Dancing in September

Wow. It has been a long time since my last post. Things have been going well... just working away at the beach and enjoying my surroundings. Tropical Storm Gabrielle came and went with little to show for herself but wind and some storm surge.

The night before she hit I got to release turtle hatchlings with the park service. That was a very cool experience. I was really impressed with how quickly the little hatchlings could move, and even more impressed that they all march off to the ocean oblivious to the reality that only 1 in 1000 will survive to adulthood. Off they went, searching for the sea and hoping to hit the Gulf Stream or the Labrador Current. If a female is the lucky one, 25 years from now she will return to this island and lay her eggs, assuming she has had some rough turtle nooky in the ocean. (The ranger said turtle sex was kind of rough...I'm not sure I want to know how they know this.) But will there be enough male turtles to keep the species alive? Cool turtle factoid #3: gender of the hatchlings is dependent on the average temperature of the nest during incubation. Over 80 some degrees and they are all females, under a certain temp. all males, between these two temps you have a mix of males and females. Hmmm... so is global warming influencing the population of sea turtles?
Besides working and going to the beach, I have been applying for jobs online. I went home this week for an interview on Wednesday. I think I will get the job... the offer should come next week. It is not a science job, but it is a pretty nice fit for me, and I will learn some new skills. I'd get to work out of my house, and travel is about 40-50% of my time. Luckily the territory is small, so the travel is almost all local. So we'll see what happens next week. If I get the offer, I will probably take it and go home after Columbus Day weekend. If I don't get the job, I will stay here through October, possibly through November, and continue to look for more permanent work at home. I'm not stressing about it anymore... I am pretty much convinced that everything is happening as it should.

When I am not working or on the beach, I usually go down to the harbor, or into the woods for a hike. The mosquitos have come back with a vengence since the rains though, so I haven't been to the woods since the 9th, the morning of Gabrielle. Take a look: