Week 2

whoa whoa whoa whoa WHOA I haven't had to try and absorb this much information since I was cramming for my SATs back in high school.  haha.

This week was spent building on the information I learned LAST week, with new tasks added in each day.  While I still have a TON to learn, I feel now that the information is, at least, LEARNable, instead of just a tsunami of meaningless data constantly washing over me.  There were SO MANY times when I felt really uncertain, like I would NEVER pick up what was being putting down, but I'm getting there.  I just tell myself to keep plugging away, show up every day with a pleasant disposition, and keep asking questions when I don't understand stuff.

I ask a lot of questions.

I feel good, I feel like I'm progressing, and the woman doing most of my training has the patience of a saint. 

Now we'll just have to wait and see what Week 3 has to bring.

First Week

Well.  The first week at the new job.  Between orientation, training, and starting at the office, it's quite overwhelming.  The amount of information I need to absorb is monumental, but I remember once upon a time when I didn't know how to do my OLD job, either, so it's just a matter of keeping my head down and plugging away.  The staff who are training me are very friendly and encouraging, which makes it a LOT easier. 

I'll get there!

Plus, our office is right down the hallway from the cafeteria, and the food is both good and cheap, so I predict it won't take me long to put all that weight I lost back on. :)

Last night, I trapped for the rescue at a local barn (the one from my July 3 post).

As sometimes happens when I'm trapping in a new place, we actually trapped two adults and a few kittens while we were in the process of setting other traps.  The kittens went with the founder of the rescue (pictured) to be socialized, and I put the adults in a quiet corner of the barn for transport in the morning.  This wee one went to the founder's house.

We were back bright and early this morning to check the traps - we caught a total of 9 cats and kittens overnight (not including the ones caught while we were at the barn), including a first for me - two cats in one trap:

Time to head for the vet's office - the adults for spays and neuters, and the kittens for vaccinations before heading to the founder's house for socialization.

At the vet's:

I was very excited when the vet said I could stay and observe (and take photos for the rescue's website and, well, for my blog, haha.)  I'd never seen a cat surgery before.  Now, these next few pics show surgery offices and surgery, so if you're squeamish, stop here.

Lots of paperwork:

And preparation:

The first cat is on the table and ready for her spay:

Here we go!:

And the actual moment of spay:

The vets and their staff were there all day long, performing the surgeries.  The kittens who were too young to be altered went home with the founder, and the adults will stay at the vet's office overnight before heading back to the barn in the morning.  We'll keep trapping every few weeks until we've got all the adults spayed and neutered.  We're on our way!

Oh, and here's one of the videos we watched during orientation today ...

Yikes.

First Day

Yep, today it was back to work for me.  Today was new employee orientation, which was like deja vu all over again, as I JUST went through it for that OTHER company, but what can I say? At least it was familiar - right down to both companies using the EXACT SAME VIDEO to show how much they care about their clients.  :)  Oh, and at least at THIS orientation, all of the Powerpoint presentations (ugggggh) were playing correctly, unlike at that OTHER place.

Ahem.

And it's not exactly comforting to be one of the oldest people in the room, but on the other hand, when one presenter said that the company received 43,000 job applications every year and hires only 1,000 people, well, that made me feel a little better.

But!  When you consider that the entire company only employs 6,100 people, and they're turning over 1,000 people a year, well ...

best not to think about that.  :)

Oh! But before I forget!  When I got home from work (!) tonight, there was a great surprise in my mailbox - a note from Kris that included a donation for the rescue.  Kris, I have a couple of different email addresses and a couple of different street addresses for you, so I wasn't sure I could get an email OR a thank you note to you, but I wanted to make sure this message gets to you:

THANK YOU!

I'm sorry about the loss of your friend's father.  And I thank you for your kind donation to the rescue for which I volunteer, it is much appreciated.

And now I'm running out of steam, and it's time for dinner, so I'll check back in soon! 

Salt Springs

Well, it's back to the salt mines (and the regular paychecks, yaaaaaaay!) next week, so I've been cramming in a lot of summer this week.  Yesterday I cleaned at the rescue (Happy Fourth!  Here's a litter scoop!) and I'll be back there tomorrow, and Friday I'll be trapping, but today I was off to Salt Springs to enjoy the day.

Salt Springs has old-growth hemlocks - A lot of them are in the three-hundred-year-old range, and the oldest one discovered there was over 600 years old.

Selfie!:

The Saga of the Sausage

  Last summer when I was on vacation, I bought a little portable charcoal grill, thinking I'd like to do some cooking out.

I took the grill home, opened up the box, took one look at the instructions, and put the grill, the charcoal, and the lighter fluid in the shed.  Ain't NOBODY got time for that.

Today, a year later, I decided I was ready to face the Charcoal Grill Challenge.  I grabbed the grill, the charcoal, and the lighter fluid BACK out of the shed, evicted the mouse who was living in the box the grill came in (don't worry, I put him right back in the shed to find more suitable living quarters amid the innumerable other boxes of stuff in there), and got to work.

Thank you.  Thankyouverymuch.

I'm Just the Trapper

 When people first contact me about help with neutering the community cats in their neighborhood or the barn cats on their farm, the first thing I do is tell them about available resources.  By the time they get ahold of me, a one-person outfit without any official rescue affiliation or website or 501(c)(3) status, they're usually pretty wrung out from getting told "no" over and over again by the local "official" rescues, none of whom do TNR (except the one I'm currently volunteering for, but shhhhh - that's our secret.)

So I tell them that their situation is not unusual, but that they ARE unusual in that they're willing to help when most people would turn a blind eye, and I thank them for that.  I meet with them to see what exactly their situation is, and share information about the resources that are available locally to assist them.

And then I tell them that I'm just the trapper.  I will not make the phone calls to the clinics to arrange the neuter appointments, and I will not pay for the surgeries.  I make sure that they have all the contact info they need to set up the appointments, and I make sure they have all the information regarding income restrictions, etc., for the various clinics.  I give advice about how to get neighbors to band together to help out.  I tell them that I will do everything as far as getting the cats trapped and to their surgeries once plans are in place, but I will not do all the work for them.  Because this isn't my problem.  This is everybody's problem.

And I'm only one person.  :)

(No, this is not me in these photos.  I'm not that good looking.)  :)

One neighborhood or one farm at a time.  That's what I do.  And I'm just the trapper.