A baby giraffe

Not too much to report--I'm still enjoying my last days as a tour bus driver! Things are wrapping up on a positive note, as I've gotten more good feedback from visitors in the past few days than the entire rest of the summer!

I went to work early today to take some photos before my shift. We had a new giraffe calf born on the morning of August 30, so this morning he was less than 36 hours old for the photos. The poor little guy had one of his front hooves tucked under in the womb, so the tendons are hyper extended and his leg bent in a very disturbing way yesterday. Luckily our vet staff wrapped the leg, including a splint (I think), so now he it stays straight when he walks on it instead of bending at terrible angles. They expect the tendons to shrink back to a normal range soon, and he'll be walking like a normal little calf.

The keepers moved the mother giraffe (Nicky) into the barn before the arrival of the vet this morning, leaving the calf outside by himself. The rest of the herd was very quick to check and make sure the calf was ok. Imara, the giraffe to the left in the photo above, is 5 months old. She and the new calf share a father, and she is very interested in this baby! Yesterday morning when I took a tour by Imara was leaning as far over the fence as she could, sticking out her tongue to try to lick the new arrival.

Above: Suricata suricatta, meerkat! They're cute, that's all.

And a Siberian lynx!

Strawberry Quesadilla

I'm going to start this by shouting, "It's SO good to be me!" Life is quite ordinary right now, but I still feel so good about everything! I now have less than two weeks left at the zoo, and I will definitely miss it. I enjoy working nights when the crowds are smaller and everyone is more relaxed, and I imagine that is what the off season would be like. A few days ago I got to watch as a reindeer was walked down the road that leads past the lion and jaguar exhibits in Elephant Odyssey. The jaguar was very interested in this prey animal and came right up against the exhibit fence, much to the delight of everyone on my tour bus. It's funny how life can seem so ordinary, then I have an experience that reminds me that I work at this incredible zoo, and I just feel so excited and happy to be alive.

On a less exciting note, I had a frenectomy on Tuesday. Big word for a periodontist using a tiny little scalpel to cut the piece of skin between my lower lip and gums below my lower teeth. I was so glad to be heavily numbed during the procedure--just feeling the pressure and watching the blood made me cringe. I'm very glad that a nutrition course was required for my degree at WSU, as I learned a lot of things to take with me into the future! Vitamin C is very important for collagen synthesis (think scurvy!), so I've been vitamin C loading to support fast healing of my mouth!

This super sweet morning treat needs some tweaking, but it was a good start!

Today's breakfast creation probably didn't get me as much of the antioxidant as I had planned (vitamin C is very easily destroyed by heat), but it was still pretty yummy. Having some flour tortillas on hand, I chopped up at least a quarter of a cup of semisweet chocolate chips in the food processor (chocolate overload!), then 5 strawberries. The strawberries were spread on the tortilla, and the chocolate on top. I had wayyyy too much chocolate. I warmed it in the pan until the chocolate was melted (this did get pretty messy), then flopped it onto a plate to devour. My next adaptation of this recipe will be to use Nutella instead of chocolate chips. Then I can just make a chocolaty, strawberry wrap!

Summer!

Wouldn't you just know it, once things finally get interesting it's almost time for me to leave. It's taken me a couple of months to get settled in and now that I finally know a few more people, I have to say goodbye to them! Leaving the great people behind is always the hardest part of moving on.

But you know what's awesome? Being young, single, employed, and full of excitement for every day!
My friend Selena came to visit last week and I got out and did the things that I never do by myself--visiting a couple of bars, getting a major sunburn at Coronado, and playing tourist at the zoo.

When September 8 arrives and my car is packed to start the long drive home, I will be sad to go. But I will also be very excited for the adventures that await!

Great Summer Day

Today was my first day off in a week, and while I didn't have much time to lounge around the house, the out and about activities were quite worthwhile! We had lunch at Bali Hai on Shelter Island to celebrate Aunt Barbara's birthday. It was the best restauraunt meal I've had in a long time! I had a grilled tofu wrap that was pretty delicious, but the atmosphere is what made it great. We chose to sit outside, and that made all the difference. It was pleasantly warm, and we were blocked from the breeze off the bay by the four foot tall plexiglass railing around the whole terrace. Sitting outdoors was significantly quieter than inside the restauraunt, which meant we could actually carry on a conversation! Bali Hai has a spectacular view of the San Diego bay, and we watched two navy ships come through; the USNS Yukon and USS Bonhomme Richard. By the time we got home from lunch it was nearly 5:00, so dinner was certainly going to be late...

After spending a couple of hours reading and relaxing, I finally hauled myself off the couch to find some dinner. We've been buying corn while it's in season, but not doing the best job of eating it. Knowing that there were three ears in the fridge I was about to lose to the damages of time, I threw together some very quick and simple corn cakes. Seriously simple. This is all it takes:
Kernels from 4 ears of corn
1/4 cup flour
1 egg
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
butter for the pan

You could glitz things up a bit by adding chives or spices of some sort, but I was going for fast and easy. I stirred everything until the flour was well incorporated, squishing the corn just a little bit to add some extra binding liquid. Then melt the butter in a frying pan on medium heat, and scoop the corn mixture into your pan by 1/4 cup scoops. Use a spatula to press corn into a patty shape, and cook for about 5 minutes per side.

There was a bit of debate in our house as to what kind of topping these corn cakes required--I had mine with sour cream, but the other two ladies went with butter and syrup, which I think most people would prefer. Overall, this turned out to be one of the simplest (and easiest cleanup!) meals I've made in a long time, and it was tasty and satisfying!