"It could be ready as soon as 2 days, but could take up to 8 weeks."
"Do you send me an email when it's ready?"
"No, you'll just have to check the tracking number to see if it's been sent."
refresh
The tracking number you have supplied has not entered the system
*waits 30 minutes*
refresh
The tracking number you have supplied has not entered the system
*waits 30 minutes*
refresh
The tracking number you have supplied has not entered the system
*3 days later*
refresh
The tracking number you have supplied has been accepted and is being processed.
SUCCESS!!! The South African consulate came through for me big-time, and my passport (hopefully with a new shiny visa inside) was on its way. The long dark night of the soul was over and Gandalf was coming over the cliff side with the Rohirrim in tow.
credit: New Line Cinema and LOTR awesomeness
I can't even begin to explain how relieved and excited I am. Yes, I know I was trapped in paradise, and yes, it gave me a chance to start running through the statistics of my behaviour chapter, but the never-ending feeling of dread that my first reproductive season was going to be a shit-show has been looming over my head since I arrived. Not even these cuties could remove the pall:
from left: magnolia warbler female with chestnut-sided warbler adult, chestnut-sided warbler adult and juvenile, ruby-throated hummingbird juvenile.
So I can now arrange the field season with my amazing volunteers (Lizzie and John Diener) knowing that I will be able to join them. Lizzie and John will be staying at Blue Hill for 8 weeks over the main reproductive season while I hopefully go get blood sampled elsewhere and stay "on-call" for any problems they may have. They will also be helping Alan with Biosphere Expeditions –– a group of citizen-scientists who will be at Blue Hill in October and will be following Lizzie and John about their days in the mountains. I will also be joined by a potential MSc candidate, Olivia, for the first week so we can both see if she is a good fit to join Project Rockjumper
Olivia (sic.), I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
So, I am now happy and contented as a certain cat pictured left (although hopefully not as fat) who I miss dearly every night when I instead have to cuddle with stuffed animals that are not alive.
I will thus leave you with a few photos of happiness. Squirrels, our resident woodchuck, and the partial solar eclipse I was able to view yesterday.
top left - yellow-rumped warbler, top right - black-capped chickadee, bottom left - Frank our woodchuck, bottom right - feisty red squirrel.
