I know, I know...it's been a long time.

Yesterday was my last day working at the Pavilion. On Friday I head to the Puffin area. I was sad to leave. I like the staff and I'll miss my animals, but I am also excited to learn about a new area of the zoo. We went out to lunch for a little going-away party and I got some really nice presents from them.

I headed home Feb. 12 to help my mom after her eye surgery. There were definate highs and lows of the trip. My mom's surgery went well. Her recovery was a pain because she had to lay face down on a special chair all day. I enjoyed taking care of her that week. I think of all the times she took special care of me, like when I was sick or after oral surgery. It was good to play "mom" for once. I also went to a free Skillet concert at MTU. I've seen them at Cornerstone a few times and liked some songs but never really got into them. Then I heard some of the new stuff on the radio before the concert and then obviously at the concert, and I REALLY liked it. I bought their new c.d. and thoroughly enjoy it. I also got to see some friends that I don't get to see very often. I was able to go out to my dad's farm and go snow shoeing. Then Josh and Amy came out and we had our "Christmas" in February and had a wonderful dinner. Bad part of my trip was my grandpa on my dad's side passed away when I was up there. Unfortunately I didn't get to see him before it happened. I was very glad I was up there for the funeral though. He had a bad heart and we've been expecting it, but that still doesn't make it any easier.

Weather this week has been wonderful. Today it was 70 in the sun. I sat outside at Starbucks and read a book. Sorry for you guys in MN who are expecting a snow storm tonight. :(

We had a "winter storm" last week. All the schools were closed and I chose not to drive to the zoo. I didn't want to chance the icy roads. And how people were talking about the driving that day, I'm glad I didn't go in.

We had a Superbowl party last night. A few people from church came over and we ate a lot and drank a lot of pop. All I have to say is, sorry, mom...da bears didn't pull it off. I was worried after that first play. :)

Next week I am heading home to Hancock for about 6 days. My mom is having eye surgery so I'm going home to help out and to entertain her. I'll have to go out and play in the snow one day when I'm home.

It's cold. I don't like being cold. I've been cold all day. After work I stopped at a gas station to get a cappuccino to warm me up and it was gross.

Things here are going well. The weather has turned winter-like. It snowed yesterday and stayed on the ground for a good part of the morning. I had to work and when I headed out to work, the roads weren't too bad, but they were pretty bad in Asheboro. A truck in front of me slid on ice, turned around 1.5 times and smacked into a gaurd rail. Luckily I was far enough behind him that I didn't get hit in the process. I was the first car to reach him, so I was going to get out and see if he needed help, but then he drove off before I could pull behind him. I guess he didn't need help. The zoo was closed because of the weather so we got out at 3 instead of 5. Work is going good. I was able to catch meerkats and a fox last week at work. We needed to trim nails and frontline the meerkats and we switched our fox grouping around. It went pretty well. It looks as if I'm moving to the puffin area of the zoo. They also have auklets and muirs (all seabirds) and then a falcon. I'm excited for a new experience, but I will miss my area that I'm in now. I'm not sure exactly when I'm moving to the different department.

Tonight Ryan and I went to his school for the drama class' final. They all had one act plays. Wow, the kids have no respect for each other. There was so much talking and moving going on during each play. Anytime someone asked them to be quiet, they would just continue to talk. If they can't even respect their peers, I know for a fact Ryan gets no respect as an authority figure. The plays were pretty bad. The kids didn't project, so you could hear a line here and there. There were 2 good ones.

Tomorrow Ryan, Joy and I are going shopping. Maybe we will find some WEDDING stuff for Joy, since her and Thor are GETTING MARRIED!

Today the weather is sunny with a high of 75. I miss my family, but I don't miss the cold and snow.

Our New Year's Eve was uneventful. I had to work the next day so I ended up falling asleep on the couch around 10:00 and then Ryan woke me up at 11:45. I do hope 2007 is better than 2006. I realize compared to most people, our year hasn't been that bad. We have food, clothing, housing, jobs, etc. However, it just seemed like bad things kept happening, and they were all crammed into one year. I did a lot of crying, held a lot of bitterness, questioned God many time...but through it all I know He is good and things are going to work out. I am so blessed to have Ryan here with me because it would've been MUCH harder without him next to my side. I love you, Ryan.

Yesterday Ryan's family had to put their cat, Lucy, to sleep. Their other cat, Charcoal, was put to sleep last spring. Since I lived with those cats for many months, I grew attached to them very quickly, so the news saddens me. I can't handle any more animal deaths. In 2006, 6 animals I was close to died. And being that my profession is working with animals, I obviously love them, and it's a big deal to me.

"From the first time that you opened your eyes did you realize that you would be my savior? And the first breath that left your lips did you know that it would change this world forever" -Relient K

Happy Birthday, Jesus! Today I had to work but got out at 11:00. Ryan and I are about to open gifts now and then we are heading to our pastor and wife's house for dinner. It is not a white Christmas here...it's 45 degrees and raining. I can't complain since it was close to 70 the past few days.

And if you are wondering why you didn't get a Christmas card this year, is because we didn't send any out. I had made some and they are mostly completed, but Ryan and I just didn't feel like doing a letter and cards this year. Overall it's been a pretty crappy year, so neither of us could sound super positive in the letter. On a lighter note, I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas.

Dolphin show @ Minnesota Zoo

I found this random file on-line of me during a show at MN Zoo. Notice when I throw the fish and it smacks the window.

There is a baboon at the zoo named Sudi. One day she discovered that a ball we use for enrichment can fit on her head. So, she wore it around for 4 days. We called it her "special helmet". A co-worker got some great video of it. Check it out... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx2jnJlpedU

Make sure you have sound.

Today we are having our Christmas party at work. We are grilling out and it is supposed to be 71 degrees. It is supposed to be in the 70's all this coming week...even up to 77 on Monday!

We finally decorated for Christmas. We put on a little "John Denver and the Muppets Christmas" and started the tree. We have so many ornaments and such a small tree. I love our ornaments though. Most of them have been gifts or else they were our ornaments from when we were children. They all have such a special meaning. It still doesn't really feel like the holiday season though. It's been cold enough here the past few days, but it is different without the white stuff. Although I don't miss the shoveling and cleaning the car off in the morning.

You will be missed, Ayla. You taught me a lot about patience and how to think more outside the box.  

My birthday was the week before Thanksgiving. I turned the big 2-5...quarter of century old! I had to work on my birthday, however there was a Thanksgiving dinner for the staff on that day, so at least I got a really good lunch. That night I opened cards and presents with Ryan. I don't remember what we did on Friday. On Saturday I went to a big pottery festival with Joy and 2 of her friends. After that Joy took me out to lunch. Yummy! On Sunday Ryan and I played disc golf, which was the first time I played and sucked. Then he surprised me with a picnic at a nearby park. Then that night we got all dressed up and went out to eat at P.F.Changs. Overall it was a nice birthday weekend.

On Thanksgiving our good friends from MN, Chad and Sarah, flew in. Ryan stayed home and cooked the turkey while I drove down to Charlotte to pick them up. When we got back home we cooked the rest of the goodies. Thor, Joy's boyfriend, also joined us as well. Right before we were about to pray I look at Sarah's hand and see a gigantic ring on her left hand. Apparently I was the last to notice, but in my defense, in the car I tried checking a couple times because we knew they'd be getting engaged in the future, but she kept sitting on her hands. It was very humorous and we are VERY excited for them. We had a good meal then watched Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. On Friday we left for the Asheville, NC area to go camping. We stayed in a cabin in the same campground that Ryan and I stayed at when we first moved here. We got our cabin set up then went to a little shop and got some cider. We got back to the cabin and had hotdogs, brats, and smores. It was REALLY cold out so we headed inside to play some cards and go to bed. The next day we went to Chimney Rock and hiked to the top of the waterfall. It was a very nice day out. T-shirt and jeans was good enough to wear. It was probably around 70 degrees. After the hike we went in the town of Chimney Rock for some lunch. When we got back home we went to church and then out to eat with people from church. On Sunday I had to work but they came to the zoo to visit me. I was able to show them around my building and we had lunch together. My first visitors! They flew out on Tuesday. It was so great to see people from home. I do miss it, I can't lie to you.

On Monday I noticed a rash that I had and ended up going to the doctor's on Thursday and found out I had a reaction to the rabies vaccination I had to get for work. So now I'm on a few drugs and hopefully it'll go away. I also was having joint pain in my hands in the morning, which is also a side effect to the vaccine. I started the medicine yesterday and didn't have the pain this morning, so hopefully it continues to work.

I was supposed to go to Maryland this weekend for the family Christmas party, but my grandma was in the hospital due to an irregular heart beat. She is out of the hospital and seems to be doing well, but they canceled the party.

Then to top off my already sucky week...I found out today that they had to put Ayla, a dolphin from MN Zoo, to sleep yesterday. She has basically been sick since June and hasn't been able to recover fully. It'd look like she's getting better and then decline again. In the past few weeks her blood work was messed up so they did some tests. She has been fighting a lung infection and they found bone spurs on her spine. She has scoliosis, so it already makes swimming difficult for her. In the past days she stopped eating and reacting to the medicine, so the zoo had to make a very very hard decision. I can't even imagine what they are going through. I'm not even there and I bawled. That is three dolphin deaths in a year. I don't think I can handle any more crappy stuff this year. Ayla was the first dolphin that I got to feed there. She was stubborn and picky, just like me. She had the most beautiful markings on her face. She loved her frisbees and aqua disks. She was very interested in things, but would often watch from afar. It took her a long time to warm up to you. I will miss you, Bo.

I know I haven't updated in a long time and I have a lot to catch up on. I'm tired now and don't want to do it, but I promise I will update in the next few days. Peace.

I am making progress at work. The meerkats are now eating out of my hand. Even the little babies will come up and snatch some food from me. Yesterday I held a snake for the first time. I really don't like snakes, however I work with 4 of them, 3 ball pythons and one rock python. When the ball pythons are shedding, we soak them to help with the shed, which requires you to pick them up and put them in a tub of water. Well, I can't have someone else do it for me all the time, so I finally did it yesterday. It actually wasn't that bad...I just had to get past that first step and just do it. As for the rock python, she is 140 pounds, so I'll have to work my way up to her. Her mouth is the size of my hand.

I need to vent for a bit about bad drivers. And I know there will always be bad drivers, but it'll make me feel good for at least 10 seconds to complain about it.
1. People in NC seem to stick their nose out into the lane when they are waiting to pull onto the road. It has been to the point where Ryan or I have had to swerve to avoid clipping their front end, or quickly moving over to another lane.
2. Blinkers...it's not that hard. Use them, people.
3. Tail gaters...if I can't see your headlights because you are riding my tail, you are driving too close to my car. And yes, I will put my brakes on to let you know.
4. Left lane drivers! This drives me crazy! Ok, people. You are supposed to drive in the right lane and use the left lane to pass people. It just works better if people follow that pattern. I've noticed here (at least on my route to and from work) that the majority of the people drive in the left lane as opposed to the right. If you are going slow in the left lane and see a line of cars behind you, take a hint and scoot over and let them pass.

ok. I'm done, at least for now.

This past Saturday I went down to Charlotte with Joy. She has some family down there and her immediate family came down from MI. It was a gorgeous day...we took two walks. There is a little pond near the community where her relatives live, so we walked around there. We also had two good meals. The first was a semi-Thanksgiving dinner and then we went to a pizza buffet for dinner. It was a very rainy ride home, but we made it home safely.

The meerkats at work are starting to warm up to me. One group is very interested in me, and then the other, more timid group, is starting to come up to me as well. I was given permission to start trying to hand feed them. I also got to feed a Patas monkey yesterday for the first time. They just take the food right out of your hand and eat it. They are very cute.

My cats are doing well. Triton is becoming more cuddly, which I appreciate. He still hates to be held, but on occasion he'll take a nap on my legs and he definitely likes to be pet more now then he did before. Obi is still our "snuggle-bunny". He has a horrible habit of waking me up at around 4:30 in the morning. Usually he lays on my chest and starts purring really loudly. Just let me sleep until my alarm goes off at 6:15 am. As I type this, Obi is in one of those crazy cat moods, where he is chasing a ghost or something. He's cute.

I am on my first 3 day weekend. I lucked out with 4 3-day weekends in a row. I can't complain. I am just trying to relax a bit this weekend and enjoy the lovely weather. Today it is about 74 and is supposed to reach 79 tomorrow. I love the weather down here. :) On Sat. I am going to Charlotte with Joy to visit her family. I'm excited to spend some time with her.

Meerkat 

Here is a picture of a Debrazza monkey. Don't they look like old men. The two we have are named Butch and Mara.