Day 33 - Rehabilitation

Time to get back into the swing of things! It took a bit to re-adjust to being back in Wisconsin again and working at the center. Of course the morning started off with 8am Raccoon feeding like the good old days but once this was over I also fed/cleaned all the mice. We had to weigh all the racoons, give them new food dishes, water fishes, clean their cages, and feed them as well so needless to say the feeding took a good long while. I told the other intern I would if she fed the squirrels and because of the work she did (dishes mainly I believe, can't remember!). Once all animals were fed we went on a produce run to Trigs and SaveMore for new produce donated by the two. Trigs did not have anything but SaveMore had one box. Last week(?) Trigs had a ton of apples though! Both have helped out, in fact every little bit helps, so it was not a big deal at all. In fact we are very thankful and appreciate any and all donations :)!

After produce run, and buying a few groceries at Trigs, I ran back over to pick up a cake that was paid for and ordered by the assisstant education staffs mother. Why? Because today was her birthday! So once the cake was brought back we carried it in with another cake made by a rehab staff member while singing happy birthday and shortly all mauled the cakes. Both was very very good!! I love the family aspect of this place and how we all celebrated together. Sometimes in other places its a simple happy birthday and thats it but here we say it like we mean it!

I only managed to get a behind picture since that's where I was standing in this small office room but it still counts..right? right?

After the cake fiasco I believe it was time for 12pm raccoon feeding. I did dishes this time and then and again during the 2pm raccoon feeding. Not sure about the 4pm but I think I also did dishes for the 8pm feeding. Somewhere between 12pm and 8pm the intern and I refilled all the residents water dishes with fresh water. I managed to snap this picture of Willow and Rhea during this watering; they are both Barred Owls. Willow is in front and Rhea is behind.

We also took out trash, swept, mopped, and did dishes elsewhere. We also received some Mallard ducklings somewhere during all this. These ducklings were transferred to Wildwood down the street from us instead of REGI. The other intern learned how to drive a truck for the first time as well. Aside from the ducks, basic cleaning, feeding, and watering I am not sure of what else we did but if I can remember I will add more.

As for after work I went out with all the interns, but one who wanted to stay, and two staff members to the Brewing Company in "downtown" Minocqua. I had their amazing beer cheese soup and also tried some roasted chicken. It was all amazing! I love their food for sure and cannot wait to go back again. This was to celebrate the birthday again. Later on that evening most of the interns and the some staff members went back out to celebrate more while I decided to stay behind and completely pass out. I was tired as all get out and it showed because I was sawing logs until my alarm woke me up the next morning.

Day 27 - 32 (Education + 5 Day Vacation)

Wow have I gotten behind on my blog posts. I have a very valid reason though. Lets start with Day 27 when I was on the education side of things at the center. Another intern and I started off our morning like we do every time someone is on education; by sweeping, vacuuming, and mopping. I personally only swept everything and helped move rugs. I was going to clean windows but we did not have any window cleaner so that fell through. I ended up answering some phone calls instead though and eventually the morning led into giving tours. I think I gave roughly 3 tours this day but cannot 100% remember since it's been a few days and because so much has happened since this particular day.

I recall it being average aside from the fact I gave one of the best tours I had given yet. My confidence had sky rocketed on said day and suddenly I have been able to speak easier; not so much stuttering and what not. I feel like I am starting to express myself better when interacting with others which, to me, is a big bridge I needed to cross. I eventually started doing gift shop inventory and this honestly carried through out the day. The only time I really stopped was for a tour or phone call that the other intern could not get to. Eventually lunch was thrown in too but overall, as said, this day was average. My day ended up of course when the education director discovered I had a 9hr drive ahead of me because I intended on going home for 5 days in order to attend a family reunion and to surprise everyone as well. Around 4pm he told me to go and so I packed up really quick, grabbed a box of five European Starlings, and off I went.

My 9hr drive became a tad bit longer because I needed to make a stop at REGI. More or less I volunteered and will receive a reimbursement for gas based on the extra miles driven. I wrote down my mileage before and after of course. After I dropped off the starlings I headed home. This included numerous back roads through out southern Wisconsin until I finally hit highway, driving through Illinois (including Chicago), Indiana, and Ohio. During this venture I spent a good $15 on dang toll boths (Ohio took $10 alone!!) but this was all because I took the fast route despite tolls. I did not become tired until the last hour because of coffee. I drank a ton of it at the hint of the slightest yawn and periodically got out to stretch when I used cash to get gas. My head started spinning honestly but I made it safetly to Toledo, OH where my most amazing boyfriend is staying at his aunts. They allowed me to stay the night there despite how late I was arriving (4:30am) which I am eternally grateful for! I went to bed around 5:30am because I ended up chatting with said boyfriend until he had to leave for work. Poor man stayed up all night for the most part waiting on me! I wished he got more sleep but I cannot deny the fact I love having someone who cares this much about me and lets be honest I would fought to stay awake in order to do the same. I slept from 5:30am or so until roughly 11:30am. Overall this means I arrived/woke up into Day 28; the first day of my vacation.

I meat my boyfriend's aunt, uncle, and couple cousins on this day which means I have now officially met everyone within the close family on mom and dad's side. Close family of course, there's a lot more I have not!!! Aside from this I waited until he was off of work (napped somewhere while waiting and showered too!) and then he and I went on our first date to one of my favorite types of restaurant; Hibachi style Japanese food!!! We went to Sakura Japanese Steakhouse (http://www.sakurasteakhouse.com/). I swear it was the best tasting food I have had in a VERRRYYY long time and I was absolutely thrilled that he and I were able to share the time together. Will never forget our date it was just that amazing. I even caught the broccoli bit in my mouth. Poor Josh could not but at least he tried :)!

After Sakura we head back to the house in order to pack up and head to Dayton, OH where we hoped to surprise my mom and family. They knew he was coming but did not have a clue about me so our surprise worked. We arrived roughly around 9-9:30pm I believe so of course after a good few hours or talking we all finally went to sleep. I got to see my baby kitties; Arthur and Fergie. Arthur has grown up big time since I last saw him and is honestly bigger then Fergie now! He did not remember me at first but eventually he figured it out and ended up sleeping with like the old days.

Arthur

I was not aware of this though until I was told the next morning. Arthur is scared of Josh so the moment he saw him after peeking up over my leg he bolted for under the bed. We all woke up around 8am I believe, packed up by 9am, said some goodbyes to the cats, and head over to my grandmas house. We managed to surprise her as well and all of us head to Delaware, OH for a family reunion of mine for my mom's side. It was great seeing everyone and I ended up winning $35, two baskets, a cake, and was given another cake. It was a very nice/pleasant day. Sunny with good temperatures and I was able to see almost everyone in my immediate family, and not so much, that I have not in a long time. Some in about a year or more and others for a few months.

After sticking around for a good few hours with the family the boyfriend and I took off to Wellington, OH where he lives. I spent time with my family and now was going to spend time with his. As soon as we arrived we actually head next door to his neighbors home, whom I met before, and had dinner (and my aunts cake which we ALL loved!!!). It was great to see everyone! Got the chance to see their new barn which looks great and met Duck Duck for the first time. Cutest duck ever, he is a Muscovy. I wish I took pictures of him but forgot. A lot of humor around him that is honestly hard to explain via blog post. He does have a dance made after him if this helps explain!!

I cannot recall what else from this night besides going back next door to Josh's and later going to bed. We attempted to go to grandma/grandpa Dowdell's but they were not home so we stopped at the Beagle club for a a very short while. Otherwise, as said, bed. The next day, Day 30, we all got up and went to sunday morning mass at St. Patricks Catholic Church. I must say I have missed going to church so much. I never truly have any saturdays or sundays off and I don't wish to be a stickler about taking off since ive been a somewhat stickler so far this summer regarding pay days, this vacation, etc but I have missed going to church. It's more pleasant going with someone you know anyway; especially when you're still a catholic in training vs the real deal. Wish I could find time to convert but I am all over the place except when at school so hopefully then I can.

After mass I went with Josh and his brother to Good will, over to grandma/grandpa Dowdell, to the Beagle Club he used to work at, and later to grandma Feldkamps home. We visited an old house owned by his great grandma that was to be torn down and other places around the home I prefer to not talk about. We later went out to eat with grandma to a place in Vermillion, OH up near Lake Erie. It was a place known for its ice cream but we got more meal food; I personally ordered a coney that tasted great. After eating and getting our pictures taken we said goodbye to grandma and head over to Linwood Park in Vermillion as well. We later head home I believe and later went out for pizza at a local pizza place in Wellington (amazing pizza!).

This led to visiting Josh's great grandmas grave where he, his dad, and brothers pulled weeds around the grave to show respect while his mom and I checked out other grave stones and such. I honestly kind of regret not pulling weeds as well but maybe next time :(! We head home after and watched a movie known as the Gift. Excellent movie. Once this was over I remember migrating upstairs but then Josh and I stayed up until roughly 2am because we were looking over old albums of him and his family when he was young. Grandma Feldkamp takes a lot of pictures, and I mean A LOT, so she has pictures of him from age 1 to now. I honestly wish I had an album of myself growing up and all the adventures I have been on (which is why I take so many pictures now). They were great. He pulled out an album she and his great aunt Sandra made for him for graduation. It was, as said, him growing up through the years and different pictures of his family (brothers especially) as they all grew up too. It's crazy seeing them all as small children and seeing them now. I can only imagine what Mom thinks :)! Probably the same my mom thinks when she looks at me haha. He also pulled out picture albums of him on vacation to Yellowstone and an album of random adventure pictures (whale watching, michigan, etc). Finally at 2am I went to sleep though. Today was truly great, I missed everyone and loved all the pictures!!!

The next morning, which was monday (Day 31), we hung out for a few hours before eventually packing up and heading back towards Toledo. I honestly cannot remember what all we did on this day besides watch a little bit of Netflix and drive. We were so tired that we skipped going to Magee Marsh (number one birding spot in Ohio) but instead stopped off at Maumee State Park. We were going to check out their nature center but it was closed. So instead we walked along the boardwalk. This turned out to be very funny and I honestly will never ever forget this memory because it started to downpour while we were out walking!!! So we became soaked and despite how angry Josh wanted to sound I could tell he was smiling. He wouldn't admit it though. We managed to run/scurry back to shelter under the nature centers balcony. I had to go to the bathroom of course but when I came out I was baffled because Josh was gone. I peeked around to search and started to walk towards the truck but he mentioned turning around because he actually grabbed us both two dry shirts. I honestly was shocked because I was never used to this sort of help; it was always "fend for yourself" with other people. So I must say this simple act of kindness, amongst many other acts, truly makes me feel blessed to have someone such as him. Although it sounds crazy I cannot imagine being with anyone else and am pleased to finally have someone who 100% understands me even when there are days I feel I don't understand myself. One act of kindness truly makes someone feel special and he has taken the cake with all that he has done. Driving me around despite the age of his truck and gas prices was the biggest thing I could ever be grateful for in all honesty! Though there's a lot of things I am grateful for though. Biggest of course is God, him, family, and friends.

Now upon arriving back in Toledo we mostly chilled for the rest of the night by playing on an ipad and watching TV. We had dinner with the family courtesy of his aunt (Salmon was AMAZING) and for the most part cuddled. Once it was time to go to bed he took the couch and I took the bed (another thing to be thankful because I got a good nights sleep). Sadly this was the last time we had together until I return home again because he had work at 6am on Day 32 and I had a long drive ahead of me. With a kiss and hug goodbye he was off to work and I went back to sleep for a few more hours. Once I was awake and showered though I was off to Wisconsin. I gased up, got an oil change, and hit the road by taking 75 North through Michigan. I traveled on 75 all the way to the Mackinac bridge where I then crossed into the Upper Pennisula and head east on route 2 until I was in Wisconsin. UP was amazing. I traveled the whole lake (Lake Michigan) until I was closer to Wiscosnin. Then I followed a few familiar roads I traveled before until I was back at the center.

While traveling through Michigan I did stop a few times! When I was younger my grandma and papaw would take my two cousins and I up to a cabin they used to own in the middle of the woods. It touched the sauble river. We used to canoe down the river so I first stopped at the Bear Paw canoe and cabins to attempt to hunt down the cabin so no one can remember where it is. I managed to narrow it down to an area based on memories and the canoe paths but overall I was not able to find it. Too many back roads and although I know the road dead ends into the cabin its a matter of WHICH road. I know its around Luzerne at least and that there are dead standing pines nearby (habitat for Kirtland's Warbler :)!) but other then that it requires longer searches and more maps. I knew I was short on time so I head up to Gaylord, Mi and visited the Call of the Wild Museum where my papaw used to take us as well. In the past there were always other families around when we went but this time it was only me. It was kind of lonely, especially without my own family and especially without my grandparents with me to live the memory again, but nostalgia kept me company for sure. I took many many pictures. Due to how long it takes to upload them here please check out my Call of the Wild album on facebook for now. Maybe I will add some later. If anyone ever gets the chance to go to this museum please do!! Please help support them for sure because its family owned and I would love to take my future kids to it someday and maybe my grandkids if it gets that far! Just like papaw took us.

Aside from these few stops and getting gas/food, my last stop of course was at Northwoods Wildlife Center. I was "home" again and will be here up until August as well. It's crazy to think I will only make the long drive one more time and even more crazy to think I will only be going to instead of to and from. I intend on making every day here count and my final days count the most. Going to create a map of sorts of places I want to go and explore before I leave. That way I am able to do it all before I finally say goodbye. Who knows when I may return to good ol Wisconsin again....

Day 26 - Rehabilitation

This morning started off at 8am, like it does every day, by feeding the squirrels, cottontail rabbits, and raccoons. After feeding was over the two rehab interns went on a produce run at Trigs and Save More for fresh produce (for the animals) while I stayed back and waited for the rehabber to hand me a bunch of papers he wanted scanned. Rested for a good few minutes then off I went to scan. Hung out with the education staff of course during this process. Scanned papers until I was pulled away to help carry in produce. We were given a TON of apples. So many that we went through them all and pulled out any rotten/bad ones to toss. We kept majority and will give them to mice, squirrels, cottontails, and not sure what else in the future. I then returned to scan more pages until I was pulled away again at 12pm for the second round of raccoon feeding. Once this was done we took our hour lunch.

When we took lunch I went out for some Burger King and came back to chill. Somehow I ended up completely passing out and ended up 20 minutes late. Evidently I was super tired because when I woke up I didn't even remember falling asleep. I head back downstairs straight away and apologized of course. I then went back to the education side and continued to scan documents for the rehabilitation staff so they had photo copies of their advanced license application. Not sure if I mentioned it before but their inspection is friday/saturday of this week.

Once all but one page was complete I was grabbed by the education director and pulled into the education room with Rory the Broad-winged Hawk. He had Sierra the Red-tailed Hawk in a box used for transporting the birds for programs. The assistant education director had just returned from one and since I said I wanted to work with Sierra previously the day had finally came. She is apparently easier to work with in the box. Every other intern was pulled into the room as well and the education director showed us what to do. Due to three of us having previous bird handling experience with our other birds we were able to get Sierra out and glove her.

She was a bit heavy!

After handling Sierra and thanking the education director multiple times we then returned back to the rehabilitation side. A rehab intern and an education intern were in the process of apple sorting still so I helped out elsewhere by doing all the dishes in the kitchen, nursery, and tub rooms. Once all of these were done I prepared food trays for our two squirrels and five rabbits. Was going to prepare raccoon formula but the education intern took care of this so I fed the squirrels and cottontails again. The cottontails get pretty nasty after a while so had to clean out their cages as well. I also reset a cage in the nursery that the eastern gray squirrel was in before he was moved to the cage room. The next step, after the cage room, is the pre-release cage outside and then he can be released. He honestly will be released sooner then later because of how much of a wild squirrel he is. Satan squirrel mock charged me at least five times today while feeding this morning. He's adorable though.

Once dishes and feeding were done, I took out two bags of trash I set out earlier, disinfected all the surfaces in the kitchen and nursery. I then helped mop after the education intern swept. I then finished cleaning some dishes in the tub that I left from before (they were disinfecting) and then stood a bit to wait for the mopping work to dry. Once it did the rehabber came in just in time for me to ask for more work since I didn't feel like ending the work day just yet. I already wanted to mop/sweep the Raccoon Isolation Room but was also asked to zip tie some screen cover on the side of one of the cages. After all this I swept and vacuumed our rugs leading to out back and then organized the back room and room where the mops, brooms, and cardboard boxes were kept. Once all this was said and done I then went outside to check on how the Raptor Flight Cage was going. Three out of four poles were up but the fourth had split due to falling so it needed to be welded back together before it was bolted up. These poles are going to help us put in cables in a crossing (X) pattern that will then hold the room up. The roof is mostly fine but the mesh just domes in some so this will hopefully provide extra support. I truly wish the roof could be rebuilt but since this is a non-profit it is honestly hard. If only a bigger flight cage could be built; like REGIs. That would be awesome but I appreciate what we have for sure and cannot wait to fill it with raptors.

We finished up around 7pm, fed raccoons again around 8pm, and now I up here typing this blog. Tomorrow is another day on the education side of things and tonight I am on phone duty. Hoping for a good nights sleep (in other words no phone calls till the morning) but we shall see.

Day 25 - Rehabilitation

I anticipated feeding raccoons this morning but instead I prepared bunny and squirrel trays for our remaining squirrels that have yet to be released and our new 5 bunnies. All 5 of these bunnies were weighed and each seem to be gaining weight. Bunnies are normally realeased when they are 100+ grams. If they are grouped together this means all of them in that group must be at least 100+ for best results. We do not released animals if it is going to rain/storm that day or next few days so animals can find their barrings in their new environment. Three bunnies are in one group; one was 100, one was 80, and one was 84. Once these 80s raise to 95+ then these three should be ready. Cannot wait to release more animals. I hope I am able to help release the three Red Squirrels but we shall see. Speaking of squirrels, I managed to drop the food tray for the outside squirrels in their pre-release cage like I do almost EVERY time I attempt to feed the squirrels outside. After remaking a tray for a squirrel, new addition and whom I call demon squirrel, inside I then went out to find a rehabber.

A lot of maintenance to all the different enclosures has been going on outside due to the facility inspection coming up June 7th. The Eagle Flight Cage has been the biggest repair since the mesh screen stuff for the room has somewhat caved in. I have not worked on this, not physically capable honestly, but I did help in other places. For instance the other day and intern and I fixed a hole in a pre-release squirrel cage and put peat gravel in a recovery cage. Today an intern and I picked up sticks in the fawn yard and did an overhaul of Ethel's cage. Ethel is a Great Horned Owl that is kept wild and is used as a foster parent for any baby owls that could come in. She had raised many young before as a foster and we hope she continues to in the future. She is kind of funny because every time you enter her enclosure she gives you the most irritated expression ever and just hisses at you. Ethel was the first bird I ever caught for exams; though I never got a picture to prove it :(.

Anyway, the intern and I started to scrap at Ethel's perches and walls to get any gunk off that the powerwasher might not be able to. I then raked up any pellets, feces, feathers, etc that made the enclosure potentially smell bad. The other intern shoveled up the stuff while I held the trash bags then we laid out new peat gravel inside her enclosure and smoothed it out. Afterwards I took the trash and tools away except for the rake. The other intern raked at any build up from pine needles/leaves on the roof to get it all off and allow in more light. I threw away the trash and helped out elsewhere by holding a ladder for another intern back in a bird recovery enclosure that needed some work. Somewhere in the middle of everything mentioned above the three of us interns on rehab today organized a walkway by the building a bit. Later I went back to Ethel's enclosure and put new wrap around her ladder. She uses said wrap to climb up to her perches since she can't really fly well.

I recall helping a volunteer find the other two interns and a rehabber when I was finished and then returning to the building to feed raccoons with the others are 12pm. After this we went to lunch; I ended up going to Subway for lunch with one of the rehabbers. We brought it back to the center and she was on her comp while I scurried upstairs to attempt working on this blog. It was between 1pm and 2pm by this time.

At the end of lunch I wondered into the education office where I hung out with a volunteer and our assistant education staff member because I just felt like it. Just chatted mostly until I returned back to the Rehabilitation side. I believe this is when I noticed a container and asked what was new. It ended up being a Blue Spotted Salamander, not a Jefferson's like I previously thought. Though the two are similiar, Jefferson's are not found here in Wisconsin. So it was unfair! (jokingly) but we named it Jefferson to make up for it. We released him in our wetland out back behind the center and then returned inside

I honestly forget what I was doing then but a Great Horned Owl rescue came about so we grabbed a box with a sheet, some gloves, and head out towards Arbor Vitae. The Great Horned Owl fledgling was found in a garage apparently but the mom had not been seen in days. We were not able to find a nest either after walking around searching. So we had to take the owl away. We head back to the center and prepared the owl for transport by calling REGI, getting the recovery card completely filled, etc.

Great Horned Owl (fledgling)

Once this was ready I hunt down the education director who said he would teach me how to glove Rhea our Barred Owl. I had a spare 10-15min before I had to go to REGI so out we went. He showed me the process, told me it would be best to give her time at least everyday, and I successfully gloved her twice. I intend to now attempt to spend an good half hour or better every day with Errol the Great Horned Owl and Rhea the Barred Owl. This way I gain more glove experience with an owl and both become more socialized for others as well. I honestly loved Rhea from the start as well, aside from Errol of course, so it is a pleasure to work with her too.

After the gloving was taken care of I then head out towards REGI with the owl. This, of course, took about 3 hours drive time and out of my day but it is fine. On the way back I head up to Elcho Wisconsin to drop off some brochures from our center at an ice cream shop. Then I was able to head back. As soon as I returned I had roughly 10-15 minutes to spare before I had to help feed the raccoons. This flew by and I did half the dishes while another intern did the other; very grateful for this. Riso talk was hilarious tonight (mainly about poop thanks to the raccoons). Right after dishes were finished I head out towards Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin to let out a fellow coworkers dogs while he was away. This went quick and I was shortly back at the center and thus leaving me here to type up this blog entry.

Day 24 - Education

So I forgot to add something to yesterdays post! We had a raccoon that had broken its leg back before I arrived here. He stayed outside in an enclosure all winter. Remember when I said I catch poled and vaccinated raccoons? Well this raccoon was actually one of the harder raccoons to capture because he more or less knew the way of the pole; how it worked. So he would always slip out of the pole. He would also mock charge which made him look scary but you could honestly see the fear in his eyes when we were around. I managed to catch pole this raccoon last night for release! I asked the others if they wished too because I did not want to steal the show but was super excited that I was able to get involved in doing this. After capturing it and putting it in a crate I then carried it to the truck where we loaded it up into the back. Next stop was out in the middle of a forest for release! Which was very successful mind you. We took pictures so I hope to post them up in this post at some point. Will update everyone when I do in later posts and what not. Later on that night, all us interns (except one :(! ) went over to a staff members cabin and played card games for a good hour or so. Had a GREAT time for sure!

This morning started out good. Have a lot of energy today so been doing quite a bit of stuff. Started to vacuum until phone calls came in. More raccoon and fawn calls of course. Hopefully found a young raccoon a good home with another rehabilitation center (since we are completely full!) and then continued to tell people to leave the deer fawns alone since they aren't crying out nonstop.

Once some calls were taken care of then I continued to vacuum. By then the sweeping and mopping was done; very thankful for the other intern doing this. Love it when there is two of us up front for sure. I attempted to clean windows but we ran out of window cleaner; thankfully more was ordered. The two of us then fulfilled our animal task by cleaning out the box turtle tank in the education room. The other intern took care of the turf portion of it (picking out the food with tweezers) while I did the water portion. Cleaned the filter, the rock, mat, and then the tank itself. Added new water so of course dumped the old out. After this we took a small break until some people called. Somewhere during the middle of this we emitted some eastern cottontail rabbits and I gave a tour while the other intern followed. The tour was easy since they were somewhat rushing through; wanted to see more of the animals and talk about some facts vs a lot of facts which I didn't mind at all.

Eventually the other intern went to lunch so I updated the 2013 patient database, emailed it to the two rehabbers, then continued to do gift shop inventory that I had started in previous days. Hope to inventory everything between the back room and gift shop then updated the gift shop excel spreadsheet so we have a more accurate reading of things. I was almost finished with the back room before the intern came back from lunch so I could then take lunch. Typing this all up of course and hope to add more soon.

UPDATE: So after lunch I went back downstairs, of course, and then the intern and I tried to find the education director. He mentioned having a special project for us so we wanted to find out. This project included a wheel barrel, twigs, and grass. The project we had? Rebuild the Bald Eagle nest replica previously built by interns. The storm caused it to droop on one side and so we rebuilt a wall and then added a lot of grass in the middle to make it look new and fresh. This honestly did not take long at all; we were called good Eagles for it haha. We returned back inside and sat for a bit. No other tours came in and I had a feeling we wouldn't get anymore. So I started doing inventory on gift shop items kept in the back room storage. I started this a few days ago and since nothing had been taken out I figured finish it asap. This lasted up until around 2 when we had a staff meeting. We covered the DNR inspection regarding the advanced license, the Loon incident (when the loon brought in was shot), schedules, and various other things. It was mentioned that a gift shop inventory should be conducted which made me smile since it was already started and halfway finished. It was honestly the assistant education staff members idea but the progress I made felt great. During the staff meeting we had a few phone calls too so I missed the very rear end of everything but caught up afterwards. More fawn and raccoon calls!!!!

REMEMBER EVERYONE, Leave the fawn alone!!!! Unless it is crying/wandering for hours straight the mother is somewhere. They leave their fawns alone since the fawn does not have an odor and the mother doe does. Its a technique to keep predators away from the young fawn.

When it comes to Raccoons; do not relocate a raccoon unless you're 100% positive it does not have babies. Some poor babies lost their mother because of this mistake.

 After the phone call episode, and trying to find raccoon babies a rehabilitation center (since most of them are now full - including ours), we took a moment to breathe before returning to work. I returned to doing inventory on the back room while the other intern left elsewhere to clean owl enclosures. I worked on the inventory until roughly 6 something then updated the excel spreadsheet with all of our gift shop information. Once this was done around 6:40 or so I emailed it to the executive director, told her we needed more adult sized squirrel shirts, made a note for myself about updating the rest of the spreadsheet next time I am on education, and then head upstairs to finish off this blog post.

Sometime tonight I am going over to one of the rehabbers homes to let his dogs out for him while he visits his girlfriend up north then heading back. Otherwise I believe this is going to be a rest day for everyone since we stayed up super late last night.

Day 23 - Rehabilitation

Oh yeah, back on Rehab and it just so happens to be Sunday Funday too!

This morning I revisited the thought of how I am here. In other words I am still in disbelief and yet still so happy about it. I have fallen in love with Wisconsin and Northwoods Wildlife Center....and cheese curds. If I could I would donate $1000's to this place but sadly I do not have those sort of funds so I was curious if I could maybe encourage someone else to donate at least $10+. To all of my fellow readers please consider becoming a member to the center, sponsor one of our animals, or even both! I would greatly appreciate it and I am sure the staff and even animals would too. Every little bit helps and I would be ever so thankful :).

Check out the website for how and comment below with any questions you may have.
http://www.northwoodswildlifecenter.org/


Thank you for taking to the time to read the above. As for how my day is going so far (its currently lunch time) the word is Awesome. I started off feeding/watering all the mice while the other two interns prepared formula and such for our (11?) baby raccoons. Once mice were done we fed the raccoons and changed their bedding while someone did dishes. After this I filled their charts and prepared squirrel/bunny trays. Yes, we did acquire (4-5?) more little bunnies! Still need pictures of the raccoons and now of these bunnies. Another intern started helping me with trays and together the two of us fed squirrels while I covered solids for bunnies.

Once this was done the staff member, a volunteer, and two of us interns went out on a coffee run for Sunday Funday. I got my good old favorite Heath Klondike coffee shake (Starbucks can't even match these guys, best coffee place EVER) and once everyone was loaded with coffee we hit up McDonalds for breakfast and then Walmart for supplies for the center. We needed Timothy Hay for our bunnies especially but also other mechanical stuff. After this was taken care of we returned and prepared for the noon coon feeding session. Round two with the coons; this feeding went much better then this mornings feeding. We also took lunch shortly after this feeding which is why I am typing right now. The volunteer is still out working on our Eagle Flight Cage I believe. Have to perform some structure repairs on our outdoor facilities since facility inspection is coming soon for advanced license and we have not used these buildings and such for at least 2 years I believe. Cannot wait for this place to be up and running for sure! They just deserve it so much!! Northwoods WC, you have managed to take a place in my heart for sure. Right next to Five Rivers Metroparks; miss all of you my past fellow coworkers (well except one, we all know who that is...).

Will update after the day is over so stay tuned.

UPDATE: So after lunch we went back downstairs and ended up in a small game of hack. However this did not last long because the executive director came out and was rather agitated. So back to work we went. A few of the guys started to work on the Raptor Flight Enclosure again while an intern and I left to work on fixing a small hole in one of the squirrel cages. This was manageable and somewhat easily fixed; mainly because the other intern truly knew what to do. I'm truly not the handy man unless I know all my resources 100%. Which I currently kind of don't. After this we shoveled peat gravel into a wheel barrel and filled a recovery cage where some mesh was showing and cut some plastic strands. We were able to check two enclosures off the list but still have more to do before inspection day.

Once these two things were done it was time for 4pm feeding so we made squirrel/rabbit trays and prepared formula for raccoons. After these were all fed I did the dishes in the Raccoon Isolation Room (RISO) and then swept, mopped, took out the trash, and replaced booties. Went back inside and did dishes in tub and kitchen then took out all the garbage. Wondered outside to help with the Raptor Flight Cage but by this time our day was almost done. We were on our feet most of the day so some of us are pretty tuckered out. Only one out of four poles are done on the raptor flight cage but this is because the process is truly tiring and rather tricky. I saw them trying to put the second one on the cage and it just looked like a huge pain due to all the lifting.

Day is over besides feeding coons at 8pm. I think I am on phone duty tonight (I kind of said I would take it anyway) unless someone else ends up wanting it. Need to go out and talk to Errol the Great Horned Owl again of course but otherwise not much else. Game night possibly but truly just tired so probably not going.

Education tomorrow.

Day 22 - June Bloom

First off, cannot BELIEVE its June 1st already!!!! Where did May go!?

Today we had to wake up a bit early in order to go to the June Bloom. This is more or less a craft show event like the Strawberry Festival back in Ohio. I never actually walked around but when I did get up to get some cheese curds and wild black raspberry ice cream I did notice some really awesome crafts. If I had the money to spend I would surely buy up quite a bit for gifts and household decor. Sadly I lacked the funds and honestly I do not own any sort of house with a garden and such anyway.

Now I must say, Cheese curds are absolutely amazing! I had never heard of or tried any until today and now I have a strong craving for them! I made myself sick because I ate too much from the first batch I got but now that hours of passed...oh yeah, want some more cheese curds haha.

Cheese Curds = AMAZING

The reason why I, another intern, and an educational staff member were at the June Bloom today was because we attend said events in order to raffle off a hand crafted canoe (donated?) to us by Bill Bjorke in Boulder Junction, WI. He hand crafted every bit of it from light and dark cedar. Truly it is gorgeous and will be raffled until October so if anyone is interested in a raffle ticket feel free to let me know via text, facebook, or however else. If you send me the cash (its $5 per ticket, 5 tickers for $20) then I will put you in the raffle. You have my word, I am not one for scandals. No time for such nonsense anyway.

I will take a better picture if wanted.

We raffled off 49 tickets, spread the word about the center, and managed to sell at least one squirrel shirt. Truthfully the staff member and other intern did most of the talking but I did manage to cue in occasionally. Sadly we tried to sell tickets for our Fishing Tournament but no one was interested or was going to be out of town. However this will hopefully spread the word some and we did seem to do well otherwise. Hopefully we will see some familiar faces wonder in from the event within the next week or month. The more the merrier I always say!

I truly hope this place grasps as much GOOD attention as possible because everyone here truly deserves it as much as the animals do. Every item donated from paper towels to food and even blankets has truly helped in many ways.


I am hoping to get in contact with some of my past and present instructors and coworkers in the natural resources field in order to try to rally in some sponsors for the center. It would be absolutely amazing if we could gain support from the Ohio Division of Wildlife and even from Five Rivers Metroparks. They did so much for me, I tried my best to give them my all, and it would just be outstanding. Hoping to talk to our executive director about ways to gain support first and then will go from there. Please, if any of you guys are reading this, consider helping this place out for my sake. Its needless to say how much I care about this place, the animals, and the people. I am not begging but simply asking for consideration.

Aside from all that, I intend to talk to Errol the Great Horned Owl more tonight in order to socialize him again. Hoping for more progress.