Happy Halloween!!!!!

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Tough topics

I know I have stated before that we are slowing down at work, which giving interesting animal stories kind of tough. We start running into the hard-cases and a lot of the sad cases. I would love to give you happy news about our 2 small owls that I am in absolutely in love with but alas I can't. We moved the Pygmy owl outside b/c he seemed to be getting bouncier and had torn part of a talon off. In the aviary (unfortunately in my mind too close to the eagle flight construction, but not much of a choice, that is our aviary alley) he was moving quite a bit around the aviary, running into the screen pretty hard. I decided it would be time for him to go the next morning. Needless to say, we found him dead the next morning. Not quite sure why, he had lost a tiny bit of weight (as we was eating as consistently as we would have like to see), and nothing else was evident to the death. As for the saw-whet owl, not much improvement with eye sight and demeanor in the past 30 days, so we may have a tough decision to make very soon.

Here are some pictures of the cute critters:

Since it is getting soo slow. I have been working protocols for feeding and the growing of our critters. Man alive is it a big pain in the butt! I get to spend a lot of time looking up natural histories, and going back over old charts to look at weights we were changing diet. It is kind of nice because it getting me in gear for taking the state rehabbers test I need to take. Which is a lot about weaning, natural history, when eyes open, when fur grows, and when teeth appear on different species. But, really, really, seriously... it is tedious work.

A good things, our little Fox Squirrel went back to Orcas Isl for release. here is a picture of her when she came in, very, very cold and unable to thermoregulate.

And here just a few days before release.

Halloween is close at hand, and that makes me quite excited... Oh the joy it will bring :D

My names Penny, and I'm an addict....

My newest addiction... these websites:

Steep and cheap great outdoor gear clearanced out of backcountry.com-love this site too

Chain love loads of biking gear

Tramdock snowboarding gear

Whiskeymilitia clothing, goggles, snowboard, skater.. associated with Dogfunk.com

Thank goodness I have been able to curb my need to buy, I have only picked up 2 items off of these sites, but they are fabulous. I suggest you check them out and visit on a regular basis, b/c what they do is put up one item (that is on extreme clearance), once it sells through that lot, they put up a new item, sometimes, just sometimes, your lucky enough if they put the more of the lot up again. So I bounce back and forth on these sites all day long to see what new items they have. What I have gotten is some North Face cargo shorts for work, and just last night I bought what was a 150 dollar watch that was 73% off!!! I have seen numerous sunglasses, mainly Smiths that I have thought about, but just can't put extra money towards it. If you are really close to me, don't be surprised if I find some kind of Christmas present for you here (haha) don't call me cheap, just call me thrifty!

Whistle while you work

Well today was a regular slow fall day at the center. Did some cleaning, some seal weighing, and pulled blood on 2 seals for diagnostic testing to make sure they are a-okay for release. Throughout the day we discussed animals that can be released (merlin & sharp-shinned hawk) and who should be upgraded. The biggest question of the day, where do we move the Pygmy owl to next?? As he is such a small owl, but we need to make sure that he can fly well before kicking him out of the center.

Other things that continued was the eagle flight cage build. Today we had 3 large concrete hauling truck sneak between our building and the wet pen fence, and I might add they just barely squeak through! And a gigantic concrete pumper truck. In other words, the foundation is poured and the poles are set in place. Of course, all those pics are on the work camera, b/c we are documenting the build on a day to day basis.

So other than that. I will give you some photos to fill your head with smiles.

sharp-shinned hawk

merlin

Damn them owl pages

Okay, so I realized this morning that the owlpages.com didn't work for showing you the picture of the short-eared owl or the pygmy owl. So I actually have the work camera attatched to my computer right now to upload the pics from here. I hope you enjoy them.

A note on the short-eared owl. We did radiographes this morning and found that his left shoulder was completely shattered! Prognosis, non-repairable. So, the owl is no longer with us in life sense, but is in Shona's education freezer so we can use his feets and wings as teaching devices.

seriously doesn't it look like a Tim Burton face??

Who Cooks For You...

Okay so maybe we don't have a barred owl in at Wolf Hollow, but I can tell you this. It sure is owl season at the center. And right now it seems like we release an animal and we get another one in place of it! The numbers are just staying steady. But back to the owl subject, we just sent a barn owl(all grown up) back over to release yesterday 10/20/08. That doesn't count for what we have in. All of them little owls, since the first of October we have had a Saw-whet owl in (he had head trauma-- and is still acting a little goofy). Today, we got in a pygmy owl, who is giving us the stank eye(head trauma)... this guy is ubber cute and we haven't had one in in a very, very long time. We also got a short-eared owl, he looks like a cross between Marilyn Manson and a Tim Burton creation(none of the online pics can do justice to how pale white the face ring is)!!! I am a little hesitant to scream the praises of having this little guy in, as once again it is a very rare owl for us to see, and when we do, they are in pretty bad shape. You can guess it, this one is in pretty bad shape, we are holding for overnight and tomorrow morning we will take radiographes of the left wing. Keep your fingers crossed that it isn't as bad as we think and we can fix him right up.

Not much else to add at this time, hopefully I can add some photos we took of the beautiful owls instead of ones I had to borrow off the net. Things are quieting down on the island all together. I like this time of year. Not too many tourist, so I can go to my favorite places again without the ever present annoyance.

Eluding

So I don't have much to say today. Work has been slowing down. Today our six month seasonal left (yesterday was actually her last day), and tomorrow our last intern of the year leaves! So, it is back to just me at the center as a rehabber. Today we sent a barn owl off to mainland for release, and we took 2 gulls to false bay for release as well. Initially it looked like "Henry" (the gull who grew up with us over the summer) wasn't going to leave us. I had Kate throw him in the air to see if he would fly away, but he just fluttered to the ground. I thought okay just one more try and if he doesn't fly he will come back to us, so she threw him up in the air again. And with a small breeze he got air; he looked a little unsure of this extra burst of air, but soon shifted his feet back and tilted forward and took off in a beautiful flight around the bay. Later landing with a huge flock of other gulls! Goodbye Henry!!

Okay, that is actually more than I thought I had to say and was going to lead you onto other blog sites, which I will still do.

If you are into reading, sci-fi, either ya or urban fantasy check out richelle mead. She is a good friend of mine and a good author. She just placed 4th on YALSA Teens' top ten list!

If you are into Kayaking and Nature Jason's blog.

And last but not least, the volunteer Wolf Hollow Blog Hollow Happenings.

Enjoy your day!

untitled

So, last evening we released 5 of our 9 raccoons. Hopefully I can give you more on the catching the rascally girls when I get the pictures from Jessica on Shona and I catching them up for the release. But until then I will give you something else.

Once again I had trouble sleeping last night with loads of words and scenarios playing in my head. I did something that I haven't done in a LONG time. I wrote some poems to get the words out of me head. And guess what, it worked!?! I was asleep as soon as I put my notebook away & turned off my bed light. Now I am not claiming to be the best poet or even a mediocre poet, but I figure I will share my words with you.

Trapped

Trapped,
So close, yet so far
You are oblivious to me.

It as if I am screaming,
Screaming underwater.
The world unable to hear,
Hear me cry out.

I keep pushing,
Trying to get through.
Feels like I am stuck,
Stuck in quicksand.

Why does it cause so,
So much pain?
Wading and waiting,
Through a so-called life.

Sitting in a crowded room,
Surrounded, yet forgotten.
That is how I feel,
Trapped.

Haunted

Haunted by your memory,
Pained with how things were left.

I think of a place
Of such happy memories.
Your smiling face in them
Makes me shutter.

I try to delete your number,
But cannot bring myself to it.
I try to be in touch still,
But never hear a word.

I care still,
Hoping life finds you well.
But I,
I am haunted.

Growing Pains

Well, I can tell you that the pain from the squirrel bite has diminished. It took awhile, but with the number of nerve endings in fingers I am not at all surprised. I got a little worried the evening after it happened and for the next 2 days b/c it was quite swollen and discolored. So, I was soaking it in Epsom Salts and using Gold Seal paste over it to help fight any infection.

With the construction starting on the eagle flight cage. There has been some hassles. One, way to many people driving up and down our grass paths, which have mudded up and rutted. The company has asked up to find a solution to fill in the ruts. Yesterday, we tried the mass quanities of old mice shavings we have around. That didn't work that well. Today, Jessica and I took down 6 loads of crushed rock grave and put it in the ruts. Yikes! my entire core is sore from moving that much gravel (that doesn't count the pea gravel that we put in the back of a 3/4 ton truck today to move it to another locale b/c "the cement truck has to drive where it is sitting." So yes, lots of gravel moving for me today, causing back, shoulder, abdomen pain! Plus the frustration of dealing with constrution workers who couldn't imagine walked the 100 yrds up the hill instead of driving over the muddy road & making it worse!

Okay I think that is probably enough whining out of me for the day. I can tell you I have been quite whiney at work lately. I think I am just ready for all the babies to be released and slow time to get here!

oh zee paine!!

So today at work started out on a bit of a sour note and made me fearful to touch any animal today. Last night, Jessica picked up an adult female fox squirrel, that had fallen out of tree and onto someone on Orcas. When we talked about it this morning; she said this squirrel was about the size of my cat, and she didn't get a chance to examine it without someone there. She informed me that she thought we will most likely have to euthanize it, but didn't want to make that call without it being examined. I got the squirrel out of the carrier (and yes, she was a huge squirrel) after Jessica told me to go a head and get her out. I had on the mammal gloves and was feeling the spinal column as it couldn't move her back legs. She was relatively calm at first, and then she turned into the Devil Squirrel from hell! First she bit my gloved finger and then the hand I was using to examine here. DAMN! it hurt like H-E-double hockey sticks. I was bleeding pretty badly and was fearful of even handling her anymore, even with gloves on b/c she had bitten me right through it. Unfortunately, her spine was fractured and we did have to euthanize and of course I felt guilty about it b/c I felt that it might be viewed as revenge, but it was the just the best decision.

After all was said and done, Jessica told Kate our intern "see these things can happen even if you feel really comfortable about a situation, so you always need to be careful." Glad I could set an example (even if it was in a bad situation). I also got to run into our treatment room and scrub the crap out of my left thumb and right ring finger for 5 minutes with a surgical scrub brush and betadine. OUCH! all over again! So now I have some nice gouges in my fingers, and spent a lot of time today putting new bandaids on and putting "finger condoms" over them to keep them clean. Which lead to lots of laughs at work today.

How glad I am that people can get amusement out of my pain, but hey it was a bit of my own stupidity to not get someone to help hold the over 2 lb squirrel while I examined the spinal column.

I think this is how life tells me that it is time for a vaca.. if only my pocketbook agreed.

On the good side, the puncture wound in my foot has healed up nicely after stepping on a nail last Wednesday when we finished the eagle flight cage. We have hopefully finished off having to do our night time feeds for the year, but we wil see after a few days if the bunnies are doing well.

Okay, I think it is time to make some food.

another day dawns

So today we finally finished moving the wood from the demolished eagle flight cage. We have contractors coming in tomorrow with our ED (Executive Director) to look at the site, and they would like to get started on the foundation work this week!! wow, it is hard to believe that it will started finally. But in the process today I stepped on a nail from the torn down lumbar. I forgot just how bad it hurts. Of course, I went and soaked it in Epsom salts and ubber hot water, and then applied golden seal & and large bandage. It throbbed for a bit, and then it was good, but wow tonight, it was a little sore you can't expect much for a puncture wound to the meat of your foot!

As for tonight, I was out helping celebrate a friend's birthday. We went to Steps, this is my first experience at eating there.. And OMG.. I know the owner, Madden, and have had cocktails in there a few time. But as for eating, it is generally beyond my means as it is a wine bar & cafe. Plus I am not a big wine drinker. The good thing about going with a large number of people is that you can taste and try many different plates. I do recommend that everyone try it when they come to Friday Harbor, plan to spend some time and a bit of money.

As for me I am going to head to bed as tomorrow is like day what 12 for me, and I just need to get through those 10 hours before I can breath a sigh of relief and be done with this large stint and get a few days off!

help I have a cat sitting on my laptop

So, I spent today doing much of the same. Feeding animals, cleaning everything, so on and so on. The biggest highlights of the day was doing an eye exam on the saw-whet owl and doing a wing to body wrap on a Glaucous-winged Gull. I spent most of my "project time" today working more on getting wood out of the demolished eagle flight cage area. We are down to 3ish piles in the cage area. Which we hope to get moved over the next few days. We don't want to get contractors any more of a reason to "put-off" getting the foundation blocked and poured. I am so ready to get the new one underway!

As for outside work stuff. Well right now I have a cat laying on my right are across my laptop and it makes it quite hard to type!! So far today has been better than yesterday. As yesterday was a pretty crappy day for me. I hate hearing the statement "P.. quit being like that." seriously if I could I would, but don't be the one to start sh!t.

I should get some dinner in me and try to catch up on mail and some cleaning.

Til next time. Out.

not much...

Thought I would do a post, even though there isn't much to share right now. Work is still trucking through, we are still splitting night feed between the 4 of us that are still there. Hopefully we can get everyone off of them before we are down to just me and Shona in two weeks!

In the past few days we have sent 7 of our squirrels back to mainland for release. Our volunteer called and said that they were all super cute and ran up the trees playing. They would come to the end of the branch and then freak out b/c they didn't know where to go.

Our saw-whet owl we have at the center is doing much better, it came in very dehydrated and emaciated. But we are working it back slowly onto furred and boned meat. I think he/she is ubber cute & very calm.

The bummer is that the weather is hitting its fall/winter schedule, so spending the day outside working in the drizzly rain can suck. Plus we have 6 bunnies we are feeding and this means a lot of time sitting bent over a bunny or 2, which has my neck and upper back screaming in pain.

Other than that, life is finally slowing down on the island. I feel like I can finally take a breath and focus back on me for a bit, as we know I need that. Hopefully soon, I can do a small trip of island to visit friends down in the Seattle area for some fun (especially since the casino in Snoqualmie will be opening in the beginning of Nov!).

Anywho, I guess I will sign off now and relax with some advil & Monday night shows.

And they're off!

So it may have been my day off, but that doesn't mean I don't do work! We have a limited window sometimes to do seal releases, that being within 14 days of the final blood draw we do, if we don't get that then, we have to go through the whole process of blood draw and another vet visit. Since it takes about 4 days to get all the results back in the blood results, our window gets smaller. We did a draw last Thursday; this means before next Thursday the release had to happen. With the weather doing a up and down here on the island, not so concerned about rain, but winds can cause us problems. Meaning that the release had to happen & and it had to happen quickly, so I sucked it up- took the sacrifice ad came in for the release. I don't have pictures of the whole center part of a release, but check this out for that. The link I provided is from a last years release, but you can get the idea.

So fast forward to Griffin Bay off of Turn Point/Pear Point road. Today we released 2 seals, Nukupu'u (who came in July) and Caracara (who came in at the very end of August). The initial capture of both was very interesting, as Nuku was a speed demon in the pool giving Jessica a good chase, and then Cara was very upset about the whole activity and took out her aggression by biting another one of the seals, don't worry, he is okay.

At site Kate manned Cara's crate and Jessica manned Nuku. You can see that Cara was determined to get the heck out of there.

Nuku was a little slower, I blame it on her extra blubber she had to "humpity hump" across the rocks, but maybe she will be the tortoise in the "tortoise & the hare".

This is Caracara half way out the bay! She was ready to go!

Tomorrow is another "non-working work day", off to help clean wood from the eagle flight cage!

after the last post, here is some beauty

Redoubt, overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca,

I am going to go sci-fi geek for a minute. It almost appears like there is 2 suns setting.. hmm... like a view at Tatooine...

What a day...

Okay just a quick note on what today consisted of.

Feed harbor seals. Feed squirrels. Feed 7 new baby bunnies (euros). Tubed a saw-whet owl. Administrative paperwork. Starting to scrub our wetpen where the otter has resided for at least 3 months. Feed seals & bunnies again. Prepped some foods. Fed more bunnies. Picking up a dead deer down at the south end of the island, seeing another one in the valley on the way back to work, so picked that large buck up. Butchering the 2 deer. Just as I finished up, a call from the vineyards about a hbc (hit by car) fawn. Met the sherrif out there (they had put the fawn in the chapel). Collected the fawn, took it back for exam and found out that there was way to much extensive internal damage so I humanely euthed it. Tubed a saw-whet owl. Feed more bunnies. Bagged the venison that I cut. Washed up all my gross dishes from the deer(s). Did paperwork for the fawn.

All in a tough days work. What a long week it was, and I don't even get my "weekend" b/c we are going to release 2 seals tomorrow so that means a few hours of work out of me. And Saturday we are having a work party to clean up all the wood from the taken down Eagle Flight cage in order to prep the site for the rebuild!!! Yeah!!!

The other 10%

So after all the what makes my job harder than people think. I am going to share with you some photos of what makes my job worth it. Tonight we did 2 releases. Yes, I did say tonight. Meaning that with the good stuff comes an additional 2 hours aof work, but it was worth it.

So tonight we had an owl go back to South Beach were it was rescued last Friday by intern Kate and Seasonal Jessica. We were at redoubt around 6:15 at night and had a beautiful view for a release. And after many minutes or waiting... and then finally convincing the owl to come out by grabbing a towel and pulled out a bit.












The other release was our river otter! She finally got to go. Now she was very, very reluctant to come out of her carrier. I tried throwing things in front of her to get her curious about her surroundings; all this did was invoke a low growl (which is generally a sound they produce when they aren't quite sure of what is going down). Eventually with the the help of Shona, once again, we got her to vacate the carrier and once she did, she was off exploring and in the water and munching on something!






Back to feeding 7 new baby bunnies in the morning... oh joy.