Oct 9-10 Busy Weekend!

We are so fortunate to live in an area with so much going on! Heading into the weekend we knew there was much we were going to try to experience, and somehow it all came together...though by Sunday night we were pooped!

Saturday morning began by going to Kids Day for Conservation, sponsored by OSU and offered at no charge to attendees. There were 26 booths for kids to explore animals, trees, electricity, tadpoles, and lots more.

There were blocks of wood that were very porous and the kids got to dip them in bubbles and blow through it like a kazoo. Bottom line: don't make your boat out of this wood!

Here Joshua is a salmon avoiding predators.

The pelts are always just a little on the weird side. Although now that I've seen pelts with and without the head being stuffed, I think I would rather see how the head is supposed to look. The empty skin for the head area is definitely odd, and makes it a little harder for the little guys to identify the animal.

If you use your imagination, you can see a bald eagle where Joshua used to be...

This tent is actually in the shape of a gigantic salmon! After the animal parade the kids all went into the tent and listened to the storyteller tell the story of how the bear lost its tails. (The bear used to have two tails and stuff them with salmon eggs. One day the salmon finally got fed up and tied the tails together behind a tree. The bear finally broke free, but lost its tails in the process, explaining why the bear only has a stump instead of a tail.)

This was Leif's favorite exhibit. This gentleman worked for the power company and his display included a little house with a guy on a (metal!!) ladder, up on his roof attaching an antenna to it. The antenna bumps up to the power lines, and now he's in trouble. On the right was a vehicle that had a fallen power line on it and we learned what to do in case we were ever in that situation. Stay put! You're safe within the vehicle, but the problem comes about if you try to get out and you're touching the vehicle and the ground at the same time. If you have to get out, jump away from the vehicle, but jump safely so you don't fall back onto the vehicle. Joshua liked watching the Jacob's ladder and the hearing the buzz of the electricity! :)

Next were the Fire Station Open Houses! Two stations in town held an open house, with different activities at each. The first we attended was the downtown station on Harrison. Here you see Big Bird and Cookie Monster learning how to Stop, Drop and Roll.

Go Joshua! Way to slide down that pole!

It's Sparky the Fire Dog! Yeah!

Ok, this demonstration was pretty dramatic to watch, and is obviously traumatic for anyone who has ever experienced being in a car while the "jaws of life" are ripping apart said car. It was amazing yet sobering at the same time. The process took just over 12 minutes, and for full effect they had a firefighter in the vehicle pretending to be injured. Once the roof was removed, the "injured" firefighter was rescued and transported to the awaiting ambulance.

They had a little obstacle course where the kids took some hose through a tunnel and rescued a big teddy bear. Joshua wasn't the fasted firefighter, but he was thorough!

This is at the Lewisburg Station. Here we had much more physical activities. Above is Joshua (and Daddy!) putting out a pretend fire with a real fire hose.

We also got to watch a helicopter take off. I had no idea how incredibly loud helicopters are! When it arrived earlier they didn't close the the doors and it was a sheer wind tunnel with thunderous noise. Even with the doors shut you could still feel the hammering of the wind pushing against them.

This picture is only here because I thought it was cool how the camera picked up the reflective bands on the uniforms. We talked with Joshua about how this helps the firefighters be seen even when it's dark.

See the little charred car in the background? We missed that demonstration, but apparently they had a good little car-be-que going.

Aww...cute picture of Joshua sitting in yet another fire truck. But wait! What's this?

Wait a minute! Is that him waving good-bye??

And the fire truck pulling away? Yes!! Joshua got to ride on a fire truck! And was he THRILLED about that!

And that was just Saturday!

Sunday morning started with a 5K for the 20th Annual Great Pumpkin Run. I jogged it (and walked it too, to be honest), and Leif pushed the stroller. Pictured is our friend, Stephanie. This was Leif's second 5K and my third. Woo hoo!!

That afternoon we headed to Chintimini Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. The Center is not set up to accommodate visitors on a regular basis, but they host programs every couple months and have an open house once or twice a year. Here is a screech owl with a lost eye. Normally, even with a lost eye (which is apparently fairly common for screech owls), they would help heal the injury and prepare the raptor for release, but whatever caused the injury also affected the owl's sense of balance so he is not able to be released. He remains at Chintimini as a permanent resident.

"Big Al" was definitely a highlight of the day! He is not a resident of Chintimini, but actually a part of Brad's World Reptiles. There were other visitors from Brad's World, including a blue-tongued skink and some giant hissing cockroaches, but honestly - do you think Joshua looked past this alligator to see anything else?

Big Al was formerly adopted as a pet and is very docile. Apparently whoever adopted him figured out that alligators don't exactly make the best pets, so this 21-year-old, 4 1/2 foot alligator is now a permanent resident of Brad's World and occasionally goes on little trips like this one. Lucky us!

"You want me to do WHAT with these gloves and this owl pellet???"

Aww...it's the tiniest pine cone owl you can imagine...with big ole' eyes and orange feathers. :)

The other very exciting event here was the raptor release. Here you see a Great Horned owl, Tskili, a permanent resident of Chintimini. She recently had had the opportunity to act as a "foster" owl to another, younger Great Horned owl that had been treated and was scheduled for release today.

The Great Horned owl scheduled for release today (who was unnamed; they don't name any animal that can be treated and returned to its native environment) is actually beneath the white sheet here since he is still timid of humans - which, of course, is ideal for an animal who must return to the wild and survive. He wasn't uncovered until just before he was released.

The picture above was taken right after the release and what's interesting about it is Tskili's reaction. If you look closely, you can see that she's quite intently watching the trees, which happens to be exactly where her "foster" son had flown.

Below is a short video of the release.