Wow! We sure had a fun and exhausting time yesterday getting ready to participate in our very first Cameron Christmas parade. Even more fun was the parade itself.
During the week, Kathleen and Mandi made lots of signs for the float, so once Lee and Kathleen very carefully got the thing down to our office, we finished decorating it. We added more and more lights, which was good, because we hadn’t actually realized the parade is in the dark.
While I have little exciting to report today, I sure planned to be interesting later! I think that counts as good news.
I did a lot of work for my volunteer jobs. The best part was planning for next year’s Master Naturalist activities with our Vice President, Donna. She hates computers and I love them, so we are complementary.
We even made a survey to ask the members what they want to learn about next year. The one person who has filled it out so far is me, but then it hasn’t gone out in email yet.
Carlton wants his fellow pound puppies to get to run around like he does.
Lee and I then went to Tractor Supply in scenic Hearne, where I not only got horse and chicken supplies, but also scoped out supplies for the dog run our family and business are going to build for the Cameron dog pound.
We even got an invitation to do a dog adoption day at the Tractor Supply store! Thus, I did work for ALL my volunteer jobs! Interesting!
The evening has started well, too. As I walked back from horse feeding at dusk, I heard the sandhill cranes above me. I guess they were heading to the big lake by the old Alcoa plant.
Then I walked through the field as flocks of Savannah sparrows took off at my approach. Their wings were beautiful to hear.
Ahh, autumn.
Yesterday was a beautiful day in New Orleans. It was mostly sunny and in the 70s outside. Too bad I did not step outside the hotel until after dark, and then it was just to go across the street to eat dinner. Guess what I had?
The reason I stayed in the hotel all day is that the fun trip was over, and it was time for our annual Board meeting. In the morning, trip attendees joined us to give us input on how the trip went and suggest places to go next. It was great to hear how much fun people had and how smoothly everything went. It was a HARD slog planning this trip, but in the end, the trip planners (with a lot of help by the Board President) got it done.
I’m very glad I am not a professional trip planner, and tip my hat to my friends who are!
Continue reading “In Which Suna Pays for All Her Fun”Yes, yes, I’m still in New Orleans with the Friends of La Leche League on their bonding trip. Today was the day of less history and more typical tourist stuff. However, I managed to have fun.
In the morning, people mingled and bonded until time to walk (if you were fit) to the Steamboat Natchez, which is the only steam-powered paddle-wheeler in use in New Orleans.
There, we were treated/blasted to an actual steam calliope concert. It was fun to watch the steam coming out for each note.
On the boat, we had a brunch, which was adequate, and good jazz music (though one DOES weary of “When the Saints Go Marching In” around here). Since you couldn’t see a dang thing during the meal, I got out of the dining room as fast as I could to see the river.
Not much soul searching to report today, though I think some of my colleagues tried to get me to do so. That’s even AFTER I said I am really doing well and coping with whatever challenges may come up. Oh well. What did I do today?
Mostly I looked at a lot of buildings and some darned impressive old oak trees. Our trip planners did us all a favor by setting up a bus tour of Greater New Orleans this morning, which makes it a lot easier to figure out what we’ll want to do in our free time tomorrow.
Our tour bus driver is usually a swamp tour driver, so I enjoyed listening to him try to remember all his NOLA facts and figure out how traffic has changed.
I’m sitting in the Austin airport again. This time I’m also going somewhere fun, but not for relaxation. I’m traveling to New Orleans to participate in semi-annual Friends of La Leche League trip. Since I’m on the Board, my role will be to help make the trip fun for the participants.
I have to go back to my Super Introvert mode that I used to get in at the large conferences, where I had to be on and available 24/7. Usually I handle conferences by getting a room to myself. But, this is a nonprofit, so we share!
It’s fun sharing rooms with old friends. You catch up, tell funny stories, etc. I just hope note that we are all older, we will sleep some.
This is a group of wonderful people, and I am hoping everyone’s issues and infirmities don’t prevent everyone from having fun. And I hope I don’t collapse from being my busy LLL persona for 5 days. I’m not the same person I used to be.
Luckily I’m in a great mood and looking forward to some fun and good. Yes, I will eat a beignet! Moderation in everything.
Today has been non-stop meetings, work, and networking, but it’s been fun. After working at my actual job all morning, we had another wildflower brochure meeting at the Hermit Haus.
I’m almost done with the brochure, thanks to lots of proofreading help. You can never see all your own typos. And I don’t spell in Latin well!
I took more Master Naturalist friends around the office, then some of us repaired to the Dutchtowne Deli for lunch. We had been talking about how we miss just hanging around and talking about things with each other, when John said that what we needed was to have a regular “sit-along,” (though that may not be the actual word he used, but I like it anyway).
[Here’s my post I tried to do yesterday.]
Hey, let’s change the subject. Cheerful stuff! No one reads this kind of post! I’ll write anyway.
Yesterday afternoon, since there was no internet in Cameron anyway, I went on a fact-finding mission to Aggieland Humane Society in Brazos County with my MTOL co-directors, Jean and Mark. Our brains are now very full.
We found the whole facility to be warm and friendly. You feel welcome as soon as you approach the place, too.
We met with the executive director, Kathy Bice, who started out as an Animal Control Officer and has learned the animal shelter business from the ground up. She was incredibly generous with her knowledge of building animal shelters. More important, she gave us invaluable information for ways to raise the funding our Milam Touch of Love organization will need to create a quality facility for our county’s animals.
Continue reading “Dog Shelter Education”This is the second Saturday in a row that I’ve spent at least part of the day volunteering for Milam Touch of Love. Today we were at an event at Tractor Supply in Rockdale, where we were invited to bring materials and dogs that are adoptable.
Since the event was in Rockdale, we invited the Rockdale Pound folks to bring some dogs. I got there first and set up the table, along with the really helpful manager at Tractor Supply. Our banner looked really good, and we made the whole setup look inviting.
Continue reading “Volunteering with Doggies: Rewarding as Heck”The Portacool is still holding up, and I’m dying from smelling barbecue on an empty stomach. I’m now the only staff, but since business is not brisk, it’s fine.
We did see a beautiful bug and I got a great photo of it on Meghan’s tattoo. Perhaps it’s Rugosana querci. Or not. But it’s beautiful and tiny. 
A lot of our volunteers have dropped by, including Tom and Windy, who do the kitten rescue and fostering for the Cameron Touch of Love. They got these bright shirts so people can easily see them when they are rescuing cats from “interesting” places. We all love the color!
We were also visited by Mary Lou and Janiece, from Rockdale. Thanks to them, I got some lunch!
Janiece is the Animal Control Officer for Rockdale. They have lots of dogs available, and not much space, so they’d be a great source of a new canine friend!
Milam Touch of Love is also helping their pound out with their donations. Next we are trying to figure out how to open a shelter for the animals out in the county, who can’t be taken to the pound. Yes, I can’t adopt them ALL!
Public Service Announcement over!
My own family even came! And Kathleen donated. We decided to head out early, so we only have a half hour left.
That’s good, because the cooler is getting sad.
The Hermits' Rest 