Conclusion...

Yes, a whole two weeks. Which were mostly spent unpacking everything in the apartment. And watching the first season of Angel on DVD (we don't have cable yet and won't until fall). There was also a more thorough exploration of town than I'd managed previously - a task that doesn't take particularly long. I think that once I get used to it, I will like Seaforth very much.

So just as I was finally starting to feel like I'd accomplished something with the unpacking, I packed up again (but this time only one suitcase and a couple of small boxes). After a bittersweet goodbye to Aaron, the cat, and the geckos (the snakes came with me since Aaron won't feed them), I drove the 4 hours (including a couple of breaks) to Orillia. I arrived at Jeff and Jenny's late afternoon the day before I was starting work. It was a very cheery welcome and a bubbley Mary-Ellen, a new staff member (aka minion) this year, showed me to my new room (I'm not in the same room as when I worked with SciSnakes). I managed to get a good night's sleep before heading the half hour up the highway to the Muskoka Wildlife Centre the next morning.

Unfortunately Jody and Dale (the co-directors/owners/my bosses) were pretty busy that day, and I spent most of it unpacking and checking the inventory for the gift shop. Jody joked that I was being started on the stuffies before I could work with the real animals. I am working with the real animals now though, and it's a lot of fun. Some very long hours on the road, which aren't so much fun, but overall it's great.

My position is a wildlife interpreter, which means I'm either at the Centre greeting people, answering their questions, and doing "Meet the Creature" presentations, or on the road with our "Speaking of Wildlife" outreach shows. We bring out various animals from the Centre and tell people their stories and more about the species, giving people a chance to see them up close. I also clean enclosures, give the smaller animals their food, water plants, weed, and basically do whatever needs to get done. But mostly I introduce people to the animals.

I think that this will conclude my chronological summary update. I have stories to share and will eventually get them online, but it will take me far too long if I try to do them all in proper order!