Though Josh and I call ourselves the co-founders of Odd Man Inn, the truth is that she found us. In December 2015, I incorporated our name as a gift to us both for Christmas… as a joke. I made a little 3-ring binder with the legal documents and the receipt from the Secretary of State. I had a cute little wooden sign engraved with a logo I crafted from clip art and the help of a man who runs a CL wood shop business. Odd Man Inn was born. It’s still our logo.
We had 60 animals under our roof, and they were all funded by my overtime night shifts in the ER. We learned one species at a time, but we were naturally drawn to anyone who seemed beyond repair, discarded, or out of options. We had a chicken who was literally almost pecked to death in her former home. We had a 3-legged pig who’d bit crushed by a car. We had Roswell, who to this day is the most difficult dog on the planet… 110 pounds of bite first, ask later. We learned a lot that first year, both about animal care and ourselves. But, we agreed to one golden rule, which was, “we’re not doing this unless it’s fun”.
Five years later, we’re still at it.
Never in a million years did we imagine that we’d be running an ACTUAL sanctuary from our small 3.5 acre home that has taken in almost 600 animals in need and found safe forever homes for nearly 400. We’ve worked with a wide variety of rescues and animal control agencies. We’ve had 13 species cross our path. We’ve helped animals at all hours of the day and night, up and down the West coast, and sometimes in the sketchiest of situations. In all of that informal education of 5 years, our specialty has become pigs. They’re the absolute bottom of the barnyard hierarchy, and lowest of underdogs. They’re the most misunderstood and misrepresented of all farmed animal species, hence the reason we’re in love with them. They need every advocate they can get. The deep admiration and respect we feel for their species is palpable.
Odd Man Inn has grown her own orbit in the last 5 years. We are simply her caretakers. She has her own mission and vision. She has her own groupies. She requires all of our time and attention, and we give it freely. She asks for everything we have to give and not a bit more. We give with love and a heart of service. We are honored to be her very first parents, and working hard to usher her into adulthood.
This year has great things to come… and it will always involve more pigs!
-Wendy
