It snowed a week ago... 6 inches... combined with a
3 day power outage...
We spent hours out in the snowstorm beating snow off
of the aviary nets until it felt like our arms were
going to fall off. Our coats, hats and gloves were
saturated with water. We went inside to change, but
there was no way to dry our wet clothes without
power. We rummaged for old coats with broken zippers
and dinky cloth gloves, but it wasn't much help
against the weather. We froze out there.
At one point I imagined what it would be like if
someone pulled into the driveway and said, "We're
here to help!" and how amazing that would be...
just to be able to rest for 20 minutes while someone
else took over, so the snow wouldn't pile up and
pull down the nets. But that kind of help never
comes...
When we went inside at the end of the storm, we
didn't have an electric blanket to pull around us
and squeeze the cold out. I shivered for an hour
with a sore neck and back and wrists that felt like
they were about to snap. Tylenol couldn't even dim
the pain.
After being off-line for three days, the power
finally came back on. I logged in to check and see
what had come through for emails--to see if there
were any emergencies. Someone from MA emailed about
an abandoned goose. When I directed her to Nevins
Farm MSPCA in her area instead, she retorted with a
whole slew of obnoxious emails. BLOCK SENDER.
We spent all weekend ripping the destroyed wire
roofing off of the quarantine pen, putting up new
support beams, pouring cement... hardly a drop of
time for ourselves and I'm getting hate emails
because we can't take in any new animals for lack of
a functional quarantine pen and no more room for
newcomers?
I must admit... I'm getting really tired of the hate
emails, demands and criticisms. We're volunteers
doing all we can. And we only have so much space. I
may be a miracle worker, but I can't bend the laws
of physics (Scotty humor...).
I'm tired of people bringing us animals to care for
and not donating anything to help them.
I'm tired of volunteers not showing up when they're
supposed to.
I'm tired of being lied to--like I'm some kind of
dummy and don't know a lie when I hear one.
I'm tired of people buying and hatching ducklings
and then expecting us to take up any and all of
their mistakes without question... And the guilt trips
and hate emails when we can't... Why is any of this our
fault?
I'm tired of not being able to go on vacation with
my husband and daughter together. Ever.
I'm tired of people promising to send us a hearty
donation and getting our hopes all up and then not
following through at all. Why do they even do
that?
I'm tired of responding to hundreds and hundreds of
emails, offering hours of my time every single day
to help desperate families with their pets. And then
in return they don't send along a single donation to
help our rescues.
It used to be that I worked full time as a Credit
Mgr for fortune 500 companies, making plenty of
money to cover any slow months here, but I decided
not to look for another job after the economy
crashed because the sanctuary has grown so large and
takes so much of my time now--I just can't balance
both; it's too much. Should I let it shrink back
down again? Adopt out birds and not take in any new
rescues for a while, so I can go back to work?
I LOVE our rescues. I SO love them. I so want to do
everything I can for them, but without funding, I
can't help them.
I think it's time for some changes around here.
There just doesn't seem to be another way around it.
<sigh>
Moon-Moon
