45 X 90

I think my nerdiness was on full display today.

Amanda and I went to the exact center of the northern half of the western hemisphere which lies on the 45th parallel and 90th meridian. Basically that means its the halfway point between the equator and the north pole (and it happens to be the halfway point between Greenwich, England and the International Dateline).  There are 4 points in the world where the 45th and 90th meet - the one in Wisconsin is the most visited because 2 are in the middle of the ocean and one is in a remote area of China.

The marker the county put up

Me in front of the sign!

Yep, thats right. It is in the middle of nowhere in the middle of a bunch of corn fields. The sign was placed along the road side and its not at the true location - that is about 1000 feet East in the corn field....but it was still fun!

Back to Wausau

So I have a full 6 days off and am spending a few of them in Wausau. My friend came to visit for a few days and we went to the few fun places there are in this town.

Rib Mountain State Park - Quarry Area

Me sitting on a hippo statue at the Leigh Yawkey

(don't worry, the sign said it was ok to sit on it)

Amanda and I at the Eau Claire Dells bluffs!

All in all, its nice to be able to sit around and relax; not having to worry about anything. Oh and I have been getting my Starbucks fill. For the rest of the week, I will be at the family reunion in Door County. Looking forward to more relaxing and some good photo chances! :)

milkweed

I took a walk today around the property. I wish I could have been out longer but I was nearly eaten alive by the mosquitoes and flies. I did, however, manage to take quite a few pictures of the critters I found hanging out on the common milkweed!

The underside of the leaf

Tree Frog (Green Phase) - there were 2 of them

but I wasn't quick enough with my camera.

Daddy long legs

Monarch Caterpillar

Week in Review

To say the past week has been hectic may be an understatement. We had the first week of summer camp and a school group on top of the normal barn stuff.  When all was said and done, I put in over 100 hours this pay period (and managed to lose my voice temporarily)!

While I won't bore you with the day to day stuff here are a few photos from the week:

Danny and I getting dressed up for a class!

Northern Flicker that came in for rehab (it was found to

have a broken wing).

Red fox that was seen numerous times around the dining

hall by the kids!

Monarch Caterpillar

All in all it was a fun but exhausting week. I am in the middle of working 14 days straight so 6 down and 8 to go. And with that, its back to work for day 7. I am off to an outreach at Chippewa National Forest!

Oreo and Frisbee

Summer camp is around the corner!

Jeff and I have begun working on a project for wildlife camp - training 2 rats. I named mine Oreo and Jeff's is named Frisbee. The bad part is we can't tell them apart except for tail so we are currently calling them clear-tail and dirty-tail.

Wildlife camp is a taste of different things animal related. For example, we are going to the zoo, aquarium, an animal hospital, having kids help out with barn chores AND hopefully run a training session with the rats. Wouldn't it be cool to have the kids be able to give a cue and have the rats do the behaviour? Jeff ideas were that one would run through a cardboard tube and the other would ring a bell. We have started the training process by not handling the rats. Just letting them explore on their own and hopefully they will eventually be willing to climb into our hands.

clear-tail is on the left and dirty-tail has her back to the camera

Clear-tail coming to investigate the camera

After having the rats for a week, the progress is a little disappointing. We got 2 female rats because we heard that they were easier to train. So far, clear-tail comes out to explore a bit and dirty-tail buries herself in the corner. I guess we will see how far we get before camp!

Mourning Dove

Yesterday, a mourning dove came in with a broken wing from the Wildcat Sanctuary. After an exam, body wrap and some fluids the bird was transported down to the cities.

Ojibwe Hike

Today I taught a group of elementary school students a class called Ojibwe Hike. Basically, its a class where we talk a bit about the Ojibwe history and then go out and identify plants that they used. Its lots of fun when the students get into the class.

The students picking raspberries

Our yummy afternoon treat!

One girl had learned alot of Ojibwe words in school, so she was actually teaching me words for a bunch of different animals while we were out hiking. Along the way we found a bunch of raspberries so the group stopped for a snack!! All in all, a nice way to spend a summer afternoon.