Wednesday, September 10, 2008

13 Cats Being Fixed Right Now

I ended up with 14 cats this morning, to take to the Wilsonville clinic, for fixing. Include the bottle babes, and that number jumps to 16. But, I decided not to get nursing mom fixed. She's a good mother, nursing the two kittens, even inside the live trap. I'll hutch her for now and try to figure out where to go from there. She's feral!

The cats include: the white female from the Corvallis complex; Sami, the pneumonia girl, from the Albany yard, two kittens, one boy and one girl, from the Albany trailer park, and nine cats from the Scravel Hill colony. I got 12 in all, if you include the mother and her two kittens. I've now trapped 13 at that colony.

The woman of the couple who care for the Scravel Hill colony cats, this morning confirmed that the black long hair is indeed the mother of the newborns and said the other three are likely dead. I had trapped her last night, along with two kittens. I left three traps set and caught three cats and a possum in those. This morning, quickly, before leaving for the clinic, I drop trapped four more, including three kittens and a big gray tux male.

I had my alarm set for 5:30. I jolted awake at 6:20 a.m. I had turned the alarm off in my sleep!

Within ten minutes I was on the road. I'd promised the Scravel Hill folks I'd be up there by 6:30, since they usually feed at that time, to try to trap a few more before heading to the clinic. I was 15 minutes late. I thought that was pretty decent, after waking up at 6:20, loading the cats quickly, and taking off, without so much as combing my hair or brushing my teeth. Yukko!

I quickly flea treated everyone upon arrival at the clinic. They must be pre-treated for fleas there, or, if they find fleas, they mandate they then treat them for fleas, and I would have to pay big time for those treatments, out of pocket, like $12 apiece.

This has been a week of getting lots of cats fixed, high pri cats, too, like that white female from the complex and the pregnant brown tabby female, from same complex in Corvallis. They don't need more cats born around there, that's for sure.

Finding two of those complex cats a home---huge! I need to find a home for that little black male from there also. White girl will have to return. Like I said, white cats as barn cats equals death. I don't know how long she'll last living like that around that busy area, but it will certainly be longer than she would last in predator country.

I still feel horrible about losing Marian. But there's this hope. When I went out there yesterday, again searching the area, handing out fliers, the water dish I'd left, full of water, outside the cage Atom and Luke are still inside, was empty. Somebody drank that. I thought that was an excellent sign that she is there, just still hiding out. I poured more food into ditches out by the road, called her, and I think she's still on that property. She knows Atom and Luke. I like to think one day they'll see her. The fields are cut or bare around there. I search them with binoculars. The vultures have not migrated for the winter. So far, no circing in the area.

But here's the thing. Ridge Road, to the north, crosses I5 and connects with Seven Mile. She could be east of the freeway easily. I haven't been east looking for her or handing out fliers. She would not have headed east immediately, due to the traffic and noise of that jet boat race. But, if she initially ran north along the fenceline, in the ditch, and I didn't spot her out there, hunkered down, then ran farther north, then east that night, in the quiet, she could be east of the freeway by now. She could have ended up east of the freeway, via Ridge, as early as Friday night and I may be searching the wrong area entirely. I have talked to people all along Tangent Loop to 34, that way, but not on Seven Mile and that is now where I need to go.

Why would she head east? Because her original home is NE of where she was lost. And, it's NE by only about twelve miles, maybe less, as the crow flies. She could have been back in one night, if not killed en route. Cats make such treks all the time.

I suppose one of the most spectacular of such treks was that of a declawed inside only White Persian. She lived with her elderly owner in a Scio or Turner area assisted living center or home. The old woman's personal caretaker lived on Jefferson Scio road. When the white Persians' owner died, the owner willed the cat to her caretaker. Her caretaker took the cat to her Jefferson Scio road home. The cat got out of the house the first night and the caretaker could not find her. Her former inside only home, where her owner had lived, was ten miles away, with a river in between. She showed back up outside the front door three days later.

There you have it.

Here's another story. A Eugene cat rescue person adopted out a cat to a man who lived about seven miles, through very urban city, from where she lived. The cat got out, through a window the man forgot was open, that very night. The rescuer didn't know the cat had escaped his new home. All she knew was that she went out to feed the outside strays she fed outside her backdoor every morning, and there he was. One night, seven miles, back home, through a heavy urban area.

Long Day

The brown tabby female and the gray female, from the Corvallis complex, went to a barn home today. They didn't have to go back to the complex! I was returning the black medium hair teen male late tonight, but the area was messed up with parties going on everywhere, and I just couldn't do it. I'll find him a home too, or talk the people who took his mother and sister into taking him also, which would be the best thing for him.

I did trap the lactating white female, at least, within two minutes of arrival. She's had too many litters there. The last one, recently, disappeared, probably died because her older litter still nurses on her, and that would leave nothing for the little ones. Or, someone found them and took them. They're gone and now she will be spayed. She's bright white and can't go to a barn home, because she wouldn't last a month. White cats get killed by predators.

I trapped two small kittens at the Scravel Hill colony, plus a lactating black female. Then I found two tiny kittens, a week old, in the shop, and brought them home too. I bottle fed them, then I gave them to the female, who I don't think is their mother, but she's lactating, so that's what they need. She is nursing them in the trap. She will be spayed tomorrow regardless. This is a massive colony, and there's no room for error, by releasing an adult female in an all black cat large colony without getting her fixed.

I also went over to the Albany trailer park and picked up the two kittens there, a boy and a girl, since I am going where they fix kittens tomorrow. Sami, the pneumonia girl, will be spayed tomorrow also.

I returned the gray and white female to the Marian trailer. I just couldn't deal with trying to relocate her also. There are only two adult cats there now. They'll be a lot better off and get plenty of food now, for the two of them, especially since I am supplying them with cat food.

So I ran myself silly today, got lots done, looked for Marian more, took in the three cats, two owned males then the first female from the big colony. Anyhow, did a lot, am tired, must do even more tomorrow.

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Three Cats Being Fixed Today. Brand New 26 Cat Colony.

Today, three cats are up being fixed, two boys from Albany and the first cat from a 26 cat colony off Knox Butte Road. Most of the cats in the new colony are teens or kittens.


The two orange tab tux tame boys, from a complex in Albany, being neutered today.
The black long hair feral female, I trapped quickly this morning, on my way to the vets', from the new 26 cat colony.
One of many kittens at the new colony, playing with another in a bush.

Teens at the new colony, staring at me from under the stairs.

Monday, September 08, 2008

McCain Asks Sarah Palin to be his VP--Video

Kitten Update Photos

Here are some updated photos of kittens here.

This is the Little Orphan Annie, from the Marian trailer. Very Cute Kitten!
Three Marian preteens and the bad eye Millersburg black and white. I am searching for a barn home placement for the three Marian teens, Spokes, on the left, the only male, Hops, at back on right, and Bunny, kind of half hidden on left up front. The bad eye black and white girl, whom I am treating thrice daily with eye ointment for the hole in the right eye, is on the lower right. The vet believes the hole was caused by puncture, not illness, likely a berry vine thorn, or the claw of another cat hooked into her eyeball, in play.
This is Hungry, one of the three BS colony Starvation Kids, now hardly starving.
And the Vine Street Pneumonia girl, still with slight URI, but doing much better.

Not My Cat Day, but......

Owned Albany female, being fixed today.
DMH brown tabby, from Corvallis complex, being fixed today.
DMH black, from Corvallis complex, being fixed today.
DSH gray, from Corvallis complex, being fixed today.


I messed up. I thought I had appointments today, but it's tomorrow. I do this cat day mess up infrequently, but I do it now and then. So, I arrive at Countryside with the four cats, three ferals from Corvallis and one tame Albany female and Laurie gives me that look. I thought, "Do I have something hanging from my nose?"

Then she says, "I'll take these cats, but your appointments are tomorrow." Then I remember. Oh my gosh.

After leaving the four there, I drove to the Marian trailer to pick up my traps. The couple claimed the three cats left there, an unfixed female, an unfixed male and the fixed male, had disappeared. But, there was the gray and white female, on the porch, when I arrived. I knew she would be. That's why I'd brought my drop trap along.

Took me five minutes to drop trap the very hungry cat. I stopped back by Countryside, and they agreed to get her done today also. So, five cats are up being fixed today, despite the fact I did not even have appointments!

I have two tame Albany boys lined up for tomorrow already. I hope to trap a few more at the Albany complex this evening. There are so many conflicting reports about how many there are, and who might have young kittens, and who feeds them or doesn't, it is difficult to sort out. The one thing I do know is there is a white adult female there, not fixed, who badly needs fixed.

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Searching for Marian

I searched half the evening and night for Marian. No luck. I used a flashlight, searching the fields and ditches on every road within five miles of where she went missing. I thought at first I'd spotted her right up on Columbus in a field, but it was a different gray tabby. That one also was in poor shape.

The elderly woman at the end of Witt, a cancer survivor, is a nervous wreck, her relatives said, due to the jet sprint boat races. There were helicoptor rides offered, too, and the chopper lifted off right by her house, going over it, clearing it by not that many feet. I'm sure this is not legal.

For gosh sakes, who allowed this event, and what kind of morals do they have, that they would do that, to elderly folks living on that short dead end narrow road? They have no ethics or morals, is the answer to that, and I bet they chose to do it there, because they're older people living on that road, without a lot of money, and figured they couldn't afford to fight it.

Damn selfish assholes.

Raises my ire, it does, this sort of blatant disrepect.

I then went on over to a low income complex in Corvallis. More cats there. Some ended up at Heartland, trapped by Animal Control. They would have been euthanized but thankfully Heartland staff called because they had eartips, to see if I wanted to save them. I went and picked up the boys and they got a barn home. One of the tenants at the low income complex stubbornly insists Heartland doesn't kill ferals. Then she tried to tell me, "Well, it's all in what you'd term feral."

I said, "How about a cat who hisses at you if you even make eye contact? If you think these cats you feed around here are not feral, then why don't you reach right straight into a trap and pet them then?"

She closed her window and refused to talk to me further. We've had it out over this before. I've suggested she just call Heartland and ask their policy, because they would tell her, but she'd rather be stubborn and know it all about it, insisting if these cats went to Heartland, they'd be fine and get great homes. Delusional!

I caught three. Two younger ones and an adult medium hair tabby, allegedly a female.

I'm taking in an Albany owned cat, also.

One of the Tiny Tots, the gray and white cute as a button girl kitten went to a home in Lebanon. I let her go unfixed because she is friends with a diehard spayaholic, so she'll get spayed all right.

Her sister is still here, along with the Buffy, Hungry and Bones, the Starvation Kids, and Abby, the pneumonia girl. Plus I have four in the bathroom now. In the bathroom, I have Spokes, Hops and Bunny, from the Marian trailer, and I have the black and white girl, with the bad eye, from the Millersburg trailer. I've been treating her eye without any problem, although, she was half blind from the infection and when she suddenly sees me, boy, she starts clawing at me and hissing up a storm. But I continue to give her antibiotics and eye meds.

So I have nine cats needing homes, all kittens or preteens. The four in the bathroom would be great for a barn home together. In fact, I'd love to get a barn home that would take six teens, then I'd go trap the other two siblings of the black and white bad eye girl and they could all go together, all six. Boy that'd be nice.

Saturday, September 06, 2008

Marian's Disappearance Getting to Me

I'm still upset over the fiasco out on Witt Dr., losing Marian like that. This morning, I went out looking for her, to no avail. I posted fliers. I talked to people along those roads, gave them fliers. No luck.

It has been very sad for me. I still hope she'll show up at the place where she was lost, after the noise and traffic of that jet boat race is gone. People I gave lost cat fliers to, living near that event, weren't happy to have it there. They wanted to tell me how angry they were. I just wanted to find Marian.

Today, I tried to just not think, just do rote things after I went looking for her, without luck. I took Robinhood to his home. I returned the Millersburg male. I am debating whether or not I will continue trapping at that Millersburg trailer, because of the non-involvement issue, of those feeding the cats there, and the fact the trailer will be history soon. There might be two or three left unfixed there. But now I've got another one here, needing eye treatment, the little girl kitten, the feeders' mom would not take in.

I'm going to go get my traps at the Marian trailer colony, because they're not putting effort into catching the other two out there. It's useless.

I'm lonely. I'm very lonely tonight.

When you tell people about options they can use themselves to get cats fixed they feed, and they just are not interested, it's really depressing. When I tell people about options, I think to myself, when they hear it's fairly simple, they'll get all happy and tell me 'thank you, we'll get that done right away' then they'll actually do it, right away, too, and even get involved further by getting strays fed by others in their area fixed, too. That's what I think to myself when I tell able bodied people about the programs out there they can utilize to get their own house cats or strays they feed fixed, at low to no cost. But it really never happens that way.

They just keep on feeding them. And the cats keep on reproducing. They come home at night and plop in front of a TV, or they dork around half the day, or drink all day until they're irritated at the slightest sound. Nothing changes.

The Girl Kitten with the Bad Eye. Robinhood Gets His Home.

I finally got Robinhood to his new home today. It's a great home with someone who works at OSU. Their house is beautiful, although from the little side road, all you really see, is a garage. It's just gorgeous, however, once inside, airy, and light, hardwood floors, open spaces, big friendly welcoming deck. Just beautiful and the people are very open and friendly also. I think Robin has a great chance at his new life right there. He immediately began rubbing up against the woman and her kids in happiness.

The woman who feeds the Millersburg trailer cats had said her mom, who lives in Jefferson, would take in the kitten with the eye needing treatment. HOwever, when I called her this morning, she said she couldn't take in the bad eye kitten, because her landlord says no more animals and she is worried she might get scratched. Her daughter had not told her she is feral.

She also feeds strays so I told her, that's fine, if you get them fixed. She began backing off then, saying it's not her problem, to get them fixed, that she isn't interested in trapping them to take to an FCCO clinic, that she guesses she'll stop feeding them then, if she should get them fixed and that someone else should do that anyhow.

I promptly hung up on her. I told her right now I am incapable of hearing more of this.

I'm sick of people who think plopping down a plate of food for strays is ethical if you don't take the next step and get them fixed, especially with easy cheap to free programs available like the FCCO clinics. You can even borrow traps from the FCCO to trap cats to take to their clinics.

What this demonstrates is laziness and irresponsible behavior. If you feed strays, you are responsible for getting them fixed. Otherwise, you're just another part of the problem.

So the Millersburg girl kitten now is my issue, to treat for the eye problem. I didn't think the Jefferson woman would take her in. Why? Because her daughter feeds strays and doesn't get them fixed either. So I guess in my mind I figured her mother wasn't going to take her in, for some reason.

Having a soft heart means you also have to have a tough heart and a committed heart, and get those strays you feed fixed and treated. Feeding a stray is nothing. It's easy.

But it's a weakness to feed a stray if you do not go the extra mile, and find a way to get that stray fixed, and, if need be, treated for its ills. Especially when provided information about easy free ways to get that done.

Friday, September 05, 2008

Tragedy on Witt Dr., when placing Marian, Atom and Luke

If you are driving on Tangent Loop, Wirth, Witt or Ridge Drive, southeast of Tangent, or even I5 south of the Corvallis exit, watch for this cat! She's lost down there, alone. It's my fault.

I thought everything was going fine, sort of, because I was rehoming four cats this evening. The first three, Luke, Atom and Marian, were going to the same little dead end road where three others from the Kitten Colony went, only a house down.

But, they all may be in jeopardy because for some unknown reason, the county approved jet sprint boat races right next to I5, down at the end of that road. The noise tonight was unnerving. I tried to talk to the couple between the loud sounds of jet sprint boat engines. In the end, I set up two cages. Luke and Atom to go in one, and the still hormonal Marian in the other. I had not been able to get her into a little carrier when I got home from picking up the cats fixed today. I was in a hurry and figured since she was tame, no big deal in transferring her to the containment cage, once there from a larger carrier, that won't fit into the cage.

I didn't think it would be a big deal. I had the large carrier door up to the opening on the wire containment cage, but there was a five inch gap, as I opened the carrier door, before I could put the opening of the carrier right up to the cage opening. And just when that gap was opened, the jet sprint boat engines roared. This is more than an annoying sound. It is like standing between dozens of leaf blowers on high. Or standing about two dozen feet from an airliner warming up its engines.

I startled. The cat startled, got wide eyed scared and bolted through the open crack. I knew if she got away, that was it for her, with that jet sprint boat thing and the nasty redneck drunken crowd making such noise tomorrow.

So I tried to grab her and she tore into me with her claws, until my left hand was a bloody shredded wreck. Still I tried to grab her again, desperate to save her. Again she slashed me in terror.

I wasn't happy, losing her. I tried to find her for the next two hours, dripping blood, sometimes gushing blood, because she tore a short slit in the artery in my hand. It was hard to stop that from bleeding and I didn't even try, in my desperation and urgency to find her. Wasn't pretty, blood everywhere.

I didn't know about the jet boat thing. I didn't know the other woman wanted new barn cats because the construction of the canal for that damn event is what scared away or killed her other barn cats. I didn't know or I would not have given her three more cats, from that kitten colony, two black kittens and the torti mom. They'll likely end up scared to death, too, from that event, and either bolt away or, hopefully, hide through the duration. Luke and Atom will be ok. They are confined and will be for the duration of the loud nasty event. But those other three won't be, most likely, and that house is even closer.

I am devastated by what happened tonight. My only concilation is that she is tame, and maybe she'll come back. She knows Luke and Atom. So maybe, she'll survive.

The neighbors are all devastated by this event going on out there and have vowed to not vote for any of the three Linn County commissioners who let this happen, and, they say, voided almost every land use rule and zoning regulation, to let it happen.

The canal, when dug, lowered the levels of the residents wells by three feet. They were told if sand got in their wells as a result, they would be forced to pay to dig new ones. They believe bribes were involved in allowing this event to happen there. They are also mad at all the event sponsors, including KRKT.

This is a short road, the traffic is unbelievable with this event going on, and they even have a beer garden at the event. The canal that was dug and filled with water likely violated a million land use regulations alone. The elderly folks living along that road say people can't even get a permit to build a chicken coop in their backyard without jumping through a million hoops but then this outrageously loud event is allowed to happen.

It's like total disrepect for the residents of the road by the event organizers and the county commissioners.

I've been injured as a result of their event. The fact she hit an artery means any bacteria on her claw went directly into my bloodstream. I suppose it will be a good test of my immune system. I know I should be on antibiotics because of the deep nature of the one slash wound, directly into my artery.

But the real victim is Marian, out there in unfamiliar territory, with that screaming jet boat crap going on nearby. She might have had a chance, and now she really doesn't. It's killing me to thing about how I failed her, how she's out there.

But, when she ran and dashed around the barn, through the chicken coop, there was afterwards a fence, then a ditch edging the fields, along the fenceline, that extends way way up, to the north, to Ridge Drive, but south just a few hundred feet to the ditch along Witt. But, I do believe she doubled back and went under the barn. If so, I believe she will be fine.

I left them instructions, to call for her, to leave food in the ditch along the fenceline, both to the north and to the south. There is also food out in the barn, beside the boys. And she knows Luke and Atom, who are now in a containment cage there. She's spent the last several days in the spare bedroom with them. She bonded more with Atom than with any of the other cats, and even would swat at her daughter's kittens, the tiny tots, if they approached her. She was done with kittens, wanted nothing to do with kittens anymore.

Actually when I cleaned the blood off, she only nailed me in six spots, all with claws, but the one is the very deep one that produced all the damage. So, in all her extreme panic, she didn't really tear into me, like she could have. She didn't mean to hurt me at all. I was trying to grab her in the midst of extreme noise and she couldn't tell that noise wasn't after her. Displaced aggression its called. Stark fear is another name for it.

I did e-mail KRKT radio station, the event sponsor, and the jet sprint boat organizing group, asking them to announce the lost cat in their vicinity, to watch for her, to call me if seen, but I doubt they'll take the time to do that. But maybe they will. I had to try. There will be people attending, I'm sure, who do like cats.

It's hard to imagine people who would set up such an event in the face of elderly neighbors living on that road, cause them so much hardship, traffic, noise, disruption, damage their water supply. It's hard to understand how that could have been approved, on ag zoned land, the destruction, with the building of the canal. The road residents said they could have fought it, especially the lie on water rights included in the event operators request, that included land, they claimed water rights to, for building the canals, that they did not own. But it costs money to fight such things and these aren't people with money, who live along there. They are mainly retired people, who have lived there all their lives. People who behave in such manner are not the sort of people one would think would give a shit about a little rescued cat their event has so affected.

The old couple I believe were shocked at my reaction to my blood dripping hand. I ignored it totally in attempts to find Marian. The woman was trying to follow me around with a basin of water, paper towels and soap, wanting me to forget the cat and take care of my hand. I finally washed it off in the basin, left the soap on. "Don't you want to wash off the soap?" she asked. "No," I said, "it's affects will last longer if I leave it on. Besides, letting it bleed is the best antidote to infection."

I sure didn't tell her I would sometimes cut open puncture wounds to let them bleed clean. I get injured all the time. I have to ignore these things, at least until I've completed what I'm doing, if it's highly important, as I felt trying to locate Marian was very important. But it was an extremely bloody wound, that's for sure, due to her hooking me right in an artery.

I feel for you out there, tonight, Marion. I'm so sorry I let you down. I'm so sorry.

If you are driving on Tangent Loop, Wirth, Witt or Ridge Drive, southeast of Tangent, or even I5 south of the Corvallis exit, watch for this cat!

Five Cats Being Fixed Today, Including Another Damaged Eye Teen

Five more cats, all from Millersburg, are up being fixed today. Photos below. The black and white kitten from the trashed trailer colony, is a female. The vet just called. She has a hole in her right eye, near rupture, likely from severe URI, but possibly from a injury caused by kitten play, and they have sharp claws, or berry bramble thorn. The vet thinks she might retain the eye, with treatment, but it is a big question mark, since the hole is through the eyes' outer layer and only the cornea lies between the hole and total rupture. Sad. I didn't want to take in another high needs cat, let alone treat a feral kittens' damaged eye. But.....complications always seem to arise in helping unwanted cats. These cats are fed by people, but so far they want no involvement other than plopping down some food.

Owned torti from Millersburg road, being spayed today.
Tame owned male, from Millersburg road. This little guy got dumped at Millersburg country colony by a friend of the grand daughter, who moved back to India. I guess she claimed she was only going back to India for a visit, but has never returned. She claimed she'd be back for the cat, but it's been weeks now.
This is the black and white female kitten from the trashed out trailer, with the compromised right eye that will need extensive treatment, if not removal.

Black long hair, from the Millersburg trashed out trailer colony. The feeders think this is a female, but it looks all boy to me.This is one of the two females fixed from the trailer colony last week. I took the photo last night, through the window of my car. You can see her right eartip, if you look closely. The other female I trapped last week at the trailer, a brown tabby, pregnant at spay, a friend of mine in Corvallis adopted her and promptly named her Isabelle. She's doing great, right Diane?

The WA Killer

The sad case of the WA state kill spree brings up many issues for me. That's because they blame his behavior on mental illness. And yet, he was a cocaine freak. This is disturbing.

While I was in the mental health system, I saw way too much. Shrinks, teachers, parents, social workers lay upon people blanket labels of mental illness without any medical test developed to actually diagnosis mental illness.

What they are labeling is behavior. Behavior can be caused by all sorts of things, including trauma and biological causes that include drug use. I saw a report on the Oregon Human Services own website on what just one use of methampthetamine does to the brain---permanently. However, later, a person may be given labels of mental illness. The individual of course will welcome such a diagnosis, because this will help lay the blame elsewhere, away from a person's destructive behavior, i.e. use of drugs, to something else "not their fault". Parents like this, too, especially high end parents, where it is socially easier to have a child labeled a mental than a druggee.

There is the issue also of drug and alcohol use by parents when the child is in the womb, or even damaged sperm of the father, from drug use or even age, that is still viable to produce offspring, although the child born may be severely damaged.

Someone sent me links to research on sperm. Often, when a mother uses drugs or alcohol during the time a child is growing and developing in the womb, the woman is the only one deemed a monster, for this behavior. The research indicates what the father does, uses, prior to ejaculation that produces a fetus, also is critical and can drastically affect the health, including the brain health, of the child born. The research was also on the effects on children born when the father was older. Just because a man can still produce sperm, doesn't mean those sperm are healthy sperm and produce healthy children.

There is also an issue with caffeine consumption in young kids and teens. The brain is still developing. Use of stimulants or any other drug during brain formative years is dangerous activity and over use of caffeine, maybe any use of caffeine, at this stage, should be questioned, especially in light of the frequency of ADD diagnoses these days. Many of these kids do not eat much of anything nutritional, let alone drink anything nutritional. What is consumed are high quantities of sugar and caffeine. Do you think a child can behave normally on such drugs?

Lastly, due to superficial subjective diagnostics for mental illness, many lives are being ruined by psychiatry's apathetic ineptitude at its own job. Mine was. Scores of adults, abused as children, are further victimized when psychiatry labels them as faulty with multitudes of psyche labels that follow these unfortunates for life, ruining their lives.

This is never mentioned by the likes of NAMI (National Alliance for the Mentally Ill) a parents group that tries to get laws passed limiting the rights of individuals labeled with mental illness, so they can be forcibly treated, if necessary, for subjectively diagnoses illnesses.

The trouble is, there really is no treatment out there, for these subjective illnesses. The drugs, anti psychotics mainly, create zombies out of people, by slowing down the brains' capacity to message within itself. The distasteful behaviors sometimes are reduced and this is all society cares about. The side affects of these drugs can be and often are, life threatening, and are at the least, life changing. I remember ballooning in weight, developing disabling constant tremors and twitches, walking off balance, and ending up with vision so blurred I could not even read the headlines on a newspaper. The mental illness industry would call this "a successful outcome." I was made fun of ruthlessly on the streets of Corvallis, as a result of the horrible side affects.

Treatment on a psyche ward of a hospital consists of nothing more than indoctrination about taking the handfuls of expensive mind killing drugs daily. You'd think it wouldn't, in this day and age, but still, the mindset is that you can cure all ills of the mind with handfuls of pills.

But you can't. Many people were brought up in loveless horrifically abusive situations. Many people are horribly lonely, also. I once confronted the head of state mental health, who had expressed great enthusiasm about drugging seniors, who live alone and as a result become depressed.

This is a sign of mental health, to become depressed if chronically alone. Normal people would find a life of total isolation depressing. But the mental health administrators, faced with rising house captive alone senior suicides, thought differently, and began a campaign to drug shut ins. Hence, the face off, between myself, briefly an activist attempting to bring common sense back to the mental health system, and the director.

I quit trying to change the mental health system, after I left it. I was still considered nuts by state groups working for change, because I'd been given the labels. They would patronistically smile, when I would submit detailed suggestions for developing an efficient effective system, then move on to stay the same. Also, I was shocked at the lack of shock at the hard core abuse of patients that goes on. I endured some horrendous abuses on psych wards, including the beating that ruptured my neck. Nobody cared.

These people don't care about mental health of patients when they don't care if you're beaten nearly to death on an Oregon psych ward. I try to grind that into new recruits into the mental health system, if I happen to meet them, that they need to remember these folks are making money off you, that if you have problems, they are not your friends, not your buddies, they're working 9:00 to 5:00, seeing hundreds of people just like you, and they don't care. No good shrink does. They give a person the tools to change themselves and if people do not want to change, to improve, they won't.

Unfortunately, our system preys upon people with emotional holes. I had holes. I'd been abused as a child. Basically, I needed a way to gain self-esteem, find friends, love and move on with my life. Instead, I was given multiple labels, drugged up and stuffed away in a low income hotel, to stare at the walls. This is criminal behavior by our state's system and should not be tolerated by anyone, least not a group that claims to advocate for those so labeled---NAMI. Shame on you NAMI, for your lackluster efforts and misleading name.

The sadness and outrage over the killings in WA is completely justified. But why is there never sadness, empathy or outrage for the victims of psychiatry itself, those whose lives were stolen or ruined, those who have been killed, damaged and maimed by abuse on psyche wards or killed by the drugs forced on them by shrinks, often pushing these drugs to get stipends from drug companies, like common drug runners?

What happened to me in the psyche system, and it happens to many others, was an outrage, a tragedy--an American social systems atrocity. I have never felt any support or concern over what happened from the state's mental health system or the community. Quite the contrary, I've been routinely condemned and criticized for even daring to speak of what happened.

Quite the double standard.

I remember at the very last, not long before I left the system, I had a horrible sensation in my head, of weight to one side, pressure in one area on one side of my brain, causing me dizziness, to fall over, nasaue, pain, inability to walk.

I went to the doctor, who concluded it was a symptom of mental illness, the usual stuff. I ended up attempting suicide, after weeks of this, unable to cope with the suffering. This bizarre sensation finally gradually subsided.

I found out, way later on, it was actually a side affect of withdrawal from Zyprexia, a dangerous psyche drug that would become the object of a class action suit. It caused cholestrol levels in patients to double, triglyceride levels to triple and created thousands upon thousands of chemically induced diabetics in this country. Should the doctors who prescribed it by the score have been indicted? Of course they should have. How about the judges who wrote orders putting the patient, under committment, at the mercy of shrinks, who could then force drug that unfortunate with anything they wanted? Guilty too.

There was no one in this world protecting the most vulnerable people--those with every basic right stripped from them, by the infliction of labels and court committment.

Our society does not have the balls to analyze the real reasons so many people end up hurting or dysfunctional. If we did, things would change. Instead, we go the easy route, of declaring people "mentally ill". But, could the numbers really indicate, that it is our society that is truly sick.

Because psyche labels and committment has been used over hundreds of years to present day, to falsely imprison and ruin the lives of unwanted wives, unruly children, abused women, even union activists and political opponents, there is much at stake in protecting the rights of people subjectively labeled as nuts.

Dangerous Trailer Feud

I went by the Marian trailer this morning, after dropping off five cats at the vet clinic, to be fixed. All five were from Millersburg. Two, a black medium hair adult, and a black and white teen, come from the abandoned trashed trailer. Two more come from a house on Millersburg road while the fifth hails from Millersburg Country colony.

No one answered my knocks this time at the trailer door. Stranger still, the dog, who usually goes wild inside when I knock, was silent. I thought, "where are these people?"

They are not early risers, to be sure, but still, the dog is usually going crazy in the trailer if anyone drives up.

This couple has been locked in a bitter feud with the people next door, over dogs. The neighbor has three dogs, two of them large, and they come onto the couple's property and kill their cats. They had 13 cats until the neighbors brought home the third dog. The dog immediately began killing cats. They were down to nine within days of the third dog's arrival.

Not only that, but the dogs freely roam the couple's property and have savagely attacked their own dog. But the story changed when I heard it from the girlfriend. She implied that first their dog got into a tiff with the smaller of the three neighbor's dogs, then was attacked by one or more of the neighbors dogs. The disabled elderly man, who rents the Marian trailer, has lived on the property all his life, then went off on the neighbors, bitching them out, the girlfriend told me. The neighbors screamed back.

This morning, the neighbor was out, with her dogs. She said nothing to me, totally ignored me, as the pit mix came onto the couple's property in an aggressive manner, barking at me. I was not sure what to do. The woman tried to get him to come back to their property while uttering curses against the couple who live in the trailer, calling them assholes, and people who let their cats come on their property, although her dogs are constantly on the trailer couple's property. This is all over a bunch of unfixed male dogs who fight.

The girlfriend of the trailer man asked why they fight each other. I had asked "Are any of them fixed?" "No," she said. I said, "Get them all fixed and you'll have peace." She said, even if they fixed the trailer man's dog, she didn't think the neighbors would fix theirs.

In the trap out back, sat the gray male cat, fixed Tuesday. I shouldn't have let him go, but I did. He'd a goner there, with the vicious dogs. It's hard to relocate just fixed adult males. Takes awhile for the hormones to leave their systems and in the meantime, they still want to fight and roam.

It was after that the pit mix came into the backyard while I was resetting the trap. I put a mower between him and me. I did not want to inflame an already explosive situation, so I said nothing.

The neighbor, trying to get her dog to obey her, which he wouldn't, was cursing up a storm. I had a canister of bear pepper spray ready, but I didn't want to use it. I knew it would only make matters worse. So I just pretended nothing was going to happen and the dog finally backed down and took off. But inside, I was thinking "Oh shit".

I didn't see the second male cat, not yet fixed, nor the gray and white little female kitty. Worse, I couldn't figure out where those people were, why they didn't answer my knocks, or at least, why I was not hearing their dog barking up a storm when I knocked. I began to get paranoid. I began to wonder if the neighbor against neighbor situation had exploded in the last couple of days, into violence.

More than anything, I was concerned for the safety of the final female there, a gray and white short hair, mother of the two tiny tots in my spare bedroom. Where was she? Was she the latest victim of the vicious dogs next door?

I made sure I wasn't.

Sometimes you can't save the strays from unthinkable ends. Despite both households calling one another animal lovers, their refusal to be responsible with their animals, by fixing those dogs and fixing those cats in the first place, has led to a bitter feud and so much suffering for the cats, who are not a danger to anyone.

The two kittens who died violently in the jaws of that dog were certainly innocent. The tame mother cat should have long ago been fixed. And so should all those dogs.

The trailer couple's unfixed male dog repeatedly tried to bite me on the ankle, when they invited me inside, the first day I was there, while I waited on traps I had set. I have two tooth marks on my right achilles tendon as a result. They know he bites ankles and feet, yet they invited me in and didn't warn me or keep him away from me. What the fuck?

If you're going to get an animal, only do so if you are prepared to be a responsible owner. That means fixing and vaccinating your pet, and, in the case of dogs, training them so they are not a threat to everything alive.

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Is Ethanol Evil?

When out trapping at the Marion Trailer colony, a brother of the trailer man was there, bullshitting with his relative. He asked how I liked my car. I said "I love it." He asked what kind of mileage I get. I told him the first year it got great mileage, about 35 on the road and 31 or 32 in city. I said then it dropped rather drastically, to about 30 or 31 on the road and I'd never really understood why.

The man said "Ethanol percentage increase in gas sold." I've heard this before. But now, when I think about the drop in my own mileage, I believe it. This negates any good ethanol creates, dropping mileage like that.

The man also told me it's very hard on engines because of the alcohol content of ethanol.

I thought up a bumper sticker about ethanol:

STARVE THE WORLD. FEED YOUR CAR---Goooo ETHANOL!

Marion Trailer Colony Tiny Tots

Check out the Tiny Tots, as I dub them, from the Marion trailer colony. They are now here, safe and sound, and I hope to find them homes. Their aunt, Marion, will leave for a barn home today. She hasn't really stopped eating since I trapped her. She ate three cans of food that evening. Then was spayed Tuesday. Yesterday, she just ate and ate also. Poor girl. Her own kittens, almost teens, are in my garage room recovering from surgery. I don't want them to go back to that starvation trailer either. What to do?
I believe these tiny tots are both girls, but I will have to check once I find my close up glasses! I can no longer sex kittens without glasses. From the photos, the gray kitten looks like a male. Doesn't it?


This is mom of three teens, Marion, nearly starved to death, too, at that trailer. And she was pregnant again, when spayed Tuesday. How awful for a cat, to suffer pregnancy when she cannot even feed her last litter or herself. These cats will all now be saved. None would have survived the winter, I'm afraid.

Check out Hungry. Remember Hungry and his siblings, whom I trapped at the BS, in Dead Car Field? They were close to starvation. I took photos of them when the Neuterscooter vet was bathing them. They were literally skin and bones. Well look at the difference. Hungry is now a little chubby. I named the two boys Hungry and Bones, while their sister I have named Biscuits.

Hungry now, a little miffed at me, for taking photos.

Below are the latest probably last photos of Atom and Luke, the last remaining kittens, now hardly kittens, from the Columbus Greens Kitten Yard Colony. Today, they will leave me, for a barn home, just two houses from three other cats, taken in as barn cats, from same colony. No doubt they will soon be re-uniting on the sly with their relatives from the trailer park. It's about time these boys got someplace. They are dying of boredom and should not spend their youths locked in first a bathroom, and now one bedroom, waiting for a place to go.

Atom in September.
Luke, a.k.a. Last Kitten Standing, in September.

Obama will Have to Play Dirty To Win. The Repubs Already Are.

The Republicans are already playing dirty---denouncing those who even dare ask questions about Palin and her background, while denouncing and lying about Obama. Obama will have to take off the nice guy persona and play just as dirty and ugly to win, I believe. Otherwise, the vicious Republican campaign machine will tear him up in just this manner, screaming about attacks on Palin and McCain as unfair, while delivering low blows themselves.

What would we end up with? More of the same, I believe. Palin's history in Alaska is noteworthy in that she rolled with whatever the voters wanted her to be. A true politician. She built a sports arena, still in the red in Wasilla, while she cut funding to the local library and also attempted to find ways to block books in same library that she felt were not in line with her religion. Sports over libraries. Attempts to curtail freedom by limiting reading material. These are signs of what she values and should be brought to play in the campaign.

What do I like about her? If she cut out waste and sent corrupt politicians packing, that's what I like about her. And that's where Obama needs to steal her thunder and do the same.

Obama promises change. But what change? What does America need? A government that works for the people. I really like one thing I have heard Obama say he'll try to get passed: heavily taxing corporations who outsource American jobs to other countries. I love that idea!

Obama needs to drop the war issue. It's a non issue now, virtually. The surge worked. Admit it, Obama. The Iraq war is virtually over, I believe. Iraq itself has demanded and gotten a timetable for US withdrawal. Now, let's go clean up in Afghanistan.

McCain is claiming Obama would rather lose a war and win voters, that he was wrong when he voted against the war in the first place. He wasn't wrong. The war was wrong. Let's not forget that. The war and the reasons we went, were wrong.

We're going to be in debt a very long time because of that war, and we lost plenty of fine young lives. Many others were severely wounded. But nobody wants to fail there. Fact is, we went and since we did, we need to mop up honorably and come home. The surge helped quell violence in that country. Good. There is no reason for anyone to pretend that isn't good.

I would like to see the US become less involved militarily speaking, in the world.

Energy independence is a pressing issue and should be the main issue of this election. It is also a number one issue in national security. We wouldn't have to involve ourselves in the middle east and other unstable regions if we were not dependent on their oil. Obama is meeting with that guy who wants natural gas powered cars to be the interim solution, to buy us time, while we develop alternative energy sources. This is a wise move. I'm all for that.

McCains' attitude towards health care reform is dangerous. He wants to give tax breaks, $5000, to Americans to buy their own and free up employers from providing health care. I agree that health care should not be a burden on employers. This makes it harder for American companies and businesses to compete and another reason companies outsource jobs to countries with universal health care.

However, McCain's plan would mean thousands more Americans would be without insurance. A lot of Americans have pre-existing conditions and would be unable to purchase health care privately. I would never be able to, due to my former mental diagnoses, which carry with a person for life, and because of my spinal cord issues.

A $5000 deduction would not help a lot of people, working low wage jobs, who may not pay that much to begin with in federal tax due to the low wages they receive. I talked to a man the other day who said his family's monthly premium has gone up astronomically in the past three years. They pay over $900 per month for health insurance. Fortunately his employer pays most of that. They have two kids. They must also pay copays, if they go to see a doctor.

The health care reform issue is a huge one for American families. When I went and got a ticket to see Obama in Albany, I was the second person in line for tickets. The first person in line was a bald woman. She was bald because she was going through breast cancer radiation treatment. She said she had worked at the dialysis center at Good Sam in Corvallis, as a nurse, but was fired or had to quit once she began cancer treatment, lost her insurance as a result, and she and her husband lost everything, in a desperate time when she was fighting for her life, due to medical treatment bills. She said it opened her eyes to the daily battles out there, for common people, to get basic treatment and to just live, when even suffering a broken leg can cause some families to loose everything.

Health care reform, energy policy, and jobs--keeping them in the US. Those are the issues of importance. Obama, take hold on them, offer plans to solve these issues and you're in, no matter how long McCain sat in a cell in Vietnam and no matter how many fricking sports arenas Sarah Palin built in Wasilla.

Alaska is a sparsely populated state. I loved it up there. But it's freezing winters with long months of almost total darkness and inaccessibility make it unappealing to many businesses. You can't expect Sarah Palin, as an Alaskan, to be against global warming and what that might do for her state, like opening up a Northwest passage, bringing people and businesses to the state. I would guess most Alaskans are all for even speeding up global warming.

Except, Alaskans, for the most part, want left alone. I heard somewhere Palin was part of this thought train and was interested in the movement in which Alaska secedes from the Union. It's big up there. I thought this would come up, but it hasn't so far. I wonder if it will.

I named a rescued kitten "Piper" once. I thought it was a cute little cuddley name. I don't think I'd name a kid "Piper" but you never know. I imagine Palin named a kid Piper after a Piper plane. Bush planes are very popular in Alaska, as are snowmobiles and guns and alcohol. "Bristol" was likely named after "Bristol Bay" in Alaska. But who was Bristol Bay named after? Maybe Bristol was conceived on a trip to Bristol Bay. I'll have to check the history on that name choice. Then there's the infamous "Trig" name choice. My guess is that is short for trigger or maybe trigger finger and I bet that isn't because someone has a fond memory of Roy Rogers' horse.

I think an effective campaign devising on Obama's part would challenge the notion that God goes with guns. It needs done by somebody out there. Common sense would concede that these two "g" words would not be found in the same friendly sentence. The notion that god likes guns is nonsense and the key to victory for Obama.

The nice thing about pet sitting for this woman is that she has massive numbers of channels available on her TV. I watched the Cobair report, for the first time ever today and couldn't stop laughing. He does take tiny bits and pieces of interviews from news reports and use them as he chooses. When talking about Palin's foreign affairs experience, he panned to clip in which Mrs. McCain said "well Alaska is really close to Russia" and used this as evidence Palin has foreign affairs experience.

It was my first glimpse of Mrs. McCain. Perhaps I'm sheltered, ignorant, and a tad apathetic.

I think she's a walking advertisement against cosmetic surgery. Stretched tight!

I'm only up at this hour of the morning (2:30 a.m.) because the phone rang, waking me. I thought "What the hell?" I didn't answer and then did last call return. I looked up the number on the internet--somebody on Main street in Albany. I called the number back. No answer.

Then, the phone rings again. I answer. It's some man asking why I'm calling him. I said "Because you called me, at 1:30 in the morning, no less."

He said, "Oh, that was my friend. He said he was just going to call for a ride. I didn't know who he called."

I said "Well, it was me and I don't know either of you."

"He was drunk," the guy said, "probably called the wrong number."

"Yeah," I said, "he probably did."

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Lazy Afternoon

After learning I would not have a car for another day, I walked over to the house of the person for whom I am petsitting, and promptly fell asleep on her couch.

I have not felt well for a long time, my stomach, the pain and pressure in the left side, getting worse and worse. Lsat night I couldn't eat without vomiting. I've been to the doctor about it over and over. The diagnoses have varied like night and day, none definitive or helpful.

I figure I have a tumor and my time on the planet is limited. It's the only explanation I can figure for it all. I asked the doctor last time I went in about it, "is it normal to have constant pain and pressure on my left side? Do a lot of people my age live with this problem?" The answer was vague. Whatever is going on, it is far worse, and I can't get any medical resolution. It seems so pointless anymore. Maybe I have scar tissue from the endometriosis surgery that is twisting my bowel, upon contraction, catching on things, but is there something that can be done about that?

I have normal bowel movements and still the pain and pressure and bulge. That means something is pressuring upwards against my stomach or something. Anyhow, I don't know. Tonight, again, I feel so bad, like I'm done for.

Sometimes I wonder if they left an instrument inside me during my surgery. Don't think I haven't thought that for years.

Car in Shop

Well, the car is over at the shop. I did find a ride back, had to, got almost no sleep last night. Deaf Miss Daisy was on a loud streak, racing around, having too much very loud fun. So I got worn out, totally, and caring for all these extra cats, too, six more from the Marion Trailer colony.

I took the seventh I'd trapped there, the day before, back this morning, a big now neutered gray male. The two traps I'd left them, were set but empty, the unfixed gray and white female, sitting on a chair on the porch, right beside one of the traps. She is the mother of the tiny tots here, but she'd quit nursing them, due to her state of starvation. The couple had put out bowls of the dry food I gave them. It will be such a relief for those cats to be fed now. I can't imagine what they've gone through.

The mom, in some discomfort today, from yesterday's pregnant spay, is very happy. She wants nothing to do with her nieces, however, the tiny tots. The gray and white little tiny tot, so much wants to nestle with her. It's hurt them, to have their mother abandon them out there, and their aunt, too. It's all over food--lack of it.

I hate to send the mom of the three teens, now in the garage room in a rabbit hutch, to a barn home, but she will be well cared for there, as an outside cat. I named her Marian. Yes, I wish I had an indoor home for her, but I don't, and this is immensely superior to her current situation.

I hate to send the three teens back, because I'll have to supply those folks forever with cat food, or the cats will starve. I named them Spokes, Hobs, and Buffy. Maybe something will come up for them. I'd like to get the other female out of there, too. Maybe the barn home folks will take one more, this adult mother's sister.

That would leave the trailer people with two adult males, one now fixed, and that they could manage. Maybe the barn cat home people will take four instead of three tomorrow. Although I haven't trapped that second female yet. Maybe they'll take her too, once I catch her. That would be wonderful.

The one left out there is the adult daughter of the female I have here. The two gray males are also her adult sons, brothers of the female left.

It all started when these folks either took in this mother here, or she was dumped off there unfixed. There were three survivors last year of two litters she had, the female and two males, now adults. And this year, three of her first litter survived, the three teens. She was pregnant with her second litter, terminated. Good thing, too. They may not have lived, due to the fact during the term they were inside her, she got no food to support them growing normally inside her.

Her adult daughter had the four little ones, two of whom were killed by a dog. The cats out there have not successfully reproduced much because of the starvation factor. If they get pregnant and give birth, the kittens die, of starvation.

Anyhow, I caught seven of the nine cats that first night. And I want to find someplace for all but two, so the two left will get enough to eat and the others can be healthy and fed someplace else, somewhere they're wanted, fed, sheltered.

The car went in, and they're doing the check on it. I was supposed to call in at noon and I just did, but the mechanic is on lunch break. I don't know if they found anything other than breaks needing done or not. That new battery seems to give it a great start in the mornings. If I didn't drive the car even for one day, then it wouldn't start. So, I was playing with fire, with that bad battery.

I'm supposed to be taking care of somebody's cats. They live nearby. They wanted me to get most of them in at night, but they're former ferals and scared of me. She said she didn't figure they'd come in. I told her next time, she needs to have them in before she leaves. Wouldn't hurt any of them to stay in for three days. Anyhow, I hope the cats survive her vacation, outside all the time, because I can't get them inside. Not unless I trap them and I could do that. I've been known to do that. Gets it done, so I don't have to worry about them being outside. Maybe I'll do that tonight, once I get my car back, sit over there and trap em all, get em inside and they can stay inside until she gets home. That's a good idea. She'll be back home, however, in less than two days, so maybe I shouldn't worry about it.

She's got a really cute little house, perfect size for one person, and backyard, full of fruit trees. I picked a couple of pears last night and brought them home. They're really good. What I love are plums this time of year. I hope to find someone with an overflowing plum tree who might let me have a few.

UPDATE: I guess the rear shocks are shot, which I figured. I was getting this rocking side to side motion the last three months. And I guess the brakes in the rear are about 50%, which is really not that bad, considering the mileage on the car. They're drum brakes and those are a pain to change. But at least in the rear, the car has shocks not struts. Shocks are a lot cheaper. The car doesn't have a lot of clearance in the between tire and fender anyhow.

They said there are no tears or holes in the axle boots. This checkup did not include any engine checks at all, unfortunately. I suppose the one thing I think about is injectors getting clogged or something, whatever happens to them, compression, that sort of thing. The mechanic said I should have the coolant system flushed and changed and change the tranny fluid and filter. I suppose I'll end up doing those two things myself.

I guess the belts are ok, or they would have said something. I guess the exhaust system isn't falling apart either or they would have said something.

UPDATE UPDATE: I guess it needs both belts replaced too. Both are worn. So anyhow, won't get the car back til tomorrow evening. That means Robin won't be going to his home tonight. I should have sprung those traps at the Marion trailer, too.

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Three girls, two boys fixed today

Well, the mom cat, who is not returning to the trailer, was pregnant at spay today. Poor little girl, out there starving to death and pregnant. No more kittens for her and she'll leave for a barn home Thursday afternoon, with Atom and Luke.

I have the big gray adult male, fixed today, here and will return him early in the morning since by 9:00 a.m., I have to have my car at the mechanics. There are still two adults out there to catch--one female and one male.

The three half growns were two girls and a boy. I hate to take them back there, but I have no other place for them. I took the couple a bag of cat food today.

I have the two tiny kittens here. Their mother quit nursing them, likely because she is also starved nearly to death. The other two tiny kittens were killed by the neighbors dog. Really, no cats should go back there.

I was too worn out to take Robinhood to his new home this evening. Will do so tomorrow evening.

What are these little white chips inside my faucet?

What are these things? They fell out inside the faucet head in droves, when I unscrewed it, and were also jammed up inside the plastic aerator. What the hell are they? At first I thought they were bits of shredded plastic. They do look like them. You can crush them, however, but it isn't easy. They look like tiny hard lumps of detergent, with green speckles in some of them. What are they? Calcium deposits or, my immediate more paranoid thought, was, undissolved chemicals from the water plant. That isn't possible, is it?







Here is the likely answer: hot water heater. I had no idea a hot water heater could do this. From the web:

If the sediment is coming from just the hot water line the problem might be traced to faulty water heater design. Faulty dip tubes are commonly found in water heaters manufactured in the mid-1990s. They are constructed of a material that breaks down over time and the white or gray sediment found in clogged faucets is the result of that break down. If the sediment is light green, on the other hand, the likely culprit is high pH water that reacts with an aluminum anode in the water heater.


Clogged faucets can thus be traced to a variety of problems. Cleaning and replacing the aerator screen is a quick fix in most cases. More long-term fixes, however, involve the addition of a water softener, the replacement of the water heater’s dip tube, the replacement of an aluminum anode with a magnesium one, or even a replacement of the water heater itself. In cases where mineral buildup has occurred over a number of years it might even be necessary to replace some of the water lines in the house. By employing just a little investigative effort when confronted with a clogged faucet, the homeowner can glean the information that will allow them to make an educated decision as to whether to attempt to fix the problem on their own or to hire professional help.

UPDATE: Well, it's taken most of the day, when I was supposed to be doing a zillion other things, but I got the water back running in the bathroom. My method of repairing something not working is to take "the thing" apart by finding anything that unscrews or pops off. Last resort: try to find information on the web about how to repair something. Then, I try to remember how everything went back together with the goal not to end up with mysterious extra parts.

Unfortunately, at faucet repair central today, I ended up with several forgotten extra parts and had to repeatedly take the thing apart again, to put those parts back in, wherever I felt they seemed to fit. And yay, it all worked out.

Now I have to go get a car battery. I'm going to be installing that myself also, because it's cheaper. Then I'll return the old core, for a refund on that.

UPDATE UPDATE: I got the battery, brought it home, installed it, vroooom, vrooom, to check it's function and it functions, now to return the core and off to pick up the cats fixed today.

Robinhood is leaving for a home tonight. I am very excited about this. With Atom and Last Kitten Standing, a.k.a. Luke, leaving Thursday, this is going to help ease things up around here, except for I did take in the two tiny Starvation Kids2. Oh well.

Who do I have remaining, who need homes? Bisquits, Bones and Hungry, Starvation Kids original. Sami, the pneumonia girl, now well, and about to be spayed. And the latest Starvation Kids. Six kittens.

When it rains......

This morning, my bathroom sink would produce no water from the single faucet. I didn't know what to think, thought maybe a water line might be broken, didn't like that thought.

Then I thought, 'I bet the faucet quit working or is clogged with silt or something.'

I tried to dismantle it from the top (photos below), thinking maybe I could just replace the innards and not cough up money for a new faucet. Not going to work.

Plumbing stuff is very hard for me and my bad neck, trying to get under a sink. Boy.

Now I guess I'll have to replace the faucet. Copper water input lines, too, that are severely corroding and I hope they're not getting "pipe cholesterol" if you know what I mean by that, stuff that grows from inside of the pipe slowly clogging it closed. Pipe cholesterol is my term for it. There's no fixing pipe cholesterol or cleaning it out either. So it makes me nervous to touch old pipes because they're weak like clogged arteries and can break so easy. I didn't think copper pipes get this disease, however. I must confess, I know very little about plumbing either, and bumble through repairs out of necessity. I always hope for the best, but plumbing mistakes can be rather messy and even catastrophic.

Yes, I e-mailed landlord brother, but there's nothing he can do, from so far away, even if he responds.

The clerk at the convenience store says, with my bad battery, the fact I will have to walk a zillion miles tomorrow, in relation to the car going to a shop, and now the plumbing break, that I should be clear for awhile of malfunctions, since she says problems come in three's and mine are up now. Three problems. So, I guess, according to the "three's" philosophy, I get smooth sailing for awhile.

Good, I need some.

I have a home lined up for Atom, Last Kitten Standing, and the adult tame female from the Marion trailer colony. They're actually going to live as barn cats with a relative of the woman who adopted two kittens and one adult from the Kitten Yard Colony, as barn cats also a month ago. The relatives live next door. Atom and Luke will likely hook up again, with their own relatives, I'm sure, living so close to each other again. When the woman heard of the plight of the Marion cats, even though she didn't want a tame cat, to be inside, due to her allergies, she agreed to take this adult female also. I'm happy about that.

 

 

 
Posted by Picasa

Abbytabby trailer teen, being fixed today.
Adult tame gray tabby tux female, being spayed today, who now will go out as a barn cat, with Atom and Luke.
Gray tabby teen, one of three teens from the Marion trailer, being fixed today, along with two adults from same trailer.
This is the third teen, a gray and white, with a little spot on her nose, up being fixed today also.
Big adult gray male, from the trailer, being fixed today.

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 ...