I got the autographs of the original Black Sabbath lineup at a promo for their reunion tour in 99 or 2000. Ozzy smudged his marker so I got his fingerprint as a bonus.
Got my dad a Ted Nugent autograph since I knew he was a fan. He was at the local sportsman's gear show, so I was cool with going to that anyway. I think that's the first time I saw a live bald eagle up close, so that was really cool. Ted played some guitar, which was good, and then gave a really strange talk. I only later learned everything else about Ted other than he liked to hunt, so that is a very mixed experience in hindsight.
Got Jerry Lawler's at a ComicCon where he was promoting his comic. Got Adam West's there too.
The ex got the Ghost Hunters' at a different ComicCon. She was very excited, but I had no idea who they were at the time.
When I was a kid I wrote to a few baseball rookies and got their autographs. I still have them somewhere, but nobody who ever became anybody. There was a player with the same name as me that I wrote a few times, but he never wrote back. Jerk.
Their poo is out of this world stinky, but otherwise they are very awesome.
I was trying to stick them in a bucket to clean their pen, but they kept grabbing on to the lip with their tails. It was hilarious. I like watching them climb also. They look like they should be bad at it, but they're pretty good.
Awesome critters and no reason anyone should dislike them!
Recently I've been thinking back to when I'd roadtrip around, like 6-12 hour drives, to meet online friends. The MapQuest directions would be 2 or 3 pages long, but that wasn't manageable since I was driving, often at night. I'd write down the highways, and the miles I'd be on them and maybe the last 3 streets on a small piece of notepad paper and just hope for the best. No idea now how it ever worked. 😁
I just want people to be informed. My story and moreso the linked article I added talks about some of the issues that even positive seeming misinformation can lead to.
Link1 is broken down by zip code and the second lists the cities where they are. I just picked on at random since I have no clue where you are. 🙂
I was surprised when you said there was funding, since to my knowledge no rescue gets public funds anywhere. The one I picked randomly did talk about some type federal volunteer internship, so it does sound like there is some type of public partnership there, but I don't want to give advice based on translations.
It would be exciting if you got to find something. I lucked out having a place about 20 minutes from me. We have a lot of people coming from about an hour away.
That is excellent what you are doing! Anything helps so much.
I don't know how things work in Germany, but I took a quick look at the references in the c/superbowl sidebar and we have 2 lists of rescues in Germany.
I pulled up a random one and checked their "Support" menu and saw volunteering right away.
Ehrenamtliche Mitarbeit
Insbesondere am Wochenende fehlt es an Unterstützung in der Tierpflege. Selbst, wenn jemand nur ein bis zwei Stunden Zeit hat, ist das eine große Hilfe. Vorkenntnisse sind dabei nicht nötig. Zu den möglichen Aufgaben zählt neben dem Füttern von Jungtieren beispielsweise auch das Säubern der Volieren. Außerdem werden handwerklich begabte Helfende gesucht, die Reparaturen vornehmen können, Fahrdienste übernehmen oder die Futterwiese mähen.
Wer sich ehrenamtlich engagieren möchte, erreicht uns telefonisch unter info@wildvogelhilfe-rheinland.de. Bitte eine Nachricht auf dem Anrufbeantworter hinterlassen, damit wir uns zurückmelden können.
(Translated)
Volunteer work
Especially on weekends, there is a lack of support in animal care. Even if someone only has one or two hours to spare, it's a great help. Previous knowledge is not necessary. In addition to feeding young animals, the possible tasks include, for example, cleaning the aviaries. In addition, talented helpers are needed who can carry out repairs, take over driving services or mow the feed meadow.
If you would like to volunteer, you can reach us by phone at info@wildvogelhilfe-rheinland.de. Please leave a message on the answering machine so that we can get back to you.
Everyone's support and encouragement has meant a lot. If I wouldn't have become a poster here, I likely never would have pursued working with owls, but thanks to you all, I worked with a Screech Owl and 3 Great Horns yesterday, along with 4 Red-tailed Hawks, 2 Red Shouldered Hawks, and a bunch of opossums and squirrels.
You guys listening to me and encouraging me to keep sharing gave me the push to go and volunteer, and my life has been so much richer getting to work with so many amazing animals and fellow animal rescuers.
Not a "job job" per say as the vast majority of us aren't paid, but this is my second year volunteering at a wildlife rehab center, which is a 90+% female job.
I think it's great! I was primarily raised by both my grandmothers who both seemed to be the boss in their households, and were both very confident and assertive in different ways, and were very positive role models to me growing up, so I never had any issues with women in charge of things.
So now besides getting to spend the weekend with amazing animals, I also get to spend it with some amazing ladies! There are 2 other guys on my shift right now, and they're both good as well. I think this being something we do without it being a breadwinning activity really cuts out a lot of ego, as there's nothing to really get ahead of anyone else in.
Everyone likes me because I'm reliable and friendly and I'm there to try and make things run better and to make the public events more fun, so I take on extra activities as well. They're all super positive and supportive, which being relatively shy and with bad self esteem, I appreciate it immensely.
Everyone is just so badass in a good way, it's one of the best things I've done, and I don't feel any staff, volunteers, or the public has treated me any different than anyone else. I've heard the senior people talk about other guys that have worked there and nothing sounded anti-male either.
The only thing they single me out for is to grab high up items, which I'm ok with ☺️
I'm thankful the only rat I ever found was someone's escaped pet. I enjoy the mice/rats as much as I do most other animals, whereas they just need to stay outside or in the clinic and we get along just fine. I'd rather block holes than hurt them, they're just doing what they need to do for themselves after all.
I got the autographs of the original Black Sabbath lineup at a promo for their reunion tour in 99 or 2000. Ozzy smudged his marker so I got his fingerprint as a bonus.
Got my dad a Ted Nugent autograph since I knew he was a fan. He was at the local sportsman's gear show, so I was cool with going to that anyway. I think that's the first time I saw a live bald eagle up close, so that was really cool. Ted played some guitar, which was good, and then gave a really strange talk. I only later learned everything else about Ted other than he liked to hunt, so that is a very mixed experience in hindsight.
Got Jerry Lawler's at a ComicCon where he was promoting his comic. Got Adam West's there too.
The ex got the Ghost Hunters' at a different ComicCon. She was very excited, but I had no idea who they were at the time.
When I was a kid I wrote to a few baseball rookies and got their autographs. I still have them somewhere, but nobody who ever became anybody. There was a player with the same name as me that I wrote a few times, but he never wrote back. Jerk.
Those are all the ones I can think of.