Boringness

I've now been back at work for a month and my feet are still feeling really good.  After being on my feet all day they are tired and I want to sit for a while, but I'm not in much pain.  Before surgery, I came home and forced myself to immediately shower because once I sat down it hurt too much to get up again.  It probably sounds silly and pathetic, but I can remember nights when I literally crawled back to bed so I wouldn't have to walk.  I am not a drama queen and I HATE drawing extra attention to myself- especially if it is to showcase physical weakness- so I was not faking or being dramatic.  I can only imagine how stressful it was for my body to respond to the constant pain.  I have a follow-up appointment with my doctor on Thursday.  I'm hoping he'll fully release me for work (I still have a restriction that keeps me from getting a load of hay or putting away a truckload of meat or grain, but I can do all of my usual day-to-day stuff.)  I also hope I'll be able to stop taking my arthritis drug.  I don't need it for pain, but I'm taking it to help prevent inflammation.  I have no idea what the doc will say about either thing.  I have learned my lesson and will not speculate!

I was at a work meeting, sort of half-listening to a discussion about Zoo Camp, when it hit me hard that this will be the last year Kaylin will qualify.  I was shocked!  I mean, when I started back at the zoo, I was dropping her off at pre-K before I went to work and suddenly she's almost in 8th grade!  Zoo Camp is a week-long summer day camp.  Even though I work at the zoo, it would have been impossible to send Kaylin to Zoo Camp before the 7th/8th grade session because the hours didn't work out to use Camp Zone as before and after care.  This year, I have it worked out with both the zoo and the park district camp.  The biggest issue is that Zoo Camp gets out at 3:30 and even though Camp Zone meets right in front of the zoo, they are sometimes not back from swimming or whatever until 3:45 or even slightly later.  Kaylin will be 13 and if she can't go directly to Camp Zone, she will be allowed to help clean up Zoo Camp for 30 minutes.

When I called the park district person to see if this plan would work, I was also surprised to find out that not all 13-year-olds are allowed to attend Camp Zone.  Kaylin will be considered a junior counsellor and will wear a counsellor shirt.  I still have to pay for her to attend because park district volunteers have to be at least 14, but next year she can attend for free as a working volunteer.  When I go to sign the kids up for Camp Zone (my summer day care ever since I returned to work at the zoo) I will need a staff or management person to override and allow Kaylin's entry because she's technically too old.  Wow.  I wonder how Logan will feel about being a junior counsellor?  I hate the idea of leaving a 13-year-old home alone all day for four days while I'm working!  (My days off are Friday/Saturday.)  Oh, and I also plan to send Logan to Zoo Camp, but the shorter hours of his session make it impossible until he can be in the 7th/8th grade session.  My busiest work time of the day is between 4 and 5pm, so it would be really unfair to my coworkers for me to leave early every day for a week.  I would have to take a week of vacation just to send my kid to Zoo Camp.  Nope.

My past two weekends have either been insanely cold or wet and muddy so I haven't done much birding.  Logan and I want to go to Singing Woods to look for owls, but there aren't trails and I thought last weekend would have been a muddy mess.  (It was also cold and windy and I wussed out.)  The month is almost half over and I think I've only gotten one year bird for February!  Meghan and I are planning a birding trip this weekend, so hopefully I'll see a bunch of different ducks or something.  I need to get crack-a-lackin'!

Well, it's almost 5am.  I better wrap up my computer time and start on my 30 minutes of foot stretches.  One last quick tidbit- I weighed the tiger cubs last week.  They are now 7 months old and the largest cub was 117 pounds!  My babies are growing too fast :)