Week 86: School's Out Forever!

All formal classes (which was just the vet classes) wrapped up this week! We took our finals and then celebrated by throwing an "Outbreak" party. We all brought food and watched the great movie, Outbreak. Pretty simple. A few people also left this week on their projects. Some are not to be heard from again...which is great for me! Slowly now, people will be gone over the weeks, most are coming back for graduation, but not all. All of my first years are good to go, and I feel alright about leaving the animals with them. In EATM tradition, we exchanged gifts this week. We got gifts for them to use with the animals and they got their buddy's something nice to graduate with. Mine (yes, I have 2) were sweet enough to give me some good prints of pics I only have electronically and to blow up and frame a really cute one of me with the Pegs. I also got a gift card to buy a frame to put a pic of me and Ghost into. Such good buddies! I'm sure they're in for an interesting summer, but what class doesn't go through all that drama? It's a right of passage or something. Still waiting on official word about doing a Vegas project, but I'm optimistic! Now I'm just relaxing, until I start traveling! (Pics: Sundance's fluffy feet (duing knock-down), Spring spec pics)

Week 85: Spring Spec=Over

Sunday ended the big festivities. I won't be participating in another one of these except as a spectator! Hollywood Animals came out for our creature feature with one of their leopards (the one I went on set with). It was good to catch up with those guys. The week is now busy, yet empty because it's officially spring break for us. That basically means that with no classes, it was time to crack down on turn overs in a big way with the first years. Most of them have taken over the feeding calendars entirely now, and we have very little to do. Ghost is the one animal I have to stay involved with due to his medical issues, we are unable to let the first years man him just yet, but that's OK, it's not much of a time commitment. Even the Vervets' turn overs are going extremely well and they are taking to their new trainers with little resistance! Now we are looking at the real end approaching quickly. I find my self with lots of free time, yet little to do. I have trouble remembering things I did before the program, how to dress like a normal person (there's seriously cob webs on some of my clothes) and I'm applying for jobs like a crazy person. I just need some hope for employment! (Pics: Spring Spec show, Hollywood Animals [Athari again])

Week 84: Just Another Spring Spec.

The weeks are feeling longer, but less busy. Turnovers are progressing nicely and most first years are at a point where they can mostly take over now. I've got tons of day watch to be doing to make up for the weeks when I'm gone on projects. Some exciting news came in and I found out that the Vegas magician was hiring for sure and he might want to do a project with me (it sounded like as a working interview!). I sent in my resume and some head shots that a classmate helped me take as he requested. Now, I'm just waiting to find out if it will really happen! Spring Spec has picked up a bit, but still staying pretty slow. On Saturday, I actually some of my family that is local show up and they had a great time at the zoo! I was pretty happy to get someone besides Jon out for the show. I've been enjoying the show more myself as we haven't been beating it to death in rehearsals anymore. One of my classes officially ended this week, Ethics. It was an alright class, sure did open my eyes to how ignorant people are about what's happening in the movement, and that was largely due to my classmates, not so much due to the professor, although he's a pretty cool guy himself. (Pics: spring spec show, me and the vervets)

Week 83: Vetrinary Insanity

This week, I was late back to the zoo twice due to vet issues. On Monday, Peggy got spayed (finally!) and we had to drive forever away to get her and got back to the zoo around 5. The next night, we took Ghost in for a work up since he's had some weird issues (turns out to look fine so far) and we got back from that at around 6:30 pm...arg. He's also been pulled from shows until further notice to keep his stress down. Very frustrating! At least he did well in spring spec on last Saturday so I should have gotten a good grade then. This week is fairly light so we can all stay focused on the event at hand. Sometimes I wish it just ran for a week straight... Ah well. We are making some money, it's just not as good or impressive as last year due to the laziness of a few people who were supposed to get the word out. All us second years are feeling the end is near and it's getting a little sad, and exciting. Still no word on any job front for me...but it's out there...somewhere.

Week 82: My Buddy and Me

Amid the flurry of prepping for the opening weekend of Spring spec, life went on, and some didn't. I found Buddy, the raccoon to be losing energy all week and we knew it was near the end for him. He finally stopped being too interested in food, especially the food he needed to be interested in, and we made the call to euthanize him. It wasn't easy for some, but I saw it coming all week and was shockingly not over emotional about it. It felt even better later when in the necropsy, a 1 lb liver tumor was found. The things these animals hide...
The rest of the week did go on, and we learned such silly things as gun safety and blow dart skills! My tickets are all purchased for projects at the ABMA conference in Pittsburgh and the following week hanging out at the Cat Ambassador program at the Cincinnati zoo! And, so far, spring spec is going alright, but definitely a bust from last year...sadness. (Pics: Buddy, Ghost in spring spec)

Week 81: New Hooves

This was a pretty average week. Progress was made in some turnovers. A meeting was held with the first years that were chosen as safety managers to get them rolling. I had a couple tests, and my presentation for vet lab. All went very well, as usual. The rest of the week saw the rest of the new animals roll in to start their respective quarantines! We got two llamas (a mom and daughter), three donkeys (one adult, two 7 months), a pot-bellied pig (7 months), and a zebu (think small brama). Everyone is super stoked to hang out with these guys for the short time that we have, although since they are in quarantine, we don't so much get to do anything with them...but by the time we graduate, they should be available... Progress was made with my projects, now I'll be going to the ABMA conference, followed by a week in Cincinnati for the Cat Ambassador project! Rumors are circulating that they will have baby cougars in around that time...sweet! (Pics: llamas, Donkeys (adult is James), Pig (Bubbles), Zebu (Norman))

Week 80: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Lynx?

The week opened with postings for us second years to request to be trainers on the new animals we were going to receive. I put my name in, not expecting anything since there were people I thought were worse off than me for animals, but unexpectedly, I got assigned to Sundance, the lynx! We found that happy news out on Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, my group gave their lack-luster performance of our ethics skit, and nailed it! I love teachers that don't care enough to actually grade anything hard. This week also marked the beginning of full dress rehearsals for spring spec! Everything is still clicking away there with little issue.
As a fun thing I was asked by a staff member to take Ghost (the bald eagle) to a boy scout eagle award ceremony on Saturday. It actually went pretty well, except that they got my name wrong, and they kept calling Ghost a she....ah well, all in fun! Everyone loved it and was very appreciative! To top it all off, on Friday, we were surprised with the information that Butch the bobcat, and Sundance the lynx were coming in on Saturday night! So I got to meet them and they are going to be a great learning experience... (Pics: Butch, Sundance)