Oddities and ends

I'm in a goofy mood tonight; I'm not sure why, because it was a long, hot day at work again. Maybe it's because there were no nests which, though bad, meant that I was able to catch an early boat off the island and therefore leave work early. I might be happy because I got a letter from a friend this afternoon. Possibly, my delight comes from making english muffin pizzas for dinner. I may even be joyful because of pigtails.

No matter. I think it's time for another edition of cool things I've seen/learned/thought this week. Here, therefore, we go.

*Someone else loves commas as much as I do. See Robert J. Samuelson's article this week in Newsweek. Oh, how I have always enjoyed putting commas everywhere. To my chagrin, I was often encouraged to remove them. Having this fellow comarade-in-commas, I shall leave them in, for pause.

*The terns have begun divebombing us in a terrifying new way. Over the past few weeks, they have gotten closer and closer to our heads, swooping within a foot while chattering and screeching in our ears. This week, however, they have adopted a new tactic: they dive 20 feet in front of me, level off below eye-level, then fly straight at my face. The sight of a bird aiming full-throttle for your eye is quite unsettling, even after they suddenly veer upward just before they get to your face, just close enough to plant a menacing screech in your ear.

*I saw an eastern kingsnake and a rough greensnake over the past few weeks, plus some banded watersnakes. All of them are quite beautiful creatures.

*Asian tiger mosquitoes are fierce, tenacious creatures. Their bite is worse than their buzz and they hurt like crazy. Apparently it hurts like none other when a mosquito bites you on your funny bone, too. They're resourceful, avoiding where I've applied bugspray or biting through it; this leads them, usually, to my face for their source of nutrition. But, as my assistant pointed out this week, it's not like in the tropics where they carry malaria and dengue fever (I think those are the 2 she mentioned).

*I need to listen far more than I do. My research assistant this week is a few years my senior. She is a wildlife veterinarian and turtle researcher in Brazil. While she doesn't speak English well, she has amazing stories to tell about her life & work there. Her stories make the work I do seem, although arduous, tame.

*Walking 8 miles per day in 90-degree weather cultivates quite an appetite. My predecessor for this job says it's 11 miles if you walk everything twice; I estimate about 8 for what I have to walk. I'll have to put an odometer on my bike when I cease having research assistants and am collecting hatchlings rather than looking for nests. Anyway, man am I hungry! All the time! I have never eaten so much food in my life.

*Walking all day on an island is great for day dreaming, thinking, and praying. Walking all day on an island in circles all day promotes thinking in mushy circles. In regards to the last post, my thoughts have become murkier rather than clearer over the past few days.

*From henceforth, actually last-May-forth, I can't hear Gen. 2:7-8 (about God forming man from dust and placing him in the garden) without seeing a little orange playdough man being taken from a smear of orange playdough and being placed in a playdough garden with bizarre trees, animals, and a plesiosaur. Formless and void? Tohu bohu!

*I cherish my fond memories of college, camp, and environmental ed. I often used to feel cursed by my memory that functions more as a steel trap than a permeable sponge, as it frequently retained more bad memories better than good ones. Now, however, I feel blessed by it. More than those memories, however, I realize that I cherish the folks with whom those memories were formed.


That's all for now. I think that I mellowed as I wrote that, so it wasn't as silly as I anticipated. That's alright, it's probably less frightening that way.