The Hamsternator Escapes Again

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Mar 102010
 

Her name is Pookie.  We call her the hamsternator because of the power she exhibits when trying to escape her cage.  Cage terminating hamster from the future?

She can open every door, unscrew tops, and bust through latches.  We now padlock the main door and reinforce her nesting area with tape.  We put a book on top of the cage because she has already lifted the top from the walls.

A couple nights ago she escaped again.  Victoria cleaned her cage and then forgot to reinforce the nest with tape.  Quick escape…

But here’s where this story gets weird.  And maybe a name change is in order — to Hamdini!  She must be a magician.

She broke out of her nesting area.  See the area circled at the top of the cage.  (Notice the padlock in place on the front door.)  From there she must have dropped down onto the top surface of an entertainment center.  Then what?  She could have walked around up there for a while, but clearly she was not satisfied with her expanded space.

Her choice, assuming no magical skills, would have to be a jump to the floor, falling about 4 feet.  A successful jump would have placed her on carpet.  If she judged poorly she could have hit some toys or Play Station controllers.

She left no evidence on the floor.  We don’t know how much time she wondered around.  (We keep the door of the room closed at night because we know if she gets out of the room, we’d probably never find her.)

At some point she decided to climb.  About 3 feet away from the entertainment center, there’s a bassinet.  I cannot imagine what would go through the mind of a hamster to make her think that climbing a bassinet would be a good idea.  But that’s what she did.

Part of this climb would have had her upside down.  But we know she did this because when Bryn walked into the room, she heard Pookie sneeze.  And it sounded like the noise came from the bassinet.  Sure enough, that’s where Bryn found Pookie, in the bassinet, under a bunch of stuffed animals that are placed in there.

I cannot find any plausible way she made this climb.  Nor can I understand why she would make that climb.  There was no food in there.  What got into her to inspire such a feat? 

And that’s what leads me back to her skills as a magician.  Perhaps she didn’t fall 4 feet to the ground, or climb 3 feet, partially upside down, to scale the side of a bassinet.

Perhaps, she used hamster magic: elevation, floatation, teleportation?  You got me!

Christmas Clearing Council – Part 2

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Dec 192009
 

This morning we showed up at St. William Catholic Church in Waukesha as volunteers to help distribute the Christmas presents for the Clearing Council of Waukesha County.

Upon walking in the door we headed immediately to the volunteer training.  Here we learned about the flow: the flow of people, the flow of presents, the flow of space, and the flow of the day.

One thing we didn’t expect happened right after training.  While standing in line to get name tags, many of the volunteers were asked to leave.  Can you imagine that the number of volunteers to help greatly exceeded the capacity of the program?  Wow, what an outpouring of love in the Christmas season!  We stayed.

Henceforth we would be called “escorts.”  Our job would be to work with one “client” at a time.  We were introduced and given the “shopping list.”  This is a checklist outlining the client’s family structure which helps us determine what gifts they are eligible for.

Obviously the Christmas Clearing Council has done this before.  It was very well organized.  In the “waiting room” clients would sit until their number was called.  At that point they were paired with escorts who would take them to the shopping room.

The shopping room was the same room where we did the sorting two days ago.  But now the toys were better organized and piled high. 

We grabbed some boxes as we left the waiting room and walked down the hall to the shopping room.  Entry was through the right door.  After talking to the client briefly about their children and if they had any particular requests, we jumped into the fray — escorts, clients, box carriers, toy table helpers, and more — with the movement of humans looking like the motion of ants in an ant farm.

Every child under the age of 12 would get a large, medium, and small toy.  They would also get a board game, a book or two, hats and mittens, and a stuffed animal.  Children 12 and over could get a $60 gift card for the family to do shopping outside of the Christmas Clearing Council.  Furthermore, the toys or the gift card could be traded for a bicycle.  What a beautiful thing for the people who need extra help this Christmas!

There were different types of clients…

We worked with clients who were fast decision makers.  They came in, with or without ideas, and quickly executed to fill the boxes.  Others were slow and deliberate.  They also might have come in with a list or without, but they stopped to consider and reconsider and change their mind several times trying to achieve perfection in their ultimate gift giving.  Either way we were there to help.

Some clients were quite humble, so happy to have the opportunity to get gifts for their children, so thankful that this option was available to them.  These were the clients I enjoyed the most.  Sensing their gratitude helped me be more eager to help them, wanting them to have a great Christmas.

Other clients appeared to come in with an attitude to maximize their return.  They’ve worked the system before and gave the impression that somehow they are entitled to a set of gifts.  These clients were not as fun to work with, at least in my opinion.

When the boxes were full we headed to a row of tables near the doors where we entered.  Here we waited until a table was open then made our way to that “station.”  We set down the boxes of gifts.  The helpers on the other side of the table packed them into a large plastic bag or two.  We turned the shopping list over to the carriers and our role was done.  From this point the carriers guided the client to pick up some stocking stuffers and then helped them back to their car.

Now we were recycled into the waiting area for the next client.  After 4 hours, a whole new set of escorts had arrived and were trained.  Our job was done and we left, having made a difference in the lives of local families.

Christmas Clearing Council – Part 1

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Dec 172009
 

This fall Bryn and I participated in a Bible study called “40 Days of Love.”  Our participation was in one small group, out of many, at our church, Ascension Lutheran, in Waukesha.  The program encourages a small group project and we decided to help out with Christmas Clearing Council of Waukesha County.

The Christmas Clearing Council is an organization that promotes and coordinates giving to families in need during the Christmas season. 

Tonight most of our small group, along with our kids, headed over to St. William Catholic Church, also in Waukesha, where the giving will take place.  Tonight the primary activity was the delivery and sorting of toys.

As trucks and vans would arrive at the church there were long lines of eager volunteers helping to unload.  Boxes and bags of goodies, for children of all ages, were carried into building and dumped out on a long row of tables.  Meanwhile other volunteers picked the toys from the tables and distributed to other tables labeled by type of toy.

For example, board games were all placed along one wall.  Alexander counted 170 boxes of Candy Land.  There were 6 boxes of Scrabble!  Come on, the latter is much more fun.  I’ve never heard of the National Candy Land Association or seen any Candy Land tournaments.  If Candy Land is not your style how about Chutes and Ladders.  I bet there were almost as many of those.

There were tables with stuffed animals, tables for boys, tables for girls, tables for toddlers.  There were tables with action figures and tables with balls.  Tables with arts and crafts and tables with books.  All of the donated toys are new and collected throughout the city by stores and other volunteer groups.

It was amazing to see how quickly a trailer could be emptied.  While I spent most of my time sorting toys, delivering to appropriate tables, I joined the line, the “bucket brigade,” for one trailer emptying.  A line of people stretched outside to the trailer, in through the lobby, and into the big sorting room. 

Box and bag, one after another, just kept coming.  While it seemed like the trailer carried nearly an infinite amount of gifts, we probably emptied it within 10 to 15 minutes.  As each pack made it to the tables it was dumped and the goods were sorted.  When the toys stopped coming, I went to join the sorters and found that almost everything was already sorted.

There were enough people working that the toys were sorted as quickly as they entered the building. 

As tables filled up toys were grouped and stored underneath.  Sometimes others would come by, fill large boxes with toys from a single table and move them to a storage area making room for more toys.

All of these gifts will be given out this coming Saturday to families in need in Waukesha County.  We will work one shift Saturday morning.  I’ll have to report back here how that goes.

Tonight was a good experience though.  There were so many people helping out.  There was a lot of energy in the room.  This really captures the spirit of giving for Christmas.  Now I look forward to being a part of the giving that happens in a couple days.