I have now been in Buxton for a month. It has gone fast and feels longer than that because I'm so busy. Work is going well and we're down to two weeks before our full-out summer schedule begins.
During my week of training, the district interpreter took me, my supervisor (who's been here a week longer than I have), and our HR lady from headquarters up in Manteo to Ocracoke Island. A super cool place I want to explore more on my days off. It's one of the places Blackbeard the pirate liked to chill. It's also where he was beheaded.
There are 'wild' ponies on Ocracoke that the park keeps in pens, in an effort to keep the place 'historically accurate'.
Tree frogs. They are everywhere. And for something that small, they make a heck of a lot of noise, especially if they get stuck in one of the pipes in your trailer. They are pretty cute though. I gave one a lift the other night; he was hanging on to my side mirror and seemed to really be enjoying himself.
I have seen more snakes in the past month than I think I've seen over my entire life. I don't feel good about this. I hate snakes. I will put up with bugs, ants, spider, even roaches, but snakes, no thank you. This black racer has been hanging out in my back yard the past week or so.
In my front yard, under my porch/deck, a very long and very large king snake has taken up residence. You're only getting about 2/3 of him in the picture, the rest is still under the porch.
Another species, the mouse. When I moved in my roommate had all these boxes in front of her bedroom door. I later learned this was a barricade attempt at keeping 'Gus-Gus' out. She named him hoping he would become less scary. While I don't mind mice, they don't scare me, I draw the line when I get up in the morning to find one's been nibbling on my toothbrush or I find droppings in my sheets. Disgusting. So, I made the trip up to Avon to Ace Hardware and bought me some traps. Oh man, when that first one snapped, it was beyond exciting.
Over a two week period, I caught six mice. I'm keeping a tally. It's enjoyable.
Wildlife in terms of human activity comes from those living in the trailerhood with me. At times it's almost like being back in college with something going on every night, usually involving copious amounts of alcohol. A few weeks ago we had a Kentucky Derby party. We all dressed up and the women made hats. We had a pot-luck with some spectacular food, and watched the race. It was very exciting.
All the girls with their hats: Katy (resource), Debbie (interp), Katie (resource), Eileen (interp), Jenn (interp), Savannah (interp), Kate Z (interp), Judy (resource), and me (interp).
Kevin and Alexander are also interp rangers with me.
The hat. I was so excited to make this hat. It's a paper grocery bag covered with green duct tape, with the white fence and racing jockeys.
In all, life is good. Once I'm not using my evenings to work on my upcoming summer programs and my weekends to do boring and necessary errands, I'm hoping to get out and explore a bit more.
