My training with Nacho, our Red-Legged Seriema, is going really well! Aside from some particular errors (don't get me started), she is going into her crate immediately upon opening the door (her cue), and she stays in there calmly. She is having issues leaving immediately because she thinks, "Hey, I'm being reinforced in the crate!", but we're working on that. Next up is to try carrying her. SO EXCITING (this is my dream).
I learned one of my favorite people in my department is leaving for a different position :( She's going to still be at the aquarium, which I'm happy about, but it will still be different without her. A little harder (again, don't get me started). But I'll make it. This is what I want to do, I won't be run off so easily. Anyway, because she's leaving I might be able to start working with her animal she was training, Mr. Wendel the Southern Tamandua!
Southern Tamanduas have HUGE claws on their front paws for ripping open the earth to find ants and other social insects, but also to protect themselves if they feel threatened. Sooo I need him to get used to my scent first before I really start working with him, so he won't try to attack me, but so far it's been good. I've been taking him on walks with his trainer and feeding him juice to associate my smell with something positive, and he's never acted defensively when I've been near him, even when I touch his little nose! So cuuuuteeeee!!!
My other training DREAMS are to train our Eurasian Eagle Owl to be in shows again (he wads in shows ONCE), so I can handle him and basically be in love because I have always wanted to work with a Eurasian. Also to work with our Crested Cara-Cara because he is beautiful and adorable and makes little grunts.
I'm FINALLY done petsitting for my coworker so it's been nice to just hang out at my own house with my own birds instead of another couple of slightly crazy animals. Though I did get to have some fun times, like going on birding walks (where I saw Scissor-Tailed Flycatchers and Purple Gallinules!) with Argos and cuddling the cats.
So that was fun, but I know that having a dog at this point in time is definitely not for me. An important lesson to learn.
In the past week, I've been to an amazing 80s cover band called The Spazmatics which was SO FUN! Like, SO FUN. I went with my friend Roxie and we stood right up front, swooned when the singers looked at us, and I sang and danced to EVERY. SONG.
Since we were so close, we made eye contact with the band OFTEN and sometimes they sang to us!
I went to trivia night at one of my favorite bars and we advanced from 11th place to 7th! YAY!! One of the categories was all about rabbits in honor of Easter and we KILLED IT. Get several animal people together and their intensity is overwhelming as soon as trivia stops talking about geography and starts asking the important questions, like, "what is the word for an animal that is active at dawn and dusk?" We all FREAKED. OUT. Also when answers were being read, we basically barked and howled for every correct answer we got.
We went to Whiskey River again and some guys taught me how to dance! With the twirls and everything! I'll become a two-stepper, yet. My favorite part of Whiskey River is learning line dances. I've learned a couple and I feel almost like a real Texan now. Whiskey River, while semi-weird, is still pretty great due to its cheap drinks. Actually, most of Corpus has cheap drinks!
Tonight I had movie night with Elise and Laura, which was super nice. I love going out, but it's also amazing to be able to just chill with peeps in comfy clothes and eat candy in front of the TV.
Tomorrow we are throwing an ORPHAN EASTER party!! A bunch of us who don't have family here are bringing food items to Stewie's house and are going to feast, chill in the hot tub, play volleyball, and have an awesome Easter Sunday.
Now time for bed; I'm supes tired. Nighty night, fireflies.
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