Over the years I’ve had numerous conversations with fellow field technicians about poop. When I worked for Conservation Canines, we probably somehow brought the topic into conversation every night while at dinner. Out on the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta we just have a temporary outhouse, so it’s pretty clear when someone is heading out to do their duty. Pooping is just a regular part of life and yet probably more prevalent for us because we go without indoor plumbing for months at a time.
When I was volunteering in New Zealand, my crew’s little field house had running water, but we were asked to spare the plumbing system from #2 and instead walk across the field to use the longdrop. If it’s not clear, a longdrop is what New Zealanders call an outhouse. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a more fitting name, and I’m trying to propagate using that name wherever I go.
Walking the 3 minutes to the longdrop really wasn’t a big deal, but sometimes it seemed like a hassle right before bed. One time I needed some extra encouragement to get myself out the door, so as I left the house I said, “Maybe I’ll see a kiwi on the walk.” Hearing kiwi calling in the field outside our house wasn’t necessarily common, but it wasn’t unheard of.
As I walked through the dark by the light of my headlamp, I crossed a land bridge over a small ditch in the field. I heard some rustling in the grass to my right, and then something splashed in the water. Turning to shed some light on the scene revealed a kiwi scrambling to climb back out of the water and run away through the grass!
Although I did feel bad about startling the kiwi into the water, all of the sudden my poop walk had given me a great big smile.
Feeling rather content with my walk, I carried on to take care of business. Once that was done, I decided to walk back to the house by following the beach rather than just walking through the field. On a number of occasions we’d been fortunate enough to play in bioluminescence in the waters of the bay. Organisms in water can create a blue glow by some chemical reaction in their bodies, and it looks absolutely awesome. Splashing in glowing water is Not just for kids. “Maybe there’ll be some bioluminescence tonight,” I said.
I didn’t have my hopes too high because recent weather conditions hadn’t seemed like the usual bioluminescence-promoting state. However, I noticed blue in the water as I approached the beach. Suddenly my unlikely wish-to-reality ratio was 2 for 2! Like a little kid, I kicked my XtraTufs through the water to splash blue drops across the water’s dark canvas. As I created swirls, a bigger smile spread its way across my face.
As I meandered my way down the shore, my thoughts turned to the little blue penguins living under our house. We heard their goofy sounds all the time and knew that they walked down to the beach, but I’d never seen them. “The only way this poop walk could get any better is if I see a little blue penguin!” I decided.
All I had to do was ask, and my wish was granted. As I left the sand and approached the gate to enter the field again, my headlamp lit up a little blue penguin in the grass. It froze just long enough for me to appreciate it, and then I decided I should move along. My smile couldn’t have gotten any bigger.
I’ll never have a more worthwhile poop walk in my life.
*The moral of the story: “When you gotta go, you should really go.” You never know what will happen! Take care of business, but take time to appreciate the little things.*