Someone's at the door!

It's TURKEYS!

Still Alive!

Hi everyone, just wanted to let you know I'm still alive down here in CT. Christmas was fun, although I wish I had had more than 2 days off for it. I got some really nice gifts. Thanks especially to mom and dad for the white noise maker that has been helping a lot with my crazy light sleeper...ness. Also I got the Life of Mammals and the Life of Birds narrated by David Attenborough (my hero!). YES he is still alive. I don't know what they will do when he dies though. They will have to find another grandfatherly old Brittish man to go around the world pointing out awesome stuff. Clearly Emily and I need to disguise ourselves as said elderly man and start talking with accents until we are hired. Anyway, Henry is also doing well (for those of you who have been asking about him) and he is happily eating the cookies my mom baked for him :) I will post something more exciting this weekend when I have a day off. I also have Thursday off to sleep in after new years which I am spending in the city with my Drew buddies!! Apparently we are going to attempt Time Square...although knowing us we will just get tired and cold and go home to watch the ball drop and play some ridiculous game before falling asleep promptly at 12:05. Anyway, that's all for now. More videos and pictures soon!

Twas the Post Before Christmas

So one last quick post before I go home for Christmas tomorrow for a few days. I am going to be busy so I doubt I will be posting for a little bit (more on why in a minute). Anyway, this week has gone pretty well, although it will be a 6 day work week instead of 5, but I had some good help from volunteers over the weekend. Anyway, here are some fun stories/videos:

- A squirrel jumped on my face. No seriously. I was cleaning his cage and accidentally hit the box he was hiding in from me and he lept out of the box and to the ceiling of the cage...and then onto my face...Let me explain that this is a neurologically challenged squirrel with motor issues, one major one being that when frightened he has little to no control over the direction he goes. Luckily his next leap landed him back in the cage and my face was no worse for the experience I guess. (There you go Stephie).

- The cold has been HORRIBLE. We have had to bring animals inside who were getting hypothermia including my favorite little club footed hawk. I need to post a picture or video of him soon, he is adorable. Yesterday was actually dangerously cold and I had forgotten gloves at one point when outside and my hand was a little wet from washing dishes and it was freezing to every metal door handle I touched. Fun.

- Happy Holidays to everyone! Here are some more videos, my gift to you all....since I am currently at an unpaid internship...Merry Christmahannukwanzaka!

Ternie and Mary Jane Racing for Meal Worms:


Stevie Dancing in a poorly lit video:



A screech owl...blinking (but it's still cute):

I'm Stealing Stephie's Idea

Hey, for all of you who also read Stephie's blog in China, I am totally stealing her thunder and posting some video blog material...although mine will be less awesome because it isn't sped up or set to "Start the Commotion" (good song btw). Anyway, here is a virtual tour with some bonus turkey action..maybe if I can get this thing to work:

Morning:


Virtual Tour Part 1:



Virtual Tour Part 2:



Turkey prints:

The 12 Days of Injured Wildlife

Hi, sorry it has been a while. I had the weekend off and then today and yesterday as well for jury duty which ended up being canceled (yaaay, apologies to my sense of civic duty). Anyway, the weekend was quite fun, Meghan had a super hero costume themed birthday to which I went as super safari girl. I had wanted to go as swimming safety girl with inflatable swimmies on my arms, and a blow up duck pool toy around my waste, and flippers but the swimmies and the duck toy in no way fit on me, so I went with plan B. It was a good time and I got to socialize with people rather than animals for a while which was nice. Today and yesterday I spent pretty much the entire day running around getting Christmas presents for people and decorating the tree with my mom so I am all Holiday's out right now. Anyway, here are a few amusing stories for my anxious readers:

1. Embarassing/awesome moment: At the clinic last week a wonderfully flamboyant gay man traipsed in and handed my a tiny injured flying squirrel which made my day. However, as he was walking out he said "By the way you have a nice singing voice". I was confused until I realized that when he had come in I had been in the back room singing Rufus Wainwright's "Instant Pleasure" loudly to myself which could apparently be heard through the door. For those of you who know the song you will know why this was doubly embarrasing...

2. From what I recall of the party I am pretty sure I received a foot rub, a lesson in salsa dancing, and some sort of mild head injury.

3. Time for another animal bio! Actually I will quickly run through some of the small birds that live inside the clinic because there are A LOT of them...and I will do it festively I just decided...
One the Twelfth day of Christmas my Wildlife Clinic gave to meeeee.....

A snipe with a wing injury














Crow with some issues














Really Angry bluebird














Noisy/Ugly baby pigeon














Cautious little heron














Pissed off looking hawk














A TINYYYY GOLDEN FIIIINCH














Deer with messed up legs














3 annoying waterfowl














2 obnoxious turkeys



















And a blind bluejay with an attitude!

A Quick and Refreshing 6 AM Post

So this will be brief since it is way to early for thinking about anything for long periods of time. Just thought I would let everyone know I am alive. My life currently, in list form:

1. I'm going home tomorrow and I'm SO glad. I really need the break because this week has been either ridiculously cold, or rainy, or both every day. I'm also excited for Meghan's superhero costume party for which I just got an AWESOME idea this morning :) Also also, I might be going down to cape cod to see Peter and Anne (close friends of my family for those of you who don't know) who I haven't seen in forever. I also just saw that Peter is now one of the devoted fans of this blog by the user-name of Sandy Pants or some such thing. Hi Uncle Peter!

2. Cold is not fun. Cold is something that killed early settlers and makes people who have to work outside for a living very sad. Previous to this internship, winter and snow made me very happy and put me in mind of hot cocoa and snowmen, but after working outside for a day in 20 degree weather I have come to see winter in a whole new light...

3. I spent like 6 freakin hours stuffing Christmas donation cards for the clinic for the past two days, so that is where I have been if any of you were wondering. It is for a good cause, but I never want to lick another envelope again.

That's all for now, but here is a bonus video of Henry and Woody hanging out together. It's adorable, I need to take another one where I catch them in action, because the duck will groom the deers face and the deer will lick the duck and then they will take a nap together. Ah, love.

A Baby, a Deflating Air Matress, and Henry's Sweet Tooth

So this weekend I had off and I went to go see Windfelder, PDol, and baby Windfelder (Maggie!) and she is absolutely adorable!! She was very curious about everything around her and had that grumpy "what is this?" kind of look on her face which was cute. I got to hold her and got a picture with her on the baby blanket I made for her which also made my day :) I'm so excited for Tammy and Patrick who will be really great parents I know. (PDol if you are reading this, I am excitedly waiting for those pictures to go up on facebook...and you obviously have so much free time now to do so....well whenever you get a chance). Anyway before that I went out to eat with Emily at the "Autobon Bread Society" which is what I keep thinking is the name of the Atlanta Bread Company which I guess I cross with Au Bon Pan? Anyway that was fun and we got to be dorky and natury together and planed like 3 trips I think. Then after all that I went to go visit Stacy and Jacob in their NEW APPARTMENT!!! To "help them move in" which actually meant to get them Wendy's and sit on an air matress with them amid their boxes and watch Suze Orman (Jacob's idol). I then decided to sleep over because I was further away from Connecticut than I thought, and the air matress like half deflated in the night which was pretty sad.

So that was part one of my weekend which was really fun. Part two was coming home today after getting a delicious free meal out of Jacob and Stacy (who have PAYING jobs, la de da). I then did some laundry for the clinic because I really had nothing else planned and laundry is soothing. When I got back (like an hour ago) I came into the clinic to put the laundry money bag back and Henry was out and Dara asked me to help her with something..dun dun dun. One of Henry's legs is really swollen and infected, probably from the weight he attempts to put on it when he tries to hobble around. My poor little guy. Anyway the other day I had to hold him down while she cut it open to get the puss out...and we just did it again tonight because there was more. So basically I had to crouch over him with most of him cradled to me, and with his face next to mine so he wouldn't bash his head on the floor. It was not so much fun. I felt really bad doing it since here is this animal who trusts you who you have to hold to the ground while cutting him open. Dara also felt really bad, and I hope on some level he (and all these animals for that matter) know that we are attempting to help. For the most part though I think they probably see us as scary monsters who keep them locked up and periodically poke them...Anyway, to end on a happier note here is a video just for mamma Dalton of Henry's reaction to her cookies. It was pretty much the cutest thing I have ever seen. He LOVES them and Dara said it was fine to give him some since it's mostly oats and flour and what-not and he might as well enjoy life via cookies since...you know....he can't walk. Anyway, enjoy:

Animal Post Alert!

So here is what I know you all want :) Cute animal posts! Tomorrow is my day off so I can stay up kind of late tonight (like a big girl!) so I finally have some time to makes a more time consuming posts. Today's animal bio isssss.....a 2 part!

Video of Ternie!


Name: Ternie
Species: Laughing Gull (NOT actually a tern)
Reason he is here: Wing was broken and set before he got here so he can't fly.
Likes: Hearing himself make loud noises, pissing off Mary Jane by squeaking in her ear, getting treats
Dislikes: Whenever anyone else gets a treat and he doesn't, anyone being anywhere near him, having to move when he has one leg tucked up

Mary Jane

Name: Mary Jane
Species: Ring-billed Gull
Reason she is here: Badly broken wing which had to be amputated
Likes: Being called a pretty girl, biting Ternie when he squeaks in here face, getting secret treats when Ternie isn't looking
Dislikes: Ternie squeaking in her face, being taken to schools for education programs, and not being able to fly

I need to take another video of these guys and the other gulls in the morning. They all do that same thing when let out which is really funny at first and then really sad; They run out and run around the clinic with their wings out, look up for a place to perch, start flapping.....and then remember they can't fly. Every one of them, every time. Anyway, to end on a happier note. I am going to visit Drew tomorrow with Emily and we are going out to lunch and then to see Windfelder and her baby!! That's all for now, but stay tuned, I took a bunch of cute videos the other day.

Redbull may in fact give you wings...and a heart attack

So here is my daily schedule...I decided everyone should know:

AM

6:00 - awake!
6:45 - bring in rugs and feed wild deer and birds
7:00 to 9:00
- check mouse traps
- feed and clean all outside and inside birds
- give water to possums
- clean out overnight food from box turtle and screech owl
- feed indoor hawks
- take out Henry
- let out gulls and duck
- feed squirrels and make Henry a salad
9:00 to 9:30
- handfeed Delilah
- give all animals on Clavamox their pill (antibiotics) either in apples sauce or force fed
9:30 to 10:00
- clean outdoor hawks
- snipe and nighthawk handfed
10:00 to 11:00
- feed outdoor hawks
- Henry's cage
- gull cages
- start outdoor possums and raccoons
11:00 to 12:00
- check* on inside birds
- outside possums and raccoons
-snipe and nighthawk handfed

PM
12:00 to 1:00
-check on all outside and inside animals (not birds)
- anything not gotten done earlier (also sorting mice, picking meal worms, making up more soaked dog and cat food, and making puree for baby possum)
- hand feed Delilah
1:00 to 2:00
- check hawks and give more mice
- snipe and nighthawk handfed
- check all outdoor birds
2:00 to 2:30
- check indoor birds again
- snipe and nighthawk handfed
2:30 to 3:30
- all owls cleaned and mice put out
- hike down the valley to put out day's scraps for wild raccoons
3:30 to 4:30
- check on all outdoor birds and animals
- give Boris his grapes
- Feed wild deer and birds
4:30 to 6:00
- check all inside birds and animals
- feed bats, inside owl, and box turtle
- put duck and gulls to bed
- snipe and nighthawk hand fed
- put Henry to bed
6:00 to 7:00ish
- wipe counters
- take out trash
- sweep and mop
- wash and take out rugs

8:30 - nocturnal animal check

9:00 - IN BED

*checking means making sure everyone is alive, clean, and has food and water

During all of this I also have to pick up poop from the gulls and duck who run free in the clinic, answer the phone, direct volunteers, and take in deal with any new animals. Also there is a hummingbird that has to be fed every hour that I didn't put in there.


I
am going to be
SOOO BUFF

The End

Happy December!

A brief post:

1. I had a good time this weekend at home and I got to see both my family and Sarah's family in Housatonic, MA on my way home which was really nice...I actually started driving home and then turned around and decided to stay the night and was rewarded by a HILARIOUS game of hearts in which there was a group effort to "shoot the moon" on behalf of mommy clark....and I STILL don't know what it means to shoot the moon...or really how to play hearts

2. I saw Role Models with Meghan and it was HILARIOUS except for the fact that someone brought a small child to see it (!!) Good job parent. But then I got to bring home mamma Dalton's butter scotchie cookies and so all is well with the world

3. I have discovered that the physics of cuteness starts to bend at this clinic, because things that were cute before are no longer and things that should not be cute ARE. Examples:

Cute to Not-Cute - Raccoons that playfully tug at your sleives but then SNEAK ATTACK BITE YOUR LEG!

Not-Cute to Somehow Cute - the fact that when possums are scared...guess what they do....GUESS....THEY FART! Sooo funny and gross and yet strangely endearing? Maybe I'm just starting to lose it here.

4. I got a rice cooker!!! From my wonderful parents :) and I also annoyed my mom by talking with my dad about getting a moped or a motorcycle someday.

5. 5 more months to go!