A Baby!

At work today, we had the most exciting thing happened..... A baby hatched!  It came a little earlier than we expected, but it's healthy and doing well!  I've already put two days of sweaty hard work in anticipation for this little guy.

We started with this little egg in an incubator (because mom and dad rethought the whole being parents thing and decided it wasn't for them).

Then there was a lot of waiting while we periodically weighed it and checked it's heartbeat to make sure it  was developing right and to see if we needed to make temperature or humidity changes.

I dug out all the brooders (where the chick will go after the incubator).  And than disassembled, cleaned and disinfected each one.  And then did it again just to make sure they were really clean (that took two days to complete).  We did all of them because you never know when one isn't going to work, or when one will fail on you.

These are all the brooders disassembled and cleaned, ready to be disinfected.

Disinfecting makes me feel like a mad scientist because I get to mix chemicals and wear funny looking protective gear.

I endured two days out in the sun to ensure this little guy had a safe environment to grow up in.

And now, we get to feed him/her every two hours and steal away moments to watch em figure out how to navigate this big world.

I'm excited to watch this little guy grow!

Dreaming of Okinawa

I'm days away from my trip to go see Nathan and I am so excited, I'm having a hard time sleeping.  I've been googling/binging for information on Okinawa and I've come across some amazing photos of the island we're going to be calling home come fall.

So, I thought that I'd brag a little...

Anyone wana come visit?  

Oyasumi nasi (good night)!

So Proud Of My Husband!

I'm so proud of my husband!  Another graduation!

I think he's pretty excited too

Avengers and Shwarma

Avengers fans.  You know how at the end of the movie they go out to eat shwarma?

My family goes out to eat shwarma at the end of the movie too.

Shwarma is gooood.

Shayna, The Opera Singer

This beautiful bird is Shayna.  Before Pandemonium became a site for conservation, it was a home for birds that were abandoned and couldn't find homes.  When my boss learned that some of the birds she had were becoming endangered in their native land, she decided she was going to do something about it.  She began doing what she could to help save those endangered species. 

Shayna is one of those birds that found a new home here at Pandemonium.  She is a Yellow Headed Amazon, which is endangered in Mexico and Northern Central America. 

She's is brilliant and hilarious.  She learned my name very quickly.  I was outside one day when my boss came out calling my name to let me know that we were about to start our staff meeting when Shayna calls, "Hello Britta."  She became my favorite right then and there.  

To add to her awesomeness, she's got a Darth Vader voice that she pulls out when you least expect it, and she loves to sing opera.  

She came inside to help with our research and paperwork  recently and did much better at distracting us.  We didn't mind.  She's quite the performer. 

Check it out.  She gets sooo into it. 

It's she a peach?  I adore her.

I'm Becoming A Crazy Bird Lady/The Boardwalk

While my cousin, Christina, was in town we had to take her to Santa Cruz.  You can't come to CA without going to the beach.   We had a total blast at the Boardwalk, riding the rides, eating the food (I'm in love with the new potato twists!), and walking along the shoreline and pier. 

However, this guy was the highlight.  For me at least.... my job might be slowly turning me into a crazy bird lady.

He was just sitting out here by all the fisherman.

Posing for all the cameras that were pulled out the second he was spotted.

He was so big.

And so handsome.

And he definitely enjoyed the attention.

One group of people had the brilliant idea to try to pet him.

Um.... did they not know this is a wild animal?

Heck, one look at that beak and I knew to keep my distance.

As one girl reached out her hand, he gave her a look that said, "You idiot, I will rip that thing off if you come any closer."  She didn't get the message and he lunged at her.  She backed off.

One of her friends thought that she would have better luck.  I quickly told her that it was never a good idea to touch a wild animal as she was handing over her life's belongs to a friend.  I guess I seem like I know what I am talking about because she took her stuff back and everyone else resumed picture taking instead of playing games of truth or dare.

Guess what else we saw?

This one is napping. 

This one is swimming.  Sealions are so fun to watch... well, when they aren't napping.... which they usually are.

Another wonderful trip to the coast.

I can't believe my highlight was a bird.  The bird craziness is taking over.  My boss said it would.

Happy Hollow

My cousin came into town from Texas to help take care of our grandpa.  He had a scheduled heart surgery and has been doing very well, but he has needed help doing everything while he heels up.  We've had a lot of family coming and going to help him.  It definitely pays to have a large family when you need help, he's had someone around to help every week.

Anyway, since Christina is not from around here, we knew she'd have to take a break from being a good granddaughter to see some of the bay area.

We went to Happy Hollow for our first adventure.  They have redone everything there and it is no longer a ghetto little place with funny broken down rides and tiny animal exhibits.  All the favorites are still there though.

We all throughly enjoyed the Capybara exhibit.  They are so strangely cute. 

The stepping stones over the little pond are still there.  As are a lot of the fun fact animal displays that have buttons that still don't work.

There are still big beautiful cats, sunning themselves in the California sunshine.

Christina seemed to have a good time.  She's got skillz on the stepping stones.

I could watch these little guys ALL DAY LONG.

Is there anything cuter?

I found myself wishing so badly that I could go home and watch Meerkat Manor so that the cuteness wouldn't end.

Just look at the little fatling.

tehehe... they make me giggle.

I don't think it is possible to be in a bad mood when these guys are around.

Friends and family, please take note, if you are going to tell me bad news and want to break it softly.... we should be around Meercats.  They have magic happy powers.

This guy was stunning.  He even posed for my camera when I whipped it out.

And how could you not love watching the monkey's play?

The new park has a very nice play structure and we found our favorite toy.

This "Ringtailed Lemur Tail" stuck almost straight up our of the ground, but bent a little to one side.  So when you climbed on, it kinda swung you around as you hung on for dear life.

My sister thought that she was pretty skilled at it until I poked her and then she slipped to the side and could get back upright again.  It was funny.

Then we found the carousel.  This carousel is particularly awesome because you can ride things like dragons, Giraffes, lemurs, zebras, okapi and.......

I was REALLY excited about this.....

An Ostrich!  It's actually a life goal of mine to ride one for realsies, but I figured this was good practice for when the day comes that I can seize that opportunity.

Happy Hollow is the bomb.com

So glad that Christina came to CA and wanted to go!

We loved it!