*each week an Education/Community Outreach intern will write a guest blog. Today’s comes from Rayna Healy also known as “the girl with the golden laugh.”
Enjoy!
A Dog’s Tale
It’s been a big week for us fauna in San Miguel, Panama because we have a gaggle of new chicks in town. (*and also 3 males.) My name is Candy and I’m the dog who lives in Casa Llena, the house that Kalu Yala interns inhabit. I wanted our 18 new interns and 3 staff to feel welcome here so I laid out a plan with some strict ground rules for my San Miguel Friends. First of all, Rex, the rooster, has instructions to keep time by cock-a-doodle-doing every hour on the hour. Unfortunately he is over eager and is often crowing. He puts his whole body into it and it would almost be beautiful, the commitment he displays, except that it often wakes up/disturbs/scares the unexpecting. I’ve asked a group of animals to make sure the bathrooms are nice and orderly. The gecko held the first shift and he arguably succeeded because no one went in to mess anything up. One bat, overly enthusiastic maybe, wanted to get to know a girl by jumping in the shower with her. Maybe he should have gotten to know her a little better first. It’s all trial and error here. Last but not least I’ve enlisted the frogs. They are pretty big and congregate outside on the porch at night. They watch over the sleeping girls. To be honest I’m slightly worried that under the right leadership they could organize and we’ll all be in trouble. But we’ll worry about that when the time comes (*hopefully never.)
All in all, I think I speak for the entire animal kingdom of San Miguel when I say that we like the new group. And they like us. Most of us. Maybe not the bat. They probably even love us. They pet me all the time, despite my fleas, and bring out my famous grin with their banter, dance parties, and tangible passion. I wanted them to know how much I love and appreciate them and since my army of protectors was having mixed results, I decided to do one big demonstration of my love. So today, when I made my big entrance , I was expecting the screams. I knew they’d be overcome with emotion. I felt so proud. When I deposited said gift in the yard I realized that the screams may not be purely from pleasure. Then came the unexpected scolding, cries of disgust, and faces frozen in disbelief. I learned an important lesson. Perhaps bringing my new friends a dog’s tail was something I should have saved for the last week.