Tag Archives: wildlife

Happy New Year!

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I got an email from my big sister nagging me about being lax on my blog, so I thought I’d just stop in and say “Hiya!”

My big sis Angela on graduation day from the University of Arizona.

Hope everyone had a rockin’ New Years Eve!!  It was traditional for us… a little karaoke and then we watched the Space Needle fireworks on TV.  We had some Christmas crackers to pop open at midnight, so minimal noise… other than the whistle AJ got in his.  And no… I have no idea why they sell Christmas crackers for NYE here.

After a nice 10-day vacation, I had to go back to work on Tuesday which proved to be difficult.  I had gotten used to sleeping in; however, I managed some time on the treadmill before heading off to work, hoping it would put me in the right frame of mind.  It may have helped. A little. Our first patient of the year was a barred owl trapped in a chimney.  PSA:  If you don’t want birds in your chimney, cover your chimney with wire so the birds can’t enter.  Nesting season will be here soon and some birds love to nest in chimneys.  Once a bird has laid its eggs, it is a U.S. federal offense to disturb the nest until it’s empty, so plan ahead and be prepared.

Tomorrow is D-Day for AJ.  Back to school he goes after a nice 2-week winter break.  I probably dread it more than he does.  Getting him up in the early morning hours is hellish… but Santa was smart and gave him a new alarm clock.  Now if only I could find one that sounded more like an air raid siren…

#truth

Thanks to #SquadRunner and the motivation I get from my teammates, running has been good to me… or I’ve been good to my running.  Either/or.  While my mileage wasn’t high by any standards last week (just over 13 miles), I did have a 6-day running streak going through New Year’s weekend, with 2 runs completed on January 1st to start the year off right (one was 1.5 miles, the other a nice 5K).  I have my first race coming up the beginning of March (Seattle Hot Chocolate 15K… more on that later), and I’ve also entered a 175-mile challenge… run 175 miles by March 16 (34 miles down, 141 to go).

Points reset every month.

So endeth the first week of 2018! Dilly dilly!  Make it a great 2nd week, my friends!!

Okay sis, you can stop nagging me now, lol. (c. 1973)

Week 1 of 16 Recap — July 3 through 9

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Marathon training has officially begun.  Okay, okay… I started 3 weeks ago… but now it’s the official start of the plan and the weekly countdown.  From here on out, I don’t miss a run and the mileage creeps up and up and up.  Let’s break it on down, shall we?

Monday:  Non-running day.  I always nail the first day of a new plan, hehe.

Work kind of sucked though.  Our hot water heater in the clinic sprang a leak and, thus, a plumber had to be called. After begging and pleading for same-day service, we finally found someone and only had to be without water for a couple of hours. They were good people, very gracious to come out on an almost holiday, and it only cost us an arm and a leg and a soul.

Tuesday:  2 miles.  Weak, I know.  It should’ve been 3.

But with it being the 4th of July, and with me living in a war zone, and it being hot as Hades, I stuck to the treadmill.  Did I mention I had to work as well?  No rest for the wicked.  And the 4th of July is never good for any animal, especially the wild ones.  Stress is the number one killer of animals in the wild, which is usually caused by people.  Just food for thought.

Wednesday:  Cross trained.  Yes!  I actually cross trained!!  Hallelujah, she did it!!  I rode the indoor bike for a bit to warm up and then practiced my speed walking on the treadmill.  I don’t walk fast, I’ve never walked fast, and I don’t know how people do it.  But I’m trying…

We admitted many patients at work because of the holiday, the one most notable being a baby bald eagle.  She had fallen from the nest and the parents were still taking care of her, feeding her while she was on the ground.  Sad situation as she couldn’t be re-nested.  Ironic, isn’t it, to celebrate the nation’s independence and that which gets displaced is the ultimate symbol of freedom?

Thursday:  4 miles.  I am now having to set the alarm earlier and earlier as the mileage increases.

Friday:  5 miles.  I was not aware that it was light outside at 4:30 a.m.  Imagine that!

#spottedthebunny

Saturday:  Rest day.

Sunday:  8 miles.  I didn’t get up quite as early as I wanted, so because of the intense sun, I ended up doing 6 miles on the trail and 2 on the treadmill to finish it up.  Did you know you can get sunburned at 7 a.m.?  True story!

Weekly Total:  19 miles/30 km

So tell me:

  • Did you have a good weekend?
  • Are you melting from the heat yet?  
  • If you live in the U.S., are you a fan of the noise the 4th of July celebration brings? 

 

Busy Much?

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The last couple of weeks have been an absolute blur and I think my brain is fried.  It’s only been 3 weeks since I ran my last race, 2 weeks since my mother-in-law Janet went back to the UK, 1 week since AJ began summer break, and yet all events seem like forever ago.  In that time, I’ve had a huge fundraiser gala to contend with, a hubby with a hurt back (who is thankfully on the mend… see here), and I’m trying really hard to wrap my head around marathon training 6 days a week.  This will now be my life for the next 4 months… work and training.  I’ve come to the conclusion that something has to give, so I won’t be doing the cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, etc., anymore.  Besides, I’d much rather keep in touch with my blogging friends than do all that other mindless nonsense… and now that James is healing, he can clean and do laundry and…  lol, sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me back up…

Fundraiser Gala:  One week after Janet left, the rescue and rehab center where I work held a huge fundraiser gala with dinner, entertainment, and a silent auction.  The director and I were working like mad the week before to get everything together for the event, and now I’m still quite busy tracking donors and silent auction winners and all the stuff that follows an event such as this.  No matter… we had a great time, and I’m happy to say it was a great success.

This was actually supposed to be an adults-only evening, but I was able to sneak AJ in to watch the raptor presentation.  He hung out in our room afterwards for the rest of the night.

All the tables were decorated with cute little stuffed animals that anyone could adopt (raccoons, opossums, coyotes, owls, eagles, squirrels, etc.).  They even came with their own adoption certificates.  Below are the two we adopted.  All of them were dressed up with little tulle “bow ties” for their gala evening.

Below is a video that was made in 2015.  Back then, we needed help with refurbishing the hospital area.  We were able to raise all the funds for that; however we are now in need of new eagle flights.  While the video that was shown last Saturday night is not available publicly yet, I thought you might enjoy seeing where I spend a lot of my days.  When the other video becomes available, I’ll show that one to you as well, then you can see the difference in the hospital… a little inside look of a rescue center, so to speak.  (By the way… the raccoons at the beginning really are just hanging upside down.  They were babies when they came to us and learned how to climb the chain links… all were happily released back into the wild).

Training:  Yeah, I’ve been doing that too.  I’ve had to start getting up before the sun to avoid the heat and mugginess of the season, but we all do what we gotta do.  I’m just thankful I don’t have mom duties first thing anymore (you know… making lunches, giving rides, and the biggie of waking up a child).  I won’t go much into detail about the runs right now (only because this post is getting too long), but I am hitting them as scheduled… not so much on the cross training yet… but the runs are extremely important. You can’t fake your way through a marathon if you want to beat the sweeper, haha.

Up next:  Queen with Adam Lambert!  This Saturday!  I cannot wait!

Have a great week, my friends!

Back To Normal

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When I last left off, I had just finished a half-marathon and was mentally preparing myself for a hike the next day.  I’m happy to say that the hike didn’t happen as my legs were angry enough with me as it was.  We did, however, go up to Hurricane Ridge to check out the views.

There was lots of snow (yes, that’s my 12-year-old son dwarfing his grandmother and father):

Lots of wildlife:

A clear view of Mt. Baker, 180 miles away:

And lots of trees:

I even got to try the infamous Starbucks Mint Frappacino (it was heavenly and I earned it) while the boys had quite a bit of fun goofing around with the outback hats:

The view of Port Angeles at the base of the Olympics:

But alas, all good things and all holidays must eventually come to an end.  My mother-in-law went back to the Motherland this past Saturday… but not before we went out to dinner to celebrate both our milestone birthdays this year (we split this delicious morsel 3 ways):

And today was business as usual, or Week 0 Day 1 of marathon training, to which I went out and completed 5 miles plus 1.  James is still hurt, but he’s in the process of formulating my training plan as I write this.  He’s such a good sport.  He actually just gave me a breakdown of my long runs for August and September, including (but not limited to) the 2 back-to-back half-marathons I’m signed up for, preceded and followed by those gnarly 20-mile runs…  dear, oh dear, let the games begin…

Have a fabulous week!!

Just Another Day

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Baby season is in full swing at the rescue and rehab center.  Things are kicking off a bit late this year because of our cold winter and cold spring.  But the cold ain’t gonna stop Mother Nature now, is it!  We currently have abandoned baby squirrels, abandoned baby bunnies, baby opossums who’ve lost their mom, even 2 little owlets being raised by our resident foster owl mama… and I just received my very first fawn call of the season today.  (“There is a fawn sitting in my yard that has been abandoned.” “No, it hasn’t been abandoned.  Please leave it alone.”)

That being said, I also received a call today that sent my blood pressure to stroke level.  If I could’ve gone through the phone to slap some sense into this a-hole, I would have:

HIM:  My dogs were in a fight with a raccoon a couple of days ago and they chased it up a tree. It’s been up there for 2 days and I would like it removed before it dies.

ME:  The raccoon is in the tree because he’s afraid of your dogs.  Where are the dogs now?

HIM:  Barking at the raccoon in the tree.

ME:  Can you place the dogs in their kennel?

HIM:  The kennel is right underneath the tree.  Should I put them in there?

ME:  No.  Can you bring the dogs inside for a few hours?

HIM:  No.  They’re outside dogs.

ME:  Can you put them in the garage to give this raccoon a chance to come down out of the tree?

HIM:  No.  I’m not willing to do that.

I had to put him on hold after that answer.

“No.  I’m not willing to do that.”  

Are you f’n kidding me?!  I was so not prepared for that response.  You can’t lock up your dogs?? To let another living being, one of God’s creatures, who is scared to death, come down out of a tree and have a chance at survival?? Then why the f*** did you call me?!!  Do you really think I’m going to track all the way out to your drug-infested meth-lab ‘home’ and remove a raccoon from a tree when you won’t even put your hell hounds up?? 

I was now done with this phone call.  I had to pass it off to my director as the veins in my head were frantically pulsating.

The director then proceeded to calmly explain the risk of diseases that a dead raccoon would pass onto his beloved outside dogs who were never allowed inside, if he didn’t remove his dogs from the area to let the raccoon down.

Alas… we will never know what happened to this poor raccoon, whether the above idiot decided to put his dogs up for a couple of hours or not.

I guess I’ll chalk it all up to another “day in the life of…”

Baby season is upon us.  Time for me to step up my game and get ahead of all that’s about to come…

 

 

I Died Today

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I was found by a kind, sweet woman who does wildlife rescue.

I was so sick, I could barely open my eyes.

She took me inside, cradling me in her arms and made me warm and comfortable.

I opened my eyes and looked at her and thanked her for making my last few minutes as comfortable as possible.

But I was too sick to keep fighting.

I had eaten a mouse that was poisoned, and it made me very sick.

I closed my yellow eyes for the last time and went somewhere else.

Please, all I ask is never to use poison to kill the mice.

Poison kills owls, like me.

All I wanted was a mouse for dinner.

I died today…

Poison is a very real problem for our wildlife.  Last year, our center received an owl just like the one above who had eaten a poisoned mouse.  It was nursed for months.  It couldn’t be saved.  It eventually died too.

This past week, we received a raccoon who also was the victim of poison.

If your beloved dog or cat caught a poisoned mouse, vole, or mole, it would die as well.

Please don’t use poison to kill mice and rats.  The fallout is tragic.

(Note:  I read the story above for the first time in a newsletter from another wildlife rehab center in the Sequim area.  I do not know who wrote it or where it originated.  Image is from nwraptorcenter.com)

 

Oh No! I’m Late!!

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… for Motivational Music Monday, that is!  Sheesh, what were you thinking?!

But first, a small update…

Snow… it won’t stop.  This happened last Monday:

And this happened the Monday before that:

I’m really kind of done with winter.  Even our red-tailed hawk at work has been none too impressed… she’s looking a bit cranky these days:

However… cold weather and all, James kicked ass at his race last weekend; the sun even came out for a couple of hours while he ran (he was so lucky to have sun)!  It seems I barely had enough time to get to the finish line before he crossed.  I see him work incredibly hard to get his speed up, and while he didn’t PR, he was close to it.  He’s not convinced he’ll PR in Reno because of the course and elevation (Reno is where our next big race is), but I disagree with him.  I think he has a good chance in spite of the course and elevation.

Okay… now onto MMM…

Are you familiar with Erasure?  They aren’t as big in the US as they have been in the UK.  I was surprised to learn that from 1986 to 2007, they achieved 24 consecutive top 40 hits in the UK. As well, 34 of their 45 singles and EPs have made the UK Top 40, with 17 of them climbing into the top 10 in the UK.  The only song of theirs to chart in France was “Oh L’Amour.”  To date, they have sold over 25 million albums worldwide.

All that being said, I am familiar with only two of their songs, the following being my favorite. This is one that has stood the test of time for me, so it ranks way up there.  It has a constant beat so it’s super great to run to.  If you don’t know it, take a listen.  You may have just found your new favorite song to run to.

So tell me…

  • Have you heard of Erasure?
  • If so, what’s your favorite song by them?
  • Do you have a favorite song this week that James needs to add to his MMM list?

We’re heading to a new area for long-run Sunday and hoping to meet up with a fellow blogger. I will let you know how/if that goes.  Regardless… we’re going to have new territory and a new trail to explore.  I’m actually looking forward to it, because it won’t be snowing!! Happy Sunday my friends!

Hiya!

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Hey!  How’s that for a catchy title!  I’m brilliant that way, you know.

I got an email from my sister today saying I’d been awful quiet, so I thought I’d write a quick update to say, yes, I’m still here.

Over the weekend, we had snowmageddon.  I am not a snow person.  I do not do snow.  And yet, this winter, snow insists on showing up on my doorstep and wreaking havoc on my roads. That nonsense is about to end though as the forecast is predicting rain, rain, and more rain. Hallelujah!

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Last Friday, AJ twisted his ankle at school and sprained it.  Yep… snow.  Or ice.  Same difference. But did I mention it’s going to rain?  Hallelujah!

It’s so cold in my house that the fishtank heater can’t even keep up with warming the water.  I had to get a backup because I know this current one is going to fail any day now as it’s been running 24/7 just lately.  But it’s about to be 50 deg F here in the next day or two.  That’s right… dare I say it?!  Hallelujah!

And don’t you worry about the raccoons… we’ve got them covered.  They’re getting plenty to eat, snow and all. The cats are kind of hungry, but those little raccoons are sure sitting pretty!

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Because this little sweetie is probably thinking, “It’s good to be alive right about now” (hallelujah!), he deserves a little Andy Grammer!

  • Winter got you down?  Or are you used to it and loving the snowy days?
  • Who wishes they were in Hawaii right now besides me?
  • Who’s running Reno in April?  Anybody?  Anybody?

Go check out James’s most recent post at 50 in 50 Marathon Quest… he has an exciting announcement about BibRave!

Happy New Year!

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In spite of the losses we endured most recently, it’s been a great holiday week… lots of family, lots of food, lots of love.  There was even lots of running done by one of us… okay, spoiler alert, it wasn’t me doing the running.

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The 12yo child is now taller than me… that ain’t right.

Christmas Eve brought tragedy at work.  We got quite a bit of snow the day before, too much for one of the trees to handle, and it collapsed onto one of the yurts that housed a little Northern Saw-whet owl with vision problems.  She escaped.  She is fully flighted and knows how to hunt, so there is a good chance of survival for her.  Maybe the accident was, in reality, divine intervention.  Maybe her stay with us was done and it was time for her to fly and be free. (To every negative, it’s important to search for the positive. #selfpreservation)

20150220_135857.jpgChristmas Eve brought tragedy to the Seattle Seahawks as well.  They lost to Arizona.  The positive?  I was right there in the stadium to watch!  My very first ‘Hawks game! Okay… maybe not so much a positive for the team, but a huge selfish positive on my part!  🙂

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This weekend has been great fun, celebrating the end of 2016.  AJ went to Leavenworth with his friend to play in the snow, and James and I brought in the New Year karaoking most of the night until it was time to watch the fireworks at the Space Needle (from the warmth of our own home, of course… far away from any craziness).

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Got snow?

We have a fresh layer of snow and ice, and this coming week promises to be the coldest we’ve seen in a long time.  I don’t do snow, and it will definitely be a week of treadmill running, assuming I even run, :D.  But c’est la vie.  There is always plenty of good in life to offset the bad. That’s just the way it goes.

…Don’t you know, when you’re down

There’s just one way to go

And that’s singing

C’est la vie! C’est la vie!

That’s just the way it goes!…

Wishing you much love and happiness in 2017, no matter what life throws at you!

London Marathon

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I didn’t tell anyone this, but I put in for the London Marathon lottery last March… along with James… and along with my father-in-law Alan, who lives in the UK… with the drawing to be held in October.  Possibly a fun family event and get together in April, in London, amiright?

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Alan at Sandringham

Alan ran the London Marathon in the early 1990s, setting a personal record with a sub-3-hour marathon time.  He was the first to hear from them on Monday… rejected.  If he’s interested, he can still get a bib through his running club, or he can qualify with a sub-5-hour marathon as he is 70 and a citizen of the UK.  Oh… yeah… right… he could also join a charity and start fundraising for £1500 or so.

And by the way… yes… you read that right.  I entered the lottery as well.  For the marathon. Twenty-six point two miles.  26.2.  My first marathon, to be completed in April, after I turn 50. But I got this:

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I was rejected.  However, notice the last paragraph… if I use one of their worldwide “tour”companies, I could still obtain a bib… thousands of dollars later.

For the last 3 months, I’ve been receiving emails from London saying stuff like, “we notice you haven’t signed up with a charity yet,” or “guaranteed entry, check out these charities.”  I’m beginning to question the “unweighted” ballot system of the London Marathon.  Looking into it, they probably have 30 to 40 “tour” companies with bibs to offer worldwide, not to mention all these charities still have bibs to offer if you raise money for them.  Every single person who got rejected in the UK got a message saying, “sign up with this charity and still gain entry.”  Are you starting to understand where I’m going with this?

I don’t mind raising money for charity, but I would prefer to choose my own charity.  I work for a nonprofit organization and the only way we survive is by fundraising… so if I’m going to put forth fundraising efforts, it’s going to be for a cause I believe in, not what someone else dictates to me.

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Sorry London, you’re just not worth the hassle.

As for me… why yes… I am still entertaining the idea of running my first 26.2 after I turn 50. Now I just have to decide which one…

And as for Alan’s entrance fee that he paid in advance, only to be rejected by the London Marathon… the race kept the money and donated it to charity.

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