Well, isn't that emusing!

I tried to post this on Friday, only to realize too late that the internet at McDonald's was not up to snuff. I worked a very long 6-day work week (about 68 hours), and am finally on a real weekend. Richard is in town for the week while we wait for our new apartment to be move-in ready, and he is working from a hotel in Roseburg so he can be close to me! What a nice boy.


As my last post was seriously lacking in photographs, I will include mostly pictures in this one. It's been a crazy few weeks, and I know I say that every week, but it's summer. It's hot, and its hard work and long days. Each day feels like a week. Time goes by so quickly that I don't even remember to go to the grocery store on my days off (so I have to go out after work when I would rather take a nap or sit on the couch and veg).

View from the Barn, affectionately known as "the intern house".

Saigon, being handsome, and lazy as ever

Scrunchface Forever (This is Ricky). <3

So, sometimes we have to wear this suit for special events..... I have heard that it is VERY hot, but fortunately haven't had to wear it yet. Don't worry, it comes with ice packs.

Sometimes we get a little crazy and cut a bunch of browse for enrichment. It's a good thing the bears LOVE wild plum browse, because its incredibly messy and a pain to clean up.

As I may have mentioned in a previous post, a few of us have gone floating on the river on our days off. To reiterate, its beautiful and relaxing while being simultaneously exhilarating and exiting. I loves it.

Saigon loves his pool.

Our awesome docents recently got the cheetah/carnivore departments a new scale so we can weigh all of our animals!

Khayam (pictured) weighs 101lbs

Mchumba weights 82lbs

We also weighed the lions, and two of our bears:

Tsavo - 325lbs

Enzi - 315lbs

Serafina - 282lbs

Mtai - 317lbs

Victor (brown bear) - 789lbs

Ricky (black bear) - 652lbs (big boy!!)

Oso and Mak are ready for dinner!

Yaquina Head Lighthouse, Newport, OR

Yaquina Head Lighthouse, Newport, OR

View from the Yaquina Head Lighthouse, Newport, OR

So, then we played tug-o-war with the lions....

...and yeah, they won.

A few years ago, W.S. offered a Lion Tug-o-War encounter with the older male lion, Tau. Last year he was relocated to another facility in Texas, when Tsavo and Enzi arrived, so the encounter ceased. The boys were too young, and even now, they don't know what to do with the rope. We tested it a few weeks ago with both the boys and the girls, and the girls took right to it! They were so curious, and it was a lot of fun.

"A llama! He's supposed to be dead!"

Actually, this is a guanaco, who came creepin' as we were cleaning bear huts.

The other day I was fortunate enough to see a handful of hummingbirds at this feeder that our docents put up outside of Lion Tower.

This is Miya! Last Friday I cross-trained with the Ungulates department and got to hang out with the giraffes and hippos (among other animals). It was fun getting to help train Miya to stand calmly in the squeeze (I got to feed her!). She stayed there for about 10 minutes, which is really good!

Oh look, a hippo! This is Padrone, he is 13 years old.

Padrone coming to check out the commotion (we were cleaning the hippo barn).

As you can see, its been a pretty crazy, but fun week! I try to post every week and it can be hard for me to do so sometimes, so I appreciate those of you who have stuck with me and been patient through my sporadic hiatuses (Hiati? Hiatus? What is the plural of hiatus?). But also, THANK YOU to anyone who is even reading this!! Feel free to comment with any questions, and I am always open to suggestions for animal related topics to write about! Thanks for stopping by!