Farewell, Kitty

During the end of our time at NERI, our Kitty did not seem to be herself. She sometimes wouldn’t eat, developed what appeared to be separation anxiety, and didn’t want to be left alone. Luckily, Tim was able to work remotely on his cataloging project at the RV. We started to become concerned about her and emailed her vet for advice, but we knew we would be home soon and would be able to take her for treatment.

On our drive home, Kitty’s condition worsened, and she became very ill. Since we were in the middle of nowhere, we decided to drive almost nonstop to get home. 

Our first stop upon returning to Loveland on November 5, was the vet’s office. We left Kitty there overnight and knew they would take good care of her. I think Tim and I were both shocked to see how quickly she had deteriorated by the next day. We petted her in her oxygen chamber, and she could barely lift her head.

We talked with the vet and learned that there was nothing that could be done for her. It didn’t take us too long to make the heart wrenching decision to let her go. I just couldn’t bear to see her suffer so much with no hope for recovery.

Despite COVID restrictions, the vet was extremely compassionate. We were able to be with Kitty until the end, and she passed away in Tim’s arms. We were heartbroken and still miss her so much.

Rest In Peace, Kitty

Back to New River Gorge National River

Back in the fall of 2019, Tim and I had been talking with New River Gorge National River (NERI) about returning there in April 2020 for a two-month museum contract. Obviously, that contract had to be put on hold because of COVID-19. In mid-August 2020, however, the project was back on.

We left Colorado on August 18 and drove to NERI in the RV. We felt comfortable going there since we would be working by ourselves with little contact with anyone else. We arrived at our favorite volunteer RV site and scheduled our COVID tests, which were required before we could start work. Negative, as expected, and we began our contract on August 27.

Our RV Site at NERI

Since we had worked previously at NERI, we were familiar with the museum and what we would be doing. We spent most of our time cataloging items in the collection. We then photographed and labeled all the newly cataloged history items and rehoused all objects using archival-quality storage materials.

We found permanent locations for the items and reorganized both floors of the museum storage facility in the process.

Cataloging, Photographing and Organizing the Museum Collection at NERI

Because of COVID, we kept to ourselves, both at work and on our days off. Since we had previously toured the park, we didn’t feel too bad about not venturing out.

We remained at NERI until the end of October and headed back to Colorado on November 1.