Hello my Friends,
Happy end of the Holiday season! This is legitimately my favorite time of year. The hustle and bustle of holidays are over, as is the rampant consumerism and family guilt trips. Winter offers a letting go of the past and a promise of longer and brighter days ahead. It's too early for external time suckers to attach to you. The garden doesn't need to be weeded; the lawn doesn't need to be mown. It's terrible outside so in a way that frees us all from having to do anything but curl up with a good book, do a puzzle, catch up on movies or whatever it is you never have time to do when the weather starts getting better.
Out here at the sanctuary though I could sum up all the updates into one sentence. It's mucky and cold and icky outside. Ok done have a great week!
But seriously it's pretty rough here. It's super muddy and slick everywhere, the pigs spend most of the day buried in the hay. Everyone else seeks what shelter they can except for the Llamas, they really don't seem to care about the rain there still doing their Llama things. When you come out just make sure to watch your footing. The hillsides for example in the NARN pasture have a nice layer of mud and poo and are incredibly slick specially if your in rubber boots. Take your time and embrace it.
I have a couple minor updates for you that are more admin than animal.
- As far as our furry residents go, there's not a lot of change or noteworthiness to report. We have been taking in a lot of cats lately which are now starting to trickle up to Kitty City. Its going to get very busy there soon. Nicolette and company are really going to need your help with cleaning and socializing. If you need a kitten fix, I walked by there today and saw the 5 new kittens that came up Wednesday, holy cow there cute. They wont stay long, I think as soon as there old enough they are headed to there new homes, so come get all the kitten weirdness in while there still here.
- Over the past month or so we have had so many cat and dog adoptions its been hard to keep up. Internally we are changing how they get announced. I am hoping it will make it easier for me to follow and let all of you know. I think what I'm going to do is post all adoption for the month at the end and use the weekly(ish) blog to inform you of the major ones. By major I mean farm and the residence that have been here for a few cycles of the moon. Spike Kitty for example who went home in December after gracing us with 532 days of his life.
- Remember if you haven't come out in a few weeks the volunteer gate code has changed. An email was sent to everyone so check your spam folder if you don't see it. If you can't find the email, reach out to me and I will send it to you.
- The "Get To Know Your Team" program we have going on still needs some love from you all. A good number of you have responded and now your greatness is displayed on our wall of honor (garage door). I know some are not comfortable with displaying pictures or personal info for all to see. Trust me, I get that, but this is all in fun and has been really well received by everyone. Every one of you is important, it doesn't matter if you've just had you first volunteer shift or 8yr anniversary. We want you on our wall so please, if you're so inclined, fill out the form on the volunteer website and then send me a picture (email below). If you haven't seen the wall yet, on your next shift walk through the people barn and just outside the volunteer office you'll see the cards all hung up. I know the staff side is a little light, I'm working on them as well.
As much as I would like to keep rambling on here, I think that's it. I hope you all have an outstanding weekend and upcoming week. So very thankful for all of you and all you do for the animals and all of staff who's jobs you make a little easier and a little brighter.
Stay Amazing!
Shane Greenfield
Volunteer Coordinator
shaneg@pasadosafehaven.org
