Today was Kind of Bittersweet

December 6, 2012April 1, 2017 - Wendy St. John Leave a comment

I had a really good day today (which was nice, because the previous two kinda sucked). A REALLY good day in various different ways. I taught my last two labs of the semester (that was the bittersweet part), I went to hear some music performed in the snazzy new music center on campus, and I was offered a position TAing a brand new science course which sounds SO AMAZING. This will probably ramble a bit, so …

On the one hand, I am quite glad that this semester is nearing an end. It was a good semester, but I always like the idea of winter break. 😀 But, at the same time, I will miss my students! I loved both of my lab sections, and today saying goodbye was a little bit sad. Especially for the evening lab – a bunch of them wanted hugs on the way out the door (yes, these are COLLEGE students), and several of them hung out a while after class was done just to chat about movies and video games and whatnot. They are all so very precious, and I love them, and it’s a bit sad for the semester to be over. But I’m sure I’ll love my students next semester, too.

Which leads me into the other REALLY COOL thing – I’ve been asked to TA a brand new class that has not been offered at our school before. It’s an inter-department course for students in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and math), and it will be project-based. Basically, I’ll help them do individual projects, mostly dealing with a local watershed, and helping them come up with their own original research ideas. A lot of one-on-one interaction and mentoring, which I LOVE. And the idea of helping to shape the lab for this new course is also REALLY REALLY exciting. It means I’m going to have a busy semester (since I’ll still be teaching one lab section of my current course as well), but I think I’m going to really enjoy it. <3 Plus, since I’m really thinking about going into teaching full time when I’m done, this will be FANTASTIC experience for that. WHOO HOO!

Biometry Presentation

December 3, 2012June 27, 2024 - Wendy St. John Leave a comment

Giving a short presentation tomorrow in my biometry class on my turtle research. So here, have some slides! It was actually REALLY cool to have a first stab at analyzing my preliminary data, from three field seasons. I still have one more field season before I’ll be finished with this project. But, it was COOL! I’m not yet able to answer my main question: do these turtles exhibit nest site fidelity? But I’m starting to tease apart the various factors that may influence how they decide where to nest. tumblr_mefk6lkYAQ1r5vtdno1_1280

Muir Woods

October 28, 2012June 27, 2024 - Wendy St. John Leave a comment

Visited Muir Woods yesterday, and took some less-than amazing photos with my iPhone; I was too lazy to bring my SLR, a decision I sort of regret. Although carrying the huge camera with me on the hike we ended up doing wouldn’t have made me happy, so it was probably for the best.

Fostering Rodents

October 8, 2012June 27, 2024 - Wendy St. John Leave a comment

Here are some photos of a couple of my foster babies from a few years ago. Meet Gizmo, the vole, and Mortimer, the Deer Mouse. (There’s only one photo of Mortimer, when he was just SO tiny). Both of these babies were brought into the local wildlife rescue center (where I worked at the time as a feeder for all the rehab and ambassador animals), and I agreed to foster them. I don’t have a big enough place to foster larger mammals, like raccoons and squirrels, but tiny rodents? That I could do. I syringe-fed both of them several times a day (and during the night, at first), and they were both so incredibly precious. Gizmo was released by me into a local county park (Crane Creek; pictured below). Mortimer ended up self-releasing (in other words, he escaped. :D). I trust that both of them led happy, healthy lives. At least I hope that they did.

Grumpyface

September 8, 2012April 1, 2017 - Wendy St. John 2 Comments

Another new baby. I call this one “Grumpyface.” (Then again, most of them have the most adorable little grumpy faces, so it’s not like that’s a unique name). 😀

Slug Appreciation Post!

September 8, 2012June 27, 2024 - Wendy St. John Leave a comment

Because slugs are adorable, and I love them. 😀

So, the first picture is one I took out on my back patio, of a pair of slugs who had just finished some frisky business. (At least I think that’s what they’d been doing. It sure looked like it).

Brand New Babies!

September 5, 2012April 1, 2017 - Wendy St. John 2 Comments

Some western pond turtle photos! Brand new babies, hatched in my lab:

Eventually, they’ll be head-started at a local zoo until they’re about 10 months old, at which time they’ll be released back into the habitat where we collected the eggs. The first picture is of a baby working on getting out of her shell. And the third picture was taken literally seconds after she emerged from her shell. (I was too slow with my camera, or I could have gotten it on video. I’m hoping one of the other babies will oblige; we still have a lot of eggs that have yet to hatch). Also, sorry the photos were so crappy. I need to bring in my real camera and get some better shots.

We Have a Baby!

September 2, 2012April 1, 2017 - Wendy St. John 1 Comment

WE HAVE A BABY!!!!!!! Just one so far … but this is only the beginning.

Soon, Very Soon . . .

August 31, 2012April 1, 2017 - Wendy St. John 1 Comment

See this? This is a turtle egg. This is a turtle egg with a hole. Do you know why it has a hole? Because the baby turtle is TRYING TO GET OUT! WHOO HOO! We call this “pipping,” and it means that sometime in the near future – maybe even tonight – THERE WILL BE A BABY TURTLE HATCHED IN MY LAB! 🙂 🙂 🙂

Baby Turtle Release!

August 20, 2012April 1, 2017 - Wendy St. John 1 Comment

This is what I did last Friday. (Remember the articles I posted? Yeah)! We released the baby Western Pond Turtles (Emys marmorata) that were hatched in our lab last autumn, and raised at the Oakland Zoo. SO BIG! it was kind of sad to say goodbye to my babies (especially #201), but I sent all of them off with good wishes for happy, healthy lives, and to demonstrate their excellent fitness by having LOTS of babies. 😀

(Plus, being able to wade out into the pond is kind of the most fun thing we do all year. The water level was low this year, though. Last year, the water was up to my armpits).