(no subject)
Things have been very busy for me lately. Almost every week we have some kind of overnight trip at work, and on those days we usually work anywhere from 11-14 hours, so I am pretty exhausted. Two weeks ago we had a two night canoe trip. We surveyed the Little Niangua River by canoe and then would snorkel areas that looked promising for Niangua darters. It was a lot of fun. I mean, I got paid to canoe! Who wouldn't want to do that? The week after that trip was the Fourth of July so I went home to see my family. My brother Mitchell was home from the Air Force so I got to see him and spend time with my other siblings as well. We shot off fireworks and generally had a good time blowing things up. Such is the holiday with me and my brothers. This week I went on my first caving trip with my work. We went to collect hydro labs from different caves that they had set up previously. I haven't done a lot of caving so I was a bit worried about how I would respond to that kind of situation. I did well though and went in all the caves except one, which just wasn't big enough for more than two people. We saw the federally listed "threatened" Ozark cave fish, lots of cave crayfish, salamanders, bats, and frogs. The caves were a lot of fun, and in one cave there were some pretty cool formations. All in all it was a good time. And I guess we are going on an overnight trip again next week. I just got a call from my boss today saying that we are staying tuesday and wednesday nights to do some snorkeling. Also, Chris and my five year anniversary is next friday (the 20th) so we were going to get a hotel in Osage Beach and spend some time together. So I am very busy! The only thing is that I do get sick often and it is sometimes hard to deal with being sick and being outside or being in the car a lot (we often have to drive 2-3 hours one way just to reach our snorkel site). But I have toughed it out and never once had to call in sick, so I am proud of that. Despite being sick, I am having a wonderful time and getting to experience so many things that I never thought I would get to do. Just last week I was working with someone else at the MDC and they were teaching me how to isolate DNA! And not too many people get to go caving and look at endangered animals on a daily basis. I am so blessed and thankful for what I am doing. I just pray that I will find a "real" job with the MDC when my internship is over. But until then, I am going to work hard, soak up as much stuff as I can, and just generally enjoy being outside in nature all day, everyday.