another new addition....

The musk ox calves are getting big!  they are finally out for the public to see and they are loving the attention.  I also had a very important person visit me a few weeks ago.  Devin, my boyfriend, was just enjoying getting to feed these guys.

Chugach and Wrangle must weigh almost 60 pounds now!



We are also seeing some of their personalities come out.  wrangle seems to be the more personal one that tries to nurse off of everyone.  Chugach will definitely be the more aggressive one.











The whole week Devin was visiting the rain was pouring...but we still made the best of it.  We went on the 26 Glacier Cruise that goes out of Whittier.

 I believe this glacier behind us is called "Surprise Glacier".  Parts of the bay had so much ice that we actually couldn't get to some of the glaciers.

 So If you remember the ball that I gave to mukluk, a musk oxen, it's back!  I introduced it to this summers calves and they loved it!!!





ok so finally to the reason of this blog's title...we have a fox kit!  Our local vet examined her and determined her to be about 3 months old.  We first named her Brooks to go with the alaskan mountain range theme.  however, then Scott mentioned maybe naming her Jade.....we immediately liked that.  So we landed on Jade brooks.  So another JB has been added to the center.

 Today we introduced Jade to her new enclosure for now.  We used our baby gates to make a square enclosure in our intern kitchen.

                          We added toys, towels for chewing, and bags for her to go through.

http://youtu.be/aeEFHT-OU28


Goodnight Lower 48,
ErIn

Summer is back!

ahhhh the birds are back, the moose are out, and we can pack up our heavy winter clothing because summer is here to stay.... for a few months at least.  I have started the hiking season right away by hiking with a good friend of mine named MT.  On saturday, we hiked a trail called"Turnagain Arm".  It was a total of about 7 miles round trip and my legs are still feeling it!

Along the way there are educational signs that teach you about the landscape.  I might know a lot of facts about bears; however, plants are not really my forte.

This is a photo of an Alaskan Paper Birch Tree.  It bark peels right off and looks like paper.  It is also a good fire starter if your camping and need to get a fire going.

The morning started out a little cloudy and not very colorful but by the end of the hike....

It was gorgeous!  If you look closely you can see the Seward Highway on the left side.  

Ok back to the animals....

The calves are getting so big!  They are already at 5 bottles a day now!  They start at 6 bottles a day when they are first born.

This little guy is named Kenai.  He is the middle aged calf and is the smallest.  

                                                Photo by: Mary Maddux

It has been the busiest time working at the center for everyone.  We are getting our spring cleaning finished and ready for some more employees.  A few gift store workers have already arrived.  We also moved into the new intern bunkhouse.  Pictures of our new home will be posted in next blog.

Even Teddy, the yearling, has been enjoying sunbathing in his hay!

Photo by:Doug Lindstrand

I am also currently dog sitting.  When I am not busy at work I am busy keeping 2 Brittany's (breed of dogs) occupied.  Yesterday, we did a quick walk up to virgin Creek.  I would say they enjoyed this little adventure.

The trail was still very icy; but that didn't stop these dogs.





Today, after work, I some how made it to yet another hike.  A few friends and I went about 1/3 of the way up Bird Ridge Trail before we decided that was enough for us.  I was ready for dinner!

Well after a very exhausting day I am in bed blogging and I am going to bring this to a close.  I have 2 dogs laying next to me and I just can't stay awake any longer.

Goodnight Lower 48,
ErIn

baBIES, BABIES, bABieS!!!

It's getting to be that time of year again....babies!  Bison calves are expected any day now.  We had to do a bit of bison wrangling last week after work.  Last year's youngest calf has been limping a bit so we decided to pull him from the herd so we could better examine him.  This first pic was before Scott and I ran into the herd to grab the calf.  Mike Miller is driving the tractor so he could feed the grain out to separate the herd.

 ok it's go time!  Let's go get this bison!

 ok.....that calf was faster than we thought.....he is back in the herd now what?

In the end the calf was captured and was started on a round of penicillin to get his abscess taking care of.  We have been calling him "Rocky".  

 Later, in the week we snow machined out to Spencer Glacier.  It was so cool to be on a lake I went kayaking on last summer.  Kara in the first picture is a returning intern from last summer.  Kara plans on staying in Alaska more than just a summer. :)







Kara, Sarah, and I all went out to the glacier.  once we returned; Sarah and I went out a second time with Jeremy, another co-worker.

Now I can explain the title of this blog.  We have musk ox calves!

 Ok, Ok, I know this is a pink shoestring hanging around this calf, but he is a boy.  In fact, they both are.  We named them Chugach and Kenai is the younger one in the back.  They are named after alaskan mountain ranges.

 On another note; we had a photo shoot using some of our animals.  Roxy, the clothing brand for girls, had some models that they wanted to get pictures of with our animals.  it is not a very close photo but if you look hard enough you might see a little fur ball on the log with the model.  any guesses which critter it was?

Snickers!  He did so well!  In the end they got all the pictures they had hoped for.




We still had the school programs going as well.  On wednesday Sarah and I went to Chugiak Elementary with Snickers.  We then went to another school in anchorage to do another 2 programs on bones and Fur.  Whew!  This has been a busy few weeks!

 So after all that serious work I felt like pulling a prank on someone.  What do you do when you have 133 balloons that need a home?  You fill your room mates room up with them of course!

no need to explain the outcome....

 Oh but just when we thought the calves were done arriving with our musk ox a third one was born!  This little guy, and yes I said it was a boy, his name is Wrangle.  So the 5 streak male calves continues with our Musk Ox.









I ended my busy week with Keeper for a day on Saturday.  We had a group of 6 kids ranging from 4rth-6th grade.  They came ready to work.  we made more paper maches for snickers, bear popsicles, and even taped up hay bales.  Well that sounds like a productive day to end on.

Goodnight Lower 48,
Erin

Keeper for a Day

We couldn't have asked for a better day than to show 11 kids around the center what we do on a daily basis.

The age of the kids ranged from 3yrs-7yrs.  This year the size of the group doubled from last year!  I am excited that word is getting about about all of our programs.  After we walked the kids out to the brown bears and did a bit of training; we went to the barn and did a couple of different crafts.

One of the crafts that we did with the kids was make paper maches.  They were making these for our porcupine snickers.  It was really messy!  Good thing it was just flour and water!

DID I MENTION THAT IT WAS VERY MESSY!

 We also made bear pops.  We layed a variety of treats on the table and the kids would make their own bear popsicles.  We then put them in the freezer and will use these to feed to our Black bears through out the week.   We had celery, crackers, dog food, peanut butter, honey, peanuts, carrots, and then topped the mixtures off with snapple juice.   mmmmmmm those black bear are going to love these goodies.

 Today was an awesome day to spot Bald Eagles around our center.  I think we counted at least 5 or 6 different eagles.  This juvenile flew in and landed just above a mature Bald Eagle.  I don't think the adult eagle really appreciated his space being invaded by this younger eagle.

 Later, once the center was closed, the sun was still out and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to catch some more photos.  I rarely get to photo eagles perched this close together.  they were hanging around the brown bear enclosure hoping to catch some scraps.














Even the wood bison were photogenic today.  Usually when I approach them this close they run off.  They must have been thinking I was going to feed them or something.  This young female was getting closer and closer.  Notice her horns....she has her left one really worn down.  It is possible for bison to lose a horn.  However, since horns are permanent they do not grow them back if they lose them.

Tomorrow is my day off and I don't know what I am going to do.  If the weather stays beautiful like this I might just have to go on an adventure!

Goodnight Lower 48,
ErIn

SURPRISE! It's payback!

Well, in the 2 years that I have now lived in Alaska my mom has surprised me twice with a visit.  It was time to pay her back!  Because I have such a wonderful boyfriend, that also happens to be a pilot, we were able to plan a surprise visit to Texas.  I must also add that I have great friends in Alaska that were able to cover my shifts in order to allow me 2 extra days in texas.

one thing that I am always excited about is to see my dogs as well.
low Rider AKA Rider is the bigger dog.  both of our dogs are rescue dogs.  Rider was one of those dogs that you walk into Petsmart not having a clue you are going to leave with a dog from the pound.
Delilah, the miniature dachshund, was found by a dumpster when I was in college in Louisiana.

Devin and I also love being able to take them for a walk without having to worry about snow....or an eagle taking Delilah (hint of sarcasm).

 One of my favorite parts about flying home was visiting my great  grandmother.  Yeah you read it right, my nana is 95 years old and still a spit fire.

                                                      I also visited my papa, Grandfather.
                                                               love you most Papa!

Well, sadly it was eventually time to return back to Alaska.  We are getting prepared for our easter event.  Sarah boiled 2 dozen eggs and after work we had fun dying them.

This year we got a bit more creative than just dying them simple colors.  We used wax crayons, duct tape, and even vegetable oil to get all kinds of effects.

I think I may have to buy another dozen tonight.  I still haven't quite got my Easter egg dying itch fulfilled.

Hmmmm, I may have to google some more ways to dye them.

Any suggestions?

Goodnight Lower 48,

ErIn

Devin's Here!

Well even though it has been a few weeks since his visit I haven't blogged in over a month!  And it isn't even summer yet when things really get busy!  My boyfriend, Devin, visited me in Alaska on a few of his days off.  he had never been further south than Anchorage so I really wanted to give him an alaskan experience.  What better way than feeding a moose!

I was also dog sitting two Brittany's at the time.  Devin and I went snowshoeing while walking them
one day.  It was a first for both of us.  This dog is named "Cream".

And of course Devin had to meet the famous "snickers"!

Earlier in the week a few other interns decided to build an igloo.  Perfect timing!  Even though it is collapsed now it was still fun to say we got to sit in an igloo in Alaska.

Snowshoeing was fun, but Devin soon learned that there can be some hidden holes in the snow.  I wouldn't dare post the picture showing Devin stuck in the hole.....hehe.










This was the best picture I was able to get of the two brittanys.  "Cream is the younger one on the left.   "Brandy Rose" is the mother of "Cream".  

Cream was having a little bit of fun....what do you think?

Doug Lindstrand snapped some great photos of our 2 youngest musk ox playing around on March 16th.  Mukluk and Walter are getting along great.


Photo Courtesy of Doug Lindstrand

Well I will end this blog on one last note.  Notice anything that's not supposed to be in this picture?

If you look closely you night see a different type of deer poking her head out from behind a tree.

Leia, one of our Sitka Black Tailed Deer, jumped the fence into the elk enclosure!  At least she was getting along well with the elk.  I wonder how many people thought they were looking at a baby elk that day?

Goodnight Lower 48,
ErIn

Portage’s Prickly Prognosticator

Happy Groundhog Day....alaskan style!

 Even though it's been a week I guess it's better late than never.  Last saturday we had our first annual Groundhog Day with Snickers the porcupine.  What was the outcome you ask?  snickers determined that there is not going to be 6 more weeks of winter.  He also said that even if he did see his shadow he wouldn't tell us; he is ready for summer!

photo courtesy of Doug Lindstrand

Sarah and I did the presentation for about 25 people.  Even though that doesn't seem like a high number; we were quite happy with the turnout considering it was the first annual AWCC groundhog day.  Afterwards, we moved the presentation to our barn where we had coffee and hot chocolate to warm up with.
                                                                        Photo courtesy of Doug Lindstrand

photo courtesy of Doug Lindstrand

Our Sitka Black Tailed deer are sure growing up fast.  Leia, the female, deer was enjoying the sunshine we had on 2/9.  

                                   Solo, the male, wanted to see if I had any treats for him.

On my day off today it was pretty crummy weather.  MT, a friend of mine, and I hoped in my car and drove to portage lake to checkout the weather there.  it was even worse, but we still got a quick video to show the viewers how bad it was.  

sorry it's a short blog but not too much going on at the center right now.  Well, I need to go make some playdo now for the upcoming porcupine presentations.