Sunken Heights

Megan, I first saw this Email a few days ago and thought, "Hmmm must be someone trying to give me a virus." I opened my Email account today and rethought my thought to conclude that I must stop being so cynical. I am glad that I decided to open it because now I get to read about my friends many adventures and keep in touch myself. I have already really enjoyed reading blogs from everyone. I miss you all very much.

I arrived in the Mid-West two weeks ago after a long drive across the country and a stop in Nebraska for job training. Home is a trailer outside of a small town called Americus, Kansas with a girl called Sally. So small in fact, We have to burn our own trash because there is no service to discard of it. We can't create a landfill because then we would have more rodent/coyote problems than we already do. I like the coyotes howling at night but not the roaches that we have in our cupboards. Hopefully, we can convince them that we own the trailer now.

I spend my days working for the University of Nebraska outside at the National Tall-grass Prairie Preserve watching birds, catching birds, recording vegetation, looking for nests, and trying to keep the cows away from me as I do all of this. Needless to say, they are not the smartest of creatures and for some reason they love to surround my truck and lick the windows. I was chased by a bull at Sunken Heights (the family farm) when I was a young girl so it is hard to not have a panic attack when they do this strange activity. I guess it saves money on car washes though. I caught my first wild bird last Thursday. It happened to be a little male grasshopper sparrow. He was a good boy so I successfully measured, took blood, and banded him. It was surreal holding him. He was so fragile and hell he can fly which is something that I will never do. It is strange transitioning from an environment where I am constantly surrounded by people to one where I rarely see people. Sally and I joke that soon we will soon be giving all the birds names and holding conversations about what life is like being a bird.

I went home this weekend to Oklahoma to see my mother/friends for Memorial Day. On Saturday, I spent the day at a friends cabin at Lake Carl Blackwell. Late in the evening, everyone was evacuated from the Lake because an F4 tornado was tearing through Perry, the next town over, down I35 towards Stillwater. We had all been drinking and didn't have a shelter to go to in the area. We had no choice but to watch and wait. Mother Nature gave us a beautifully disasterous show all night complete with rain, hail, and ground shaking lightning that you can only experience here. Luckily, the twister dissipated before it came too close and we came out alright, although people in Perry did not. For anyone that hasn't experienced the terror of natural disaster, I can only say that I felt completely helpless. However, I am happy that I am alive. Please pray/send good energy/whatever it is you do to those that have been and will be affected by natural disaster in my area and around the world this summer.

Sorry I babbled on so long. Be safe and have a great summer. I hold all of you dear.

-Love, Mary