in light of the 2009 civil war game tomorrow (go beavs!), i thought i would share this fun fact.

owls can spot a mouse moving on one end of the football field, while they are on the other.

also, because owls can see so well at night, they are color blind.

one more month? weird.

see ya!

almost three months, really?

mmm... feeding dead mice pups to owls. day in the life, i guess.

p.s. swine flu outbreak, 30 down. more to go.

a month and a half? really?

mother requested a blog update, bet that's never happened to you, huh evan?

i'm definitely settling in to life at green chimneys. all of the interns have a set weekly schedule now.. no more training. working with the kids has been awesome; so far i have learned a couple different things (by a couple, i mean two, not three, which would be a few)

1. wedgies are uncomfortable. illustrated by this conversation:

kid 1: gives kid 2 a giant bear hug.

kid 2: aaaghhhh!

kid 1: sorry!! did that hurt?

kid 2: no, that didn't hurt. it was just uncomfortable. you know.. like a wedgie? wedgies don't hurt, they're just uncomfortable.

2. boys are very competitive. i guess i knew this... but the kids definitely compare their learn and earn experiences with eachother. "did you do the afternoon feed with mikey? he said you did. was he scared of seeing the cut up mice? oh, he didn't like it? well i bet i won't be scared."

apparently, they go back to the classrooms and/or dorms and discuss their sessions with one another. god forbid one student fed the duck pond, while the other just happened to see the andean condor eat... the very next day. what a crappy farm intern they must have.

in other news, if you would like to see my name in print, check out the fall 2009 edition of volunteer voices.

http://www.greenchimneys.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=167&Itemid=92

yep, definitely famous.

but really, in all seriousness, getting to know the kids is pretty sweet. at first, i was a bit hesitant.. i wasn't sure how my sarcasm, habitual cussing, and inappropriate jokes would translate into working with the kids, but so far it's going great. just omit all three of those, and the situation has turned out to be sort of awesome. basically, as interns, we were brought in to not only learn about our farm area and how to care for the animals, but ultimately, to be able to work with kids and bring them up to our farm area to share our knowledge. each intern has students they work with one-on-one, as basically, the child's farm job. they are paid for their time spent working, and as a result, they help with various maintenance and feeding tasks in the area. other farm areas, such as the horse barn, or upper barn (where most of the farm animals are located) this can be a bit easier, as the animals are domestic and children can be more hands on. in wildlife, i have learned to be more creative, as i can't really have the kids petting a bald eagle, or riding the andean condor. all in all, i am learning a lot, and really starting to find my place here. oh, and fun fact, i totally got to hold a barn owl last week. want my job? suuuckas!

hope all is well! more wildlife facts to come.

smell ya later...

boon

rain delay at the new yankee stadium. 9/28/2009.

hola!

sorry for the blogging delay. other activities have been taking up my precious free time. and by other activities, i mean, spending ungodly amounts of time on facebook, watching one too many episodes of food network challenge, and catching up on reality tv online. throw in a couple visits to connecticut, a couple fast food meals, and sleep... and you now know what life is like in brewster.

in other news, we are almost officially done with intern training as of next wednesday. last week, we took three days of therapeutic crisis intervention training. this involved learning ways to de-escalate crisis situations, and how to appropriately use physical restraints when necessary. during training, everyone in the class took turns acting as the child... sort of a test subject when learning how to restrain. i took this opportunity as a time to play the "i'm injured" card so i didn't have to be thrown down. my roommate on the other hand, totally pulled her rotator cuff muscle while being restrained. the good news is, the girl who restrained her passed the test. PERFECT.

during training, we also went and ate lunch with students that live in the RTF on campus (the RTF is for older boys who need a higher level of care). the kids were super nice, and we all played four square together after lunch. they played easy on me though.. after all... i am the girl.

next thursday we start working one-on-one with the children. i work with 17 different children, each for an hour a week. basically, the kids are working with each of the farm interns, helping out on the farm as part of their 'learn and earn' schedules. needless to say, i am super nervous about this, considering every other word i say is cussing and/or inappropriate. we'll see how it goes. in all seriousness though, it should be pretty awesome and a really good learning experience.

on monday, the interns are all going to the new yankee stadium to watch a yankees vs. royal game. update to come.

well, i miss everyone back home tons and hope everything is well.

seeee yaaaa later,

boon

housewife, baby

let's see. what's been going on in the intern world? i completed my first week as a wildlife intern, without pbr. been getting comfortable in the little old farmhouse here in brewster, settling in with the roommates and watching entirely too much reality tv.

friday was actually my friday this week, i don't think that has happened in a while. we made it over to danbury, connecticut to see a cover band and dance our little hearts out. very enjoyable, especially when the band covered 'you oughta know' by alanis morrisette and we all belted out our inner angst on the dance floor. by the way, i could run to the new york, connecticut border if i wanted to, probably in a 1/2 hour or less. who knew the east coast was so versatile and fun?

saturday was my first and only day off thus far. since this is not bend, oregon and there is no lola to hike around, i decided to play housewife. baked m&m cookies from scratch, made homemade postcards (a highlight), and cooked up a delicious baked pasta dish that was a hit two nights in a row. pretty sure that was one of the only meals i have cooked in the past eight months. good to know that i will survive on just groceries (although i have had both mexican take out and panda express since my arrival...shh).

sunday was my first day as a solo intern. i am the one who will be covering sundays at the wildlife center, which means managing to finish both the AM and PM feeds. lucky for me, a volunteer came out and helped a ton, so if i accidentally killed a snow owl or a red tailed hawk, it wouldn't be all on me. in addition to the feeds, sunday meant moving wood chips in and out of the center to cover the trails in preparation for winter. didn't seem difficult, until i could feel my heartbeat in my baby toe when i got home. the lil guy is stuck in a boot for a month, which is also perfect when wandering through duck poop and cleaning out wood chips from cages. also fun is breaking in just one of a pair of new shoes because of the stupid boot.

well this week is all agency training.. so we'll see how that goes. but i did get a green chimneys badge today, meaning, i am, in fact, an intern now.

if you want a homemade postcard, hop on the list.

missing everyone, and pictures will come soon.

boooon

p.s. in other news, totally submitted a video to america's funniest home videos a while back. got an email today, they want to use it! so cool. what should i do with that $10,000???

who wants some miiiice?

so today was pretty eventful in the intern world. for starters, i helped feed all of the ducks in the large pond up front. it's probably my favorite part of the day... i mean who doesn't appreciate two hundred wild ducks invading the non-wild duck pond and stealing all the food?

in all seriousness, this place is pretty sweet... definitely get to hang out with red tailed hawks, barn owls, bald eagles (!!), and baby pheasants all day. for those of you who don't know, i am out here in new york interning at an 'alternative' school- for lack of a better term- that is well known for it's incorporation of animal assisted therapy and activities into their curriculum. students have wildlife classes, farm classes, horse barn classes, garden classes, etc. one main aspect of this is working with the children on the farm. i was assigned to the wildlife department, so this means working one on one with students, having them help feed and with various maintenance tasks in the area. it is also sort of a learning experience with the kids, as they learn about the different birds and adaptations, as well as why they are in the department, as they go along. among the animals in wildlife are a condor, vultures, eagles, hawks, pheasants, crows, ducks, owls, deer, emus. etc. so far we have had a 1/2 week of training, with about a whole month to go. i'm pretty excited about the whole thing. feeding is definitely an interesting part of the day. i never thought i would be assigned to cut up a mouse into quarters and feed it to a baby crow... there's a first time for everything i guess.

so after interning today we all ventured out to this lil mexican joint, 'texas taco'. what it should have been called is "freak show with chili beans". the menu consisted of burritos (beans, beef, cheese, and onion), tacos (again, beef, bean, cheese, and onion), guacamole (otherwise known as mashed avocado with chips, no seasoning please), and a tostada (beef, beans, cheese, and onions... have you caught on yet?). all of these went for the whopping price of $2 each... $1.25 for soda in a wax cup. here was the business card... maybe this will explain it a bit better.

that was honestly the woman who took our order. no joke. this may or may not have been more terrifying than quartering the frozen mouse for the baby crow.

until next time,

booooooon

call me an intern baby

hello

today was my very first day as a wildlife intern. so far this means getting up at 7, eating grape nuts cereal (blah), and wandering down to the farm to fill out paperwork and learn the various ins and outs of intern life. however, all this will change as we finish up with training at the end of the month and are trusted to teach children all about our farm areas 1:1.

my knowledge of wildlife goes as follows: owls like mice. vultures like rats. falcons get chicks (this could be wrong) and japanese deer are fat when hand raised.

what i didn't anticipate (i am not sure why) is that birds of prey do in fact eat things like mice, rats, quails, and chicks, and sometimes these birds of prey are injured so i will have to cut these little frozen creatures in half. here's to not puking hopefully!

it could be worse i guess. the upper barn interns got called back to work this evening because the sheep escaped! apparently this doesn't really happen in my department.

keep it real,

andrea

p.s. if you are homesick, don't call a familiar friend at home. it may or may not make you cry.

p.s.s. don't get a puppy if you are gonna leave for five months. you will miss her. and it will also make you cry.

navigating the big nyc

hola!

hopping on the blog train, if not for your entertainment, but for mine. no more drinking pbr pounders, so why not blog? after all, green chimneys doesn't come with big buck hunter or two dollar tuesdays at players.

woke up at 430 am on sunday to start the journey to the big city. three flights, and 13 hours later, i arrived at jfk. booked a room at the holiday inn, wound up on the smoking level (thanks priceline!). my room smelled like westside tavern in the old days, made me feel very at home.

after spending an hour this morning trying to figure out how to actually make it to brewster (the little town i am interning at), i hobbled out the hotel room and across the st. to catch a bus to JAMAICA, ny. caught a train from there, then hopped off in a panic thinking i took the WRONG train, only to hobble back downstairs to catch that same train, and finding out that my stop i needed was in fact, only the next stop away. ate a pretzel in grand central station, took another train to brewster, then finally a cab, and now i am HERE. if you're wondering why i hobbled, it's because i was biking lola on friday night, she stopped to poop, and i didn't. broke the baby toe just in time for ny!!

my home for the next four months is actually a really nice house with hardwood floors, two fridges, wireless internet, and cable. i am actually currently writing this while sitting on a leather couch and watching cake boss on tlc. pretty modern for farm life. i live with six other girls, four from the east coast, one from cali, and one from germany. i share a room with a girl from boston. this internship comes with room and board, so naturally, i was curious what i could eat while i was here. come to find out, weekly we mark all of the groceries we want on a sheet and then pick it up. pretty exciting. i guess i better relearn how to cook considering my meals for the last eight months have consisted of parilla, nancy p's, and my parents house.

oh, and turns out, nyc has scratch its. they all look so new and exciting. too bad i am dropping that habit too.

well, back to business. check out greenchimneys.org. i'm in the wildlife department.

smell ya later,

booooon

p.s. everyone take care of this little lady when i am gone, so far she has eaten some sort of dead animal and peed on the futon! gotta love lola!!

p.s.s. hi molly!