Bird Park Pics

Hey everyone. Well, I finally got some pictures from the bird park. The pics were taken from a guest who visited us during a morning show over a week ago now. Here I am on the left with Flo, one of our resident Eurasien Eagle Owl, which in German is called "Uhu". The Uhu is the largest owl in Europe, and one of the largest in the world. At 3.2 kg (7.05 lbs) she isn't too light. Her unmistakeable "horns" are a trademark to her species. You'll notice her special build: her eyes cannot move, she has to move her full head in order to look around, which she can move 270 degrees; also, her thick body build... she is actually (like other owls) not related to the other raptors... We don't fly Flo at the park, since she is a night owl and is built the way she is, it is quite dangerous for her to fly during the day due to the resident birds of prey of the area, who aren't owned by the park. She has nothing against them during the day, but at night she is a formidable opponent and hunter, and at nigh she is left alone. Flo is used by us twice a day however, as she is very sweet and loving. The visitors are allowed to pet her, and the workers/volunteers can pretty much cuddle with her, and she'll just lovingly "nibble" on our fingers with her beak.


Here is a picture of the first bird who we take out in the morning, Paulchen (pronounced P-owl-shen). Just for you Paul, "Paulchen" is your name, only the cute version. "chen" is used at the end of words to signify something cute or also as a nickname to. Anyways, Paulchen is a Harris Hawk who is the one of the only raptor species who actually lives in swarms. Most raptors live alone. Since he lives naturally in a swarm, but was raised by the owners of the park (particularly Wolfgang, who is with him in this picture) he views the owners as his "swarm" and therefore will not leave the area of the park. When going on a walk or driving in a car, the Hawk will follow along right behind. That isn't to say, however that Paulchen is all that nice when it comes to his food. When there's food in the mix, Paulchen is quite protective, as he would be in the wild. As soon as the food is gone again though, he's as nice as can be.


Here is our Peregrine Falcon, Luka. Luka is a beautiful bird, who I know nothing about... and therefore can't tell you too much about him. Somehow a lot of information about our owl, Paulchen, our eagles, our smaller falcons... but information about Luka hasn't quite stuck yet... sorry.

I can take this time to explain a bit about the park though. The park is currently in it's third year of operation and is located in a mountainous region just north west of Saarbruecken. The shows take place on the side of a mountian, while the entrace to the park is in the valley. There are two shows a day, one at 11 and one at 3 and the birds are very used to this schedule. There are 15 different birds at the park including falcons, bald eagles, owls (including a snow owl and a baby owl), and a variety of hawks. The birds are housed on the mountain where our shows take place. Along with the birds there are also raccoons (and babys), ferrets (and babys), pigeons (and babys), bunnies (and babys), 2 donkeys, 1 pony, and a three pigs. To read about a typical day at the park (at least my typical day) click here.

Here is my last picture of me with our 3 year old Bald Eagle, Phoenix. Bald Eagles are not fully grown until 5 years of age, which is why Phoenix is still a bit smaller and without the typical white head, that we know them for. Still, by a "bit smaller" a mean only a bit: phoenix weighs 3.2 kg (around 7 lbs) and has a wing span of 180 cm (nearly 6 feet), which is 10 cm more than me. When he's flying, it's easy to forget how huge he is, but with him right next to me, it's easy to see. Just compare his body to the size of me, from my shoulders to my waist. He's at least that big, plus his wings are HUGE! This is actually a rare occurance for me. Since the birds are on a schedule, it's difficult to train me extra with the birds, and since there are usually a lot of people at our shows, it's hard to take the time out to train me on the birds during it. Since I'm new, the birds react differently around me. They'll still fly to me, land, eat the food, but then they'll try to steal the glove from me as they fly away, which makes my role a bit more difficult. Plus I'm new, so I'm all worried about just doing the basic things right, and the eagles are heavy when you try to lift them up to "throw" them so they'll fly away. Anyways, it is a great experience (though you can tell in this pic that I'm struggling a bit). We also have a 2 year old Bald Eagle, who we call Tago. He is a bit smaller than Phoenix, but still just as beautiful. These two are definitely a highlight of the show.

Well, hope you guys enjoyed it. As I get more pics, I'll put more up. Including someitme soon a "babys" post, where you can see pics of all our resident babies... they are totally cute. :)

Life Is

Life is reading a good read obsessively, even if the rest of the world thinks your crazy. Life is spending all your time researching a project, and finally starting to see it come together. Life is spending your day cleaning and finally reaping the rewards. Life is going through that pile of papers that you've been meaning to sort through for months now. Life is boxing up a box of books to ship home, so that you have one less thing to bring back with you in August. Life is listening to a CD you've heard a million times, and tearing up at the one song you've always teared up at. Life is having friends and family to miss. Life is an evening spent in the same room with your loved ones, even though you are doing two separate things. Life is getting two more pages done in your scrap book, even though the thing should have been half done by now. Life is putting up with super dry skin ever since that stupid allergic rash took over your body (and is now gone). Life is having someone with you, who you can annoy. Life is having too much stuff in too little space. Life is having a set of websites and e-mails that you try to check everyday, even though nothing has changed on them. Life is like a box of chocolates. Life is not remembering a word in English or German or both. Life is being able to hop online real quick. Life is good.

:) Did you catch the Forest Gump reference?

Senior What?

It's begun.

And it's already so much work it's making my head spin.

What's so much work you ask? That's easy; my senior thesis.

A senior thesis is a research project that I have to research, plan, conduct, analyse, and report. The report is the biggest part, as it is a 40-50 page paper reporting everything I did and what analysis I came up with.

My topic:

The Effect of Visitor Behavior on Captive Lowland Gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla)

Exciting huh?

I will be conducting research at the Zoo in Saarbruecken, where I already got the a-okay to do the research. For the past several weeks I have been slowly collecting general Gorilla information at the public library here in Saarbruecken, but as the process is slow (and I don't have 100 years to complete it in) I need to step up my time spent doing my preliminary research, or else I won't get to the zoo ever. I'm hoping to start my research in the middle of June, at the VERY LATEST... and I'm way behind. I'll get it done, I'm not worried.

It's just so much work.

And the best part? I get to do a second research project for my Zoology Major. This research project is only for my International Studies Major.

Fun. Fun.

Updates

Hey everyone. I know I haven't been updating regularly, but to be honest there hasn't been too much to update.

Fabian has been working tons, about 80 hours per week for 2 weeks, but now he is back to his normal schedule, which is nice. I've still been just going to classes and working on my massive to do list of things to do. This list includes things like homework, and researching for my senior project and everything. My days are actually quite full. On top of that, I am currently addicted to reading Gilmore Girls transcripts of the episodes, because I can't afford to just go out and buy all the seasons on DVD like I would do in a perfect world.

Last night we went and saw The Davinci Code, in English. It was good. I've read the book so there wasn't any suspense there, and I felt that the information they gave (which is important to the book) was better presented and more understandable in the book. Also, I felt that the acting was bad, to be honest. Okay, well, I found that the girl who played Sophie Niveau did bad acting. It just seemed really fake. So I'm a bit dissapointed. Just a note to everyone: I don't believe in what they said in the book/movie... but it was a good cliff hanger, I have to give Dan Brown the credit for that.

Well, that's about it. Sorry my life isn't anymore interesting right now. :)

Once Upon A Time

Once upon a time there was a balcony. Now, on this balcony were several empty pots, which made a great home for two pretty pigeons. They lived there for many months, content as could be. Flying away when anyone came nearby, but flying back as soon as the coast was clear.

One day, the owner's of the balcony went on a trip and the door to the balcony accidently didn't get latched and blew open. No one was home for days, and upon coming home a pigeon was found living in the office inside the apartment. It had lived there for several days, not knowing how to get back outside, leaving it's feces over everything. The owners were surprised, put a towel over the pigeon and set it back on the balcony.

A while later the pigeon was still there, and the owners realized it's wing was probably broken. Plans were made to take it to a bird park the next day, but a few hours later the wing was healed (by God) and the bird flew off. A happy miracle.

Well, the owners assumed the bird would stay away. But nope - he came back. There used to be two pigeons, but now there was only one (the same from living inside) who still seemed content as could be. Then, one owner got an idea.

So, shopping two of the people went, to get plants to plant in all those empty pots. "HA!" thought Ellen, "Watch those pigeons come back now!" Soon, the balcony was overflowing with pretty plants, leaving no place for the pigeons to roost.

It took a few days, but sure enough, a few days later, the pigeon was back. And he wsn't alone - now there were two, once again. Still roosting, happy as can be.

** This is a true story! We have two pigeons who love our balcony so much that they won't go away! I find it cute, but Ellen finds it not so cute. And it's incredibly funny.

I'm in Debt

So I looked online to see how much all of my loans for NDSU added up to so far in the last three years of college... are you ready for the total:

20,000 United States Dollars

College is expensive. Though at the private school my friend goes to, that amount of money is the tuition for ONE SEMESTER!!!!!!!!

Needless to say, it could be much worse. But it's sad to already be in debt. Thankfully I only have three more semesters left.

Oh, and why did I choose to share this with you all? Cause my life is an open book. And I wanted to share with someone - so I chose all of you!

And mom - FINISH THE FAFSA SO I CAN GET MORE IN DEBT PLEASE!!!!!!! and so that I can SOMEHOW be able to pay tuition in the fall. Thank you. Have a nice day. :)

P.S. I'm still itchy.

Life Is Not Cool

Hey everyone. I know it's been a few days since I posted, so I apologize. I actually wasn't going to share what I'm about to share, but it is driving me crazy so much, that I am going to share anyways.

I contracted a urinary tract infection. So I went to the doc, a different one than normal. I just forgot to mention the fact that I was allergic to sulfa, because I was sooooo busy concentrating on just being understood. And guess who didn't ask me if I had any allergies? The doctor. Well guess what they use to treat urinary tract infections - SULFA DRUGS! So guess who got a sulfa medicine, took it for three days, and then wondered why she had a rash all over her body (we're talking knees to head hear) - yep - ME! woo. hoo.

So now I am being driven crazy by little tiny red bumps all over. The worst part is that they itch like crazy. I have never been so itchy. It itches so much it hurts. I can't even concentrate because of it. I bought anti-itch stuff for it, however so far it doesn't seem to be helping. Believe it or not, I showed it to my doc (it covers my body pretty much from hips to neck; you literally see hardly any normal skin there) who didn't give me any prescriptions against it. So, if this anti-itch stuff doesn't start working, I'm going to have to go find a skin doc to give me something. I'm literally crazy because of it.

Oh, yeah - the UTI is gone, that's no problem. Those symptoms were already gone the first day of the meds. Now I just have to deal with the repurcusions of the medicine. I read online it takes at least a week to go away, after stopping the medicine. Ladies and Gentlemen, that means sometime middle of next week I might get some relief.

K. No one worry about me, I swear I'm fine. The rash will go away on it's own, it's just a matter of time; thankfully I don't have a super severe reaction (like hives covering my body). However, if I don't post often it is because I am busy staying occupied, in order to hopefully get my mind off of the itching.

P.S. Sorry if this was too much information.

Adjusted

Main Entry: ad·just·ed
Function: adjective
1 : accommodated to suit a particular set of circumstances or requirements
2 : having achieved an often specified and usually harmonious relationship with the environment or with other individuals adjusted schoolchild

So would one consider it being adjusted, if one can go about ones normal day and just happen to run into about 2 - 5 random people that one knows over the course of a week? Cause I've just realized that I randomly run into people that I know (not friends - acquantences) on a pretty regular basis. I did it again tonight, and I guess I just realized something: I'm adjusted.

Aww, the joys of "summer"

Summer, or at least really nice weather in May, is a wonderful thing. Guess where I am sitting! On our balcony, wearing my capris, a tank top and NO SOCKS, enjoying the beautiful day and the ability to surf the net while sitting outside (because our cord reaches so long). It's wonderful.

Now the only problem is resituating things, so my computer doesn't sit in the sunlight, which I'm assuming is probably not a good idea.

Oh, and in case you're wonderfing, I decided not to go to the bird park today, as sad as that is. I can hardly talk and am not sure how contagious I am or am not. So, I decided staying home today is best.

crazy sickness

So, remember my miserable post? (scroll down a little, you'll see it) Well, I'm not miserable anymore, but still sick. This is the craziest sickness I've ever had. Here's how it's worked:

29. April - Sat: Throat is a little sore. I don't think too much of it besides, "Gee, hope I don't get sick."
30. April - Sun: Throat is only a little sore still, but gets a little worse. Now I think, "Really hope I don't get sick."
1. May - Mon: Throat even worse. We go visit a couple of friends of Fabian today (who I get along with really well). Around 1 pm it all hits me at once - headache, sore throat (even worse), small fever, etc etc. I feel miserable.
2. May - Tues: Morning still feeling miserable enough. Afternoon is a bit better. I went to the doctor because I didn't go to class due to the sickness and here you ALWAYS have to have a doctors note almost. Doc gave me some general pills. I start taking them.
3. May - Wed: I wake up without so much of a sore throat, but now with just a headache, and plugged up nose. I decide my sickness has morphed into a headcold.
4. May - Thurs: I get excited, because unlike Wednesday, when I blow my nose now stuff comes out. Around 2-ish I notice that I'm starting to lose my voice, but at least feel just fine anyways. By the end of the day my nose isn't even stuffy. But my voice...Oh great.
5. May - Fri: I wake up today with my voice almost completely gone (I can only whisper), a plugged up nose again, I'm coughing, and my throat is slightly sore.


So, there you have it. Crazy. And annoying, because today is my day to go to the bird park. But, I can't really talk, which wouldn't be too much of a problem in itself, but I also am coughing and am plugged up - I probably just have a cold or something, but I'm thinking maybe I should wait and go on Sat or Sun, because I don't want to get anyone sick. And maybe working all day outside, cleaning cages and stuff isn't a good idea right now. But I'm not sure. I want to go! I'd call them and talk it over with them, but I'm not sure they'll be able to hear me on the phone. I can only whisper.

Oh, and I forgot: I got Fabian sick too. He's starting to lose his voice as well. Which is VERY BAD because he is scheduled to have an operation next Thursday to fix his nose (they found out that he has a "crooked" bone inside his nose, which is why his nose is always plugged up. so they're going to fix it for him). But, he'll be having no surgery if he's sick. Since the meds I had were just basic cold meds I broke the "Don't give your prescription to anyone" rule and gave it to him. It's more important that he is healthy. I feel good overall: mainly just my voice, and this coughing. And now my knee has been randomly hurting this week too. Bah.

I've Given In

I've given in. I wake up every morning with Fabian at 6 ish... he gets out of bed at 6:30, and I snooze until around 7. Before I'd go back to sleep and wake up at 9:30 exhausted...

but now I've given in, and I just get up around 7 or 8 (depending on the day) and it feels great.

This morning I looked at my clock and thought,

"It's only 8? Gosh it feels like it should be at least 10!"

I've given in, and it's a great feeling.

p.s. I still sleep in on the weekends... sometimes till 9 even! :) Guess I'm a morning person.

un-miserable

After a more or less miserable day, do you know what makes it better?

Laying around and reading script after script of Gilmore Girls the TV Show.

Why?

Because I bought Season 1, and have been dying to get Season 2 but I can't afford it for at least several weeks.

So, now I'm reading Season 2... and it's just making me giggle.

miserable.

once again, yours truly is a bit sick. see, I never get sick sick, just miserable sick. What is miserable sick you ask?

headache
sore throat
eye lids which feel heavy and hot
body temperature which fluctuates too much (i.e. 1 minute i'm cold, the next i'm hot)
no energy
body feels sluggish
very low grade to no fever
lack of thirst
lack of appetite

yep - that describes it. I'm not sick sick.. just miserable sick. I can still function (though I'm not babysitting tonight) but it's not any fun. If I get sick, this is usually the way i get sick. I hardly ever get really sick, just miserable. it stinks. I wish i would just get really really sick for like a day or two, and then be healthy again, instead of this which usually lingers for several days (about a week usually). It starts with a sore throat for a few days, then the rest just hits all at once... unfortunately for me it all just hit yesterday, while we were hanging out with Jonny and Judith, two friends of ours. :(

Hopefully I'll be better soon. I've already prayed about it - now it's just up to God when He wants to heal me. Off I go to gather the energy to eat some food, print off my homework and get to class for 2 hours. Boy oh boy I can't wait to sit and listen to Music History for two hours like this (please note sarcasm).

Someday

Someday I want to live somewhere where I can see the big blue ocean every day, where I can see mountains when I look off in the distance, and in a little neighborhood someplace where my kids can play in the yard and go to their friends' houses as often as they like. I want to live near a big city where I can travel to take in concerts, theaters, go shopping, and eat at great restaurants - and I hope this city has an IKEA so that I can decorate my house with IKEA things. A city which also has great things for kids - like a museum just for kids, and an aquarium where they can gasp in awe at all the fish. I want my kids to grow up with the best of both worlds - I want them to have tons of common sense and street smarts (not the bad kind though) and to be able to do well in school without too much effort. I want them to grow up with the love of animals in their hearts as well as the love of God and a compassion for all things living. I want to have a fish tank with at least two fan-tailed gold fish (seriously - they are soooo pretty), and I want to always find time to be learning something... even if that just means keeping up on new research in the animal world. I want to learn to scuba dive, and travel all around the world. I want to teach my kids German. I want to go through really great times but I also want to go through really bad times, because from the bad times you learn to grow. When I'm old I want to be able to remember the person I was when I began my journey called life with a smile, and I want to be able to be truly happy with the person I've become. I want to be a great wife, and a great mom...faithful to God and close to my family. I don't want to be always happy, because I know that no one is always happy and I don't want to always be content, because being content all the time doesn't challenge you to grow and change... I want to be ______ , because there isn't a word to describe what I want in my life. I want it all - happiness, sadness, frustration, joy, anger, hope, love, peace... yep, I want it all.