irish eyes

It seems that all the world is a little bit Irish on St. Patrick's Day. By blood I know I have a legitimate 25% claim, but if Irish-ness was measured in freckles, or affection for alcohol, perhaps, I'm certain I'd score much higher. Anyway, I know I should have some clever Irish theme in honor of the holiday, but I'm feeling a bit wed to this whole list idea. Unfortunately, I only really have two Irish-ish tales (both brief and not all that interesting) and I'm pretty certain two items do not make a list. Still, I hate it when people hint at stories and fail to tell them, so I guess I ought to share them all the same...

The first is when I felt my most Irish. Many of my aunts and uncles were out visiting (to attend my sister's wedding - which I often cynically refer to as the pre-divorce party) and one evening a couple of my uncles broke out into song. Their Irish tunes - some traditional, some made up - were delightful and spirited, and the feeling of joy and lightness was contagious. Granted, my uncles are actually much more Irish than I am (McGowan, O'Malley...) and they married into the family, but still... Anyway, I think perhaps I enjoy this memory so much especially as it contrasts with a distinctly less pleasant Irish-ish memory from the same period. This more haunting memory involves waking up (always early) to same darned cd (River Dance) every fricking morning (until we hid it). My Dad doesn't recall his River Dance period, but I had always interpreted it to be his own pathetic attempt to establish his own Irish-ness. Now that I have seen how my parents relate to technology, however, I believe it may just honestly be that he had no idea how to change the disks in the player...

Anyway, my second Irish tale is when I felt my least Irish. This was when I lived in Santa Cruz and had just moved into the best (and worst) house ever. There we had a very Irish neighbor - red hair, Gaelic accent, proper posture, great garden... he even had an Irish setter - and one day I made him a strawberry pie as a gesture of friendship. He accepted my pie fairly graciously but when I tried to claim a shared heritage he asked my name. The conversation ended shortly thereafter when I told him I was a Thomas. "Thomas?" he replied dismissively, "That's Welsh." Which I guess I should've know (Thomas' English Muffins and all) but it hadn't dawned on me to tell him my grandmother was a Bruton...

Anyhow, since I've got to satisfy the list theme, here are the four animals I've rescued over the last two weekends.

1. First, the Saturday before last, we rescued Valet, a skinny little elephant seal pup with an eye injury. He was at the bottom of the stairs of a very busy hotel and we had to utilize the valet parking to get anywhere close to him. You can see the scratch across his eye in this photo. The vets say it is old and he's likely lost the sight permanently, but luckily we've released a number of one eyed seals. Still, sure did look like it hurt.


2. The next day we picked up Hangemhi, another ellie named in honor of a team member's pending jury duty. Hangemhi seemed rather ordinary until I noticed his bloody broken tooth. You can see the few droplets of blood beneath his head here. Later it turned to blood and pus and was also coming out of his nose. We gave him some antibiotic and I assume he is okay as he is still on the list of current patients and hasn't made the radar of the head veterinarian.


3. Then, of course, there was yesterday. We picked up yet another ellie off dog beach. We named him Roo, in honor of our Australian volunteer who had her first rescue (and transport) that day. Roo seems pretty darned fine (in fact, he was juicy enough to be snotty, as you can plainly see) but he was seriously underweight and in a bad location. Definitely a good pick up.


4. And then, as you've already heard, I got to visit with Repo after sunset last night. My pictures aren't great, this is the only one remotely usable, but then I shouldn't have been taking any at all. This was taken outside of a friend's house. We convinced him to come along for the drive as the tide was high and we didn't want to get stuck in the river. Turns out I probly could've handled the terrain, but it was nice to see my friend anyway.

So I guess that's it for now. Can't believe this month is still only half over. I have no idea what tomorrow's list will be but I guess the surprise is half the fun?