I'm here to clarify the entry from two times ago. People keep wondering about it, and that's ok. Basically I'm in a spiritual slump. Nothing in particular has got me here, I'm just here. Nothing bad has happened; my life is wonderful right now. It's just for some reason it's so hard for me to talk to God right now and I haven't even picked up my Bible for weeks. Especially when I'm at work I thank God for my job and thank Him that I get to do what I love every day. But that's about the extent of it. It's like I don't have the energy to say anything else to Him. I'll be riding to work in the morning listening to Christian music and hear songs, and think, "That's exactly what I'm going through" or "Yes, I know, God, that you are still here and you love me." But that's extent. After work I do nothing to right the situation and feel like I don't have the energy to. I know I'm not strong enough to do this on my own, but when I ask for God's strength, I don't wait around for it. I hope this makes sense to some of you, at least. This is why I need your prayers.

Quick update. The calf is still doing wonderfully. He is getting to be quite the adventerous one. He tries to leave mom all the time, so poor Rio has to go chasing him around the pool all day. He'll even try to hide behind the other dolphins in the pool to get away from her. He has lost his "baby skin", meaning he has sloughed off his dark skin and now is normal dolphin color. He has some beautiful white markings on his side. He is also making eye contact with us in the windows more often. He even let a trainer touch him the other day. She was giving rubdowns to Rio, and the calf swam on that side so she give him a rubdown too. Apparently he got really excited and kept coming back for more, but then Rio didn't want it so she kept going between the deck and her calf.

I am stuck behind a wall. I'm on one side, God on the other. I've tried to go around it, over it, under it, but can't seem to get to Him. Then I found a door. I knocked on the door, but I didn't stick around long enough to hear an answer. Please pray.

"Sprout" from above. He won't be named for a few months, so for now he's Sprout. But can you really see an adult male being called that? Yeah, we couldn't either.  

Rio and the calf. Mom's tend to do this a lot to their calfs. It's called body propulsion. One idea is it helps the calf learn how to nurse, but then again, you will also see males doing this to other males, so that hypothesis doesn't always hold true.  

Rio and her new baby boy. 

This is me and Chinook. 

This is me and Semo. Notice the whistle. It makes me feel like a real trainer.  

After all those highlights from my past week, I forgot the most important. I got my whistle at the zoo! Ok, some may think, "what is the big deal?" To me it's a big deal, therefore it should be a big deal to you too! So you can send your congratulation cards, flowers and gifts directly to Ryan's parent's house. :)

I'll give some highlights of the past week or so...
1. Josh got a full time teaching job for next semester! Go, Josh! He'll be teaching at an alternative school up in Calumet, MI.
2. This will be the first Cornerstone Music Festival I'll miss in what would've been 9 years in a row going. Sad week. To me, it is the best place on earth.
3. Baby dolphin (Sprout is what we've been calling him...he won't be named for many months so we need to call him something) is doing GREAT. He is getting pretty adventurous. He tries to swim away from mom to see how far she'll let him go. He also bit Spree's tail already, but it was probably well deserved.
4. Last week at the zoo four different kids asked for my autograph. Strange, but cool at the same time. I remember when I was at Cornerstone last year and people asked some members of Anathello (a band who I know some of the members) for their autographs. I remember the look on their faces...mine probably looked the same.
5. I am officially cleared on all of Chinook's behaviors. Today I got cleared on the four "big" show behaviors: Long back tail walk, long back from the side, bow, and breech. Do those terms mean anything to you? I guess you'll have to come and visit to find out.
6. I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff, but oh well.

This morning at around 7:10 Rio gave birth to a beautiful baby boy dolphin. I got the call around 5 am that she was going into labor. When I got to the zoo at 5:30 (which it takes 35 minutes to get there normally, however I was speeding…sorry officer…there is a baby dolphin being born…can I go?) they were not sure yet if the rostrum (meaning it’s breach) or if the flukes/tail (the way it should be) was coming out first. You could just see her genitals open and something coming out, but you couldn’t tell what end. When the flukes popped out we all screamed/cried/thanked God. Labor was fairly short. I was above the water and we didn’t really have any indication that it was coming. An intern and I were leaning over the pool because Rio was passing and we wanted to sex the baby so we could win a free steak dinner from the supervisor. Then all of a sudden, Jenny yells, “It’s here!” Someone plowed me over in the mass chaos. I pick myself off the ground and ran to my station. There were probably 15 people stationed around the pool to make sure the baby didn’t hit the sides. Rio did a good job herding it. It took its first breath, we all cheered.

The day didn’t end without any close calls though…It was around 2:00 and Rio was about to pass the placenta. We were all standing guard so we could catch it in a net before it sunk. I saw in the monitors that she passed it, so we were trying to find it. Meanwhile I look up and the calf is on the deck, with Rio putting her head on the side, trying to get her baby back in the water. A poor zoo volunteer who didn’t know what to do was over there so an intern and I run over to push it back in the water. He got back in safely, but it was one of the scariest experiences ever. And to see Rio trying to get her baby back was heart breaking. Obviously some of us were upset, but also glad it was safe again and ok. Then I hear a co-worker commenting on how some people are too emotional. Sorry I’m not heartless. O.k. That’s off my chest. Another thing that was hard about it is the public could see it and probably scared the crap out of them too.

On a pass by the underwater viewing Robyn and Lynn were able to see the baby’s genital slit with no mammary slits present, telling us it’s a boy. He also nursed a couple times throughout the day. I had to leave at 3:00 to get to my other job, but he was doing well when I left. Oh, and I got to touch the dolphin placenta. How many people can say that? Oh, and did I mention that he is the CUTEST THING EVER!

Crazy day at work today. The 2:00 show was cancelled because we had to evacuate everyone due to a severe thunderstorm. We were going to do it at 2:45 instead since the storm passed. During the middle of that show we lost power, so we had to evacuate people again because the dolphins can't do behaviors in the dark. Then at about 3:30 there was a huge water leak in a room near the pools that contains huge tanks to fill the pools. It was washing this mulch stuff into the pool so we were doing everything we could in order to stop the inflow of crap in the pool. So, the 4:00 show was cancelled because we were busy trying to clean up everything. And...Rio didn't eat anything. We think the birth will occur later tonight or tomorrow. I'll keep you posted.

I'm still alive. Again, no baby dolphin yet. Ryan and I are currently going through the process of deciding to move or not to move. We went apt. shopping today and are now deciding. We have limited it to one place but now it's the decision to move or not. GRRRR.

Still no baby dolphin. Yes, the staff is really frustrated. Just have that darn thing already, Rio. I am completely trained on all of Semo’s behaviors now. His breach (huge impressive jump where he lands on his back) was finally taught to me today. I got to do it twice. It’s a crowd favorite.

Memorial Day is great. All though everyone else in the country had the day off, I worked. The zoo was packed. During lunch I got to enjoy the sun, and then when I got home, I got in my bathing suit and laid (so Josh, I probably also put the form of this word wrong, but you’ll have to get over it. Just face the fact that I will never understand some grammar rules) out for a while. Ryan grilled us steaks so we sat outside and had those and salad and baked beans. Yummy yummy. Then the neighbor girl (16 years old) and her dad came over and we played two games of PIG (which I won) and two games of around the world (I won one, Ryan the other). Now we are waiting for the family to get home from Star Wars so we can get going on a poker game.

whom thinks me bro is an nerdy teacher of english? OOHHHH! Me do!

Still no baby dolphin. The ultrasound showed the baby is still breech. Sometimes Rio is completely normal, other times she is a very snotty. Who knows when that calf will come. Today I was answering questions after a show I did and a little girl came up to me and said, "you are really pretty." How cute! And a couple weeks ago at Ryan's school one of his students said to me, "you are really pretty." To have a high school student say that to your face was strange. And then one of his students told him in class, "your wife is pretty. If you tell her will she let me pet a dolphin?" Nice try. Anyway, it was a much needed confidence booster.

The zoo is still going good. I am almost all done learning Semo's behaviors. I've also been learning Spree's behaviors. Yesterday I was getting trained on Chinook, who I was surprised to learn. They told me my first day I wouldn't learn behaviors on him. Oh well. I'm not complaining! I have learned how to do observations, which is fun since we couldn't do them as interns. We had a pregnancy scare last weekend. Rio was acting like she was going to have the calf anytime. She was showing all the signs of early labor. So we all got calls to give us the head's up, then she started acting completely normal again. We know the calf was breech, so we were thinking when Rio was acting strange, the baby was flipping around. They are doing an ultrasound today, so I guess we'll find out. Now I am full time at the zoo since we are on the 24 hour observation schedule.

Josh, as to that comment from that guy...I have no clue.

Ryan and I have been trying to attend some of the events at the high school that he is subbing at. Last week we went to a play called "the lady pirates of captain bree" or something like that. Very enjoyable. Tonight we went to a talent show with singing, dancing, poetry, etc. There was a lot of booty shaking. I don't think that stuff would have flew in my high school. And teachers saying "damn" and that they got lucky on their prom night. It's like a completely different world then how I grew up. Besides the initial shock, it was very entertaining.

Tomorrow Ryan, Matthew, and I head to a Twin's game. I have become quite the baseball fan, which for those that know me, that should be a shocker since I usually hate sports. Once I get my pink Twins t-shirt, I will be all set!

If you are reading this and do not have my new cell phone number, either e-mail me or reply to this post so I can e-mail it to me. I may be blonde, but I'm not dumb enough to post it on here. What do you call eternity? 4 blondes at a 4 way stop. Tee hee hee.

This past weekend I got to go to the Brookfield Zoo to the IMATA conference. It was good to see the trainers and animals again. And I learned some stuff at the conference. It was a quick trip, but it was good.

I started working at the zoo on Monday. I was getting trained on all of Semo’s behaviors…cues, what the criteria are, etc. I got to dive with the three females to clean the pool. It was a crazy experience. You can’t make eye contact with them and can’t interact in any way. When I was cleaning around the edges, they left me alone, but once I started swimming across the bottom, Spree was showing a lot of interest in me. I was once bumped by someone’s rostrum, but I don’t know who the culprit was. Rio also had a hissy fit during the dive, but Lynne, the other diver, was watching to make sure I was safe. Later that day this metal speaker cover rusted and fell off in the pool so Lynne and I had to dive again to put a new one back on. This was about 5:00 pm, and the lights are almost out in the stadium and it’s getting darker outside. We had to put these nuts and bolts on this ring. Since it was hard to see, Lynne used the Jedi force and closed her eyes to help her feel her way to putting the nuts in. It was pretty silly. On Tuesday I went over more behaviors and also went over observation stuff for when the calf is born. I also got to sit in on a staff meeting for once. I also got to do a show. Diane stayed by me and bridged my behaviors (blew the whistle when Semo did the correct behavior). I think it went really well. The girls are in the back pools so it is just the Semo and Chinook show.

Today at Vanity was my first day opening by myself. No problems. Tomorrow I close by myself for the first time. Fun stuff.

I ended up getting job offers from both Bath and Body and from Vanity. I chose Vanity because of more steady hours and it is a guaranteed job past June. Plus at Vanity I am part-time management, so that is always fun. I am considered a team lead, which is the position I had when I worked at Vanity before. I will be in charge of openning and closing, as well as the normal duties. I went into work on Saturday to do paperwork and today is my first 8 hour day. I also will work 8 hours tomorrow and Wednesday. On Thursday I am heading down to Chicago for an IMATA (international marine animal trainer association) conference at Brookfield Zoo, where I did my first internship. I will be staying at my mentor's house. I am really excited to see everyone again. The girl, Becky, who interned with me will also be there so it'll be fun to be with her. At least there will be two new trainers there. I get back from that on Saturday. I have training at the zoo on Monday and Tuesday. I will be working there one day a week until the calf is born, then I'll work 40 hours/week there. I am really excited to see what I get to do. Robyn said I will be doing shows, which now we have 4 shows a day. Fun fun! Gotta get ready for work.