Ok, so today I knew I had volunteers coming, and prepped for that. Which meant yesterday was a mad-house trying to get things semi-organized so today wouldn't just be re-arranging stuff. So, that was yesterday. I have an awful lot of cages that need to be cleaned and shelved, and they were everywhere. So those were all moved over by the order table and now.... there is no getting through that way. Moved all the clean cages over to where the clean cages go. Assembled that new cage that had been donated way back when. Turns out it was an absolute pain. And also was the same cage that I sold awhile ago as a degu cage. So.... its assembled, but it needs to be O-ringed for extra stability. That's for another day. Had all the shelves for a donated cage washed, sanded, all that good stuff.... but when you wash them down with the hydrogen peroxide, sometimes, no matter how well you rinse, when they dry, the hydrogen peroxide separates intro hydrogen and oxygen and somehow that can cause a white powder to form. So, sanded those down to get the white off, and moved those over to the cage staging area. Also cut out pieces for 5 porthole hidey houses. Didn't get to drill the holes, but at least got teh
Moving on to today. I had Emily and Sarah helping out first. They stayed for about 3 hours, 15 minutes. We started out with n one of them working on the guinea pig cages, cleaning them, while the other mixed up our dry kit supplement for the baby chins. Got all of the guinea pig cages cleaned, and two jars of the kit supplement made. I cleaned the rat cages and moved the two females into our rat stack (out of their cage) temporarily, due to current lack of space. Pulled the table with the QC cages away from the wall and vacuumed everything around and behind it. Got everything under the table pulled out, wiped, and replaced. Got all the tables scrubbed (not sure what they stain from, but they stain so quick!). Got hay for everyone. Dust baths for all the chins. Some toy parts sanded. All the water bottles filled. Rat cage hoppers filled with lab blocks. All rats handed their yogies and got their scoops of treats for the day. Rabbit cage cleaned. Veggies and carrots and leafy greens given to the veggie-eating critters.
Also, had an epiphany moment -- my one chin, Molly, has been a pain (to put it oh-so-mildly) to keep a collar on, so she's spent more time with her run closed than open. So, while going through the box of sell/keep (recently washed stuff), I came across my 3 prong collars and when I went to put them away, came across my bags of O-rings. Hmmm. So, one of the girls held Molly while I O-ringed her collar closed around her neck. Let's see her get outta this one.
Also, I've been needing to bring down a new box for the food bowls. Due to the weight that's always in that box, its been falling apart for quite some time, and since we were cleaning where that box was, I went and got a new box and had help moving the food bowls into the new box. Sounds boring, but this was one of those needed to be done things that kept getting pushed off because it wasn't like a necessity necessity.
Had the bins of donated dust combined to make less bins. Cleaned the treat holders for the pigs and rats and doled out some treats.
Then it was time for them to leave, and, wonderful timing, my best friend since like middle school, Lisa, arrived to volunteer. Now, Lisa remembers me before the rescue and she could vouch that I had no life then either. My "no life" now is just so much busier than it used to be. So, while I got some of the holes cut out in some houses, she sanded some toy parts. Once I had two cut, we sat down to sand those down and make the houses. Made two porthole houses. Moved onto putting the donated cage together and putting shelves in. Drill ran out of juice mid-shelving, so put that on the charger. Love that the new drill has a 30 minute charge, the old one was 4 hours!! So while that charged, went back to sanding things.
Also, another one of those things that has sat around on the to-do list forever was to get the barn back in the prairie dog cage. That was one of those things where there really had to have two people to do it. First cleaned and vacuumed the cage. Pulled it away from the wall and got the vacuum behind it. Then, removed the wheel. See, the wheel was in the way of getting the barn in the door. So, Lisa scrubbed down the wheel while I got the barn stuffed in the cage, then we got the wheel back in and everything back together.
By the time we had that done, the drill was charged again, and we finished putting the shelves in the cage and the cage on its stand. Then, totally by accident of course, we realized Nylah is uh... male. Apparently I took the word of the adoptive home that the rabbit was female (cause I can sex rabbits just fine), but when Lisa picked Nylah up, noticed Nylah was stained, I went to get baby wipes to wipe her down.... and noticed testicles. Oops. Now we have a male rabbit up for adoption lol. Got his nails clipped so just need to write up ads for the critters.
And tomorrow's another day of volunteering. Plus, a two guinea pig pickup and a chin dropoff. Fun times.
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