Rescue Journal

mirror, mirror on the wall....

Carol  ·  Aug. 14, 2016

i am on evening shifts..on the weekend..which is problematic for everyone. i am basically gone from 10ish to 10ish...too early and then too late to do much for here in the day. during the week we adjust the staff schedules and someone generally volunteers to work a 12-8 shift. that way the animals are alone for only a couple of hours when i am working thru the evening shift. but on the weekend we don't have that luxury because we only have one staff person to do feeding/meds and barn bedtime so we rely on volunteers to come up and check on the guys between 5 pm when the staff person leaves and 10 pm when i get home again.

anyway...just want to say a big thx to lynne and renee (and erin who was willing) who volunteered to cover the evenings for me this weekend!!! having someone check on the guys is one less huge worry for me!!!

updates...

myrna might be getting close to the end of her journey (she is a senior diabetic cat with cancer.) we are watching her closely...still doing..ok. eating and drinking, moving around, on good pain control..but not really sure she is actually happy. she looks like she is slowing down so i think it will be time to help her to pass fairly soon.

cheyenne chewed thru her wheelchair harness yesterday so that totally sucks. erin is our wheelchair expert so will have to wait until tomorrow to see if we have another harness that will work or if we have to order her in a new one.

big buddy is truly starting to show his age...still goofy and over the top excited when he sees me but definitely looking older and more grey. at 18 yrs old, this is really not much of a surprise but the thought that he too will one day soon be at the end of his incredibly long life, is pretty upsetting.
i try not to think about that too much if i can.

sheila and i got into a big argument on the phone last night and this is important for people to know.
because....
folks in rescue are under the misconception that while all of us are on the same team...we actually always agree...when in fact...we don't.
this is fine and this is normal and getting into arguments is not the end of rescue relationships world.
we all have are own beliefs, passions and unique ways of doing things and sometimes with groups of people working together, these things are conflicting.
so here is how sheila and i fight...we unintentionally drop into a red zone of discussion...we stop listening, we start to interrupt, we get mad and start yelling at each other and the fight is on.
do we always end the arguument with a negotiated resolution..hell no but we did get some of both of our frustrations out.
and then we move on.
sheila and i both really like each other...after all of these years of working together, we do feel a great deal of respect and love. but that's not to say we still don't piss each other off.
sigh..we are both human.

so here is my point in sharing this...
la la, love and floating daisies around anyone in rescue is bullshit....there will be times of conflict, anger and hurt feelings.
people in rescue/animal welfare need to understand this BEFORE they burn the rescue bridges, BEFORE their rescue boats sink.

the only way to have complete agreement/harmony in rescue is to confine conversations/discussions/future planning to talking to oneself in the mirror.

i am not a bad or horrible person and neither is sheila...we are the good guys in our animals lives.
the reason we can fight and not let it affect our relationship or the important work we do is because for both of us..the arguments are about our versions of right.

rescue is a mountain and there are many ways to climb a mountain. there will be many wrong ways to try to climb that same mountain but just as many right ways to climb up too.
as long as we both are seeking the right ways...we really don't have much of an issue. we just have a slightly different view.
sometimes sheila is in the alpine field of wildflowers and i am in the forest with trees. but we are both heading in exactly the same direction..just differently.

rescue advice number 343....its is ok to argue and disagree...that's what challenges us to keep thinking.
luckily on this, we both agree.

Comments

erin

Cheyenne has two harnesses, one for each wheelchair. They are interchangeable, so for now, we can just use the other one. Does anyone know why she chewed it off?