Day 25 - It's Ian's birthday!

Day 25.

I started the day helping Valerie let the Lions out. First we woke them up, and they all seemed very tired! Tau's eyes kept closing, even though he was sitting up; Keeno went to lay back down after we said hello to him; Natasha & Sarabi were both still laying down. :) For enrichment, we put out pine tree branches. I guess they'd had those in their rooms overnight a couple days previous. So Valerie put some in "Tree Hut Pen" for Keeno & Natasha; and I put some in "Right Berm Pen" for Tau & Sarabi. After we'd let them out, and as we were driving away, we saw Sarabi running across her yard with the big pine tree branch in her mouth! She loved it! ^_^

Next, I went into Brown Bear hut by myself to let the bears out. Victor took his sweet time to cross through the tunnel into his own yard- the girls had dug a cave in the ground, and he was very interested in it! He kept going in and also digging a little bit. It was a pretty deep cave too, I couldn't see him at all when he was in it! Once the boys crossed over and the girls were let out, Angela & I cleaned the hut. It was actually pretty neat today! Sometimes their food is scattered all around and squished into the floor, but today that was not the case! whew!

We ran a few errands like doing dishes, pitting peaches, and throwing some items out to the Black Bears for enrichment (beef jerky!). We went to lunch together after that, and it was just the two of us. :) Angela had to go to a meeting after that, and I went off to Bear Tower to give the volunteer there a break. I stayed there for about 30 min. It was SO HOT today, that the Bear Tower was such a nice break for me! I took my boots and my socks off and sat right in front of the fan and drank my icy water! AHHhhhh... While I was there, the Bison herd moved to the hill near me and surrounded the Brown Bear exhibit! I guess they know they are safe. While the herd was moving a baby Bison was trying to nurse, but his mama kept moving. It was cute- don't worry, he finally succeeded. :)

After Bear Tower I went to Cheetah Lodge to give someone else a break, for an hour this time! YAYYY! Took my boots off again and pointed the fan straight at my head! My new cell phone gets good reception in the park, so I was able to video chat with Daddy, Ian, and Alex! Alex didn't pay too much attention to me. He was riding his bike in the garage and I guess he just wanted me to watch him. haha.

When the person came back to Cheetah Lodge, I left to go do "Big Bear" encounter ON MY OWN! There were only two people on it, so it wasn't so bad. It also meant they each got more apples to throw to the bears, which they enjoyed. I think I spoke pretty well, and did the training part well too. There were some quiet moments, but not bad. I need to learn to think of more facts to say to fill the time more though. Oh well- that was actually my first presentation on my own, so overall it was fine. A Lion 101 encounter was right after this, so I had to scramble to meet Angela over at Lions. I did the distracting part, as usual. :) Tau was actually so hot he didn't want to come down at first, but after a while he got jealous that Sarabi was getting treats. The family was very nice too- seemed very interested in the Lions and the facts that Angela was telling them. Very nice.

The end of the day was at hand, so we headed to Brown Bear hut to set up their dinners. We had a little time to move slower- last car had not gone through yet and none of the animals can be put to bed until the car has passed their area. Once they finished the Lion section, we went to let the Lions in. Angela had me do all of the guillotine doorways. Those things are hard to pull down! whew! When we finished there, we only had to fill in what we did on a daily report and were done! The other people put the Brown Bears away and closed the gates, so Angela & I got to leave early today! Yay!

I took a cool shower and can relax now...

Bye for now...

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my brother, IAN! Love you!