Humane Society

On tuesday, I went to the humane society for two and a half hours. I took out a small jack russell terrier. It was so hyper and bouncing all around in his kennel, so I descided to let him out to run off some of his energy. He escaped his leash twice when I was taking him out of his kennel and his collar broke. The people working at the humane society said that dog was there because he is a sneaky, escape artist. We finally got a new collar that went under his front legs so we were sure he wasn't going to escape again. Like most of the dogs there, he was not very easy to walk. He was really wild and fast so we were pretty much running with him around the building. We put him back in his kennel and took out another crazy puppy. I didn't think it was possible but this black lab was even wilder than the dog we just walked. This lab reminded me exactly of my dog when she was younger. This dog almost dragged me with her. She was just so curious when we got outside and was sniffing and playing with everything. When we went into a room, the dog went wild and jumped up on the counters and tables and was knocking stuff down all over. I went back again today for another three hours. We folded news pamphlets to send to everyone in the community. The pamphlets talked all about the society and the animals. It showed pictures of many of the animals so people would be more likely to adopt. The news letter also talked about the humane society walk where people in the community can donate money and walk for the animals at the center. Then we took out another black lab with white patches. This dog was also pretty hard to handle. You have to remain in control to try to handle these animals. By showing these animals that you are in control, they are more likely to listen and do what you want. The hardest part with controling the dogs is when you have to get them in and out of the kennel because all of the kennels are right next to one another. All of the dogs bark at you as you pass and sometimes grawl at the other dogs. I sometimes have a hard time showing the animals that I am in control but I am getting better at it each time I walk with the dogs.

Recording Take One....Two... Three...

Yet another week has gone by and we have yet to finish and fine tune our project on cellular respiration. We've spent over 4 hours this week continuing to work on our animation and voiceovers. Dr. Bala was able to join our group on Thursday afternoon and give us a few tips to improve our definition and explanation of cellular respiration; including glycolosis, the krebs cycle, and electron transport chain. Liz, Steven, Steph, and I met in the library and took turns recording the steps in cellular respiration that will correspond with our animated video. We have plans to meet on Friday and possibly throughout the weekend so we can show our animation in class next week. This project has definitely proven to be difficult. I'm looking forward to viewing our video when it is completely finished. We've all been able to see it in parts but I will be proud when we are able to watch it all the way through with animation, explanation, etc. I truly hope that our video can help students understand cellular respiration more clearly. As my group has found out, it is a difficult task to explain CR without all of the scientific terms and equations.

Another trip to Schmeekle

Now that we have been going to Schmeekle for the past several weeks, we pretty much have the hang of everything. But it always surprises me how much litter we actually find. We go there every week and assume that we make some kind of impact, but once we go back there is always something to pick up. Since our first week out at Schmeekle, my view of it has changed a lot. I thought it was very cool to see how everything has changed from winter to spring. To be honest I thought that the reserve would be much cleaner than it actually was, but we, as well as other helpers, try our best. As I have mention before, the amount of litter is crazy in Schmeekle and there is obviously a lot more in public areas. To put it simply it is not that hard to throw something in a trash can, but I guess not everyone can grasp that concept and because of that, we have a ton of pollution in our environments.

Kick. Stroke. Quiet.

This week was there was sadness in the air. I found out that one of the more active residents had a stroke and was being hospitalized. It was rather obvious when we did the activities today that something was missing. Usually during the big ball activity he would try and kick it as hard as possible, basically booting it across the room, scaring some of the ladies. Most of them would yell and bicker at him and he’d simply smile and laugh under his breath. The other volunteers and I always got a kick out of this. However today when we play with the ball, it was so quiet and empty without him. I'll admit sometimes it gets a little boring watching a bunch of old people kick a ball around, but with him he always had a way of entertaining me.

Volunteering there has really opened my eyes to many things. It's odd how one man could change the whole atmosphere of a room. It makes me think about all those people’s families and how none of them are there to help add character to an event. Like a birthday, thanksgiving, or even a weekend away. They're all somewhat stuck there without their families or friends laughing and joking around. It just isn’t fair; but the more time I spend there the more I want to go back and make sure that these people have someone they can laugh and joke around with.