Little Miss Sunshine Now! Her Real Name is Tsarina.

Tsarina, or Little Miss Sunshine, now. Isn't she beautiful? Midori knows how to cheer me up. She just sent me this. Look at that beautifully carved pumpkin, too.

Little Miss Sunshine, just after I dug them out of that woodpile.
Little Miss Sunshine after ringworm bath.
Little Miss Sunshine, in August of 07.

About a year ago, a Ridgefield WA couple, formerly of Lebanon, and tremendous animal lovers, adopted a Siamese mix kitten I had dug out of a woodshed, literally, outside of Philomath. I mean I literally dug them out. The shed housed some hay and what looked like a few pieces of wood. The four kittens were hiding in this woodpile. But, unbeknownst to me, who began disassembling it, to catch the kittens, and the house owner, the woodpile extended down into the ground about five feet. It was an old and forgotten woodpile. What had looked like an easy kitten hunt, became something else entirely.

But, I eventually caught all four--three girls and a boy.

Little Miss Sunshine was here the longest. She got terrible conjuntivitis, after being spayed at Heartland, so bad her eyelids bled. Once over that, she caught the ringworm brought in by Hope's kittens. Hope was the stray female whose eye was knocked out, yet still continued to care for her three kittens. Her three kittens were beautiful, but infected with ringworm and infected 11 other cats and kittens here, propelling me into hell.

Thrice weekly antifungal baths on 14 cats, some of them feral, soon became my routine. The shampoo had to stay on the cats for 10 minutes, too. But I got the routine down pat and it became just part of life here.

This infection further delayed Little Miss Sunshine's adoption chances. She was a teen by this time, a very sweet one at that. But then, Siamese lover, and big time animal lover of all kinds, soft hearted and very funny too, Midori e-mailed, interested in Little Miss Sunshine. She and her husband, who also do historical reenactments, adopted her.

Since that time, they too have had thier own troubles, from health issues, to a sewage flooded basement. Through it all, they have kept their sense of humor and kindness. Tsarina, formerly known as Little Miss Sunshine, is beautiful and part of their family. Not only that, but Midori is now trapping cats! And getting them fixed!! Woohoo.

I had been worried about Angel because I hadn't heard back from SafeHaven on how he is doing. Well, he's doing fine, resting at the vet office, on pain meds and fluids, prior to his surgery. I didn't hear back from SafeHaven because they were off up above Sweet Home, with the sheriff's department, who had apparently been investigating an animal and child neglect case. Today they acted, removing five or six kids, 20 horses and SafeHaven took 5 or 6 dogs from a shit filled property, where apparently nobody was being fed.

From what was described to me, it sounded like sheer hell, with the man and maybe the kids too, living in a feces ridden junk piled shed. The kids were hauled away kicking and screaming and the man was arrested. I guess the sheriff's department had found foster placements for the 20 horses while SafeHaven took the dogs. They said there was no evidence of cats on the property. But I wonder.

Well, I just saw the story on the news about the raid on the animal neglector out in Sweet Home. The news story said they removed three dozen horses. I know the SafeHaven personnel, who went along to get the dogs, were covered in shit when they returned and they said it was a combo of horse shit, dog shit and maybe even human shit. They wanted to burn their clothes and it looked they should. Click post title to go to the story. There were, according to the story, cats and a rabbit on the property. SafeHaven said they saw none, but then, cats would disappear with such a force of people dropping into the property. Now those cats will be totally on their own. I guess the man poached deer and let the dogs eat the carcasses.

The guy's been in trouble before for animal abuse. Can you believe what it says in the story, that one kid had to sleep in a chicken coop?

I lived in the loft of a stable once, when I could find no place I could afford to live, when a college student, after returning from a summer job in Alaska.