26 June 2009

A Day in the Life of an Intern at the KBCC

1. Alarm goes off at 5:27
2. Lay there and contemplate getting up
3. Get up
4. Eat a big breakfast in the pre-sunrise light, because you won't be able to eat until noon
5. Walk to the Brooder office building (BOB)
6. Change into your work clothes behind a green curtain
7. Walk to your assigned barn (FBB1, FBB2, Uppers, or Lowers)
8. Walk down a long dark corridor with doors and one way windows on both sides
9. Check all the birds, write down what they're doing (if it's important)
10. Pick up leaf litter in every aviary (and leftover mamane, berries, and lettuce)
11. Hose down the front, and spray bleach water on it all
12. Rinse it down
13. Put out fresh food and water
14. Wait to see if the bird will come down (silly Palilas!)
15. Do a lot of dishes
16. Meeting on the green carpet in the BOB and tell everybody how your birds are today
17. Lunch! Back to the intern house for an hour
18. Back to your barn to check all the birds again
19. Give out supplementary worms, lettuce, and mamane
20. Do your days chore (i.e. check mosquito netting, or maintenance on waxworm jars, etc.)
21. At 3:00ish back to the BOB to change clothes
22. Back to the intern house
23. All day, hope and pray that the sitting female birds stay sitting, and when you can get around to it, make diets for tomorrow

Yep, that's about it in a nutshell

And this is a female Maui Parrotbill (Mapa), one of my favorite birds so far

17 June 2009

Travels

I left home at 3:00 a.m. and got to Hawai'i at 6:50 p.m... and there's a 3 hour time change. So how long I traveled and how much time I lost... I'm not actually sure. Thanks a lot jet lag :P I did manage to talk to one person, on one of my flights, but that's only because he started the conversation. The five girls (4 interns, one seasonal biologist) who picked me up are really nice, but I'm afraid I was so tired I kinda ate dinner and went grocery shopping in zombie mode. The house I'll be living in is pretty nice too, though I get the feeling that clean kitchens are my Achilles heel. Oh well. My bed rocks (which, coming from me, means a heck of a lot). That is to say, I slept well, and it's almost as comfortable as my old bed. Though the time change made me wide awake at 5:30 a.m.... a blessing in disguise it turns out, since that's when I'll have to be getting up every morning.

I'll be cleaning up and organizing this morning (and kicking myself for forgetting my hairbrush) and then going through orientation and paperwork. I get three weeks of training (woot for being thorough) and internet only in one of the building's libraries. I think Artemis will be living here from now on. So yeah, that's about it; it's nice, it's good.... I'm lonely :( Anyway, pictures coming soon.

15 June 2009

Hmmm

Empty room...
So weird
Wendy took Hermione
Phil's taking Ambrosia
Mommy took Calypso
Luggage is really heavy
So much stuff
So much food
Lots of pancakes
And Larabars
Meeting new people
Saying many goodbyes
I'm going to miss y'all
So very much
Hawai'i
Hmmmmmm

11 June 2009

:)

God is so very very good

He got me into the grad school of my dreams

He got me into the job/internship of my dreams

He gave me friends who help me make spinach and fresh feta ravioli at 8:30 at night and drink contraband blueberry beer with me (both are excellent, by the way)

He had people give me graduation money, which I can use to buy my plane ticket to Hawaii (dream job location)

So good, all the time

07 June 2009

6/6/09...

...was a good day.
Lazy morning, lazy drive
Moscow's Saturday market
Wandering around, pining over yarn
Fresh eggs, fresh spinach, mmm
Oh Co-op, how I love thee
And WinCo, let me count the ways
Home for lunch, beautiful drive
Steak, zucchini, onions, rice
All mixed together
Fresh blueberries for dessert
Reading books on the couch alone
Thunder, moving closer
Rain! Yay! Pouring rain :)
A very wet Phil came to the door
A walk in the rain to the park
Calling Brooke from a small dry spot
Flickering lightning, crashing thunder
Clogged storm drain
Skimboarders utilizing the puddle
Soaking, dripping wet
Hot cocoa and tea, and dry clothes
Phil wearing a pair of my shorts
Oh the unspoken jokes
Much guitar playing and songs
Pita pit was closed, yay pizza!
A crowd of people
Watching Kung-fu Panda
Hermit crab climbed the couch
Hamster rolling around the living room
Talking and enjoying life

Praise God

Life is wonderful

Life is free

04 June 2009

Melissa inspires me. She has decided that everyday this summer she will think of something that she knows nothing about and research it. Thus far she has told me about Cambodia and Pakistan. I have decided to do something similar, but instead research different animal species. Today's animal was a tapir:

A group of tapirs is called a candle.

There are 4 species and they are all endangered.

And there are wooly tapirs (they live in the Andes Mountains).

Baby wooly tapir: I wants!

02 June 2009

Interviews

I had one this morning, have another one tomorrow afternoon, and just got an e-mail (from a place in Hawaii!!!) asking me to give them times so as to schedule an interview... yeah... I think I'll stop applying for jobs for a bit and see how these pan out.

But Hawaii! Endangered endemic island birds! Gah!!!

Please pray that I get this one, it's pretty much my dream job.

Nene

Baby puaiohi