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2009-02-12T23:13:12-08:00

It’s 3:41 a.m. and I slowly bump across the South Dakota prairie in my pickup truck. I use a spotlight to scan for glimpses of glowing eye-shine, similar to a deer in the headlights. Some of the locals think I’m looking for E.T., Bigfoot or Barney the dinosaur. I’m looking for the green eyes of a black-footed ferret. You see, I chase ferrets for a living. Not the pet store kind of ferret, which is descended from European ferrets but rather the endangered kind and the only native ferret to North America.My high school guidance counselor said ‘Endangered Ferret Chaser’ wasn’t as strong a vocation choice as ‘Doctor’, ‘Engineer’ or even ‘Sewage Specialist’. Initially I worked for the government, putting zoo-born black-footed ferrets into the wild and documenting their survival. By 2001 I was weary of working for Uncle Sam as the project funding dwindled so I founded a non-profit organization, Prairie Wildlife Research. We use grants, contracts and donations from the public to restore black-footed ferrets across North America. At 3:42 a.m. I spot the green eyes of a black-footed ferret and I set a live-trap to capture this female for a health checkup. She enters the trap within an hour and I diligently sedate her, implant a micro-chip for identification, vaccinate against disease, and several other procedures. Lastly, I mix up some women’s hair dye and dab it on the ferret’s neck which allows for a quick visual recognition in the field. I chuckle to myself and think, ‘How am I going to explain to our accountant why I bought a case of women’s hair dye to save an endangered species?’ Even worse, I just bought this ‘QuickBooks’ software at the behest of our accountant and doubted there was a column for ‘Women’s Hair Dye’ between ‘Office Supplies’ and ‘Telephone’. The health checkup is complete and I release the female black-footed ferret where I captured her. The morning sun is peeking above the horizon and it’s time to go back to the office. I need to get started on QuickBooks and I’m dreading it because I don’t know anything about accounting; I chase ferrets for a living! But I was wrong. It’s easy and elegant, logical and INTUITtive. Even with my basic computer skills I was able to use QuickBooks without any problems. It’s been 8 years now and PWR is still chasing black-footed ferrets across the prairies of North America. I even added a new column in QuickBooks for one of our common purchases; ‘Women’s Hair Dye’. czOXatsU0qllvkab8P4pmk

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2009-06-16T18:03:31-07:00

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QuickBooks for Endangered Species

2009-11-07T13:09:00-08:00

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BlackFootedFerret

3065

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