Mad Manatee Mentors 2013: CLOSED (exc/ Pop Tart bribes) (Page 210)

Originally posted by jobaxas

The plan said 2.43 ride - I did it.  On the trainer 2.43 in zone 2.  Not hard to do when watching Breaking Bad - now on season 2.  My HR goes into zone 4-5 when something bad happens - like every ten minutes!

 

I've walked Scooby now to go buy food, I got nothing then a day of cleaning - pick up my cuz from the airport out for dinner with her - going to Repulica in St Kilda Yanti - happy shoulder nibbling memories.

Originally posted by kgore

What an emotional day! Coupled with the apprehension about the half, I had some fun today learning about reptile eggs and training a certain blue lizard; and then it came crashing down...

 This is Shanti the Snow Leopard. She was attacked by her cage mate last Sunday, he managed to put a bunch of holes in her, as well as break a vertebral thingie on her back. The vets did impromptu surgery on her and removed multiple pieces of bone from her back. She made it out of surgery ok and was seeming to do well....kind of...she was 20 years old fercryinoutloud. Anyway, they noticed she wasn't looking so hot today in the hospital, and after running some bloodwork they found that there was some infection happening. They knocked her out again, and found that there was indeed a raging infection, and that it had also caused her liver and kidneys to start to fail. At that point the decision was made to euthanize her.

Shanti was 20 years old, she gave birth over the years to 6 cubs, a few of which have birthed cubs of their own at other zoos (the latest one is at Central Park Zoo). I have had the pleasure of working with this wonderful cat for 7 years--in which I laughed at her tendency to pull her tail into her mouth, which she would then bat at the end of said tail with her paw...always at big zoo events. I enjoyed seeing her evident surprise when she would be given a bone...the same bone she had been given twice before, and had been surprised by twice before. I loved to visit with her when she would come up to the mesh den door and rub her face and neck against the mesh in hopes of "scratches" (which we were strictly forbidden to give her....Of course, we ALL listened....)....and I loved to hear her "chuff" both at her various cubs and the few rare times she directed it at me. I will miss her terribly.

Originally posted by kgore

What an emotional day! Coupled with the apprehension about the half, I had some fun today learning about reptile eggs and training a certain blue lizard; and then it came crashing down...

 This is Shanti the Snow Leopard. She was attacked by her cage mate last Sunday, he managed to put a bunch of holes in her, as well as break a vertebral thingie on her back. The vets did impromptu surgery on her and removed multiple pieces of bone from her back. She made it out of surgery ok and was seeming to do well....kind of...she was 20 years old fercryinoutloud. Anyway, they noticed she wasn't looking so hot today in the hospital, and after running some bloodwork they found that there was some infection happening. They knocked her out again, and found that there was indeed a raging infection, and that it had also caused her liver and kidneys to start to fail. At that point the decision was made to euthanize her.

Shanti was 20 years old, she gave birth over the years to 6 cubs, a few of which have birthed cubs of their own at other zoos (the latest one is at Central Park Zoo). I have had the pleasure of working with this wonderful cat for 7 years--in which I laughed at her tendency to pull her tail into her mouth, which she would then bat at the end of said tail with her paw...always at big zoo events. I enjoyed seeing her evident surprise when she would be given a bone...the same bone she had been given twice before, and had been surprised by twice before. I loved to visit with her when she would come up to the mesh den door and rub her face and neck against the mesh in hopes of "scratches" (which we were strictly forbidden to give her....Of course, we ALL listened....)....and I loved to hear her "chuff" both at her various cubs and the few rare times she directed it at me. I will miss her terribly.

Originally posted by rrrunner Update. DS2 made his connection. I know have him home, sans luggage.

Originally posted by kgore

What an emotional day! Coupled with the apprehension about the half, I had some fun today learning about reptile eggs and training a certain blue lizard; and then it came crashing down...

 This is Shanti the Snow Leopard. She was attacked by her cage mate last Sunday, he managed to put a bunch of holes in her, as well as break a vertebral thingie on her back. The vets did impromptu surgery on her and removed multiple pieces of bone from her back. She made it out of surgery ok and was seeming to do well....kind of...she was 20 years old fercryinoutloud. Anyway, they noticed she wasn't looking so hot today in the hospital, and after running some bloodwork they found that there was some infection happening. They knocked her out again, and found that there was indeed a raging infection, and that it had also caused her liver and kidneys to start to fail. At that point the decision was made to euthanize her.

Shanti was 20 years old, she gave birth over the years to 6 cubs, a few of which have birthed cubs of their own at other zoos (the latest one is at Central Park Zoo). I have had the pleasure of working with this wonderful cat for 7 years--in which I laughed at her tendency to pull her tail into her mouth, which she would then bat at the end of said tail with her paw...always at big zoo events. I enjoyed seeing her evident surprise when she would be given a bone...the same bone she had been given twice before, and had been surprised by twice before. I loved to visit with her when she would come up to the mesh den door and rub her face and neck against the mesh in hopes of "scratches" (which we were strictly forbidden to give her....Of course, we ALL listened....)....and I loved to hear her "chuff" both at her various cubs and the few rare times she directed it at me. I will miss her terribly.

Originally posted by kgore

She was a special kitty--admittedly, I have always been partial to our Snows. Her last mate, Ramir, was sent to Boise two years ago, where unfortunately, he succumbed to cancer (last year)--He was also very special and would "stalk" me from within his exhibit. The last cub, Molly, was just beginning to eat her own serving of big kitty food (away from momma) when I began working at the zoo--she and I had a strong bond. I sometimes wonder if she would remember me if I visited her in New York. 

While working at a zoo is extremely rewarding, any keeper would tell you that saying goodbye to an animal that you have worked/bonded with is by far the worst part of the job. Even the ones that don't seem to have personalities--they attach themselves to a bit of our hearts too.

Originally posted by TriAya

3. I'm so pleased. I knew you'd be especially impressed ... medals blah blah blah times blah blah epic open water--so do you have a middle name? What is it? Oh, how do you spell that? And that's how we got to JBS I think we spent more time talking about that than swimming or Paralympics!

Originally posted by Muskrat37

Last minute Addition to the list.  I'm doing a swim race tonight.  Choices are .5 , 1.2, or 2.4 mile swims.  I will be entering the 1.2 mile race (wetsuit division).  They have a BBQ afterwords.   I'm really hoping that the attendance is dominated by single females!  

Originally posted by amd723 My weekend is starting off really crappy!!! Received mail from my utility company advising me of high water consumption during the last meter reading. I consumed 20kgallons. That's way, way, way higher than normal. Checking out my on- line bill, it appears to be my irrigation system. There are no leaks that I can see, so I had to call The Leak Doctor. Of course, since I got this information Friday evening, the Doctor won't be out until Monday. I think I hear my money seeping into the aquifer. To put the cherry on top, just checking for a leak is 300$! Can't wait to see what the repair bill is. Ugh.

btw, this is one of those PITA things that come with home ownership. Sometimes, apartment life doesn't seem so bad.Rant off.

Originally posted by rrrunner Update. DS2 made his connection. I know have him home, sans luggage.

Originally posted by kgore

What an emotional day! Coupled with the apprehension about the half, I had some fun today learning about reptile eggs and training a certain blue lizard; and then it came crashing down...

 This is Shanti the Snow Leopard. She was attacked by her cage mate last Sunday, he managed to put a bunch of holes in her, as well as break a vertebral thingie on her back. The vets did impromptu surgery on her and removed multiple pieces of bone from her back. She made it out of surgery ok and was seeming to do well....kind of...she was 20 years old fercryinoutloud. Anyway, they noticed she wasn't looking so hot today in the hospital, and after running some bloodwork they found that there was some infection happening. They knocked her out again, and found that there was indeed a raging infection, and that it had also caused her liver and kidneys to start to fail. At that point the decision was made to euthanize her.

Shanti was 20 years old, she gave birth over the years to 6 cubs, a few of which have birthed cubs of their own at other zoos (the latest one is at Central Park Zoo). I have had the pleasure of working with this wonderful cat for 7 years--in which I laughed at her tendency to pull her tail into her mouth, which she would then bat at the end of said tail with her paw...always at big zoo events. I enjoyed seeing her evident surprise when she would be given a bone...the same bone she had been given twice before, and had been surprised by twice before. I loved to visit with her when she would come up to the mesh den door and rub her face and neck against the mesh in hopes of "scratches" (which we were strictly forbidden to give her....Of course, we ALL listened....)....and I loved to hear her "chuff" both at her various cubs and the few rare times she directed it at me. I will miss her terribly.

Originally posted by Muskrat37

RR for my swim race tonight.  

1.2 mile course - pretty sure my sighting was dead on, but if you look at the Garmin Map - not so much.  According to my watch - I swam at a 1:31 per 100 yard pace.  However, Garmin also says I swam 1.36 miles...not 1.2 miles.  Who knows.  

What's important is, I felt great! 

The race was well organized, and I started out nice and easy.  Had a nice long stroke, and really focused on the things you fellow manatees pointed out.  Tighter kick, higher hand, starting the catch earlier... all good.  Things felt really smooth.  

After about 3/4 mile, I finally got my "swimmers arms".  This is when the soreness goes away, and things just happen very naturally for me.  

This guy pulled up beside me, and we swam side by side for what I estimate to be 500 yards.  Kind of a cool experience, because he was breathing mostly to his right, and I to my left.  We kept look at each other as we swam along.  I quickly became aware that he was not very good at sighting, and I started to "nudge" him over a bit, because he was pushing me off course. 

Then - all of a sudden, I noticed about 4-5 other swimmers in our group.  we were all lined up - it was pretty cool.  Next thing I know, they are getting further and further away from me.  They kept moving left, so I sighted a couple extra times... "yep - I'm on course, don't know where the heck they are going".  At one point, they got so far away from me, I wondered if I was sighting off the buoy in the opposite corner, but when I checked, it turned out I was right, and they were wrong.  5 swimmers down - I sailed ahead of them all, and they never caught me.  

Pretty uneventful until the last .5 mile.  I see a swimmer pull up beside me. Not sure where she came from, but I thought "no way am I getting chicked at the end of the race!"   I picked it up a bit, and pulled away from her.  She never caught me again.  

I really kicked it in at the last buoy.  Just wanted to make sure I didn't get passed in the last 200 yards.  Turned out, there wasn't a chance of that - the group was quite a ways behind me.  Also turned out, that was a mistake, because when I stood up, I was breathing really heavy and I sucked in a ton of water!    

All in all, and awesome race.  Throroughly enjoyed myself and I am pretty pleased with my finishing time of 35:30 for a 1.2 mile swim.  

Originally posted by kgore

What an emotional day! Coupled with the apprehension about the half, I had some fun today learning about reptile eggs and training a certain blue lizard; and then it came crashing down...

 This is Shanti the Snow Leopard. She was attacked by her cage mate last Sunday, he managed to put a bunch of holes in her, as well as break a vertebral thingie on her back. The vets did impromptu surgery on her and removed multiple pieces of bone from her back. She made it out of surgery ok and was seeming to do well....kind of...she was 20 years old fercryinoutloud. Anyway, they noticed she wasn't looking so hot today in the hospital, and after running some bloodwork they found that there was some infection happening. They knocked her out again, and found that there was indeed a raging infection, and that it had also caused her liver and kidneys to start to fail. At that point the decision was made to euthanize her.

Shanti was 20 years old, she gave birth over the years to 6 cubs, a few of which have birthed cubs of their own at other zoos (the latest one is at Central Park Zoo). I have had the pleasure of working with this wonderful cat for 7 years--in which I laughed at her tendency to pull her tail into her mouth, which she would then bat at the end of said tail with her paw...always at big zoo events. I enjoyed seeing her evident surprise when she would be given a bone...the same bone she had been given twice before, and had been surprised by twice before. I loved to visit with her when she would come up to the mesh den door and rub her face and neck against the mesh in hopes of "scratches" (which we were strictly forbidden to give her....Of course, we ALL listened....)....and I loved to hear her "chuff" both at her various cubs and the few rare times she directed it at me. I will miss her terribly.

Originally posted by Muskrat37

RR for my swim race tonight.  

1.2 mile course - pretty sure my sighting was dead on, but if you look at the Garmin Map - not so much.  According to my watch - I swam at a 1:31 per 100 yard pace.  However, Garmin also says I swam 1.36 miles...not 1.2 miles.  Who knows.  

What's important is, I felt great! 

The race was well organized, and I started out nice and easy.  Had a nice long stroke, and really focused on the things you fellow manatees pointed out.  Tighter kick, higher hand, starting the catch earlier... all good.  Things felt really smooth.  

After about 3/4 mile, I finally got my "swimmers arms".  This is when the soreness goes away, and things just happen very naturally for me.  

This guy pulled up beside me, and we swam side by side for what I estimate to be 500 yards.  Kind of a cool experience, because he was breathing mostly to his right, and I to my left.  We kept look at each other as we swam along.  I quickly became aware that he was not very good at sighting, and I started to "nudge" him over a bit, because he was pushing me off course. 

Then - all of a sudden, I noticed about 4-5 other swimmers in our group.  we were all lined up - it was pretty cool.  Next thing I know, they are getting further and further away from me.  They kept moving left, so I sighted a couple extra times... "yep - I'm on course, don't know where the heck they are going".  At one point, they got so far away from me, I wondered if I was sighting off the buoy in the opposite corner, but when I checked, it turned out I was right, and they were wrong.  5 swimmers down - I sailed ahead of them all, and they never caught me.  

Pretty uneventful until the last .5 mile.  I see a swimmer pull up beside me. Not sure where she came from, but I thought "no way am I getting chicked at the end of the race!"   I picked it up a bit, and pulled away from her.  She never caught me again.  

I really kicked it in at the last buoy.  Just wanted to make sure I didn't get passed in the last 200 yards.  Turned out, there wasn't a chance of that - the group was quite a ways behind me.  Also turned out, that was a mistake, because when I stood up, I was breathing really heavy and I sucked in a ton of water!    

All in all, and awesome race.  Throroughly enjoyed myself and I am pretty pleased with my finishing time of 35:30 for a 1.2 mile swim.  

Originally posted by blueyedbikergirl

Exactly what I noticed too.  Well, that and the fact that Yanti's freakin' HAWWWWT!

Originally posted by kgore

What an emotional day! Coupled with the apprehension about the half, I had some fun today learning about reptile eggs and training a certain blue lizard; and then it came crashing down...

 This is Shanti the Snow Leopard. She was attacked by her cage mate last Sunday, he managed to put a bunch of holes in her, as well as break a vertebral thingie on her back. The vets did impromptu surgery on her and removed multiple pieces of bone from her back. She made it out of surgery ok and was seeming to do well....kind of...she was 20 years old fercryinoutloud. Anyway, they noticed she wasn't looking so hot today in the hospital, and after running some bloodwork they found that there was some infection happening. They knocked her out again, and found that there was indeed a raging infection, and that it had also caused her liver and kidneys to start to fail. At that point the decision was made to euthanize her.

Shanti was 20 years old, she gave birth over the years to 6 cubs, a few of which have birthed cubs of their own at other zoos (the latest one is at Central Park Zoo). I have had the pleasure of working with this wonderful cat for 7 years--in which I laughed at her tendency to pull her tail into her mouth, which she would then bat at the end of said tail with her paw...always at big zoo events. I enjoyed seeing her evident surprise when she would be given a bone...the same bone she had been given twice before, and had been surprised by twice before. I loved to visit with her when she would come up to the mesh den door and rub her face and neck against the mesh in hopes of "scratches" (which we were strictly forbidden to give her....Of course, we ALL listened....)....and I loved to hear her "chuff" both at her various cubs and the few rare times she directed it at me. I will miss her terribly.

Originally posted by Muskrat37

RR for my swim race tonight.  

1.2 mile course - pretty sure my sighting was dead on, but if you look at the Garmin Map - not so much.  According to my watch - I swam at a 1:31 per 100 yard pace.  However, Garmin also says I swam 1.36 miles...not 1.2 miles.  Who knows.  

What's important is, I felt great! 

The race was well organized, and I started out nice and easy.  Had a nice long stroke, and really focused on the things you fellow manatees pointed out.  Tighter kick, higher hand, starting the catch earlier... all good.  Things felt really smooth.  

After about 3/4 mile, I finally got my "swimmers arms".  This is when the soreness goes away, and things just happen very naturally for me.  

This guy pulled up beside me, and we swam side by side for what I estimate to be 500 yards.  Kind of a cool experience, because he was breathing mostly to his right, and I to my left.  We kept look at each other as we swam along.  I quickly became aware that he was not very good at sighting, and I started to "nudge" him over a bit, because he was pushing me off course. 

Then - all of a sudden, I noticed about 4-5 other swimmers in our group.  we were all lined up - it was pretty cool.  Next thing I know, they are getting further and further away from me.  They kept moving left, so I sighted a couple extra times... "yep - I'm on course, don't know where the heck they are going".  At one point, they got so far away from me, I wondered if I was sighting off the buoy in the opposite corner, but when I checked, it turned out I was right, and they were wrong.  5 swimmers down - I sailed ahead of them all, and they never caught me.  

Pretty uneventful until the last .5 mile.  I see a swimmer pull up beside me. Not sure where she came from, but I thought "no way am I getting chicked at the end of the race!"   I picked it up a bit, and pulled away from her.  She never caught me again.  

I really kicked it in at the last buoy.  Just wanted to make sure I didn't get passed in the last 200 yards.  Turned out, there wasn't a chance of that - the group was quite a ways behind me.  Also turned out, that was a mistake, because when I stood up, I was breathing really heavy and I sucked in a ton of water!    

All in all, and awesome race.  Throroughly enjoyed myself and I am pretty pleased with my finishing time of 35:30 for a 1.2 mile swim.  

Originally posted by kgore Its a new day. Yesterday was not easy, but today will be better. I will get through work, then be off to my first half marathon. I am feeling more nervous about finding a parking spot beforehand than the race itself! Go figure! Anyway, wish me luck! I hope I will get some good pics taken too.

Originally posted by cdban66

DNF today. I crashed the bike, then 5 miles later had a blowout. Bike is good, I am put back together, so how bad can I be. More later, but it is all good!

Kate, I am sorry for your loss.

Originally posted by cdban66

DNF today. I crashed the bike, then 5 miles later had a blowout. Bike is good, I am put back together, so how bad can I be. More later, but it is all good!

Kate, I am sorry for your loss.