Progress Report - 1 year in

So hard to believe, but we've lived in KC now for a year.

I've lived a lot of places - I mean, a LOT.

It doesn't feel like home here.  It's not bad.  I'm not unhappy.  I don't hate it here.  I have people that I am friendly with - not friends, mind you, but they laugh at my jokes and don't seem to hate me.  My dogs have a little fenced yard.  I have a park nearby that allows fishing and boating and biking and walking and leaf picking.  My neighbors keep their yard picked up.  So what is missing?

Here's what I know: when I visit Mom and Dad in Rogers, I feel better.  When I visit with my friends in Abilene, I feel like I matter.  When I see the yucky old river where I used to fish, I still get mad about the litter bugs.  What is missing?  The connection to the place, the people.

And that can't be forced.  I could get a place a little further from the city  - but the commute.  Work must go on.  I could try harder to make a connection with some of the friend-likes.  But I've never been very good at the try to make a connection stage of life reboots.  If it will happen, it will happen.

But, for now, we accept.  We will continue to do this - and connect with whoever we can, when we can.  Wanna prediction?

We won't renew the lease in December 2014.

The effects of your feet up and your hair down

Somehow, I think I blog better with my feet up and my hair long.  You be the judge.

Today has been a loooong day.  This morning, I was at mom and dad's in Arkansas.  Today we Sprung Forward, lost an hour.  Last night, Beppo got sick around 5 am. Cleaning that up as clandestine-ly as possible was awesome, lost 30 minutes of sleep, probably.  We headed back to Lenexa and around 3:00pm I left for my first day volunteering at a Wildlife rescue!

Mostly it's a lot of chores - I did a lot of laundry, dishes, and swept and mopped the floor.  But... there is so much good and cuteness there!

I got to feed baby squirrels (Twice!) and help manage feeding the baby bunnies.  The bunnies are fed by feeding tube because they don't take to the bottle very well.  I wasn't comfortable doing that - apparently it is really easy to get the tube in the lungs and I was not comfortable with that idea.  I also held a Barred Owl while he was force fed some ... meat...  There is a snake there.  I told the supervisor the snake is the only thing I definitely don't think I will be comfortable with.  I can cut up ... meat ... prep the other food, secure animals with crazy talons, but I do not want to look at that snake.  She said that was fine, so that's good. :)

They have probably 10 different types of owls, 8 turtles, 1 snake (ick), a turkey vulture, a Golden and a Bald Eagle, peregrine falcons, kestrals, squirrels, rabbits, a possum, 7 chickens, at least 500 mice and rats, and probably some creature I am forgetting.  Most of the animals are in various stages of care, whether it's a broken wing, or nursery care, but some of the animals are permanently disabled and legally cannot be set free - they must be euthanized if Operation Wildlife had to set them free because they didn't have the resources or something.  But OWL is allowed to keep 2 of each of the species as educational and 1 of each as a foster parent, so there is a fair amount that can be saved.

All in all, very interesting and satisfying -  And ... BABY ANIMALS!