100 things about me, actually 102 and counting.....

Many will sound un-believable, but they are true. As I have mentioned, according to most people I am considered weird, but I am quite comfortable in my skin, and I do hope to instill self-acceptance into my daughters as well…whoever they are inside and whatever they end up doing.
I realized after the list, I needed to stop but I could add so much more, as you could probably do for your life too. I want to challenge anyone reading this list to create a “100 things” list, if you have not done so already.

I feel I lived a great life prior to becoming a parent, which is why I am ok about putting some things on hold until they can join me in more adventures.

The list is in no special order.........

1. single, never married mom

2. grew up in family of 7

3. grew up in the country, initially on a beef farm and then we moved to a dairy farm

4. lived in 3 homes during my childhood

5. parents were married until my mother died, then my dad remarried.

6. hate shopping

7. I consider myself a loyal friend, sometimes too loyal, which can lead me to be taken for granted

8. both parents and sets of grandparents have passed away

9. I have been friends with w since 7th grade, and b for 20 years

10. I love the outdoors like I hear some women talk about their love for shopping

11. I have had acl, mcl and meniscus surgery on my left knee

12. I blew out my left knee by attempting to down hill ski (maybe 3rd time trying in my life) at the age of 40

13. I had emergency gall bladder surgery 1 month before I was covered by health insurance. The surgery cost me 10,000.00

14. I also had tmj surgery on my left jaw

15. I injured my left jaw when I was a child, and I was wearing my headgear while baling hay. I remember looking up and seeing that a bale was caught on the opening going into the hay barn one minute, and the next I was flat on my back looking at the heifers surrounding me and nosing me wondering what happened. My head gear was twisted grotesquely in my mouth, thus the jaw injury

16. in my 20’s I lived in a house with 20 other people while living in new york state

17. I summitted grand teton mountain in Wyoming 6 months after my knee surgery. It was the event that started to help me transition from feeling defeated to feeling empowered one again.

18. I was scared s@@@less the whole time I was climbing

19. on summit day I didn’t pee for 14 hours straight, and couldn’t go until we returned to base camp

20. two weeks later, another team attempted a summit on the same mountain, in the exact same location, and half the climbing died due to a lightening storm. I couldn’t help but know I survived for a reason

21. I have white water rafted in Alaska

22. I, only girl, traveled to Alaska for 16 days with 3 other guys

23. in these 16 days, I only showered twice, the guys only once…we stunk

24. we camped, hiked, and slept in a tent across the state. This was 6 weeks after my dad died

25. I saw the top of mt.mckinley, the tallest mountain in the united states

26. on average, there are only 19 days per year that people can see the top because it is usually clouded over

27. the first time I ever camped in a tent, was in my 20’s and I instantly fell in love with it

28. I once lived in a house with two-13’ ball python snakes housed just down the hall from me

29. I once had a moose bed down over night next to my tent. I could hear him breathing and sighing at various times in the evening.

30. I have traveled out of the US many times to; Guatemala, Uganda, Ghana, Ethiopia, Haiti, Mexico, and to lake superior for kayaking in Canada

31. I have worked with nearly all species of wildlife native to my home state

32. I founded a wildlife rehabilitation center in 1990 that cared for over 1000 patients and was manned by over 60 volunteers…that included me too

33. while running the wildlife center, in order to pay my bills and feed myself, I also worked at a nearby veterinary hospital. My volunteer hours plus the vet clinic work equaled more than 110 hours per week.

34. I was 26 years old when I started the wildlife center, I had the energy and idealism to do it

35. I couldn’t do it today at nearly 45, since I am not as energetic or idealistic

36. I started the center in my home, that functioned as the wildlife hospital, and that meant in the spring I usually had raccoons, various species of squirrels, bats, cottontails, mice, various species of birds, raptors, swans, turtles, snakes etc., etc., in the intensive care units in my home

37. the bedrooms were converted into the intensive care units

38. I had volunteers in my home 12+ hours each day for many years

39. eventually I moved out and the home was exclusively used for the wildlife

40. the most amazing times in the wildlife rehab field was when the patients were moved from intensive care (indoors) to the outside conditioning enclosures or when it was time for their release to freedom

41. it was in their eyes, as soon as they realized they were outside, or free, it was a like a light bulb turning on in their head, that shown brightly out through their eyes.

42. people called me eccentric and at the time I didn’t understand why. I was surrounded by eccentric people

43. I still migrate towards eccentric people, it is when I feel normal

44. I feel out of place around “traditionally” minded people

45. the education field is inundated with traditional people. Most are married before or just after they are out of college

46. I feel I have a children’s story in me just waiting to come out

47. working with wildlife has always been one of my greatest pleasures in life

48. sharing my passion about wildlife and the outdoors in my second greatest pleasure in life

49. I spent a summer in northern Minnesota and worked with gray wolves and white-tailed deer

50. there were other researchers working with black bear

51. the black bear hung around our cabins at various times all summer

52. I named several of them; one was sammy, a cub, one was bass that stood for big a@@, a huge female, and another was elmo, a big boar

53. I have a picture of elmo about 4 feet from my front door

54. sammy would climb on our cabin and bang on the roof all night

55. sammy became famous when lynn rogers wrote a book about black bears that included pictures of sammy and they even had her name in there, that is why I knew it was “my” sammy

56. the day I left MN, sammy was following me around my little chevette while I was packing it, and the only way I could keep her occupied was to keep throwing apples for her to eat

57. I love the color of green

58. the outside of my house is green

59. the carpet in my living room is green

60. two rooms have different shades of green on the walls

61. some of my furniture has green in it

62. I have tons of green plants in my house

63. apparently green is comforting, and makes people feel at home

64. that is the way I want people to feel when they visit my home

65. once upon a time I was in a relationship with one of the writers/musician of the song “da turdy point buck”

66. I have 2 major life changing regrets

67. one was in my mid-twenties; I was offered an opportunity to interview to work out in new england studying right whales. My then boss of a 6-week job doing telemetry work on ruffed grouse said I couldn’t go for the interview. I stupidly listened to him. I always wondered how my life would have turned out differently if I had gotten that job

68. the other life changing regret I don’t wish to share

69. I worked with bobcats in Mississippi

70. I love all animals except for fleas, but then now maybe not ticks either

71. I have worked many types of jobs in my life

72. graphic artist

73. bindery work

74. 3 days at window factory--I quit

75. 5 weeks as a waitress, the place closed down so I lost my job

76. obviously with wildlife in various forms and positions

77. with the dnr, us fish and wildlife service, several universities, non-profit rehabilitation centers

78. my idea of financial success is making ends meet monthly, saving money, with some extra to make several long trips each year, and save for retirement and the girl's education

79. my idea of life success is to live simply, kindly, meeting my family's needs and helping others when the chance arises

80. physically, spiritual and emotional wellness is important

81. I believe in Christ, and I mean that he really lived and died for my sins

82. it is a heart thing with me, not a head thing

83. it doesn’t mean I need to attend church weekly, but I attend because I want to

84. it doesn’t mean a lot of things that people make it to mean,

85. it means to me loving Christ, and knowing that he died for ME, yes ME. And because of that I am grateful

86. it also doesn’t mean quoting scripture at people, but rather trusting and believing in Christ to know that he will lead people into salvation and righteousness, not me, I’m human making tons of mistakes

87. once when I was traveling 8 hours to visit my then boyfriend, my truck spun out of control on a snow covered road, it came to a stop, I walked to a nearby farmhouse, and I called P who gave the farm owner directions to his house. The next day we returned to pull my truck out and discovered that my truck was within inches of a lightly frozen over lake before it stopped. I could have went in and no one would have been the wiser

88. I believe I am still alive for a reason, but again I don’t know why for sure

89. I believe in honesty, integrity, justice, loyalty, and kindness

90. though I believe in them, I have failed at them at various points in my life

91. I once owned 7 indoor cats, all lived to be around 13 – 14 years old

92. I was crazy about cats, not a crazy cat lady

93. I saw the play “CATS” on Broadway 3 times

94. I love the Nutcracker play

95. I possess a permit to keep non-releasable education raptors (birds of prey)

96. at one time I possesed 10 birds for education programs, now I only have 4, a great horned owl, red-tailed hawk, turkey vulture, and a golden eagle

97. they reside in large outdoors cages in my back yard

98. yes, the doors have locks on them, more for their protection than any one else’s

99. their food consists of rats, that I keep in one of my chest freezers in the basement

100.I usually don’t share this info with anyone simply because I really am private

101. before I became a teacher, I had started “Teachers on the Wing” and traveled around the state and gave over 100 programs each year about raptors. This is how I raised the money to build their big enclosures

102. I once was in the adjoining room to jane goodall, the chimp researcher. she was getting her thumb sutured up from where a chimp had bitten it off. I was getting my preventative rabies vaccine