I must admit I envy you being a park Ranger, being out side in nature, I love Hiking, fishing animals of all sorts, im not much into the hunting things Im a firm beleiver of only killing animals for food if you need them but not for sport, but you do have a fantastic job and not to many people can say look at my 1200 acre office.

Well, my office is only 250 acres, but it is right on the ocean . I plan on doing a virtual nature walk of my park this year sometime, so you've got that to look forward to.

Now that would be cool, i do look forward to that 

Oh fun! A virtual tour! Can't wait.

Don't anyone hold their breath on this, lol.

Sick:  My whole family and even cats and one dog..all had to go to the Dr-Vet. It was unreal.  I hope you feel better and can now enjoy your seasonal work.  I really, really need to get back to MY Aquairium

I dunno what that virus is, but it's been kicking ass and taking names! Jason's got it right now, he was the last one.

If you start up My Aquarium, you'll automatically get all those fish, and you started playing before I did, so the gold trophy should be yours by now.

It's great to hear that you time is being occupied by something so cool Tami, keep those Osprey updates coming and I think I'll be able to forgive your absence!

Adam, one thing I can definitely guarantee is osprey updates, lol. They become my obsession for the summer. And I get paid to watch them!!!  After 25 years, I still have to pinch myself sometimes about this job.

it's okay man, we understand and I know how much you love your job. I'm glad you're getting to be out in the wilderness again where you belong.  I hope you don't get too sick!  

I never knew that about eagles. It's always the prettiest animals that are the biggest bastards. 

I'm all better now, thanks! Seems to have just been one of those 48 hour things.

Eagles aren't well-liked by a lot of other birds. I've watched crow families gang up on them and drive them away. That behavior is known as "mobbing", by the way. Crows will do it to any animal or bird that they perceive as a threat to the family. I saw them drive a pair of ravens out of a tree down the road a couple of mornings ago, and they did the same thing with a hawk or eagle in one of the trees in the front yard a week or so ago. I've also seen them drive a fox out of a thicket next to a parking lot where the poor beast had holed up for the day. Consider crows to be the alarm system for the whole forest, lol.

I caught a nasty 24 hour stomach bug recently. I feel sorry for my toilet. lol. Glad you had some roll-over sick days to get you through,Tami!

The Osprey is beautifully majestic of course! If I could fish as good as an Osprey I'd never have to grocery shop again!

I love how they make that dive head first and at the last minute drive their feet forward and snag the fish. I've also seen them drop the fish while they're trying to juggle it around so the fish head first (more aerodynamic and easier to carry), and I've seen one flying across the highway carrying a large fish that was at the limit of what it could carry. That was a little too close for comfort, by the way. One should not be able to count the scales of a fish being carried by an osprey from behind the wheel of their car while driving 65 mph!

Ha ha ha! If you could count the scales on the fish that raptor must have flown by REALLY CLOSE!

I was afraid she was coming through the windshield, to be honest. She was that low and that close!

Better than 3D at the theaters!

Looks like you've been busy! Sometimes I get so tired of my job that I wish I could get an outdoor job like you have.

My job is pretty awesome, but it does have its moments, like any other job. I mean, I work with the public, lol.

Glad to hear you are busy with what you love.  I'm beginning to experience a little of the same thing and am finding less time to spend on here commenting.  I've been doing some networking locally as a drummer and having a blast.

It's good to be able to do what you love, isn't it? I started right out of high school, and what I did for work determined what and where I went to college. Same major all four years, lol.

Well, yeah, but technically, aren't all birds considered thugs in the fish world? Oh well, in the words of Kurt Cobain, "it's ok to eat fish, cause they don't have any feelings." Pretty sure there are some marine biologists that think otherwise, but what do they know when matched against a grunge rocker, really? Joking aside, I know what you mean. Damn eagles.

You've got an awesome and interesting job though; having a job outdoors certainly seems to have it's perks. Sorry you got sick, but glad you got over whatever it was.

Anyway, the Osprey video was very cool, I love those large birds and the way they swoop down to catch prey.

And last I checked, work and life are a lot more important than blogging, so I think you're forgiven a short absence. And can't wait to hear the secret news. Everything I do is under NDA until the videos go live, so I know how that is. I really want the first thing I worked on at least to go live, so that way I have a video for my StaffMeUp profile, and don't have to rely on my college work.

Have a great day!

Yeah, I can't wait to blab about the project, because it's so cool. I should be able to talk about it by Memorial Day weekend, though. In the meantime, have some coffee:

Well with the weather getting nicer and nicer, I don't blame anyone for having other things to do. I know I'll be outside most of the time when school lets out for the semester myself.

I work outside . But the past week has been really cold, can't wait for it to warm up just a little.

it's always good to read about what you do Tami. Some day it would be nice for me to turn my back on technology and watch the world. Too bad that I still need the money that the tech world pays me.

Yeah, I'm certainly not going to get rich doing what I do. I make about half of what someone with my skills would make in the private sector. Good thing I love what I do and I only have myself and the pets to support.

I have come to realize that all the money in the world doesn't help if you are stuck in a job you hate.

Ok, if you are making all the money in the world you should be able to quit the job you hate any time you like so there's that. LOL Well, you know what I mean.

I just spent 6 months working at a place I couldn't stand but I hung on for the paycheck until they finally let me go. I'm starting a job that doesn't pay nearly as much next week but it will not have the headaches and the rotten staff who worked at my last job. I'm hoping anyway.

"Yesterday, I got paid to watch and talk about these beautiful and amazing raptors for an hour!"

Do you realize how awesome this sentence would be if I had not previously known what an Osprey was, and really thought it was a Raptor? Greatest job ever! lol

I didn't get too much gaming in either. Courtney has pretty much taken over the consoles with her recent Bioshock addiction. I mostly have been rolling on the floor with the little or playing 3DS whenever I get a bit of a break.

But an osprey is a raptor, and so are eagles, hawks, owls, and falcons. So there!

Yeah, well, I saw your Live ID up when I had the 360 on the other day and it looked like you were playing Bioshock Infinite, too. Nice try blaming it all on the wife, lol.

I'm slowly weening her off. I've practically administered a 12-step program to do so though, but it's working ha ha.

I dont know if I ever brought it up before but I'm on the Conservation Commission for my town. This weekend we had a "bluebird house workshop". We have one every year, we pre-cut and pre-drill wood planks to be assembled by people that visit the workshop, we've been doing this for years now and the bluebird population has definitely been growing.

That's really cool, Chris. Are you in a mostly rural or suburban area? I ask, because I'm curious if you have any bobolinks in your area. They require the same sort of habitat as bluebirds, but aren't as pretty or well known, so not many places or groups manage habitat for them.

My town is VERY rural, we're in the woods. I googled Bobolinks and I don't think I've seen any around. We do have Pileated Woodpeckers, though. We also make the feeders for them sometimes. What do you suggest to encourage Bobolinks?

Hayed fields. If you don't have any fields around, there won't be any bobolinks.

there are quite a few fields, but they usually cut them for the hay, I'll see if there are any claimed as open space.

Haying the fields is actually good for the bobolinks, that's how they're managing the local population. The decline in bobolinks follows the decline of farming and open fields. The only two places I've seen them locally are two large fields that are regularly hayed.

oh ok, interesting, I'll see if we can reach out to the field owners and ask if they've seen any. I'll let you know any findings!

If they hay early, no boblinks. Earlier haying seems to be one of the reasons for the decline in numbers. I did a bit of research during my lunch break.

Ospreys are pretty amazing creatures. I find them as interesting as eagles. They make fishing look so easy? Wish I could do that. Glad that your job is going well and you're enjoying it. I will miss your blogs,as they are always very cool. Where am I going to get my folk music fix now? Hope you are able to squeeze some gaming in at night,too.

I'll try to get a music blog in at least every other week or so. As for gaming, it all depends on how tired I am at the end of the day. Been pretty easy so far, working on inventory and getting into compliance for the Bureau of Labor Standards checklist. I can't wait to do some "real" work, but Andy managed to get an extension on those two things, so we figure we better get our butts in gear and get them done before his extended deadline.