More training fun

A couple days ago, right before we did the Dolphin Dunk, we got to spend some time with some very unique animals from the Animal Ambassador program. These animals travel around with the ambassador team raising awareness and even making television appearances.

 

Here I am with a Wallaby.  Such a cute and sweet animal.

 

This is Suzie our Umbrella Cockatoo.

And this is Mellow Yellow, one of our Burmese Pythons.  He is over 11 feet long and weighs about 66 pounds.  He has amazing strength.  He is about 10 years old.  On average they can live to be over 40 years old and can reach 22 feet long.  At full size they can suffocate and swallow an adult deer whole.

I have learned so much in just the last week that I have been working at Sea World.  Every animal is amazing in their own way, each with its own special adaptations.

Dolphin Dunk!

These are just the pictures that I got.  Kelly (my manager) got a lot more while we were playing around so hopefully I will get those soon and be able to post them.  Can you believe that I got paid to do this? I love this part of my job!

Behind the Scenes at the Zoo

One of the ladies that I work with at Sea World also works at the San Antonio Zoo in the large mammal department. So, the department invited our department to come visit and go behind the scenes. First we were able to go in the elephant barn and watch a demonstration of some of the trained behaviors.

 This is Lucky the Asian Elephant.  She is 50 years old.  Mike the keeper showed us how he gets her to lift all her legs up and how to get her to climb the fence.

Also he had her do some vocalizations.  They noticed that she would do a trumpet sound when she laid down so he has her lay down first to demonstrate the trumpet vocalization.

She really was amazing with him.

Then we got to go into the training facility for the cheetahs.  This is Mandy and they showed us some of the behaviors they have been able to get her to respond to.

The keeper, Naomi, hand feed her meat and played frisbee with her.  She was so beautiful.
Next we went over to the Hippo pool and got to go through some secret tunnels that come out through the fake rock walls.  We got to watch them feed them from above the pool....

And then we went down through the keeper area and got to stand where they usually feed them. This is the female approaching the gate we were standing by.

Then the keeper feed them and I was standing right next to her, literally 2 feet away.  I was so close that they got food remnants on me.

Then we went over to the rhinoceros enclosure and the keeper got a white rhinoceros to side up and we got to pet it.

It's skin was so rough and it patiently stood there eating its alfalfa and not really noticing us.
The mammal curator Jon was the one who showed us around, but after that we just walked around the park on our own.  We saw big cats and monkeys and the usual zoo animals and met some very pushy goats.  Too bad they weren't fainting goats, that would have made the day complete.

First Week in Texas

I have been in Texas now for a week and the countdown has started for when Don and the kids will be here. Only 12 days and my family will be back together. I miss them so much.
My first few days at Sea World have been an adventure for sure. I finished orientation and then my first day to work in the park was going to be yesterday. I had to be to work at 9:30 and I am staying 20 miles away so I left at 8:45. That gave me 45 minutes just in case. I guess 45 minutes was no match to strange Texas weather. As I got on the 1604 highway it started pouring. Not like the Oh No, I need to turn the windshield wipers on kind of pouring but the Oh No, my car is going to get washed off of the road kind of pouring. I could not see a single thing, there were wrecks everywhere and I don't know the roads well enough to make any detours. The sky was crazy full of lightning, even Benjamin Franklin would have been surprised. When I got to work they told us that since there was so much lightning, they were not going to open the park, so we got to do a few things inside and then we all went home. I was really bummed cause I was soaking wet and totally ready to learn more in the park.
So today was my first actual day in the park and even though I am exhausted from working 9 hours, I had a good time. First I worked at the Sea Lion/Seals area. I got to tell everyone all about them and teach a bunch of girl scouts. Then I got to work in the Conservation Connection Center where we have a bunch of birds and reptiles from all over the world that are animal ambassadors. After that I got to go on a tour of the pools in the back of the park and pet and feed sting rays and sharks. Then I went over to meet all the dolphins at dolphin cove. There is a big dark gray Pacific Bottlenose dolphin that is the oldest dolphin we have. It's birthday was one day after mine making it 32 years old. They usually only get to about 20 in the wild so he is doing very well. After that I went back to the Sea Lion pools and watched an interaction with a family and one of our trained Sea Lion's, Elrod.
The best part about today was when I found out that on Wednesday I have another day of training that ends with some play time in the pool with the dolphins. I am so excited.
Yesterday after I got rained out I went on a house hunt and found the cutest neighborhood just 5 minutes away from Sea World in the area zoned for the school Don wants to coach at. It has a pool and a fitness center and a playground and they even have one story houses like Don wants, so hopefully we can move over there this summer.
I have never been so scared and lonely in my whole life, but if this all works out it will be worth it.
Oh, I almost forgot...Don passed his test (I am the best tutor in the whole world ;>)! So now it is on to applications-fingers crossed. I am so proud of how hard he studied and how well he did.

Moving Weekend

Well...it's May and as of tomorrow I will be a Texan.  This past weekend we put our stuff into a pod and sold everything else that wouldn't fit.  Pods as crazy little creatures.  First they drop this little storage unit off in your driveway and then a couple days later this is how they come pick it up.....

First they put these legs around it and attach big chains to the pod.....

Then the legs extend up and the chains pull the pod up off the ground....

The flatbed backs up under the pod....

The legs get pulled up, the pod is secured and then they drive away with all of your stuff.
It is actually very surreal to watch everything you own drive away. 

What will be worse though is dropping my kids off at school tomorrow and then driving to Texas and not being able to see them for 2 weeks.  I keep telling myself that two weeks is not that long, but I can't imagine my life without them and I want them to come with me now.  I am hoping for a miracle job to present itself to Don where they need him to start right away instead of him waiting until the new school year in August...fingers crossed!   But, until then I suppose I will just try to keep myself as busy as possible meeting dolphins, looking for a house and grading papers for my new classes that start next week.  I have been teaching health for a little while now, but my next classes are biology, so that should be fun, although I really have enjoyed the health ones.  I have been thinking about getting SCUBA certified during the couple weeks I am there alone, but I guess I will just have to see what I can fit into my schedule.

I think things will be okay once I am down there by myself for a couple days, it is saying good-bye to everyone that hurts the most.  Last Sunday my sister and her family came out for a BBQ and I said good-bye to them.  We went to dinner with the Thompson's on Monday and got to say good-bye to them.  Tonight we are going to dinner with the Moran's and the Kaiser's to say good-bye to them and then tomorrow will be the worst of all.  To anyone else that I have not had a chance to say good-bye to I just want you to know that I love you all, I have truly enjoyed all the friendships I have made throughout my life in California and we will definitely come back to visit.  Hugs and Kisses to everyone!