New addition to the center

 I must say it has been a fantastic week.  Where do I start.  I guess I will pick up right where I left off....
So I was spending my day off on Tuesday at Kaladi brothers.  I was also house/dog sitting at the same time.  I brought Scout along with us to Anchorage so that I didn't have to worry about him doing a potty dance at the house. 

I was told by a local that I met at the coffee shop about a nearby dog park.... perfect opportunity to try it out with Scouty boy!  So around 10am Scout and I headed out on the town in search of this park. 
It was relatively close, and right away Scout met a new friend named Kaluah.  We walked the mile or so trail with Kaluah and her owner for the rest of the way.  I was showed signs of where the beavers hang out in the bark. 

This tree was somehow still standing even though about half the trunk was chewed through!

 Along the walk I even spotted my first muskrat!  I know it may look like a beaver, but the tail is too thin to be a beaver.  There were about three of these little guys swimming around in the lake.  They were all this same size. 








The next day at work I did something that I haven't been able to do for a while.  I gave Taquka some peanut butter through the fence.  I guess I have been so busy that sometimes I forget the different things I used to do when I could go in with the bears.  Taquka was very excited to get this special treat.  He even let me keep my spoon when I was done! 

 At the end of the day Kat and I were invited to tag along for a rock climbing adventure!  We had met some friends one night in Girdwood and we dropped the hint that we were interested in rock climbing but didn't know anyone that we could go with.  They were very generous to invite us on their next excursion.  Here Kat had just reached the top of the cliff and was headed back down.

 This is a picture of the whole rock side that we were climbing.  The name of this rock climb is "Party Rock".  Kat picked out this location based on the name.  I must say it was a very nice climb for 2 people that didn't have any outdoor climbing experience.  I was about half way up the wall in this picture.

 When we were finishing up our climbing the sun was also setting.  I remembered to note the sun setting at 9:53 pm!  It is funny how fast the daylight returns.  Even now it is 8:49 pm and still sunny and gorgeous outside.  I may actually have to close my blinds tonight!





On Thursday I loaded up the yukon with the puppet show stage and puppets; as well as snickers for a few things we had on our schedule for the day.  After the puppet show was over Jonathan and I packed up.  I hoped in the yukon and headed to Snickers' appointment with ABC studios!  They filmed Snickers and I in 3-5 minute segments about porcupines.  Snickers was very well behaved.  Mrs. Dorene Lorenz was very lovely to meet and hope to work with her again for future programs.  Mr. Mark Colavecchio was a little nervous around snickers; he was also fun to work with. 

 Once word got out that Snickers was in the building; the crew had to get some pictures as well.

Alright, so you may have wondered what the new addition to the wildlife center is?  Well.....
A BABY MUSK OX!   This summer AWCC has decided to bottle raise any musk ox calves that our female musk ox have.  Because Mukluk, our 2 year musk ox orphan, was bottle raised as a calf we think our calves will do better bottle raised.  They are getting more nutrients through the bottle feedings than they would from their mothers.  This is simply because the nutrients that are normally found up north in the soil where they live naturally are not in the soil this far south.  

Kat and I literally just got back from doing an 8PM bottle feeding.  This little guy is only 3 days old.  He weighs 22 pounds!

 These next 2 photos are by Doug Lindstrand.  He is so dedicated to capturing all the action at the center that he drove down to the center before we opened and took these snapshots as we just moved the calf into his new enclosure. 

After about 10 minutes or so he was really warming up to Jonathan and Doug. 

We are giving this little one 6 bottles a day!

Which means I better go grab some shut eye since I have a midnight AND 4 am feeding next.  I love my job! 

Goodnight Lower 48,
ErIn