a hard day's work

had a tough day at work yesterday. we have lost 4 of last year's juveniles plus a few other birds, so had to fly around and try and pick up a signal from their transmitter. this involved spending 4 hours in a helicopter, flying around half of fiordland radio tracking whio!!! a tough job but somebody has to do it. ended up getting signals for at least 2 of the 4.

trying to organise going to uni stuff over the weekend. all that boring stuff like student allowances and community services cards and the such like. sounds like joesy has found us a house which will make things a bit easier. found out that i didn't get a scholarship that i applied for because my GPA wasn't good enough. not sure how you get better than straight A's but apparently it's possible.

bumblebee

cabbage white butterflies about to do the dirty

secretarial school

if i hadn't been the nerd that i am, i think that i would have made a damn fine secretary. spent all day answering the boss' phone and politely answering questions, chasing up reports, writing reports and not managing to get any of my own work done because he had taken the day off. on the bright side, the keas appear to have moved on to greener pastures, so fewer irate fishermen on the phone. and it looks like i've got another spot on the news lined up - squid the tv star.

it's been a long week

this has been one of those hectic weeks - good interspersed with the tedious and stressful. had friends from georgia visiting for a few days which was lots of fun. got them out in the sheep yards which they appeared to enjoy way too much. few late nights which lead to non-functioning later in the week. spent wednesday in at milford trying to placate some fishermen whose new cars and boats are being detroyed by 20 juvenile keas. as a general rule, fishermen tend to be somewhat anti-doc, so it was a bit of a pr nightmare, not helped by the fact that i didn't actually have any helpful suggestions for what they could do. this has escalated to the point where i had to call the cops today because of reports that someone was trying to shoot some of the birds!! looks like we might end up having to relocate the birds somewhere else which could be interesting as i will be the sole member of the bio team in the office next and bugger if i know how i will catch 20 keas by myself. fun and games.

on the bright side, my new camera lense arrived. haven't had a chance to try it out properly yet but will post pics when i do :o)

Austrolestes colensonis

Xanthocnemis zealandica

fantail out the bathroom window

kites, bikes and other things

been a weekend of doing things: made some progress on the kite; actually rode my bike for the first time since about november; used the rowing machine (all with the gammy knee which now allows such things); made a curry; took photos of random things around the garden; went to the movies; read 3 books, including one about the intricacies of punctation (hence the abundance of semi-colons).

peace

the parents are away (together) and i have the house to myself (except for the wicked almost ex step-mother who keeps hanging around looking for symapthy). party on wilderness road!! well - more like food with chilli and garlic and mushrooms. which i guess is like a party for the taste buds.

booked myself a north island holiday for easter - wedding party in wellington and then playing around hamilton for a few days. been awhile since i had a holiday (except for january but that was kind of an injury-enforced holiday). this one, however, will be injury-free (hopefully)

damsefly in the garden

henry the tuatara

titi on foveaux strait

weka vs. cam

hee hee

during a brief ad break this afternoon, i found a wonderful depiction of my accident courtesy of dear cam. tis quite fitting.

soap operas

my family could have its own tv show. a sort-of comedy soap opera, complete with marriage break ups and reconciliations, medical dramas - you name it, it has happened to us.

This week's episodes have featured my stepmother deciding that she didn't want to buy the farm off dad on tues, organising everything to buy the farm on wednesday, then turning up at our house last night having decided to leave the new boyfriend and, therefore, probably not buying the farm after all. Meanwhile, Dad & I started packing and moving stuff to the other house. I await tonight's cliffhanger episode with bated breath. The trilers for next week suggest that Dad will have to quit his job that starts on tuesday because sue won't be able to run the farm in her current fucked mental state. Thus, pissing off my mother no end who is both the boss and the possible new love interest. Meanwhile, I will be stuck at home because i can't run away on a gammy leg.

Stay tuned for more exciting updates of ... Wilderness Road