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pacificpikachuSo, today I:
- Spent two hours preparing the crows to go to their new home, including all the time I spent trying to keep the avian pox from spreading (changing in and out of clothes while going in and out of the crow room, doing detailed hand and leg washing sessions when coming out of the crow room, taking rubber gloves on and off, and washing equipment.).
- Spent about four hours total in the car getting supplies together for the crows, such as food, medications, quarantine information, and also the fact that I got rather lost on the way to Galen's. Honey sat in the front seat without a peep the whole time plus another hour or hour and a half while I talked to Galen about the crows and then started talking about rehabbing in general and birds in general.
- Stopped to check on my cosplay fabric and treat myself to an ice cream.
- Spent an hour and a half or two hours extensively disinfecting the crow room (actually the sun room) with 10% bleach solution, a sponge, several towels, a roll of paper towels, Febreze, and Lysol. Intense. Covered almost every surface in the room.
I still have to:
- Get my Paypal account linked to my new bank account ASAP.
- Work on sales post stuff, including taking pictures of several hundred figures (post this morning at the latest, if not before bed! Preferably before bed).
Tomorrow:
- Get up and make food for the magpie, replace his water, clean his cage, use caution and take a shower and change clothes after handling him in case he caught avian pox as well (entirely possible, though I'm really hoping he didn't).
- Painting at the wildlife center again!
- Ask Makayla if she wants to hang out in the evening. (Fanime CD? Fanime crash course for Daniell? Brainstorming fun things to do? Getting all excited watching videos from previous Fanime years?)
- Hang around and rest.
Sunday:
- Get more cosplay materials, possibly get working on the head, finish as much as possible.
- Rest if needed (probably will be).
Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday:
- Obsessively work on Umbreon costume until finished satisfactorily.
- Pack for Fanime.
- Get money stuff sorted out for Fanime.
- Find someone to watch the magpie, watch him carefully for signs of avian pox.
- Get lots of sleep, eat well, DO NOT GET SICK.
Friday through Monday:
I am exhausted, phewwww. You don't even know how good it feels to have the crows out of here, though. Not because I don't love them (crows are the best ♥) but because all the quarantine procedure was incredibly intense and energy consuming. I am SO HAPPY I didn't have to put them down today, though--last night I was looking into their eyes and there was so much presence and soul in them... It's hard to describe if you've never spent time with a crow, but they are very intelligent and individual and extremely aware. They recognize individual people, too, which a lot of songbirds can't. It was breaking my heart to think of putting them down. Thankfully Galen was awesome and volunteered to take them, because it means the story has a good chance of having a happy ending instead of a tragic and upsetting one.
I always ask myself "Is it worth it?" in regards to wildlife rehab. Anyone who has done in-home wildlife rehab (as opposed to working at a center, which is completely awesome as well but not as...daunting? Insanely life consuming?) knows that it can be filled with massive stress, incredible amounts of heartbreak and occasional feelings of powerlessness, tons of work, sometimes loss of sleep, loss of room due to caging and storage of supplies, and loss of the ability to just relax oftentimes. Your life becomes filled with endless phone calls, medications, scheduling, shuffling animals around, picking them up from all over the place, keeping your supplies together and your cages clean, keeping proper hygiene, making sure your diets are up to date and sufficient for each and every species you may have, dealing with the public and your fellow volunteers (both are amazing and fun at times, incredibly frustrating at others), attending classes, going to vet appointments... All kinds of things. All of this for not a single cent of pay. In fact, I've never had a paying job because of this.
But even through the horrifying diseases, the fifty percent mortality rate, the feeling of sadness when you find the animal you've worked on for weeks lying dead in the bottom of the cage, the stress of everything I listed above, I've never been able to say to myself that, "No, it isn't worth it." Because you do have about fifty percent that live, and when they do, it's a chance they didn't have before. It's a life--a real life, a meaningful one--that would not be on the planet any more and would have suffered and died without you. And when they live, watching them go free again is so powerful it can bring tears to your eyes. They don't thank you, but they don't need to. Their will to live says all that needs to be said, and animals never, ever cease to amaze me.
Galen and I were talking today about how you never know what's going to happen in rehab--sometimes you'll get in a case that is so bad the animal essentially looks and feels dead, and months later you somehow still get to see them fly free again. Sometimes you get in a perfectly healthy looking animal and they plummet and die within a few hours. You never know. You never know what is going to come in, what is going to beat the odds and live or die, what strange thing the public is going to do next ("Is that...a baby grosbeak covered in peanut butter?" O___o;), what species you will see (chasing a white pelican through the streets of Nevada City?), and what you will learn from them. It's always interesting. It's always a surprise. It makes you interesting forever because there are always hilarious and sad and moving and downright bizarre stories to tell in endless quantities. It forces you to see the world from a different perspective and grow to love and respect all life--no matter how different from us or small or insignificant it may seem. There's just nothing in the world like that connection.
Thanks for all the wonderful comments about the corgis! I'm glad you all love them so much, and I'll reply to your comments as soon as I get a chance. :D
Now I'm off to photograph Pokémon figures. LOTS AND LOTS OF POKEMON FIGURES.
- Spent two hours preparing the crows to go to their new home, including all the time I spent trying to keep the avian pox from spreading (changing in and out of clothes while going in and out of the crow room, doing detailed hand and leg washing sessions when coming out of the crow room, taking rubber gloves on and off, and washing equipment.).
- Spent about four hours total in the car getting supplies together for the crows, such as food, medications, quarantine information, and also the fact that I got rather lost on the way to Galen's. Honey sat in the front seat without a peep the whole time plus another hour or hour and a half while I talked to Galen about the crows and then started talking about rehabbing in general and birds in general.
- Stopped to check on my cosplay fabric and treat myself to an ice cream.
- Spent an hour and a half or two hours extensively disinfecting the crow room (actually the sun room) with 10% bleach solution, a sponge, several towels, a roll of paper towels, Febreze, and Lysol. Intense. Covered almost every surface in the room.
I still have to:
- Get my Paypal account linked to my new bank account ASAP.
- Work on sales post stuff, including taking pictures of several hundred figures (post this morning at the latest, if not before bed! Preferably before bed).
Tomorrow:
- Get up and make food for the magpie, replace his water, clean his cage, use caution and take a shower and change clothes after handling him in case he caught avian pox as well (entirely possible, though I'm really hoping he didn't).
- Painting at the wildlife center again!
- Ask Makayla if she wants to hang out in the evening. (Fanime CD? Fanime crash course for Daniell? Brainstorming fun things to do? Getting all excited watching videos from previous Fanime years?)
- Hang around and rest.
Sunday:
- Get more cosplay materials, possibly get working on the head, finish as much as possible.
- Rest if needed (probably will be).
Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday:
- Obsessively work on Umbreon costume until finished satisfactorily.
- Pack for Fanime.
- Get money stuff sorted out for Fanime.
- Find someone to watch the magpie, watch him carefully for signs of avian pox.
- Get lots of sleep, eat well, DO NOT GET SICK.
Friday through Monday:
I am exhausted, phewwww. You don't even know how good it feels to have the crows out of here, though. Not because I don't love them (crows are the best ♥) but because all the quarantine procedure was incredibly intense and energy consuming. I am SO HAPPY I didn't have to put them down today, though--last night I was looking into their eyes and there was so much presence and soul in them... It's hard to describe if you've never spent time with a crow, but they are very intelligent and individual and extremely aware. They recognize individual people, too, which a lot of songbirds can't. It was breaking my heart to think of putting them down. Thankfully Galen was awesome and volunteered to take them, because it means the story has a good chance of having a happy ending instead of a tragic and upsetting one.
I always ask myself "Is it worth it?" in regards to wildlife rehab. Anyone who has done in-home wildlife rehab (as opposed to working at a center, which is completely awesome as well but not as...daunting? Insanely life consuming?) knows that it can be filled with massive stress, incredible amounts of heartbreak and occasional feelings of powerlessness, tons of work, sometimes loss of sleep, loss of room due to caging and storage of supplies, and loss of the ability to just relax oftentimes. Your life becomes filled with endless phone calls, medications, scheduling, shuffling animals around, picking them up from all over the place, keeping your supplies together and your cages clean, keeping proper hygiene, making sure your diets are up to date and sufficient for each and every species you may have, dealing with the public and your fellow volunteers (both are amazing and fun at times, incredibly frustrating at others), attending classes, going to vet appointments... All kinds of things. All of this for not a single cent of pay. In fact, I've never had a paying job because of this.
But even through the horrifying diseases, the fifty percent mortality rate, the feeling of sadness when you find the animal you've worked on for weeks lying dead in the bottom of the cage, the stress of everything I listed above, I've never been able to say to myself that, "No, it isn't worth it." Because you do have about fifty percent that live, and when they do, it's a chance they didn't have before. It's a life--a real life, a meaningful one--that would not be on the planet any more and would have suffered and died without you. And when they live, watching them go free again is so powerful it can bring tears to your eyes. They don't thank you, but they don't need to. Their will to live says all that needs to be said, and animals never, ever cease to amaze me.
Galen and I were talking today about how you never know what's going to happen in rehab--sometimes you'll get in a case that is so bad the animal essentially looks and feels dead, and months later you somehow still get to see them fly free again. Sometimes you get in a perfectly healthy looking animal and they plummet and die within a few hours. You never know. You never know what is going to come in, what is going to beat the odds and live or die, what strange thing the public is going to do next ("Is that...a baby grosbeak covered in peanut butter?" O___o;), what species you will see (chasing a white pelican through the streets of Nevada City?), and what you will learn from them. It's always interesting. It's always a surprise. It makes you interesting forever because there are always hilarious and sad and moving and downright bizarre stories to tell in endless quantities. It forces you to see the world from a different perspective and grow to love and respect all life--no matter how different from us or small or insignificant it may seem. There's just nothing in the world like that connection.
Thanks for all the wonderful comments about the corgis! I'm glad you all love them so much, and I'll reply to your comments as soon as I get a chance. :D
Now I'm off to photograph Pokémon figures. LOTS AND LOTS OF POKEMON FIGURES.
