Monday, September 20, 2010

Tucson, Days Two, Three and Four (September 18 -20)

The bed in my sister’s guesthouse is SO COMFORTABLE. I sleep so well here.
So my sister has somewhat of a rattlesnake problem on her property. It’s been an ongoing issue, and they seem to still just love it here. I’d never been here when she found one, until this morning! She caught it and put it in an empty cooler and we took it about two and half miles away, where she released it. It was way smaller than I was expecting, must have been pretty young. That was pretty cool. He slithered like 2 feet away and proceeded to wind himself into a bush and just hang out there. Laura (my sister) thinks she’s relocated him before and he found his way back. I guess snakes can find their way home from pretty far away, so let’s keep our fingers crossed he stays where he is.
Other than that, I just read a bunch and went to dinner with my brother, dad and nephew. My nephew is a FRESHMAN in high school, I feel so old.
Saw the movie Town with Laura and her friend Gene. It was pretty slow, very character and dialogue driven. It was pretty good, but The Departed was way better (it’s by the same people).
I also picked up my old car that was being shipped down, and the back of it was facing the front, if that makes any sense. On one of those big 12-car rigs. It is COVERED in bugs. So gross. Need a carwash.
The days are already starting to blur together a little.. yikes. This is what happens when I don’t have a lot of structure in my life. I spent Sunday with my family. Well, in their pool. The pool is a necessity when it’s over 100 degrees, so that was great. I watched the premiere of Boardwalk Empire in the evening, which is enjoyed even though it was super confusing. There are definitely not enough period pieces like that on the air. I hope it’s as accurate as it looks.
Today, I got up at the lovely hour of 6:15 to head in to work with Laura. I forgot how short the summers are here. It’s crazy how just this much of a difference in latitude is so noticeable.
Getting to the barn at Cottonwood, I was immediately reminded of how long it’s been since I’ve worked with horses. I can’t even remember the last time I had to muck a stall. But Laura put me to work right away and it all came back quickly enough. I also remembered how much horses do actually scare me. That being said, I feel a lot more comfortable even after just a couple of hours of work today. I am very excited to see how I feel after two weeks.
My sister’s horse Rusty and I had an immediate connection. He did one of my favorite horse things, which is when you put your hand out, they don’t wait for you to scratch their head they just go ahead and start bouncing their head up and down against your hand. He makes me giggle. Laura gave me the tour and then took me to fill out all of the confidentially forms, etc. that come with working at a rehab and treatment facility. They also made me get a TB test. Ouch. On the bright side, I got an official intern badge that I get to wear around!
Right now I’m sitting in a Starbucks near my sister’s house, on the Wif, researching trip and volunteer stuff I can do in November and February. It’s funny as much as I try to look in to other type of project besides, animal or nature-related ones, I’m just not as interested. I like the idea of teaching English to kindergartners in Indonesia, but I’d rather clean a monkey enclosure… All of the possible trips I’ve found are SO COOL. The one I really want to do is working at a lion rehabilitation and conservation center in Victoria Falls, either on the Zambia or Zibabawe side, I’m a little fuzzy on which. There are other wildlife rehab places in Namibia that look amazing as well, so we’ll see. It would be a dream come true to cuddle a baby cheetah or walk a lion. I mean, seriously, who gets to do this stuff?
The other trip I’m looking at is working on a fair trade coffee farm in Nicaragua. I love fair trade movement and it would be so cool to be involved at, literally, the ground level. Will update on what I decide to do! So excited!

1 comment:

  1. CUDDLE BABY CHEETAHS!

    Actually, I wouldn't mind teaching English to kindergarteners in Indonesia. Haha.

    ReplyDelete