Below: Me in the car looking out at a fox kit (middle of photo in long grass) at South Beach, San Juan Island.
Photos below of whales were taken by Adam and the fox kit by me. The photos are of (left to right): J39 ~ Mako the psycho whale; a curious little black fox kit who loved it when I would make kissing noises; Dot the humpback whale; J42 surfacing next to our poop scoop boat; J28 (front) with mom J17 (behind); J1 tail slap with J28 in the back and J14 with calf J40 in front; me playing with Cavaliers on South Beach; T14 Transient Orca.
Photos below of whales were taken by Adam and the fox kit by me. The photos are of (left to right): J39 ~ Mako the psycho whale; a curious little black fox kit who loved it when I would make kissing noises; Dot the humpback whale; J42 surfacing next to our poop scoop boat; J28 (front) with mom J17 (behind); J1 tail slap with J28 in the back and J14 with calf J40 in front; me playing with Cavaliers on South Beach; T14 Transient Orca.Sorry that I haven't blogged in a while, I've been really busy working and hanging out with friends in my spare time... which I don't really have much of. We've moved to double shifts at work
because the season is picking up and we're running evening trips now along with the regular 1pm trips.Visiting family was great. It was especially cool to meet family that I've never seen before, but only heard of. Grandma and Grandpa's party was a total success! It was nice to share in that special milestone with them (although I'm happy I didn't have to sing). It was good to see my immediate family again. Unfortunately, my mom was a bit more tan than me... a first time EVER! And I got a little burned... which
wasn't as bad as I expected, but the peeling is really annoying. All the cousins are growing up so fast, it seems like yesterday that Teags was just a baby and now she's dancing around like a wild woman and talking about cute boys ~ totally makes me feel really old. I'm happy I was able to take a break from work and spend some quality time with family.Since I've been back from Boise I've had more encounters with Ks and Ls, but Js remain my favorite. I've had the best encounters with them and I'm decent at identifying individuals from that family group. My favorite family unit in J Pod are the J16s (Slick and
her sons Mike and Keet and daughters Alki and J42. I decided, after many people said that Marley was too manly for J42 to submit the names Amira and Bella for her. Amira means princess in Arabic and Bella beautiful in Italian. She needed a pretty name, so Marley was submitted for a little L Pod boy, L110. We'll see how that goes when they take the vote end of July.) J28 is still my favorite, although I haven't seen her much lately. I'm still crossing my fingers for a fall baby. She seems to hang out with L57, a mature bull from L Pod, quite frequently... but Adam wants her to have a kid with L73 because, "He has a better loo
k." I've never met someone more picky when it comes to "whale looks" than Adam. He says it's like how I'm picky with the way horses look... I guess he got me there. I really don't care who the "baby daddy" is as long as she has a kid... funny how it's ok to say that about a 15 year old whale and yet it's frightening to talk about with people. hahaha.I would still love to head north at the end of the summer to see the Northern Resident Killer
Whales. They live around Johnstone Strait on the east side of Vancouver Island. I really want to see the A5s because they were the animals I read a lot about in my books and it'd be nice to actually see their descendants. Adam has some friends who work with the NRKWs and he thinks I might get to meet them if I head up there. This area is a bit more rugged... so I guess I'll have to buck up and get used to camping if I want to take a trip up there. I guess it's really pretty though and it'd be a once in a lifetime thing to do. I also plan on meeting up with the man who 
does Minke Whale research sometime this month over coffee. I've submitted multiple sightings to his organization and he said he'd like to meet me. This might be a cool opportunity to help out with some Minke research and I'd love to do it... anything to be on the water. There are also places where they study Dwarf Minkes and actually go scuba diving and snorkeling with them... that would also be awesome (and don't worry, Minkes don't have teeth).I h
ave today and tomorrow off so hopefully I'll end up working on the poop scoop boat again. I enjoy helping with research as well as getting a closer look at the animals, which is really helping my ID skills (or lack thereof). There are a few whales that I'm really good at like J1, 2, 26, 27, 28, 17, 16, 42, 19, 8, and 39. I also am learning Ls and Ks thanks to Adam's crash course in photo ID. He has a bunch of photos of animals' dorsals and saddles and he put them in a folder for me to try and ID. I'm not at 100%, but I'm learning what to look for and associations so that makes it easier to try. My goal is to ID all adult males by the end of the summer as well as become proficient with J Pod animals... hopefully this is
reasonable.I miss everyone and I'm glad I got to spend time with you all and talk about "the good ol' days." I'm keeping notes of my time here and maybe one day I'll compile them into some sort of memoir. Take care and have a happy Fourth of July!
4 comments:
Hi Babes,
Like all the photos! Hard to believe that baby fox got so close to you. Boise was great, glad you were able to get time off. I hope you are journaling (is that a word?) your experience on the island. You know how easy it is to forget as you get older! haha. I want to continue to encourage you to do all you can now, before "other things" get in the way. We miss you, love you and pray for you daily!!
Hi
It was great having you here to help us celebrate. My sisters and had nothing but great things to say about you. They were very impressed with your bubbly personality and your skill at communicating. Lets face it Megs, you've got what it takes to go and be whatever you want to be. We also encourage you to follow your dream and to "grab the brass ring". Looks like you have the oppurtunitis now so take them while you can. We hope to see you the end of August. Look into what the Argyle Inn is like. I saw it on line and it looked like a decent place to spend a night and was reasonably priced. We should set the date soon, so we can get on a tour with you, as I would loved to see the whales you tell us about. ttyl luv U
Megan,
It was so good to see you in Boise, though we did not have time for any heart to heart talks. I know you are thinking about what to pursue in your immediate future.
Rest assured, with your talent, personality, supportive family and friends, and faith you can't go wrong. Whatever you choose, you will make the most of and be a success -- which is easy to do, because I think success just means being happy and you seem to have such an easy time with that. You can enjoy anything you get yourself interested enough in to learn about and make part of your own growth -- and even like doing it. The older I have gotten, the more rare I see that trait in people. If you are like me, you think that is just normal. I am starting to see that it is not. So, rest easy, you will always find something to be happy about, and therefore, will always experience success.
At this stage for you -- if you don't mind advice -- I would say, keep your possibilities open and keep as many irons burning hot in the fire as you can at one time. Well, you seem to be doing that already, right -- so my advice is either superfluous (a nice word for pointless) or easy to follow. I guess it depends on your point of view.
If you want to do more research, those projects usually have time constraints. You can work on law school applications at the same time and see where you get admitted to. If you are not ready to start at the law school you want in August (I think that is when most of them start), once admitted, most schools would hold a spot for you in the next year's class if you ask them to.
I guess what I am saying is, you have the talents to do it all, and keeping your options open and pursuing multiple things at once for as long as you can (or is practical) will help you discover which fork in the road you want to make your primary road -- and never forget the sideroads are also important. Keep the faith and keep making progress on your goals and nurturing your loves -- it will soon become apparent to you what it is you need to be doing for yourself, your family, and your future family. The happier you are, the better for each of the foregoing (thought I would throw in a legal term -lol).
Much love, keep smiling,
Jeleen
Ok it looks like July 25,26,27. We'll drive up Friday and back on Monday. I need to find out the ferry schedule and all that. Does this look ok for you?
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