4th July

I put my former training in first aid to good use yesterday. Alex (cool intern) had a spill on the rocks and sliced open his hand. It sounds like no big deal, but that wasn’t the case. He was trying to bring up a rock from the cobble…the rock (which was rather big) started to slide back towards him and he fell. When I looked at the cut…I was pretty grossed out. I could see things in it that I shouldn’t have been able to see…like nerves and tendons. I knew there was damage because of his thumb had lost sensation and it was tingling. So…I got the ball rolling to get people out here. To make a long story short, alex went to the hospital and got 22 stitches…he told me that the tendon, artery and main nerve were barely missed…barely. Thank god I didn’t have to deal with a cut artery! It could have been much worse than it was already. Hopefully this brings the point home to the refuge staff that at least one person out here should be certified in first aid. Alex will be back in a couple of days. I guess he’ll have to go back in on the 15th to remove the stitches.
The birds are doing okay. We’ve had a few deaths of chicks in our production plots. The production plots contain nests…surrounded by chicken wire, etc. so that the chicks can’t get out. This is how we determine the average number of chicks per nest, how many survive and so on. We have already pretty much lost one production plot…there were only 5 nests and 9 eggs…we’ve lost 4 chicks so far. More bad news…a lot of butterfish are coming into the colony. Butterfish are very round fish, like a coin, and it’s very difficult if not impossible for a chick to eat. So the sad this is…you may see a chick surrounded by fish and starve to death because the fish are butterfish and the chicks aren’t able to swallow them.
I spent my last day off with dr. bridges (director of the education program I’m in currently). She is originally from maine and spends her summers here. She was about an hour’s drive from the marina where we dock. She has an absolutely beautiful house, nicely decorated. I wish I had a little more time just to lounge on the couch in front of the fire. The treat for the evening was a clam bake and a lobster…my first for both. I thought the clams were pretty good actually. I’m not sure about the lobster…it was okay. I didn’t mind digging right in and ripping, tearing, crushing the poor thing apart. It was tasty, but I really don’t understand the big deal about lobster. I’d eat it again, but I won’t drool over it or anything. The next time I’m off the island will be the last day of work. Part of me is sad to know the end is near and the other part of me can’t wait to get off this f#@king island. The season would’ve been so much better if we hadn’t have had such bad weather. I think we’ve had more bad days than good. At least I had good company…for the most part…alex has a great sense of humor and carmen needs to get one. In other words, things aren’t any better with the new girl…there’s always something everyday.
Well…keep in touch. I hope everything is going well for everyone and you are all enjoying your summer. Until next time.