Day 62 - Canoe Raffle

Today was a canoe raffle day. This means we load up the handcrafted canoe I mentioned before into a truck with some shirts, chairs, and canoe tickets then head over to an event. Typically these events are craft shows; including this one! The craft show today was called Christmas in July and was located in St. Germain, Wisconsin which is honestly not very far at all. I would say it is 10-15 minutes away.

The intern from yesterday and I did our best to head out at 7:40am today but after loading up we honestly did not leave until 8am. When we arrived there was some struggle because we did not know which booth was ours and although we could not find someone at first we managed to find the manager and a spot as well. This said spot was located with the crafters under a pavilion. We set up the canoe, our table, chairs, and then everything on the table. The intern and I traded back and forth between who watched the table and who went out exploring. The other intern went first and eventually I walked around all the booths.

During this booth walking I saw a ton of stuff I kind of wanted to buy, some stuff I did buy, and some stuff that I knew I could never afford but desperately wanted to buy!  I also ran into two volunteers from Wild Instincts. To some this does not mean much but to us this is was very rocky ground. Northwoods Wildlife Center and Wild Instincts seemed to be on very bad terms due to various events but as I attempted to casually walk by I was asked "what's wrong? You can come over here". So I did. I mean I was very nervous buy why not? I was very careful with my words because I was very unsure if anything I said would be okay but more or less said I heard there was bad blood between us which was why I was nervous about coming over here but I can say that everyone thinks highly of the advanced rehabber there and that we wish the past was the past. More or less he left and started his own facility then things just didn't go well between places; can't 100% remember the issue anymore truthfully. Miscommuncation of sorts. Well anyway, we chatted for a while about who I was, videos on the Wild Instict page, and about their personal experiences working with bats, DNR, and other internships they had. Overall, it was all casual conversation but once I didn't know what to say anymore I said goodbye and how it was nice to meet them. I'm a very nice person and I truly hope for the best now between both places. We all want the past to be the past and know it's all about the animals so it would just be nice to see both places to work together again. They are people just like we are and as I always think, we are equals or we are one.

Eventually I returned to the tent and explained all the happened to the other intern. Later we saw one of the volunteers again who stopped by to say hi but also kept walking. I said hi again of course but who knows what may transpire now. I just hope for the best as always. Other then the event ending and us selling only 19 raffle tickets, we head to Mcdonalds to get some food, then back to the center to unpack. The work day was over then but the day itself seemed to only begin! We went out to eat to celebrate an interns birthday, the one I was with today, at a Chinese restaurant across the street. We then came back and hung out outside and took some pictures. We played with our neighbor Animal Hospitals staff members dogs for a while. Then when we head inside we hung out upstairs and chatted before we started watching Easy A. Which we are still watching now! Otherwise I think we'll head to bed after this but overall this day was basically amazing.

Interns + Staff (2)

Summer Interns '13!