PPC: Day 8

After a delightful weekend with friends, I found myself a bit tired this morning at PPC.

I began by cleaning the scum lines off of the glass around the pools. I was interrupted to go pull the Humboldt penguin chick from the nest with its parents to begin the weening process. The chick weighed 3180 grams this morning and we had decided to pull the chick once it weighed over 3000 grams. The chick normally excretes soon after being picked up, which it did, and when attempting to weigh the chick, it was feistier than normal and wouldn't sit still on the scale. It was attempting to stand up and once my coworker placed his hand on the bird, it calmed down. I think there is an extent to which the animals recognize the normal keepers versus me. We then moved the chick to a pen in the holding room. We also placed a kennel in the pen so the bird had someplace to hide. We put the chick in the pen and he just lie there. Then my coworker moved the chick so it was facing the kennel. The chick then turned around away from the kennel, and we left it. The chick was fed four times today. Feedings at this point involve a keeper taking several capelin fish and shoving them down the bird's esophagus. This process, while I didn't ask why it is done this way I just know it has worked before, I imagine it so help the bird acclimate to eating whole fish, maybe strengthen the esophagus too. Also, eventually, they will stop feeding the bird and it will lose weight and eventually learn to eat on its own because it is hungry.

Once I had finished that and footbaths, I began cleaning big penguin. I walked in the exhibit and hosed down things as I normally do. I was immediately approached by Woody. He tries to bite at the nozzle but doesn't like the water spray. He will see the water spray and try to bite at the nozzle but not the water. Some penguins enjoy drinking water from the hose, like Tracey the gentoo penguin who has been sick. (More on her later.) As I clean, most of the penguins tend to move away from me and/or the spray of the hose. However, Kong, the king penguin chick from last summer, doesn't really move away and tends to remain where he is standing. As I clean towards him, Kong stands still. When I am close to him, he doesn't seem to mind me, however, Woody is also near me because he has been following me and looking at my hair. Woody and Kong quarrel and chirp at one another so I have to put myself between them, as if they are siblings. Woody continues his behavior of mingling amongst the bigger and of different species penguins and defending himself where he stands. He is a rather good swimmer. I didn't witness him swimming today but on previous occasions, he has been in the water and was even distracted enough by swimming that he came to eat much later than normal one day. When Kong and Woody were not bickering, I managed to bond with Kong. I talked to him and he was looking at my hair. He also put his head down and I pet the back of his neck, and I nuzzled his head with mine. It was a sweet moment.

I finished cleaning up as my coworker had started on the other side of the exhibit and worked toward me. Woody followed him once he noticed that there was another keeper in the exhibit. One gentoo penguin, one of two, Double and Trouble, I can't remember which one, was following my coworker around also, and would bow to him but not to me. Bowing is what the gentoo penguins do as a greeting to one another and to the keepers being as we are, in a way, part of the flock. I have observed bowing between pairs of gentoos but also Double and Trouble bow to the keepers frequently. Double bowed to me this morning when I was feeding but that is a rare occurrance, especially when another more familiar keeper is around. I fed the penguins with a fellow keeper so I had practice by watching him give the vitamin fish.

After that, all that was left to clean was humboldt. When we went outside to do this, I had more interaction with the humboldt penguins than normal. I was scrubbing for a while and as I was moving about the exhibit, the hose stretches through the pool and the penguins have to swim around it and the chicks like to bite at it and/or play with it. Then, at one point, Tortuga, one of the chicks, swam up to me and came out of the water. Then, she stood there while I was scrubbing. She follows the scrubber back and forth with her beak and also was pecking at my boots and my overalls. I was touched that she approached me and, despite her biting me, not hard but still enough that it wasn't friendly, it was interesting that she stood there and just observed me. We finished cleaning humboldt in an hour and twenty minutes. My coworker speculated that it was worse than normal because a lot of the birds are out of their nest boxes now that the nesting season is over.

After lunch, I made bands for the birds, mostly because we are going to be changing some when the humboldts start molting. One humboldt, Pedro, is almost finished with his molt. Upon entering the exhibit to clean, he was standing on a nearby ledge. He has lost all the feathers on his head, back and belly. There is only a ring of feathers around his neck; it resembles an Elizabethan collar. He cannot vocalize any more but does try. He is also grouchy and attacks people who walk by. Anyway, I worked on bands for a long time until the afternoon feeding.

I pulled trays from puffin and fed the night trays to them. They are quite skittish and fly off of the cliffs and away from me very quickly. The Eider Ducks enjoy the water feed; the fish that I throw into the water. I pulled the trays from the big penguin exhibit and I ended up throwing a lot of fish into the water from the trays. The birds had left a lot of fish from this morning. One bird had been standing near the tray and wanted me to hand feed it so I did with a couple of fish. Woody then came over and wanted food so I fed him a fish to hold him off for a minute. I distributed the trays and then fed Woody first because he seemed to be pretty hungry as he was chirping a lot and following me. He ate pretty well this morning, my coworker only positioned the fish so that the head was up enough to grab and Woody did just that. When I fed in the afternoon, he was just about the same. I am impressed with his improvement. I fed out hand feed next to the kings. This was herring and mackeral of course. I had extra fish in the bucket and thought that was interesting. I made sure the two king chicks got enough fish, Kong didn't eat that many: he only ate one this morning and I only gave him a couple more. B.B. ate plenty on the other hand. I even gave a couple of the gentoos some fish. I went back to feed Barry some capelin because I enjoy bonding with him. He ate some fish but was uninterested quickly. I tried to feed some capelin to Kong next but he was also uninterested. However, Barry came over to me and I was talking to him until I had to go help feed the Humboldt chick.

About Tracey, it seems she has been doing better. She has been keeping her fish down, including the fish containing her medication. It is assumed that the medicine is successfully removing the fluid from around her heart. She also has not been lying down as much and more standing on her own. She remains in holding.

PPC: Day 7

Today started off by me beginning to get into the normal daily routine that I will maintain at PPC. I began by scrubbing just inside the glass on the exhibits where scum builds up along the water line. As I do this, some penguins are swimming around as usual. They swim very quickly underwater and are almost exactly oppositely agile on land. Also, some penguins prefer to lazily float on the water's surface and keep their head submerged and look around. Friendlier penguins approach the glass with their heads up to see what I am doing. Woody, the rockhopper penguin chick, was swimming this morning and when he noticed me cleaning, he floated over to me. I offered him my hand and he nibbles on it as usual. I coo and talk to him sweetly. I try to pet his back but he doesn't like this and turns his head to try and nibble at my hand again. After some wiping down the glass and scrubbing the outside of the exhibit where the rockhopper's with impecable aim manage to deficate, my coworker and I began to clean big penguin.

Big penguin is the "main" exhibit if you will, more accurately, it is the largest part of the indoor exhibits. I began hosing at one end while my fellow zookeeper started at the other. Throughout the cleaning, this seemed to bother the penguins as usually they will move to the opposite side of the exhibit from whoever is hosing. Woody usually follows me around while I clean and today was no exception. He also leaves a lovely pile of excretement where he must sit all night in a spot near the gate. As I am on my hands and knees scrubbing, Woody likes to walk right under my chest and/or face and bite at my ponytail where it hangs down, or where my keys hang down, both hanging down right at my clavicle. Today, he, at a couple of instances, was standing on my hand and nibbling at my arm or hair. I also, today, put my face close to his and made a kissing sound and he didn't seem to mind me being so close to his face. I was reluctant to do this before because I had been warned to never get my face too close to any penguin. I believe that penguins know where the eyes are and I think that they would peck there soon, if not first. I enjoyed the attention from Woody, he is very sweet and almost defensive of me sometimes. I maybe am assuming too much when I say that he is defensive of me, I believe he is just defensive in general. He walks amongst the King penguins, three times his size no doubt, without fear. If other Gentoo penguins came near me as I was cleaning, also near Woody, he would sqweak and open his beak at them. Sometimes, if I move out of the exhibit to grab the hose or a bottle, Woody will remain where I last was. Sometimes, this means he is in the middle of the path that most of the birds walk. Even when he is in the middle of the road, he simply defends himself as all the other birds maneuver around him. It is pretty interesting that he does not spend time with his species on the other side of the building but prefers to remain with the King and Gentoo penguins.

After cleaning, my trainer for the day decided that I needed to get some practice feeding the penguins their vitamins. Vitamins in this case means a multivitamin that we previously shoved into a fish's gills and we then hand feed these specific fish, one per penguin. Each penguin gets one of these fish and I have been learning how to keep track of who has gotten theirs and who hasn't and which penguins will be first in line and even just general interaction with the penguins, most of which are still shy towards me. I began with several Gentoo penguins, and then was suggested to sit at the waters edge so that I could recognize which penguins will take their vitamin fish right out of the water. I hand fed a couple penguins who were swimming and it was successful. Next, I moved amongst the King penguins. They become rather competitive with this and they all crowd around me looking intently for their fish. A couple of Kings had approached me at the far end of the exhibit where I had fed some Gentoos and where normally they have not gone when I feed. I say out loud names or numbers of the penguins to remember who I am giving fish. Then, my trainer suggests going through the numbers in order to remember who I have given a fish to and to whom I haven't. As we do this, we finished off the vitamins except for a couple of Kings who were swimming and, when doing so, are difficult to coax out of the water. After the trays of fish are out and the vitamins are fed, Woody needs to be helped to eat from the trays. The ultimate goal is for Woody to be able to eat by himself out of the trays. Now, he does not seem to understand that he can grab the fish and pull it from the tray whenever he wants. If I prop the fish head over the edge of the tray and move my hand away from it, he will bite at the head, but not necessarily grab the fish and swallow. If I place but one finger on the fish, that is usually all it takes for him to recognize that the fish is one that he should eat. He usually is more willing to grab the fish himself when he begins feeding as I imagine that is the point he is the most hungry. After some fish, he begins to turn away from the tray and fluff his feathers. He's finished.

After break, my trainer and I begin cleaning the Humboldt exhibit. It had been raining today so we had a nice wet exhibit to start with which helps the process. I began hosing up at a higher point in the exhibit where Pedro has been hanging out. This is the penguin who has begun his molting process and has isolated himself during. I walk near him and notice that there are piles of feathers everywhere and that his chest is quite bare. He begins calling pitifully and sounds distressed. It is sad and he seems under stress. It was pointed out to me later that his call likely sounds bad because he has taken on another 2000 grams which probably is pushing on his vocal cords or just generally all over his body. I hose around him as much as possible and scrub quickly as he will begin to approach me and first want to attack the scrub brush as it goes back and forth, but would likely move on to my hand. I attempt to use the hose as a deterant, keeping it between he and I, but he doesn't have it. I have to stand up completely and turn the hose on full blast in the other direction to sort of make him uncomfortable enough to move away from me. I scrub as best as I can around him and then give up noticing that he is already pretty miserable and I am probably making it worse. Continuing on through the exhibit, I notice a pair that once had a tray with rocks as a nest, but does no longer, easily moves out of their protective plastic rock cave when I begin hosing near them. Another pair, that still has a rock nest, are defensive of it and will not let me within half a foot of the entrance to scrub. I do my best and hose as much as I can. Moving along the front edge of the exhibit, one of the younger birds, a hatch from either this past winter or past fall I cannot remember, Guanero, approaches my foot that is submerged on a ledge just on the edge of the pool and begins to peck and bite it. I finish my scrubbing and move my foot from the water. He still seems to want to bite it so I move along in the scrubbing. He then moves to the hose that is now draped through the water and is playing and/or biting it. I am not sure what I have done to provoke him but he seems to dislike me. One of my fellow keepers had informed me that he, not two weeks ago, would not actually bite anyone. Now, he definitely tries to bite me in a painful not so friendly manner. The penguins move around me as I clean and as I have to move back through the exhibit, the birds that have resumed their spots are upset as I disrupt their order. Pedro, the bird who is molting, has moved inside the building from the door we enter the exhibit. It seems that he likes it inside. We finish up that exhibit and eat lunch.

After lunch, and after I am taught how the banding process works, I head down to do some enrichment for the birds on exhibit. There is an ice machine right behind the exhibits on the north side and my trainer helps me find a big bucket and fills it with ice and shows me where the birds are the most responsive to the "snow." Immediately, the birds respond and walk over to the ice and stand in it. I continue filling bucket after bucket until the ice machine is empty. Each time, I leave the door from the exhibit into the egg room open and close the outer door so that when I carry a bucket back in, the egg room is full of curious Gentoos who, upon seeing me, file back into the exhibit in the classic waddle with their wings back. I dump 8 buckets intot he exhibit, each time with new birds exploring, standing, eating, laying, walking on or in the ice. Some seem to be perfectly content with their bellies down on the ice, others with only their feet. All the birds though seem to react whether it is to other birds that they don't want near them or if it is to the ice itself. After the ice machine is empty, I go to the exhibit to watch the birds. I sit down and after a bit, I notice Kong, a King chick from last summer, is standing near me. I bend down and call him over to me. He waddles slowly and finally comes near me. He stretches out his neck to check my hands, presumably to check if I have a fish. Once he finds that I do not have a fish, he nibbles at my fingers in a manner similar to Woody. I talk sweetly to him. At one moment, he begins to stare intently at my face. I look back and ask him what he is looking at. He continues to do this for a while and I am intrigued as to how my face can be so hypnotic to him. I soon realize that he is looking at my hair, just little frizzes of my hair that must be moving in the air from one of the vents. Looking into his eyes, he may or may not have been looking into mine, was an interesting experience. I noticed him blink his third eyelid several times and sometimes he left it closed and sometimes he left it open. It was difficult to tell the difference except for when I noticed him blink one way or the other. I enjoyed this close encounter with Kong.

Amidst the fun, my trainer had noticed that Tracey, the Gentoo penguin who went to the vet yesterday for an x-ray, has lost weight recently and is now on medication, had regurgitated fish from earlier today. She was laying on her belly and was acting quite lethargic. My trainer showed me how to allow her to drink from the hose: open the hose completely and leave the stream near her beak. She drank a lot from me and seemed happy to do so and even allowed us to rinse her belly at the same time. After a bit, she was finished drinking and simply slumped down in the exact spot she had been drinking. This bird is old, a hatch from '85. As I was adding ice to the exhibit, my trainer decided that Tracey was just too miserable and moved her to holding upstairs. When I got finished with the ice, I took a break and evidently, Tracey had again regurgitated in the small amount of time she had been upstairs. She was laying down in the holding room when I looked in on her.

We made trays for the evening after a bit and my trainer decided that I was on my own as it was almost time for her to leave. She fed out puffin and left me to give out trays, hand feed, do whatever I felt necessary. I believe she told me to "go crazy." I liked hearing this because it means I get to spend lots of time with the birds. I first gave trays to the far side of the exhibit where the King penguins hang out. Then, I took the bucket of hand feed fish, herring and mackeral, and sat where my trainer normally sits when she feeds. Several Gentoos approached and each one received a fish. I gave the smaller ones to the Gentoos first. Next, a couple of Kings decided to walk all the way across the exhibit to get some fish. One such penguin was Barry. He chowed down on four or five herring at least and then walked away. Number four King also had some and another King was there too. After the activity died down a bit, I walked with my bucket to the other side giving fish along the way. I tried to give at least one fish per bird but in retrospect, think I missed a couple. I usually give as many as they want to the two King chicks and work with B.B. to have her eat directly from me rather than try to grab the fish and walk away which often results in the fish being on the ground. When I am finished, the penguins still crowd around me, one, King Tut, stands with his big belly pressed against the back of my legs. I maneuver to the trays and set them out and search for Woody, who is usually hungry. Meanwhile, I hand feed capelin to the Gentoos that come over. Today, this was a lot. I ended up feeding most of the fish in the tray to Gentoos by hand. Some interruptions came when there was a miscommunication about whether PPC was open or closed but afterward, I was on the public area of the exhibit and found Woody swimming in the water. I bent down to look in the glass and point at him and stand up to try and get his attention. He finally surfaced and noticed who I am. He floated over to me and nibbled my fingers. I tried to get him to eat but was advised that, maybe he is not hungry and to let it go. I continued feeding Gentoos for a while and eventually, Woody does decide that he wants food. I fed him a good number of capelin and lake smelt and he then fluffed his feathers and turned away from the tray. One Gentoo that I had fed, number seventeen, eats proficiently: I touch the head of the fish to the edge of his beak and he quickly gulps the fish and is immediately ready for another one. Other birds are a bit more reluctant to even open their beaks and sometimes I have to push the fish in a bit before they decide to swallow. Not so for number 17. I gave him as much as he wanted.

After I finished there, my coworker had informed me that he would give me any extra fish from what went to the Magellanic penguins in holding. It wasn't much but I took the bucket down to put out in the trays. I spread the fish out, mostly in the trays near the kings, and then hand fed a couple of the riled Gentoos near the kings, they seem to be riled because they have "nesting areas" over there. Next, I wanted to hand feed Barry, the King penguin, more just because I like the interaction with him. I approached him and he didn't seem to move away from me so I talked to him and asked him if he wanted a fish, so I told him to say ah, and he put his beak down and opened it just a crack. I put the fish in his mouth and he gulped it down. I did this with maybe seven fish and then he didn't want any more. I locked up the exhibit.

After returning upstairs, Tracey had evidently regurgitated her fish with medication in it. She was laying in the holding room, lethargic.

I left at 5 p.m.

PPC: Day 6

This morning as I was thawing fish for the day, it was noticed that the capelin were exceptionally large and hardly a one was mangled or had a bloated/exploded stomach. My coworker and I were excited for the fish to look so good. It's a nice feeling knowing that the animals will be receiving such good quality food. I felt content giving them that fish. Maybe it's silly, but I feel happy when I know the penguins are happy.

During the morning feeding of the Humboldt penguins, I noticed that when a penguin really wanted a fish, he would step on my boot. Most others just crowd around my feet. The two chicks, they look almost exactly like the adults despite some facial coloration and the plumage, have difficulty deciding if they really want me to feed them. They dislike and/or are unfamiliar with me as a keeper. I think they are torn between the fish in my hand and the fact that it is in my hand. Some of them are able to grab the fish in any manner and turn it around so that it goes down their throat headfirst. Others need a keeper to urge the fish down into their mouth head first and push it gently to a certain depth before they swallow it. Pushing the fish too violently will also result in rejection because the birds have a tounge with serations that go in one direction and the bird is very sensitive about using its tongue in a certain manner and directing the fish in a specific way to swallow it. One bird, Pedro, has begun his molt and thus has gained another 50% of his weight to do so. I have not gathered why they do this but I imagine it is because that molting is a high energy process. Next, there is a humboldt chick who is growing rapidly. Its weight this morning was over 2700 grams. Soon, I've overheard, it will be brought upstairs to be fed large amounts of fish to get its weight up, and then not fed until it can learn to feed itself or maybe by hand. But that is just what I've heard.

The morning was rather hectic with a sudden tour around break time taking my trainer away from me temporarily. I meandered into the kitchen to do what I knew needed to be done, and the only thing I knew I could do correctly, the dishes. I then cleaned and then we finished the chop, cut up fish, squid and herring added to krill and silverside fish that is divvied up in the morning and evening for puffin feed, so that we could go to a vet procedure after an early lunch. After lunch, we needed to gather up number three Gentoo penguin, Tracy, to take her in for x-rays and any other necessary checks. Tracy had lost about a quarter of her weight and had not been witnessed drinking fluids or eating on her own. When held, her keel is easily felt and the vet noticed that her eyes were slightly sunken and her heartbeat was muffled. When the vet arrived, he informed us that the van's air conditioning was blasting and we had placed Tracy in a trash can with a few inches of ice in the bottom. We carried Tracy to the van and I sat in the back with her and pet her neck and helped to stabilize her as the van maneuvered around the zoo to the vet hospital. She was very anxious to see what was happening just above the rim of the trashcan, just out of her view, but calmed down after a while once she was facing me and I kept my arm on her back to help her to not fall over. Penguins cannot jump so there were only attempts to stretch her neck over the edge. Upon arriving at the hospital, we unloaded her into a procedural room and placed her on the table and began anesthetizing her. A cone with a rubber donut stretched over the big end allows the birds face to be placed inside and the bird only then breathes the drug. Slowly, Tracy stopped fidgeting and then the vet techs and keepers laid her down on her belly. As they were assured that she was under, the vet placed a tube directly down Tracy's esophagus and then it is taped to her bottom beak. Then she can be moved to the x-ray room and hooked up to the gas in that room as they laid her out on the table to be x-rayed. The vet decides that the best positioning is for Tracy to be laid on her back with her wings spread. At this point, the vet tech has begun to place ice packs on Tracy's feet to keep her cool. Tracy's wings are gently taped outward and we all leave the room as the x-ray is shot. We come back into the room to view a beautiful x-ray of Tracy's skeleton and some of her internal organs. The vet then decides that another x-ray from the side will give him a better view. They move Tracy onto her side with her wings back, the top one taped into what must be a stretch. We vacate as they take another x-ray which takes a couple tries this time. This side x-ray ends up showing the vet, and the rest of us, that the bird's heart is enlarged when compared to an x-ray from March of this year. Tracy's heart was noticably larger now. Next, the vet tried an ultra-sound of the bird to see if he could determine if the heart had fluid around it. They put ultrasound transmission goo under one of Tracy's wings and proceeded to see nothing but black on the screen. Then, the vet decided to do a gastric flush. He took a syringe full of water and put a long tube on the end of it. He then fed the tube to the bird's stomach and pushed the water into the stomach and then sucked some water back into the tube. The water in the tube then contains contents of the stomach. The water is then cultured to see what kind of bacteria is present in the bird's stomach. To wake the bird up, they turn off the gas and remove the tube slowly from the trachea. The vet also took a needle full of what I assume was a saline solution and injected it beneath the bird's skin. Slowly, Tracy begins breathing heavier. The vet and vet techs and keepers all state that they think the bird is more awake than she is letting on, which I find interesting. It seems as if Tracy would rather lay down and relax than panic. Possibly she is really sick and the medication doesn't help her want to sleep. Eventually, she is placed upright and seems to be able to hold herself mostly up. She stands up, lethargic for a while until we move her back to the tub to transport her to the exhibit. During the ride back, I ended up keeping my arm behind her to help stabilize her again which she didn't seem to mind.

Also, I noticed amongst the Magellenic penguins that, well, from what the other keepers have told me, Fidget is the unofficial dominant male. There are seven Magellenic penguins, six males and one female. Fidget is the oldest and, according to the other keepers, the only one to bray in a long extended call. The other males will only bark in a short call. I have not noticed anything to the contrary of that fact. Today, I noticed a couple of penguins swimming around in the pool very quickly. Next, one penguin jumped out of the pool and ran away from where it had been. It began, and I noticed that it was Ali, running and flapping its wings rapidly. Fidget turned out to be the other penguin and also exited the pool but was not chasing Ali nor was upset in any way while Ali seemed to be in a panic. It was just an interesting situation that I happened to encounter.

At the end of the day, I hand fed the penguins some left over capelin fish, most likely left over because what we fed today was so large that the birds filled up quicker. I fed on rockhopper side for a bit and ended up hand feeding a couple of rockhopper penguins for the first time. Number 3, Tiki Wiki, took the fish from me a bit reluctantly and I noticed that rockhopper penguins seem to choke down the fish in a different manner than the rest, first gulping the fish with their head down and finally swallowing it with their head up after the entire fish is down. With Gentoos and Kings, the fish head needs to be at the top of their esophagus and they put their head up in the air and choke it down using gravity's assistance. I moved to the other side of the exhibit because I was feeding a couple of Gentoos that tend to follow keepers anyway, Double and Trouble. I moved to the opposite side and hand fed several different Gentoos and also the rockhopper chick, Woody, who is adorable. He was pretty hungry, squeaking violently at those who came near him and were receiving fish from me. I assumed that he had already been fed but I doubted that on account of his agressive want for fish. He only ended up eating five or six fish, then would shake his head when I offered a fish, puffed his feathers, and resumed his digesting spot on the top of the stairs that exit the exhibit. I fed some more Gentoos and eventually, no one approached me. I began divvying up the extra fish into the trays. I walked to the side of the exhibit where the King penguins like to hang out and, seeing a keeper with a bucket, most of the penguins showed interest in me. I put fish in the trays over on that side of the exhibit and a few more Gentoo penguins showed interest so I hand fed them. Also, a King penguin by the name of Barry was calling, which is described as a trumpet. He likes to be hand fed capelin fish and he does so very gently: I tell him to "say ahh" and he puts his beak down and just barely opens his beak. I gently push the fish head into his mouth and he waits until I am finished and then finally tilts his head back to swallow the fish. Sometimes I have to gently raise his beak to let him know to swallow. One instance, when I went to offer Barry a fish, I noticed that he was stretching his neck out, an indication that he is about to call, so I encourage him by asking him if he is going to sing for me, to which he responds with his lovely voice. I pet him and tell him that he is a good boy afterward. He likes the attention. Several other penguins were near me as I fed Barry, Kong, a King chick from last year, and a female hanging out with Kong, Iris. Also, the other King chick from last year, B.B., was near Barry, as she has been. So that is interesting that those pairs are together. Also, Iris was calling as well and a fellow zookeeper was impressed with her calling, which I took as, she doesn't do so very often. Barry eventually tired of eating and turned away from my offers of fish, and Iris didn't take to well to the capelin and wouldn't have any. I left the exhibit and locked the door behind me.

After half and hour of nothing, cleaning, feeding, everything else was finished, we closed up PPC and went home.

Relationships

I am now in an ethics class and the topic of relationships has come up. This has brought to my attention relationships in today's society. Or at least amongst my peers. It seems as if people are very adamant on relationships being between equals. Even if they are clearly not, as in teachers and even just adults. Alright, if you are calling the person "Dr." anything, they obviously already deserve respect. Isn't that why you are calling them "Dr." in the first place? Because they earned this title and you acknowledge it by caling them doctor rather than mister or miss? And another thing, why do people insist that it is so "unfair" when a teacher doesn't explain every topic that will be covered on a test? Shouldn't you be studying on your own? If the course is on chemistry, you study your ass off and know everything that could possibly be covered so when the teacher hands out the test, you're good to go. You don't look over the test and immediately raise your hand to complain that it was never covered. You take the flippin test and you cry because you are a lazy ass and didn't study as hard as you should have. The professors should not have to give you a play by play. Make it a challenge. People are so lazy today they need to learn some discipline.

Well, back to my original point about relationships, it seems as if everyone is dumbing relationships down to everyone being pals. I'm pals with this teacher and pals with my boss and pals with my parents. The parent one bothers me most I think. Your parents are your parents. They should not be your buddy that you go talk to about your binge drinking and sex parties. And they should probably not be encouraging that behavior as well. I guess these parents don't see that it is important for their children to have morals or discipline or self discipline or restraint. Obviously, kids will be kids, so just encourage them to have fun. That's also important. Fun without boundaries. It'll be a wonder what this generation passes on to their children, in some cases, is already passing on to their children.

Bothered

It boggles my mind how girls my age can be happy with their children. Yes. Their children. Are you insane? You are 18-19 and have a child. Do you even have a job that pays more than 7 dollars an hour? I mean, I see happy girls with their facebook statuses that are updates about their children. 'So and so makes me happy but is keeping me up at night...' or something equally dumb. And yeah, ok, babies are cute but...they grow up. They are going to turn into you. If it is a girl especially. That girl is statistically at a much higher risk to have a teen pregnancy when she was born from a teen pregnancy. So...way to keep a tradition going...I am just glad I am not a part of that tradition. Ok, yeah, I guess I didn't choose what family situation to be born into but I sure as hell choose not to start that business. And seriously, in todays day and age, there are a LOT of birth control options. Are you that dense that you can't have your partner pick up some damn condoms on the way over? Are you that horny that you can't just fucking wait? Oh and don't get me started on the 'Oh, we're in love' excuse. Because you aren't in love. Just because you can stick your parts together does not constitute love. I really just don't see how you can be happy to be a mom at this age. You should be in college enjoying growing up and seeing the world and learning things and making friends. Not skipping all that and immediately going to what your mom is still doing. I mean, the grandma is probably going to do most of the raising of that child in those situations anyway because the mom is still a kid. And no matter how much of a good person the father is, he is not going to stay with the family 99% of the time. Sorry. You should have realized that when you found out he just wanted to get in your pants.

Then there is the issue of 12 year olds having sex and, this one is the best, 'sexting'. Hell. No. I can't even contemplate that kids are so bored and, well, I didn't even have a cell phone until I was probably 15 anyway, but like, you are in, what grade...6th grade when you are 12? So you are sitting in your elementary school...junior high some places, and you are texting some boy/girl about your boobs/penis? Honestly? Do you even know what you are talking about? If you are a girl, do you even have boobs yet? No. You haven't even hit puberty. Learn about the damn civil war or something. I don't even think anyone under the age of 15ish should be allowed to have a cell phone. Or those younger can have those cell phones that all they can do is call 3 numbers. Mommy, Daddy and 911. That's about all they need to do anyway. Be a frickin kid. Why do you need to 'sext' when you are so young? You should only be just learning about that stuff. Don't dwell on something that will rule your entire life. Just be a kid. Go play on the playground. Being outside is something that no one even does anymore. Personally, going outside is one of my favorite things. Kids need to learn to not be on their phones and not be on the computer and just go outside. If I ever have kids, that is exactly what I am doing (hopefully, if they inherit anything from me, it will be my love for the outdoors so I won't have to worry) I will kick them out after breakfast and then throw a snack at them for lunch and then call them back at dinner time. That is how it should be.

I do know several teen moms and I have nothing against them. Actually, the people that I know seem like they are pretty responsible. No offense to any of them. I just have so many plans and dreams and goals to accomplish, places to go and people to see. Being stuck at a day job with a kid to support is not in those plans.

Zoo

I have a bit of a rant. May not be that long because I need to sleep as I have to return to the zoo bright and early tomorrow.

Ok so today I was working on the floor cleaning exhibits and what not. Number 24 is empty because they are going to move a big tree in there and possibly change it to a mulch exhibit and etc. I walk over to talk to Frank who is removing some of the wires so the tree can be brought in. Now, when there are no birds in an exhibit, rather than leaving up the old sign to confuse people, we put up a sign that says, 'Looking for me? Temporarily off display etc etc'. I am standing by this sign and I hear a lady walk by and read the sign and then say, 'Looking for me? Ha ha no.' So, let me get this straight, you are not looking for birds? You came into the bird house to not look at birds? That gem is just one of many.

Also, at least 75 percent of the people that walk by me as I am cleaning an exhibit would rather stare at me hosing out the pool than find and admire the birds in the cage. Ok there are some people that may think we move the birds out and just walk by or the few people that are probably just a bit awkward and don't just want to stand there and stare at me. Ok that is fine but, the people who stare, and these are adults not just kids, did you really come to the zoo to watch me clean? I mean, look, she uses this soap-like substance and it then is doused on the water holding basin. Oh my goodness, then, she takes this long tube with some kind of watery liquid gushing out of it to fill the basin. The birds seem to like this. I shall take note. Birds like water.

Another remark I have heard is when someone notices the birds going to the bathroom, someone exclaimed, 'aww don't do that'. Really? The bird should not deficate? You think it would survive more than a day without doing so? Why don't you try that yourself. See how uncomforable you get. Assface.

All done. Goodnight.

Oldies

Good evening! I haven't posted in such a while...maybe because my blogs tend to be quoted against myself but hey! That means they are being read.

I am here to discuss something. My own, and it has been inherited from my family, resourcefulness. I guess is one way to say it. For example, as a child in elementary school, for whatever reason, I always brought my lunch. I maybe bought lunch...10 total times. And I doubt it was that many. I guess I was just used to it, it was probably cheaper etc. So, I used to have packed for me similar things and what not, usually in a plastic bag or two. Never did I throw away these plastic bags. I re-used them until the seams broke and they were no longer bags. Then I got a new one. The seam breaking happened frequently with my snack bag that always contained pretzels and eventually contained large amounts of pretzels because everyone knew me to have pretzels and people would ask for a couple. Just that little thing has turned into a habit. I feel weird throwing away a plastic bag that had say, a sandwich in it. Seems wasteful to me. Oh and all the twist ties we have saved. We never throw away twist ties. Actually, my Dad might throw as many as possible away now just because he is so used to there being too many. (He is the same way with hair ties. We used to have this constant influx of hair ties and so I guess he got into the habit of throwing them away so that now, when there is not a constant flow of them, he still throws them away and we have to remind him to not do that.) This next practice, my household is not alone in I believe. Rather than, when my ankle or arm or leg hurts, simply taking a tylenol or ibuprofen, I wrap it. Always have. Only when I was little and liked the taste of children's tylenol and would say that my stomach hurt to get one have I ever taken tylenol a lot. Now, wrap it. I usually get aches at night anyway so I just wrap it and go to bed. I don't feel the need to pop pills. I mean, there are people out there that take like, 5 ibuprofen because they 'don't work' anymore. That is ridiculous. I had my wisdom teeth out and I tried the painkillers they gave me which just ended up making me feel like vomitting with every move I made. I instead took two, TWO ibuprofen, and that sufficed. People probably don't even have real pain to kill and just pop ibuprofen by the handful for say, emotional problems or stress and that is why they 'aren't working'. But I digress.

Just lots of little things make up who I am and the habits I have made. I just got to thinking on that randomly. There are definitely more but maybe I will come back to that another time.