Friday was a very sad day for us. We had to say goodbye to Cindy, who had been with us since last May. She was the best employee we've ever had at the ranch … by far. Cindy could do everything — from fixing fence to grooming dogs. She knew as much, and often more, about equipment and mechanical things than I did. She was incredibly productive and efficient, and managed to get as much done in one day by herself as two "regular" people could. Cindy has horses and a large pack of her own dogs (from a miniature Poodle to Irish Wolfhounds!), so she instinctively knew how to do the work. And our animals just adored her. She loved working here, and we loved having her.
Alas, her husband's current work situation had recently changed to seasonal employment and he had to find something permanent. Cindy and her husband ended up finding an excellent opportunity managing a huge ranch near Dillon, Montana. It's a ranch manager position for a working couple, and it's perfect for them.
After our other employee, Amy, left last fall for family health reasons, we didn't replace her because of the economic downturn — we wanted to conserve as much cash as possible. But because we are still quite concerned about the economy and the future impact on donations, Alayne and I have decided not to replace Cindy for the moment. Although we're not looking forward to the additional work, we've done it all by ourselves before and can do it again if we need to.
To be honest, Cindy also spoiled us. This is not an easy position to fill. A lot of people have a very romantic idea of what working at an animal sanctuary is like — that it's all warm and fuzzy, that we spend a lot of time sitting around playing with the animals, and that it's kind of a "spiritual" experience. No, not exactly. So although we've done our best over the years to weed out potential candidates for our open positions by being brutally honest — we tell them, "Do you realize you may often start your work day at 8 a.m. on your hands and knees cleaning up poop in a dog crate?" and "Do you understand you will be outside feeding horses when it's 20 below zero?" — we still have struggled to find the right kind of person who truly understands the nature of the work, how hard it is, what the climate is like, and that this is a real job, not a "spiritual journey" at our expense.
Cindy understood all that, excelled at the work, and was the ideal employee in every sense. She has now set the bar very, very high for anyone else who may follow.
But for now, it will just be Alayne and me again. If we're not quite as fast to return phone calls or respond to emails — or if I miss a blog post every now and then — I hope you'll understand why!
So on Friday we had a very tearful goodbye with Cindy — all three of us were in tears as she drove off down the drive for the last time. We'll miss you, Cindy!
(Yes, she did give me permission to use that photo of her. I took it while we were cleaning Hawk's sheath. Well, while I was cleaning his sheath. That's why she was smiling.)
Rolling Dog Farm Blog 
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