Helping Colby For America!!

 

Yesterday I got to help Colby, our Fish and Wildlife Officer, get the lake ready for the start of boating season. I went out on the boat all day and helped to set out the no wake zone buoys throughout the lake!
Colby let me drive the boat back to the launch site twice too, which was super fun!

Learned a bit about what Colby does from day to day on the job and found out about some dead bodies he's found in the Lake!
How Neat Is That?!

 

Who Am I? For America!!

Only a handful of kids took the approach of answering the question
in the lesson title, but I was a big fan of how that turned out!

 This week we lead our second classroom visits with the 4th graders from our SEEDS4: Nature Detectives partnership! We developed a lesson with activities to teach them about classification systems while continuing to build upon their observation skills that they have been working on all year. They were first presented with a bag containing eight office supplies and asked to sort them into categories on a piece of paper and to label them. Most groups had similar ideas about how to group things that were valid ideas but weren't all that creative our "out of the box", but there were a few who impressed me with their thought process. (I've included pictures of those below)

The next activity involved looking at a pinned insect and recording detailed observations and a drawing in their Nature Journal. They have all been learning to make detailed observations of plants and such through lesson plans that we have created for them, but those were primarily of plants. The idea was that students had to describe their insect in a detailed way that would make sense to me if I were an alien. (Saying that their insect looks like a butterfly would not be valid because I, an alien, would have no idea what that meant). I have included a few pictures of some of the better student work!
How Neat Is That?!

I LOVED this little girl's drawings of her praying mantis. It was entirely her own idea to draw it from various perspectives.

This kid did an AWESOME job with his labeled dragonfly drawing!

This photo was of my favorite and most out-of-the-box thinking group's categories. They noticed that a lot of the objects could be placed into multiple categories, so they did exactly that. The glue belongs to the "white" category, the "sticky" category, and the "blue" category; and, the pen belongs to the "blue" and the "writing utensils" categories. I'm a big fan of the way they set I up, having the items that fit into multiple categories laying within the bounds of each corresponding circle.

This group created a things that write and a metal things category and decided to lay the pen across to connect the two because the inside of the pen has metal in it.

This group created a little Venn Diagram for things that can write and metal things (the inside of the pen containing metal)

Accepting A New Job For Me!!!

So, last week I interviewed for a position as an Outdoor and Environmental Educator at YMCA Camp Seymour in Seattle, Washington. I was contacted the morning after I applied to set up an interview with the Director and it went really well. Today, I spoke with the Co-Director and she offered me the job! (Of course, I accepted!)

They said that they are excited to have my on as a part of their team and were super impressed with all of my experience and the recommendations from my references.  

I start August 20th and I'm super excited for this new adventure in my life!

How Neat Is That?!

Encounters Of The Eagle Kind For America!!

 

 Today we got to go out and help with a Bald Eagle nest survey. We drove out to a more secluded part of the refuge and trekked through a bunch of overgrown brush, over logs, and through fields of spikey evil plants to get close to one of the nests. (this pair did a great job of picking a safe spot for their nest that nobody could get to easily)

When we finally made it to a clearing where we could see the nest through a scope, momma eagle was sitting on the nest, so we all got to see her. The eagle dad joined her shortly after we arrived.

Aside from all of the evil spikey plants, it was a pretty cool little adventure.

The pictures are of an eagle I encountered on my weekly visits with LaFawnduh last week!

How Neat Is That?!

 

Summiting Cervidae Peak For Me!

The view from the peak

Yesterday I made it to first base in summiting Cervidae Peak- peak #1 of the 4 Grand Slam Peaks!
It was a pretty intense climb (super steep all the way up) and the melting remnant snow made it even more slippery, but the views were well worth it- in addition to the complete sense of accomplishment when I finished. The beautiful spring weather made it the perfect day for a hike. I assumed I would need jackets but they stayed in my backpack the entire day and I hiked in a tank top.
It was nice to finally feel the sun and not have to wear three layers to stay warm.
The only bummer was that I didn't see ANY wildlife. I had expected to see deer and/or elk being that they are the namesake of this peak, but all I saw was tons of their scat. I assume if I had started my hike earlier in the day I would have probably seen some, though the hike was pretty spectacular regardless.
I'm definitely looking forward to hiking the other three peaks in the series!

How Neat Is That?!

The trail!

Partying With Pioneers For America!

This Saturday I hosted an educational/outreach booth at the Caldwell Library's Pioneer Party- a celebration of the book "Little House in the Big Wood" and the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder. I skimmed through the story to find out what specific animals were mentioned and brought the corresponding pelts with me for the kids to touch and identify. There was a puppet show, cross stitching, hair braiding, tree identification, and toys/games from that time. It was a pretty cute event and I got to meet a fair amount of enthusiastic kids- many of which were homeschooled (which is not surprising). I also met the Idaho PLT facilitator and learned a bit about the trees of Idaho, including some fun identification tricks like "pines have pals and pairs" in reference to the pine trees (with one exception) not having single needles. Overall, it was a neat event, and I am going to work with them to lead a program as part of their summer reading program!
How Neat Is That?!

 

Brews and Bikes With Badass Women...For Me!

Yesterday was International Women's Day, so I got together with some chicks from my hiking group (Mountain Chicks) for a few beers at a bike themed bar in Boise called The Handlebar. It was fun to finally meet some of the other members of the Idaho chapter and get to know them a little bit. We all talked about our outdoor interests (hiking, fishing, backpacking, mountain biking, etc) so it was fun to hang out with some similar personalities. The bar just got done with "beach week" so the entire floor was covered with sand, which was fun. A few of us stuck around to watch the tricycle drag races before heading home. Definitely excited to plan more events with this awesome group of women in the near future!

How Neat Is That?!

Uncovering Murders For America!

I COMPLETELY forgot to post about the latest Refuge mystery- A Deer Murder Ring!!!!
So, a few weeks ago, we received several reports of a dead yearling deer along one of our trails. Being that I was working on a decomposition lesson plan at the time for our SEEDS4 program, Susan suggested that I photo-document its decomposition so that I can create a GIF with the images and include it in with the lesson plan.

 

Background info: her name is LaFawnduh and we are currently unsure of how she died, though it appears that someone dumped her there.

 

 

 

Last week, when I went to take a picture of her, I got to the location on the trail to find that LaFawnduh now has a new deer friend, who also appears to have been dumped there. As strange as it was for two deer to have been dumped in the same spot, especially with how out of the way that location is, I decided to look around and see if there were any more dead deer in the area.

 

LOW AND BEHOLD: I found another deer, though this one was far more decomposed than the other two.

I figured that three dead deer having been dumped in the same location seemed suspicious, so I sent pictures and coordinates to Colby, our Fish & Wildlife Officer to investigate. He comfirmed that they weren't deer that he dumped there (he often gets calls about deer that were hit by cars, so he picks them up and dumps them somewhere- but not there) so he will look into it when he has a chance.
 I'm super interested to see how this murder mystery turns out!

How Neat Is That?!

Summiting Mountains On Snowshoes For Me!

 

Yesterday I went snowshoeing with a Boise Meetup group up in Garden Valley and we ended up summiting a freaking mountain! (Bald Mountain to be exact- though apparently there are several peaks by that name in Idaho) The trek totaled around 7.6 miles round trip on an ungroomed trail with 2,631 feet of elevation gain! It was WAY harder than my first snowshoeing adventure, but the views from the top were incredible!! I did fall a few times when the snow decided it no longer wanted to be there, but thankfully I caught myself every time and didn't end up rolling down the mountain side. This would definitely be a pretty hike in the summer time as well- SO many Ponderosa Pines (my favorites!). When we got back to our cars me and the guys all went out for pizza and beer, which was a solid ending to a pretty great adventure!

It was nice to get out and snowshoe again before the snow melts and it was fun getting to meet some new people! Definitely looking forward to joining the group on more events and adventures in the future!

How Neat Is That?!

 

 

Hiking High Points For Me!

 

 

This past Saturday I drove out to Celebration Park to do some hiking. Once again, it took a while to find a way around the stupid closed roads, but I eventually figured it out! (My car certainly puts up with a lot of crap from me in terms of pushing it to drive in areas that it really isn't built for).

When I got there, I started my trek across the covered foot bridge (pretty neat bridge if you ask me) and made my way down one of the many well worn trails in the area. The trail I selected started off with a steep climb up a hill but then leveled out for quite a while. A little ways down the trail I came to a fork where I could either hike up to the tallest ridge line in the immediate area or go around it. Being the adventurer that I am, I elected to climb the ridge, encountering patches of snow along the way. Once at the top, there were several tall rock formations that I, of course, decided to climb. (If I was gonna climb the tallest ridge I might as well get ALL THE WAY UP, right?!)

The loose gravel in spots made it a bit sketchy, but the view was definitely worth the effort!

How Neat Is That?!

Eating Mor Chikin 4 Amerika! (but mostly for me)

 

 

 From 530am Wednesday morning through 630am on Thursday, I was in the parking lot of the new Treasure Valley Chick-fil-a. For those of you who don't know, every time a new chick-fil-a restaurant opens, they host an event called the "First 100" in which the first 100 people who show up 24 hours before the grand opening are invited to spend 24 hours in the parking lot. everyone who makes it through to Thursday morning receives 52 FREE chick-fil-a sandwich meals! (That's one a week for the entire year- or one very fattening day)

Throughout the event there are games, prizes, and of course, free chick-fil-a for each meal! I was number 11 and when it all started there were only about 50 people there. As the day went on, we slowly reached 100 participants. I met a lot of people and we played a TON of 4-square (talk about a throwback!)

It was FREEEEEZING cold all day and when we woke up, it was snowing and everyone's tents were wet and caked with snow. It was all worth it though to walk through the restaurant and be handed the precious red card that contains an obscene amount of free food!

Overall it was a really fun event and I'll be on the lookout for more chick-fil-a openings in the future!

How Neat Is That?!