Deep thoughts, coming soon.... maybe....

It FINALLY rained and stormed in south Texas :D Makes me want to sit inside with a good book and a cup of tea... or, you know, go and work outside in the rain. Either way.

It's also getting cooler during the night. Like "I might actually have to wear pants soon," cooler! Crazy talk.

I own My Little Pony sheets now. Apparently my roommate is now concerned for my sanity. Oh well, Twilight Sparkle is cute, so who really cares. And season 2 started last week (Woot! Woot!).

I think that sometimes people find me simple and naive because I enjoy Disney movies (and My Little Ponies), I don’t swear, have never had a boyfriend, like simple clean humor, etc. It would seem that what people don’t realize is that it takes a lot more work to have a clean mind than to have a dirty mind. Especially for an intelligent biologist. It just gets to me when people tell me to 'shield my innocent eyes' while watching Underworld; they don't see what goes on in my mind, what thoughts I fight with on a daily basis. *le sigh*

We got a sora and a pied-billed grebe yesterday in intake. How cool is that?! Both beautiful and seem healthy, but they’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time. We're also getting warblers in on a daily basis. They're so adorable! Such a pity when migratory birds are injured en route...

Still looking for jobs, and have applied to... 6?.... now. Nothing yet, but here's hoping that someone wants me to take care of animals for them, and pay me for it.

We had a whole new group of newbies start on Tuesday (9 of them!). Sooo much extra time in the clinic now, it's super weird. Though thankfully things are getting cleaned better than they have in ages, so that's pretty nice. I hope all of them stay this time around... Perhaps we can just regale them with tales of baby season, and they'll be so thankful that they don't have to deal with it, they'll love it here...

I call this "Indignation"

I love my job

The air conditioner is dead again.

Fresh green beans are tasty. Just thought you should know.

Libraries are fantastic places.

Coconut cremes at Starbucks are muy delicioso.

Squirrels can be aggravating and untrustworthy. But also adorable.

Baby bobcats with their eyes still closed are very small, super soft, and really cute.

I finish my apprenticeship in December, so I've begun job searching... again.

So many people have been putting in their two weeks lately. It really sucks for the rest of us.

Three of my roommates are leaving soon. Poor Fletcher is going to be all alone.

Making skunks out of felt is fun, easy, and makes people very happy.

Victoria Secret bathing suits are remarkably comfortable.

This Texas drought really sucks. I pray that it rains soon.

Pomegranates grow on the side of the road by Earl Street. Tasty!

10 Things I Hate About You is filmed in Seattle. Why did no one tell me that sooner!?

I forgot that I like Abney Park.

I wish I knew where God wants me to go next. I've got nothin'.

Wow. I fail at blogging.

I don't even know where to start to catch y'all up on my life.

It's been super busy (still), though it's now 8 - 13 hours a day, instead of 11 - 14 hours. So things are improving. LOTS of releases going on lately :) It's always nice to see the babies that we raised from itty bitty little things, going off and being all grown up and such. Thankfully the raccoons, birds, and opossums are now leaving faster than they're coming in, so things in the the clinic have slowed down quite a bit. Especially since we don't have a lot of tiny criticals anymore, just a lot of juvis and adults. Though we did get 3 little baby bobcats a week or so ago, and they are incredibly adorable! Despite their crazy sharp claws. And this fawn coordinator gets to do a fawn release next week! Hooray! My babies are doing so well :)

However, squirrel season is exploding. I haven't counted recently, but we probably have around 50 so far, and people keep bringing in the little guys with their eyes still closed. It amazes me that people find these animals. I mean, I never found any baby squirrels when I was little! Granted, I did find opossums, rabbits, mice, and birds... but that's entirely beside the point!

Hmm, in other news... I found a nice church in Boerne, and finally have Sundays off :) I finally finished sewing my Victorian style corset, and it fits perfectly! I think I need to make something, dress or such, to go under it though. I also sewed a stuffed My Little Pony... her head is too small, but she's still pretty cute. I discovered that Smirnoff makes blueberry lemonade, and it's just as delicious as blueberry beer. I think I have a thing for blueberries. I've also had a terrible couple of days involving a sheep, a donkey, and an official writeup. I kinda feel awful, actually... I think I need to reevaluate just how much of my self-esteem is wrapped up in my work.

Also, ta-da!

The two noteworthy tales from the week of June 19th:

First one being I got sick. Really sick. For 3 days I had a fever that kept getting worse, was dizzy every time I moved, nauseated, and had super sore and achy neck, back, and shoulders. So on Monday I wound up taking my self to the ER; considering I work 10 -13 hour days I can't really afford to be sick. Turns out my fever was at 101.4 F (not terrible, but I still felt like crap), so the doctor started me on doxycycline and mega dose of tylenol. By the next morning I felt about 80 percent better. So apparently it wasn't the flu... my theory is rocky mountain spotted fever, considering how much time I spend around deer and their ticks. So that said, I'm feeling better today, still not 100%, but well enough to trudge through a 9 hour work day.

Second one being much more cheerful. I worked the hotline shift yesterday and got to coordinate a pretty wonderful rescue :) A woman called around noon and told me the story of how they have yellow crowned night herons nesting in the trees around their house, and they have been for 2 years now. But there was a certain nest, 35 feet up in a tree, whose parent birds hadn't come back in 4 days. So I started calling around to our rescue volunteers to see if someone might have an extension ladder. I got an answer from a lady whose son had a ladder so they went out to check out the situation. I thought the problem was solved. Yeah... nope. Turns out the ladder couldn't reach, and the nest was out on a limb too far out to reach.

Round 2:

I talked to Noelle (my boss) and she suggested trying the fire department, tree companies, or maybe a power company. The fire department's ladder truck was in the shop (really?!), so I started calling tree companies. I got several "We don't have the equipment" and one "Sure, but it'll cost 250 bucks". Finally I got a lady who said "You do realize we're a tree company?" And she just laughed when I said yes, and said she'd talk to her manager. Little bit later the guy called and said he'd go check it out. So he drove a half hour to the caller's house, used his climbing gear to make it up to the nest, then used a pulley to lower the babies down. All for free. And he said he'd be willing to help us out in the future if we need it.

:)

Sometimes complete strangers make me really happy.

And the babies are doing great now that they're rehydrated.

A good day.

Look! An update!

Why, hello!

I went another month without blogging.

Dangit.

How does time go so fast around here!

Day after tomorrow is my 6th month anniversary at WRR.

And I'm still finding things that I haven't learned.

I'm finding more and more that my life and my job are interchangeable terms this summer. (p.s. it's already June. What?!)

We have two kittens right now (William and Kate :P) and I kind of love William. He really likes to be cuddled, and he purrs up a storm every time you pick him up. Would it be too much harder to travel with 2 cats, as opposed to 1?

Having Alana come down here for 2 weeks was amazing. She got to meet all my cool Texas people, and go swimming in cool places, and explore Austin a bit, and work looong hours with me, and she can now go home and vouch for why I rarely return texts/e-mails/phone calls!

This bitty guy was found in someone's backyard with a plastic flower hotglued to his back... Really people? Really?

I reallllly want Sunday's off. I'm slipping, and I don't want that. I need people to remind me that even though I'm working 60-70 hour weeks, 'pray without ceasing' 'do not worry' 'judge not, lest you be judged' 'love your neighbor as yourself' and all of those basic, yet so difficult teachings, still apply. I love Jesus! I want that to show more in my day to day life.

I finally started working on my corset, I've got the front sewn together now, and the busk is now set in place. And then I discovered that I need an iron... it was a duh kind of moment, but one that sadly did not happen until after I'd sewn 8 pieces together. Figures.

Why did I volunteer to be the fawn coordinator? It's chaos. I mean, I still love my babies dearly (haha, no pun intended), but we already have almost 80 fawns, and it's only June 3rd. And we've been deflecting as many calls as we possibly can, yet people still kidnap those poor babies whose mom was just doing her best to hide them! Gah!

People can be kind of frustrating when it comes to wildlife.

Nighthawks who beg for their food, while hovering in the middle of the room are just about as adorable as it gets.

Look! I can still make art! ('Muscovy on a Scapula', as per Laura's commission).

My body does weird things when it's stressed. Last week I wasn't hungry, could barely force breakfast down my throat. And now this week I can't stop eating. I ate an entire pint of Cherry Garcia last night (delicious, by the way).

I'm making a video of my time here at WRR. The first part is set to the music "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". Any suggestions on another good song or two for the rest of the movie?

I miss my Washington/California/Oregon peoples. I know it's expensive, but if you want to come visit me, food and lodging will be covered. Just sayin. (Consider the cat hair on the couch to be an added bonus).

May the 4th Be With You :)

*I'm sorry for not blogging for a month. I kept meaning to, but kept finding other things to occupy my time.

*My time away from facebook allowed me to get more reading, art, and cooking done. Huh. Something to think about.

*I've come to the conclusion that group living is the petri dish for drama. No matter how hard you work to avoid it, it's just the perfect environment. I've also concluded that drama is largely petty and shouldn't be bothered with unless it's really hurting someone. Maybe that sounds a bit calloused, but my priorities have taken an irreversible shift.

*Animals seem to like me more than they used to. Maybe they inherently know that 2010 taught me patience.

*Easter 2011 was lovely. I worked the hotline shift (very few calls, it was nice), went to Easter mass with Matt, Stacey, and Laura. I really missed having a traditional Easter service, but mass was pretty good as well. Some coworkers and myself then went down to the dry river bed below WRR, ate carrot cake cupcakes, and just talked. Overall, a pleasant day.

*I need to learn how to be a better witness. I don't just want to be a really nice person.

*Brandi said the other day that she wanted to see me angry, just to prove that I'm really human. I had a good laugh; if only she knew...

*It's May 2011. How crazy is that?!

*We had a grackle come in today who apparently had a ruptured air sac or two. Each breath she took released air under her skin, until she had inflated, literally, like a balloon. We had to take a sterile needle and puncture the skin all over her body until all the air escaped. I deflated a grackle today :P I hope she's gonna be okay.

*Baby bird season is officially here. WRR has around 75 nestlings and fledglings. And the phones are like a broken record:

"I found this little bird, I think he fell out of his nest..."

"Can you see the nest"

"No, it's too high up in the tree, and I think the bird is hurt."

"Okay, well, can you bring him to our Earl St. location?"

"Yeah, I can do that."

Bird after bird after bird in a cardboard box. Sometimes we mix it up a bit and the bird was caught by a cat or the dog was protecting him or the tree fell down or the nest was blown into the bbq pit.

*Fawn season has also begun; we have 6 little bitty whitetails now :) I'm falling in love all over again. Every time a new one comes into the clinic I'll get a call, on the phone or radio, "Hey Emily, we have a new fawn." Never fails, I have to go see them, and then inevitably start them on the bottle. Not that that's a bad thing :)

*WRR has two locations, the main one in Kendalia, TX and one small one in downtown San Antonio (137 Earl St.). The Earl Street location (WRR-SA) is run by one staff member and two apprentices and is where people can drop off the animals they find and then once a day, at 6 pm, these animals are taken up to Kendalia. WRR-SA keeps the healthy cottontails, songbirds, and squirrels and raises them. That's the preface to: one of the WRR-SA apprentices finished her apprenticeship last month and moved on, so the WRR apprentices are taking turns covering her shift until a replacement can be found. It's my turn this week, so I'm living in San Anton, within walking distance of the grocery store. It's kinda nice. Though the work is insanity, it's always interesting.

*I drew flip flops on my feet this evening so I could walk barefoot to HEB to buy ice cream and not get yelled at.

*We have two tiny abandoned kittens here at WRR-SA who are the size of Fletcher when I first found him. I'm in love with the little tuxedo kitten and her purr. I wish I could have another kitten.

*I write about work a lot. Can you tell I'm a workaholic? As stressful as my job can be, I still love it.

*I'm also a big fan of orange juice. It's ridiculous how much of it I drink.

*Alana's coming in 2 weeks!! I hope she likes it here. Which reminds me, I need to talk to Noelle about what she will and will not be allowed to do.

*I think that's all. I'll write about my exciting work stories more often, I promise :)

Dead Man's Hole

A good place to swim and/or nap

Also, a freakin' cool geological oddity (at least in central Texas)

(Stalactites! Everywhere!)