Getting Back Into the Blogging Game

Holy Cow, it's been a long time. I see the last time I posted, I was in Alaska, working in the fisheries as an observer (field biology). I went out a few times, on different boats, and had pretty differing experiences. The long and short of it is that I saw millions of fish slowly die, and counted & ID'd more fishes than I can recall. The highlights? Saving a large salmon shark and a large octopus, that was in a crab pot that came up.

After that, I got my foot in the door of the PSO field (Protected Species Observer) in the Gulf of Mexico. Again, I went out on a few boats. The final one resulted in an unexpectedly short hitch, due to a broken knee cap and torn...well, everything. I was helicoptered off, after the medic said he wasn't sure what was wrong with my knee, but guessed it was several breaks/tears. Other than that last bit, Gulf of Mexico observing proved to be shockingly boring. I saw birds, jellyfish and trash everyday, but only one dolphin sighting. THE WHOLE TIME.

I had the oil company ship me to FL, to have the surgery there, and spent about 6 months there, with Mom, Tom and my former pets, Buffy and Toby. Once I could drive, I headed home, to MN, where I got back into the observing game, being a part of the coveted 2014 Arctic Project. I did a couple of hitches up there, and saw everything I could have hoped to see- including a polar bear.

I got to spend several days in Kotzebue, which is a village where ships come/go, in Northern Alaska. People sold Mammoth tusks like people in MN sell old mini fridges. The tundra was a little different than I expected- squishy.

In between contracts up there, I did substitute teaching to keep myself busy. After the final contract, I did a couple of long-term subbing assignments, and then got recruited for a FT position, teaching 6th grade math. Flash to 2015/2016, where I'm now a 6th grade math teacher. Bananas, right?! Anyway. That gets us up to date with the basics. I'm starting this blog up again, as in a few days I head back to South Africa, thanks to some very generous benefactors.