well...this is it...my last vacation day. i think i counted 7 sick calls in the 16 days off to ask me to come into work and i did not pick up a single shift...i really did need this uninterrupted time off to mentally recoup.
caregiving for both humans by day and animals at night takes a lot out of me somedays.
but that is ok..it gives me a lot in some ways too.
anyway..i do think i am ready to go back to work...saints on my mind 24/7 is hard all by itself too.
the ferrier was out yesterday...flicka threw her head up and caught me under the chin. i spent several hours afterwards with a really stiff neck and a headache til finally a couple of doses of advil kicked in. michelle and leila helped with barn bedtime and that was a nice monday night treat!
anyway..i want to harp one more time about a couple of things that i harp on constantly but i still don't think folks really get. and i don't think they get it because i have never fully explained the big picture...just the obvious parts of them.
the laundry...
it is not just about how much laundry is left in the baskets for me to catch up on each night. because even if maggie and lynne pick up the excess..it still impacts us. first of all...there are 6 or 8 bags full of towels and linens gone for a few days and then we run short and then we have to use bigger and harder to wash stuff. it also means when those 6 or 8 bags come back...someone needs to take the time to sort those bags out and put them away. that adds at least another hour of goofing with laundry on top of dealing with the washing, drying, folding and putting away of the current laundry pile for that particular day.
sometimes in our quest to make everything perfect for these guys...we go far beyond ridiculous. i am sorry but the cats really only need one sheet or fleece on the couch to lay on...they do not need a sheet, then a fleece, then three cat beds or pillows covered with more fleece to park their royal butts..enough really IS ....enough. when i park my not so royal ass on the couch...the couch alone for general comfort, really is good enough.
i pulled a full load of clean linens out of just the shop laundry again..that was one full load that did not need to be washed,..it was fine to use for another day.
the hydro and electric costs of washing and drying 20 loads of laundry is high.... hydro/electric bills will hit $3000 PER month now that the cold weather is here...cutting back on the washer and dryer use will help quite a lot.
plus...all of our animals would benefit more in the long run of less time flipping laundry around and more time actually spent one and one with them....they may like that more than being prince's and princessess with layered and stacked laundry beds....we don't have problems with pesky uncomfortable hard peas here...just that other kind of wet pee.
the other thing is...
the 9 am start time around here..everyone knows we do this to keep the dogs calm until a decent hour so the neighbors are not unduly disturbed. it also means i can keep the outside dog doors open so the dogs can get out to the yard to pee and poop for a while longer instead of turning it into a sewer in here.
so my assumption is that since no one is due to arrive until 9 am..i can leave those dog doors popen until just before 9. it also means i can leave mya free from her crate until just before the chaos begins at 9 am.
but...all of the buildings and the driveway itself is alarmed so i know when someone is on site. and like pavlov's dogs...our dogs also know what the ringing of those alarm bells means..it means someone is here somewhere. so if they are out..they all start to bark..if they are all locked inside they bark and crowd their doors. this is a perfect scenario for starting a fight...a ton of excited dogs, pressed close together at the doors and barking hysterically for 15 or 20 minutes until that magic 9 am time arrives and the people actually walk in the door.
sneaking into one of the other buildings or sitting in the driveway out in the cars really doesn't help much cuz the dogs ALL KNOW you are here. that driveway alarm goes off whether you walk or drive in.
in conclusion....i do not want to go the way of many shelters and refuse to give our animals nice beds...i think a warm fleece is nice on the vinyl raised beds..i think a single sheet or fleece is nice on the couches as well..it helps keep the animals warm cuz leather is cold and protects the fabric furniture too. but this layering thing that we have gotten into the habit of...it simply has got to stop. WE CANNOT AFFORD IT..not in terms of workload and staffing costs, not in terms of hydro and electricity, not in terms of the wear and tear on our washer and dryer machines.
the 9 am start times are 9 am start times...not 8:30, 8:45 or 8:50..the dogs know what time you actually arrive here..the alarms all tell them so there is no point in thinking you can sneak in cuz you can't. and it is 9 am that i will be prepared for..with dogs shut in the house and prone to over excited and then flipping out dogs put safely away or with me in the room with them to stop any we are so freaking excited freak out fights from beginning.
i am telling you..99% of all dogs can be trained but only 1% of people and our people need some serious training on laundry issues and arrival times at this shelter..it is driving me insane.
ok..done being a bitch for today.
I apologize for sometimes doing this - I arrive 5 or 10 minutes early, and sit in my car on Dlugosh,- but the dogs still know someone is here, (because I can hear them start barking) so I will not arrive till 9am from now on.