i am having a mindless wind down from stress and disappointment
Carol · Nov. 1, 2010
we had a sick call so i did up the house. the volunteers yesterday did such a great job that i was able to whiz thru here and be done by noon...amazing...and thank you!!!!
today is the very first day since the day that we moved into saints..that no one, i mean no one.... has walked in thru my door, except me and the animals...now that just feels totally weird!!! so we did a bit of cleaning and we did some laundry too....i amused myself and made the dogs happy by sharing some little ghost marshmellows and smarties with the ancient crippled crew. some of these guys have never had a smartie, and i don't think any of them ever got a marshmellow ghost either..their initial reactions were pretty funny but once they got the taste of the true matter on their tongues, all of them were hooked!
everyone is quiet and sleeping...dee is upside down, with her head on a pillow... totally stretched out and leaking away on the red leather couch.... too cute! i have some really good leather cleaner that i will put to use, once she wakes up..for now she just looks too content and relaxed to worry about the leaking too much. i had to take off sydney's cone cuz he just can't eat or drink too well...his little face is too flat! i watched him like a hawk for his sneaking around and licking at his sutures..he finally got tired of me on his licking case so he is napping peacefully now too.
today we are the peaceable kingdom...it has been pouring rain out so everyone is content to stay in the house and just snooze. i did just briefly sneak out to the barn to ask andy to put out extra hay in the undercover areas cuz it was such a raining miserable day for all of the barn guys today. it bet they liked that...lots of hay in under cover dry areas....too bad 800 pound pigs and 1500 pound cows, and ancient horses, and goats and sheep and chickens and llamas too, can't snooze inside by the fire..but even i ain't crazy enough for that! as for the ducks..they love pouring down rain..they think it is a giant happy showering waterfall especially sent and delivered for them!
it is a sad day for saints rescue when we lost out on the big money for our vet bills..but in all honesty..the animals do not care one single bit..the house is clean, their beds are dry, the fires are lit, their food and water bowls are full and i am hanging around, puttering around doing not much except feeding them the occasional smartie and ghostly marshmellow...(thank you helga for those!!!!)..the animals say today...all is good.
My take on this pepsi challenge (for what it's worth):
Is it not a raging success that SAINTS came in 3rd??? Just look at the quality of "competition" so to speak. It's a true testament to the importance of what SAINTS does that you placed so high in the first round of a brand new nation-wide contest. While disappointed to miss the money of course, my heart soars for you, Carol, and what you have created - this is not a loss, for you are far closer to $25,000 than you've ever been before.
I hear what you are saying with the asking for votes tactic. But it is a challenge and I don't think that reminding like-minded folks to vote for SAINTS is a bad thing to do. I don't believe in the "I voted for you, so you vote for me" mentality, but I really do think it's okay to seek out those folks who believe in what you do and keep SAINTS out there for everyone to see. It's not so much that you're asking folks to vote who don't value what you do; it's more that you're saying "Hey, this is who we are and we could really use the support if we're something you believe in." It's basic viral marketing and it's exactly how to win this kind of grant money. It's a new techie way of getting things done, but the results are tremendous. Even just the comments from new visitors to the blog have been so uplifting. There are entire communities from across the country that have rallied behind you in the contest. It's been great for spreading awareness...baby steps will get us there.
And Marisa (I think??) from the last blog entry - such powerful words. I just watched Earthlings the other night, and after sobbing my way through all 95 minutes of it I struggled with how to fight such mass disrespect for life. Your answer came during this time when I've been looking for it most - not because of me.
(For those who haven't seen/heard of Earthlings, it's streamed for free on earthlings.com and it is the single most powerful documentary I've ever watched. It's a painful hour and a half to sit through, but nobody benefits when we choose not to see.