Flashback Friday

It's Flashback Friday again. I haven't participated in this for awhile and thought I would today!

These pics are from around 1984-1985. I was about 2 or 3 at the time and my brother was 12 or 13. This was back before life got complicated with my parents divorce and my brother going to live with my grandparents. Back when my brother and I adored each other before we became strangers. I don't really remember either of these pics but I remember the way I loved my big brother.

There is a stream and mineral springs that runs through our downtown park area and its been a place for people to come bath or drink the water since the 1700s. (George Washington even came here) Anyway, its a great place to go play, wade and catch fish and tadpoles when you're a kid. We used to spend every summer here because it was a free swimming pool of sorts and lots of fun. (I heart my brother's 80's shorts.)
My brother was also a big skateboarder and bike rider. This is on the street we used to live on with our parents. Our aunt and uncle and grandparents all lived on this street and it was pretty great. I know this looks dangerous but my mom trusted my brother implicitly. He never did drop me even when he was skating around. I of course loved it and thought it was the greatest thing ever. Apparently, I would laugh really loud and cling really tightly to my brother and yell "Again Souse!" (I couldn't pronounce Shawn).


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Christopher and Tia's!

Friday Flashback

This is my first time joining in the Friday Flashback. I've been following it for awhile now over at Tia's blog and this week's theme is pets. I don't have any old pics of pets on my laptop so I thought instead I'd post a few pics of me at my first field job. I'm a Biological Technician which means I get to travel around and take random, temporary jobs working with wild animals. The bad news of course is that I have little to no job security. :)

This pic was taken in WV where I was working on a Cerulean Warbler project. We were funded by the State DNR and they called one night because they wanted to come trap bats on the land where we were working. We showed them around and helped them set up their mist nets. Then we setled in for a long night of waiting.

This is me holding a Little Brown Bat I think. These were taken back in 2004 so I can't remember exactly. You have to wear the heavy gloves to pull them out of the nets so they don't bite you and so you can hold them down so they don't get hurt. The membrane in their wings is very delicate and can tear easily. Its also pretty cool in that you can shine a light through it and see if the bones are fused yet to tell if its an adult or youngster.

It looks like he's snarling but he's really just trying to echolocate. I imagine he's thinking something along the lines of: "What the hell just happened??? Where's that moth I was chasing?? Why does this girl look so tired???"

It was 3am, Bat. I'm just saying.

Anyways, despite my tired face I was super excited to be holding him. This was my first time holding a wild animal and not just looking at birds. Somewhere around this time is when I decided that I definately wanted to be in this field and definately wanted to be holding more wild critters.

Head over to Tia's for more Flashbacks!