Wednesday, March 26, 2008

The Tooth

The tooth is still with me. I don't know what to do about the tooth. I no longer chew on the right side, unless I forget. When I forget, I don't forget for long.

I found out my insurance will pay for part maybe all of a root canal, but maybe for nothing after that. The tooth canal doctor will just put a temp filling in it or a temp crown, which won't last long. They said I should get a gold crown on the tooth because it's a molar, a grinder, and will fall apart or split if I don't. But they don't do that. They don't even do fillings of root canals. I'd need to go elsewhere for further treatment, a crown, filling, whatever. They just do the root canal. Nothing more. And I replied, "Whoa, I think the price of gold is extremely high. And my pockets are on the empty side."

I don't know what to do. So I can get a root canal done and then I guess see how long a temp filling holds in it. I tried to call my regular dentist but they are on vacation. So I told the root canal people I don't know what to do anymore. Seems like a great big hassle to try to find help for one poor tooth anymore. I think I better just pull it myself. Be a lot less paper work. And in the end, that's likely what has to be done anyhow. I can't chew on that side now. I won't be able to chew on that side anymore without a tooth up there either. So it's the same, either way. I suppose I better get it pulled, but how to do that. Who does that and how do I go about getting that done? It's just really complicated. One problem tooth and I can't figure out how to get it taken care of. Man alive.

I guess I'm back to the whiskey and pliars route now. Whiskey and pliars. Better be strong whiskey.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

The Humongous Tame Starving Long Hair Torti

She's not going back. She's starved, gorgeous, grateful and she may be going to SafeHaven. At the least, she will go into foster, if not here, somewhere, until either her original owner can be located or a new home found for her.

Yesterday's Cats. Photos.

Gray tabby female, pregnant at spay yesterday, from Tattoo Prairie colony. With the five I trapped Sunday and who were fixed yesterday, makes 13 fixed there so far.
Brown tabby tux Tattoo Prairie female, spayed at the Neuterscooter yesterday.
Dominant brown tabby male, neutered yesterday, from Tattoo Priarie.
Two brown tabby tuxes, both males, both taken to yesterday's Neuterscooter clinic, but the kitten, the one sitting up, turned out to have been already neutered. But by whom and when? Neuter scar was fairly old, the vet said. The kitten is five or six months, the vet said.
Nick's big hairy feral male, whom he trapped in rural Benton County. The cat showed at his residence. He fed inside a trap, then trapped him. He's gorgoues and angry. And now neutered.

I did not get photos of the five tame Albany cats I took in, for a desperate woman. She is very nice, and took the cats in as strays, or one of them, who then had kittens.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Butt Weary

Do you like that term, "butt weary"? I made it up. I am dragging tonight.

I think about 80 or 85 cats were fixed over at the Neuterscooter clinic today. I took in 11, six of them ferals.

Five of the ferals were from Tattoo Prairie, one of them, maybe both of the females from there were pregnant. The other three were boys.

And, the big surprise of those five from Tattoo Priarie, one of the three brown tabby tuxes, the littlest, was already neutered. How'd that occur? I suppose someone dumped him off there, or, he wandered in after being abandoned, maybe followed other cats to the food, desperate and hungry. Poor little guy.

He's about six months of age, but very underweight and sickly (wormy) for his age. No longer. We wormed him. He got treated like a king, that little stray boy. And he deserved such treatment.

I'm bone weary, I tell you, can barely keep my eyes open. My back hurts, too. But it was a good day.

The sixth feral is Benton County all the way, trapped by the FCCO coordinator, who was too hurried with meetings for his work to pick him up so I did. He's big and hairy and angry and beautiful. He went in under my reservations, even though I was one over.

The other five, tame and owned in Albany. Four were females and one a male. I had saved up my change for a long time. Then I cashed it in. I was able to cover these five cats then for that Albany woman, in desperate need of this help.

So anyhow, a good day for the cats I have to say. And I am taking a very long sleep. Goodnight from me and the cats.

Humongous Beautiful Cat

This is the ninth cat the caretakers of Spicer Red colony have caught. When they called to say she was in a trap Saturday, I went and got the cat and ran her all the way to Rickreal, where the Neuterscooter was holding a Saturday clinic, only to find out she is already spayed. The vet believes she was spayed young, because she achieved such massive size. Getting a cat spayed or neutered as a kitten, she has found, and me also, can result in very large cats.

This female is HUGE, and beautiful. She is a long hair torti, with a very raspy funny snarly meow, that is just her. Spicer Red caretakers don't think this cat belongs to any neighbors, but I have not been able to get them to go door to door.

The bizarre thing about the cat is that when I got home with her, she acted very agitated. I put a dish of food in the trap, not knowing if the cat was feral or tame at this point, and she literally gulped the whole can of food down. I put in a plate with a second can of food. She gulped down that food within moments also. She didn't slow on the third can, but finally did on the fourth. This cat was starved.

After eating, she was happy. I put her into a rabbit hutch in my bedroom, unsure of what to do with her. If the folks who trapped her won't go door to door, althougth that would involve only asking about three houses if they own her, what should I do? I don't feel right turning her back into a feral colony, if she has a home, perhaps, or could get one.

What I have discovered of late is that more owned cats are trapped or grabbed by cat hating neighbors and dumped elsewhere, even in different cities, than by owners themselves. A woman just old me of a Lebanon man, who traps or grabs owned cats, starves them for a week, then dumps them in another city. He starves them so they'll run to somebody's door, looking like waifs and so hungry they'd eat bugs. Another man living on Knox Butte allegedly does the same.

What turns people into such assholes, I wonder, such heartless zombies? Is that what happened to this sweet torti, some cat hating control freak asshole trap and abuse her, then dump her?

Well anyhow. There are a lot of horrible people out there. A lot of mean violent mother fuckers, miserable and intent on hurting anything they can. Often such people are cowards and because they are cowards, they enact violence and abuse on people and animals much smaller than they are, to ensure the fight isn't fair. That is the calling card behavior of cowards.


Tattoo Prairie cats. The tabby on the right is fixed while the tabby on the left is not. However, the tabby on the left is currently in a trap in my car and will be fixed today.
Black male and brown tab male, both now fixed.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Got my Cat Quota

I spent most of the day at Tattoo Prairie, using the fishline tied to the trap door, then run out to my car, as a mechanical method of selective trapping. The caretaker of the colony did not even get out of bed until after noon, which was disappointing to me, sitting out in the car freezing. And it was cold today. I caught three cats, two of them by cutting the fishline dropping the door on the porch trap. I've already gotten 8 cats fixed there, you see, and didn't want to waste my time catching already fixed cats.

This evening, I caught two more, a third small brown tabby tux. I had thought there were only two, besides the huge males brown tabby tux neutered last week, but I caught three more, plus a huge brown tabby male and a gray tabby.

I have four tame females to pick up, near where I live, and a Corvallis man is catching the male who showed at his place hopefully tonight, to round out my ten. Yahoo, I caught my quota, but these were hard fought cats to catch.

I am disappointed in the Red Linda caregiver. She's had my trap for days, allegedly to tie open and get the four left used to feeding in it to then mechanically selective trap, which I also showed her how to do. I go out there, and the trap I left her days ago, is closed, without bait, cage cover folded atop it, in the back of the barn. Man alive.

Then she tells me the pregnant calico was on the porch last night and she even petted her. I stared at her incredulously. "Why didn't you set that trap and catch her?" I asked. She had excuses. They sounded practised.

I set the trap in the barn as she was back there feeding her horse and dogs, then sat in my car with the drop trap on the porch. Not half hour later she came to my car to say she'd tied open the one in the barn because she was closing up the barn for the night. I wasn't happy. She's not putting any effort whatsoever into this. I am putting a shitload of effort into trying to get her cats fixed.

I gave her a long lecture. I didn't want to, but for gosh sakes, she is wasting my time and not contributing anything to this effort that she caused. I asked her if she understood what would happen if just the two adult females had kittens, that ten more kittens would need caught and fixed. I asked if she understood the cost of that and the time involved, not to mention bringing ten more unwanted lives into a cat overloaded world and the fact her husband wants most of the cats here already gone. She said she understood.

I then launched into the fact that you can't wish the cats to be caught. It actually takes effort. She kind of stormed off then. I think she was mad. Which is tragic in itself. I was the one out there freezing my butt off, sitting in a car trying to catch the last four cats she won't try to catch, to make her life easier.

Pathetic. I should walk away from this one.

Best Laid Plans

I locked myself out of my house this evening. I was loading my car in the garage, to go trap for Monday's clinic, fearing rain tomorrow. The door closed as my mind exploded in panic. I had locked the door from house into garage, out of habit and exhaustion and the keys were inside the house.

How the hell was I going to get back inside? I didn't have a phone or car keys. I don't know anyone around these parts I could ask for assistance, even if I could have called someone.

My brother, who is my landlord, is gone on a vacation to southern California somewhere, not sure where.

For the next six hours I tried to break back into my house. I ended up cursing up a storm, exhausted, then sobbing my eyes out, then collapsing in the back of my car to try to sleep in the garage. But it was cold and my back hurt bad, not only from yesterdays' clinic work, but from laying on my back trying various methods to get the door off hinges that are inside the house.

I had to use the bathroom but there isn't one in the garage, so I used the garage room litterbox. Sick, eh?

I won't tell you exactly how I finally broke back in, but I had an epiphany, laying in the back of my car freezing with my leg twitching from nerve pain and it worked and it involved duct tape and a lot more pain for my back and neck. But I'm back inside at least. My trapping ambition is gone. It is now 1:15 a.m. in the morning. I locked myself out at 5:30 p.m.

Best laid plans......

Friday, March 21, 2008

About 100 Cats Fixed Today

It was an extremely long tiring day. I carried tons of cats in traps and carriers from check in to the back, to surgery and back to recovery, just a lot of hard work, until I can't even see straight tonight I am so tired, home finally, about 9:30 p.m. But it was all worth it, I say, my aching back, my aching knee, my aching arms. All worth it.

100 cats were fixed. Over 60 were females. There were about ten or 15 ferals in the bunch I think. The rest were tame and owned.

About 100 less cats out there breeding. So it was a very good day for the cats of Eugene, Oregon. A very very good day.

The Neuterscooter rocks. The neuterscooter so rocks. Thank you Neuterscooter, from the cats of Oregon. We love you. We do.

Obamarama and Cat Fixing in Eugene

Obama is visiting Eugene this evening. When I heard, I wanted to hear him speak. But, there's the Neuterscooter clinic today in Eugene and with 99 cats registered, we won't be done in time to have a pray of getting a seat at McArthur Court. In fact, likely, we will have a 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. pickup time, for the cats fixed today so I hope the event, which begins at 9:00 officially, won't cause traffic snarls that cause headaches for those trying to pick up their cats.

Yesterday, the Eugene NS clinic was opened to overflow--those who couldn't get into to today's clinic. I think we did about 40. Included in the 40--the long hair gray female from Red Linda, who the caretaker swears was never fixed. I took her to Tigard a week ago, and they had declared her previously spayed. I would have thought nothing of returning her, had the caretaker not so vehemently argued she could never have been fixed.

She didn't take her in, she claims, and she claims the cat had kittens last fall and pointed out the now adult cats who were born to her last fall. She does not have nearby neigbhors either. So it is a mystery as to how this female got spayed, but spayed she is indeed. The NS vet confirmed that, although she did find ovarian stumps leftover from her first spay, that could have caused her symptoms of "in heat" behavior.

The day before, I took in five more cats to Countryside. One, a gray tabby teen male, was from Spicer Red. The other four, from Tattoo Prairie. Three of the four, an all black short hair and two brown tabbies, were pregnant females and the fourth, a huge brown tabby tux, was a male.

Esmerelda, from Red Linda, who had many rotten teeth pulled last Monday, is doing well and healing just fine. Her mouth will feel so much better now. She and Janey, the long hair gray, will return to their colony on Tuesday.
Huge brown tabby tux male from Tattoo Prairie.
One of two brown tabby females, both pregnant, fixed yesterday from Tattoo Prairie.
The other brown tabby female from Tattoo Prairie fixed Wednesday.
Black short hair Tattoo Prairie female, fixed Wednesday.
And the Spicer Red gray tabby male fixed Wednesday.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Gained Weight Since Moving to Albany

No easy or attractive way to exercise here is the main problem. I can't figure out anything to do for exercise here, except jump up and down in the living room, which I do sometimes.

I don't bike anymore here, after two near death experiences with pickups.

I don't walk here because I've never liked walking along sidewalks on busy streets for exercise. Not pleasant.

I don't swim because I have a chlorine intolerance problem. I love to swim, but I have to limit it to lakes and rivers in the summer.

When I'm in Corvallis, to trap, I do usually plan it so I can take a walk, usually at Bald Hill, but sometimes at Willamette Park or Chip Ross. But I don't get to Corvallis much anymore, due to gas prices and the time involved in driving both ways.

But I have to figure out something. I've never been one for those exercise classes. I hate them in fact. I tried going three times, when in Corvallis, at the Benton Center, but I hate them with a passion.

I have to figure out something soon.

Tooth Decayed into the Pulp

The tooth that has been bothering me for years, off and on, but most recently, very badly, is decayed into the pulp. I had an X-ray taken two days ago. The dentist says I need a root canal, and is referring me to whomever the Oregon Health Plan works with to do such procedures. But I'm scared, to be honest. Here is why.

I have a friend who has a friend who is a new dentist, who has told him tales. This young dentist filled in for various dentists at first, when they were on vacation. He was horrified at the extremely shoddy work done, and lies told about the work done, to people of low income brackets and especially those on the Oregon Health Plan.

Another young dentist described the practise he now works for, a tooth mill, owned by a dentist who took on over 10,000 Oregon Health Plan patients, basically he said to get the monthly stipend for having them as patients because there is no way in hell one dentist can do work for 10,000 people.

Root canals are tricky and can lead to chronic infection if not done correctly. I have crappy insurance. So I am leaning towards having the tooth pulled instead.

It has been exceedingly painful for months now. I have sometimes pulled out a pair of pliers and considered pulling it myself. I can't chew on that side. The nerves are inflamed all over that side of my face and into my ear. I have to get this resolved and I don't want to have my health ruined permanently by a shoddy speedo root canal done by a dentist who does third rate procedures to people with bad insurance.

I'm supposed to hear back from the Oregon Health Plan in a couple of weeks I guess. I tried to call them, but the person who answered the phone told me she has no idea when the referral will be processed or where I would be sent or even if it would be approved. The dentist office said I would be called by ODS, the HMO under the OR Health Plan that does this, but this woman said I would not be called, that the office I get referred to will call me. Huh?

It's like the patient is just totally out of the loop anymore. You're supposed to not question, not even ask who the hell is going to be doing a delicate procedure on your mouth, or if you'll be approved for it even and if not, what then? The desk phone answering woman acted like I was a real problem just for asking. And in the meantime, you have to deal with a firey painful jaw, face, ear and mouth.

This is why the whiskey and pliars approach seems attractive by comparison.

Sometimes ignorance is indeed bliss. Such practises may not be widespread.

I have a possible solution in mind for maintaining the space---an athletic mouthguard could be modified with a strut, to wear at night, I believe, to help maintain space between the premolar and last molar, if that tooth is pulled.

I guess after hearing so many stories from young dentists, shocked by what goes on, that I'm scared to death to have anything done by somebody whom I don't know personally.

Well, I read on the web (and everything is true on the web, right?) that getting a root canal without protecting the dry dead tooth with a crown, is a waste of money, that the tooth is likely to become brittle and crack or split in two. So if I don't get a crown, may as well have it pulled.

Cheaper, too, except these web pages I read, scare you, and say your other teeth will then start shifting around and screw up everything. Bottom line, seems there is no simple solution, once a tooth has gone bad.

I never had any cavities until I was in my late twenties. By then I'd been on psyche drugs that would dry your mouth out worse than meth. Elavil was probably the worst. I couldn't swallow without drinking water to do it. My lips would stick to my teeth and my tongue to the roof of my mouth. It was hard to even talk. Lithium was bad too. Psyche drugs will kill you.

Meth mouth? Try psyche drug mouth. Psyche drugs, forced on me, for decades, dried my mouth out probably worse than or as bad as meth would have. The side effects of psyche drugs include tooth decay and loss, due to dry mouth and lack of circulation and saliva to the gums and teeth. So anyhow, my dental problems then began in earnest. However, medicaid did not cover dental visits at that time, even when dental problems were the result of forced psyche drug side affects. What a wonderful world psychiatry creates for its victims.

Well, anyhow. I have been referred to a Salem dentist for the root canal, if I decide to have it and not get the tooth pulled, since it will not be crowned afterwards.

Anybody out there had a root canal without a crown and if so, how'd that work out?

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Photos of Tuesday's Fixes

Today, six more cats were fixed. Two more from Spicer Red--a Buff on white male and a calico female, who was pregnant. And four from Tattoo Prairie: an all black short hair female, a medium hair black male, a short hair black male and a brown tabby male.Calico from Spicer Red.
Buff on white male, from Spicer Red.
Tame black female, from Tattoo Prairie.
Brown tabby male, from Tattoo Prairie.
Short hair black tame male, from Tattoo Prairie.

Not shown, medium hair black male, wild, from Tattoo Prairie.

Mondays' Photos

Six cats were fixed Monday, four from Red Linda--a black male, a brown tabby tux teen female, a huge gray tabby on white male, and the black female with bad teeth. Plus two from Spicer Red, both females--a muted calico kitten and muted calico adult female, in heat.Huge Gray tabby on white male, fixed Monday.
Wild Turkeys on the tracks near Red Linda colony.
Brown tabby tux teen female, fixed Monday, shown with Spicer Red muted calico kitten, also fixed Monday.
Black short hair male, from Red Linda, fixed Monday.
Muted calico female, in heat, from Spicer Red, fixed Monday.

Snowman, now named Samson, in his new home with his new buddy

Snowman got a great home with a great couple in Springfield a few weeks back. His family sent me a photo of him with his new best buddy, their first cat. Samson, as Snowman is now called, has fit in easily with the established cat. They are thrilled with him. It is so wonderful to hear one of my cat family is doing great. I also heard from the woman who adopted Mohavi, from the Slaughterhouse Colony (same place Cattyhop comes from) and Luna, whom I trapped in Beazall County Park. She knows the man who adopted two Camp Boondoggle cats, too--Hooch and Tin Can Tizzy, and they too are doing well. These updates make me happy!

More Spicer Red

I keep setting traps at Spicer Red and keep catching cats the caregiver doesn't know are out there. When they first requested help, a kind man and his wife who don't have a lot by earthly standards, they thought there were two orange cats and three calicos. The neighbors, who are their landlords, however, said there were three orange cats and two calicos.

So far, I've trapped three orange males, although one is orange and white, two kittens, one a muted calico and the other a gray tabby tux, Whisper Willow, who, after her spay, went to a Eugene group for adoption, two adult calicos, one in heat and one pregnant, and one gray or silver tabby teen male. 8 cats. They set another trap tonight, because there is one more adult calico and who knows how many others, left to catch. But, we are whittling it down.

As for Tattoo Priarie, the new colony, four from there were fixed today, including one female, all black, one short hair black male, one medium hair black male and one brown tabby male.

I trapped four more from there today, to be fixed tomorrow. They are: another all black medium hair, unknown sex, a huge brown tabby tux male, and two brown tabbies, one of whom is a female.

The scene on the man's flatbed trailer he is making, today, when I arrived to trap, was criminal. Three males raping a little teen. She was trying to escape and one male had her by the neck. She jumped off the trailer, but was flipped in the air, because he had her by the neck. I honked and screamed at the rapists out the window of my car. Then I caught two of them, including the male who'd had her by the neck. I'm going to love seeing him neutered.

This scene is played out everywhere. The South Corvallis couple described a male dragging the teen black and white they fed off by the neck to rape. They threw rocks at him until he let her go.

Red Linda colony caretaker described two males, both now minus balls, dragging a four month old kitten off to rape. It's not a nice world out there in catland for the females. Nothing nice about it. Feline rape is the norm.

Well anyhow.

I'm losing some neighbors. They're military and being moved out to a base back east somewhere. I like them. They're friendly and I don't want them to move. Gosh darn it they're the nicest people on the block, I think. Man, goodbye, and don't go getting killed, either one of you, over in Iraq.

I guess the owner of the house was going to try to sell it, but then the housing crash came. Some realtor told her there are 400 or 500 houses for sale in Albany, so she'll probably rent it out to somebody. Selling houses right now is like selling parcels on the moon. Only harder.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Six More Cats Fixed Today. Five in Car for Tomorrow

Well, I'm doing a whole lot of cat catching, that's for sure. Been working myself to the bone, actually. I just got back, in fact, from trapping at 10:38 p.m. and this was going to be the evening I caught up on much needed rest.

Today's fixing included: 4 from Red Linda, bringing the total fixed there to 21. Included in the 21 count is the orange and white male the colony caretaker took in today and paid for herself. Todays Red Linda cats: 1 DSH black male; 1 DSH brown tabby tux young skinny female, in heat; 1 gray tabby tux huge male and the black female whose tongue hangs out.

She acts tame to me, although the caretaker says she's not. She was pregnant, too, besides having totally rotted teeth, the ones she had left, that is. I asked the vet to pull the remaining teeth and she will be on antibiotics for ten days. She is going to feel a whole lot better, minus the pregnancy, minus the roundworms, and minus a dozen rotten teeth.

Her extractions came as a result of a donation put onto my gift card account at the vet clinic by a Sublimity woman, formerly of Albany. The gift card account is there to help pay for things just like this. What a wonderful gift, to give a pain free existence to this old gal. She isn't that old either, but being a kitten factory takes its toll quickly on a female cat. I've named her Esmerelda.

My bathroom is full of cats that I have not had the time to return. The orange tabby female and the torti teen, spayed Saturday---still in my bathroom. The black and white long hair female teen, from Millersburg Country, spayed last week--in my bathroom. A muted calico kitten, probably Whisper Willow's sister, caught at Spicer Red, spayed today---in my bathroom. The brown tabby tux Red Linda cat spayed today, joined the others from her colony in my bathroom. It's hard to get to the toilet let alone the shower! But, thankfully, tomorrow I have time to return them all.

I still have the gray long hair female, spayed Saturday, only to be told she was already spayed, in a rabbit hutch in the spare bedroom. The dilemma is this: the caretaker swears she isn't spayed and had a litter last fall and that she never got her fixed in the meantime. So what to do?

I'm in a quandry over it.

There are three cats left to catch at Red Linda--an orange tabby, another brown tabby tux, and a known adult female, a black long hair, who is high pri on my list.

So, besides the four Red Linda cats fixed today, two more Spicer Red cats were also fixed---a calico and a muted calico kitten. That makes five fixed so far from there, although Whisper Willow went to a Eugene rescue after she was spayed. There are at least two more to catch, not including the orange and white caught tonight, who will be neutered tomorrow. The two we know of left to catch are both calicos.

The tame calico may be the same one seen occasionally at Red Linda. She was abandoned, along with a male, fixed today, a quarter mile closer to Spicer Red. Across the fields however, the colonies are not far apart. It will be easier to catch her at Spicer Red than at Red Linda, that's for sure.

Between the two colonies, that I know of---five cats left to catch.

And then I found a new colony. I call it Tattoo Prairie. I had seen cats all around this house for some time. I finally stopped and knocked on the door. A man, naked from the waist up, covered in tattoos opened the door. I said "Do you need some help fixing cats?" I knew the answer he would give. I've heard it before, over and over. "Oh gawd yes. Where have you been?" The person was immediately relieved, too. He has no money. Same old. But there are lots of cats. He said it began when a pregnant female was dumped off there. I saw he had a broken open bag of cat food out for all the cats, on the porch.

I took the tame black female and the tame black male, then set two traps and caught a long hair wild black male and a short brown tabby of unknown sex. Four is a start. There are probably 18 or more cats there.

So tonight was supposed to be my "rest up" night and here it is 11:30 and I'm just getting to bed. The Neuterscooter clinics start Thursday in Eugene and I will be working them. Those are extremely long days on my feet. But I wouldn't miss them for the world.

I love that couple from Indiana and their kids. We mesh. I like travelling with them. I like just putting my head down and working my butt off for 12 or 14 hours or whatever, disregarding the throbbing pain that begins, usually mid afternoon, in my back and knee. I don't mind bearing the pain, to be associated with such an endeavor. I can recover and I wouldn't miss it, I tell you. I don't get human contact much and I love joking around with that couple, after the clinic, when the stress is gone.

Torn on Presidential Vote

I am watching the three players in this election and I don't want to vote for any of them. Conservatives these days are so full of conflicting notions. Here's one: don't raise taxes when a war is going on costing trillions. That war has to be paid for, for gosh sakes. Well, we are paying for it, in a collapsing economy. And what happens if America really needs money, but is on the outs with the likes of our usual suspect lenders, China, etc?

Conservatives can't seem to seperate religion and politics. If a person's religion believes something, that person won't vote for a candidate that won't push their beliefs on every American.

I can't believe the conservatives top morality issues are still abortion and homosexuality. As a woman, I want conservatives out of policy making for my body.


I read an anguished story about a Corvallis woman, who had a late stage abortion to save her own life and her ability to bear children in the future. Her baby had severe defects and was not going to live. Banning abortions for any reason as some of these dipshit crackpots wish, is barbaric to women.

Such horribly painful decisions need to stay between a woman and her doctor. Not between a woman and the conservative American Taliban next door.

Conservative obsession with abortion is whacky, considering they seem to hate some kids, like low income kids, homosexual kids, or children of welfare mothers after they're actually born. What gives on that, I wonder?

So I consider right wing religious whack jobs basically in the same light I consider fanatical Muslim whack jobs. They're dangerous. They feel they are so right they would kill to push a message. Control freaks.

But do I wander happily into the Democratic camp then? No, I don't. I don't even know what the Democrats believe in. Social programs? You mean, like the ones that stole 30 years of my life, shut me away, forcibly drugged me, abused me, and beat me nearly to death? You mean like those social programs? You support those? Kind of like killer pro lifers, in so many ways.

The extreme left and the extreme right have lots in common.

I'm looking for a no nonsense candidate, fiscally responsible, with the balls to send the lobbyists packing, maybe even an athetist or at least one who isn't pushing his or her variety of religion from his Presidential pulpit, who will serve this country and all Americans, and the free world, for the common good and with an eye to the future.

Not going to happen because of the type of people drawn to the kind of power and publicity given the President of the United States. People who lust after that may be distorted to begin with. We may never get a sane President from any party.

Not one of the three candidates now running fits my bill. What to do?

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Street of Nightmares Claims Another Victim. Chachi is Dead.




There are people who should never have cats. And there people who should never be allowed behind the wheel of a car.

Chachi died last night. The old man found him beside the street. One eye was hanging from its socket. His neck was broken, jaw too. He'd been hit by a car.

The street is short, narrow and dead ends. Nonetheless, issued drivers race down that short street at up to 50 mph, slam on their brakes and enter their driveways. One of these assholes, using a car to take out their frustrations and anger, killed a sweet little green eyed kitty last night.

Chachi never had it easy. He roamed into the old man's colony about two months ago, right after the dog attacks killed about 16 cats there. I had gone door to door after the dog attacks, trying to find the killer dog. A woman around the corner said she had two orange cats but both were fixed. Chachi wasn't neutered so I didn't think he was hers. I got him neutered. The old man and I were trying to find him a home.

Later on, a neighbor who lives behind the woman who said her two orange cats were fixed, said Chachi had belonged to that woman originally, but she threw him out and that she had seen the woman's kids tossing Chachi around like a baseball, in the backyard. The neighbor said she could see why the little guy thought the kind old man was his savior, compared to that woman and her abusive kids.

So Chachi made himself at home with the old man and the rest of the caste off and abused cats of these two trash and junk filled Albany streets of nightmares.

Until last night. Chachi is dead. Again, I am in a rage over the uncaring unthinking irresponsible white trash assholes who live on the Street of Nightmares.

Water Loving Kitty

Olive is a rescued kitty, awaiting a home in Hillsboro with Poppa Inc.'s president. I stopped by their place yesterday, after dropping off the 8 cats at the vet clinic and met Olive. Olive was a stray who crawled into a man's attic to have her kittens. K was asked to foster the newborn kittens and Olive which she readily did, despite an already hectic life and a lot of rescued cats occupying her place already.

Olive is unbelievable--bright, smart, sleek, curious, something else! She still needs a home. I took a small clip of her playing in the water faucet. K at first could not understand why the bathroom would be splattered with water mornings, if she was drawing water for anything and left even for a minute. Then she caught Olive in the act. If she hears water anywhere, she comes running to play in it.



Here is Olive's daughter Zoey, who also needs a home:



And Olive's son Bono, with his delightful waving half length tail:

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Last Cat Breeding at HTN Proper

Last HTN proper unfixed cat--this black long hair female, spayed today, courtesy of Poppa Inc., in Tigard.

Along with seven more from Red Linda colony shown in photos below.
Brown tabby tux female.

White and black male so mean he was scheduled to be shot, if he didn't get caught and neutered instead. He had been seen dragging the teen females off the porch by the neck to rape. How pathetic. Now that his balls are MIA, he will get a real life.

Young orange tabby female, pregnant at spay.
One of two orange tabby teen males, fixed today.
Torti teen, pregnant at spay today.
The second orange tabby male teen, neutered today.This is the long hair gray female who turned out to be already spayed.

The sick black female, seen with tongue hanging out, who will be taken in MOnday by the colony caretaker.


Seven more Red Linda colony cats and one HTN female, the last cat in the colony left unfixed, were indeed fixed today, at Tigard Animal Hospital.

The 8th cat I trapped last night at Red Linda is a black female, tongue hanging out, likely has something bad, like calici virus, bartonella, chlamydia, FIV, tomtits, lymphoma or rotten teeth. Nothing good makes a cat hang their tongue from their mouth. It's done out of pain and nothing good causes that kind of pain. So I've asked the caretaker of these cats to take the cat to the vet herself. It's the least they can do, actually.

When she first contacted me, she was apologetic, said she'd make sure I didn't put out any money and that Poppa would be paid back for the fixes. I ain't seen nothing of any of these promises fulfilled so far.

I wasn't happy at all that one of the seven cats was already fixed, meaning basically $44 was burned or flushed down the toilet. She claimed to know which cats she had already gotten fixed and which she had not gotten fixed.

Sometimes I just want to run off screaming into the woods, or laughing hysterically, ripping my clothes off as I go.

So the HTN female got spayed today, the last cat still of breeding capacity there. The last cat at HTN proper. There are a few unfixed stragglers on the two streets, three to be exact, that I know of, but catching the last cat at HTN proper is huge.

I asked the old man if he wanted to celebrate. And he said "Like how?" I said, "Well, I don't know, go get a pizza or something."

"I don't eat pizza," he replied. "I don't even go out to eat," he added. "And I don't celebrate anything."

I was wanting to celebrate. This is a big deal.

The old man may have stood there solemnly declaring he celebrates nothing, but he was lying. I could see the lights flashing in his eyes, I'm pretty sure. He was celebrating getting all the cats fixed finally, all right. He just didn't want to let on how super excited he really was. I know I saw a muscle or two in his face twitch when I just said the words "last cat caught". He's hiding his exhilaration.

Sure he hides it well.

But I saw that one muscle twitch,

I know the truth.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Busy Bees

My brothers guys came up and worked steady all day, in the pouring rain. One of the pair, said with a laugh, "There are no bad weather days. There are only bad raingear days."

They were here to do repairs. But, they had to call someone in to fix the garage door. The sender receivers at the base of the door were no longer functioning and the big spring above the door was broken. Those problems were why it wasn't working anymore. It is now fixed.

Anyhow, they did a lot of fixes. I hemmed and hawed around, watching the storm go through and hoping I could still trap cats for the appointments I have tomorrow.

When the guys left, I headed out to Red Linda and trapped 8 more cats there. I will be taking seven of them plus the black long hair HTN cat up to be fixed tomorrow. The 8th Red Linda cat is ill, tongue sticking out and swollen, raspy breathing. I told Red Linda caretaker they'll need to take her to the vet. That's going to be a euthanasia.

There are maybe six cats left to trap at Red Linda. Already I've trapped 17 now. Since last Sunday night. Less than a week. They'd all be fixed if I could find a way to get more vet appointments and pay for more appointments.

Anyhow, must go to bed. I'm very happy the garage door is functioning again. I'm just really buzzed about it.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Scully Has Come Back

I know this is going to sound nuts. It's nuts to me, too. For the last week at least when I'm in the living room, I hear this raspy hollow meow, like Old Scully's, sounds like it's coming from the kitchen. But I go in the kitchen, and only Gretal is there, staring into the heating vent beneath the kitchen sink cabinet. She's got an obsession with staring in there, especially in the evening.

Tonight when I heard the raspy meows, I ran in there with my flashlight and turned off the lights and laid on my stomach and peered into the vent. I thought 'well maybe a cat somehow got into that vent.' There was nothing in under that cabinet by the hole, where the heat vent comes up. Scully is buried only a foot west of that vent by the Rose in the bed outside the kitchen window.

Isn't that weird? It's probably just coincidence is all. Probably a stray is coming through and howling beneath the window and I just can't see it, because it runs when I look out. I'll set a trap beneath the window first night it doesn't rain and see what's what. That has to be it.

Tomorrow I'll look under the house, to make sure no cat squeezed through the tiny hole we once cut into one outside foundation hole cover wire, so we could replace the outside water faucet.

But I saw the shadow of a cat near the garage door several times this week also. I'd look again and there'd be nothing there. I thought at one point I must have left the garage room door open and one of the cats went through the cat run to the garage room and got out the garage room door into the garage. But they're all accounted for, all the cats.

What's one supposed to do with a ghost cat? Are you supposed to tell them they should cross over or just what? I am unfamiliar with the protocol. It's freaky, ok. Freaky.

I loved Scully very much. I miss her very much. I know she loved it here and I wish she hadn't of died just when she so enjoyed being cradled in my arms. She used to come into the bathroom and want held. She'd almost trip me when I would get home, so anxious to rub against my leg and be petted. This was a far cry from most of her life, which was spent hiding along the river banks in Corvallis. She was warm and loved, slept with the other cats, Solomon and Gretal especially, and often cuddled on the bed against me. She was just wonderfully happy and for her to die in the midst of such joy, oh it tore me up the unfairness.

Did she decide then, that she liked it here so much she'll just stay here? Or what? I don't know a thing about ghosts and all that. I am going to try to record the meowing. The meowing isn't quite right, if you get my drift. It would do well used in a horror flick and this is what kind of freaks me. It sounds like Scully but kind of twisted up horror flick Scully. Raspy and low, like her voice, but dry, hollow and, I'm sorry, but really scary. It will take some getting used to. Maybe it was the dirt or something, I buried her in, in her throat, does that affect a ghost's voice?

Sure, I know how crazy this sounds. I had a ghost cat wake me up several times once before, but not yowling real noisy like this, and it happened years ago, not fresh or even close to it, in my memory. And now this.

Well, I bet it's a stray just outside the window by the garage door. I see it's shadow sometimes inside when the light is just right and the garage door is cracked. I bet that's it. A new stray.

But if it's Old Scully looking for an extended life after death here, you know, I'll just have to adjust. She's welcome. Living or dead I love her and she's welcome.

Car Wouldn't Start

My car wouldn't start again this morning. I had all those cats, fixed yesterday, to return also. It was frustrating. The battery was dead due to a malfunction in the ignition switch, which didn't turn off. Then the brake pedal for some reason totally locked. It wouldn't move, down or up. I've never had this happen before when the battery is dead. Usually, to get it out of park, if the car won't start, since there is a safety measure in most cars so that you can't put it into gear or neutral if the engine isn't running, I usually touch the brake petal, with the key turned, which allows one to take it out of park without the engine on.

Didn't work this time, because the brake petal wouldn't move. So, I finally called Toyota, who told me to use a screwdriver and flip off a little hidden chamber and push a white button, which disengages park lock. I did so and got it into neutral so I could push it out of the garage to somewhere another vehicle could get in to jump it.

The old man from HTN came over. I had one of his cats anyhow, needing to return her. The torti, now spayed, and ready to go home. He had, in the meantime, trapped the last unfixed cat at the colony, the black longhair, and I needed to pick her up. So he came and jumped the car.

I got to get the ignition switch fixed somehow or this will keep happening if I'm not careful.

What one can do, to make sure, is to remove one battery terminal cable, so the battery can't drain at night, if need be.

Anyhow, lots of fixes needed on that car. It's got a hundred thousand miles on it. I've never had any maintenance done. I know the struts are soft, too, and I haven't checked the axle boots for holes or grease leakage. It's hard to do. I don't have ramps. I should have changed the transmission fluid and filter by now also, but I haven't. No ramps, no proper tools for it.

I need to get a little auto mirror again on extendable handle. Not only are those useful in cat trapping, for looking into house foundations and under things, without laying on your belly, but they make checking axle boots, etc, easier on a person with a bad back.

I did change the oil and air filter about three weeks ago. Air filters aren't cheap either anymore. Nor is changing one easy on a Scion. You have to detach a couple of hoses that just are not easy to detach. One was held on by a metal hose clamp with a cheap aluminum bolt that has deteriorated significantly, to the point it could not be turned without a good dose of WD-40 and pliers. That's sick.

These cars these days are made out of plastic and cheap materials. You're hard put to find much solid metal on them. When I replaced the door locks one of the times I've had to do that, due to break ins, I was rather horrified, at the extremely thin metal layer of the door, after removing the cardboard/plastic interior panel, which is all that separates you from another vehicle, should you be T-boned. The interior door panel is held in place by plastic fasteners that, in a short time, turn brittle and break off.

I lived without a car at all for a long long time. I couldn't go anywhere and knew no one really with a car. My life was limited. Dismally limited. I finally bought an old Fairmont off a lying bitch who lived at the low income hotel where I lived for $200. She lied about everything wrong with that car. In addition, she used to make her companion dogs live in it and there were pools of dog urine under even the spare tire. It was disgusting.

No working gas gauge. I would write the odometer mileage on a piece of duct tape, when I'd gas up, and stick it on the middle of the steering wheel. I knew the mileage the car got per gallon. When I'd gone about ten miles less than I figured I could go, on the gas I'd bought, given the mileage, I'd get some more gas and replace the duct tape with another marked with the odometer reading. It had no working heater. Differential was failing. Brakes needed replaced. Wheel bearings needed replaced. Driveline and transmission also barely functioned. I was always in a state of rewiring the dash to try to get something crucial to work.

I took to carrying a couple pillows with me. They were my emergency air bags, so to speak. I figured I could grab one off the front seat and get it between me and the steering wheel if I had even a moment before a wreck. The front bench seat's mounts also were weakened with corrosion. The car finally died altogether, but I was forced to learn a lot about doing minor and some even major repairs in order to have wheels. I was always breaking down somewhere along a road, with cats in the car, and then could be seen flipping through a well used repair manual for that model by flashlight, on my back beside the road, with a few dollar store tools strewn around.

The cops harassed me endlessly when I drove that old Fairmont. And the Corvallis cops especially had no mercy when it would break down or wouldn't start and would demand it be gone in five minutes or they would write me a ticket for working on a car in a public place and have it towed off. Something like that. You'd think they could have a heart.

I had some desperate times with that car and the cops. I loved having a car for a change. The car meant freedom to finally get out of Corvallis now and then. It's like the cops must have thought everybody was Mr. and Mrs. Moneybags or something. Or maybe they just liked harassing me.

Well anyhow, it was late today, when I finally got it going and got the cats back to their locales. I didn't get much else done.

Tomorrow my brother has a guy who will be here to do some repairs, and hopefully get the trees contained for the cat yard. After that, I will just have to finish my human rototilling of the yard. Yes, I have been rototilling the yard by hand, with a shovel. I almost got half done, before my nights turned sour. I'd wake up with my right leg and lower back screaming in misery. My sleep went downhill and I have not finished the shovel rototilling job, because of what it did to my back.

This landscaper guy, real old now, whom I trapped a bunch of cats for, told me I could make my lawn grow ok by rototilling it before planting the seed, then to mix in some mulch, which I have from the compost pile I made last summer. But it's been a little more difficult than it sounded like it would be. I"m getting there though, and once the grass gets up two inches, after I plant the seed, then the cats can go out. It won't take the grass long to grow two inches either.

I built a small garden bed, too, a few months ago, but I don't have much dirt to fill it up with. It's for my vegetable garden to be. I have to find some dirt to put in it. I have some mulch but I need some dirt.

I figure I'll go out one night and pretend I'm digging a grave, which won't attract any attention at all around these parts. And I'll just fill up old cat food bags with the dirt, cover the hole with berry vines then leaves, and one day some asshole will fall in that darn hole. Or, I'll return in the night and fill in the hole with used cat litter. Just kidding there. I'll find somebody with some dirt to spare.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Photos of Todays' Fixes

Spayed at Greenhill--Whisper Willow, from Spicer Red.
Boone, brown tabby tux male kitten I took in from Red Linda colony last night, now in Eugene.
Bops--a DSH black tux male kitten, also neutered today in Eugene, and who will stay in Eugene for adoption.
Studly, the third Red Linda male kitten, neutered today and now in Eugene.
DSH Black tux female, in heat, from Red Linda.
DSH black female, white chest spot, pregnant at spay, from Red Linda.
DSH gray tux female, also pregnant at spay, from Red Linda.
Teenage black tux mustached female, from Millersburg Country.
HTN torti "Smokey", second to last cat left unfixed there, now fixed. Pregnant at spay.

Not shown in photos, the sixth cat done at Countryside, a torbi tux, in heat, from Red Linda. Ten cats fixed in all. All six fixed at Countryside were females, three of whom were pregnant while two were in heat.

Here is some great add on news: the old man of HTN caught the last unfixed cat in that colony today.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Ten Cats to be Fixed Tomorrow

I returned everybody fixed Monday today. And then I trapped another at Millersburg Country Colony. The grandmother there was going way out of her way to make me feel better. I'd come down on them hard about not helping trap their own cats out there. But it's not her I would expect to help. She's old with many maladies. I was not happy about the granddaughter, who is about twenty, and doesn't lift a finger, and even the daughter, living out back, who wants all the cats fixed but seems disinterested in helping. But the grandmother? For gosh sakes, she works her butt off out there, doing everything for everybody. So I felt guilty with her trying to appease me, when it isn't her at all. Anyhow...I saw one more out behind a shed and literally flirted the cat into the trap.

So I have the torti, too, from HTN. The HTN old man is taking the six up for me to Countryside. The black and white little one, from Millersburg Country, the torti he trapped there at HTN, and four more adults from Red Linda.

He's taking them because I'm taking four kittens down to be fixed in Eugene. Three are from Red Linda and one from Spicer Red. Yup. Whisper Willow is leaving tomorrow. My goodness she is something else again. Very lovely. The three from Red Linda are all boys and very sweet, too.

So, ten cats are going to be fixed tomorrow. Seven from Red Linda. One from Spicer Red, one from HTN and one from Millersburg Country.

And, while I'm down that way, maybe I'll try my hand again at that darn Springfield colony. I call it now "The Neverending Story" colony. That ok, Larissa?

Dog Bite is Healing

Photo of the healing dog bite wound I got last week, when returning some people's cats, after they were fixed, in Millersburg.

New Equipment Needed

I need to develop new equipment. I want to create a contraption that is capable of catching an entire colony at once, after the colony is fed inside it a few days. I want to make it collapsible and cheap and easy. And I want to be able to trigger it remotely.

I briefly researched different methods of remote triggering. I don't know how one uses a computer to trigger an action remotely and wirelessly. I suppose that uses RF also. But I don't know how to make it happen.

That leaves me with the usual suspects--solenoids, triggered by Rf, and servos triggered by RF. Infrared senders are too weather affected and required line of sight between sender and receiver.

I looked at a garage door sender/receiver at Radio shack, but I believe the receiver requires household voltage. I would then need to hook the receiver, besides to a power supply, to a servo arm or solenoid to trigger the mechanical action of tripping the trap. I don't know a lot about electricity or any of these things.

I bet if I could figure it out, I could use those child toy walkie talkie units to send, receive and trigger. Or baby monitors.

What I need to figure out, is how to configure receivers with a realistic portable power supply, then a servo or solenoid to trigger action.

What I also want, is a sender on the trap, so that when a trap springs, a signal is sent back to the receiver, triggering an action that would let me a know a trap is sprung, like a light going on, and I'd like to be able to put these on multiple traps, and know, when one springs, which trap is sprung.

I know with garage door openers you can set the signal frequency using those little switches inside. So with the same sender/receiver units, I could set different codes in for each sender, to trigger the receiver, and probably number the responses. If garage door receives require household voltage, it would not be hard to wire it to a switch and light, if one was waiting inside where that was available. If not, I suppose I could get a converter that plugged into the cigarette lighter in the car, to convert 12 volt to household to use the receiver in my car.

But I don't know how to convert a receiver on a trap, that might require household voltage, to manageable mobile power, like a battery.

I can just go back to the old RC car sender receivers, I suppose, that use AA batteries and servos, packed nicely together in a unit readily available at hobby stores. I'm still using my old one, rigger to trip a trap from a mile away, if need be. Works just fine so I don't know why I would try to improve on something that works just fine the way it is.

I dusted off the old $10 RC car I bought a couple years back and experimented with, for its RC range and interference. The range on the sender is limited and outside RF can suddenly trigger the trap using such unregulated frequencies, but it isn't bad as a cheap alternative to the $50 hobby store sender/receiver/servo. I trigger action with the RC car, with either its two actions, wheel motion, forward or backward, or wheel axle movement.

BAck to the colony trapper. I am making it basically a large wire collapsible cage, that can be sturdied with braces, will have a feeding shelf in the large chamber and two tunnel entrances, both of which can be closed, both of which will be capable of closing simultaneously with remote trigger. The cats can then be let out one at a time into live traps.

I am attempting to write this as Whisper Willow, the Spicer Red girl kitten, attacks and plays with my hair and nose. It isn't easy.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Five Boys and One Girl!

Six cats got fixed today. Five boys. One girl. And, THANK YOU Jim of Corvallis, who sponsored the one spay job in honor of my recent birthday.

The six were: two more from Millersburg Country Colony, including the only girl fixed today. Two males from Spicer Red colony, both orange boys. I also took in Whisper Willow, a gray tabby tux female kitten, hopefully leaving for foster and adoption in Eugene very shortly. And, two black males from Red Linda colony, the new one I'm helping out with.

In addition, the old man caring for HTN, caught the torti, the second to the last cat there needing fixed. I am holding her in a rabbit hutch for spay on Wednesday. That leaves on black long hair female for him to catch. Besides the short hair calico down the road a few houses.

Millersburg female.
Millersburg male.
Spicer Red male.
Another Spicer Red male.
One of two black males fixed today from Red Linda colony.

Dog in the Road

 I went to get groceries yesterday morning fairly early. I was expecting visitors, brief ones, pop in and out, so I wanted to get done with ...