"now give us back our baby so we can paint it."

I'm lying in the hotel bed watching Good Morning America. My mom is leaving town today. It's been a nice visit. Last night we barbecued with Terry and Linda, the older couple that has the trailer next to mine. It was fun and the food was delicious.

A loggerhead sea turtle had come in on Monday after being found floating around by the jetties. It had been hit by a boat probably three or four days earlier. The propeller had hit the turtle's head and carapace. It was pretty bad but were were feeling hopeful about it's recovery. Unfortunately, yesterday afternoon as we were closing up, we noticed the turtle had died. We wanted to figure out the cause of death was so we ended up doing a necropsy. It was the first time I'd done anything like that. I never even dissected a full animal in high school or anything. So we cut open part of the plastron and cut the skin around the flippers. We removed the plastron entirely and got to see all of the bloody insides. It was really, really cool. We found that the intestines had been perforated by a fish bone, which was more than likely the cause of all the turtle's problems. The perforations probably caused septisemia which made the turtle feel weak and lethargic. That in turn probably made the turtle float at the top of the water and then got hit by the boat. Poor turtle. It was really sad that it died but I am grateful that I got to see the necropsy and also I'm glad the turtle stopped suffering. It was obviously really uncomfortable and in a lot of pain.

My birthday is in six days and the intern party is coming up, too. We also have some intern activities that we're going to do, which includes sandcastle building lessons, Schlitterbahn, and other fun things. I still can't believe the summer is coming to a close. I'm going to miss having the beach in my backyard.

hey babe, take a walk on the wild side.

Jeez, I can't believe how fast time is going by. I know I say that a lot, but seriously! It's already mid-July. I'm turning 21 in eight days. My summer at Sea Turtle Inc. will be over in a month. Then it'll be back to school for my last year of college. Wow. This summer has been great. I really fucking love my job. I can see myself doing stuff like this for the rest of my life. It's really amazing and for the first time in my life, I actually feel like I'm doing something, making an impact. It's inspired me to go to vet school, also. I want to specialize in exotic animals and maybe get a job at a zoo, aquarium, or wildlife refuge. Who knows. We'll see what happens.

This summer has been a big learning experience in so many ways. Myrna and I are essentially the outcasts of the interns. Everyone is coupled up with their boyfriends/girlfriends and never invite us anywhere. Apparently people have been talking shit, too. That's fine with me normally, if someone doesn't like me then okay, whatever. You win some you lose some. But I keep hearing that people are criticizing my work performance and it really pisses me off. I get this feeling that they think I'm less qualified because I drink and smoke. Fuck that. We got hired for the same job, did we not? I work just as hard as you and do just as well, so shut the hell up. Phwew. Okay, just had to get that out there. But I talked to Jeff about it and I'm all squared away with him so that's all that I care about.

On the fourth of July, we were at work and someone called in an injured turtle that they had seen floating in the bay. Mary was the only full time staff member working that day so she sent Myrna, an older woman volunteer, and I to go meet the people at a dock in Port Isabel and picked up the turtle. It was pretty nasty looking. It had been hit by a boat and the propeller did a number on it's shell. She's doing a lot better now. The Gladys Porter Zoo veterinarians put screws into her shell and then wired it shut to close the wound. Lucy (that's what the people who found her named her) will be on antibiotics for about 90 days and we're using Chlorohexadine to Silvadene ointment to keep the wound clean and help it heal.

It's been a slow summer as far as nesting turtles go. We've only got 40 nests and we were expecting somewhere around 70. I doubt I'll find anything this summer but it's okay. It's still be a really rewarding summer. I just still can't believe I'm getting paid for this!

Our most recent nesting turtle on July 4th.

Mariana and I at a hatchling release

Go little baby!

I'll try to post more often, guys. It's hard with no internet.