A Tan California Girl

I know I haven't been as good as updating you all lately on the goings-on of my life. Things have been busy.

Last week I had a fever for a couple days, but just took it easy and worked anyhow. I feel much better now. On Monday (a week ago) I got trained in on the Alpine Tower here (a high ropes element). It was nice to finally know how to run it with my co-workers so that I can be scheduled to do it in the future. We also all got trained in together on how to operate “the swing” which is a series of thick wires that you get pulled 30 feet high on then let go to swing. I was petrified (so much scarier than rock climbing) but was laughing uncontrollably less than a second after I started to swing.

We all laughed and dressed in bright crayon colors for the second half of the afternoon on Monday.

This past week was pretty easy as far as teaching goes. We had one school with about 60 kids at the ranch. They were all well-behaved and curious. The weather was also phenomenal...mid 70's all week. The Manzanitas are blooming (earlier than they should) and I've started to get a legitimate tan. I finally look like I live in Southern California!

Nature names have really taken off here at the ranch. We have all started to refer to each other not as our first names but by the nature names that Meadow has begun to give us all. I am now known as Badger—and no she had no clue Wisconsin's mascot is a Badger. Her reasoning? I am apparently only ferocious once I feel threatened. I couldn't disagree! So now I am Badger and loving it. The kids get a huge kick out of the fact that we have easier to remember names than Angie and Maddie.

On Sunday morning (yesterday) I ran a half marathon relay with my fellow naturalists Yucca and Mountain Goat. We finished first in our bracket (mixed gender relay). Mountain Goat started us out with a 5.3ish mile leg, then Yucca with a 3.5ish leg, followed by me with a 4.3ish mile leg. I finished the race and it felt great. I really do need to run more though. Just running a couple times maximum each week isn't going to cut it if I want to run at my full potential. My goal is to find a half marathon in the beginning of April sometime.

Well, I have a long week ahead of me with a lot of teaching but I still find myself excited to do it. I am loving life here. I had an interview last week for a summer job in Maryland at a Girl Scout Camp. They offered me the job at the end of the interview but I ended up turning it down. I have another interview on Friday for a job in Alaska for the summer. It sounds really great and I am likely to take it if they offer—however, I applied for a wildlife rehab. job in Wisconsin I am really excited about as well as one at a Discover Center in the N. Woods where I would do Wolf Howl surveys and Bat population surveys. I miss the north woods a lot. If you are close to one, hug a birch tree for me.

I will let you all know where I'll be for the summer as soon as I know.

Love,

Badger