By the way, the runs, for those that don't know, are these cages -->
...they're pretty much the only cages other than the FNs/CN that the rescue has anymore. Mainly used for our breeding/showing chins, but also to house potentially pregnant rescues, ill chins, or chin that need to be separated or observed.
In between that, had some people come by to pick up supplies, that went well. Then, I was supposed to have someone come to look at a chin, but they didn't call and didn't show. Which is frustrating cause I kept vacuuming the basement even as I was cleaning it, so that it would be clean when they arrived... but they never did.
So I went and finished all the runs and then cleaned the prairie dog cage. Their barn had seen better days, so all of that came out. Cleaned off the frame of their barn as best I could (it can't fit out the door of the cage without removing the wheel) and put a new bed in the frame. Hopefully they like that. More likely, it will be shredded by morning. But the old one was stinky, so time for new. And cleaned out their pan, so now they have fresh.
Also cleaned the guinea pig cage. Stripped it down completely, put the pigs in a donated carrier and got out the vinegar and cut up a towel and went to scrubbing. And realized JUST how many cuts I have on my hands, due to the vinegar. Owwww. Once it was clean, piggies were added back, and they were happy. Still need to put that front guard on the cage, I need to cut it first.
For the rat stack, the one cage didn't have bedding, so I put bedding in there, in anticipation of the rats we're getting in on Monday.
Would probably have done more, but despite the mask and all, I am horribly allergic to the pine, and pine dust (that's why, when I had a steady supply of shredded paper to use as bedding, I could spend so much more time at the rescue), and my wheezing makes me less able to do things. Plus, the things I needed to do involve filling orders and making toys and cutting down larger pieces of wood into toy-sized pieces... all of which end up churning up more wood dust and would make me wheeze more. So, those were out of the question for today.
But I did have a nice epiphany about something. Ok, so probably very few people have ever seen me get the glass tube into the rubber stopper for the ryerson water bottles. That's cause I try to have that done ahead of time, before people get here. Know why? Because it's ridiculously difficult. It's one of those things I put off and put off and put off. Like, on a scale of 1-10, 10 being hate hate hate... cleaning cages is a 9, putting these tubes in the stoppers is an 11. It' a tight fit to get that glass tube in there, and not to mention, it's glass, so you can't force it because it will break. So, previous attempts had involved getting down on the cement floor, holding the tube vertically on the floor with my left hand and trying to get the stopper on with my right. Well, it works, but I can't get up and down 400 times, and this was still overly difficult as the stupid stopper never wanted to go in. So, I tried it on the table. Well.... better, cause since I was standing, there was more leverage, but the table's plastic, and wasn't providing the type of push-back pressure necessary for that tube to go in, so it went in slllllllllloooooooooow. Not fast enough for me. So I tried using my hand, with a thick horse-breaking-type leather glove on the hand that was meant to press on the glass tube. Let's just say that ended up with a nice circular shaped imprint on my hand, but the tube did go in. And here comes the epiphany... I decided... lemme take a piece of wood, drill a hole, but not all the way through, just big enough for the tube to sit in. So, I did... and this holds the tube upright! Now, I still have to hold it with my left hand, but keeping it vertical while there's a ton of downward pressure isn't all that easy... but with the wood, it stays mostly vertical, and I was able to get a ton of them done. So happy!!!!
I'm supposed to have someone come to look at some chins tomorrow, and some people come volunteer... but we shall see if they come, due to the weather...
Well, I think that's it for today.
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