The 4th of July Isn't A Holiday...

Thursday, July 4th, 2013

It's just another day off to get stuff done. Somehow I lucked out and the 4th fell on a Thursday (which is part of my "weekend"). Most days I'm so exhausted after work that I only have energy to stuff some food in my mouth and then travel to La-La Land. But alas, I have lots of stuff to do to get ready for school next semester and new programs to prepare for this job!

Even though it's pretty busy, this is definitely my dream job. Literally...I have at least 1 dream per night about Custer State Park. The other day it was about tracking mountain lions and putting collars on them. But really, this job fits me like a glove. It's like a working vacation! Of course there are those days where it's my Friday and I just want to take a nap, but helping visitors enjoy CSP always seems to help.

ANYWAYS! I have lots of things to share because I got so behind. I know, shame on me.

So this would be a hairworm (specifically Nematomorpha) that...wait for it...squirmed its way out of a cricket that somehow got into Willy's tank. Basically it's a parasite that makes the host (a cricket in this case) extremely thirsty. As in seeing-a-mirage-of-a-blossoming-paradise-in-the-desert thirsty. The cricket will commit "suicide" and jump into the water where the worm can continue its different life cycles.

 Here it is in action.

 

Gross.

Now on to better and brighter things! Every Sunday and Tuesday I do the canoeing program at Center Lake, and I've got to watch this gaggle of geese evolve! These little goslings used to just be little fuzzballs, but last time I saw them they could almost pass for adults! These shots were a few weeks ago.

And if you haven't guessed by now, I'm LOVING all the wildlife I get to encounter at this job. However, my favorites have to be the snakes! I just know my mother is cringing at this very moment. We finally let our bull snake (Ash) go. As the critter caretaker, I kept hinting that we didn't have the necessary equipment (including food and enclosure) to take care of him, and a healthy bull snake needs to be out in the wild anyways. He was definitely fun to have for a short while though!

I found this garter snake on my run the other day. It was a delightfully sunny day and he was simply basking on the paved path. The picture may not show it too well, but he was GORGEOUS! Lots of brilliant orange mixed in with the black. If only I could have snagged him so Willy could have a friend in the basement.

I mean, come on...look at that face! He definitely needs a friend. Of course Rusty is across the room, but sometimes she can be a bit standoffish one minute then spastic the next. A little high-strung for Willy here.

Baby corn snake!

Alright, so now it's time to get down to business. Sometimes I get so excited about what happens off the clock that I don't always explain what I actually DO for my job! If you can believe it, we've already been working for 2 MONTHS! Sadly that means that we only have less than 2 months left. All of the naturalist staff has certain programs that we do.

Mine for the first half of the summer were:

"Diggin' Up Fossils" Junior Naturalist Program

"GPS" Patio Talk

"Custer State Park Rocks! Geology of the Black Hills" Evening Program

"Creekside Trail" Guided Hike

Coming up next is:

"Geology Rocks!" Junior Naturalist Program

"Stamp-A-Track" Patio Talk

"Custer Critters: Wildlife of Custer State Park" Evening Program

"Prairie Trail" Guided Hike

I think I'm going to snap some pictures so I can explain them a bit more, so stay tuned for a blog dedicated to those! But along with those we all do more generic programs such as Gold Panning, Hook 'Em and Cook 'Em (or Kill 'Em and Grill 'Em as Dennis thinks we should call it), and my personal favorite...CANOEING! Yes, I get to canoe for my job...and get paid for it. It's pretty awesome.

Also, we get to make fake snow during planning time. Okay, so we don't do that all the time, but Kaitlin found it in her program box and you can't just NOT make snow...

We help each other out quite a bit here. Mostly when we don't want to work on our own programs. An excellent example is when I colored Melissa's dinosaur puzzles for her. She goes around doing a Fossils program at libraries in the area, and she just didn't have enough time to color them. Luckily for her I happen to love coloring!

 So if you haven't guessed, we find time to have fun even when we're working. It helps that we have an AWESOME boss. Julie is so fantastic, but she is a VERY busy woman. I'm lucky if I run into her 3 times a week. Anyways, I was busy 3-hole punching canoeing waivers at Julie's desk when I thought, "I wonder what exactly goes on in this office?"

Julie calmly doing things when we walk into her office.

Julie frantically trying to get things done when we leave.

But really, she's the Wonder Woman of Custer State Park. We all appreciate her so much for all she does!

Another job we have is taking people on a Wildlife Loop Caravan. Sometimes we're lucky enough to run into the bison herd, but we all know that the begging burros are everyone's favorite part.

I was also lucky enough to get the job of doing the special Monday night programs. A few weeks ago it was Reptile Gardens, then Badger Sett Band, then Sylvan Rocks Climbing School, then Joyce Jefferson, and now this week it's Black Hills Raptor Center!

Badger Sett Band put Badger Clark's poetry to music. Badger Clark was known as the
"cowboy poet" and was South Dakota's first Poet Laureate.

Joyce Jefferson as "Aunt Sally", the first non-Native American woman documented
in the Black Hills. She talked (and sang) about what it was like on the Custer Expedition of 1874.

 And now for some fun to end this entry. Everyone, meet Dennis. Dennis is probably one of my favorite naturalists, but don't tell him that. It'll go to his head. He'd be that guy living up in the mountains for years on end. But you know how it seems as if there are opposite-sex versions of everyone? Well, he's one of them. Sometimes that's great, but other times we just want to strangle each other.

This particular non-strangling day he found giant girly sunglasses in the car and drove the whole Wildlife Loop wearing them. It was only when we got back to the Visitor's Center that we realized he drove through a whole herd of bison and visitors like this. Oops. Oh well, they do look pretty FABULOUS!

And although I do enjoy the wildlife, sometimes they can be pretty inconvenient. We have 2 bulls that like to come hang out by the dorms, but that's a problem when you're trapped in your car in the parking lot. Luckily this time we were all inside!

Keep it classy, everyone! Have a great day and a happy morrow!