I've just passed the three-month mark on Guam, and I'm still loving it here! I know it's been a while since I last posted, and that's mainly because A) I am still super busy, and B) I am still super lazy.
What's been going on since early March? Well, I experienced my first taste of storms in mid-March with Tropical Storm Bavi. I am happy to report that I'm a bona fide survivalist and my emergency stockpile includes several flashlights, plentiful batteries, lots of canned food, chlorine tablets (for purifying water), siphons for gas, and more. Everything a girl needs in the event of a disaster!
During TS Bavi my roommate brought home a dog from the shelter. The local shelter GAIN (Guam Animals In Need) only has outdoor housing for dogs, which wasn't safe during the storm. We got a dog named Flassie, as in "Fake Lassie" because she bore only the slightest resemblance to the famous dog. Poor thing.
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Flassie was a nice dog, but she shed like crazy and made some very weird noises. My roommate took her back after the storm, and we thought that was the end of us having pets...
Until these wee kittens came along!
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| Cheeto on the left, Pepper on the right. |
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| This little lady is Princess Leia. She looked like Yoda but I couldn't name her that, so another Star Wars name had to do. |
We found them abandoned on the side of the road near the Marine Lab. I took them home, gave them baths, and mixed up some special kitten food. A few days later I brought them to the vet to get them checked out. Cheeto and Pepper were just over a pound, and Princess Leia was barely 0.7 pounds. Other than worms, they were healthy--just starving!
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| Sleepy kittens at the vet. |
I tried to keep them all in my bathtub, but soon they got too strong and were able to jump out. I made a pen with large boxes, but eventually Cheeto was able to escape that too. I found him in all sorts of weird places!
They loved to be close to people, and spent a lot of time sleeping on my feet and lap.
But alas, I couldn't keep the kittens either. I made sure they were healthy and then took them to GAIN. I hope they found good homes!
In other exciting news, I have been running one or two races every month. There are lots and lots of 5K races here, sometimes multiple on the same weekend. Last weekend I ran the 10K race at the Guam International Marathon, and I ended up placing 3rd in my age group and 14th overall. I got a very cool medal!
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| Everybody gets a medal just for finishing. |
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| My friend Diona ran the half-marathon! |
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| This guy ran the 10K in a penguin costume! |
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| I ended up with two medal--the bigger one has a spinny bit in the middle! |
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| Up on stage, awkwardly getting acknowledged for placing. |
I don't think I like 10Ks very much! Too long. I think I'll stick with 5Ks from now on!
In other active endeavors, I've been doing some hiking and exploring too. Yesterday I got access to the Anderson Air Force Base up north to participate in a beach cleanup. It was so beautiful up there!
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| Daaang! That's a nice view. |
The beach cleanup went well. We had about 80 volunteers picking up everything from tiny pieces of plastic to mini-fridges and buoys that weighed more than me!
After the cleanup, a few local groups were around to show off their work. A rescue group came with a live Ko'ko bird, also known as the Guam Rail. The USDA came with a brown tree snake trap and a live snake!
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| Ko'ko bird! |
I learned that there aren't any wild Guam Rails left on Guam, but a captive breeding program is trying to keep them from going extinct. About 16 have been released on the tiny island south of Guam, Cocos Island. Additionally, over 1000 have been released on the nearby island of Rota, of which about 100 are suspected to still be alive and roaming around.
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| This is an older bird. He likes to get his neck scratched. |
They have a lot of personality and are very trainable and quick learners. Some of the older islanders say that the Ko'kos were kept as household pets and even slept on their pillows!
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| This one jumped up and tried to eat Victor's arm. |
The USDA was there showing off their brown tree snake traps. These traps are all over the place, but most often seen around airports, since there is a real concern about the snakes making their way to other islands by hiding out on planes.
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| Pretty basic! |
The traps have a secret: a live mouse! The mouse is kept in a small central chamber with a seed/nut patty and a potato, which is their water source. The snakes smell the mice and crawl into the larger main chamber, but they are unable to escape. Someone comes around to check on the mice and give them fresh potatoes regularly.
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| Not pictured: a live mouse. |
The USDA also brought a live brown tree snake! My friend Mike (in the striped shirt) has a very cool job as a brown tree snake researcher, and he is really good with handling the snakes. The USDA folks let him pull out their snake and wrangle it for the rest of us!
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| Grabbing just behind the head seems to be key. |
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| They're not bad-looking! |
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| SNAKE SELFIE! |
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| Mike and Diona, snake wrangling extraordinaires! |
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| Little tongue sticking out! |
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| Walking the snake! I never mastered that yo-yo trick. |
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This is apparently a very large brown tree snake. (And if you're wondering, yes, that IS
my Hello Kitty bag in the back.) |
After the cleanup, I drove around checking out the views, taking photos, and getting Baskin Robbins from the only franchise on Guam. Unfortunately I don't have base access so it's going to be a while before I get my BR fix again!
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| Driving down to the beach. |
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| Just gorgeous! |
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| I didn't take my car down there but I did walk, and I was rewarded with a fantastic beach! |
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| Click to make this bigger! |
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| There are lots of signs warning not to get into the water--the currents are very, very strong up here! |
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| But just looking is nice enough! |
And there were so many beautiful spiders!
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| I don't see orb weavers with red legs very often here! |
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| Haven't seen this species before! Very shiny. |
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| That thing is about 5 inches long. |
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| Seriously, isn't it shiny? |
There's also a piece of an old B-52 Stratofortress on the base! These planes were often called "Grey Ghosts" because of their weathered grey paint. The plane was originally decommissioned in 1973 and this piece (the tail) was cut off for use in training exercises on the Anderson Air Force Base. In 1976 a super typhoon blew it away, and it was rediscovered in 1997. Now the base's Boy Scouts take care of it
And that's what I've been up to! Stay tuned for more hikes, beaches, and hopefully my very own hand-caught brown tree snake! (Don't worry mom--I'm friends with an expert!)
Cheers,
Ashton
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