Friendly visit day

I woke up this morning at around 9:30am. It was my day off. I was getting ready to meet my college bio professor, Dr. Wolfe, and the students he had brought to Alaska for the Ecology of Alaska two week mayterm course. At around 10am, my roommate tells me that our boss is trying to set up a free Prince William Sound cruise for the interns who had the day off. Once a week, the interns get a free field trip. It's one of the awesome perks of working here at the center. The choice was to either go on the day long scenic glacier viewing cruise with a bunch of my fellow interns or stay and give my friends from school and former professor a walking tour of the place, then work the rest of the day. Although the cruise sounded awesome, and it would be a great day for it, I chose to stay behind and work at the center. I could not pass up the chance to see my friends from college and my former professor.

I was glad I stayed! It was awesome seeing them all and showing them the animals here and telling them stories of why the animals are here. It was very nice to see familiar faces once again. We finished up with the walking tour and in an hour, my friends had come and gone. I was grateful that they could come and visit for a while. I think they liked it- except for the part about the mosquitoes. Today was hot, 71 degrees, and not very windy. It was the worst mosquito day since I have been here.

 
After they left, I went to the garden and finished planting some cabbage plants. I then watered all the plants in the garden. I didn't get a chance to plant the remainder of the plants- the broccoli. I will get to them at another time. I was needed to go gather alder and willow branches with Vanessa on the flatbed pickup across the highway again. We were gone for a good hour cutting down small willow and alder trees to feed to the moose, porcupine, muskox, and black-tailed deer. They all love when fresh branches are brought in.

After the willow and alder drop off, Vanessa and I loaded up the four wheeler with fruit that was donated from local grocery stores that had recently expired. We first rode to the wood bison enclosure. They are the only animals at the center who eat lemons. We threw probably two dozen lemons, oranges, and grapefruit into their enclosure and they slowly lumbered their way to them and munched away at them. They are north America's largest land mammal at nearly 3,000 lbs. for the bulls. I guess you don't get that big being a picky eater. It is funny watching them eat lemons.

We then threw fruit to the black bears. They especially like papayas for some reason.

After that, we went to the elk habitat. The elk are tame enough to eat out of your hand. We fed them oranges, grapefruit, grapes, tangerines, and apples out of our hands. The big bulls and larger of the females were the only ones brave enough to come to the fence to eat out of our hands. They are much bigger when they are at the fence than when you see them from afar. It is so fun to feed a large animal like that out of your hand. We occasionally tossed fruit out into the small herd that was a ways away from the fence. I lobbed one into the crowd and accidentally smacked a cow elk in the face with a half of an orange. I felt bad but it was funny at the same time. It made a funny smacking sound, much like the noise that would happen when you smack a human being in the face with half an orange.

We then moved on to the muskox and threw lots of grapefruit and oranges in there for them. Vanessa told me that one time she threw a grapefruit into the muskox enclosure and it landed smack down on a muskox's horn and split in two. That would have been awesome to see. It was cute watching the little calves investigate the strange colorful, sweet smelling orbs that suddenly appeared in their enclosure.

Lastly, we went to another wood bison enclosure and threw in the remaining lemons, oranges, and grapefruit. It is funny seeing them bite into them and watching the liquid explode out of them.

After that, I came back to the cattle trailer to bottle-feed the moose calf. He wasn't interested and was more curious about what my face smelled like. He is so darn cute- like a skinny, clumsy version of a baby cow/great dane. After this, I went back to the owl and bald eagle enclosure and fed them- a red salmon patty for the bald eagle and a baby quail each for the two great horned owls. I came back to the moose at 7:30pm and he ate most of the bottle this time. We were both happy at that point and I finally felt like I was done for the day.

Good news came at the end of the day when I found out that myself and two other interns were getting the day off tomorrow to go on a Prince William Sound cruise! I am pumped because I heard about what an awesome time the interns who went today said they had.  My camera is ready for some serious use tomorrow!

Gardening day

Today was another sunny, beautiful day in Portage Valley. It started out a bit chilly and windy, and ended up being about 65 and sunny with the wind dying down in the evening. I would much rather have wind and be chilly than have no wind, warmth, and tons of mosquitoes. It was a nice break from them. Although yesterday was my day off, I was glad to be back at work. I felt like I missed out on the party being in the bunkhouse half the day then on a bike ride/hike the other half. I like working with the other interns.

At 9am, I headed to the brown bear enclosure and was there for about an hour. I was relieved of my duties by my roommate, Scott. He is a funny guy from Minnesota. I then headed to the garden to finish up the planting I had started two days ago. I finished the carrots and radishes flower bed. It took about two hours to water all of the plants and plant the last of the carrots and radishes. I was proud of what the garden was shaping up to be. Our lead intern said that she was putting me in charge of the garden because I spent so much time there and liked it so much. It was cool to hear but also a little scary because all of the plants that are grown in the garden, aside form the ornamental flowers, are fed to the animals at the center. This means that if something goes wrong with the plants for some reason, I'm the one to blame. I am not too worried about it though because everything is going fine so far, and I am excited to see how they do.

After a lunch of a reindeer dog and a hot dog, I  drove across the street with the four wheeler with Vanessa, the moose enthusiast, and gathered willow and alder branches. The moose, muskox, porcupine, and sitka black-tailed deer really enjoy the fresh branches. We loaded up the front and back of the four wheeler and drove the ridiculous looking branch-covered camouflaged four wheeler across the Seward Highway and into the center. We were quite the spectacle.

I was then sent to the brown bear enclosure again to fill in for intern Erin, who went to help out at the ticket booth, which got really busy all of a sudden. I stayed there and talked to people about bears from about 2:30pm to 5:45pm. It was a fun time and people liked to see the three bears up close especially when I threw them chunks of salmon. The bears didn't mind it either.

At 6pm, I went back to the bunkhouse area where the moose calf is kept in a livestock transportation trailer. I got in there, after changing into clean clothes and sanitizing my shoes with bleach. The calf must not have been hungry. Last night at midnight he eagerly chugged the eight ounces of formula and wanted more. Today, we wasn't really feeling the bottle feeding at 6pm. I tried again at 8pm, and he still wasn't interested. The lead intern, Kristen, tried to feed him at 10pm, and this time he felt hungry. He drank the whole bottle containing two cups of formula. I will need to go back in at 2am to feed him again. It is fine with me because I would probably be up that late anyway seeing as how tomorrow is another day off! I am excited for tomorrow because my biology professor from college, Dr. Wolfe, will be coming to the center as well as a bunch of Houghton students! I am looking forward to giving them a tour around the place and telling them about the animals. It will be a good day, especially since the forecast is for 71 degrees and sunny! The beautiful weather continues. Well, I've got to feed the calf in a half hour, so that is enough about me and my day. Catch ya later. Oh, and here he is!

A day off

So it has been a while. The internet has been down for the past two days here, so I'll try to full you in on what has been going on lately.

After breakfast at my relatives house in Chugiak on the 25th, we headed down to Anchorage where I did the rest of my shopping. I bought the rest of my grocery essentials and we were on our way south to Portage. The hour and a half drive south was gorgeous- along the Seward Highway. It is a very scenic but very dangerous two lane highway. There are a lot of accidents on it as the road is very curvy and people are often looking left and right at the mountains and the waters of the Turnagain Arm. After many photo stops, we arrived at the Alaska Wildlife conservation Center in Portage. I was very excited to be here. I met the other interns who were all very friendly and then went for a walk around the center. I saw the wood bison, the muskoxen, the brown bears, the caribou, the elk, the owls and bald eagle, the sitka black-tailed deer. I knew I would love working here. I took the rest of the day to get acquainted with the place and meet new faces Later that evening, five of us went out to eat in Girdwood, the nearest town from Portage located ten miles north. I then went on a bike ride to Explorer Pond with another intern and got some cool sunset pictures. It was a great first day at the center.



Thursday, May 26th was my first actual day of work. I was out at the center by 9am and hung out by the brown bear enclosure. It is fun talking to people and answering questions and just being around the bears. I got some good videos and pictures during my four hours there.

During the day I got to do all sorts of cool stuff like feed the porcupine, change the owls' and eagles' water bucket for bathing in, and fed the year old muskox calf. There is always something new and exciting to do and it was a fun day. Later that night I went for a walk with the other interns to a pretty area called Moose Flats in the nearby Chugach National Forest. We saw an injured cow moose that was limping across the bike path. Perhaps she was hit by a car. It was sad to see her walk by, but her limp was not too bad and hopefully she will recover. I ended up playing frisbee and catch with a football until about 12:30am because it is so bright out still. It was a great day.

 Friday, May 27th was my second day on the job and a very eventful one. I started out feeding and giving water to Snickers the porcupine. I was even able to pet him- very carefully. He loves peanuts and will let you pet him while he eats peanuts. That was a first for me. I then helped clean out Mukluk the year old muskox calf's pen. After cleaning out her old straw and putting in new straw, I played soccer with her. She really likes to kick and headbutt the basketball that is in her enclosure with her. She really put on a show for the visitors. It is fun to watch her run around and chase it while she snorts away.

 
I then hung around the bear enclosure for a while until I was asked to go do some gardening tasks which was fine with me. Gardening is something I have learned to like. I think it has to do with my mom's love of gardening. I also took to college botany courses and I enjoyed them. Anyway, I planted a bunch of marigolds, eight cauliflowers, and two rows of carrots and two rows of radishes. I will plant two more rows of carrots and two more rows of radishes tomorrow. All of the plants we will grow here at the center will be fed to the animals. After work we had a barbecue for all the staff and then we got the rundown of the center during a walk through of the place. It was informative and helpful to know the full scoop of the place and the animals. The mosquitoes were especially brutal today and were relentless even into the night at 9pm. We had a birthday party for our three year old bull moose jack. We sang to him and he was given a fruit salad for his birthday. After that, a bunch of us interns watched a cartoon movie and I fell asleep. These long days are fun but very draining on the body.

And finally, today, Saturday, May 28th. Today was my day off. I slept in until eleven o'clock am. I checked to see if we had internet and sure enough, we did. I stayed on my laptop uploading pictures on Facebook and transferring pictures and videos from my camera to my laptop. It was nice to just lay in bed for a while and get caught up with the rest of the world. After lunch, a co-worker of mine, Michael, and I went for a four mile bike ride to the Beggich Boggs Visitor Center at Portage Lake and parked our bikes by the side of the road. It is a really pretty bike ride along a very well maintained bike path. The path passes through rainforest type areas and by hanging glaciers, mountains (of course) and lots of streams, rivers, and waterfalls. It was a great ride. We decided to bushwack our ways as high up the mountain next to the visitor center as we could. It started out fine until we got to the highest point we could go and realized that a storm was coming in. It took about an hour and a half to climb up and through the brush and trees and only about 40 minutes to descend. We had to be careful of the Devil's  club plant, which is especially thorny. I still have a thorn embedded deep in my left pinky that is very irritating, especially while typing this! On the way down, nearly at the bottom where we parked out bikes, I almost got a lot more punctures in my body- only from a porcupine! I nearly stumbled upon one that I luckily startled, which in turn startled me. He or she was cute, and waddled away slowly from us. We reached out bike and started peddling home. It was nice because the wind was at our backs this time. We decided to take the road home because it was the quickest as it was starting to lightly rain. Upon reaching our house, I was immediately told to get into a van by my roommate. My boss, Kelly was about to go hooligan fishing and a bunch of interns were headed out to watch her. I got in, cold and tired from my bike ride and went along for the bike ride. Luckily I had packed a pb&j sandwhich and a granola bar. I devoured them on the way to the river. We watched our boss and another intern, also an Alaskan resident, pull up net after net of hooligans- an eight to twelve inch skinny smelt-like fish that spawns around this time of the year. Only Alaskan residents are allowed to catch them. They are used as candles, dog food, people food, and various other uses. After catching a large plastic bin-ful of the sliver fish, they were brought back to the center where we ate some. They were better deep fried than over the fire. The taste is pretty bland. After that, at around midnight, my fellow intern Vanessa- the moose enthusiast, let me bottle feed our newly arrived (today) week and a half old moose calf! I can definitely say that it was the first time I have ever bottle fed a moose calf. He was so cute and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I can't wait to do it again. He drank the bottle quickly and with great pleasure.

Well, that's it for now. Work in the morning and I need sleep!

The adventure begins!

So it's 10:41pm, Alaskan time. That means it's 2:41pm Eastern time. That means that I have been up for almost 24 hours. Dang late night packing/time zone changes! Tiredness aside, I am having a blast.

I arrived in Anchorage at about 3:43pm AK time/7:43pm EST. The weather was (I found out later) 67 degrees today. It was very sunny. I was pumped when I saw that my seat from Seattle to Anchorage was a window seat, finally, although it was on the left side of the plane, which would be looking out at the Pacific Ocean and not BC/Southeast AK. I was just glad I got a window seat at last. Wouldn't you know it, as soon as I sat down and got situated, the flight attendant comes up to me and asks, "how attached to that seat are you?" I hesitated and replied, "uh, not really I guess." She then asked me if I would be willing to switch seats with a guy who wanted to sit with his wife but was seated up near the middle of the plane. I was in the second row from the back. I agreed, somewhat reluctantly on the inside, but knew I was making the right choice. As it turns out, there was an open WINDOW seat on the RIGHT side of the plane when I went to take the man's left side aisle seat. The flight attendant said I could sit there and so I gladly did. This taught me a lesson to do the right thing even though you don't always want to, becomes sometimes it works out in your favor. I then proceeded to take pictures and videos of southeastern AK and south central AK from the plane and thoroughly enjoyed the scenery. I kept taking pictures and videos even after all electronic devices were supposed to be off. I couldn't help myself. We were flying right above huge white-capped mountains. I finally stopped when the quite man next to me informed his quite wife in a very quiet, non confrontational way that all electronic devices were supposed to off. I stopped out of annoyance.

After getting my bags which both arrived safe and sound, I was picked up at the airport by my second cousin once removed, Joy. But for all intents and purposes, I'll be calling her "Aunt Joy", which she is OK with. We said hello and then she gave me a plastic bag containing "smoke fish". It was basically smoked, tender salmon jerky and I ate it all. It was delicious and I was hungry. We drove to see the float planes on a nearby lake and walked around in the warm sunshine. It was cool to see one take off. She then drove me to her sister's house in Anchorage where I picked out a bike that she had agreed to lend me for the summer. It is one that is just sitting around and collecting dust. I met her family and vaguely remembered them from my first visit to AK in 2000. After departing "Aunt Bonnie's" place, Aunt Joy drove me to a sporting goods store that I had bought a knife at in 2000. I finally bought a pair of steel-toed Alaskan XTRATUF rain boots. They are, as they say in the vernacular, legit. I payed a pretty penny for them, but they should last me the rest of my life. I also bought, at the advice of Aunt Joy, a can of Counter Assault Bear Deterrent, or just simply called "bear spray". This should make me feel safer on my hikes and bike rides during my days off. We then headed to Costco where I experienced what it is like to go shopping for groceries for myself for the first time in my life. It was awful but a little enjoyable at the same time. I felt kind of grown up. I also realized that if I kept buying food, I would run out of money. I kept asking myself, "do I really need this", most of the time the answer was of course not, you have a case of Ramen Noodles. With Aunt Joy's help, we picked out some good food. Let's just say I'll need to get paid before I can buy anymore food anytime soon.

After that, we drove northeast about twenty-five minutes to Chugiak, where her parents, my late grandpa Spear's cousin and cousin's wife live. They live in a little log cabin on a dirt road off of a nearby residential road. I remember that place well from my 2000 Alaska family trip. We ate an amazing dinner of moose meatballs, salmon meatballs, salad, rhubarb jello, homemade buns, potatoes, and topped it off with a wild picked blueberry pie. His wife did the cooking and it was delicious. Leo, Aunt Joy's dad who's cabin we were at, gave me a sweet tan corduroy Alaska hat with a salmon on it. It is sweet. After dinner and a quick tour of he and his wife's small greenhouse, we took a picture with them and Aunt Joy and I went on our way.

After unpacking the food I and Aunt Joy had bought and shooting some hoops with Aunt Joy's husband and daughter who I suppose is my third cousin?, I have written this, and now must get some must needed rest. Tomorrow is drive the hour and a half south to Portage and get moved in to my new home for the next four months day/first day on the job day.

Sleepy in Seattle

After a solid two and a half hours of sleep last night, my parents and I left the house at 4am for Buffalo. It was hard saying bye to my nearly 16 year old dog, Cassie. She doesn't know how long I'll be gone for and that may be the last time I see her, but hopefully not. Anyway, enough about the sad stuff.

The flight from Buffalo to Cleveland was smooth. It was a little tough saying bye to my parents as this is the longest time I will go being away from home and not seeing them, but I know I will see them again. Thinking about the great times I have had with them and their excitement for me and for my future comforted me. It's about time I leave the nest and do my own thing and let them do theirs.

Cleveland to Seattle (where I am now) was a good flight. I thought it would be a long flight as a little girl three rows up from me started crying before we even took off and went on for a good fifteen minutes. She didn't start crying again until we started to land. Also, an elderly guy pushed the assistance button and had to go to the back of the plane and wear an oxygen mask and be administered to by some of the crew. Nothing serious though.

I sat in the aisle next to two elderly ladies who apparently had very small bladders. Oh well, it kept me active with all the standing up and sitting down I did. They just wanted me to exercise with them.

My flight to anchorage leaves in about an hour and a half. I think I saw Mt. Rainier from the plane. It was a massive white mound that stuck way up above the clouds near Seattle. I'll have to investigate that. I wish I could spend more time here and actually leave the airport before I fly out, but I'll have to do it another time. The Seattle-Tacoma area was gorgeous from the plane, even though one of the elderly ladies was hogging the window. I guess you're allowed to do that when you have a window seat. She could have been more courteous to the young whipper-snapper who was sitting two seats away from her in the aisle seat... oh well. There's always Google Maps. I'll see it later.

How do you work this thing?

I have never done this before, but at the advice of my friend and experienced blogger, Jordan, I am going to give it a try. I'll do my best to keep people up to date with my adventures up here in Alaska.

I fly out early tomorrow morning from Buffalo, NY. I'll arrive in Anchorage around 3:43pm AK time, or 7:43pm eastern time. Stay tuned!