County Fair.

She prints, we err.. watch.

2 of my friends from Issaquah showed up for a weekend unexpectedly. We went to the Mausoleum.

Louis and Gloria, little did they know just how many photos I would take of them.

snap snap

On our way out, Louis is already sick of the camera clicks.

profile.

hey you guys... click

so pretty.

a strange jump in pictures b/c these were on my Pentax with the rest of my work type photos. Sturgis moto rally.

bikes.. look at what you want.

a helibike???

Okay back to FH
Eric built a bike ramp in their front yard.. demonstrating mad skills.

Don't fall...

Roche Harbor to listen to T:FLO play, enjoying some Margaritas on the deck first.

Sunset with dinner at RH

A sunset kayaker at RH

the retiring of the color

San Juan County Fair... me and Smoky kicking it.

T:FLO plays the fair

Zuchhini racers!

Pretty inovative kids.

The best fair burgers were the legions.. Gabby shares hers with Casey.

Back to the Mausoleum with my friends (again b/c I used both cameras)

G~mata.. was a bit creeped out.

run away.. before something bad happens.

aww work....
Guess my name.

A bird we were trying to ID.. it came in in a nest with 2 other birds, he was not like the others and is not a cowbird.

Jen trying to ID said bird.

a Cedar waxwing and Elderberries...insert your own Monty Python joke here.

A female crossbill.

Issy helping to release Mergansers.

Fly away mergansers. can you see all 4.. I can.

Sometimes we have to work on ourselves. Jen is looking for ticks on Vanessa after carrying a young deer.

Intern BBQ at South Beach before Issy left and later found out that the county had just issued a burn ban that day... so we had to shut er down.

Such a pretty moon that night.

Otters sleeping in their dirt box.

Pseudoscorpion loves to blow bubbles.

Wedgemussel is a screamer.

Pseudo on a swim.

Dragonfly shortly after admit.

The first bald eagle release out of the new cage. He was very sketchy and we feared transport back.

Checking out the new surroundings.

Hey man, it is hot today.. I just need to sleep.

Segundo covers his face.

Wedgie is belly up while Fatty sleeps too.

Pseudo is tail up.

Lotis chills on the platform while Abalone takes a nap underwater.

the Juvi redtail got to spend sometime in the eagle flight cage.

Our Juvi bald eagle got upgraded to the Heron cage (the difference one release can make on being able to upgrade animals).

The eagle screams at me.

The stapler incident. I took a 9/16" staple from a staple gun to the palm of my hand.. right in the middle of the purple bruising there. It hurt soo bad for so many days.

The Red-tail hawk got released from the eagle flight cage, I thought while he was flying around to get his berrings he was going to flight right back in.

Dragonfly a bit later.

a tree frog visiting the seal nursery.

My hand on day 2. you can definately see the staple holes.

A merlin we currently have in as well.

Well that took a lot of time.. like 3 + hours. If I were to actually keep up it wouldn't be so bad. I hope you enjoyed.

just one more excuse.

2009-08-18T19:14:00.003-07:00

Well I had it planned to come home after work tonight and to do a blog.. I was pumped and stoked until 1/2 way through the day when I did a bone head thing. Okay, it wasn't an at fault kind of thing. But I put a staple (9/16") through the meaty part of my hand. I was helping an intern get a stapler open to refill before she went out to fix a screen in one of the mews. Just as the slide came back a must have been jammed staple came out and right into my hand. I sat there for a second and thought, do I remove it here or go into the treatment room to remove it. I just looked down and pulled it out, and just a note it was completely in my hand. It bled for quite awhile and then the pain started. I took some homeopaths to try and curb some of the pain. My hand is so sore, bruised, and painful. So now I am going to put it back on some ice and rest it as typing this hurts.

Damage done, blue bruise center of palm, purple at "hit" point, and even blue on my wrist.

Ouchy....

Again sorry.

Sorry for not being able to share animals, and vacation info with you. Tomorrow is another day so hopefully my hand will feel better

very very very sorry

2009-08-13T19:28:00.002-07:00

I started to work on a blog when I was leaving on vacation and realized once I was in Seattle that I had forgotten my power cord back in my apartment, so I was unable to complete it. I will get that up hopefully over the next few days. I don't have time tonight as I am meeting with a friend for some hang time. We were planning on going to the fair to play, but sadly it is raining.. until then.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

I have been working on a blog.. but in the meantime

2009-08-05T21:37:00.000-07:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

quick note

2009-07-28T20:55:00.002-07:00

I have been trying to do an update since Friday but I have been busy busy busy. Not having too much fun, but trying to stay cool. We have hit a heat wave here, and it feels miserable. Today at work we hit at least 94 degrees (that is what my truck said when I got in it to come home). Right now my inside temp matches the outside temp 77.1 degrees, I was quite excited to come home and have my house reading 76 degrees while it was still 88 degrees outside in town. I do have some photos to upload and give you an update, just not tonight. I plan to lay back down on the couch and just relax-- hopefully not fall asleep again.

swim time

2009-07-21T18:51:00.006-07:00

Today was a hectic morning... I mean hectic.. with the intake of 2 new seals and also getting in a raccoon that had a huge chunk missing from his back at the base of the tail (having many broken bones, as well as the 2 wounds being infested with maggots (more info than you wanted I'm sure)). I was really nervous on how the rest of the day would go, luckily- it calmed down. The interns did great today to keep us on task while I was indisposed checking in and checking over the new critters as well as showing another staff member on how we process blood samples we take from the seals. Thanks gals!!

This afternoon, like I mentioned was slower, we were able to get some projects done as well as time to watch Fatmucket take his first full swim in a pool! Boy did he like it, he needed no coaxing into the pool, he was a very strong swimmer, zooming around the pool, playing with his fish I had put in the pool with him, enjoying the in flow pipe, and also hauled out on the platform on his first full try!!! He is one smart cookie!!

Here are some photos of the swim.

Hello!

deep swim.

I knew he would be a belly swimmer from all of his tub swim.

An underwater picture of Fatmucket.. his head is above the water.

movin' around.

I see you.

Inflow pipe, swimming against the flow

looking for his fish.

heads up.

Wasn't ready to haul out yet.

Here is a SHORT video clip of the first part of the swim.

Hope you enjoyed.

lazy day

2009-07-18T20:36:00.006-07:00

Time to catch you up on some work things. It has been an insane week at work. I was lucky to have one 10 1/2 hour day.. don't ask about how long the other ones were :( We got in some new critters that kept us on our toes and very busy.

The fawns feeding from the bottle rack

licksies!

The otters have been moved outside!!

They seem to really enjoy having more room.

My first kingfisher!

This is how small the little kingfishers are... they are strange birds, they eat fish, make pellets, have tiny feet, and nest in burrows!

Snails that were munching greens while I waited to pick up a seal.

slow goings.

The next eagle was moved in to the eagle flight

Meet our second seal- Segundo!

After a day of relaxing.

the Fledged red-tailed hawk... waiting for a cage to open up in the musical raptor game we are playing.

The fledgling Barred owl

Sunning him/herself.

The Great Horn owl- in need of a bigger cage before release again part of the musical raptor game.

Seal #3- Kanab

Last night friends tried to help me forget the troubles of the week (they did a great job). We went out and had a slamming good time, here are a few photos.

Janelle, Travis, and Jenn

Jenn dances on Travis

Patrick, one of Jenn's new step brothers.. fricking hilarious!

All in all today has been a lazy day. I got about 1/2 of my house cleaning done, and groceries purchased, also got caught up on my magazines... Tonight has been a DVD night which has been great!

fill in

2009-07-18T02:06:00.001-07:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

a few more paddle board pictures

2009-07-13T22:21:00.001-07:00

Okay here are a few pics of me at paddle boarding.

Probably one of the only 5 minutes I spent up on the board. Can you see how soaked I already am.

Jenn, Me, and Heather.

What a day!

a new adventure.

2009-07-11T22:02:00.006-07:00

So today was another adventure. My friend Jenn had someone that could cover her shop today, so for the first time her and I could go just have a fun day and that we did! We went to the one place that I pretty much despise on the island, the bane of existence of the island... Roche Harbor. It wasn't as bad as I remembered... and after lunch and a few Margaritas I was will to try anything. This meant Paddle boarding. Wow, pretty intense. I generally have great balance but something about these boards made me very very very unsteady. I wasn't even away from the dock before I had dumped my board on my initial attempt to stand. I had no problem with it, even if our water is below 50 degrees F, the most embarrassing part is his dock is right under the restaurant deck. I was able to get myself back up on the board, but then Jenn made me laugh and I was right back in the water. "Biscuit" one of Brian's employees was trying to help me get back up. He looked at me and said give me your hand I will pull you onto the dock. I just laughed and said "NO, no you won't!" He was a scrawny little boy and there was no way he was pulling my large ass up onto the dock. I said I can get back on the board. I was bound and determined to do it. Getting back on the board is no problem for me, but it is hard when people are making jokes. Like "Just stay on your knees you are use to that." Yeah I spend a lot of time on my knees for work, we get that! Then there was the "Throw your leg over it like you are a cowboy... or like you are riding a cowboy." Oh boy, at least I was nicknamed Patron on the trip lol. I did attempt to stand up a few more times, but went in the harbor water a few more times, like 5 times total. I decided that paddling from my knees was the safest thing for me. Except for the fact that by the end of it my feet were asleep so me trying to actually stand on the board to sit down on the dock was excruciating! I did enjoy it even if I wasn't 100% successful. I would be willing to try again. I really feel like it is something that I should be able to do and am baffled on why I don't feel comfortable with it. The other 2 are like 2 oz so I think the less weight you are shifting when turning, paddling, etc.. the less the board notices you. Maybe I need to find a 16 foot board to feel stable lol.. anyway here are some pictures.. Enjoy

Jenn turns around to encourage me to try and stand again, she wants to get a picture of me up.

Not a planned photo, but I think it works really well.

Jenn don't lean back.. that is what biscuit told me!

Jenn snaps some pictures of Heather

Heather= 2oz

This is what I looked like the WHOLE time

really all we were trying to do is jump on a yacht

Paddle, paddle.

Jenn tests out a shorter board

she has no problem what so ever

Rocking to see if she can dump it.. I don't get it.. I would have gone in.

Getting ready to "park" the board

On land she talks to Brian about buying a board.

Rock on!

My battle wounds.. a few cuts down my foot

Well I hope you enjoyed. A huge shout out to Brian and his business San Juan Outfitters out of Roche Harbor. Thank you soo much for letting us come out and play today.

manimals.

2009-07-10T22:22:00.008-07:00

Okay just some quick animal updates. We got in a mink (my guess just over a week not more than 3 weeks old)... Unfortunately it died yesterday but here are some pictures of it. Warning not so cute, and another warning.. you do not want one as a pet... they smell very badly. I don't know how they get the smell off of the "coats" people wear... They smell like horrible bad old skanky pot (don't ask how I know, b/c it is an imagined smell). I have had many people agree with me on the smell so I can't be off my rocker.

But first some pics of our 6 month seasonal.. Jen S. She had just come back from trying to catch a fawn and was barreling through bushes, so she looked a bit disheveled... ps... she didn't know I was taking these :P

Jen tells her story

/sigh

The mink

look the head is the size of my thumb nail

in the carrier

And I bring to you the first seal of the year (live that is):

Meet Fatmucket!

Pretty skinny: been on the beach since the 3rd and was finally picked up on the 8th

Subcutaneous fluids.

flipper curls.. (tagged by the stranding network)

Vanessa tubing Fatmucket.

Today we caught the first eagle we put in the flight cage. We sent him back to the area he was found. It was amazing and soon we will have another eagle in there.

The eagle being unwrapped from the net I had caught him in.

I was told I haven't been taking enough songbird photos, so I thought I would catch up.

Virginia Rail

American Goldfinch, Fledgling

Swallows, mostly cliff

Pine siskin

Dark-eyed Junco

Barn swallows

the 2 on the right are brewer's blackbird.. the one on the left.. a cowbird. they all came out of the same nest. God love parasitic birds. The female cowbird lays her eggs in others nest to let them raise the babies.

The blackbirds

European Starlings.

Okay now you are pretty caught up.. I didn't get a picture of our nesting cooper's hawk, but hopefully when I get back to work on Monday.

delayed.

2009-07-10T21:36:00.009-07:00

Okay so I will rewind roughly a week to the fourth. It was a day of ups and downs; which seems pretty typical of fourth of July. I don't know why but I hold this ideal in my head of what the fourth should be and it never seems to live up to it.

In town the parade in the morning was okay, this is the first time I have gotten to see the parade as I am usually working. I was expecting to be more since this is the centennial year for Friday Harbor. From what I heard, not so much. Here a few shots from that.

Jenn got a peppermint lemon, and this was the flag that was stuck in it.

Eugene as a woman... of course, and yes they even include alcohol in the parade.

My perty toes

Jenn and the Flux Capacitor

The Highlander Bagpipers.

How would you like to march with the bass drum like that?

My toes again!

The Canoe Island French Camp.

Our float!

Kailee as a seal!

Roy twirls flags

The cutest pirate dog ever

Argh!

Tiffany, and Kaitlin

Our friends Kris and T:FLO rock the curb across the way.

Michelle our board president, throws candy our way.

Poor puppies haircut. lol

The end.. of the parade.

After that we headed back to Jenn's shop where we printed shirts, and printed shirts.. by the end of the afternoon this is how much the day had gotten to us.

Jen uses her shirt boards as a foot stool and chills with a Modelo... we left soon after that for naps.

Johanna was checking out my camera and snapped some pictures.

Blue Steel.

Of course there were fireworks. And for the first time I had a camera that I could actually get some good shots! I was sitting on a section of the floating docks so there is some wiggle in the pics but I think they turned out beautiful and I can relive the fireworks all year longs.

Pretty huh?

Afterwords we went to Herb's.. even though many of us didn't want to. Strange vibe and just weird...

Jenn dances with creepy guy... lol

Show him what it takes.

I hope you enjoyed.. so more animals.

yeah... working on it

2009-07-08T20:08:00.001-07:00

had to go back to work tonight to check in a seal, so again no post. Hopefully I will be able to throw some pics up of the seal (after I take them). Til then:

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

sorry

2009-07-07T22:04:00.002-07:00

Okay I will promise I will get to the fourth post. It was actually a pretty busy Sunday, I went to help my friend Jenn at her shop (didn't get groceries b/c I didn't want to deal with the mad house downtown grocery store or even clean) and then even went to a bbq and watched a movie. Yesterday was my late work day and I brought home a little animal to feed late at night, pictures on that later... again hopefully very soon. :) Tonight, I wasn't able to b/c I had a board meeting, printing off paperwork for work, and updating work call lists... now I have a bit of time before I do a late night feed on the little critter once again and then off to sleepy town for the night.

I hope you are all having a good week, and I really do plan to get some pictures up soon. Tomorrow is a friend's birthday so I probably won't get to it then, but will try very hard. Thanks for your patience.

post fourth

2009-07-05T01:12:00.003-07:00

Well, it is early morning on the fifth (1 am).. and I am quite tired. so I am going to be heading to sleepy land soon. I am just waiting for my apartment to cool down abit with a fan running in my bedroom to blow out the built up heat from the day. I do have loads of pictures I took today (as in the fourth) (as in nearly 500) that I will have to weed through to get you the best of the best. Hopefully sometime tomorrow I will get those up for you. My plans for Sunday is to go get groceries that I couldn't get today, do a thurough cleaning of my apartment, spend some time with friends, and maybe go to a bbq if they call and invite me (I have a secondary invite but have said that unless they put forward the effort to invite me I don't really plan on going). I am sure that I can fit doing a blog in there somewhere.

Okay well off to sleepy town!

photos to replace video

2009-07-01T20:45:00.004-07:00

Okay a few more photos of cute critters! I have been trying since 6:30 to upload the otter video but I think the length is causing a problem. I have just been letting it run on another browser... so keep your fingers crossed it is done by the time I go to bed :)

Tonight I went to a talk that Dr. Joe Gaydos, our marine mammal vet, was giving on Elephant Seals at the Whale Museum. It was faboo, but he can make almost anything entertaining. I learned lots, like did you know that the northern population of Ele seals was considered to be extinct in the mid 1800s b/c of over hunting for a special oil they blubber produces. They can dive up to a mile! And the males with the largest noses typically win over the ladies, which the largest ladies are usually chosen by the strongest males. /sigh.. life as a ele seal would be great! haha.

anyway some more photos of cuteness and animals.

The snowshoe on daily weigh in!

Look at those ears... <3

snuggles.

just all over fluffy!

We finally id'ed this bird. I took my camera out, snapped some pictures came back and went through page after page of the Sibley's looking at the juvi birds. Must be a Savannah Sparrow, now we know where to release him/her.

Close up, the things that nailed it, the dark eye stripe and jowl lines, plus the yellowish under the jowl lines.

Eagle in the eagle flight cage aka the build at home Ikea kit for all your home eagle flight needs.

close up.. majestic

blurry b/c of the push off to fly clear to the other end of the 140 foot 30 degree dogleg cage.

Hope you enjoyed. soon off to sleepy town for me as the songbirds have invaded the hollow. I have way to much to do to get there when I do so earlier arrival better!

afternoon/evening of excitement.

2009-06-30T20:18:00.004-07:00

Again, it has been a few days since I have blogged, but summer has beckoned and when I get home I just want to crash out. I am glad that I haven't lost the want to take pictures at work, just the lack of time. Today I have some photos for you, but we will get there after we rewind a few days.

Sunday was a day of "rest" and man did I get restless. I was in a funk all day and finally at 8:45 went F*** I need to get out of my house. I ended my cell phone chat with a friend and headed south. Not that I can go all that far after all I am on a small island. But I got to redoubt at American Camp just a few minutes after sunset. I needed to run, and run I did. I cut about 10 minutes off my loop time which I am really shocked I was able to do since I run in almost a month. I didn't do it in one long stint but 2 moderate ones. I was highly impressed with myself. I then headed to town, caught up with a few friends before heading home. Here are a few pictures of the view I got to take in while running. It was very soothing.

Looking out to the Olympics

Looking Northish.

Mt. Baker light by the the sunset.

Now onto today. The day was pretty hectic at first but that is b/c I just couldn't seem to get in the groove this morning. It didn't help that the phone kept ringing, the answer machine tapes got all goofy so I had to rerecord 3 of them, and our fiesty raccoon decided to break out of his tub over night and I found him sitting on top of another cage this morning.. Not looking so good. I had many moves I wanted to get accomplished this morning and feared that it wouldn't get done. But we were able to get the starling groups together, the robins moved out to an aviary, some fo the coon kits vacinated and put in with others, and even getting the fox kits in together. I think the thing that actually caught me to stop and catch my breath was doing the otter swim. I have posted a video of this at the bottom of this post. Watch it... Soon after lunch I had to head to town for a meeting with the San Juan County Marine Mammal Stranding Network (SJCMMSN) to discuss this years seal season and the coordination we need to have maintain. Back to work I was able to get a small amount of paperwork done before starting the last afternoon feeds. I found out we had some animals arriving on the 5:15 flight and one was one that we haven't had a center since I have been there, Shona doesn't remember one at center ever. They generally go to mainland volunteers, but not to us (I know the anticipation is killing you but you will see when you get to the pictures).

Just when I think the day is over after checking in these guys, our seasonal Kailee went out on a fawn rescue. So I stuck around to help check it in; went back to our Quiet Room and started to pull up formula for the 6pm bunny feed. Our intern, Izzy came back and told me, "Kailee got the truck stuck, so I don't know what you want to do." Jimmy to the rescue!! I headed out, found her we used the tow rope I keep in my truck and pulled her out of the loose gravel she was stuck in (damn rear wheel drives with no weight back there!) Back at center we got the bunnies fed, I gave meds to the fawn and headed home... FINALLY.

Here are some work pictures for the day.

The barred owlet is now outside. I made one of the rookie moves in rehab. I was just mindless going into the cage without looking to see where the bird ones first. Next thing I hear is clack clack clack. I look up and here is the barred owl just above my eye level and about a foot away. That could have been disastous!

Some of the new arrivals. 3 Tree swallows- they are dirty here and will need some clean up. the finder thought it was a good idea to feed them bread soaked in milk! For anyone not in the animal world.. this IS a bad idea!

Three Tree Swallows.. say that repeatively fast

Oh the excitement!!!! Our new arrival. I know it looks like a bunny but it isn't. It is a hare, a snowshoe hare to be specific! I had to call PAWS Wildlife Center in Lynnwood to get their protocol!

Isn't that just the cutest thing you could ever imagine!! Has a small hole to the ear from being caught by a cat. And is close to the weight that it would be on its own. Just got to give it some meds and get it there without it keeling over from stress.

Okay, enjoy the video below. I want to get back to my chicken, bean, cheese, tator tot burrito.

Sorry video stuck in downloading... after 3 hours I am giving up and going to bed. I will try again tomorrow.

performance

2009-06-28T15:19:00.003-07:00

I have had a three day weekend this week and even though I didn't go down to Seattle, I have treated it pretty mellow with little pops of excitement in there. Thursday night was filled with getting Margarita's at one of the local watering holes... b/c well Seth's margaritas rock... and then up to another one of the bars to play some Guitar Hero.. I know this sounds strange but it is very mellow and I really enjoy it, b/c I am addicted to the guitar based games!

Friday was a very quiet day, I had to run out to work for a few minutes and then found out my trip was completely unneeded and it could have been resolved with out me trekking out there on my day off. I was then off to the grocery store. After that I was in and out of nap land the rest of the day. I don't know what it was but I just couldn't seem to keep awake.

Saturday was a little more active, I thought when I got up in the morning I should go for a run, but just couldn't drag my out of bed for that, but did go out and play a round of disc golf with a friend in the afternoon. Then I went home to relax before a friend was playing at Pazzo Vivo. Tony, aka T:FLO, starts out his sets pretty mellow, just him and his acoustic guitar. After a short break and hour in, he adds to his band, a basses named Dylan and a drummer, Tawm P. This is where he really starts to jam. Tawm even had some friends that were up here for his birthday so they came up at the very end of the evening with their electric guitar and trumpet. It was really fun time.

Tony on guitar, Bob joins in for a few songs

Bob sings on out.

Dylan, Tony, and Tawm

Really jamming out!

rock on!

After that it was to the local water hole of Herb's where their were some wedding partiers there, making for an interesting night. Soon, it was time to go home, I watched some tv and then I off to bed for me. Today has been another lazy day- I am currently working making some dehydrated mango pieces; we will see how that turns out.

Hope you all had a good weekend!

U/G, Intakes, and just all around.

2009-06-25T18:18:00.007-07:00

We sure were busy this week, with trying to get animals moved around. We have been playing musical raptors trying to get everyone accomidated for a larger enclosure. These photos may end up out of order since I am uploading from 2 different cameras and once again am going to be ubber lazy and not move things around.

We got 2 of our eagles upgraded to new enclosures this week, and also got our eaglet onto eating food on his own. We have also taken in quite a few animals and we have 78 animals in care at this point. that is close to 10 more animals than we had in care last year on this date! So even if our intake number looks lower we are sure trying to play catch up.

So I have loads of pictures I have taken with both cameras over the past few days!! Yeah!! So let us get started!!!

Shona is drying wings of a Canada goose in her office.. aww her office.

A garter snake chilling on a log to sun himself. He was about 2 foot long.

Our last year female deer that released... look how beautiful her coat is now!

The little boy that broke free last year and wouldn't get in the trailer.

A pretty flower in the eagle flight cage.

New intakes::

This picture is of my favorite newest intake!!!! haha

Jen sits in the eagle carrier to get the front scrubbed free while I stood off to the side holding the eagle and an intern got my camera out of my pocket and took this photo.. Love it!

6 Cottontails with their eyes shut.. and yes I have colored their ears.

Upgrades::

aww.. what is this you may ask. The eagle that was in our heron cage on the previous posts was moved. The first resident of our eagle flight cage!! This is one of the ways they test the cage. I have never seen it, but have heard about it. After taking off the eagle flew up and landed on the roof to test the netting.. this is his bat impression. I am sorry it isn't a better pic, I accidentally deleted the better photo :(

In flight this was right before the bat impression.

Testing the side of the cage.

Right after Shona let go, was giving the stressed face.

Shona sets the eagle down!

Otters!!!

Our new otter, very people skittish. I hope he teaches that to the two we have raised from being tiny.

Great horned owl Fledgling got moved to an outdoor enclosure.

The mallard ducklings are just a few days away from being released.

The fledgling Red-tail hawk moved to an outdoor enclosure.

Taken with my Nikon D60!

Our Eaglet.. now is upright, standing on a perch, and eating on his/her own. Now it is time to put some weight on this feller.

The evil eye b/c I didn't have food for the eaglet.

The Bald eagle after being in the cage for a day.

Much calmer.

Okay, I hope you feel somewhat caught up. If so you are doing better than me. Okay time for me to catch up on a few other things. I am lucky to get a three day weekend end so I can finally breath!

okay, I will finally write something!

2009-06-19T21:10:00.007-07:00

Okay I know I haven't written anything in a while so I am going to actually put a little effort in tonight and give you something a bit more than pretty pictures to look at. I have been very busy with work, we are hitting our swing now and we have been getting loads of animals in. Some years we see a lot of a certain type of animals and then then some years we see different. This year has been a huge hodge podge, but mainly... raptors. I have already posted some pictures of the juvenile or fledgling raptors we have in but we also have a few adults as well! Come on guys, it is baby season, I am not suppose to be spending loads of time focusing on acute adult cases too!!!!!

As for my off time I have been busy with that too! I don't know why but I have been out and about quite a bit already. Not like last year where I came home and took a nap every night, even though that is what I just got done doing and feel much better that I did. It as been good for me to be out seeing new people and hanging out with new friends. I will only allude to and not share the pictures I have, but playing twister at a BBQ can be a bad idea... or just really good laughs :O... hahaha.. but playing Apples to Apples is always a good idea.

Okay so lets get into some pictures!!!!

Taken with my Nikon.. man I love my camera!!

Our Six month Seasonal Jen through window to our Iso Room, just after finishing the baby coon feed!

I was trying to be sneaky and quick.. or nestling barred owl loves to freak us out by sleeping by laying down with his/her head on the log perch.. I was trying to catch it on camera but of course got noticed before I could snap a quick one.

Shortly after, standing upright... so dang cute!

Otters, sleeping after their lunch! Don't you just want to scratch that belly!

belly belly belly!!!

I just couldn't resist... I know, 3 pictures almost exactly the same.

These are taken with my Optio point and shoot, so the glass glare is more visible in these ones.

I can't wait to see what happens when we add the new otter to these two

The previous day.. they are sleeping on each other!

Bald Eagle #2, is up and flying now.. hopefully she will be in the Eagle Flight to help strengthen those muscles before release.

The aggressive, get out of my face look... or also known as the "you're stressing me out" look

Our adult Great Horned owl! He tried to escape when I was catching him up to move him to this mew for his next stage before release. I love them but am very fearful of them all at the same time.

The horns are tucked, b/c he isn't quite sure what is going on.. ps look at those feet aren't they just huge for the bird... they have 10 times the crushing power of a bald eagle in them, now you know why I fear them, once you have been taloned you never forget those feet.

The sub adult red-tailed hawk has a very full crop and a new place to chill while she gets grows her tail feathers back.

I have to say, I am in love. I always like the light morphs, plus the sub adult golden hazel eyes... man they pull at my heart strings so much!

Why ello there.

And with that I am going to close. I hope you enjoyed knowing that things are still chugging along and that all is well on my little rock. We got our first rain 2 days ago in nearly a month. Just a few days shy of the record. I was refreshing to get some rain and I have never had any issues with weather bringing me down, but the past few days have been a bummer... hopefully my mood will lift.

Til later!

exactly.

2009-06-19T17:32:00.001-07:00

preview

2009-06-15T22:05:00.003-07:00

Not much time to write, but I thought I would share some photos I took tonight when I was working.

Mergansers

Wood ducks

Fox #1

belly belly belly

Red tail Hawk fledgling

barred owl nestling

Fox #2 eating dinner

Great Horned owl Fledgling

Til a chance to actually write some stories I hope this helps fill some time.

yes!!

2009-06-10T18:45:00.000-07:00

Busy....

2009-06-09T20:43:00.006-07:00

OH what a week... I know I said I would try and post over the past few days, but I have been busy and not in a very good way. Just had work, work, work. Last night I worked the evening shift at work and then had to come back in this morning; after work today we had a board meeting so I was with work people again until 8 pm. As I type this I am just exhausted and really wish that I didn't feel the need to do this. I know that you aren't going to say that I am not obligated to fill you in, but just feel like I want to anyway.

Let us start with the weekend. I went down and visited my brother. I didn't do anything other than hang out with him and some shopping. It was nice to get some cute summer shirts to wear out and around, some things for work, and then of course the staples that are cheaper off island! So here are some pictures.

A few years ago I took a photography class in college (It probably never shows in my photos :D). But it was a black and white, learning to take photos, develop, & print photos. I had taken a photo of Fallobur in the window and it is framed in my hall. Well when I was home, both Onyx and Fally decided to get in the windows, so I thought I would do it again... I am thinking of working it into some kind of 4 framed celled wall thing.. but I need to think exactly how I want to do it.

very similar to the one I took back then.

wow, even more similar!

sniff sniff.

sniff sniff B&W

Onyx wanted her turn, but she wouldn't sit still!

Rub rub

again rub rub

She really pops against the Burgundy curtain.

Fally was being the bad one this time and was up on the pool table. I had to take a picture to prove that he isn't always the perfect angel!

Onyx was chilling under the table!

Aww, how cute is he!

My brother has a house on his house!! I am so proud of him for not wanting to take it down. He had one there last summer and it came down when he resided the house.. They (barn swallow) decided to build there again!!! I think he has even put off painting the house for awhile b/c of them!

Me on my way home.. new redder color in the hair.. my birthday hat... shades... soo cool lol

It was bright out!

Cormorants at the Anacortes side of the water.

A sail boat by Brown Island.

Strait between Lopez (on left) and San Juan (on right).

Mt. Baker en route to Anacortes.

Okay for stuff from here, not much to add.. like I said work, work, work. I have been so busy there that I haven't had a chance to take any pictures as much as I have wanted to. Hopefully in the next few days I can get you some animal stuff to satisfy your need.

sorry....

2009-06-07T10:06:00.002-07:00

Sorry about the lack of posts. We of course are getting into our busy season which means, that I go in to work early... come home at the same time, if not later, eat dinner, take a nap, and then try to use up the rest of my evening wisely before crashing into bed (early). I haven't been taking as many pictures either b/c well, I am more focused on making sure all the animals are taken care of in a timely fashion.

This weekend I had a three day weekend and went back to my brothers in North Bend to hang out there. It has been quite nice to get off the island and just have a change of scenery. I didn't go out and "do" anything, but that is okay (truth be told I think I just needed the calm relaxing weekend). I did wonder over to the outlet mall and got myself some new clothes for summer and other things for work that we needed. Plus all the common house hold staples that can cost me an arm and a leg on the island. I did take some pictures around the house and will try to arrange a blog posting later to "showcase" these. As for right now, my time at the bros is limited and I am just finishing getting things rounded up to take back with me to my sleepy little island. I am ready to get back to the island, but I am dreading the drive, the wait for the ferry, and then the ferry ride itself. Once, home I will have to throw some laundry in the machine and then head back into town (the 2 block walk) to meet up with some friends tonight.

I will leave you with this:

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

haha

2009-06-04T23:02:00.001-07:00

see more Lolcats and funny pictures