Continued, as promised...

*** Note to Metamorphosis (ie. blog) readers: there is now a list of links to my Facebook photo albums on the side bar. I'll add links to any relevant albums with each entry. Feel free to browse. ***

Of course I accepted the interview, even though it really threw me off since I'd put myself into a frame of mind that was suitable for volunteering around Seaforth while searching for a job in June. I had to schedule the interview for after I got back from Pelee Island though. Yes, I finally found a year where I was able to go on the annual May long weekend trip organized by Jeff (of Sciensational Sssnakes!! fame)! And in my brilliance I made the interview for the Tuesday afternoon, which wouldn't give me any time to recover, instead of Wednesday, but oh well.

So, Pelee Island… was very, very fun! Many members of the Wildlife Club, former SciSnakes staff, and other random herp enthusiasts were in attendance. The weekend began very, very early on Saturday morning, when Kyle and Jen (of the Wildlife Club) picked up a sleepy Christa from her apartment and 5:45am (when she hadn't gone to bed until well after midnight). We then headed over to Joe and Amelia's, only to discover a note on the front door saying they were too tired from volunteering with moose all week to go on the trip! After briefly considering going in and dragging them to the car, we began the long (~3hr) journey to the ferry while they slept in. At the ferry we met up with the rest of the group and off we went to the island!

We did a lot of volunteer work, like digging a garden for the bird observatory and carrying very large, heavy parts of a shelter for the banding station along a long, muddy trail through the forest, and pulling up/cutting down dogwood to make nesting piles for blue racers. For those who don't know, blue racers are an endangered species of snake and the only place to find them in Ontario is on Pelee Island. This is one of the main reasons I was so keen to go on the trip. The island is also one of the only places to see the Lake Erie Watersnake, which is either a unique subspecies of the watersnake, or just a pretty colour morph of the very common Northern Watersnake. For now they're a subspecies, but the debate has not been settled.

We encountered many snakes over the weekend, including fox snakes, brown snakes, garter snakes, melanistic garters (ie. all black garter snakes), Lake Erie watersnakes, and yes, the blue racer! For a while I thought I'd be going home without seeing one, but Monday afternoon was lucky! It made me very, very happy. They are a truly gorgeous snake and more than deserving of our continued efforts to protect them.

And what weekend trip would be complete without some drunken craziness? When I get back to a faster internet connection, I'll be uploading a Pelee Island photo album, and then everyone will be able to see the football that was made from a pop bottle, weeds, and duct tape. I actually scored touchdowns too! And I do not (normally) play football. All in all, it was a great weekend, even if I was totally exhausted when I got back to Guelph.

*** Update: Pelee Island 2007 Photo Album ***

Lianne had been staying at my apartment over the weekend to look after Hannah. There had been some people through to look at the apartment and I'd left a note for them asking that they make sure the cat didn't out. I'd left it on the back of the door in case I needed it again. Later, Lianne indignantly told me that she couldn't believe I'd felt that it was necessary to warn her to keep the cat from getting out. I gently explained that the note had not been aimed at her and she calmed down.

Monday night after I got home, my Mom drove me and my sister to Mississauga so I could borrow the car to get to my interview the next day. Lianne decided to keep me company on the trip and was forced to listen to me practicing my hognose talk over and over again so I'd be ready. But in return, I paid her admission to the Centre so she could look around while I had my interview. Long story short, I got the job and was absolutely thrilled.

In what suddenly seemed an incredibly short time, moving day arrived. There was still a ton to do since I'd been the only one at the apartment to pack. Aaron had of course driven to Guelph several times to help, but even his added efforts had barely made a dent. Fortunately we both have wonderful families and friends who were willing to lend their time and energy to our moving day cause. Thank you!

16 ft cube vans are fun. And useful. Unfortunately we couldn't get one until late in the afternoon, which meant we didn't make it to Seaforth until about 8pm. We carried things up to the apartment as quickly as possible, since there's almost zero soundproofing and we didn't want to disturb anyone. The poor cat was very distressed by all the commotion and being shut up in the bedroom, a cat carrier and then a new bedroom for most of the day, and then by all "her" stuff being piled haphazardly all over the place. However, she perked up considerably when I got the geckos set up. It was the absolute cutest thing. She spotted them, and then sat herself down right next to the tank where she could keep an eye on them. The geckos are pretty much Hannah's pets at this point (except that she never feeds or cleans them) and she spends much of her days staring at them and running her head into the glass trying to catch them. They don't seem to mind, and in fact they seem to enjoy taunting her by strutting around as she tries in vain to catch them through the glass. It was still pretty amazing to see how much calmer Hannah became the second she saw that the geckos were in the new apartment.

The next day Aaron drove me back to Guelph, since my contract at the lab wasn't up yet. Since the apartment was completely empty, I stayed with my grandparents. It was really nice having Grandma cooked meals that I didn't have to worry about preparing. Thank you Grandma! And thank you to Grandpa for helping me to find a car.

Yes, you read that right. I needed a car. There was no way I could work at the Centre, which is located on Hwy 11 north of Orillia, without a vehicle to get me to there. And there was also no way I'd survive in small-town Seaforth without a car to get to other places. So Grandpa took me out to the dealership, where he knows everybody, and we found me a car. Not necessarily the most perfect car, but people on a strict timeline can't be picky. I'm quite happy with it though. A little black 4-door Pontiac Wave (basically the Chevy Aveo). Oh, and did I mention I can't afford a car but am somehow paying for it anyway? Let's just say it will be a while before I own more of my car than the bank does.

At the end of May, when my contract was finished, I finally joined Aaron in Seaforth. For a whole two weeks!

To be continued yet again because I need to go home and the entry is getting really long besides...