Monday, May 30, 2011

No internet + sickness = no blog posts.

Well, it has been a little while since I last wrote. We didn't have internet for a few days and I am just now getting over an illness.

I do not know how I got sick or exactly what it was. It hit me like a brick wall. After throwing up all night and having intense stomach aches, my fellow intern Vanessa convinced me to go to the doctor. A shot, and over 22 hrs of sleep later, I am feeling much better! Still kind of weak though. Many thanks to Vanessa for staying up with me and driving me to Anchorage :)

Anyways, back to what is going on at the center. We got a moose calf a few days ago. He is as cute as a button! He is doing very well, and has to be fed many times a day. We have all been taking turns.



The Center has been steadily getting busier and busier. I love talking to all of our visitors, I have met a lot of interesting people working here. The Mosquito population is also at an all time high. They are horrible!! I am covered head to toe in bites. I can look out of the kitchen window and see them hanging on the screen. The only thing that seems to keep them at bay is wind. Other than that not even repellent helps that much.

Since I last wrote I have been on a hike at Johnson's Pass and a tour of the Portage Glacier. They were both really fun. Other than that it has pretty much been the same ol' routine. I have been doing a lot more bus tours they are pretty fun. I like getting to talk on a microphone, makes me feel kinda important.

Johnson's Pass




Portage Glacier Tour



Kelly took all of us with her Hooligan fishing the other night. We were not allowed to fish because only resident of Alaska are allowed to. It was still cool to go and see a tradition that is passed down from generation to generation. Adonis, our eagle, will be very thankful that we went as this is one of his favorite meals.
Hooligan Fishing 




Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Rambling Night

Yesterdays Hike Pics
(Near Earth Quake Park)
View of Anchorage from the trail

Me and Marcie doing a fight scene

The plane! The plane!

Mud flats
The past few days I have gotten to hang out with some of my buds from the center. We have gone hiking, bike riding, and even watched Star Wars in the barn tonight. I have also had time to talk with a few of my friends on the phone. 

The big news in my life right now is I received a letter from ODNR stating that I met the requirements to take the entrance exam for the wildlife officer position. I was ecstatic on the phone when my mom called and read it to me. However, after giving the idea much thought I have sorta come to the conclusion that my heart is not fully dedicated to the position. I have been very torn on this matter all day. I went for a hike and called my "go to person."  I know that I would like the job and do it well but I just do not think that I am ready to settle down with a job of this grandeur. I would feel horrible to keep going through the steps and take away the chance for someone who full-heartedly wants the job. I do not want to get tied down and stuck in Ohio. How many people would leave a full time, good paying job with benefits to go travel and work internships with crappy pay? After coming up here to Alaska I have realized that I have so much that I want to see and I do not want to regret not doing so. I think I applied to prove to myself that I could do it, it is an honorable position and something that I wanted to see if I had what it took to make the cut. I have to remind myself that I have nothing to prove, I can do anything that I set my mind to. And maybe after I have had my fill of traveling I will apply for the next academy.  So, I need to write an email today and try to explain why I am declining to take the test. ughhhhh!! 

On another note I will be back home in Ohio in about twelve days! I cannot wait to get back home and see family and friends. I am very excited to be a part of Earth Camp this year too! I used to volunteer with the Fairfield and Hocking County Soil and Water Departments before I started college and I will actually be able to help at camp again this year. It is a day camp for first- fourth graders ( I think) that teaches them about the importance of nature. I just can't get enough of the kiddos! ha ha ha

I will be working back at Hocking Hills this summer too. I will be so glad to be back with my park family plus I will be able to shoot every night on the range if I want to :) Or hike! 

Hopefully I will be headed out to Idaho late this summer. I am sooo excited about going. I want to see what the campus has to offer and what the area is like. Who knows, I may go out and then just move out there.

I wrote quite a bit in this blog. Sorry if it was boring I guess I just had a lot on my mind and had to get it out. If you have any life advice lat me know cause I am open to suggestions. lol

Todays Hike
(Johnson's Pass)

Ptarmigan 

Gorgeous view

Where we stopped to eat lunch

The trail

Friday, May 20, 2011

The Day Before The End of The World.

As most of you know tomorrow is thought by some to be the end of the world. I personally do not believe in such a thought. It says in the bible that the end cannot be predicted anyway. But for those of you who decided to read my blog on the eve before the end of everything as we know it, here is how I spent the past few days. :) Yesterday five of us girls headed to Anchorage after a slow, rainy day of work to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. It was a midnight showing and it was daylight when we drove in and the sun was coming up at 3:30 in the morning when we got home. I have gotten used to it though. The movie was really good, I love Johnny Depp!!

View of a rainbow from the gift shop today


Julie staying out of the weather in her shed.

Today more rain and slightly windy. It feels so good to have my shower and be sitting dry and warm in my bunk. I kept busy by talking to a lot of the visitors at the center. That is one thing that I love about this job is all of the people you meet from all over the world. I talked to people from Australia and Holland today. I stayed at the bear enclosure and tossed a hot dog or two every now and then to keep the bears out front for everyone to see. It was really cool when the train went by today and blew it's whistle. Wylie, the coyote that lives in the brown bear enclosure, started howling and yelping.

Patron



I got a bunch of letters a few days ago from a class that I did a tour for here at the center. It made my day! I have really enjoyed working with the kids and I miss going into Anchorage and doing programs. Kids are our future and I believe that it is very important to make sure that they are educated about nature and how to become good stewards of the outdoors. I consider myself very fortunate to have been able to reach out to so many kids, I hope I have made a small difference.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Day off in Anchorage


Today me, Erin, and Jeremy went to Anchorage. We went dress shopping for Erin and helped Jeremy pick out a snazzy tux. They are going to a movie premiere in LA! I tried on a few fancy dresses too just because I never really have before and it was a lot of fun. I had to take a picture just to prove that I actually did it.


Other than that, it wasn't too big of an adventure. I took this picture of Wylie the other day. He doesn't come up very close to often so I got a pretty good picture of him.

Wylie 
Well, it has been a good few days off. Back to "work" tomorrow.


Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Gull Rock Trail



So today was me and Erin's day off. We baby sat for our boss Kelly for a few hours, took care of the animals, and then us and some other fellow bunkhouse buddies took off for Homer to hike the Gull Rock trail. It was a beautiful trail! We walked in the woods most of the time but you had a view of the Turnagin Arm the entire way. It was about ten miles round trip. My legs were starting to stiffen up at the end but it was totally worth it. Here are some pictures that I took. Tomorrow we are heading to Anchorage. Not doing anything to exciting. I will be getting groceries that is for sure. 





Resting

Squirrel !!!! Soo cute

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

I Pod May ham!

Hooty
 
Snappy

Ok, so I finally decided to be like all the cool kids and get an I Pod. Let me start by saying technology hates me. It doesn't matter what it is. I just recently got my first lap top and now an I pod. I love it and hate it at the same time. I think that the problem is that I know nothing about technology or how any of this stuff works. I would rather spend my free time outside than sitting at a computer all day! But there comes a point where I guess it is good to at least know the basics so you can keep up everyone else. Oh well I guess I will figure it all out. If it wasn't for Marcie's help though I probably would have thrown it earlier. And Mike Thomas or MT  set me up with alot of sweet tunes. Thanks Guys!! Anyways, me and Erin had yesterday off. We went with Jeremy to A-Town ( Anchorage) and saw "Water for Elephants". Awesome movie! We did a lil shopping while we were there as well.

The view coming home
Today we had a school group of 75 kids come to the center and me and Erin gave them a tour and did a presentation with Snickers in the barn. We had a Wood Bison calve today and we got to see some of it happen. Very cool. Other than that nothing out of the ordinary happened today. Me and Erin had to help/ we did most of the un-loading of a donation of frozen hams and lobsters for the bears. We filled about five and a half freezers full. It was a load of fun.

Me and Muck Luck


The Chickies

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Mother's Day Ma-ham.

Well as you all know, today was Mother's Day. The center celebrates it by having a "free day". We had quite a crowd today. There were cars lined up out to the road to get in, people not only driving bumper to bumper through the center, but walking as well. It was kinda crazy but it was also good to see everyone out with their families enjoying our animals. Me and Erin had the amazingly fascinating job of sitting at the brown bear enclosure all day and making sure that no one did anything stupid like sticking their hands through the fence and trying to pet them or something along those lines.

Visitor patrol
 It was windy and cold! We took breaks sitting in the truck to warm up. It was a long day and by the end of it we were both kinda delirious. It was so crowded that Kuma decided to climb one of the Cottonwood trees in his enclosure.

Kuma
 We had yet another baby Wood Bison today probably another one tomorrow. And for some reason there were alot of planes that flew over today.


 After everyone left Jeremy decided it was a good idea to back Totanka ( that's what we named the Yukon) into a ditch. Mike came with the front loader and pulled it out though so all is well.  

Jeremy's mishap

Cummins Power!!

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Saturday

It was kinda windy here at the center today but it wasn't raining or overcast so I won't complain. Me and Erin did the usual drive around this morning and spotted yet another Wood Bison calf. That makes #2! and guess what else? There is another Musk Ox baby too! So that was cool.


We did the usual monitoring of the brown bear enclosure. We have to start walking the perimeter of their enclosure now to make sure that they are not trying to dig out underneath the fence.


Patron

Hugo

 So today I decided to actually fix my hair a little bit, actually care what my make up looked like, and I threw on a pair of earrings for good measure. I was throwing cantaloupes to the bears and a lady looked over at me and yelled at me for feeding the animals. Ha ha. I guess I didn't look like a scruffy animal keeper for once. I don't know. We cleaned out the chickens pin, Julie's ( the Black-Tailed Sitka Deer) pin and trimmed up the Cottonwoods by the drive way.
Tree trimmin

 Me and Mike Thomas ran to Girdwood to get water and also to see if my I pod came in! It did and I am sending it back. I got it off of E bay. I'm just going to get a brand spankin new one and call it a day. 

The elk licking their chops after we gave them some spinach.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Another day at the center.

New sign

Today was a pretty average day here at the center. Our first baby wood bison was born! We were all pretty excited. The baby Musk Ox is doing very well so far and has been walking around with it's mom. We had a school group from Winterberry come today. We had done the bones and fur program with them a few weeks ago. It made me feel good that alot of the kids remembered my name and as soon as they saw me walking out to come greet them a few of them called out " Hi Ms. Amelia!" Made my day. After the school group and taking care of the kids I got to help out with the cleaning of the bear pond. EWWW! It was nothing but bear "POOP" sludge. It was gross. It felt good to get it done though and to do some physical labor. I did smell for quite a bit though.

Me cleaning the bear's pond

 I came home, ate, and went for a short run. That's about it.