Hands at work

[Times photo: Skip O'Rourke] Jon Mouzon, nurse

"I'm amazed at how well developed the little hands are,'' registered nurse Jon Mouzon says of the premature babies he cares for at Tampa General Hospital. "They are one-fiftieth the size of mine, yet they are so perfect, the nails so small.'' Here, he lays his hand next to that of Tyre Galloway, who was born July 28 and now weighs 1.7 pounds. Mouzon, 28, is responsi ble for all aspects of care for the preemies, from inserting IVs to suctioning, changing diapers, feed ing and, when needed, resuscitating. "You have to have a steady hand for everything,'' he says.

[Times photos: Ron Thompson]

"This will be a good pot,'' Sharon Harris says as she throws a red workroom of "This will be a good pot," Sharon Harris says as she throws a red clay pot int he workroom of her Citrus County home. Harris attended Appalachian State University; she worked as a project architect and had a remodeling business in North Carolina before "retiring'' to a career in art. "The Department of Labor calls pottery "heavy labor,' but most people don't think of art as heavy labor,'' she says. "They haven't carried 50-pound bags of clay.''

As a young man, Tony Spanolios worked cleaning and preparing sponges from on his uncle's boat, the Aegli. Now 75 and working for George Billiris Sponge Merchant International, the Tarpon Springs native is among the most experienced laborers in the city's fabled sponge industry. Here, he clips a yellow sponge, the kind used to paint walls, clean windows and apply theatrical makeup. "You get used to clip ping sponges all day,'' he says. "Your hands develop callouses, but then they go away after a while.''

[Times photos: Kevin White]

"I've worked with my hands all my life, first in a sewing factory and now holding babies,'' Sharon Miller says. As a child care worker at Hernando High School, her job is to watch over the children of high school girls while the moms attend classes. Here she holds Aaron Jonker, 9 months old, whose mother, Sara, is a junior. "I hold them, feed them, play with them and care for them,'' she says. "They need to be touched. They need to feel that warmth... Babies want to feel cared for. They sense that you love them, they find joy in that.''

Sharon Miller, child care worker

Rayka Stasiak, reiki practitioner

Rayka Stasiak practices reiki, a method of natural healing in which, she says, universal life force energy is channeled into her patients through angels and spirits. She prepares for a session … here, she works with daughter Olivia … by meditating with her chakra pole. "You have to be ready,'' says Stasiak, 52, of Largo. "You have to listen to the spirit. You have to be accurate because you have the power to change someone's life. This is a big responsibility.''

[Times photos: Jill Sagers] Joe Borelli Jr., alligator trapper

The Joe Borellis, Sr. and Jr., have been trapping alligators for 21 years and still have all their fingers. There have been close calls. "Those ridges on the back of the gator … they're called scutes … can be quite sharp,'' says Borelli Jr., 39. He trapped this gator at Cliff Stephens Park in Clearwater after game officials decided it was getting too comfortable around people. He used a piece of beef to lure the gator in so he could get a noose around its neck. The job is "not too bad,'' he says. "It's not always fun to be outside this time of year.''