Straw

Lest you are starting to think I'm a total asshole (starting?), here's a pic of my good deed for the day.

I have mentioned before that I'm volunteering at a wildlife rehab center. I got an email last night from one of the volunteers in charge of supplies, stating that they needed more hay, and could anyone come up with some?

I happen to live behind a farm and ranch supply and was in fact planning to drop by there this morning to get a package of cedar shavings (to cover some muddy spots in the yard). One of the best rules for life: asking is free. So I walked in, said I was a volunteer at Chintimini, and that the facility needed hay or straw to use for bedding for some of the outdoor rehab enclosures, and did they have any moldy, wet, or unsellable bales that they would be willing to donate? We only needed two. It took the manager all of 30 seconds to say, well, no, he didn't have any unsellable bales but he'd be happy to give me two bales of straw. Woohoo!

I buy my dog food there (I've switched over to Taste of the Wild lamb and sweet potato recipe) so they may have also recognized me as a regular customer. Either way, it was still nice of the guy.

I had them loaded into the mighty Honda Fit (the guy who loaded them expressed some doubt that the two bales would fit, but I told him, this is a Honda--it holds way more than you think it does!) and promptly drove them out to the facility. The morning shift leader and I woman-handled the bales out of my car and onto wheeled carts and duly installed them in a storage shed.

Good thing one of the other items on my list today was a visit to the local car wash. It took three cycles of the vacuum to clean all the hay out, and I had even planned ahead, in expectation of success, and covered the interior with a tarp!