Tuti

This morning, we ran out of milk at the house so Carlos walked to the little general store across the main road while I took a shower. When he came back, he had a box of milk in one hand and a little white kitty with black spots in the other. I recognized this kitty -- it was Tuti (pronounced tooty)! This was our neighbors' cat that ran away a few months ago -- he is really nice and we always petted him when we saw him around. It was definitely him. We could tell by his markings, but more by his friendly personality! We kept Tuti for the morning, petting him a lot and feeding him chicken and milk. We was purring all the time and loved all of the attention.

After breakfast and on our way to the station, we stopped to give Tuti back to our neighbors -- they were so happy to see him again! Woo-hoo, another success story from the Animal Rescue Team!

Rescued a brown wood turtle

A couple of days ago, Carlos was out collecting plants + beetles on the main road that leads into the station and he saw a little turtle in the middle of the road. No sooner did he pick up this little turtle, then a car zoomed by and would have surely squished and killed her! Carlos is an animal-rescue hero. He took her to the office so that I could see her. We identified her as a brown wood turtle (Rhinoclemmys annulata), then we released her into the forest -- Animal Rescue Team saves the day again!

Fobby

I drew a picture of this little fella -- a Fobby -- the other day in my notebook. He is a funny, poofy, orange-ish enemy from my favorite video game EarthBound. Random!

VISA run to Panama

In early November I need to renew my VISA (yet again!) and I will be traveling to Panama with a friend to do this. Gringos automatically get tourist VISAs that are valid for 90 days after the date of entry into Costa Rica soooo...every 90 days I travel out of the country (my last trip was to Colombia) and remain outside Costa Rica for 72 hours. After that, I cross the border again and get another 90 day VISA. Woo-hoo! It is a lot easier to do this than to apply for a VISA extension (or temporary residency) through the immigration offices!

I have been to Panama a few times and the region we are traveling to (Bocas del Toro) is located only 32 km from the Costa Rican border so it is a convenient place to stay for 3 days. Bocas del Toro is a group of forested islands in the Caribbean with Bocas town (the largest populated area in the province) located on Isla Colon. I don't really want to take the time out of my research to leave the country, but I have to and at least I will get to relax and enjoy nice beaches and food while in Bocas! I will probably have more information to write about later as our departure date nears. Yay for traveling, but boo for inconveniencing my research!

What an odd little day...

The morning started off with a little drizzle and rain storm, but I was a little confused because the sun was out and shining away and there weren't any clouds overhead! Hmmm...oh meteorology. Anyway, it has been a funny day of off-and-on rain showers and I usually end up getting a little wet when I am out in the field because I never bring my umbrella (I really don't mind it though). My umbrella is pretty broken anyway and if I am in the forest I get wet from all the incident moisture on the leaves of plants that I walk into -- not from the sky! We have been having pretty regular thunder and lightning storms each night too, but the days are nice and I am able to get a lot of work done in the field -- I am really glad that I work with diurnal (day-active) animals -- thanks agoutis and peccaries!

In other news, in about an hour there will be a little "happy hour" over in the station director's house. These little get-togethers are pretty fun and full of delicious snacks and sodas (along with wine and beer if you are so inclined). Today all the researchers are meeting to chat with a pair of wealthy donors that like science and might want to make some donations to La Selva. Woo-hoo!

PS. Today I wished that we would have cake for lunch (this happens sometimes but is VERY uncommon). It was a researcher's birthday and someone brought a tasty cake! Yay -- maybe I am psychic? ...or is that psycho? Hehehehe. He. he...

Mega Man 9

A little over a week ago a new 8-bit styled Mega Man game came out for download on the Wii and it sounds and looks like a lot of fun. Some of my favorite games on the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) were Mega Man II and III. These games were so much fun to play! It was really cool to hear that Nintendo made a game hearkening back to its 8-bit roots.

Here is a drawing I did of my favorite robot master from Mega Man II: Bubble Man. He shoots bubbles!

Felty crafts

I have been making more felt crafts recently -- I have been in an artsy mood the past few days. Here are two recent crafts I've made recently.

This is a blue-ringed octopus and was probably one of the most difficult felt crafts I have made thus far -- the stitching took a long time and was pretty difficult. I most likely won't be making this guy again. I drew the blue rings on with a light blue sharpie and aqua Copic marker.

I stitched this pumpkin last night in honor of the fall season we are currently in...well not in Costa Rica, but I would be enjoying fall if I were in the states. I also really like pumpkins!

Winter road trip planning

I cannot believe that I only have about 2.5 months left here in Costa Rica before I fly back to Washington and from there, drive back to Miami. Since I like doing research (duh!) and planning things, I have been giving a little thought to the road trip that Carlos and I will take after Christmas.

It looks like we will travel from Redmond, WA south through Oregon (I want to try and visit Powell's Used Books in Portland on the way). From there, we will travel south through inland California where we will also stop in Fairfield to take a tour of the Jelly Belly Jelly Bean Factory (yay!). Next, I think we will travel east to Las Vegas where we will stay with my sister and visit for a few days before hitting the road east towards New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Tennessee until we hit Atlanta, GA. From Atlanta, the drive should be pretty easy and we might be able to make it all the way south to Miami in a day's drive (unless we decide to visit friends at the University of Florida in Gainesville).

This epic road trip will probably take around 10 days -- give or take a couple of days depending on how the driving is going. I will definitely miss Costa Rica, but it will be great to be back in Washington for Christmas and to see my friends and family!

La Selva 40th anniversary

La Selva Biological Station celebrated its 40th year of existence last night! It has been 40 years since OTS (the Organization for Tropical Studies) purchased a large tract of old-growth forested land from biologist Leslie Holdridge and transformed it into a research station. In four decades, La Selva has really grown and become a prominent center for neotropical forest research -- if not the most prominent tropical research station in the world. I feel very lucky to be able to conduct research here and interact with the many eminent tropical biologists who also work and pass through La Selva.

The festivities last night included a screening of a video chronicling La Selva's history and current outreach programs, snacks and wine, traditional music and dancing, and (my favorite) fireworks. They shot the fireworks so that you could see them burst over the canopy while walking across the bridge -- kind of weird, but really cool at the same time!

I hope La Selva continues down its path of scientific excellence for at least another 40 years!

Toast badge

Last night, I whiled away the time by making a little felt badge of a happy toast. It is inspired by a plush craft I saw once and I think it turned out pretty cute. If only I had a toaster...then I would definitely earn my toast-eating merit badge!