Today, I had the opportunity to be a fly on the wall at Clay Humane. When I joined the board, I mentioned to the ED that I’d love to observe a day at the clinic to get an idea of how things work.
Well, she suggested that the “Feral Cat Day” would be a good one. These Tuesdays focus on spaying and neutering dozens of kitties, most feral. The cats have been trapped by wonderful humans that are helping to control the pet population.
I arrived at 10:00 AM, chatted with the Executive Director for a while about a recent abuse case they’ve been working on(I hope to share more about this), then I was offered the opportunity to watch the actual sterilization surgeries.
I wasn’t sure if I could handle it, but it actually wasn’t; that bad. I could watch the spays in full, but turned my head when a neuter started(if you’re a guy, you’ll get it).
It was super cool to see how fast and efficient the operation was. They sterilized 40 cats in about 2.5 hours! The doctors walked me through everything and gave me a lot of info on how things work.
They put me to work, too! I opened new surgery “packs” and removed used ones for each surgery.
After my stint in surgery, I met more of the staff and chatted a bit more with the ED. I was able to get a GiveButter account setup so I could access the API docs.
Finally, I was asked about AI meeting notes for board meetings. That’s something I have the perfect person in mind to ask 🙂
Author: david.baumwald
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Feral Cat Day at Clay Humane
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Chicken Alfredo
For Valentine’s Day, I made this.
Everything was from scratch. Homemade butter, homemade bread, scratch pasta. Add some candles, and this cleared! -
Hogs for Dogs Meeting
Today, I attended the kick-off meeting for the first event of the year for Clay Humane, Hogs for Dogs.
Although this was technically a committee meeting, only board members and the Executive Director were in attendance. I’m hoping more folks show up next time. I listened and gained a lot of insight into the event and its challenges.
First thing I think I can help with is event check-in the day-of. The morning of the ride, every rider has to sign a waiver, so there’s a long line at check-in. I think this is something I can solve with an e-signature app.
Next, there’s a good mix of pre-registered riders and walk-ups. The main info Clay wants is name and email to stay in contact with them throughout the year. I think I can just roll this into a “event registration” web app that tracks registrations from GiveButter, but also handles check-in by showing who’s signed the waiver and paid the registration fee and who hasn’t. Gears are turning here already, and these are easy weekend projects. -
I’m A Board Member?????
Well, it’s official… I’m a newly elected board member of our local humane society Clay Humane. Josepha told of one of her favorite words years ago: scare-cited, and it fits my state of mind.
I have less than zero experience in official boards, but I am hoping my experience in WordPress leadership translates.
This year we have a major “capital campaign” to raise money for the new hospital. This is a project I’ve heard about over the years, but it’s exciting to see this actually moving forward in 2026. I’m actually kinda giddy thinking about being one of those dignitaries that does the ceremonial “breaking ground”. Never in my life did I think I would be a part of something like that.
My goals? I want to help out with things where I know I can have instant impact, like technical things. In the longer term, I just want to absorb as much info as possible before I am involved in any real decision making.
The next major event is the Hogs for Dogs motorcycle ride in March, so we’ll see where I can be plugged in there.
So, if you love animals, please pray that I don’t screw up! -
New Site, Who Dis?
Howdy! I’ve created this personal site as a more personal piece of acreage on the internet.
Don’t expect much, or you’ll be sorely disappointed.