A week in the life of a penguin...

Being a penguin is tough. Especially an Adélie penguin. Imagine living in Antarctica with extremely harsh, cold winters and having to travel many hundreds of miles from pack ice to the ocean to find food. And finding food is becoming more difficult each day as competition increases with large strange mammals who travel in loud, not-ice-or-rock floating icebergs collecting all the yummiest of the fish and krill. Plus, while warmer temperatures and stronger winds make it a little easier to get to the ocean to hunt, there is less ice on which to live. I decided to leave this mundane ice-bound life and travel to an exotic place - the desert. There are many similarities between the antarctic landscape and the desert landscape. Not much grows there. Not a lot of drinkable water is available. But the desert I traveled to doesn't have snow for me to eat as a source of water like in Antarctica. And cactus doesn't taste very good to me. Fish aren't abundant here, but they are becoming less abundant back home too. Plenty of rocks are available for naps, although they are a bit warm. Locating the perfect shady spot for a nap is a bit tricky, as most things in the desert are pokey.



My migration is because I heard there is availability in fungus gardening, so for a little fresh perspective I decided to try my flipper at it. I've spent the last week really focusing on the little garden that was overgrown. It took a lot of effort! Little by little I selected the fungi, mainly mushrooms, that needed to be removed and carefully plucked them one by one. I saw a mushroom that seemed to be small, but the mycelium (or root-like structures) were much deeper than expected. It took me almost 4 hours to learn about this special type of mushroom, research how to remove it, and finally pluck it! But I was awarded a certificate that I'm told I have to keep forever. Maybe that's so I don't have to do all that work again to remove the same kind of mushroom in the future. During this time I was told I should go to the vet to get some tests done, just for funsies, and potentially extra treats. The tests might help other penguins in the future, but also could involve taking medicine. I don't like medicine. It was difficult, but I think I presented a good argument against it. Plus I don't need extra treats. Then I pulled another mushroom. That one was a little taller and quite pretty, so I didn't really want to remove it from the garden since it was so nice to look at, but I can see now that it needed to be done.

Still another mushroom needed plucking. This is a difficult job! The managers of the fungus garden are relentless in their demands. And so many mushrooms need pulling in such a short time! I think it's probably a combination of the weather and time of year. Regardless, this one took a little extra effort and some reflection. I didn't use a mirror though. It was the kind of reflection where a penguin has to consider who she is as a fungus gardener as well as what she knows, then apply these to future fungus gardening ideas. I learned some new words during this one. Like ontology. That's the part about who a penguin is.
The little garden still needed attention, though.There was a huge mushroom that took help from a good friend penguin to decide the best way to cull it from the rest. We had to follow careful gardening guidelines and work together to accomplish our goal. Luckily, we were very successful, and even pulled out that mushroom a few days earlier than we absolutely had to. Flipper high fives were shared. I love flipper high fives.

I can barely take a moment to peek at how the garden is taking shape because there is still one more big mushroom that needs to be removed quickly. And this one removal is going to be carefully watched by a different penguin. Who knew so many penguins were interested in fungus gardening? I'm told that I am committed to four years as a fungus gardener. Good thing there are some other penguins here to keep me company. Maybe my efforts here in the desert will help all the penguins back home. Good thing I have social media to keep in touch, since I don't think I'll be seeing anyone in the near future! Maybe the garden managers will give me vacation time...oh, that big one isn't going to pull itself, they say. Back to work.