Sorry I haven't been on much lately. I've been working - actual paid work. For the first time since I moved here in 2008, I've got a job.
I'm doing some bird monitoring work - I'm getting paid to watch birds. In other words, I'm getting paid to do something I like..
Carden is an environmentally sensitive area which needs as much help as possible to save it from nefarious characters who would willingly plow it under or dig huge pits, characters who have no appreciation of the natural wonder of this place, who see only the bottom line, the almighty dollar.
And then there are the other characters who work hard to save this area.
Can you guess which group of characters I'm working for?
It is a tricky thing to deal with these two sides. Both views need to be balanced and I like to think that the work I'm doing is contributing to that balance.
Carden is also a politically sensitive area. There are inflamed opinions, exaggerated passions and there are folks with very short tempers. When I first began the third of my three projects earlier this week, I was filled with trepidation at facing these short tempered locals. I would pull up to a monitoring site carefully, trying to stay out of view as much as possible. By Friday, I had encountered, and managed to hold my own, with enough of them that trying to be unseen while I work was unnecessary. And this is fortunate because in many cases, invisibility was impossible.
Before I started, I realized that I was having some difficulty locating the birds I was looking for. I thought I would never be able to do the job properly. On the first day, I did eight sites though I returned to the first four the next day because I lacked the confidence to believe that the numbers I'd found were correct - they were!
By Wednesday, I had developed an incredible knack of finding the birds that were already skulking in the grass. And a good thing too since I probably should have started looking for the birds last week when they were still singing and posturing. This week the majority of posturing for girls was already complete and the boys were resting up from it.
I'm not going to get into the details of any of the projects because, while this is the first job I've ever had that I like, it's still a job! I have to get up in the morning and leave home. I have to be away from home for extended periods. The laundry is piling up, the dishes stay unwashed.
I miss hanging out on the computer. I miss doing the morning counts of the birds showing up at my feeders. I miss sitting on the couch and reading. Heck, I miss my life of retirement.
It's been a while since I've had a nine to five job and frankly, I don't know how you do it. How do you do it?
