Tengo miedo

Okay, so I figure I'll get all the scary things out in one post. Though our site is pretty... there are TONS of dead animals around. You can't walk around without stepping on dead fish (supposedly died from deoxygenated water). There are some pretty cool ones though that have some gnarly teeth. I was thinking of entering Courty's Aquafresh Challenge by making a video of using the toothpaste to clean their teeth. Then I read that siblings aren't eligible to win. Oh well...

We've also got a couple dead cows and even more skeletons of them everywhere. Too bad I can't bring any of the skulls back, as they would make some neat mantel decorations. Martin said that the smelliest one probably died of a snake bite from a viper. Oh that makes me feel better! What chance would I have against a snake that can kill a 1000lb cow??? At least we wear rubber boots all the time since we are stepping in yuck and water all through the site.

There's a dead sheep, dead waterfowl and even a dead parrot. Interesting... I have a hard time believe that they all died of different things. In April of this year, there was an outbreak of leptospirosis specifically in Santa Fe. (Yep, that's where I am.) As it affects areas with farm animals (check), and bodies of water (check). I think I'll do my best to stay dry! I guess I won't be eating lunch in the field without a good scrub down as in SC with Kels!

Yesterday when we were out in the field, we checked one of the boxes that was just COVERED in wasps. We'll have to set a fire to that one to smoke them out soon. But, on the tree right by the box, there was a HUGE snake about as thick as a Nalgene bottle. I think it was just a colubrid, aka nonvenomous snake. We've also got another one of these guys at the far end of the site, but that one is, you guessed it, dead.

Now you've got a little bit of a better idea of where I work. Aren't you jealous? hehe. At least there are lots of birds and animals that are still alive!!!