We're Sick Like Animals.

So I’m really glad that there is nobody that I have any interest in at the zoo because I’ve decided that I look like a boy when I go to work. I throw my hair up in some sort of messy bun because my hair just gets messed up anyway. I put some make up on, but not too much because it rains some times and my mascara isn’t waterproof. I have to wear these baggy khakis and this huge baggy shirt and these macho work boots. I look like a boy. It sucks. I want to be cute and girly looking. Not macho looking. Sighhh.

Work was okay today. I was by myself a lot. Which would be kind of cool if it was me doing cool things. I was by myself... picking up rubbish. They think ‘trash’ is a silly word too. Haha. I helped Justine changed waters all over the zoo as well. I also helped Erin feed all the birds and change their waters. I picked up wallaby feet. Yeah that sounds weird. There is this stump out near our little staff place. It has a huge cleaver stuck in it. It’s where Rob and Adam chop up dead wallabies and roos for the Devils and Dogs. When they chop them up, they chop off the tails and the feet. So there was a ton of wallaby feet and tails out near the stump. I got the thrilling job of picking them all up. I felt like a weirdo walking around picking chopped off feet up. It wasn’t gross though. I’m surprised at the stuff that hasn’t been grossing me out. I have watched the wallaby chopping up twice now. Doesn’t even phase me. They even have to like crack their ribs open and stuff to get better cuts, so you hear that sickening little crack. Oh they also cut it down the middle, so you see the spine cut in half. Cool, yeah? Haha. You know what else should probably gross me out, but doesn’t really? They have these little dead chicks that they feed to lots of things. I think I mentioned it before because I was feeding it to a quoll when it bit my finger. Anyway, they feed some to the gators. Rob told me to got get some chicks from the meat fridge which is in the staff place and on the other side of the park from the gator enclosure. Aaron had the bucket of dead chicks already and so I had to stop him and get some chicks. I had to pick up four of them by the legs and walk around with little dead chicks in my hands. Sickkk. But yeah, didn’t gross me out. It was mostly just a little sad. They look pathetic and sad and dead. The gator is real cute. I wouldn’t want to be near that mouth though.. yeesh.

So they have breeding devils in pens that aren’t on display for the zoo visitors. Today Rob and Adam took Justine and I to go with them to move some male devils in with some female devils. There was lots of innuendo thrown around by Rob and Adam. It’s weird hearing older guys say dirty jokes and stuff. Ha. So they had this big net that they had to catch the devils in to put them in the same pen as one of the other devils. So there are these two guys running around devil enclosures trying to capture them. These devils were practically chewing threw the net. It was funny. Rob kept catching one of them in the net, but then it would escape and they would have to re catch it. Anyway the devils mostly just fought each other and screamed at each other once they were in the same pen. Devils’ screams are a bit creepy. I wouldn’t want to hear it near my at night in the bush or something. Because there were two empty pens now where the males had been, Justine and I had to go into them and pick up poo and change waters and stuff. Then Adam said we could go into the baby devil pen to pick up poo and change their water. We were about to hop in when Justine goes, “Hey.. is that a devil up in the tree..??” We all looked up and a baby devil was up in a tree clinging on for dear life. It was so cute. It had somehow gotten into the pen where one of the breeding couples were so it climbed up a tree to escape from them. Baby devils are real good at climbing trees, but they lose that ability when they get older. So Adam had to coax the poor thing down from the tree, and toss him in the baby devil pen. These pens gates are higher so they are harder to jump over, plus they hurt my hands when I jump over. Justine is like five foot three so she couldn’t even jump over. Hahah. It was so funny. She had to use a bucket to get over, but then she couldn’t reach her bucket on the other side, so I had to hop over and get it for her. So funny. Anyway, I was nervous about being in the baby devil pen because I didn’t want to get bit. They have monster bites! One of them ran at me, but turned away a few feet away. Other than that, it was totally fine. Their enclosure had TONS of huge spider webs, complete with large spiders. I kept almost running into them. I’m developing a huuuuuuge distaste for spiders.

So there are this black and yellow cockatoo birds (Yes, I do think of the Black and Yellow song every time I walk by them). One of them makes this weird almost giggling noise all the time. Erin told me cockatoos never make noises like that, and it’s only one of them that does it. He’s really silly. He’s also really pretty. If I had a bird, I would love to have one of these guys. They are all black except a little yellow on their heads and the complete underside of their tails is yellow. They fan out their tails some times. It’s cool. There’s also another bird, I think it’s a Lorikeet, and it wolf whistles at you. It’s fun. Haha. All the birds are super loud and chatty. It’s so fun. There are Sun Conures and they screech really loudly. I walk by them every morning and they definitely help me wake up.

I got to paint today! I really want to go to Color Me Mine. I haven’t been in a long time, and I miss it. Rob and I painted some handrails. Haha. I know, I know. Thrilling. It wasn’t too bad though. I enjoyed it. Is it weird that I kind of like the smell of paint??

Yeah not too much happened today. It was a really chill day. Not too many people were at the zoo, and not too much needed to get done.

I swept out the reptile house. Adam came in to change their waters. We have some poisonous snakes, and he was like, “Okay, if he gets out make sure he doesn’t bite you. You’ll die.” Ha. That’s not scary at all..

Oh oh ohhhh. There are these three little wallabies that are in this big enclosure with a bunch of chickens. Their names are Harrison, Flora, and Josephine. I think they are all babies. I had only ever seen Harrison before. He’s adorable. Whenever you go into that enclosure he comes over to the door to greet you. He’s like a dog. I was giving him a scratch and he licked me. It made me so happy. Haha. I saw Flora and Josephine for the first time today! They are both really really little, especially Flora. She hangs out in this little like beanie. Hah. She actually just fits into a beanie. How crazy is that?? She’s ADORABLE.

I learned that the Australian Dogs names are Red and White, because one is reddish and one is white ish. Clever eh? Ha. Also, Ranger, Rob’s dog, is a kelpie? A silver kelpie. I guess they are really rare. I REALLY want one. He’s SO cute. The Aussie Dogs are apparently half kelpie, half dingo. So Ranger and the Aussie Dogs look a little similar.

Yeahhhhhh. I think that’s about all that happened today.