Day 4

Due to all the napping I did yesterday after work and falling asleep on time I managed to have a lot more energy today. This made waking up easier and so I began my day by feeding all of the mice while the two vet techs fed the bunnies/gray squirrels and staff fed the red squirrels. Today a sponsor was coming in so we pretty much had a full blown clean out. I mainly swept almost everything and mopped the cage room and kitchen. I am not for sure what all I swept but I did at least a few places. Afterwards I collected some mice and humanely/painlessly sent them on their way so they could be used for bird food. Once the box used for them was cleaned I helped move some supplies downstairs into the basement with a staff member. I organized the back room while waiting to carry more stuff down.

Once this was down I helped hang a hand made canoe that will be raffled off sometime this summer. I wish I could purchase a raffle ticket and win it myself but honestly it deserves to go to someone who would use it a lot of at least take very good care of it. It is a very very nice canoe though!

During the hanging process a very generous donor dropped off soy milk and a bunch of canned goods. A staff member sorted said goods for the animals to eat and moved them to the kitchen area. I opened the contents and began filling baggies while everyone else went about their business doing other stuff. This lasted until it was time to take lunch. I had an awesome Smart One lunch with a banana and some water. Lost my water bottle during lunch though...it somehow managed to get a hole... so I may need to get another one soon due to how much water I have been drinking lately.

Once lunch was over and I returned downstairs a staff member brought in his great dane. She had cow/dalmation colors to her. I managed to capture some pictures of the animals during this time and while occasionally petting the puppy I also chatted with our Broad-winged Hawk, Rory!

Darnit, glass glare.

When I noticed everyone disappeared I went back to the rehabilitation side and was given a job to clean mouse cages since they were now empty. However before I started to do this there was a call about a possibly sick Common Loon. For anyone who does not know what a Loon likes look I provided a picture from google.We loaded up the truck with a box with newspaper, grabbed our waters, and head out in two vehicles. I drove our tan vehicle, Betsy haha, and we arrived on scene roughly ten minutes away? The loon was reported not diving and sticking underneath the dock but when we arrived the loon was actually out from under the dock, diving, and catching fish. She/he seemed to very quite healthy so we returned back to the center. Could have been my first rescue but oh well. Good news is, I was able to add the Common Loon to my Bird Life List!!! :)

If the loon was captured I found out that the person who drives the tan truck also drives any birds to Antigo, Wisconsin. Overall its about 3 hours to/from Antigo from Minocqua. Good thing I like driving and want to explore Wisconsin because that was truly a surprise indeed!

Once returning to the center I began preparing food for the racoons with a spring intern I met yesterday. She was originally off so I ended up finding the missing intern and now all 3 of us are here. When food was prepared I returned to emptying canned goods into baggies for storage. I think something else occurred but I honestly do not remember. I listened to one of the sponsors who was here today about medical related stuff and the animals. She was providing the staff with suggestions. It kind of felt good to listen to her and understand what she was talking about; different medications/antibiotics and such.

When it was time to feed coons I followed the two staff members out and the other intern returned to the educational section of the center. The vet techs left for the day in order to go fishing for bluegill and such. We fed and watered the raccoons then cleaned up any feces. The raccoon I was in the cage with actually started to growl at me so I could not clean up everything but got what I could. Bad experiences with racoons still make me actually very nervous around them. Maybe a lot more nervous then I should be.

Once they three raccoons were taken care of I returned to the center while the other two staff members went to the bear enclosure to check about some reported glass. They believe someone threw a bottle into the area and ended up returning with glass. I cleaned the raccoons bowls when I returned and chucked the feces in the garbage can outside the building. Then I started working on bagging canned goods again until the cans were emptied and the bags were stored in the fridge.

The work day then ended with dishes, taking out the trash, disinfecting surfaces, sweeping, and mopping the rehabilitation side. A game night is planned tonight at 8 and will be a t one of the staff members' cabin so looking forward to that. Last game night on funday sunday was super fun. There was mention of a bonfire as well and bonfires = fun x2 automatically.

Other then that not much else to say. Had a really great day, miss my baby kitties to death amongst everyone else, but once again pulling through. Trying to get financial aid stuff at Hocking situated (they are driving me INSANE, cannot stand Hocking's FA Department) and working out a scholarship renewal from Audobon. Adding the Common Loon to my bird life list here in a sec and resting my tired feet/legs. Walking/standing for hours on end is truly making them tired but I am excited that the combination of exercise, water, and watching my diet (without snacking) helps!

I leave this post with a picture of our wonderful turkey vulture Hortense!
She is older then me by the way...

 UPDATE: Hung out upstairs for a good while working on the blog and what not. Once 8pm rolled around then I headed downstairs where a staff member and an intern were feeding squirrels. Well, staff was feeding squirrels but we watched. She was able to hold one baby then I was. So far the baby red squirrels have been may favorite. In light of that, the one I was holding deciding to pee all over my hand and onto my shirt. No wonder she/he was sitting so still and shaking.

Once squirrels were fed, and I changed shirts, a resident painted turtle that was previously injured earlier in the day was looked over once more. She had antibiotic sprayed on her before hand and she seemed to be doing better but we decided, based on the present scenario of her being in stagnant water with open wounds, that an antibiotic injection would be best for better healing and for her protection. I learned how to calculate the dosage in Swanson's Wildlife Techniques class but honestly I vaguely remembered anything after weight so the staff member ran me through the calculations once more based on the drug in hand, weight of turtle, and dosage recommended by a book they possessed loaded with dosage information and how to go about giving said medication to animal depending on the animal.

I watched him calculate, remove the antibiotic from the bottle, and then was handed the needle in order to inject it into the turtle. The staff member taught me real quick how to do it and bombs away I injected my first medication into an animal. Check that off the wishlist regarding animals; thank you Northwoods, staff, and turtle for giving me a first once more! Hope you do not hate me too much turtle.

After that we left the turtle back in the container, changed the water of course and added less to help wounds heal but keep moisture in tank, then were on our way to the staff members house to meet up with other staff for game night. We decided not to have a bonfire and played Phase 10 instead. I did not win due to a rough start and such but oh well it was very funny and its great hanging out with everyone!!!

Tomorrow I change from rehabilitation to education with a the education staff. I get to learn a whole new perspective of Northwoods while also being on stage with the public. This is honestly a combination of my weakest skills so I am hoping to learn a ton and truly strengthen my weak points so I may become a better wildlife professional.

Dream big, no doubt about that.

For now, going to bed with door open and screen closed in order to let some fresh air in and listen to the Spring Peepers, Wood Frogs and wind out back....oh and maybe rain?

Good night all.