I'm feeling hot hot hot

NOTE: I finished writing this on June 22, but my photo processor was being silly and wouldn't let me get my photos until today.

I've been really lucky the past few weeks with cooler Saturdays, but since today is the second day of summer I guess the weather decided it wanted to act like summer. What I am trying to say is that today was very hot. As in, we arrived at Red Wolf at 9:00 AM and it was already 75º F outside. Due to this weather condition, we decided to work on the still-in-progress puma enclosure first before things got too hot. This time I was not sitting on top of the whole enclosure, at least. Instead, I was balanced on top of some somewhat wobbly ladders armed with hog rings and a giant screwdriver. The entire morning was spent finishing up the front of the enclosure. We completed nearly everything - all that is left to do is the  big front gate, which needs to be fitted a little bit better because it is not lined up quite correctly. Fixing the gate requires another pole to be put across the bottom, which will take a good amount of time and effort since the pole needs to be cut and then fixed across the bottom. So when it came to be noon, we decided to call lunch and retreat from the sun. I did manage to remember sunscreen this time around (after my dermatologist made fun of my awkward tan line from last weekend).

After lunch my friend and I did a quick bear-run in which we scooped poo and fed bears. It didn't take too long, which is good since it was quite hot and there is nothing quite as (un)enjoyable as hot bear poo. After the bears, my mother and brother actually came to see the place where I have disappeared to every Saturday all summer. Since my brother is especially fond of raptors, we saved feeding the raptors until they got there. So my friend and I took them on a tour of Red Wolf. We stopped by and said hello to Yuma the puma (and my mother talked to Yuma as if she was just a slightly large house cat. Yuma, of course, remained unimpressed). Next we looked in on the silver-phase red fox (whose name is escaping me right now) and on Joker, the white-phase red fox. As a special surprise, we even saw a few of the wolves, which I was not expecting due to the heat.

Gray Wolf

Next stop was the raptors. The raptor center is completely full right now, occupied by: two great horned owls, one barred owl (Uno), one red-shouldered hawk, two red-tailed hawks, two buzzards, and the three baby screech owls (who were moved out into the center earlier this week). By this time, the temperature was reaching nearly 100º in the sun, so the birds were not terribly active or hungry, but they were still fun to feed and watch for a while. I even remembered to take my camera with me this time!

Red-tailed hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Great Horned Owl, missing right wing

Great Horned Owl

Great Horned Owl

Great Horned Owl

Great Horned Owl, "Unimpressed" Face

Uno the Barred Owl

Uno the Barred Owl

Not-so-dignified Great Horned Owl

Of course, what tour of Red Wolf is complete without a visit to Rosie? My brother and mother finally got to meet the diva fox who has been the subject of many conversations and photo sessions. She was very friendly, and much calmer than usual (which was probably due to that lovely heat). Then we went down to see the bears. My mom and bro brought a brand new wheelbarrow for the bear bunker, one that doesn't have a giant crack and leak bear poo everywhere! It is very exciting. It was so hot that the bears were literally lying on the floor and raking food with their paws into their mouths.

Tuck was a little more lively:

After the tour, it was time for me to head out because I had plans to go to a Roller Derby match. I had never been to one before, and the entirety of my knowledge came from a quick glance at the Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roller_derby). This was a big grudge match between the Cincinnati Roller Girls and the Northern Kentucky Black-n-Bluegrass Girls. Apparently there is a lot of rivalry because there used to only be a Cincinnati team until the NKY team formed, at which point some of the Cincinnati team girls went over to the KY team. I only know this because the girl who tames my hair whenever it needs a cut is on the Kentucky team. Anyways, it was pretty fun to watch, especially if/when there were body check and wipeouts involved.