InsideNPS

Thought for the Day:
The purpose of life is to discover your gift. The meaning of life is to give it away.
-D. Viscott


I tried to save a raccoon yesterday. Or actually my coworker and I tried to save him. She was notified by a visitor that there was an injured raccoon down at the trailhead... so she walked down to see what the situation was... and called me to come help her. He was alive but unable to walk. It appeared that perhaps he hurt his leg. He was just lying there and every once in awhile he would try to get up but go nowhere. He seemed pretty lethargic.
She first called fish and wildlife and they referred her to a wildlife rescue group. They told her they had an agreement with a vet that is actually just down the road and that the vet would take him from us. If he was able to be saved, the raccoon would then go to the rescue group where he would be rehabbed and returned to the wild if possible.
I grabbed an old sweater, a large cardboard box, and gloves and drove down.
The poor guy was beautiful! I've never been that close to a raccoon before. But you could tell he was pretty hurt. I really almost wonder if he had been run over. The area down there is gravel so it has more give than a regular road... he might have been hit and survived. There was no blood but the bugs were already coming for him.
He kept opening and closing his mouth like he was trying to tell us something.
I covered him gently with the sweater and talked to him while I swiftly picked him up and set him in the box. I even got a "pat on the back" from a visitor watching the whole ordeal for doing so well with the little guy.
We hopped in the van and I rode next to him, petting him through the sweater and talking to him the whole way. He kept looking at me with his brown eyes and he looked scared. I wanted him to know we were trying to help.
We got to the vet; I carried him in carefully where I continued to talk to him.
They send for someone over the intercom to come get the "wildlife dropoff". A younger girl comes out and takes the box from me. She proceeds to close off the top... maybe she was scared of him? She didn't even take a moment to look in!
Then she hoists him up on her hip like he's a basket of laundry!! And carries him out of the room at a horrifying angle. It couldn't have been okay for him... he was HURT!

This was 10 am.
We called to find out what had happened at 3 pm.
They hadn't looked at him yet!
FIVE HOURS!

So I called this morning.
He died when they tried to knock him out so they could assess him.

I know we did the right thing because it would have been worse for him to be eaten alive by bugs or attacked by a dog on the trails or even just to lie there in pain.
But the "care" he got from the vet's office irks me immensely.
I realize he wasn't someone's pet. I realize they probably weren't going to make any money by helping him... I don't know if the rescue group defrays costs. They might.
However, they had the agreement with the group to take injured wildlife. They could have said no if they weren't willing to help.
He was a living animal who was injured or sick. And they let him sit for at least five hours... and probably much more.
I think the rescue group should reconsider their partnership with them.

I'm sad because he was so beautiful. I always wanted a pet raccoon.

Chris calls me Mother Nature.
Animals love me.
He swears I could hug a grizzly bear and he wouldn't hurt me.
Chris' mom says animals know when you are trying to help... they know if you have malicious intent.
I agree.
And I love them.
Maybe I should look into wildlife rehabilitation. You know, for when Chris and I live in a house with 50 acres... ha ha!
Maybe it's the gift I need to give away.

One less thing...

My sister says I don't need napkins for the cake... she says the zoo should provide them. I'll have to make sure...
Yes, I said zoo.
We are having our reception at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. In the Range of the Jaguar. At night.
Woohoo!
AND we are paying extra to have the carousel on!
Everyone thinks that's so great since there are going to be about a billion kids there...
KIDS?!?! Man! I can't wait to have OUR photos taken on the carousel!

So on another note:
I found this woman who makes cake toppers. Her name is Debbie Garrity... and she makes them out of polymer clay. They are very cute...
And the best is that she can make animals. So we'll have the bride and groom... as people... but we'll be surrounded by ZOO animals!
I'm really excited about it because it'll be something neat to have in our house after the wedding as a cute memento of the wedding.
Now I just gotta figure out which animals we want...
I know we have to have a monkey.
And I'd like to have a lion.
She mentioned a hippo which I think is hilarious.
NO GIRAFFES.
: )

Off to think about something else. I think I'll go watch Because I Said So. It's on HBO OnDemand.

Memories

How do you make sure you don't forget anything... leave something important out... when you are planning a wedding?!?! Why isn't there some magical list of things to remember??? I can't even remember things from last week... I'm old and my brain is going fah fah away. I have a giant wedding planner book and I have a file holder thingie with papers and lists galore everywhere... not to mention the spreadsheets on my computer (the ones that Chris sees open and runs out of the office, screaming)...
I'm not worried about remembering the big things... I have my dress and the locations are nailed down... and we have flowers; I won't forget the cake... yum! But what about all the little details?? Argh!
I suppose in the end as long as we get married... that's what people are there for. If I forget the paper napkins for the cake table... ah well. It'll all work out...
But none of that makes me less stressed now.
Ha!

Flowas!!

Okay... so planning a wedding is a lot of work. A lot of work.
I wish I was crazy loaded so I could hire someone else to do all of it for me.
But then again, I kinda like coming up with the little detail ideas...

I met with a local florist about a month or so ago. They were very nice and had lots of neat suggestions for my flowers. I was very excited about it.
And then I got the estimate.
Mind you, the estimate came much later than they promised... and I had to call once and email once to finally get it. So that was a bit of a turn off already.
And then I saw the total.
$1500 in flowers. And just bouquets and the such. Not my centerpieces or the church decorations. I'm doing those myself... with plants. Don't want to kill too many flowers if I can help it.
$1500?!?!

Some things are very important to me as far as the wedding goes... and I'm willing to spend more money on them. Other things die when the wedding is over. Maybe they shouldn't be quite as expensive.
So I did some more research.
ProFlowers.
It's an online florist.
I read about them... online... on some wedding site or another.
And my friend Sheri, who is in the wedding party, mentioned that she used to order flowers from them for her mom. Not wedding flowers obviously but still.
She said they always came well packaged and were always beautiful.
I checked out the flowers and read about how to care for them. They are delivered 2 days prior to the wedding so they require a bit of work. I had a phone consultation last night with Jessica who was super nice and very helpful.
I ordered my flowers!
$712, all my flowers and even 12 vases later, I'm set!
Yay!!
One more thing to cross off the list.

Next up... cakes!

ps. Yes, I realize I didn't tell you which flowers I got... but some things need to be a surprise!

Semi-Return

So I haven't been a true blogger in a very very long time...
And I deleted a lot of my old blogs too so it doesn't look like I was much of a blogger to begin with either...
But I thought I'd make a sorta kinda comeback.
Just for fun.

Anyway...
I'm getting married!
And we have a fabulous photographer!!
Those who know me know that's a big thing for me to say. I'm very picky. And I want special pictures to remember my special day.
Her name is Scarlett Lillian and she posted our engagement photos HERE. Yay!!
Just thought I'd share!