Rescue Journal

today is just chock full of surprises.

Carol  ·  Oct 30, 2011

a few months ago, we hosted international students on a volunteer work experience program. i am forever doing these kind of things even tho generally they just don't work out very good. we have often done work experience placements for various organizations...international, local high schools, special needs, the justice dept. and the reason it usually doesn't work out is because the work here is freaking hard! young students especially think working in an animal shelter is all warm, fuzzy, fun and clean...everyone wants to do it til they come face to face with the actual wet, dirty, back breaking reality. suddenly working with animals is not so much fun..oh well, it was worth a shot and i don't mind giving them the chance to find out if they would like it or not.

so anyway....quite a while ago we hosted a combined small group of ukrainian and canadian international students. we failed miserably in the ukranian students eyes....they freaking hated it here. the canadian student was from ontario..he unlike his student partners...really enjoyed his time with us...and we really enjoyed having him..he fit in perfectly. i said if he ever moved to BC and was interested in a job to come and see me.

low and behold, who stopped by this afternoon but avery...he has moved to mission and is hoping to work here. now we don't have much money and we are fully staffed and meeting payroll is always a juggling act...but i really like this young man. he has a great work ethic, he is great with the animals, he has a peaceful and kind aura around him..he is very good saints animal caregiver material... and considering what it takes to work here well... that is nothing to sneeze at.

so under the understanding that we may at anytime run out of money and have to cut back on staff hours...i am really pleased to be welcoming avery to our part time staff caregiving team...it is not like we don't have enough work here to go around.

there are times that you take a risk because an opportunity presents itself...i already know that avery will be good for us...now i just hope we can pay him and keep him with us for awhile.

rule number 672 in rescue is all about never questioning a gift horse's open mouth.

Comments

Carol

she deserves it...she always loses on the name games around here...(except on rocky...when she just ignored me and called him wesley anyway)...i just realized...hmmmm....nicole is a bit of a quiet rebel!

Brenda

Ok Nicole - I can live with Nigel (I agree with Carol - Noah is out, and Copper too I hope) Let us know when you finally make a decision so we can start using the new mame!

Carol

the only one i <em><strong>really</strong></em> do not like is noah...honestly..it is too close to "no" and can be confusing (esp. for not overly bright dogs...oops sorry pugsly!)...and by the way...when is the oaf moving out of my kitchen?

i am kind of sad about the ditching of otis tho...otis the oaf had a nice ring.

nicolemc

sorry brenda, but it's looking more like his name will be Nigel. I'm trying to narrow it down. I will let everyone know when i finally decide. I forgot to tell carol i took 'otis' out of the running, the names i'm trying to decide on are: nigel, cooper, radar, noah.
I already know that Carol doesn't like any of them, but that's ok cause I have veto power this time!!

erin

funny, my mastiffs name is otis...he too is big, clumsy, and brindle. i really enjoyed meeting ernie and ryan this weekend, its nice to put a face to a name. welcome avery, looking forward to meeting you too!

Brenda

Wow! Welcome Avery - We're all very glad to have you on the SAINTS team.
Oh, and Carol; I emailed Nicole to urge her to change Pugsley's name to your sugggestion - Otis! That's an awesome name. Actually, I think anything beats Pugsley, but Otis would be perfect for him. We'll see