WHEW!

WHEW!  So I am taking a breath.
It's been a busy couple of weeks...but I think I am getting the hang of it.  Right now I am sitting listening to Owl City in my office and enjoying my evening off.

First off, Henry died.  I thought he wasn't going to make it so long, because of his size.  And oddly enough, the following day, some archaeologists who have been digging in the fort found two baby pigeons who were also blown out of their nests by that last storm.  Even more odd, they were even uglier little birds than Henry (God rest him).  I changed feeding methods with these ones.  I used tweezers and re-hydrated mealworms which seemed to work because they survived pasted the 48 hour mark and were subsequently delivered to the bird rehab place.  (The lady who works there said they looked very healthy...so I gave myself a mental pat on the back.)

Today, I taught a lesson that I developed over the spring.  It was the first field trial of this particular lesson so it went a little shaky.  It's a lesson on bio-accumulation of mercury in marine animals.  And basically it's a food web game. After they play, I inform them that some of the food they ate (cards scattered on the playing field) were TOXIC!  Ahhhh!  They then have to calculate the percentage of toxic to good food they consumed to see if they lived or got sick and died.  Anyway, there were quite a few kinks that needed to be worked out.  The first of all is that the seagulls kept swooping in and eating my paper cards.  The second is that the kids didn't really run as much as I would have liked.  I wanted them to really chase down their prey and get a good bit of energy out, but they just weren't having it.  Not sure how to adjust the lesson...will have to mentally process a little more.

But for the moment, I will attempt to rest in my office...with my music and some snack food that I stole from the kids stash....mwa ha ha. ;-)

Summer Changes Things...

With the arrival of 70 some new staff members for the summer, life has been a little different.  I do enjoy the company of new people to pass the time with, but alas, I find that I have become a sleepy old woman during the winter months...haha.  I do like my quiet time.  :-P

At work we have been busily disassembling shelves, building new shelves, painting, and moving things in preparation for the busy summer that is fast approaching.  Camps start on Monday.  AHHH!  And the lesson I developed on bio-accumulation is finished and ready for testing on the youth who are coming in the next few weeks.  I hope the lesson works, it's a game with a little more math than I personally like..but it's a good thing to learn.

Also, I am now the proud foster mommy to a little ugly bird I named Henry.  He must have gotten blown out of his nest during the tropical storm we had this weekend.  Anyway, the poor thing is still half naked so I thought I would help.  I have been feeding him a paste made from crushed insect meal/vitamins and water with a pipette.  And he greedily accepts it.  I wasn't a fan of getting pooped on during the 3am feeding, but I will take that as a sign of health.  When Monday rolls around I will get him to a bird rehabilitatior, because I have no intention of teaching him how to fly...haha.

Sleepy Henry!

With all that said, I think it's about time for me to go trail riding on the bike again.  Wish me luck because I am pretty sure that I will try the copperhead trail again... :-P