HSOP Staff Pages

Trina Pickett AKA Sphinx

After volunteering for several months, I became a paid employee of HSOP in January 2003.  I have worked with animals in the past at another humane society in Albany, Oregon and for the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon.  Currently when not at work I enjoy doing a little volunteer work with Feral Cat Solutions, a trap-neuter-return program of HSOP similar to FCCO.  I also do a little hiking and camping now and then, and take my 17' sea kayak out on the few fish ponds near Moscow. 

 

 

I do most of the maintenance on all the HSOP web pages and spend countless hours surfing the web.  I enjoy reading, mostly brain junk food such as science fiction and thrillers.  And as you will see, I love taking pictures.  The best part about taking pictures is I rarely have to be in them.  Here's a few of the more amusing pictures of me and various family members.  On the left is my Grandpa Jim getting me started early on beer.  It's no wonder I now prefer wine!  The flower girl is accompanied by Grandma Vergene and her little cousin Kevin who shares a birthday with her.
I've had a variety of jobs over the years, one of which was a hairstylist.  This is what happens when a hairstylist works with animals and starts learning to be a pet groomer.  That's my spoiled-rotten mamma's boy, Chaz.  He was really quite tolerant of the shaving, though it took most the day.  And I did have to recruit help for shaving the tummy and other sensitive areas.
I have numerous pets, including cats, ferrets, and a dog.  Two of my cats are of the Sphynx breed.  They are nearly hairless.  Choo-Choo Bear has some fuzz along her flanks, and both girls have fuzz on their ears and noses, which is normal for the breed.  Another cat, Shai, is a tri-color male.  In addition to the patch of solid black on his head, he has large patches of orange that have a black undertone, and are definitely of a different shade of orange than the rest of him.  This is a genetic anomaly, as coat color is only carried on the X chromosome.  In order for there to be two colors present (white does not count in this matter) there must be two X chromosomes.  But since Shai is definitely a little boy, he is presumably XXY.

Shelter projects

It's been one year since Winchester the hound came into the shelter.  I am pleased to say he has been adopted into a wonderful home and is doing great.  His new family took him into surgery to remove the remaining bullet in his knee, and he is now fully recovered.  We get to see our Chester in the dog park frequently, where he enjoys running with the other dogs.

I seem to have developed a soft spot for hounds since Chester.  Most recently, I fostered a Plott hound named Arthur.  He was really quite pathetic.  He found a home with a woman and her cat, and they don't care if the dog hides if somebody shows up!

This of course is in addition to the countless bottle baby kittens I raise each year.  On rare occasion, I take in a litter of feral kittens to tame as well.  Bombay is one of those, and he is available for adoption at the shelter now.

I'm currently doing a lot of sewing.  I came up with the idea to make "snuggle sacks" for cats.  Mostly for the Sphynxes.  However, it turns out furry kitties like snuggle sacks too, so I've decided to make them for sale at the Ren fair HSOP booth as a fund raiser.  They're turning out really cute, and now the board of directors is on a roll and wants dog beds as well!  I think we've got a sewing class at one of the schools in town talked into helping out with that.