04 May 2011

May the 4th Be With You :)

*I'm sorry for not blogging for a month. I kept meaning to, but kept finding other things to occupy my time.

*My time away from facebook allowed me to get more reading, art, and cooking done. Huh. Something to think about.

*I've come to the conclusion that group living is the petri dish for drama. No matter how hard you work to avoid it, it's just the perfect environment. I've also concluded that drama is largely petty and shouldn't be bothered with unless it's really hurting someone. Maybe that sounds a bit calloused, but my priorities have taken an irreversible shift.

*Animals seem to like me more than they used to. Maybe they inherently know that 2010 taught me patience.

*Easter 2011 was lovely. I worked the hotline shift (very few calls, it was nice), went to Easter mass with Matt, Stacey, and Laura. I really missed having a traditional Easter service, but mass was pretty good as well. Some coworkers and myself then went down to the dry river bed below WRR, ate carrot cake cupcakes, and just talked. Overall, a pleasant day.

*I need to learn how to be a better witness. I don't just want to be a really nice person.

*Brandi said the other day that she wanted to see me angry, just to prove that I'm really human. I had a good laugh; if only she knew...

*It's May 2011. How crazy is that?!

*We had a grackle come in today who apparently had a ruptured air sac or two. Each breath she took released air under her skin, until she had inflated, literally, like a balloon. We had to take a sterile needle and puncture the skin all over her body until all the air escaped. I deflated a grackle today :P I hope she's gonna be okay.

*Baby bird season is officially here. WRR has around 75 nestlings and fledglings. And the phones are like a broken record:
"I found this little bird, I think he fell out of his nest..."
"Can you see the nest"
"No, it's too high up in the tree, and I think the bird is hurt."
"Okay, well, can you bring him to our Earl St. location?"
"Yeah, I can do that."
Bird after bird after bird in a cardboard box. Sometimes we mix it up a bit and the bird was caught by a cat or the dog was protecting him or the tree fell down or the nest was blown into the bbq pit.

*Fawn season has also begun; we have 6 little bitty whitetails now :) I'm falling in love all over again. Every time a new one comes into the clinic I'll get a call, on the phone or radio, "Hey Emily, we have a new fawn." Never fails, I have to go see them, and then inevitably start them on the bottle. Not that that's a bad thing :)

*WRR has two locations, the main one in Kendalia, TX and one small one in downtown San Antonio (137 Earl St.). The Earl Street location (WRR-SA) is run by one staff member and two apprentices and is where people can drop off the animals they find and then once a day, at 6 pm, these animals are taken up to Kendalia. WRR-SA keeps the healthy cottontails, songbirds, and squirrels and raises them. That's the preface to: one of the WRR-SA apprentices finished her apprenticeship last month and moved on, so the WRR apprentices are taking turns covering her shift until a replacement can be found. It's my turn this week, so I'm living in San Anton, within walking distance of the grocery store. It's kinda nice. Though the work is insanity, it's always interesting.

*I drew flip flops on my feet this evening so I could walk barefoot to HEB to buy ice cream and not get yelled at.

*We have two tiny abandoned kittens here at WRR-SA who are the size of Fletcher when I first found him. I'm in love with the little tuxedo kitten and her purr. I wish I could have another kitten.

*I write about work a lot. Can you tell I'm a workaholic? As stressful as my job can be, I still love it.

*I'm also a big fan of orange juice. It's ridiculous how much of it I drink.

*Alana's coming in 2 weeks!! I hope she likes it here. Which reminds me, I need to talk to Noelle about what she will and will not be allowed to do.

*I think that's all. I'll write about my exciting work stories more often, I promise :)