#i am a wild dolphin but i would be such a good aquarium dolphin too

[sealcore]

dolphin mood...i am all of my dolphin types equally but i feel most connected to spotties! if i made a dolphin sona it would be a spotted

[perseusjackson-jasongrace]

College Professor AU

You guys can thank my soulmate for this @nishlicious-01​

Part I, Part II

Masterlist

I missed these losers and this little universe so thanks friend! I hope you guys enjoy!!

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"Listen up," Percy clapped his hands, gathering the attention of his students, "Four of you in the tank at a time. You get fifteen minutes in there and then you're out. For those of you who don't want to dive, they're having a penguin feeding at the same time, or you can just wander around the aquarium. I expect everyone to be at the front entrance by five. If you aren't you're writing an extra credit paper about the benefits of sea plankton."

"Yes Prof!" Was the chorus of replies, cheeky grins plastered to their faces.

He narrowed his eyes at them but before he could summon up a retort a guide walked up to the group.

"Good afternoon everyone," They bubbled, tight, black curls bouncing as they waved, "I'm here to take you to the shark tank diving. Are all of you going to be diving today?"

"Can you guys separate yourself into divers and non-divers?" Percy asked.

They shuffled around a little until there was a small group of five and a bigger group of fifteen.

"We're diving." Katie said, motioning to the rest of the group.

"Alright," The guide smiled, "And you professors?"

He nods, "Yea I am. Doc?"

Jason looked between them, eyebrows scrunched in deliberation.

"Oh come on Prof, when are you ever going to get the opportunity again?" Will Solace egged.

The doctor laughed, "Very persuasive. Alright I'll dive."

"Well isn't this nice!" The guide clapped their hands, brown eyes shining with excitement, "Before we get you into gear, let's go over some rules. Splashing doesn't do much but try not to move suddenly or in big movements. Don't go to the shark let the shark come to you. They are not scary predators but they are still animals and you're invading their space. Don't grab at the fish, they're not toys. If you feel unsafe or uncomfortable please let a primary diver know and they will take you to the top. Any questions?"

When they had covered diving instructions and some minor details the group finally parted. The five who weren't diving promised to stick together and left. The rest followed the guide to the changing rooms where they were handed diving gear and separated into groups of four. The room was abuzz with noise as they all waited near the diving platform. His students chattered with one another, bouncing on their feet and pointing at the fish they could identity in the tank below.

"You ready?" Percy nudged his associate.

"If you had told me this morning I would be diving into a tank of sharks I would have laughed in your face."

"Weird how the day can warp, isn't it?" He laughed.

"I'm excited. Your student, Will I think, was right. It's not very often I get the chance to go shark tank diving."

"But you have been offered?" His green eyes sparkled with mirth.

"You're not the only marine biologist I know." Jason winked.

"Oh?" Surprise covered his face.

"Alright everyone," The guide pulled them altogether, "Who's going first?"

So slowly, group by group they dived into the tank. Percy and Jason were amongst the last to go, Will and Nico with them. Hazel, Leo, Frank, and Katie, the group before them, were just coming back out.

"Oh Nico!" Hazel squealed, "They are so beautiful. It's so peaceful down there."

"I wish I was a fish, who got to live in the great expanse and do nothing but swim and eat." Katie moaned, staring longingly at the tank they had just come out from.

"I suggest you come back in your next life Miss Gardner."

"Oh Prof," She sighed, "I've already committed to coming back as a wild daisy living in a never ending valley."

"The one after that then?" Jason looked at her curiously.

"You're very kind doctor," She pouted, "But that's already been taken up by my promise to become a hummingbird. Aren't they just the most darling things?"

They all burst out laughing.

"Nevermind Katie, whenever a spot opens up you can commit to becoming a creature of the sea." Frank slung his arm around her, and tugged her small frame into his large one.

"Thanks Bear." She hugged him back, "Well you have fun. I'm going to get out of this because my toes are going numb from the cold."

And with that the four disappeared and they were being called to the platform.

"How are we feeling everyone?" The bubbly guide asked.

"Excited!" He smiled.

Nico and Will nodded enthusiastically in agreement. Jason looked more reserved but nodded nonetheless.

"Well, if you never do it again you've done it once." They tilted their head, "Okay we're gonna go in nice and slow. One at a time. June will go first, then each of you, and coming in the back, Holly. I'll be waiting here to help pull you up when you're done."

They all thanked the guide and with the guidance of the primary divers, slowly slipped into the water.

It was cool and still, in a way the ocean never was. He closed his eyes as his head went under and when he opened them again he was in a completely new world.

He opened his mouth to talk and then remembered the oxygen mask he currently wore and thought better of it.

Jason half fell half slid into the tank behind him, and flipped Percy off when he noticed the amusement in his green eyes.

Finally they were all in and able to move freely in the tank. The sharks were magnificent. Gliding through the water like a hot knife to butter. They moved with such ease and grace, Percy wondered how anyone could make an enemy of them. Sharks were the ballerinas of the sea, and dolphins the jazz dancers. It was such a ridiculous thought he couldn't help the giggle that escaped him.

Jason looked at him curiously, seeing the bubbles floating from his mouth but he shook his head and pointed up. Later.

The fish took no notice of them after a few moments of pointed curiosity. And the sharks didn't venture too close, although one did brush up against June. He understood what Hazel had meant by the peaceful. Sound was a foreign concept in this space.

When their fifteen minutes were up, they each received a tap on the shoulder and then swam towards the top of the tank. A hand was already reaching in for them to grab.

Moments later they all stood on the platform once more. The primary divers stayed in as it was feeding time but they couldn't stay to watch. They'd be late for the bus, and Percy did not want to write his own extra credit paper.

"That was," Jason breathed, eyes as blue as the water they just stepped out from, "Incredible."

"Oh Prof!" Will echoed the doctors amazement, "I wish we could do that everyday!"

"You could if you decide to get a job here."

"Wouldn't that be the dream," He sighed, a soft look on his freckled face.

"And you Nico?"

"Sharks were always my favourite animals, this solidifies it."

"Well I'm glad to here your faith is as strong as ever. Now how about we get dressed otherwise all of us will be getting homework."

"Me included?" The neurologist gave a teasing smile.

Percy laughed, "You included Doc."

"I think," Jason said softly, as he tugged on his shoes some minutes later, "If our dates are even half as magical as that we'll be marrying each other before the year is out."

"Dates? Plural?" Luminescent green eyes widened with surprise, and hope.

"I can't imagine only learning you for one." The blonde shrugged.

"Well then Dr Grace," Percy grinned, bright and beautiful, "I suggest you pick a day for the wedding."

And indeed, when December rolled around Jason Grace and Percy Jackson uttered their vows, and a class of students cheered the loudest when they finally, finally, tied the knot.

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Sorry i couldn’t make Jason fall in the tank. After doing some research i realised it’s pretty dangerous to disrupt animals like that, and we weren’t trying to lose any limbs! I hope the end makes up for it?

[mortuarybees]

It looks like this:

The aquarium is cool and dark and, apart from the occasional screams of delighted children, it’s quiet. Aziraphale is holding onto Crowley’s arm, fingers pinching the folds of his worn leather jacket, beaming all around, and Crowley feels warm pride blooming in his stomach. He gave him this. He looks like he’s entered a whole new world, the childlike glee and fascination naked on his face; and even better, he looks at Crowley like he’s handed him all its wonders on a platter.

They don’t get to do things like this often; they make the rounds of the British Museum, the Tate, the parks and public gardens, they’ve probably been to every free museum in the city at least three times over, and they enjoy it; but they don’t often visit places like this, places that cost £40 for just one of them to get in. Christ, the last time was probably for their tenth anniversary, Les Mis on the West End, and they’d saved for a year for seats in the dress circle and a bottle of wine.

(It looks like this:

Crowley waits tables at a posh restaurant in Mayfair, Monday-Friday. It’s miserable, but the tips are better than he’s ever had anywhere else, and it’s there that he met the Dowlings. Their son is a menace; nothing calms him, nothing satisfies or entertains. He threw pasta at the German ambassador’s son and made him scream so loud every wine glass in the place vibrated, and Crowley had seen the helpless look on his mother’s face, the storm brewing in his father’s, and swooped in without another thought, putting on an exaggerated posh accent like some butler from one of Aziraphale’s boring, oddly captivating shows and waited on him the rest of the night as if he were a little despot, pointing out that pelting ones subjects with bread was quite unbecoming of a little prince. He laughed and adopted a dignified air, delighting in ordering Crowley about and racking up his parent’s bill, but he didn’t throw a plate at anyone, so it was an improvement.

At the end of the evening, Mrs. Dowling hadn’t so much asked as told him she’d be hiring him; their nanny had demanded Saturdays off as a break from the little beast, and they needed someone to babysit, because Mrs. Dowling couldn’t possibly be expected to watch him herself. The pay was good, and with living expenses in London what they were and Aziraphale getting his hours cut, he wouldn’t dream of saying no.

There were other perks, too, like Mrs. Dowling throwing him tickets to the London Aquarium some MP had sent them for Warlock’s birthday; she’d taken him once, and he’d tried to steal a little shark from the touch tank. Never again, she said, take your girlfriend. She glanced at his ring. Wife?)

“Oh, Crowley, dear, look,” Aziraphale cries, pulling him towards one of the tanks. He presses the hand that isn’t on Crowley’s arm against the glass, his eyes wide and bright as a full moon. “A jellyfish! Don’t they just look so marvelous? It’s like they’re dancing.” Crowley smiles and presses closer to his side. "They're my favorite fish, I think. They just look so ethereal."

"Jellyfish aren't fish, angel," Crowley says, bemused. "They're...I dunno, jello."

"Don't be ridiculous, Crowley, it's in the name," he tells him, very patiently. "They wouldn't be in an aquarium if they weren't fish."

"Dolphins aren't fish and they're in the aquarium," Crowley points out, quite sensibly. Aziraphale still hasn't looked away from the jellyfish, and Crowley still hasn't looked away from Aziraphale. He likes the fish, he does, but there's something a thousand times more fascinating about watching Aziraphale watching them.

"Of course dolphins are fish," Aziraphale says. His brow furrows. "They live in the ocean, dear, I've seen Planet Earth."

(It looks like this:

Crowley practically runs home from the bus stop, barely getting his wild grin under control before he barges into their flat. Aziraphale is cooking, doing whatever it is he does that makes store brand pasta and sauce from Tesco's taste less like chalk. He hides the tickets behind his back--he held them in his hands the whole way home, leg bouncing, feeling as giddy as he had on the way to their first date--adopting an innocent expression, but Aziraphale isn't fooled; he gives him a suspicious look the moment he sees him and says, "What are you up to, you old serpent?"

"Oh, nothing," he says, very convincingly--he did theater in college, he's an excellent actor, thanks--and strolls over to give him a kiss in greeting, slides up behind him and puts his chin on his shoulder to peer down into the sauce. "Smells good."

"Thank you, dear," Aziraphale says, preening.

"What are you doing tomorrow after church?" he asks, and Aziraphale cuts him a curious look out of the corner of his eye.

"Thought we'd feed the pigeons," he says. "What are you doing tomorrow?"

"Oh, thought I'd take this handsome man I picked up somewhere to the London Aquarium," he says, as casually as he can with the excitement buzzing in his veins. "Make a date of it."

Aziraphale laughs. "Is that so? If you're busy, I suppose I'll make a trip to Paris, pick up some crepes."

"That'd be for the best," Crowley agrees, and he puts his arms around him, casually fanning the tickets in front of him. "You wouldn't believe how hot this guy is, and I'm hoping I'll get lucky. I'll put a sock on the door in case you're back early."

Aziraphale gasps, putting the sauce spoon carefully on the trivet so he can grab the tickets, squinting at them as if he's afraid they're forged. "Crowley! Oh, my dear, you didn't!"

"He's a classy one," Crowley says, grinning. "Takes something special to impress."

"But how can we afford these? We're behind on the electric bill, dear, and my hours--"

"Relax, angel, Mrs. Dowling gave them to me," Crowley says, running a reassuring hand down his arm. "Totally free. Well, at the cost of my sanity, maybe, but that's not a bad deal in this economy."

"Crowley," Aziraphale breathes, and he turns in Crowley's arms to face him. He's looking at Crowley like he's hung the moon, and he leans in to kiss him like he could live off the taste of his lips alone.)

They enter a room that's mostly empty; watch a mother play peekaboo with her daughter, the father holding the girl on one side of a tank, the mother ducking behind fish and corral on the other, making the girl squeal with delight.

Crowley has glitter in his hair--from the night before, but he also just likes the way it looks, so he put more in this morning, gold bright in his red hair--and some of it has stuck to Aziraphale's cheek, and the otherworldly light of the water catches it just right, makes it shine like stars. It is not uncommon for Crowley to cover Aziraphale in glitter; so much is ingrained in the fibers of the tweed jacket he wears it looks gilded in the right light.

"He doth teach the torches to burn bright," Crowley says softly, touching the glitter on his cheek, and Aziraphale smiles at him, cheeks coloring. He gets an idea, and waits until the family has moved on to take Aziraphale's hand in his. "If I profane with my unworthiest hand / This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this: / My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand / To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss."

Aziraphale beams at him. "Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much," he says. "Which mannerly devotion shows in this, / For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, / And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss." He presses their hands flat together, and leans in to kiss him, but Crowley steps back. Aziraphale's brow furrows, his lips pulling into a pout, and he clasps their hands together again to keep him from moving away. Crowley goes anyway, darting to the other side of the tank to peer at him through the impossible water, and God, he looks so good in blue. Aziraphale's breath hitches, his lips parting.

(It looks like this:

They met in an Intro to Philosophy class in 1996, nearly coming to blows even on the first day, the simple question of 'What is Philosophy?' Crowley couldn't help but antagonize him, loved how he looked when he was frustrated and indignant, how he thumbed the cross around his neck when Crowley had gotten into his head. He threw an argument about Kant, who he frankly considered to be full of shit, so Aziraphale would be in a good mood after class.

He wasn't, though, he was just suspicious, demanding to know why he'd conceded when he'd spent all semester insisting there is no Categorical Imperative, no supreme moral code, that the only consideration that should be taken in a course of action is the consequences it will have, and he was as frustrated as he'd ever been in the heat of an argument, and he looked beautiful.

"I was distracted," Crowley said. "Thinking about this poster I saw, for that new Romeo and Juliet movie. You like Shakespeare, don't you?" He did. He knew he did. He'd noticed him, furiously annotating in the margins of an old copy of Hamlet that was more notes than text; he had this wretchedly charming little Stratford-upon-Avon tourist pin he wore all the time.

"I...am?" Aziraphale said, blinking at him. He had the most wonderful eyes. Crowley had noticed the very first day, when they'd gone wide at some horribly blasphemous comment Crowley threw out to shock and impress.

"Do you have plans tonight?" Crowley couldn't help bouncing on the balls of his feet, practically vibrating with excitement; he'd seen Aziraphale in the audience of their production of Twelfth Night, alone but looking like he was in Heaven, hanging on every word, and then he'd seen that poster, and he'd known, that was the ticket. Well, the tickets would be the ticket. Anyway.

"Not...really?" Aziraphale said, brow furrowing.

"Great, so you wanna go with me?"

"Go where?"

"To see the new Romeo and Juliet," Crowley said, and he felt he'd been quite smooth about it all, even if his palms were sweating.

"With you?" Aziraphale looked completely baffled.

"Yes, with me," he said. Please, please, please, Crowley didn't pray, because he hadn't prayed since he was thirteen and realized that if they expected young men to be straight, it was kind of ridiculous of the church to make Jacob Wrestling the Angel look like that, and the whole foundation of the church in his mind just kind of tumbled from there; but he did put it out into the universe, just in case someone was listening. Please, please, please, I never ask for anything. Not of the universe, anyway.

"I...you want me to go with you?" Aziraphale looked like he was doing a particularly difficult math problem and none of the numbers were adding up right. It would be charming, and might make his chest feel a little tighter, that he was this unused to being asked out on dates, but it was more just frustrating. He was losing his nerve.

"Just meet me at the theater with the discount tickets for students at seven, alright?" Crowley said impatiently, and Aziraphale, still confused but looking relieved at having specific instructions, nodded. The moment he'd left the building, he'd pumped his fist, grinning like a madman, unaware that Aziraphale could still see him through a window in the corridor.)

"Have not saints lips?" Crowley asks from the other side of the tank, giving him a coy look. "And holy palmers too?"

"Ay, pilgrim, lips they must use in prayer," Aziraphale says, with a delighted smile.

"O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do," Crowley says, and darts around the tank. Aziraphale dodges him, going to the other side to throw him a mischievous look. "They pray," Crowley whines, "grant thou, lest faith turn to despair!"

"Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake," Aziraphale says; and the breathless joy as he'd watched the jellyfish was nothing compared to what's on his face now, and Crowley is dizzy with it.

"Then move not," Crowley begs, crossing to the other side of the tank slowly, "while my prayer's affect I take." Aziraphale stands still, watching him, and tilts his chin just a little, lips parting.

(It looks like this:

Leonardo Dicaprio sees Claire Danes through the aquarium for the first time, and Crowley leans in, his breath ghosting against the shell of Aziraphale's ear. "That's how I felt when I first saw you," he says.

"You do know how the play ends, don't you?" Aziraphale says, voice shaking just a little. He's trying to tease, but there's a note of sincerity too.

"They were kids," Crowley says. "I know better than to trust a friar. Besides, it was beautiful, wasn't it? How they loved each other despite everything."

Aziraphale looks at him; he really looks, his eyes bright in the dark theater, and then he turns away. Crowley's heart sinks, but before he can start kicking himself, Aziraphale takes his hand, his cheeks pink, and Crowley glows.)

Crowley kisses him as tenderly as he has for twenty years. Their first wasn't after their first date, or their second, or their third; but it had been worth the wait, their shaking breath and trembling hands, the certainty of their lips, and Crowley knew then, the moment their lips met, with the same conviction he felt now after two decades, that he would spend the rest of a long and glorious life with Aziraphale.

"Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged," he whispers, and Aziraphale's hands grip the lapels of his leather jacket.

"Then have my lips the sin that they have took?" Aziraphale says, and Crowley grins wolfishly.

"Sin from thy lips? O, trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again," he demands, and Aziraphale pulls him into another kiss, smiling against his lips, letting Crowley press him back against the cool glass of the tank until they hear footsteps echoing and the chatter of voices. Crowley breaks the kiss to rest his forehead against Aziraphale's, catching his breath, though the waver of light across his face isn't helping, nor is the way the light from behind makes his curls look like a halo. His angel, indeed.

"You kiss by th' book," Aziraphale whispers.

"Teenagers," grumbles the voice of a man, when he sees the outline of two figures embraced on the other side of a tank, and Crowley barks out a laugh, taking a step back. He takes Aziraphale's hand, and leads him blushing into the next room, feeling smug when he hears the same voice exclaim that they're older than he is, they ought to know better.

"Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon," Crowley says, pulling him closer to link their arms again. "Who is already sick and pale with grief, / that thou art far more fair than he."

"Don't be rude, darling," Aziraphale laughs, but he's beaming, gentle as the soft lightening of the horizon, bright and radiant as the sun beneath it, and Crowley--oh, Crowley loves him.

(inspired by 1996 romeo and juliet; conversation with @saaliyah and @genderqueercrowley about r+j and Them; conversation with @transsouthernpansy about Aquariums; when john mulaney said That about his wife annamarie tendler; please read @genderqueercrowley‘s fic i keep a window for you (it’s always open) that makes much better use of shakespeare; part of human au)

[naturecoaster]

Scalloping: Florida Adventure of a Lifetime

This is the five year anniversary of NatureCoaster.com. In honor of the event, we will be running two weeks of our most popular stories, beginning with our first scalloping adventure in Homosassa. It was early – much earlier than I like to wake up. The alarm was scheduled to go off in 7 minutes, but I was ready to greet the day. I had been counting down for two weeks and I was ready to go on my first scalloping adventure! At one time, the West Central coast of Florida supported a robust commercial scallop industry, with 400,000 lbs. of bay scallops being harvested in Florida in 1957. By 1992, the commercial harvest was near zero. Fishery groups banded together and worked to restore the scallop populations to healthy levels and by 2005, most years showed a healthy level. 2016 pre-season surveys showed a good population in the Nature Coast, so this would be the year to actually try this area tradition. Because my husband is not fond of seafood, I sought another friend to try the adventure with me.

When to go Scalloping & Who to Charter with

2019 Scalloping season information is available here. You can find a NatureCoaster partner to book a scalloping tour with here.

We enjoyed the sunrise as we eased up the Homosassa River, headed out to the scallop grounds. Starting out early gets the best catch Jade Palmer was the brave soul who jumped in my car at 6 a.m. and we traveled to MacRae’s of Homosassa to meet Captain Ed Brennan of Red Ed’s Adventures at 7 a.m. sharp! Ed is a 50-something Irishman who has lived in Homosassa since the mid-1980s. He claims that he is the undisputed “Scallop King.” As part of our charter, everything we needed to hunt for our shellfish: snorkel, mask, fins, a bag to put our bounty in, and instruction in the technique that was most likely to yield the most scallops was included. After we settled into the open boat, Red backed into the Homosassa River. The surface of the water looked smooth as glass while we glided away from civilization. The captain opened the engine up; the air was fresh, the water still, and the sunrise was breathtaking to behold. We drove past several inlets, channels, and tiny mangrove islands that broke the surface irregularly. At one point a mullet fish flew alongside the boat!

We surely appreciated the beauty and tranquility of being some of the first scallopers on the water that day. Getting out early has its advantages Captain Red was navigating the Salt River out toward the Gulf of Mexico. We traveled for a half hour with the world to ourselves. As the engine hummed, Jade and I enjoyed the beauty of the sun rising over Florida’s Nature Coast. The boat slowed to a stop amidst lush sea grass beds. The Crystal River Power Station was in the distance. All around us was peaceful and serene. This is the environment that scallops thrive in. Our Captain put up the dive flag to warn other boaters that we were swimming about as required by Florida law.

Jump in and get Scalloping NatureCoasters! You're gonna LOVE it! Ready, set your dive flag, and get wet We donned our snorkel, masks and fins, lifted our legs over the side of the boat and dropped into the clear salt water, enveloped in balmy wetness. I looked down and sure enough, there was a scallop sitting upright in the grass below. I took a deep breath, bent at the waist and dove with my arm extended to pluck it from its nest below. I joyfully placed it into my net bag and looked around for Jade. She was floating peacefully turning her head back and forth to locate the elusive bivalves below.

Jade shows off a beautiful, gentle starfish that she found while searching for scallops. Found it - and then they're all over! Suddenly Jade dove, then quickly came back to the surface, showing her catch. Captain Red cheered us on. He helped us to dive more efficiently, sharing some of his “Scallop King” techniques and was able to assist in harvesting the gallons and gallons of deliciousness we brought back to shore. We swam into the current so that when we got tired, it was an easy float back. The current was tricky to see from above the water, but when submerged the sea grass flows back and forth with the current and the sparkle of sunlight breaks through the water, creating a whimsical pattern.

Recreational Scalloping is a blast. If you choose to go on your own, remember to get your Florida Saltwater Fishing license and use a dive flag. It's like swimming in a giant aquarium Fish were swimming with me, under me, by me. Soft corals and sea anemones were embedded in the grass. The underwater life was stunning. It was such a magical experience to be in that giant “aquarium” that I forgot the purpose of my snorkeling several times and just relaxed in the sea. Suddenly another scallop would appear below bringing me back to focus. Our captain had explained earlier that if you find one scallop, there are often more in the vicinity. He claimed to have brought up at least ten in a single breath.

The net can help you hold multiple scallops per dive, if you can hold your breath. Can you get more than one at a time? Although I tried on multiple occasions to bring up more than one scallop in a breath, I inevitably ended up breathing in sea water and still harvested only one scallop, either dropping the other or kicking up the sand which reduces visibility and thusly, how many scallops I could find, so I resigned myself to being a single scalloper for my maiden adventure. In the twinkling of an eye, Captain Red called us back to the boat. It was time to return. With his help, we had amassed 5 gallons of raw scallops and would now head back to the dock for cleaning and cooking. As I looked around, there were many boats dotting the vista now, each with a dive flag and snorkelers searching for the prized Gulf bay scallop. It was about 10:30 a.m. “That’s why we leave at 7 a.m. promptly,” Captain Red said, “It gets crowded out here, especially on weekends.”

Scalloping diver image courtesy of FWC. Image by Tim Donovan. The scallops are alive and active Jade and I looked down at the scallops and watched them jostling and spitting in the five-gallon bucket. It was entertaining. Take a minute to enjoy the video. We gave each other a high five and sat down while the Captain took up the boat's anchors. The waters had stayed serenely still. “The quiet water helps with visibility,” Captain Red said, “It’s a lot easier to see the scallops when the water is clear.” We agreed and were very happy with our adventure’s harvest.

Local Boys offers dockside cleaning of your fresh caught scallops in Homosassa. Local Boys cleaned our scallops for a nominal fee As we pulled up to the dock at MacRae’s, Local Boys Scallop Cleaning was there to clean our catch. The $5/gallon to clean them was more than worth it to me. This seasonal enterprise, owned by Cletis Huggins, and operated by the Huggins family is available throughout the entire scallop season. While the scallops were being cleaned, Captain Red walked us over to Shelly’s Seafood and Wild Sassa to experience some local fresh seafood places. Homosassa is a tight-knit fishing community, proud of its offerings. Wild Sassa can cater your scalloping adventure if you feel so inclined. I am told that the food is amazing, whether you eat at the picnic tables out front or on your vessel.

We made arrangements ahead of time with Oysters restaurant in Crystal River to cook our fresh-caught scallops for us. Have your scallops cooked for you too After tipping our captain, we picked up our cleaned scallops and headed up to Oysters in Crystal River to have our fresh catch cooked. I called William Bunch, Oysters owner and Chef, to alert him that we were coming. He welcomed us when we arrived and took our freshly caught and shucked scallops to the kitchen for processing. After agreeing on having some scallops blackened and some fried, Jade ordered clam chowder and I ordered gumbo. We enjoyed the soups and relished in our adventure as we waited for the main course.  William went back to work his magic. We were still giddy from our adventure and talked about how beautiful the water was, how much fun it was to hunt for scallops, and the wonderful feeling of the salt water while communing with the sea life in the Gulf.

Scallop Dinner catch by Carol Lyn Parrish. Image courtesy of FWC. There are more than scallops in a scalloping experience We had seen dolphin, osprey, mullet and who knows how many fishes swimming around us. Jade commented, “The water, the sea life, and waving sea grass made this experience more than I could have imagined. The scallops are a bonus – and I can’t wait to eat them!” In time, William came back with two large bowls of our catch, one blackened and one fried, along with plates for each of us with heaping sides of macaroni and cheese and his delicious hush puppies. Just how good are fresh caught and cooked Gulf of Mexico scallops? The scallops were so tender, succulent, flavorful… and satisfying. Wow! We ate them all. Now it was time for a nap, so I dropped Jade off and that night I went back to my kitchen.

Scallops on the Half Shell: easy, quick and delicious! But wait - there's more... We still had a lot of scallops left, including about 4 dozen we had the Huggins’ clean “on the half shell.” I placed all my scallop shells on cookie sheets and preheated my oven to 450 degrees. After melting ¼ cup of butter, I gently brushed some on each scallop in its shell. Then I sprinkled blackening seasoning on and placed them in the preheated oven for 3 minutes. Delicious, nutritious and fun. I ate every one of them while they were hot. The fork was leaving too much scallop on the shell, so I switched to a spoon and enjoyed every morsel.

Scalloping is fun and easy for all ages and fitness levels. FWC photo by Carol Lyn Parrish

The Short & Sweet skinny on Scalloping adventures in the Nature Coast

Hopefully this article has helped to whet your appetite for a scalloping adventure. It is so fun and easy! There are a lot of ways to go scalloping, from frugal (wade out in the gulf) to top-shelf (charter your Captain) and in-between (take your own boat or better yet – join a group charter). Whatever way best fits your budget, you are sure to enjoy the experience of floating in the Gulf, hunting for each scallop and then bagging your catch. And, of course, consuming these delectable gems. For all the latest regulations on scalloping, click here. There are several scallop tour operators on NatureCoaster.com. The ones at the beginning of the list are our partners. They paid to be listed first, which helps us keep NatureCoaster.com work for you. But give any one a call and book your trip before September 24.

The official Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission Scallop season map for 2019. Don't forget to Book Ahead Many local restaurants will cook your catch. It is a good idea to call ahead to make sure they can accommodate you. The dock at MacRae’s of Homosassa is the only place I know of that has a scallop cleaning service. Many captains will clean your catch for you. Some have a set price and some will do so for a tip, but please make sure you are clear about your expectations before booking your charter. If you are going to rent a boat to participate in this endeavor, please discuss this with your marina before you rent. You will need a saltwater fishing license, snorkel, mask, fins, and to show a dive flag, as well as knowledge of where to find the scallops. You will want to have a cooler and ice to store your bounty while you travel, as well as sunscreen and drinks for your time on the water. Read the full article

[tails89]

DolphinTale AU Chapter 11.

This was hard to write, especially after that last cliffhanger… I am so happy to be back in a writing mood! 

I hope you guys enjoy this.

Stoick woke early after an unsettled night.

After Hiccup had stormed out of the house he had continued to pace angrily around the kitchen. His stubborn son just didn’t understand what he was getting himself into. His mother had been the same, and seeing the same obstinate attitude in his only child made Stoick miss her all the more. She would have known how to talk to their son without letting it escalate into yet another argument.

From the kitchen, Stoick had moved to the lounge room, determined to wait his son out. Once he’d cleared his head, Hiccup would sneak back into the house if past quarrels were any indication.

But Hiccup had not come home. Figuring that Hiccup had gone to see that dolphin of his, or maybe even the girl from the aquarium – a father could only hope – Stoick had gone off to bed.

He hadn’t slept well. Though the night had cooled, the scent of smoke hung in the air. Faint at first, the smell grew strong enough to wake Stoick from uneasy dreams.

Anxious from a night of little sleep Stoick rose and made his way to the kitchen. A quick peak inside Hiccup’s room told him his son had not returned during the night.

A dark feeling in the pit of his stomach told Stoick to get in the car and drive to the aquarium. A believer in gut instinct, Stoick followed this feeling. Out of the driveway, up the street and over the rise. The entire town of Berk was laid out before him. Stoick’s blood ran cold when he spotted the source of the smoke.

Dirty black clouds billowed up from the Berk Aquarium on the point.

Stoick pressed his foot down on the pedal, willing the car to go faster, faster.

The small carpark was packed with emergency vehicles. Men in bright protective gear were shuffling around, winding up long hoses. There were a number of police officers taking notes. One was talking to a girl about Hiccup’s age. She was dressed in a polo shirt bearing the aquarium’s logo.

“Astrid?” Stoick saw the girl and took a guess at her identity. She turned, locking eyes with him.

“Mr Haddock?” She wandered over. “They’re just finishing up.” Astrid shrugged towards the firemen giving the building one last hose down. “We got lucky, the main building seems to be untouched but we lost part of the clinic.”

“Did Hiccup come in with you?” “Is Hiccup here?”

The questions were asked at the same time.

Astrid and Stoick stared at each other for a moment.

“We had an argument,” Stoick admitted. “He took his bike-“ He glanced around the car park again, worried he’d missed his son’s bike between the cars and the firetrucks, but it wasn’t there. “-but he must not be here.” With an internal sigh of relief, he turned back to the girl who had paled. “What?”

“Hiccup doesn’t park in the carpark; he rolls his bike behind the fence…” She trailed off and was running. One of the firemen caught her, stopping her from passing through the gate.

“Wait,” Astrid struggled. “We need to check, is there a motorbike here?”

“Motorbike? We haven’t seen anything. We’ve been working to stop the fire from spreading to the main aquarium.”

“Who called in the fire?” Stoick had reached Astrid and the fireman.

“It was anonymous; the caller never gave a name.” The fireman still held Astrid still. Stoick put a calming hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Let them check, he might not even be here.” Neither of them believed it for a moment.

There was a shout, echoing back from behind the aquarium.

“Holy shit! She was right! There’s someone in there!”

Astrid took an unconscious step forward. “Oh god, Hiccup. He was in there.”

One of the fireman came running out to grab some equipment from one of the trucks.

“Call an ambulance!”

He directed two more men to follow him back behind the building, one of them was talking quickly into a radio, requesting back up.

The fireman holding Astrid was gone. She took her chance.

Sprinting through the gate she ran around the building. She skidded to a halt as she rounded the corner, taking the damage in.

The normally tidy area was a mess. It looked almost as though another storm had blown through upending benches and shelves. There was debris in the pools and strewn about. It looked like someone had taken a sledgehammer to one of the pumps.

The windows of the main building had been broken. Glass shards glittered in the early morning light.

The clinic.

Astrid gasped.

The clinic was a guttered, blackened mess on one end. The fire crew had managed to contain the damage mostly to one end of the building. The side with their offices had not been completely destroyed.

Where was Hiccup?

Firemen were working gathering around the building, talking quickly to each other.

“Can we shift some of this debris around?”

Oh gods, he wasn’t inside was he?

“Every minute counts. If we can’t move this-“

“Why is this all piled up like this?”

A roaring filled Astrid’s ears and her vision tunnelled. A large hand on her shoulder brought her back to reality. Hiccup’s father was pushing her down to sit on an upturned bucket.

“Sit down lass. There is nothing we can do but let them do their job.”

Astrid looked up at Stoick. She could see a bead of sweat as it dripped from his brow. He was just as anxious as she was to get in there and help.

But they were both helpless to watch.

“…I’m in…!”

Astrid shot back to her feet, straining to catch a glimpse inside the building.

“…Watch that wall… it’s already partially collapsed. We don’t want to bring the rest of it down.”

“He’s breathing! Where the hell is that ambulance?”

“How the hell are we supposed to get him out of here?”

“Oh shit…” The sound of something collapsing. “Wait, we’ve got him.”

Stoick took off towards the building, unable to keep himself on the sideline any longer.

“Please Hiccup,” Astrid breathed his name, squeezing her eyes closed in a silent prayer.

A siren wailed in the distance, getting louder and louder.

“About time, who’s got the oxygen? No telling how much smoke this kid’s breathed in. Watch his leg. Watch his leg!”

There was more shuffling around over by the burnt out building. Astrid’s eyes were beginning to sting. Most likely from the lingering smoke, she decided. She wasn’t crying for Hiccup. He was going to be fine. He had to be fine!

Two paramedics came running past Astrid carrying a backboard between them. They dropped it to the ground and one of them slung the pack he was carrying down.

The area was a flurry of activity.

Astrid could see Stoick hovering over the cluster of bodies but could not make out Hiccup no matter how she strained.

There was a pause in the movement.

“That’s as stable as we’re going to get him. We need to get him to the hospital. Count of three-“

Astrid watched as several emergency workers rose as one, the backboard between them. She caught sight of Hiccup lying completely still as they rushed out towards the carpark. Stoick followed closely as Hiccup was loaded into the ambulance.

“That’s my son!” Stoick’s booming voice echoed back up the path. “I’m coming with you.”

There was a slam as doors closed and the siren started back up again, fading as the ambulance raced back towards town.

Astrid stood in the same spot, paralysed.

The firemen had finished up and were walking back out towards their truck.

“…did you see the shelving though? It looked like someone had barricaded the doors.”

“And what? Trapped the kid inside? Doubtful.”

Astrid found the strength to turn around and look at the clinic again.

“I guess that’s up to the police now.”

It was odd the way several of the benches had been stacked up against the outside of the building.

“Jesus, did you see the state of him? That leg…”

“Astrid?”

She spun back around to see Fishlegs coming up the path.

“Are you okay? This place is a mess. But the main building looks okay… apart from the windows. We can come back from this.”

Astrid ignored the rambling. She walked over to the largest of the pools. Toothless and Sneaky were okay. She breathed a sigh of relief. That was the first good news she’d had all morning. She checked on the other animals, running on autopilot, refusing to think about Hiccup’s lifeless body as he was rushed away.

“Astrid?” Fishlegs was trying to get her attention.

Astrid ignored him and checked the fridges, not sure if the food inside would be okay. If it really was deliberate- she swallowed a sob- the mess seemed to indicate that the place had been trashed before the fire was lit, had the food been messed with? They’d just received a delivery the day before. It was still in the storage area under the main aquarium, so they’d be okay there.

“Astrid?”

Another scan of the area showed the police were also finishing up.

More people were turning up. Snotlout and the twins were staring at the damage in horror.

The barking of a seal caught her attention. Stormfly was waddling across the cement. She had a number of minor scratches scattered across her sleek body.

“Stormfly!” Momentarily forgetting Stormfly was a wild animal, Astrid dropped to her knees and threw her arms around the seal. “Who did this?”

It was too much and tears fell freely as Astrid sobbed against the unusually docile seal.

There was no way this was a freak accident. Someone had done this. Someone had vandalised the pool area and hurt the seal. Someone had set the fire.

But how was Hiccup involved? Had he caught that person in the act? Had they somehow trapped Hiccup in the office before it was set on fire? Why?

Astrid rocked back onto her heals. Her knees were grazed, but it was nothing. She let go of Stormfly and wiped her face. There was soot on her fingers. She didn’t remember touching anything that had been burnt.

She pushed up to her feet. She’d checked on all the animals first. Astrid was sure that’s what Hiccup would have wanted, but now…

“I have to go see him.”

Fishlegs was trying to directing the clean-up. He was surprised that Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut were actually following his directions. The shock of the situation was making them more compliant that normal.

“Astrid.” Finally, Fishlegs had her attention. His tone was sympathetic. “I don’t know if that’s possible. H-he’s probably not there anymore.”

“Wait, what?” For the second time that morning Astrid could hear her blood roaring in her ears. Why wouldn’t Hiccup be at the hospital? That’s where they were taking him. Where else would they take him?

“Astrid, calm down. Our hospital is so small. I overheard it in the carpark, they can’t handle something like this. They’ll have airlifted him to the city.”

Astrid forced herself to take a breath.

“It’s not that bad is it?” Her thoughts flashed back to the image of Hiccup lying still as he was carried away. The events of the morning were beginning to blur in her memory. He’d been unconscious, but Astrid couldn’t remember if there had been anything else.

“Jesus, did you see the state of him? That leg…”

The words of the fireman rang in her mind.

Just how bad was it?

So I realise there are some inaccuracies… I doubt they would have been let back on the scene so quickly… and I don’t know much about medicine… but artistic liberties and all that. I’ll try to do my best, particularly in the coming chapters… and I’m sorry for leaving you hanging again…

So I have the emergency services in italics to sort of separate it… they’re talking among themselves and its being overheard. It was getting a bit confusing but I hope this makes it a bit easier.

Please let me know if you are enjoying this. Gives me motivation to write more:)

From the beginning

[therandombanjo]

Songs From 2018 (one per artist)

Another mixed bag of stuff i either enjoyed a lot, thought was excellent or interesting (regardless of taste… sort of), emerging artists to maybe look out for, and generally music that for whatever reason connected with me in some way, including the odd earworm i just couldn’t shake. Hope you enjoy some of this too and find something new to be taken by. There’s a spotify playlist (below) for easier listening but for the music that wasn’t on there, i’ve posted links next to them so do check them out! Spotify:

(As ever…. as i don’t tumblr or blog or anything (besides this list), this won’t be seen by many (if any?) people so if you like it or think it’s of any worth in any way, please do share this along)

In Alphabetical order:

The 1975 - Love It If We Made It

700 Bliss - Ring The Alarm         (Moor Mother & DJ Haram collab)  

Advance Base - Your Dog      (Owen Ashworth is a longtime favourite and always love what he puts out. Such a gifted lyricist and such an empathetic deliverer, just always cutting deep, just always sounding uniquely him. The records & artists he’s putting out on his Orindal footprint are really impressive too - Julie Byrne, Gia Margaret, Dear Nora - so do keep an eye out on those releases)

Aidan Moffat & RM Hubbert - Quantum Theory Love Song

Alasdair Roberts w/ Amble Skuse & David McGuiness - a. The Fair Flower of Northumberland b. Johnny O’the Brine (One of my favourite records this year, a quietly inventive old folk beaut from one of my favourite singers on earth. Included two as a. exemplifies his singing that i love so much and b. better highlights the inventiveness of the record)

Alison Cotton - All Is Quiet At The Ancient Theatre

Amen Dunes - Miki Dora

Anderson .Paak - 6 Summers

Angelique Kidjo - Once In A Lifetime        (From her complete re-imagining of the Talking Heads classic Remain In Light record, with all her Benin spirit infused)

Anna & Elizabeth - Mother In The Graveyard

Anna Calvi - As A Man

Aphex Twin - T69 Collapse

Aqueduct Ensemble - Cut Grass I

Arctic Monkeys - Four Out Of Five        

Armand Hammer - Alternate Side Parking       (Elucid & Billy Woods)

Arp - Reading a Wave

audiobooks - Call of Duty Free

Barry Walker - Late Heavy Bombardment

Beach House - Dive

Ben Vince - What I Can See     ft. Micachu

Big Red Machine - Forest Green          (Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) & Aaron Dessner (The National) project. I’m likely never not gonna be into Justin’s work, he’s always stretching himself with virtually no regard to expectation and always finding interesting and new spaces)

Birds Of Passage - Another Thousand Eyes

Black Midi - bmbmbm      (Heard about them non-stop all year, about being this incredible live band, and all teenagers, so been intrigued for quite some time. Virtually no online presence, remaining somewhat mysterious, and only a couple of pieces to go by, but curious to see what’s coming from them) https://soundcloud.com/speedywunderground/sw024-black-midi-bmbmbm

Blocks & Escher - One Touch     

Blood Orange - Saint

Bodega - Name Escape

Bonny Doon - I Am Here (I Am Alive)       

Bruce - Elo

Capitol K - Fennel Dance

Cat Power - Stay

Channel Tres - Controller

Chris Carter - Cernubicua

Christina Vantzou - Some Limited and Waning Memory

Christine & the Queens - 5 Dollars

Colter Wall - Wild Dogs

Cool Maritime - Mossage

Cornelia Murr - Man On My Mind

Courtney Marie Andrews - May Your Kindness Remain

Damien Jurado - The Last Great Washington State

Daniel Avery - Slow Fade

Daughters - Long Road, No Turns

David Thomas Broughton - Drifting Snow       (An old, unreleased recording lying around, brought out as a seasonal single, and i think it’s beautiful. My favourite live performer, and i would encourage anyone who sees this to check him out both on record and if he's ever in a town near you.) https://davidthomasbroughton.bandcamp.com/track/drifting-snow-seasonal-single

The Dead Tongues - Pale November Dew

Dear Nora - Simulation Feels       (12 years away, and back after renewed interest in their re-issued Mountain Rock LP last year courtesy of Owen Ashworth’s (Advance Base) Orindal Records)

Deux Trois - Roy

DJ Koze - Muddy Funster     ft. Kurt Wagner       (It’s probably fair that “Pick Up” is the best song on the record, but I’m a sucker for Kurt so liked this one a lot too)

Dolphin Midwives - Mirror

Doug Paisley - Drinking With a Friend

Drinks - Real Outside

Durand Jones & The Indications - Don’t You Know

Earl Sweatshirt - Nowhere2go

Earth Eater - Inclined

Emily Fairlight - Body Below      

Empress Of - When I’m With Him

Eric Chenaux - Wild Moon      (Most likely my favourite record from this year, if not any it feels right now. I’m fully begulied by it. Fair play to you if you recognize the sounds you hear as a guitar!)

Erin Rae - Bad Mind      

Erland Cooper - Solan Goose

Ezra Furman - Suck The Blood From My Wound

Fatoumata Diawara - Kanou Dan Yen

Field Report - Every Time

Flasher - Who’s Got Time?

Frog Eyes - Pay For Hire

Fucked Up - a. Normal People or b. Came Down Wrong   ft. Jennifer Castle & J Mascis

Gabe Gurnsey - Ultra Clear Sound

Georgia Anne Muldrow - Blam

Gia Margaret - Groceries     (Wonderful debut on Orindal)

Glenn Jones - The Giant Who Ate Himself

Grouper - Driving

Hailu Mergia - Tizita

Haley Heynderickx - Oom Sha La La

Hatchie - Sure

Helena Hauff - Hyper-Intelligent Genetically Enriched Cyborg

Hen Ogledd - Etheldreda       (The great Richard Dawson’s experimental group, connecting the ancient/medieval with the present in a way that definitely rewards with more listens)

Hermit & The Recluse - Sirens       (New project from the rapper Ka, who continues to fascinate, with producer Animoss. This time the concept record combining his personal street stories with Greek mythology, with Orpheus vs The Sirens)

Hilary Woods - Kith

Homeboy Sandman & Edan - #NeverUseTheInternetAgain       (Nice to hear Edan once again after so long, and especially with a favourite of mine in Homeboy Sandman)

Ian William Craig - Discovered In Flat

Idles - Danny Nedelko         (Probably my favourite song of the year, and one of the most beautiful, impassioned & dearly needed statements of love & community we need right now. The video moved me to damned tears, it’s so beautiful)

The Innocence Mission - Green Bus

Institute of Landscape Architecture - Melting Landscapes       (field recordings documenting Alpine glaciers and their changing landscape) https://landscapearchitecture.bandcamp.com/releases

James Blake - If The Car Beside You Moves Ahead

Janelle Monáe - Make Me Feel

Jean Grae & Quelle Chris - Gold Purple Orange

Jeff Tweedy - I Know What It’s Like

Jennifer Castle - Tomorrow’s Mourning

Jenny Hval - Sleep

Jeremy Dutcher - Mehcinut

Jerry David DiCicca - Watermelon

Jessica Pratt - This Time Around         (Massive fan of Jessica and this is without doubt one of my absolute favourite songs this year)

JFDR - My Work (String Version/Live)

John Prine - Summer’s End

Jon Hopkins - Emerald Rush

Joseph Shabason - Forest Run       (From his 2nd record, Anne, a touching record on his mother’s Parkinson’s Disease featuring interviews with her over his ambient, sax-effected work)

JPEGMAFIA - 1539 N. Calvert

Julia Holter - I Shall Love 2

Julia Jacklin - Head Alone

Kacey Musgraves - Slow Burn       (I was late to this record, but i may have listened to it more than any other come December-time.)

Kadhja Bonet - Delphine

Kamasi Washington - Fists of Fury

Kathryn Joseph - From When I Wake The Want Is

Kelsey Lu - Shades Of Blue

Khruangbin - Maria También

Kim Petras - Heart To Break       (There’s actually a chance this is my favourite song of the year)

Kurt Vile - Bassackwards

Lambchop - The December-ish You

Landless - The Trees They Grow Tall

Laura Cannell & André Bosman - Golden Lanes At Dusk

Laurence Pike - Life Hacks

Leikeli47 - Girl Blunt

Let’s Eat Grandma - Falling Into Me

Lisa O’Neil - Factory Girl [trad]        

Lizzo - Boys

Lonnie Holley - I Woke Up In A Fucked-Up America

Louis Cole - Real Life     ft. Brad Mehldau      

Low - Quorum

Lucinda Chua - Whatever It Takes      (experimental cellist & composer who, as well as making expansive, looped soundscapes, also writes and sings in an equally spellbinding fashion)

Lucy Dacus - Night Shift

LUMP - May I Be The Light        (Laura Marling & Tuung’s Mike Lindsay collab)

Maarja Nuut & Ruum - Kuud Kuulama

Maggie Rogers - Fallingwater

Makaya McCraven - Butterss’s

Malibu Ken - Acid King           (Aesop Rock & Tobacco collab)

Marie Davidson - Work It         

Marisa Anderson - Cloud Corner

Mary Lattimore - It Feels Like Floating

Maxine Funke - a. Boy On The Bow or b. One Step a. https://maxinefunke1.bandcamp.com/track/boy-on-the-bow b. https://maxinefunke1.bandcamp.com/track/one-step

Mich Cota - Kijà/Care                (Two-spirit Canadian Algonquin artist who, after seeing her supporting Baby Dee at Cafe Oto very recently, had me excited for the bangers to come!)

Michael Nau - Funny Wind

Milo - Stet

Miss Red - Dagga

Mitski - Nobody

Moses Sumney - Rank and File

Moulay Ahmed El Hassani - Yak Ennas Mlklil Darou Labas 

Mount Eerie - Tintin In Tibet      

Mountain Man - Rang Tang Ring Toon      (8 years since their last record, and so good to hear their harmonies once again. Ever as beautiful and transportive, but this time more wiser. It’s a really lovely record and such a needed balm)

Nap Eyes - Every Time The Feeling

Nathan Bowles - Now If You Remember          (Didn’t know this was a cover, originally by Julie Tippetts, but it lodged itself in my head pretty good. Aquarium Drunkard rightly suggested an album or two back that, if Banjo Futurism is a thing then Nathan Bowles would likely be leading the pack. The remainder of this record definitely reflects that)

Nathan Salsburg - Impossible Air

The Necks - Body https://thenecksau.bandcamp.com/album/body

Neko Case - Hell-On

Nils Frahm - My Friend The Forest

Noname - Ace       ft. Saba & Smino

Nostrum Grocers - ‘98 gewehr         (Milo & Elucid collab)

Oliver Coates - A Church

The Orielles - Bobbi’s Second World

The Other Years - Red-Tailed Hawk

Ought - Desire

Our Native Daughters - Mama’s Cryin’ Long      (New group project with Rhiannon Giddens, of Carolina Chocolate Drops, inspired by New World slave narratives and reclaiming/restoring black women’s stories)

Panda Bear - Dolphin

Parquet Courts - Wide Awake

Penelope Trappes - Burn On

Peter Broderick - Words Of Love       (An unreleased Arthur Russell song Peter got to record after befriending friends and family of the great man. Part of a free album Peter released of Arthur Russell covers at Christmas featuring one other unreleased song. Do check it, it’s lovely)

Phosphorescent - Christmas Down Under        (I could pick many from this record, but the sci-fi-like presence in the vocals gives it a strangeness and position i really loved)

Preoccupations - Espionage

Pusha T - Come Back Baby

Richard Swift - Broken Finger Blues        (Such a dear and sad loss. I actually included this song a few years ago when Aquarium Drunkard featured it, so feel like i should select a different one from this most-recent record.... but dammit if it doesn’t highlight the very best of Swift’s talents).

Richmond Fontaine - Horses In Las Vegas https://richmondfontaine.bandcamp.com/track/horses-in-las-vegas

Robby Hecht & Caroline Spence - Over You

Rocheman - Parades I & II        (Caught/discovered Rocheman supporting Jenny Hval earlier this year in a church, and was really into it so I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes from here)

Rosali - I Wanna Know

Rosalía - Pienso en Tu Mirá

Rosanne Cash - She Remembers Everything

Roy Montgomery - Outsider Love Ballad No. 1   ft. Katie Von Schleicher

Saba - Life

Sam Gendel & Sam Wilkes - BOA

Sam Lee & Peter Wiegold - Rambling Boys

Sandro Perri - In Another Life 

Sarah Davachi - Third Hour

Sarah Louise - Bowman’s Root

The Scorpios - Mashena

The Sea & Cake - Any Day

Seabuckthorn - Disentangled

Seán Mac Erlaine - Cotter’s Dream

Serpentwithfeet - Bless Ur Heart

Shad - Magic    ft. Lido Pimienta

Shannon & The Clams - The Boy

Shit & Shine - You Were Very High

Sidi Touré - Djirbi Mardjie

Sidney Gish - I Eat Salads Now

Snail Mail - Heat Wave

SOB x RBE - Paid In Full

Soccer Mommy - Your Dog

Sons of Kemet - My Queen Is Harriet Tubman

Sophie Hunger - I Opened A Bar

Sophie Hutchings - Repose

Sorry GIrls - Waking Up

Sourakata Koita - Ha-Madi     (I don’t usually include too many - if any - reissues, but i love kora music and this record, “en Hollande” (’84), was a great discovery this year)

Stella Donnelly - Boys Will Be Boys      (I was sure i had this in last year’s list when it was a single, but appears not so including it now with the album release).

Steven A. Clark - Feel This Way

Suuns - Make it Real

Swamp Dogg - Answer Me, My Love

Szun Waves - Constellation

Terje Isungset - Blue Horizon     ft. Maria Skranes   (all the music is played by intruments made of ice)

Theo Alexander - Matter of Balance

Tierra Whack - Black Nails or Hungry Hippo      (A record of 15 one-minute tracks, full of ideas and all kinds of fun. Check out the “Whack World” short film for the record) 

Tim Hecker - Keyed Out

Tinashe - Throw A Fit     (Came across this song randomly via a Youtube video of dancer Jojo Gomez, and the attitude of it all just kind of thrilled me)

Tirzah - Gladly

Toby Hay - Bears Dance

Tom Demac & Real Lies - White Flowers

Tomberlin - Seventeen

Tracey Thorn - Queen

Tracyanne & Danny - It Can’t Be Love Unless It Hurts    (I think, actually, that Jacqueline off the record would edge my choice here, but i needed a little more Tracyanne (Camera Obscura) in here to highlight the two of them)

Tropical Fuck Storm - You Let My Tyres Down     (Aussie band made up of various Aussie bands, most recognizably Gareth Liddiard of The Drones, with an excellent debut record “A Laughing Death In Meatspace” that along with their name fits the music on this record. It’s acerbic, feral, sardonic, and plain great)

Ty Segall - Every 1′s A Winner        (Just an absolute killer Hot Chocolate cover, of all things!)

Ursula K. Le Guin & Todd Barton - Heron Dance

Valee - Womp Womp     ft. Jeremih

Valotihkuu - Walking Through Dew Drops On The Lawn

Vera Sola - Small Minds

Vince Staples - FUN!

Virginia Wing - The Second Shift

Witch Project - Manifest

Womans Hour - Don’t Speak       (So great to hear them finally return)

Wooden Shjips - Red Line

Y La Bamba - Mujeres

Yo La Tengo - a. You Are Here and b. Ashes

Yoshinori Hayashi - Overflow

Zilla With Her Eyes Shut - Whatever It Is

[stumpedonlife]

Hey guys!

I know, I know. It’s been so long since I’ve blogged that there is no way to catch you up on everything, but I can try!

On Feb. 20th: B and I went to China Town in Yokohama! We were pretty excited, and then it started to rain. And the temperature dropped. Gross. We made it fun though! By the end of it I was not feeling good, and we were both soaked. Later that night we went to Zachs birthday party at Liberty Cove (the apartment building they live at, and that we will be requesting next time we come out here.). While we were there Chris and Lena told me they were going to Disneyland on Tuesday, and that Maddie was going. Then they told me I was invited as well. I looked at B. B looked at me. I said I would let them know…nudge nudge…I was going!

Shrimp dumplings.

Feb. 22nd: DISNEYLAND ROUND DOS! It was a blast. I don’t know if Disney does this in the States, but in Japan, they do something called “Child Swap”. Lemme explain. Tell a Cast Member (Disney worker) that you want to child swap. They fill out a piece of paper, and give it to you. One group of parents, go on the ride (fast passes recommended) first, and the second group waits with the kidlettes with the piece of paper. First group comes out, waits with kidlettes. Second group gives cast member piece of paper, and gets taken all the way to the ride, and hops right on. HOPS. RIGHT. ON. No waiting. No lines. Dudes. This is how to do Disney! With kids! Who knew?! hahaha!  It was such a fun experience, being with the V family (their last name starts with a V. No I’m not going to tell the internet their last name! sillies!), it was fun to see Disney through kidlette eyes (although, it was very much the same through my eyes!).

It was Maddie’s first time!

Mochi aliens each with chocolate, strawberry, and custard.

This is where we had dinner. Wonderland!

Feb. 27th: We went to a Ninja themed restaurant in Tokyo. We went with a group, and it was so yummy! The group was fun, too!

Ninja!

The cooked this soup with a hot stone. They win.

Feb 28th: Kamakura! I took B to one of the (many) shrines. Obviously we got fish pancakes too!

Fish “pancake”

March 6th: We went to Taura (one train stop away), to see the plum blossoms. What a flipping’ hike that was! I swear, Mt. Rainier was easier. I am out of shape guys. Out. Of. Shape. Or is it, that I have too much extra shape? Maybe? hehehe! After that, B and I went to Enoshima. Enoshima is a seaside city, that is trying awfully hard to look like Santa Monica. Anyways! We walked out to an “island” (it’s connected to the main land via a sand spit that shows at low tide, so not technically an island.), and let me tell you something-so many effing stairs!

Plum Blossoms!

After that hike!

Enoshima!

Yup. For every “cute” selfie we have, we have at least one of these!

March 8th: I went with Maddie, and a few others on a trial run through some spots that Maddie wanted to take her family! We went to Ofuna to see the Kannon (lady buddha, essentially), then to Enoshima. More. Stairs….more effing stairs! It was a great day!

The Kannon.

Look at all of those cranes!

Enoshima.

March 12th: Our St. Paddies Day party! It was so much fun! I met new people, and I am so glad that I did. It takes awhile to build community, and I’m excited for what has started and what hasn’t come yet!

March 16th: We had to move. It was terrible. It still isn’t great. I am so appreciative of what Washington apartments and houses are. This place makes me love home. I don’t mind living in Japan, I actually really like it most days, but it’s not my home. It is part of my adventure though!

March 17th: I went to Enoshima with Lena, the kids, and Chris’ parents. It was such a beautiful day, and I so needed it! This time in Enoshima, they introudeced  me to the aquarium! I loved it! The only part I did NOT like was the dolphin show. It made me so sad and drove me into almost tears. Yes, their performance was amazing, they are such intelligent animals. I know they wouldn’t do well in the wild now, I understand. I don’t understand them being brought into these situations in the first place. But. I digress.

As close as I will get to Mt. Fuji this go around

Where the dolphins are kept (for are four in there, and four performing).

Matcha and sweet potato ice cream. Win!

March 20th: B and I went to Mount Nokogiri with friends from work (I haven’t asked if I can give their names, so I won’t post them until I have their permission). We had to take a train, a bus, a ferry, then walked, and then we took a lift (?) to the entrance! This was another place that just has so many stairs I doubt it would be legal in the States. I’m serious. It was beautiful! There were buddhas everywhere. The vegetation was starting to really turn green, it was sunny, I loved it! For dinner, our friends introduced us to sushi. Sushi like we have never had before. It’s stupid good!

Worn steps.

Nooks like this were everywhere!

March 26th: B and I went to Tokyo, we had a plan…then we got distracted! We started at Shibuya-the infamously busy crossing in Tokyo. It was nothing like I expected, and even though it was RIDICULOUSLY busy, it wasn’t as big as I thought it would be. After venturing around, we hopped on the train to Hirajuku-a district in Tokyo famous for “teen fashion”. I was underwhelmed but the main street. We walked around though, and that was the saving grace. We found a posh-hipster (yes, the kind that buy $250.00 flannel shirts from Chanel), neighborhood. In that neighborhood we found a Hawaiian-Mexican fusion restaurant. It was so yummy! I would go back!

My food! It was so good!

Look at this ceiling for the LOBBY of a mall. It’s crystals. for a ceiling.

Crepes done Japan-style.

March 27th: B and I met up with some new friends and went out on-what else?-an adventure! We went out to Sarushima “Monkey” Island! There are no monkeys. It was a first defense for war, so it has bunkers and old cannon mounts. It’s full of tide pools, lush trees, and birds. The trails were short, because the island isn’t very big. It was so nice to be with genuinely great people and poking around in tide pools. That’s a perfect day. The beach is my happy place.

March 31st: I got a surprise in the mail from one of my sorority sisters. It’s so amazing to know that there are people thinking about me. To know what they took the time out of their day, to make sure that I knew that they were thinking of me. When you are thinking of someone one, or catching yourself wondering what they are doing, tell them. Shoot them a Facebook message, text, or email, and say, “Hey, I was thinking about you, and I hope you are doing well!” They might not respond because they might be at work, or life is happening for them, but it’s ok. I bet you $100.00 they smiled.

Processed with VSCO with f2 preset

April 3rd: B and I went to Tokyo to see the Cherry Blossoms. It didn’t start well, but B and I recovered. We won that day. The cherry blossoms were beautiful! We found some gems, and we found some food!

April 9th: B and I went to Enoshima for two reasons: pancakes and the aquarium. I got a waffle and it had a pile of whip cream 8 inches-ish tall. B got the pancakes with the same amount of whip cream. We had to take a LONG walk after we were done because we needed the food to settle in our stomaches. On our way back to the aquarium I got to pet two golden retrievers and one licked my nose (!!!!), a pitbull-he snuggled right up, then moved so I could scratch his butt (duh). Then we went to the aquarium! The main take away was that B wants to own an ocean, and a river, and a lake, so that he can have all the fishes and all the plants.

April 12th: B and I went to DisneySea! It was such a fantastic day! It was such a long day! It was a cold morning, it was a hot day, it was a chilly night…then not so chilly. Japan knows what it’s doing with it’s weather about as much as Washington does. We had a game plan…but I forgot to screen shot it from Pinterest! So…we had to wing it!

If you have never experienced B and I together, when we are being completely and truly ourselves, then you might not know what it means to us, to “wing it”…but it’s a lot of laughing, rolling eyes (in jest…mostly :P), people watching, eating food, and mostly being absolutely ridiculous and obnoxious. Around 5:30 we headed to dinner. But earlier in the day, I wanted tea because I was cold, but then I saw they had ice cream too….B told me no. BOO you —–! So on our way to dinner in my head I was like, yeah, we have to walk all the way across the park…I need food…omg…ICE CREAM! So I told B, “So, here’s what I’m thinking, we go get ice cream now, that way we can eat it as we walk to dinner. That way we have a little something in us in case the line is long.” Nailed it. And B replies with, “You’re priorities are so…perfect!”

That’s why I married him.

The restaurant we wanted to eat at was, at the cheapest, $48.00/plate. NOPE! We went to Venice (LOL!) and found some pasta for him, pizza for me, and dessert for us! Because no one can simply eat just ONE dessert! As we were walking out we saw a couple with a bag FULL of keychain stuffed animals, a second bag started, and like four big stuffed animals!

EVERYWHERE at Disney plays music, and as we were walking out, B and I danced to the Italian music, because…well…we love our life!

My second wind kicked in with all of those carbs, and I just couldn’t stop moving and I fully embarrassed B by dancing around with his jacket as he put on his sweatshirt! No regrets. The Japanese were probably like, “Yup. American”. We finished the night with the Tower of Terror. This ride puts us into, what B called, free fall. Yup. Our backpacks came off of the ground, my knees came up. The guy next to B passed out (we think). It was a blast!

We decided though, that we really need to go to Hershey park, because now that I’m ok with rollercoasters (thank you, Pap) B wanted me to experience the “real ones”.

  *** Note: This was lightly edited a full year and a half AFTER it was originally written. I’m guessing I never posted it because I couldn’t get pictures to upload… Sorry for the abrupt end of this one. This will be the last post I do about the first time we went to Japan. Next time will hopefully be better.***

          It’s Been Awhile Hey guys! I know, I know. It's been so long since I've blogged that there is no way to catch you up on everything, but I can try!

[wittymommy-blog]

Florida Attractions | Clearwater Marine Aquarium | Winter and More

Clearwater Marine Aquarium | First Location

This year was our second time visiting Clearwater Beach and of course the famous dolphin without a tail 'Winter' at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. I can't say that last year's visit was fun for my, at the time, fifteen month old girl. She liked watching the animals, but her attention span did not last long. 

This year was different. My daughter who is now almost 2.5 and talking, was very interested to see Winter. Adam and I showed her the movie - Dolphin Tale - the night before. That is how she knew to look forward to this visit. 

Right after breakfast, we took a shuttle from the Sandpearl Resort to the doors of the Aquarium. Many hotels provide tip based complimentary shuttle services to their guests. There is also a FREE (of course tip based) cab service that takes tourists allover the beach area. 

Clearwater Marine Aquarium is not the same type of facility, as, for example Ripleys Aquarium.  This place is a marine life rehabilitation centre first and aquarium second. Winter is the main attraction. Many amputees from allover the world come to visit her. The place really focuses on educating its visitors about how the film was made and displaying its artifacts. The exhibits are shown from two locations. The Aquarium has all the animals, including the fiesty bird Rufus.

 The second location has all the movie artifacts including robotic dolphin and clothing worn by the actors. The second location also has a hurricane simulator. I will get into all these below. 

As soon as we purchased our tickets, we walked in. Not really knowing where to go, we just wondered and walked into the hospital area. We saw the treatment room and aquariums for sick animals.

A friendly employee saw us wandering and browsing and told us to hurry to a dolphin show upstairs at one of the pools. So we did.

 The dolphin show was with a fifteen year old dolphin named Nicholas. He was about 6 months old when him and his mother Noel washed on shore. His mother had pneumonia. Dolphins throw themselves out of the water onto the beach (beaching themselves) so they can lie down and rest when they are sick. This all happened near Christmas time; hence, the names Nicholas and Noel. Noel's pneumonia case was too advanced and she did not survive. Nicholas got pretty bag scars from the sunburn after being out of the water for too long, but he made it and has been living at the aquarium even since. He was separated from his mother too early and would not know how to care for himself in the ocean if released back. 

The "show" was only about 10-15 minutes long. These were daily exercises to keep Nicholas lean and active. The trainers asked Nicholas to imitate their movements and provided snacks as a reward. He eats 17 lb of restaurant quality fish daily, so this is a way for him to burn those calories. In the wild, the dolphins burn their calories when they swim and hunt, something that is not possible in captivity. 

My daughter enjoyed it and loved seeing the dolphin jump out of the water. I later learned that the pool where this was performed was built as a set for a scene in the movie and donated to the aquarium afterwards. 

After we visited Nicholas, we went to see her majesty Winter just as she was getting her food and exercise. My daughter recognized her and curiously watched as the trainer exercised with Winter. It is really actually amazing to see this dolphin swim and do everything a healthy dolphin would do without the most important part - her tail!

 I could watch winter exercise all day, but my daughter was hot and wanted to see something else. We moved on to see a blind sea turtle. My little one has a soft spot for turtles. This one can not see, so the staff hand feed him the lettuce. He is very cute. The only complaint I have is that the microphone of the person talking about him was not loud enough, so we could only hear every 3rd word. 

Then, we saw two otters. We were fond of one and did not really care about the other. Please see the pictures below and guess which otter we liked better. 

 At this point, it is worth to mention that all those pool deck exhibits do not have any air conditioning. So it is really hot there in August. The education centre is a room just off the deck with air conditioning. It was nice to escape the heat for 15 minutes.  My daughter enjoyed colouring marine themed pages. We watched a documentary video about the making of Winter's tail. We also left our mark on a whiteboard there. 

The underwater view of the aquariums was great. We were able to see Winter and how she was swimming. She was very happy and even posed a little. 

Watching sea turtles was my daughter's favourite. She would get very spooked when they swam close. It was very cute. The fishes took the second place, but the sharks did not get any of her attention at all. 

Clearwater Marine Aquarium | Second Location | Dolphin Tale Exhibit

There are two ways to get from one exhibit location to the other: taking a Jolly Trolley or a ferry. I really wanted to take the ferry, but it was hot, we just missed it and would have to wait 30 minutes for the next one. There is also a couple of blocks uphill walk from the ferry to the museum, which is not something we wanted to do in the midst of the August heat. We took a Jolly Trolley and got dropped off right at the door.  

It is really impossible to describe here everything that we saw and learned. The most memorable parts were the tide pool where my daughter refused to touch the sea slug. I was personally impressed by the robotic dolphin. It was nice. It was not busy. It was air conditioned. 

The hurricane simulator was my personal favourite. I went 3 times in hopes of taking a perfect video. Some people (even adults) actually were too scared to go through the simulator. I have to admit. I was a pretty good simulator. The first time I went, I kind of just run through. The second time, I actually stopped and looked around. There were stuff to see. 

 The play area for kids was my daughter's favourite. 

Clearwater Marine Aquarium | Food Situation

In conclusion, I would like to mention that the food situation at Clearwater Marine Aquarium is not great. There is a hot dog/pizza slice vendor by the portable washrooms at Aquarium location and there is a dessert place with stale donuts at the museum location. You probably will not die from hunger, but you can get something there if really hungry. However, being the snob I am, I would highly recommend packing lots of water and snack and possibly even lunch when you go. Also make sure you keep the hot weather in mind. Depending on the time of they year, a lunch may not survive the heat. 

Below please see a gallery of additional images

Clearwater Aquarium | Gallery | Aquarium Location

Clearwater Aquarium | Gallery | Museum Location

[mrandyzavala]

To The Maryland Zoo Team

Oh, Maryland Zoo people....I am so sorry.

<3

For those of you who don't know, Maryland Zoo has had two giraffe births within the past few months.  The latest, a male named Julius, was born on June 15th.  What happened afterwards is a story that so many of us have experienced, but have a lot of trouble not only processing internally, but expressing to people who have no idea what it is like to care for animals in this way.

Our critics often take opportunities where animals are ill, injured, or dying to rake us over the coals.  Most people, even those who do not necessarily support zoos or aquariums, are decent human beings who do NOT leave heartless, cruel Facebook comments about these situations.  However, it is the small minority of thoughtless people who make what is already an incomprehensible loss into a horrendous nightmare.

What a great idea! Everyone is doing it!

In the case of the little giraffe calf, his story played out in a way I think many of this blog’s readers will relate to.  He was born to a loving, doting mother but for whatever reason, Julius did not nurse successfully.  This is not an unusual situation in both captive and wild mammals, especially with mammals whose childhoods are long investments of maternal care. 

When nursing doesn't go as planned in these animals, animal care professionals must weigh their options on how to proceed.  Some facilities choose to let nature take its course, which is of course what happens….in nature.  That is not “good” or “bad”.  Nature is what nature is, it does not care one way or the other how the story ends.  And some well-respected zoological communities feel that it is in the animals’ best interest to experience life as naturally as possible, which might result in a hands-off approach when a baby is failing to thrive. 

Brookfield Zoo staff helping a newborn dolphin

Some facilities choose to intervene if it is a) safe for the humans involved (remember, many of these animals are massive, not to mention mom is not necessarily going to think rationally when someone comes in and messes with her baby who is struggling) and b) in the best interest of the baby him/herself.  Some babies, like bottlenose dolphins, are extremely fragile when they are first born.  They can literally have a heart attack if they get super scared.  Their mom and/or other family members may freak out if something outside of their experience happens after the calf is born, like a pool dropping or attempting to handle their calf (which is why it is so awesome that some marine mammal facilities teach their dolphin moms to do husbandry-related behaviors that entail scenarios commonly encountered in intervening with a neonatal calf).  Big dolphins freaking out around brand new babies can result in fatal injuries to the baby.  

So it isn't an easy decision to make with large mammals, because there are a lot of factors to consider on top of what the baby him/herself is going through medically.  

Once a decision is made to intervene, everyone remotely involved with the department is usually scheduled for some grueling Waffle House shifts.  Waffle House shifts.  You know, because the only place that you can guarantee will be open to feed you no matter what time you get off, no matter what you are wearing, no matter what you smell like, is good ol' Waffle House. Some places will recruit help from other animal departments, or ask for volunteers depending on how the facility is organized.  This might mean you work 12 hour shifts.  Maybe you work your normal eight or ten hour day, and then come into work in the middle of the night for a few hours, then get up a few hours later to do it again.  Chances are, your weekends and vacation plans are cancelled.   Your life becomes work and sleeping (where and when you can) and little else for the indefinite future.

Your life is one big Waffle House shift

Why is this? Well, in general, most critical cases require consistent medical treatment.  Medication courses may have to be given at certain times through the day and night.  For example, I worked with a dolphin who had an abscess on her lung.  The course of her antibiotics required a 24 hour feeding schedule for many, many weeks that needed to be strictly adhered to, because lung infections are not easy to treat (and she made a fully recovery, so happy ending to that story!).  Other types of medical therapies may require multiple treatments within a 24 hour period, too.  Continuous observation is usually a part of this as well, which means an alert staff member or two is watching the animal for any changes in behavior.  Try staying awake in the middle of the night for 8 to 12 hour shifts never taking your eyes off the animal in your care, unless you have to use the bathroom.  

But when a baby needs critical care, this requires even more effort.  Even if the baby is 100% healthy, her or she needs to eat regularly…more than an adult or juvenile would.  Human moms know what I’m talking about.  Infants and babies in many non-precocial mammal species go through a period I like to call The Red Zone where they basically eat, sleep, and poop in 2 to 4 hour cycles, pausing not a wink for their moms/dads/guardians to catch up.  If a giraffe isn't able to nurse properly from mom, then humans take over mom’s role. 

MD Zoo staff bottle feed Julius

Feeding a baby in this way is not as easy as it seems in the movies, either.  You don't just provide a bottle, snuggle with the baby as he or she feeds lazily in your arms, and then upload all your adorable selfies to your Insta account.  No.  You have to MAKE the formula (oh my GOD and if it’s a dolphin calf, there is usually some amount of fish oil involved which gets everywhere and you will never, ever smell like a human being again, sorry).  You have to account for every calorie; this is not just a simple “dump the powder into the water and shake shake shake and eyeball the amount eaten” situation.  Every. Calorie. Counts.  You make the formula, you pour it into whatever feeding device you’re going to us, and then you triple-check the amount before, during, and after each feeding.

This is an insanely emotionally challenging time for EVERYONE involved, human and animal alike.  Baby animals in critical condition brings its own sort of emotional torment, because it isn't uncommon for them to start to really rely on their human caregivers for all of the other needs he/she would be getting from mom, (or in alloparenting species,o ther members of the herd/pod/pride/whatever).  Social mammals NEED social contact, and not just for touchy-feely reasons.  Loving physical contact paired with creating a sense of security has a direct impact on healthy development.  If baby is surrounded by loving human caregivers, baby will start relying on those caregivers (in full or in part) to provide that contact and security.

I LURV YOU

So now you have a critically ill baby, who relies on YOU 100% for every need he/she has.  No worthy keeper takes this responsibility lightly.  Most of us fall head over heels in love and toss our life’s plans aside as we work ourselves to death to try to help this little life.  After only a couple of days, the only way we can get through our day is the time we spend with the animals.  But when we get downtime, we fall into tortured sleep filled with nightmares or we pass out into a restless state of unconsciousness until we return back to work, hopeful that the tides have turned in the baby’s favor.

It is an indescribable feeling to see a baby who was previously not doing well suddenly turn the corner and flourish.  Life slowly gets back to “normal”.  Everyone is happy.

But sometimes, the baby is too good for this world.  Such was the case with Julius.  It is especially hard when you know that they are not going to get better, especially when it is a long, slow road to that fate.

<3 <3 <3

So now I'm going to directly address all of you who worked with this little calf….but to anyone reading this who has been through a similar situation, this applies to you, too.

Maryland Zoo team Julius peeps, you are amazing.  I mean, it’s amazing enough that you did literally EVERYTHING remotely possible for that little guy.  Not only did you do everything you could for Julius, you set an example for how this kind of situation should be treated.  Keeping the wellness of Julius as your North Star, you balanced his needs with the possibilities available.  Not only that, you kept the public aware of what you were doing.  They got a look into what it takes to provide that level of care to a wild animal calf.  I mean, people in my forensics lab were talking about it with a tremendous amount of respect and concern.  

I know what it is like to watch a baby move in the wrong direction.  I know how heart-wrenching that is, especially when you start to second-guess decisions you have made, or ones you may have to make.  THEN, no matter how hard you try to cement yourself to the soulless comments about Julius and zoos and what you do for a living, you still somehow read or hear a comment that frays your last nerve and breaks you down, when you've been barely holding on. 

Look at this incredible group of people!

But listen to me.  All that matters is what you did for Julius, no matter what role you played.  Here is what he needed: Love, security, basic physical needs met, and medical treatment.  Here is what you gave him: Love, security, basic physical needs met, and medical treatment. 

The experience that little giraffe calf had is impossible to know for sure, but logically let’s think about this.  Even if he didn’t feel well or physically comfortable as his health declined, all of his needs were met.  He did not have to spend a moment afraid.  He did not have to spend a moment unloved.  We know that is not often the case in animals in the wild in similar situations.  

The emotional torment you guys experienced with him, and are dealing with now in a different way, is NOT what he experienced.  If Julius gets to fill out a survey in the afterlife about his time on earth, his “Additional comment” section would probably say something like, “I got lots of love and I was basically a social media giant.  Would recommend.”

And I agree with this review!

No matter what your internal conversation is with how everyone played out, or how hard it is to read media coverage and see the disgusting comments below the articles….that does not change the fact that Julius lived and died, fully and completely loved.  THAT is why you guys get up each morning.  If you feel unappreciated, know that I bet Julius and his mom appreciated what you did.   Know that the awful comments you're reading are just words typed quickly on a keyboard....which is NOTHING compared to the weight of the work you did to care for an animal in his greatest time of need. Know that the rest of us in the zoo field appreciated what you did.  We stand in solidarity with you. 

A giraffe, a dolphin, a lemur, a caiman…I don't care what animal you care for, we know that they all deserve to feel secure and loved, in whatever way they perceive those things.  It is never easy to provide that in medically critical situations, and yet time and again we do it.  We know our hearts will be ripped out, that we may have nightmares about it for years to come, but those consequences do not stop us from being there 100% for animals who not only NEED that level of care, but DESERVE IT.

Thinking of you, Maryland Zoo. 

Rest in peace, little guy.

from The Middle Flipper http://ift.tt/2uwMX0V

[hellobazilpatel-blog]

35 Ways to Chill the Hot Summers in Dubai

35 Ways to Chill the Hot Summers in Dubai

  Summers in Dubai are renowned for their hot, hotter, and hottest degree of heat when the orange-yellow ball of sun breathes dragon fire. Of course, you can do the ice bucket challenge on repeat to beat the heat. The best ways to chill through the hot summers in Dubai entail a list of activities that punch the heat straight in its guts so that you can chill and have fun on and on, without having to worry about a thing. So here is a list of all the fun-filled activities that you can do this summers in Dubai.

Hit the Ski Dubai Located in the Mall of Emirates, the Ski Dubai is the best land of snow ever living in amidst the shining sunny land, where you can have fun with the Snow Bullet and encounter a Penguin.   Snow the heat away Visit the Dubai Ice Rink that has a round-the-year snowfall and a new Snow Zone that allows the kids to fire snowballs at each other and build a snowman in the summers. Plus, you can also ice skate in the middle of the dazzling summers.   Go into the Ice Bar Save yourself from heat by seeking refuge in a -19-degree ice bar cave at the Cavalli Club’s Ice Lounge. The heat wouldn’t bother you an inch.   Need a quick blast of air? Cryo’s the thing to do In the summers, Cryotherapy is the ultimate thing that you need to that combines calories reduction with a blast of chilled air and skin renewal with -140 to -160 degrees.   Let’s hit the spas There is a myriad of hotels that boast spas to beat the heat such as the Four Seasons Resort Jumeirah where you have an ice room, ice shower, and a spa to please your baked-in-the-desert skin.   Go for the Waterparks You know that this should be the place where you can definitely chill in the summers and should be the on top of your summer activities’ checklist. Also, there is a variety to choose from such as the Wild Wadi or Legoland Waterpark

One word: Palm, the Atlantis Palm, the Atlantis is the one stop to completely forget about the heat that is literally showering on you. There are several activities to choose from, there, of course, is the Aquaventure Water Park.   Sun + Fun= Poolside Brunch If you want to play with the sun’s rays while simultaneously being able to stay in the shades than you have Vida Downtown’s that offers a splash in the pool along with a brunch there in the canopies of shade.   Swim the heat away Several pools offer reasonable rates during the summer months, and you can hit the waters at, say, for instance, Horizon at Le Meridian Mina Seyahi that is open for swimming during the night hours.   An air-conditioned bar Barasti is the place to be in the summer in Dubai. It is fully air-conditioned and has a tented structure to keep the heat at bay.   Take a cooking class The Taj Hotel in Business Bay opens its doors for cooking classes that offer a unique pre-brunch experience of cooking classes with its Executive Chef, Jitin Joshi and Head Chef named Ajay Negi.   Let’s Scream, Ice Cream The Kite Beach parks a Wanna Banana ice cream spot for ya’ll to kill the heat. It is the trendy way of appeasing your sweet tooth and a place to cool down with ice cream.   Water sports Enjoy a bumpy, splashy ride with a sharp-shaped vehicle at Rixos to punch the beat. There’s a speedy trip in the waters with full safety measures taken in advance.     Yoga by a beach in the AC Meditate and exercise by the beach in an air-conditioned room with Abbey Yates followed by a lovely, healthy breakfast at the Surf Cafe.   Shop it away Another good way to tackle the heat is by hitting the malls. There are just so many malls to hang out, and there are not just shopping options alone, you can go for art galleries, theaters, and numerous cafes and restaurants. You can go to the Dubai Mall, Wafi Mall, or the Mall of Emirates, the largest in Dubai.   Some scuba diving as well    Water is undecidedly the best way to chill out in the heat and you can rock at the beaches and kick the adrenaline-rush with sports such as scuba diving, jet ski rides, and flyboarding.   Cool in the skies Go for some flying, which is another brilliantly bonzer activity to do in Dubai during the hot summers. You can learn to fly planes and opt for parasailing or ride a microlight. All this in one place in Ras al Kheimah   Cool off with the dolphins The best partners you can find for yourself in these sweltering summers are none other than the dolphins. Catch the sweet, friendly dolphins at the Dolphinarium in Dubai, and if you have kids, continue their education on a lighter note. Dolphins and seals await to welcome you to subside the heat with their live performances.   Busy yourself in some games There is no need to conjure up an image of a sweating you with a basketball in your hands because obviously, I am not suggesting that my brethren melt in the heat. I am suggesting that you take the gaming indoors in the entertainment parks in Dubai such as the City Walk. And while you are there, you have to check out the Hub Zero, which is a must-go place.     It is an indoor entertainment park that is loaded with virtual reality and interactive games. 18 attractions with arcade machines and four gaming zones triple the fun.   Glow-in-the-dark Golf Another unique and fun thing to add to your checklist for summers in Dubai includes playing golf. Nah, nah! Not the traditional golf you’re guessing. I am talking mini golf court taken indoors with the fun taken up a notch with the glow in the dark design of the golf pad. How? What? Where? So many questions, one simple answer Tee and Putt.   For a change, turn into Spiderman   Blimey or not, it is always fun climbing the walls, of course, unlike Peter Parker you would not have to scale the walls of your city with the sun beating hammers of heat on your head. Absolutely not. In Dubai, you have an indoors solution for wall climbing with options of different levels of difficulty so that you don’t back out just by the name of it. Have some fun climbing walls at the Dorell Sports or Sky Trail.   Bounce the heat away Oh yes, you definitely can do that in Dubai without having to worry about being in the sun. How? I hear you ask, hit the Bounce Dubai that is has the biggest trampoline park in the country for you and all this indoors. For all the jumping enthusiasts out there, here is a heaven for you all.

Don’t forget the theme park Are you ready for the time of your life because I have the best option for you all and not it is not just an option but a summer option so you can have the summers of your life. So let’s raise the curtain to unveil the paradise called IMG Worlds of Adventure that packs together an indoor adventure for you with lots of thrill. The place is divided into four zones that are referred to as Marvel, Lost Valley-Dinosaur Adventure, Cartoon Network, and IMG Boulevard to bring the best time of your life within the boundaries of a theme park.   Try some protein shakes There is no denying that protein shakes are healthy, period. But there is no scope for a no to a protein shake particularly when you are up for building some muscles in Dubai during these summers. So here is a big nod of approval to the amazing protein shakes at the Brothaus in Business Bay.   Laugh away the heat Laughter is the best medicine, and it is no doubt the best remedy for keeping the summer sun at an arm’s length too. Go for the Laughter Factor and enjoy some lols there. There are world-renowned stand-up comedians present there to help your giggle away the summers in Dubai.   Pac-Man? Pac-Man! At the Stereo Arcade located at the Jumeirah Beach Residency, you not only get to slice up the summer heat but also keep yourself entertained by playing Pac-man at the arcade. Not to forget, there is a bar and club too.   How about an open-mic night Enjoy your summer Saturdays at the Tr!beca Kitchen + Bar . Eight budding singers take the stage to sing the night away reminiscing the songs of the ‘90s. You can also make some name and have some fame by asking nicely for five minutes on stage.

Take an abra across the Dubai Creek Forget the cruises; just fetch an abra, a boat that is the traditional way to sail the waters of the Dubai Creek.   Watch a movie Catch up with the latest Hollywood and Bollywood sensational hits and watch a movie at the Reel Cinemas throughout the summer and have some fun, keeping your mind off the hot summers with the entire air-conditioned, chill environment.     Zoo the heat away The Dubai Mall offers an exciting adventurous activity that is going to keep the heat miles away from because you are going to be underground in the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo. The beauty of this place is going to make you go wow.    Present a challenge to your brain before it bakes Don’t let your brain bake in the summer sun in Dubai. Go to Escape Quest for some guaranteed fun so that you can present a brainteaser to your mind, so it remains active during the hot season too. Plus, it is fun. Here is the reveal: get locked in a place and within 60 minutes trace clues to plan an escape through an exit. So you know that “you can run, you can hide, but you can’t escape the fun.”   Strike it away If you have some serious flair for striking and aiming at the right spot then you can beat the heat by bowling at the Dubai Bowling Centre , knock away the heat.   Play some badminton The Dubai Sports World offers you the chance to chill through the summers in its eight free-to-play courts of badminton. You can also learn badminton if you don’t know how to with courses also being open.   Watch the sunrise or sunset Obviously, I didn’t forget Burj Khalifa , how can I? And the glorious experience of watching the dawn and the sun dip is beyond mesmerizing and something that you cannot miss no matter what this summer.   SkyDive at the iFly Defy the odds of gravity and Skydive at the iFly at the City Center Mirdif . Additionally, there is a cinema, lots of eateries, an arcade, and the Carrefour present in this mall. So here’s to a full fun day.     Speedboat around the palm Fetch a speedboat and forget about all the heat while speeding through the waters around the Palm Jumeirah and the world archipelagos.

I guess by now it is established that Summers in Dubai are not a pain at all. In fact, there are just so many activities to combat the heat and make the summers in Dubai a memorable time of your life. From shopping in air-conditioned malls to trying new restaurants, bars, and cafés, from watching movies to riding cruises, and from theme parks to adventure-riddled fun-packed arcades, there is just a lot to do during summer in Dubai . It’s like your name, you got it.   PS: there are air conditioners everywhere in Dubai, so it’s a full-fledged farewell program for the heat. Click to Post

[mrandyzavala]

The Middle Flipper Is...(Part 16)

…a dolphin who helps herself to her lunch.  And maybe other people’s lunches.

STOP IT

This has got to be something anyone training animals has experienced with any tangible reinforcer*.  I wrote about this a while back, featuring an amazing lady sea lion named Tina.  It may not surprise many people that animals who can easily move around the land occasionally pull some lightning-fast ninja moves and wind up with their face in a bucket, cooler, pouch, whatever.   Also can we pause a moment to just acknowledge how STRONG Asian small-clawed otters are when they are using their tiny alien hands to grab their food bowls?  You’d need some kind of industrial-grade lever system and/or a nuclear bomb to loosen their grip before they are good and finished.  ASCOs are undoubtedly the masters of bucket-diving.

But I mean, their hands can be used for good, too.

BUT, perhaps the wild card of the Bucket Diving World Champions are dolphins.  Yeah.  

If you work with dolphins, you get it.  But if you don’t, you are probably sitting there wondering a) how stupid the trainers are for leaving buckets close enough to the edge of the water for a dolphin to nab OR b) you are trying to imagine how it is physically possible for a dolphin to let themselves into a closed container of food but your brain keeps flashing the THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE message.  So let me shed light onto both of these points.

People who work with dolphins tend to keep fish in one of two types of containers: stainless steel buckets, or Igloo-type coolers**.  Because dolphins are ginormous animals and eat a good amount, these containers usually contain around 3 to 10 pounds of fish, depending on the facility, the animal, and the type of session.  Many facilities feed lots of capelin, or smaller fish like mullet or the dreaded silversides (Godspeed to those of you feeding those little MFers).  

This is the feeling of gazing into a bucket full of silversides.  HOW MANY ARE IN THEREEEEE

What that means is there are like 67,000 fish in a bucket (plus or minus), not to mention lots of ice.  That means the buckets are pretty heavy and not easily wielded (although have you seen a dolphin trainer’s arms? STACKED).  Unlike animals whose training food requires something cute and simple like a little belt, or clip-on pouch, dolphin trainers do not typically move their buckets around as often as THEY themselves move.  You leave it somewhere, do your thing, and come back to it.  

And this is where the problems begin.

When I was at Marineland, Roxy was the known bucket-diver (I’m assuming she is still doing this).  Now, Roxy was not really a risk-taker when it came to helping herself to snacks.  That is to say, if you carelessly left your bucket/cooler on the edge of the habitat, she was going to come up a foot or so out of the water, use her rostrum to knock the bucket into a free spin resulting in it crashing into the water. 

Roxy (photo cred to Jess Aditays, an amazing human being with endless talent)

This is usually how dolphins (in my experience) take their buckets.  They see a perfect opportunity, and take it.  Usually, it spills a good amount of fish into the water (67,000ish) and the other dolphins zoom over and chow down, regardless of what else is going on.  This is annoying for a few reasons: 1) You have to figure out how much food each animal got, so you can get everyone’s daily diet back into equilibrium.  This is basically impossible unless you have really slow dolphins (ha ha!), or if there is less than three, because otherwise you basically have a maelstrom of marine mammal eating fish and there aren’t enough eyeballs in your head or neurons in your brain to keep track of that much stimuli. 2) Depending on what kind of session it is, or how long you have left in the session, you may have like zero snacks left over.  This really sucks in interaction programs, because you can’t get people out quickly.  You can barely get them out of the water for an emergency, like HEY THERE IS LIGHTNING AND ALSO THERE IS A SERIAL KILLER STANDING BEHIND YOU WITH A LOADED SHOTGUN SO GET OUT OF THE WATER RIGHT NOW.  And the guests are like “BUT I PAID TO SWIM WITH DOLPHINS” 3) It is yet another reminder of how stupid we are and how smart the dolphins are.

I've been looking for that everywhere!

So what do we do? Well, we have our obligatory Staff Meeting where we declare that Never Again Shall Roxy (or whoever) Steal The Bucket, and we come up with training plans and make a blood oath that we will not leave our buckets within one foot of the pools’ edges.  And Roxy just waits until we screw up, because SHE knows we will (but we humans are still in denial about this).   Sometimes, you get REAL smart, and you close the lid to your Coleman cooler nice and tight after every time you use it, so when Roxy knocks it in, she just gets a floating cube impenetrable to her handless body.  And you celebrate how intelligent and cunning you are as a human being.

….until you meet Delilah.  

The Grand Empress herself

Delilah, she knows how to open coolers.  She removes lids in ways that I still cannot understand.  She eats all the snacks.  And then she brings you back the empty cooler, and the lid (if she completely removed it).  I don't have anything else to add to this, because her methods are a mystery.  All I know is that she figured this out and acts calmly, almost bored, because she is that effing smart.

But there is a dolphin who gets buckets no matter where they are.  And her name is Spirit.

Remember this photo

Spirit lives at National Aquarium (Nani’s daughter) and is one of the sharpest women I have ever met.  She is a keen observer of human behavior, she is always 10 steps ahead of any training plan you can come up with, she figures out your games and exploits you.  GOD I LOVE HER.

I was told Spirit was a bucket diver when I started working at the aquarium.  I figured at that point, with 10+ years of experience, I had seen lots of bucket divers.  I also figured that after watching Delilah dismantle coolers, I couldn’t be surprised anymore.  Now, don't read that as me saying that I somehow thought Spirit would never grab a bucket during one of our sessions.  I had learned that lesson long ago; it was just a matter of time before I experienced that.  But I figured I wouldn’t be surprised by it.  It would just be Another Smart Dolphin Taking What She’s Owed.

HA! My hubris was steamrolled yet again by a slippery critter.

This is now my permanent facial expression

The first time Spirit took her bucket (a stainless steel one), it was 100% my fault.  It was on the edge, I left to get some toys, and I took my eye off of her for a second.  Rookie mistake, and boom, she got it.  She got a couple other trainer’s buckets in other sessions over the next couple of days, becoming bolder and bolder at how far she would come up out of the water to get it.  But again, this wasn’t surprising to any of us.  We just tried to be more vigilant in keeping our buckets away from her.

So this one session, I was standing on a slide out on the side of the main habitat during a presentation.  I was about shin-deep in the water, loving on Spirit and another dolphin named Jade.  It seemed like we were having a jolly time, with both dolphins soliciting rubs and playing wildly with their toys.  I placed their buckets high up on the wall, at the end of a set of stairs leading into the slide out, because Spirit would basically need to re-evolve her legs or defy the laws of gravity in order to reach it.  Therefore, I felt perfectly comfortable moving to the front of the habitat, near their underwater viewing windows.

Everything is fine, I got it

I did this because it was part of our plan to bring the dolphins to the windows so our guests in the amphitheater could see the animals better.  I brought Jade’s bucket with me, after putting some of Spirit’s food in there, so I didn’t have to schlep two big buckets back and forth to the windows, especially because I wasn’t going to be there longer than a few behaviors.  Oh…oh Cat.

We did a few behaviors, having a great time.  Spirit and Jade got a good amount of snacks for it, since we didn’t do it super often.  I also figured it would be a good idea to give Spirit a heavier ratio of reinforcement at the windows because she was away from her bucket and, even though she couldn’t reach it, she was not over at the slideout trying to get it.  THis is something I am sure most of you trainers out there would’ve done, because it is, according to the books, What Works.

Suddenly, Spirit shot away.  Towards the slideout.  Towards the stairs.  

Me. Dolphin (not Spirit).  Stairs are behind me, bucket in the place I am describing.  You get the picture.

Oh god, I thought.  She is going to try in vain to get that bucket.  What a mess, I thought as I watched her make her way to the bucket.

Then, with the grace and agility of a freakin’ killer whale, she somehow CLIMBED UP THE STAIRS WITH HER FLIPPERS, grabbed her bucket, then threw her body, which was now well over 1/2 way out of the water, back onto the slideout.  And a dolphin party ensued, ruining the presentation segment, leaving me standing mouth-agape at what I just witnessed.

She tried to turn back into this thing

The best part? None of the staff who knew Spirit well was surprised.  They calmly informed me that really, the only way to prevent Spirit from getting a bucket was to secure it in a bucket rack on one of the decks of the habitat, or hang it 35 feet from the ground like a freaking camping trip where bears hang out.

In fact, they further informed me of Spirit’s ability and Little Mermaid-esque affinity to Be Where The People Are in ways that do not make sense for a bottlenose dolphin.  My favorite story involve a trainer in The Pit, a small (and AMAZINGLY COOL) observation area located below the main pool’s deck.  The entrance to the pit is like nine feet away from the water’s edge, and is up on a low grade “hill” of sorts. 

The pit is in the middle of this photo; its roof-top door is open.  That is how far back it is.

The trainer was watching animals in another pool, when they felt drops of water falling on them.  This wasn’t unusual, because if the animals splashed a lot, you might feel a couple of droplets as a result.  But for some reason, this trainer looked up.  And there, peering down at her, was Spirit. 

This dolphin had slid up well over a body length UPHILL, and scooted herself so that she could literally crane her head over the edge of the pit to see what was happening down there.  Like NBD. 

AHHHH

Despite the momentary anxiety bucket diving can cause, it ultimately is a really cool thing to witness.  As animal caregivers, we need to be humbled by the animals in our care.  We have to have reminders that no matter what stage in our career we are at, or what kind of day we are having, we ultimately work for the animals.  It cannot be any other way.  If they want to exploit our momentary lapse of judgment regarding food receptacle placement, so be it.  Let them feel free to do so.  Let them always remind us that humans are not the be-all, end-all.  And let them eat their snacks. 

_________

If not, you need to start your own workshop and charge like $500 per person and maybe give me 10% of your earnings for you know, a founder’s fee.

** I know some of you guys wear fanny-pack pouches when you are in the water, but no one is impressed with a dolphin who steals fish from a container UNDER water.

from The Middle Flipper http://ift.tt/2tEgGo0

[mrandyzavala]

The OLD Dolphins

There are definitely many reasons why I consider myself lucky.  One of those reasons is that I've had the pleasure of knowing more than my fair share of Old Lady Dolphins.  Considering today is Mother's Day in the U.S., I think today's topic is pretty fitting.  In fact, I'd like to go even further and talk about a very special lady I got to know at my last job.

Happy mother's day!

There are probably many of you dolphin trainers (extant and extinct) who will know exactly who I'm talking about....and you probably have a lot of stories of your own to share.  So PLEASE do.  

#goals

First, let's just talk about Old Lady Dolphins (herein referred to as OLDs*).  I have written about a few of these gals before (Nellie, Pebbles, Panama, Delilah) but I feel like it's worth revisiting the classification of this very special personality type.

Second, some of you work with social animals who are matriarchal in nature (I'm really looking at you, elephant keepers).  What I write today may ring true for some of the golden girls in your life, so correct me if I make this too specific to dolphins, but....

....dolphins are "special".   Like, they are the High Maintenance Animal of the universe.  I haven't talked to any extinct species, but I would be utterly shocked if we found out that deinonychus or wooly mammoths were as ridiculously dramatic as dolphins.  I mean, dolphins as a family are pretty successful evolutionarily speaking.  So the whole diva thing must really be working for them.

THAT'S what she was trying to tell me?!

This is not just a personality trait, people.  While I will admit there are laid back dolphins, most of them are basically insane.  Bottlenose dolphins are top predators.  They are so good at what they do in the wild that they have tons of free time on their hands to terrify sharks who are just trying to do shark things, like breathe, eat, and avoid human beings.   Dolphins also have a lot of sex, like to the point where I feel like it must offend other ocean creatures who struggle every day just to put food in their bellies and/or not die.  

We all know that the ocean is not a quiet place, and not just because Chatty Cathy dolphins live in it.  We know that the other vertebrates and invertebrates who populate the seas make noise a lot.  Why?  Oh, I'll tell you why, and I don't need a PhD in marine blah blah blah to know that 96% of oceanic animal sounds are essentially just a bunch of critters pointing out how annoying dolphins are.

Parrot fish:  Oh great, there go the dolphins again

Sailfish:  If I see one more dolphin penis I'm gonna gag

Menhaden: How DO they find the time?

All day all night

But life is balance, right?  You may have dolphins acting like the confident, world rulers that they are....but they also poop their figurative pants because a bubble appeared 78 feet away from their left eye (little known fact: this is unacceptable to many dolphins). Oh yes, there is another side to this coin.  If there wasn't, how could dolphins survive more than a few months without having major stress-related strokes and/or psychotic breaks?

OLDs.

"HEY. HEY YOU"

OLDs are around to calm the waters, literally and figuratively.  They are the emotional bomb squad of the dolphin world.  If things have gotten entirely out of hand (you know, Flippy can't possibly sit next to Dolly, because she once moved her head too suddenly and plus she totally stole Flippy's football four years ago), you can almost always count on an OLD to settle the score.  

Flippy: Oh my god seriously, if I have to station next to Dolly I am seriously going to flip out

Dolly: OMG OMG OMG OMG OKAY I WILL NEVER STATION NEAR YOU OR AROUND YOU OR IN THE SAME POOL IN FACT I WILL JUST NEVER STATION AGAIN I WILL JUST SIT IN THE CORNER AND BARF

Flippy: GOOD! But I'm still going to chase you just because I CAN

OLD:  Listen.  Both of you better grow the eff up, because I will use all 600 pounds of my beautiful self to set you straight

Oh, did I mention that most OLDs are huge?  Like, huge.  Maybe 100 pounds heavier than the other animals.  Nellie had rock hard abs, not even kidding. 

How DOES she find the time?

They command respect, but not usually through aggression (although it may come to that in extreme cases).  OLDs use leadership skills that many animal trainers could stand to follow once they get a senior or supervisor title next to their names (sorry not sorry, it's true).  Most of the time, they are the dolphin everyone wants to be with.  They are the dolphin that swims past and everyone just stares in admiration.  And when someone steps out of line, they do the least amount of nastiness possible, returning quickly to their calm, wonderful selves.

Got the picture?  Good.  Now let's talk about Nani.

Squeeeeeee

Nani was the oldest dolphin at National Aquarium, who unfortunately passed away a couple of months ago. I was privileged to get to know her, and work with her.  Um. Work FOR her.  

Nani was the queen of the clan.  She had a way about her that made all mammals near her - humans and dolphins alike- instantly fall in love.  Maybe it was her gorgeous, dark skin.  Maybe it was her little teddy bear eyes.  Or maybe it was because she was smarter than everyone she knew.

"Did you get my snacks yet?"

While I only worked with her for eight short months, I racked up a good amount of Nani stories in which I was further made aware of my puny standing as a naked ape.  For example, like many OLDs, she had figured out that hanging on to her toys at the end of the day meant she would get an extra snack.  However, she was one of the only OLDs I knew who would approach you, let go of her toy and place it JUST out of reach, and try to house the extra fish you were feeding the other dolphins for stationing.  And you know what?

Not a single dolphin dared taking that toy.  Every other place I have worked, if anyone (OLD or otherwise) let go of a contraband toy, someone else snatched it up.  But not with Nani.  Those rare times another dolphin attempted to steal the leverage, Nani pulled her Boss Lady card and the mistake was not repeated.

Yes, Miss Nani.

She also completely controlled husbandry training of her kids.  Her adult kids.  Now, that might not surprise some of you when you think about how female bottlenose dolphins stay with their moms their entire lives in most cases.  So yeah, when her daughter Spirit was in a blood layout, Nani would sometimes come over and yell at both human and dolphin, causing Spirit to kick out of the layout.  Pretty sure Nani knew this maneuver would result in lots of splashing that filled up our boots with water so we had gross, soggy whitefeet for the entire day.

Actual dolphin trainer foot

But she also did this with her adult son.  As is typical, Nani did not live with her adult son Beau.  And still, when he was in a blood layout, she would interfere in some way from entirely different habitats.  And he, the obedient momma's boy, would immediately stop what he was doing, as if he was just caught doing something wrong.

Nani: BEAU! BEAU BEAU.  ARE YOU IN A BLOOD LAYOUT IN THERE?

Beau: NO! No ma! I don't know what you're talking about, I would never do that! No!

"If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times.  You don't let those two-legged freaks touch your precious flukes."

There were many attempts to smooth this issue with training, with some success.  According to trainers who had been there a while, Nani had gotten much better and most times, you could work your husbandry approximations without interference.  Correction: whatever we did made Nani comfortable ALLOWING us to continue.  But every once in a while, she had to remind all of us who was really in charge.

Like all OLDs I knew, she was extremely maternal.  Not just towards dolphins, either.  She stared at human babies like they belonged to her. Maybe that creeps some of you put, but I thought it was pretty adorable.

Nani (left) and her daughter Spirit staring at me and my daughter!

Nani filled a lot of hearts over a long period of time. She was an extremely bright, confident animal who knew how to keep a family together. Her loss was and still is profoundly felt.  She is definitely one of the most memorable OLDs I have ever met. And if you never had the honor of knowing her, I hope you feel like you knew her after reading this. 

Thank you, sweet Nani.

:)

______________

OMG...I so did NOT even intend for that acronym to work out so perfectly.  I'd love to have you all believe I'm some sort of English wordsmith genius but too many of you know me for who I really am: a former dolphin trainer who really wishes she was R2D2. 

from The Middle Flipper http://ift.tt/2pLeogv