Day 35 - Education

So I am considering education for future employment. I mean hey, when you're a teacher of sorts you could teach everything. I am more fond of teaching adults then kids though. I just have not become comfortable teaching children just yet so it may take a lot more experience for that.

Anyway, education side today and of course the morning started off with sweeping and vacuuming while the other education intern mopped. Once everything was spiced up and looking pretty we searched for new jobs. I updated the patient database, fixed a few cards that had messed up numbers, and then head out to DC/Frtiz's enclosure. The last time I was inside it, to give them water, it kind of smelled bad and there were flies everywhere. You could tell I was gone for 5 days straight because of that! Tomorrow I intend on also cleaning Ethyl and Errol's enclosures because they too are under my care and I have not seen their enclosures in a good while. Hopefully it is not too terrible! Speaking of Errol, he is actually a she owl. Not only that but I have not been talking to her since I have been back though I must admit she does not seem to bait whenever I am around anymore which makes me feel very happy. Normally she looks ticked off but when I am around she actually does not have the good old "angry" look which makes me happy as well. Once I catch up on my sleep and feel less overwhelmed with everything again I will resume going out to talk to her and such for gloving purposes. Hoping for continued progress.

Once DC/Fritz had a clean enclosure, I made sure it looked spotless of course, I head back inside. A Red-breasted Merganser chick arrived but aside from being told Merganser I attempted to ID. However we suddenly had people coming in so the other intern took them out on tour while I stayed back and watched the desk. Next thing you know the quote "when they come, they all come" came true! We suddenly had a few groups of people and a summer school class come in. Now I knew about the summer school class but the other groups surprised me!

When the other intern returned I somehow managed to give a tour to anywhere between 15 and 25 people. I think the summer school class had at least 10 alone and I know three groups had at least 3-4 people each so I never took an exact count but only guesses. Could have been more as crazy as that sounds. I was shaking afterwards from being so nervous but I somehow managed to give the tour and made everyone happy. Practically everyone, but one group who seemed to want to rush through more then anything :(, were thanking me and telling me how great I did which boosts my confidence. Wish I had a picture of all the people in this group!

Once I returned inside I watched the front desk again while the other intern took another tour right after of a good amount of people as well. Somewhere during all this I managed to sell 2 fishing tickets :)! Whomever sells the most was promised a prime rib dinner. Three of us sold 2 tickets each so we hope we are all three able to get the dinner but we shall see. In a sense I feel I sold 4 but I am willing to share if possible. Would be nice if the three of us could go instead of hogging all the glory.

During the waiting period I recall mainly answering phone calls and selling that other 2 tickets mentioned above but then gave a tour to a group of only 4 people. The smaller groups are always easier then a long line of people because I do not have to yell and it's more personal in a sense. They can freely ask questions right then and there rather then having to have the people in back wait and such. It was all somehow manageable but wow was I nervous! After this tour of a few people I was sent to my half hour lunch. Listened to some music, ate, and relaxed my back/feet. Have been having nausea and back issues, sciatic is messing up big time and it's driving me crazy. If I make any sudden movements when bending it shoots a sharp pain through my back that almost sends me to the ground. I've been keeping it under control as much as possible but I must say walking/standing a lot isn't helping so hoping it goes away fast. Cannot stand the fact I have back problems.

After lunch was over with the other intern took his and I stayed at the front desk. I think I attempted some call backs, I at least tried earlier in the morning but no luck with them, but ended up heading over to the gift shop to attempt inventory. I honestly did not get anywhere with it because as soon as I started a new volunteer for the education side came in. I honestly do not feel like the best teacher but I did my best to walk her through answering phones, offered to review the binder with her, answered any questions she may have had, and she went on tour with both me and the other intern. So she managed to see what we both said while on tour. I personally felt the other intern was better because I was very off today and admitted to that as well. It was just one of those days for me I suppose but did my best to help. She was happy to see the young raccoons in back and although she did not want to feed any of the animals anything dead she was happy about feeding the vegetarian turtles. I did not want to say too much because I did not want to overwhelm her at all. She seemed very nice though so I hope the information offered was a big help! I just hope she did not feel left behind or anything. It's hard being new sometimes; in fact I still feel new a good portion of the time (especially when answering wildlife calls).

We then started to receive more phone calls and I think tours. As said she was able to watch us answer calls and give the tours. I honestly felt bad because I as said as well I was having an off day and did not feel like I was the best example of how to handle situations. I wish I could handle animal calls better but I get so nervous and anxious that I cannot think straight. Then when there are times I know what to do and ask for help, I feel like the call is taken over. Sometimes I do not need the full explanation but merely a "yeah, you were right". It's all good though. I'll work on it of course.

While waiting for intern to get back on his tour I updated the patient list again. We received the merganser, a robin that may have had egg binding but was hit by a car, and some new baby bunnies (and I mean BABY bunnies). They are so tiny. I took my last tour for the day when the intern came back. We then managed to close shop after and thus ended the day on education. Together the intern and I pulled off $165 in donations and managed to sell the 4 tickets. I want to say we made $30+ on gift shop sales today as well but am unsure. Overall, a very successful day. Wish I had better pictures to share but maybe tomorrow.

Southern Flying Squirrel

Day 34 - Rehabilitation

Today started off kind of slow. A few of the older people here went out last night to celebrate our education staffs birthday so they were all mostly out late. I was feeling major "jet lag" from driving so much so I was super tired. I could only think bed most of the day and I'm pretty sure I was on auto pilot all day. Only reason I am up right now is because I just drank a Fanta orange soda from Trigs across the street (like a Krogers) so I gave myself some energy because I want to crank out all these posts in order to catch up.

So today we had 8am Raccoon feeding. An intern and I did this. While I was finishing off all the dishes from these rascals the other intern went on rescue. There was a red squirrel that needed picked up. Once I was finished I discovered all squirrels and mice were fed so I checked out our daily list for a new job. This led to checking a cage that was already reset by someone else which then led to cleaning and resetting two cages in the bunny room. I washed both aquariums we place them in and all their dishes. All bunny cages were given new paper towel bedding as well. By this time the others seemed to reappear again from rescue and such. Soon after I was finished a young bird arrived. He/she was very tiny and we think it was a young Sparrow but unsure which one honestly (Tree Sparrow?). The adorable little guy fell asleep in my hands! :)

Sadly though...this little nugget did not make it. There are a number of reasons why this bird may not have made it but honestly out of all the animals so far this young bird and a Red Crossbill we got in that also died have both depressed me quite a bit. I think I took it a bit hard this time because of how adorable the little nugget was and the fact it fell asleep in my hand. Now all I have is pictures and a memory but life goes on. The bright side of all this - a Mourning Dove and American Robin were transferred to REGI and survived. The Bald Eagle, Saw-whet Owl, and American Robin I had transferred before are all doing very well and should be released very soon as well! So some of the birds we have received made it but sadly some could not be helped: trauma, paralysis, etc.

At some point I went next door to the Northwoods Animal Clinic and took part in an xray for an Eastern Chipmunk. We were walked through the process and I got the chance to stay inside and watch a button get pressed. We checked out the xrays and the poor guy has a broken leg that I believe will be pinned in order to help it heal back up properly. I honestly am not sure what happened after the whole Xray business but im sure the munk is fine.

We received a Southern Flying Squirrel munchkin as well. It should be released in a few weeks since its mostly healthy. The family dog went after it apparently. It seems very active and okay :)

After returning from REGI I helped clean up by taking out trash and mopping the floors. This was when we received a call about a Canada Goose whom we the rehab intern and I went out to rescue. We took gloves, box with sheets, and a net which were all used to capture this Goose. The Goose was not using his legs/feet at all - only his wings and neck as a means of maneuvering but it was not getting him anywhere far. From what I could tell the bird is very fatigued from over using its muscles and we hopefully did not stress it out too much. I netted the bird while the other intern grabbed its body; wings pinned to prevent wing injury. We put it in the box together and placed a sheet over the box to provide a dark place. I noticed the bird was shaking while in the water which makes me wonder if it were cold from staying in the water too long but unsure at all. I am not where near experienced enough to make any sort of official calls besides "it seems fatigued". We intend on transporting the bird to REGI or Wildwood tomorrow due to both of us interns suffering from tiredness due to my traveling and the others late night. We fed raccoons again at 8pm.

Once raccoons were fed I went out to get groceries (FINALLY) as Trigs and of course am here now typing this out and trying to catch up on all previous blogs. Overall I am growing very tired and can honestly say I am a bit sad because I miss home, boyfriend, and both of my families. It was so great to see everyone and I am enjoying it here, no doubt about that!!!, as well as enjoying the company of the people here but still - home is home. I did the math and its crazy to think but I only have 9 more weeks here before the internship is over. 12 more weeks till college.

Time flies when you're having fun. Need to make sure these 9 weeks are experience loaded and adventure packed full of fun (which the last 4 have been already). Today is technically week 4, day 4. I did take the 5 day vacation but I still count it as time here since I am technically still considered an intern but was just on vacation. Judge how you want but that's what I say!

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.