I had a weekend full of RAPTOR. Saturday morning, a bunch of us volunteers pitched in to help clean the house at the RAPTOR center. The house used to be a park ranger's station way back in the day, and now it is rented out to tenants who have the responsibility of feeding the birds every day. Well, the most recent tenants were, shall we say, less than clean? Or maybe I should say, had an aversion to cleaning? Or maybe I should say downright dirty slobs??? I saw it after it was halfway clean and I was still grossed out. The people who saw it immediately after the renters moved out said that it looked like in the two years that they lived there, the renters NEVER CLEANED ANYTHING. Case in point: The carpet made clouds when walked over...there were piles of dead bugs upstairs...It took Andi 2 hours to clean the bathroom...It took me 3 hours to clean the kitchen...The ceiling in the bedroom was falling down and had to be completely ripped out...Had enough? One more: there were mouse droppings in the KITCHEN DRAWERS.
Eww.
Okay, on to brighter things.
Last night, I released a screech owl (see previous post)
Today, I got to be "Vanna White" with some birds at a program. Dave, the current education director did the talking and I held the birds. Oh, and on a related note: Earl is no longer my favorite. Dave asked which bird I wanted to load into the car first, and of course I said "Earl!". When I went in to get her, she was okay, but as I grabbed the jesses, she started attacking my hands (I had gloves on, but she freaked me out regardless). I got her back on a perch and Dave retrieved her. I went on to the kestrel (easy) and the Great Horned Owl (Sylvester, also easy...who comes up with the names for these birds?)
The program today was at Bass Pro Shops. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a store full of stuff for hunting, fishing, hiking, outdoorsy things. A great store, if you're into those things.
RAPTOR has a nifty new sign for presentations. If you look closely, you can see some folks who have become my favorite people. :-)
Bass Pro is full of interesting objects, like stuffed and mounted deer, quail, fish and this eerie stuffed possum...
...which is hanging directly above these stuffed, headless children. Fun store.
6 comments:
Ewww on the cleaning, OMG how do people live like that, seriously, how do they survive? (Rhetorical question)
Very cool on playing "Vanna White!" Your blog is getting me to look at Birds of Prey more - thanks!
Pam: To answer that rhetorical question...oh, what...rhetorical questions aren't supposed to be answered. :-)
I'm so glad that I have sparked an interest in birds of prey. They are so cool! Maybe this blog will generate some new birders, too. (Little known fact about bringing in new birders...you can win a toaster oven!)
Your last picture provides a dramatic object lesson on why you should never buy your children a do-it-yourself taxidermy kit!
I don't like the look on that possum's face- I think he knows where the children's heads are!!!!
CREEEPY!!
It IS creepy, isn't it? There's stuff like that all over the store. You can be bopping along, minding your own business and suddenly you are face to face with a stuffed wolf or beaver or elk...
Lol Lynne!
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