Best of What's Around

Hello all. Well, week two is over and wow, I'm tired! Because I am the lowly intern, I must work all holidays. So Memorial Day was the worst day yet. We had insane amounts of calls from the beaches and it was pretty much nonstop. On Tuesday they had me drive all the way down to Monterey to release 4 sea lions, pick up 4 more and 2 carcasses. Needless to say...that was a looong day! It was a GORGEOUS drive down the coast, but because I was along the coast it was a loooong drive. And smelly, at that. Haha. I was basically driving the equivilant to a gutted church van. Instead of seats, there were giant dog kennels containing sea mammals:). That day was very exciting because I got to do my first release, but it was also exhausting! On my way down I had to stop at one of our satellite facilities to pick up a volunteer to help me. Of course, it was the 60 year old-asthmatic-woman who could not lift more than 20 pounds. ha. She was very sweet, but realized too late that we did, indeed, need to carry 4 60+ pound animals down a slight hill to the beach. Let's just say, my back still hurts..haha. The actual release was great though! It was sooo cool to see them run out of their carriers to the ocean. They were definitely ready to go home. As soon as we released them, they rubbed noses and dove right in! At the end of the day, after picking up the smelly carcasses from a bio lab and driving from 10:30AM til 7PM, I had a hard time remembering the greatness of that moment.

Now that I think about it, I think that same morning was another cool moment. On my daily commute, it is not uncommon for me to be listening to Dave Matthews (surprise, surprise) :) Anyway, for those of you who are not fans, there is a song called Best of What's Around and basically...it talks about making the best of what you have. So. It made me think. I live in a beautiful place and have a good job. I should be thankful for what I have here and not focus on the things that I don't have here. That is much easier said than done.

The day after that work was really weird. It went by slowly...that never happens! I actually had time to finish my projects during the day..it was crazy! haha. But it was a nice break! Today I was sent on another release. This time just for one sea lion. I had to drive him up to Point Reyes National Seashore...which is quite the drive. I met a very nice volunteer out there to help me out. His name is Phil Warren. He's probably about 65 and offered for him and his wife to have me over on a Sunday afternoon to show me all the beaches in his county so I could get a better grasp on them. He was very nice! (knowing the locations of beaches is a VERY important part of my job) It's really hard to talk to a caller when I have no idea what county they are in. And we cover 800 miles of California's coast....that's a lot of beaches..lol. Anyway...after my loooong drive out to Chimney Rock, Phil and I unloaded the carrier from the truck. Then I realized something. Our "patient" was not making a ruckus like he usually does. In fact, he wasn't moving at all. Yep..he died on the way to his release. That just sucked. lol. I have no other words to discribe my disappointment. And I felt like it was somehow my fault. Even though, I know and was reassured many times that it wasn't. So just as I was feeling that my ENTIRE day was a waste, I saw them. A "herum" of elephant seals. They were HUGE. Usually they gather in herums. There is one Alpha male and many many females...all his. They were all lounging on the ramp that we were supposed to drive down to get to the shore. It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. Some of them must have been 10 feet long. It is hilarious how lazy elephant seals are. They are awesome. Phil took some pictures so I will have to ask him to email them to me. I think the craziest thing I saw today, though, was what I saw when I got back to the center. Just as I pulled in with the carcass, another volunteer pulled up in one of our trucks with a female adult sea lion. But she wasn't alone. She was in the middle of giving birth to a dead pup:( It was so sad! But CRAZY to see. It was just half way out of her..poor thing. So the vets put her under so they could remove the pup. Speaking of our vet...our new on staff doc is from the Shedd!! Small world, huh?

Oh! And I haven't been as lonely lately because I have been hanging out with my roommate Marielle more lately. I met some of her friends the other night, which was interesting..but fun I guess..haha. They are all grad students working at a bio lab up the hill. I still think this summer is going to go by verrry slowly. I miss everyone so much. I really miss home too. Indiana, not Florida. I miss Indiana summers. Ah well...make the best of what's around, right? It is beautiful here! I just wished the people I loved were here too.

Love you all...thanks for reading:)