So, I've Got That Going For Me.: 60 Years Are Too Many: Wildlife

16 July

I bailed on Pony Camp on Wednesday. The heat, my age, the dumpster planet---pick your excuse. I felt like I was sick with everything at once but none of it was extreme: sore throat, stuffed ears and Fun With Intenstinal Distress. But only a slight fever, small cough, and occasional bathroom emergencies.

Enough to just call in and stay home. Even cancelled my hair cut. I just...didn't have any energy.

All weekend, Monday and Tuesday I have been chugging water and Gatorade, and I'm still deyhdrated. I've never been this dehydrated in my life. I'm spacey and foggy and exhausted.

I watched something called The Lake Erie Murders on Hulu, but either I was too dysregulated to pay attention or I missed a memo, because all but one was in Erie, Ohio. The outlier was in Erie, Pennsylvania.

That was yesterday.

Today is Thursday. 16 July, and I went in to work. I really could have used a second day, I feel like I'm in a fog. I will have to edit this several times for it to make any sense.

Today's NPR highlights:

Colorado's birth rate is down, "What Will Colorado Look Like In Ten Years?" It was an ad for an in depth interview, so no answers were given. I just shrugged and thought "I dunno...Colorado will look...ten years older in ten years?"

Hakeem Jeffries, being interrupted by the interviewer---which is Not Like NPR at all and was frustrating. It had to do with everything going on right now, which is too much chaos, but I like Hakeem, he keeps a level head.

Shillelelaghs---Any time I can listen to an Irish dialect I am happy. The origin of these fighting sticks makes me wish we would adapt the same philosophy. Someone stole your great great great great grandpa's cow, so once a year, your family and the thief's family gather at a pub or festival and smash each other with shillelelaghs and then go drink together. You've probably married into the family somewhere along the way, and it doesn't matter. You still meet once a year to beat the shit out of each other and drink together.

Another reason I Am A Fan Of The Irish.

Today's Pony Camp was an in house field trip. They schedule volunteers from wherever, and today was the Rocky Mountain Wildlife Alliance. They rehabilitate sick and disabled wildlife who cannot return to the wild. So they live in the sanctuary. And a select few get to be "ambassadors" and travel to preschool pony camps.

They brought Mimic the bull snake with cleft scales, Kingston the red tailed hawk who ran into a window at a young age and cannot see properly to hunt, and Atosha the great horned owl with one eye.

Some of it was a bit over the kids' heads, they just wanna see an owl and touch things. But I learned that owls do not build their own nests, they just move into previously occupied nests even if they are too small. That is how Atosha lost her eye, she fell out of the nest. Mimic's scales on his belly mostly healed, but he came from a breeder and has no idea how to survive in the wild. I appreciate that the breeder gave him to the sanctuary when they realized his unique defect instead of throwing him out. I believe Kingston was brought in after he ran into the window.

These animals are gorgeous and so signifcant to our ecology, and to see a hawk up close and hear him screech is pretty cool. Not gonna lie Both Kingston and Atosha spread their wings and flapped as they settled down. So. Cool. These kids have no idea how much privilege they have. To be fair, the median age is three and a half-as demonstrated by their "answers" when asked "Do you have any questions?"

Do you have any questions about Mimic?

"I had a snake on my bus."

Do you have any questions about Kingston?"

"There is a bird in the tree behind you."

Do you have any questions about Atosha?

"I liked the snake best, he is yellow. Yellow is my favorite color."

Those were the best responses as humbly recorded by Kristen W. Martin, Sgt at Arms.

It was not a great day, it was not a horrible day.

I don't work in a coal mine.

I also do not get to take the summer off.

It sucks being a Libra. But hey. I saw fawns in my neighborhood on my way in this morning, and it appears the wild turkey has made an appearance as well. No pic of turkey lurkey, sadly.

Fawns in my neighborhood this morning