The second white cat was readying for pregnancy, inviting it in. Doesn't she know?
Does she know how hard it would have been for her. Having kittens in a dug out rock hole or a woodpile or under somebody's deck, uninvited. Defending them from the cold, from starvation, from raccoons, from humans who hate her for no good reason really.
I suppose the glow overwhelmed her. They're spontaneous ovulators, you see. The glow. No longer alone, she thought, her hard life, she thought, at least brightened temporarily by love, love she has to give, without anyone to give it to. Kittens.
She'd endure the males, scraggly flea infested disease ridden beat up and mangy, yowling and after her, for the aftermath---the kittens, to love, to suckle on her, to cuddle and protect, a purpose finally, albeit brief and ladden with risky baggage.
They could all die. Distemper could take them. Predators. Starvation. Giardia. She didn't think about any of that. Only the glow of love, absent in her hard life.
It's as natural as life itself, the need for companionship and love. Who says it's ok to be alone? Only an angry soul, only a soul fogged in disbelief and seriousness and hopelessness. Only a blind soul could say such a thing and mean it.
Her hope is over, surgically removed. A purpose unrelated to her needs has decreed it. I know. I know. My fault. Now I have to give her an alternative and I will. I'm not as cold hearted as she thinks.
By next fall, she would have been begging me to return. Three litters down the road and she would be begging me. I know. She'll miss nothing of what she wants. She'll just get it another way.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Finishing
So I'm trying to finish up unfinished situations. The Millersburg Road Chaos colony is now all fixed. Tomorrow, the three kittens, now almost five pounds, left of the Scravel Hill colony, will be fixed. I believe that makes about 20 cats fixed there. The other three kittens, adopted by a friend in Corvallis, I hope to take in next week. They are from the same colony. That will finish that.
I don't know if I've trapped all the cats at the Scravel Left Behinds or not. The folks gave me permission to check traps at their place during the day yesterday. I stopped by just when they said they would be home, after work, and waited a short time, thinking they'd be home any moment. Finally I gave up and set a second trap and came home. I did expect to hear from them last night, but I didn't. Nor this morning. No e-mail return so far either. I hope they're ok. I wanted to know if they caught anything last night and to talk about how many cats are left. There may be only the three. Not sure. But if so, I can bring my traps home. I've had another trap out on long term loan in rural Linn. I do have to get that back.
I trapped this cat at the Left Behinds, during the day today. This cat will be fixed tomorrow.
This huge black tux male, from the Scravel left behinds, turned out to be already neutered. He's quite wild, however.
White female, fixed today, from the left behinds, up on Scravel Hill. She's tame.
Gray tux female, 13th cat fixed from 13th street cats. One to go, a black tux, sex unknown. She was fixed yesterday.
Orange tabby tux female kitten, fixed Monday, the last unfixed cat there. 17 cats were fixed from this colony I dubbed the Millersburg Road Chaos colony.
New photo of the beloved Starvation kid "Doc".
Doc again.
I don't know if I've trapped all the cats at the Scravel Left Behinds or not. The folks gave me permission to check traps at their place during the day yesterday. I stopped by just when they said they would be home, after work, and waited a short time, thinking they'd be home any moment. Finally I gave up and set a second trap and came home. I did expect to hear from them last night, but I didn't. Nor this morning. No e-mail return so far either. I hope they're ok. I wanted to know if they caught anything last night and to talk about how many cats are left. There may be only the three. Not sure. But if so, I can bring my traps home. I've had another trap out on long term loan in rural Linn. I do have to get that back.
I trapped this cat at the Left Behinds, during the day today. This cat will be fixed tomorrow.
This huge black tux male, from the Scravel left behinds, turned out to be already neutered. He's quite wild, however.
White female, fixed today, from the left behinds, up on Scravel Hill. She's tame.
Gray tux female, 13th cat fixed from 13th street cats. One to go, a black tux, sex unknown. She was fixed yesterday.
Orange tabby tux female kitten, fixed Monday, the last unfixed cat there. 17 cats were fixed from this colony I dubbed the Millersburg Road Chaos colony.
New photo of the beloved Starvation kid "Doc".
Doc again.
More Scravel Cats
Last fall, someone moved out of their very nice house up off Scravel Hill, leaving a whole lot of unfixed cats behind. It is very possible that Spirit, Ghosty and Angel, were not dumped at the cemetery, but rather came from that house, which isn't far above it.
The new owners are big animal lovers who immediately took in many of the kittens, got them healthy and have been finding them homes. There were a few they could not catch, so I set traps last night and we caught two of those. One of them is white and young, the other a big black tux male.
When transferring the white cat to a different trap this morning, outside the vet clinic, because the cat had pooped in the trap overnight, the cat indicated to me he wanted petted. So I gave him what he wanted and he acted like he was desperate then, for love. They didn't know he was tame. It's so sad the way people treat animals.
That last owner was described by other neighbors as "a cat lover". Nobody loves cats who doesn't get them fixed, let's them breed like that, then leaves them behind. That's not a cat lover.
These new owners of the house, they're real animal lovers. Real animal lovers are responsible and get their cats and dogs fixed.
I am hoping the new owners will agree to take this white kitty inside, like they have the others, get him healthy and find him a home.
I heard from Candy's new owners. She's doing great and exceedingly happy, already sleeping with them and laying across their laps when they're on the couch. I am so thrilled to have found at least one cat a great home.
I've been feeling like a loser lately, unable to find homes for these cats I've rescued. Finding a home for Candy, a good home, made me feel great. They're out there, now, I know, the good homes. I just have to find them.
I'm going to make a computer room, just a tiny little enclosed space around my computer desk, with about the only thing I know how to use----cedar fence boards. I'll even make a fence type gate. On the top, a solid board. It shouldn't be too hard to do.
I'm going to try to contact the barn home lady again. I am hoping her cell just wasn't charged or something. Keep your fingers crossed. I also pulled the muscle that's been troubling me, in my back but attached somehow to my right arm, again. I injured it shortly after injuring my left clavicle muscle, probably when favoring that side, because this problem muscle is on the other side. It's been a little painful around here lately. I need to let these muscles heal, then get in shape.
The new owners are big animal lovers who immediately took in many of the kittens, got them healthy and have been finding them homes. There were a few they could not catch, so I set traps last night and we caught two of those. One of them is white and young, the other a big black tux male.
When transferring the white cat to a different trap this morning, outside the vet clinic, because the cat had pooped in the trap overnight, the cat indicated to me he wanted petted. So I gave him what he wanted and he acted like he was desperate then, for love. They didn't know he was tame. It's so sad the way people treat animals.
That last owner was described by other neighbors as "a cat lover". Nobody loves cats who doesn't get them fixed, let's them breed like that, then leaves them behind. That's not a cat lover.
These new owners of the house, they're real animal lovers. Real animal lovers are responsible and get their cats and dogs fixed.
I am hoping the new owners will agree to take this white kitty inside, like they have the others, get him healthy and find him a home.
I heard from Candy's new owners. She's doing great and exceedingly happy, already sleeping with them and laying across their laps when they're on the couch. I am so thrilled to have found at least one cat a great home.
I've been feeling like a loser lately, unable to find homes for these cats I've rescued. Finding a home for Candy, a good home, made me feel great. They're out there, now, I know, the good homes. I just have to find them.
I'm going to make a computer room, just a tiny little enclosed space around my computer desk, with about the only thing I know how to use----cedar fence boards. I'll even make a fence type gate. On the top, a solid board. It shouldn't be too hard to do.
I'm going to try to contact the barn home lady again. I am hoping her cell just wasn't charged or something. Keep your fingers crossed. I also pulled the muscle that's been troubling me, in my back but attached somehow to my right arm, again. I injured it shortly after injuring my left clavicle muscle, probably when favoring that side, because this problem muscle is on the other side. It's been a little painful around here lately. I need to let these muscles heal, then get in shape.
Monday, January 05, 2009
The Deceased Old Woman's Kittens, Destroying the Bedroom
It's not really funny anymore, these five kittens, quickly becoming teens, half feral, destroying everything in my former bedroom. They have broken the computer speakers permanently, broken parts on the printer, bitten through wires, destroyed a phone and thrown up on the few books I have left. I am so sick of it. I want them gone.
They have pulled clothes off their hangers in my closet and those clothes have ended up in the litterbox. I want them gone. And if I ever see any members of that old woman's family they're going to see my middle finger.
I have too many cats here and nowhere for them to be. I am really sick of it. They've vomited and crapped on the mattress, the crap one those people dumped on me, saying they were bringing a box springs, frame and head board, too, but never did. That was two months ago. Now I have to pay to have it hauled away.
I want this old disgusting dresser with the tiny narrow drawers that are basically useless except to hold one pair of jeans each, I want it gone, too.
People dump their crap on me. I'm sick of that. But mostly I want these five teens gone. I want part of a life back. They have broken major pieces off this keyboard. these is nothing safe and no way to keep anything safe from them. I want them gone. Gone. Gone. Gone.
I no longer have anywhere to relax in my own place. My lamp is broken. My alarm clock is broken. Can't even think of replacing them, because they'll be broken once again. I am really totally tired of it.
They have pulled clothes off their hangers in my closet and those clothes have ended up in the litterbox. I want them gone. And if I ever see any members of that old woman's family they're going to see my middle finger.
I have too many cats here and nowhere for them to be. I am really sick of it. They've vomited and crapped on the mattress, the crap one those people dumped on me, saying they were bringing a box springs, frame and head board, too, but never did. That was two months ago. Now I have to pay to have it hauled away.
I want this old disgusting dresser with the tiny narrow drawers that are basically useless except to hold one pair of jeans each, I want it gone, too.
People dump their crap on me. I'm sick of that. But mostly I want these five teens gone. I want part of a life back. They have broken major pieces off this keyboard. these is nothing safe and no way to keep anything safe from them. I want them gone. Gone. Gone. Gone.
I no longer have anywhere to relax in my own place. My lamp is broken. My alarm clock is broken. Can't even think of replacing them, because they'll be broken once again. I am really totally tired of it.
Dryer Problem Discovered
The dryer glide bracket is toast. Keni's husband Gary found this very quickly. There are two metal brackets that hold and guide the cylinder at the front as it spins. The one on the left is flopping, nearly broken off, which is why then the dryer cylinder sags and scrapes on the metal motor bracket. The part is like $10 with shipping, and I ordered it. It'll take about four or five days to get here. The cost of repairing the dryer is going to be under $15. That's very cool.
I'm about to see if the barn home people are home and if so, take these two cats out there. I had actually hoped to trap a buddy for each, from the place each came from. The tabby on white at the rest area, to go with the black female from there. I'm sure they know each other. And the starving calico from the overpass at 34 and 99, to go with Big Gray. I'm sure they also are acquainted. But I never trapped either cat. And these guys can't wait any longer. They'll be in containment a week at the barn, so in that time, maybe I can catch their respective buddies.
If not, I hope they can make new friends at the barn. It's always easier if they go with a buddy, but what do you do if they don't have one?
I'm about to see if the barn home people are home and if so, take these two cats out there. I had actually hoped to trap a buddy for each, from the place each came from. The tabby on white at the rest area, to go with the black female from there. I'm sure they know each other. And the starving calico from the overpass at 34 and 99, to go with Big Gray. I'm sure they also are acquainted. But I never trapped either cat. And these guys can't wait any longer. They'll be in containment a week at the barn, so in that time, maybe I can catch their respective buddies.
If not, I hope they can make new friends at the barn. It's always easier if they go with a buddy, but what do you do if they don't have one?
Is the North Bound Bridge over the Santiam on I5 Safe?
I stopped in at my favorite haunt, the south bound rest area, just to leave food for the tabby on white, and gawk at the leftovers from the flooding. I was under the highway overpasses again, to see if the food I left had been eaten.
I had wondered about why there was water clear up under the overpass, where it meets the bank at the north end on the north bound lanes. It's a horizontal cement slab near the top there. But there's a lot of water on it. Not so on the south bound end.
Not only that, right in the middle of that cement slab, against the back, is a pile of wet gravel, pyramided, like it's falling through from the highway itself. But today, the corner of the square block of concrete that is one of scores of such blocks that form the bottom of the freeway bridge, right out from the pile of gravel, is cracking. I thought "holy shit" and got the hell out from under it.
I told some ODOT folks coming through they should check that out. They were there probably to clean up damage from flooding. But they said they were carpenters. So I just called ODOT's main dispatch and said I think they should check that out, see what's going on.
It's not like that pile of wet gravel there is new. It's been there the entire time I've been looking for Sophie, plus water on that slab, which I did think was strange, meaning it is coming through from the highway. That should not be. But now that crack in that slab next to the falling gravel, which is part of the bottom of the freeway, that spooked me out totally. I bolted out from under there, I tell you. I hope they check that out.
I'm no bridge engineer. I know. Didn't look normal to me, but what do I know.
If it's failing, wouldn't that be bad? But, if it's failing and caught before a collapse, due to the hunt for Sophie and a cat trapper, how strange would that be?
I had wondered about why there was water clear up under the overpass, where it meets the bank at the north end on the north bound lanes. It's a horizontal cement slab near the top there. But there's a lot of water on it. Not so on the south bound end.
Not only that, right in the middle of that cement slab, against the back, is a pile of wet gravel, pyramided, like it's falling through from the highway itself. But today, the corner of the square block of concrete that is one of scores of such blocks that form the bottom of the freeway bridge, right out from the pile of gravel, is cracking. I thought "holy shit" and got the hell out from under it.
I told some ODOT folks coming through they should check that out. They were there probably to clean up damage from flooding. But they said they were carpenters. So I just called ODOT's main dispatch and said I think they should check that out, see what's going on.
It's not like that pile of wet gravel there is new. It's been there the entire time I've been looking for Sophie, plus water on that slab, which I did think was strange, meaning it is coming through from the highway. That should not be. But now that crack in that slab next to the falling gravel, which is part of the bottom of the freeway, that spooked me out totally. I bolted out from under there, I tell you. I hope they check that out.
I'm no bridge engineer. I know. Didn't look normal to me, but what do I know.
If it's failing, wouldn't that be bad? But, if it's failing and caught before a collapse, due to the hunt for Sophie and a cat trapper, how strange would that be?
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Candy Gets Her Home!
Woohoo. Yippee! Candy got a great home with a couple, who are immense cat lovers. They're a really nice young couple. Indoor only, just a great home, and a great chance for her. Good luck Candy!
Sunshine, the Bottle Babe from Salbastgeon Suites, Now
Sunshine's people send me photos all the time of the three former bottle babes from the bushes outside Salbastgeon Suites in Corvallis. Employees found them there. I tired to find and trap their mom, to no avail. Will be trying again real soon, however.
Anyhow, Melodie from Sublimity, offered to foster them as bottle babes, then couldn't give them up. I know exactly how she felt. Beanie, Sunshine and Flower now have a wonderful home. And, as this photo of Sunshine, the second one, shows, they're doing great. The first one is for contrast. The first photo was of Beanie and Sunshine not long after I took them in, after receiving a frantic call from a Salbastgeon Suites housekeeper.
Keni and her husband are coming down today. Keni's hubby is going to try to fix my dryer. I'm excited. I never get visitors. Never. Keni's been here once before, when she brought down that by old dresser that had been donated to Recycled Gardens to sell, but never sold. Keni is the one who took in the Leukemia positive torti kitten, who likely will test negative second test around. Keni is Poppa's President.
I don't even know how to act with visitors. I haven't been to Corvallis in awhile and I buy food at Winco. So I think I should have something on hand that at least they can drink, right?
I run low on decent food often now that I live in Albany. I just don't get to the Winco often and cannot justify spending money at grocery stores that cost four times more than the same item at Winco. I talked to at least two Albany council people about that the council should try to attract a Winco to Albany since there are so many poor people here and because Winco is an employee owned company. Workers get good wages and benefits, not like these other expensive grocery stores.
They told me I should shop at the grocery outlet if I can't afford other Albany stores. They don't have a clue, I don't suppose, how reasonable Winco Foods is comparatively and how little real food the grocery outlet offers at decent price. By real food I mean nonpackaged and not highly processed food.
So anyhow, I'm thinking I should take a run to the store this morning before they come since I haven't in a long while and am very low on real food items.
I also need to clean and wash my car and get Suzy and Gray Hulk to their new home. The people interested in Candy have contacted me back and filled out the adoption form and we're just going to set up a time they can come meet her. I am so hoping it works out. It's no life for her, living in a bedroom.
Anyhow, Melodie from Sublimity, offered to foster them as bottle babes, then couldn't give them up. I know exactly how she felt. Beanie, Sunshine and Flower now have a wonderful home. And, as this photo of Sunshine, the second one, shows, they're doing great. The first one is for contrast. The first photo was of Beanie and Sunshine not long after I took them in, after receiving a frantic call from a Salbastgeon Suites housekeeper.
Keni and her husband are coming down today. Keni's hubby is going to try to fix my dryer. I'm excited. I never get visitors. Never. Keni's been here once before, when she brought down that by old dresser that had been donated to Recycled Gardens to sell, but never sold. Keni is the one who took in the Leukemia positive torti kitten, who likely will test negative second test around. Keni is Poppa's President.
I don't even know how to act with visitors. I haven't been to Corvallis in awhile and I buy food at Winco. So I think I should have something on hand that at least they can drink, right?
I run low on decent food often now that I live in Albany. I just don't get to the Winco often and cannot justify spending money at grocery stores that cost four times more than the same item at Winco. I talked to at least two Albany council people about that the council should try to attract a Winco to Albany since there are so many poor people here and because Winco is an employee owned company. Workers get good wages and benefits, not like these other expensive grocery stores.
They told me I should shop at the grocery outlet if I can't afford other Albany stores. They don't have a clue, I don't suppose, how reasonable Winco Foods is comparatively and how little real food the grocery outlet offers at decent price. By real food I mean nonpackaged and not highly processed food.
So anyhow, I'm thinking I should take a run to the store this morning before they come since I haven't in a long while and am very low on real food items.
I also need to clean and wash my car and get Suzy and Gray Hulk to their new home. The people interested in Candy have contacted me back and filled out the adoption form and we're just going to set up a time they can come meet her. I am so hoping it works out. It's no life for her, living in a bedroom.
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Happiness
I am very happy Sophie is home. I guess it was today the owners came down and found her. They must have called me shortly after getting home. I bet they were excited. I figured the high water would bring her out in the open. Thank god for the high water, eh?
Bad news for Country Coach employees in Junction City. They may close permanently, leaving about 800 people without family wage jobs. Coos County just laid off 22 road crew workers, which is 22 more families without a family wage job.
There just don't seem to be many jobs out there. Well, there's fast food and convenience stores, if you want a minimum wage experience, but it is hard to support one person on minimum wage, let alone more than one. You'd think with all the downturn that rent would go down. Rent takes a huge chunk out of people's paycheck, sometimes half of it or more than half, if you're minimum wage. Why isn't rent reflecting the general economy and going down when so many people are having trouble paying rent I wonder. Maybe because of the mortgage crisis? More demand for rentals?
I suppose when people start vacating rentals for inability to pay such high rents then rental rates will drop. And what is up with utility rates rising, when salaries are going down and jobs are vanishing? What is up with that?
This woman I"ve known awhile, rents rurally. It's a run down shack actually. She's paying more than $600 in rent. The property is junked, too, nothing to do with her, but from the landlords shit and she has to pay that kind of money to live in a run down shack. She took it because she has an old dog and some old cats and I guess there was no deposits charged, which is why she could get into it.
But that place should be renting for $350 tops. I bet she also took it because a shack beats living in some apartment complex, a couple floors up with nothing at all to look at or do, but stare at walls, when not working. She likes to have a garden and go for walks in the country.
Anyhow, I think my whole role in the Sophie thing was some guise by the cat gods who have me enslaved, so Suzy and little Feather wouldn't die out there. I think the god of all doesn't like to see a little kitten starve to death out there, unloved and alone. I like to think that anyhow.
I don't think the god of all would be very happy with those who dump little kittens out to die. I think god of all would or does, if possible, put those sorts of souls through as much hell as possible, at some point in their lives, like I like to think god of all does to all abusers of things smaller or less powerful than they.
I like to think these things anyhow. I like to believe in ultimate justice and karma and that good will tromp evil in the end. Especially, in this case, when a willing cat trapper, intent on creating a happy ending for a lost Siamese and her people, spent some long cold interesting nights in her car, and instead saved a desperate young adult and a starving sad kitten.
Bad news for Country Coach employees in Junction City. They may close permanently, leaving about 800 people without family wage jobs. Coos County just laid off 22 road crew workers, which is 22 more families without a family wage job.
There just don't seem to be many jobs out there. Well, there's fast food and convenience stores, if you want a minimum wage experience, but it is hard to support one person on minimum wage, let alone more than one. You'd think with all the downturn that rent would go down. Rent takes a huge chunk out of people's paycheck, sometimes half of it or more than half, if you're minimum wage. Why isn't rent reflecting the general economy and going down when so many people are having trouble paying rent I wonder. Maybe because of the mortgage crisis? More demand for rentals?
I suppose when people start vacating rentals for inability to pay such high rents then rental rates will drop. And what is up with utility rates rising, when salaries are going down and jobs are vanishing? What is up with that?
This woman I"ve known awhile, rents rurally. It's a run down shack actually. She's paying more than $600 in rent. The property is junked, too, nothing to do with her, but from the landlords shit and she has to pay that kind of money to live in a run down shack. She took it because she has an old dog and some old cats and I guess there was no deposits charged, which is why she could get into it.
But that place should be renting for $350 tops. I bet she also took it because a shack beats living in some apartment complex, a couple floors up with nothing at all to look at or do, but stare at walls, when not working. She likes to have a garden and go for walks in the country.
Anyhow, I think my whole role in the Sophie thing was some guise by the cat gods who have me enslaved, so Suzy and little Feather wouldn't die out there. I think the god of all doesn't like to see a little kitten starve to death out there, unloved and alone. I like to think that anyhow.
I don't think the god of all would be very happy with those who dump little kittens out to die. I think god of all would or does, if possible, put those sorts of souls through as much hell as possible, at some point in their lives, like I like to think god of all does to all abusers of things smaller or less powerful than they.
I like to think these things anyhow. I like to believe in ultimate justice and karma and that good will tromp evil in the end. Especially, in this case, when a willing cat trapper, intent on creating a happy ending for a lost Siamese and her people, spent some long cold interesting nights in her car, and instead saved a desperate young adult and a starving sad kitten.
Sophie is Found!
Sophie's owner called me to tell me they brought Sohpie home yesterday afternoon. She was up north of the rest area, where there is also a little park. Someone called her to tell her they'd seen her up there and they went down immediately. Sure enough, there she was. She ran back into the briars when they tried to get her to come to them, but was coaxed out for food, in about 15 minutes.
Yahoo! Woopee for Sophie. She's back home.
Yahoo! Woopee for Sophie. She's back home.
Long Sleep
I had a good long sleep last night which I needed. The orange tabby kitten I took in yesterday, of four, was the wrong orange tabby female kitten, the already spayed one. I asked the vet to check first for a spay scar, and they found one.
As for the orange and white female kitten, who was not able to walk more than a couple steps, the vet found a lump on her abdomin. He went ahead and spayed her and when she was opened up, searched inside for the lump. He found a large hard mass at the secum, the valve between the small and large intestine. He milked it through the valve into the large intestine.
The caretakers have a friend they said was giving the cats chicken bones. They asked him not to do that, but he claimed it wouldn't hurt them. The vet thinks this is some crunched up bone material, hard, too much for the cats small intestine, never made it through the valve, causing a blockage. He thinks she'll be able to pass it now. She had some swollen lymph nodes in her belly area, so she's also on antibiotics. When food gets caught up like that, it can start to rot.
Hopefully this is the cause. I also instructed them to keep her lubed, feeding her warmed wet food mixed with water and even some olive oil by mouth. He had initially told me he thought she'd swallowed a chicken bone. The vet examined the intestines and found no perforation from a bone sticking through from the inside, which is a good thing.
I called them, to get those kittens in, because someone else cancelled. This likely saved that kitten's life. Just at the right time!
The folks taking Suzy, the black female, and The Hulk, the gray male, should have gotten back from their vacation yesterday. I may try to call today. Hate to, in way, call the day after they get back, but if they're worn out, they can say, "Let's wait til the first of the week."
The people who called ten days ago, wanting two kittens, called again last night. Seems slightly strange. I'd called them back immediately, the next day, after initially talking to them. I've been hesitant and was actually happy they had not called again, figuring they got kittens elsewhere. They wanted them as barn kittens. Initially then, they claimed they would keep them in the house a month. Now they claim they'll keep them in the house a few months. I just don't know, two kittens on their own in a barn....boy, kind of tough to think of that. I'll try talking to them again, and ask them to fill out the adoption papers then make up my mind.
Someone e-mailed interested in Candy. I was happy and immediately e-mailed back the adoption paper for them to fill out. Haven't heard back, but that was just last night. They have two cats, love them, they said, want a third, a loving cat, which Candy is. She loves to be on your lap and be held.
As for the orange and white female kitten, who was not able to walk more than a couple steps, the vet found a lump on her abdomin. He went ahead and spayed her and when she was opened up, searched inside for the lump. He found a large hard mass at the secum, the valve between the small and large intestine. He milked it through the valve into the large intestine.
The caretakers have a friend they said was giving the cats chicken bones. They asked him not to do that, but he claimed it wouldn't hurt them. The vet thinks this is some crunched up bone material, hard, too much for the cats small intestine, never made it through the valve, causing a blockage. He thinks she'll be able to pass it now. She had some swollen lymph nodes in her belly area, so she's also on antibiotics. When food gets caught up like that, it can start to rot.
Hopefully this is the cause. I also instructed them to keep her lubed, feeding her warmed wet food mixed with water and even some olive oil by mouth. He had initially told me he thought she'd swallowed a chicken bone. The vet examined the intestines and found no perforation from a bone sticking through from the inside, which is a good thing.
I called them, to get those kittens in, because someone else cancelled. This likely saved that kitten's life. Just at the right time!
The folks taking Suzy, the black female, and The Hulk, the gray male, should have gotten back from their vacation yesterday. I may try to call today. Hate to, in way, call the day after they get back, but if they're worn out, they can say, "Let's wait til the first of the week."
The people who called ten days ago, wanting two kittens, called again last night. Seems slightly strange. I'd called them back immediately, the next day, after initially talking to them. I've been hesitant and was actually happy they had not called again, figuring they got kittens elsewhere. They wanted them as barn kittens. Initially then, they claimed they would keep them in the house a month. Now they claim they'll keep them in the house a few months. I just don't know, two kittens on their own in a barn....boy, kind of tough to think of that. I'll try talking to them again, and ask them to fill out the adoption papers then make up my mind.
Someone e-mailed interested in Candy. I was happy and immediately e-mailed back the adoption paper for them to fill out. Haven't heard back, but that was just last night. They have two cats, love them, they said, want a third, a loving cat, which Candy is. She loves to be on your lap and be held.
Friday, January 02, 2009
The Santiam Rest Area is Flooding
The Santiam River is raging and flooding the rest area where I spent so many nights after Sophie, the lost Siamese. I hope, if she's still alive, she made it out of that torrent The woods where she was hanging out, along with the tabby on white, are totally flooded in the south bound side, clear up and into the overflow parking lot. I'm glad I pulled my trap from those woods. It'd be gone. Even the picnic tables are submerged.
This is a picnic table, or the very top of one.
This is the road, underwater now, that led down by the river, and underneath the north and south bound lanes of I5, to the north bound rest area side.
This is a picnic table, or the very top of one.
This is the road, underwater now, that led down by the river, and underneath the north and south bound lanes of I5, to the north bound rest area side.
New Photos of Blizz and the Other Deceased Woman Cats
Button, one of the two little girls.
Blizz, the little Lynx Pt. boy, is just perfect. But wild.
Blizz and Kimo. All the kittens are very bonded.
Kimo standing tall.
Five Cats at Vet Today
Today, I took up five cats to be fixed. I took up the last four kittens from the Millersburg Road Chaos colony. Last fall, I trapped and took in ten adults to be fixed from there. Then, mid October, I took three of seven kittens up to Wilsonville to be fixed. They did not want these kittens eartipped, but, unfortunately, two of the orange tabby tux female kittens look just alike. I looked at photos I took of the three fixed last October and e-mailed the caretakers a photo of the orange female fixed already. But their power and internet went out in the storm last night, so they didn't get to look. This morning, from memory of looking at the photo last night, I chose the one I don't think is yet fixed.
They had one of the four unfixed kittens suddenly have problems walking three days ago. It can only a short distance. The kitten seems to have pain around the rear end. I took that kitten up also, to be looked at by the vet. Sounds like a pelvis injury to me. The kittens go outside and play wildly, even with the fixed adults. He could have taken a fall, or any number of things.
I also took up, as cat number five, a torti from the 13th street cats. I took up five more last Tuesday and six before that, although the big male died under anesthesia. There are two more cats there, one feral, one tame. They've all been tame so far. He is extremely happy to be getting them fixed and so is his neighbor. He is out of work, as are so many people these days.
Millersburg Road Chaos kittens, two girls and a boy, being fixed today. The torti they call One Eye, due to an eye injury incurred three months ago. The orange tabby looks just like the other female orange tabby fixed in October. I hope I chose the right one. I asked the clinic to watch for a spay scar.
This is the injured kitten, who is at the vet today being assessed.
This is the torti, cat number 12 to be taken in from the 13th street cats to be fixed. She is being fixed today. There are two more cats there needing fixed.
Below are the five 13th street cats fixed last Tuesday. Also fixed last Tuesday was the black adult rest area female.
Black tux male teen, from 13th street cats, fixed last Tuesday.
Torti teen, from 13th street cats, fixed last Tuesday.
Orange tabby male bobtail teen, fixed last Tuesday from the 13th street cats.
Another orange tabby bobtail teen, fixed last Tuesday from the 13th street cats.
This is the adult female calico, with the BB in her uterus, fixed last Tuesday from the 13th street cats. S
They had one of the four unfixed kittens suddenly have problems walking three days ago. It can only a short distance. The kitten seems to have pain around the rear end. I took that kitten up also, to be looked at by the vet. Sounds like a pelvis injury to me. The kittens go outside and play wildly, even with the fixed adults. He could have taken a fall, or any number of things.
I also took up, as cat number five, a torti from the 13th street cats. I took up five more last Tuesday and six before that, although the big male died under anesthesia. There are two more cats there, one feral, one tame. They've all been tame so far. He is extremely happy to be getting them fixed and so is his neighbor. He is out of work, as are so many people these days.
Millersburg Road Chaos kittens, two girls and a boy, being fixed today. The torti they call One Eye, due to an eye injury incurred three months ago. The orange tabby looks just like the other female orange tabby fixed in October. I hope I chose the right one. I asked the clinic to watch for a spay scar.
This is the injured kitten, who is at the vet today being assessed.
This is the torti, cat number 12 to be taken in from the 13th street cats to be fixed. She is being fixed today. There are two more cats there needing fixed.Below are the five 13th street cats fixed last Tuesday. Also fixed last Tuesday was the black adult rest area female.
Black tux male teen, from 13th street cats, fixed last Tuesday.
Torti teen, from 13th street cats, fixed last Tuesday.
Orange tabby male bobtail teen, fixed last Tuesday from the 13th street cats.
Another orange tabby bobtail teen, fixed last Tuesday from the 13th street cats.
This is the adult female calico, with the BB in her uterus, fixed last Tuesday from the 13th street cats. S
It's Pouring
Oregon is getting drenched in warm rainstorm. This, after all the unaccustomed snow. But, I hear, temperatures may cool and the rain may stop in favor of more snow, by tomorrow night.
I think about the big trees out back. Well they hold up in saturated soil?
The soil back there is compacted clay. That should be helpful at least in holding fast the roots. One hybrid maple has roots solid and fast, under the garage floor. If it rips, it rips.
Maybe the cat yard wire will help hold them up, eh?
Well I don't want my next long about to be nap interrupted with a tree crashing in on the garage and house. That wouldn't be fun. My car's in that garage.
How would I visit my vacation home, the rest area, without a car to do so in? Or live at all, if homeless, without a car to sleep in? I think about that sometimes.
My housing situation has always been worse than shaky. I've lived homeless a couple times. Having a car to live in makes things so much warmer and safer.
When you end up homeless or moving constantly due to bad housing situations, you end up losing an attachment to most things material, like money and stuff. I've realized you can live without almost everything. But things alive become very very dear to heart, like these cats here. I guess they're about all I would worry about, should a tree come crashing through this house.
Right now I'm healthy and that's a good thing, because if you're homeless, if you're sick or in pain, then life is indeed extremely hard. It's a merciless scrap to the desperate end. Like that lost Siamese out there.
That shriek I heard, was it the second night, I can't even remember. I think it was the day I arrived early in the morning, around 3:00 a.m. I'd set a trap beneath the shed, then heard that shriek. It was metalic, yet there was animal to it also. That's when I saw the guy headed out of the woods, who then darted again behind a tree. He was smoking a joint. I got my pepper spray out and headed into the woods. I found the metal cat house someone put out there, on its side. The house has only one entrance, which makes it a danger to cats, since they can't escape.
I still wonder if that noise and that metal house on its side, had anything to do with the disappearance of the Siamese. I assume the man tripped onto it in the dark and ripped it upwards, but would it have landed perfectly, on its side like that and it was only seconds before I saw him come out from under that tree, which is a good forty feet through brush from that cat house. He claimed, however, to have heard no noise, which had to have been a lie. I heard it from several hundred feet beyond where he emerged.
I found no white fur, no blood, no evidence of struggle other than a slight spot of bare ground with leaves massed at one side of it, more like a human had slipped there, then hit that cat house. It was just moments after discovering the overturned cat house that I saw the tabby on white cat for the first time. Then I wondered if it was a cat fight I heard, the sudden shriek of surprise or shock, when two cats meet suddenly for the first time. Or was the tabby on white asleep in the cat house when the man stumbled into it?
I don't know, but seeing the tabby on white very nearby, rather soon after the shrief rather alleviated my fears that a predator had taken the Siamese. Surely the tabby on white would not be twenty feet from where a predator just grabbed and killed a cat.
I have seen canine prints, big ones, fifty pound dog or more, down at the boat ramp, and fresh ones this morning, along the road to the river, and under the overpass. It rained heavily in the night, most tracks would have been obscurred or have blurred out edges from the rainfall in soft silt. All these sets in various times, I have found, are the same size. Is this a coyote in the area? I've seen one frequently in the field just north of the rest area. But there are numerous dogs walked and let loose along there, at all times of the day and night. I"m still going with domestic canine on the track sets.
Canines leave four paw pad prints, like cats, but unlike cats, they leave claw marks above each paw pad print.
However, this morning also, I found fresh cat prints, down beneath the overpasses. I found a cat trail, too. I also climbed up the rocks between the two overpass bridges of the north and south bound lanes of I5 and popped my head up to be buffeted by the wind and rain between the travellers north and travelers south.
I have loved being out in the night again. I've always loved feeling the weather, the night, the cold, the storms. I have missed this. I guess this is also why I have returned over and over to the rest area. I like stalking the woods at night, tracking and feeling the storm against my face. If I have a rest area at least to do this, thank god. There are not many wild places in Albany, OR.
I think about the big trees out back. Well they hold up in saturated soil?
The soil back there is compacted clay. That should be helpful at least in holding fast the roots. One hybrid maple has roots solid and fast, under the garage floor. If it rips, it rips.
Maybe the cat yard wire will help hold them up, eh?
Well I don't want my next long about to be nap interrupted with a tree crashing in on the garage and house. That wouldn't be fun. My car's in that garage.
How would I visit my vacation home, the rest area, without a car to do so in? Or live at all, if homeless, without a car to sleep in? I think about that sometimes.
My housing situation has always been worse than shaky. I've lived homeless a couple times. Having a car to live in makes things so much warmer and safer.
When you end up homeless or moving constantly due to bad housing situations, you end up losing an attachment to most things material, like money and stuff. I've realized you can live without almost everything. But things alive become very very dear to heart, like these cats here. I guess they're about all I would worry about, should a tree come crashing through this house.
Right now I'm healthy and that's a good thing, because if you're homeless, if you're sick or in pain, then life is indeed extremely hard. It's a merciless scrap to the desperate end. Like that lost Siamese out there.
That shriek I heard, was it the second night, I can't even remember. I think it was the day I arrived early in the morning, around 3:00 a.m. I'd set a trap beneath the shed, then heard that shriek. It was metalic, yet there was animal to it also. That's when I saw the guy headed out of the woods, who then darted again behind a tree. He was smoking a joint. I got my pepper spray out and headed into the woods. I found the metal cat house someone put out there, on its side. The house has only one entrance, which makes it a danger to cats, since they can't escape.
I still wonder if that noise and that metal house on its side, had anything to do with the disappearance of the Siamese. I assume the man tripped onto it in the dark and ripped it upwards, but would it have landed perfectly, on its side like that and it was only seconds before I saw him come out from under that tree, which is a good forty feet through brush from that cat house. He claimed, however, to have heard no noise, which had to have been a lie. I heard it from several hundred feet beyond where he emerged.
I found no white fur, no blood, no evidence of struggle other than a slight spot of bare ground with leaves massed at one side of it, more like a human had slipped there, then hit that cat house. It was just moments after discovering the overturned cat house that I saw the tabby on white cat for the first time. Then I wondered if it was a cat fight I heard, the sudden shriek of surprise or shock, when two cats meet suddenly for the first time. Or was the tabby on white asleep in the cat house when the man stumbled into it?
I don't know, but seeing the tabby on white very nearby, rather soon after the shrief rather alleviated my fears that a predator had taken the Siamese. Surely the tabby on white would not be twenty feet from where a predator just grabbed and killed a cat.
I have seen canine prints, big ones, fifty pound dog or more, down at the boat ramp, and fresh ones this morning, along the road to the river, and under the overpass. It rained heavily in the night, most tracks would have been obscurred or have blurred out edges from the rainfall in soft silt. All these sets in various times, I have found, are the same size. Is this a coyote in the area? I've seen one frequently in the field just north of the rest area. But there are numerous dogs walked and let loose along there, at all times of the day and night. I"m still going with domestic canine on the track sets.
Canines leave four paw pad prints, like cats, but unlike cats, they leave claw marks above each paw pad print.
However, this morning also, I found fresh cat prints, down beneath the overpasses. I found a cat trail, too. I also climbed up the rocks between the two overpass bridges of the north and south bound lanes of I5 and popped my head up to be buffeted by the wind and rain between the travellers north and travelers south.
I have loved being out in the night again. I've always loved feeling the weather, the night, the cold, the storms. I have missed this. I guess this is also why I have returned over and over to the rest area. I like stalking the woods at night, tracking and feeling the storm against my face. If I have a rest area at least to do this, thank god. There are not many wild places in Albany, OR.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
One More Shot
I gave it another shot at the rest area last night. I'd slept all day yesterday so I figured why not. But it was just another frustrating night. Dog owners. They'd drive up, and turn out two or three huge dogs to run wild and to take a shit in the picnic area. Over and over again, this was repeated, until, early this morning, when a big fat cowboy hat guy came out of a huge trailer he'd spent the night in, and turned his hound loose, who raced up to me in the dark, spooking the hell out of me, I could no longer contain my frustration. I went off on him.
At first I tried to explain why I was upset about the free roaming dogs, that I was trying to find a lost cat, that dogs were supposed to be on leash, and walked only in one area, but he didn't give a shit. That's when I blew up and told him off good.
I was in the process of picking up my traps, convinced this is a senseless endeavor. Dog owners have sealed her fate in part. In all my time out there, I saw only one man pick up his dogs' shit. I saw a ton of dog owners let their dogs run, shit and pee in the picnic area, often peeing on the table legs or tables themselves. I saw dangerous dogs let loose to run, big dogs, little dogs, and not one owner seemed intent on behaving according to the rules posted at the rest area, except a handful.
Also last night, four young men pulled up in a white car, got out their big cans of beer, dumped their trash out the door of the car, into the parking lot. One of them couldn't wait, and was unzipping his pants as he exited the car. He looked over it me with a sly grin before pulling out his penis and taking a whiz near the sidewalk a few feet from my car. I stared, incredulous. Then he turned to me and said "Happy New Year" and they drove off, leaving their trash, mostly empty beer cans, in a pile beside where they had parked.
I guess the rest area fascinates me now. I think it'd make a good movie just called "Rest Area". You never know what to expect, really. It's kind of disgusting and seedy, but I think as a movie it could be dressed up enough to be digestible, with a plot thrown in.
I call the rest area "my vacation home". I can go there for a night whenever I want to. It's not so bad, really. LIke a cold C grade motel. Lots of action and drama. Lots of abnormal behavior. Lots of sad stories from people who live in their cars. And then there are the truckers. Many are nice but many are also extremely sexual.
I made a new trucker friend. He's from Texas and wants to call next time he's through here "go to dinner or something". I can imagine what the "or something is" and I've already forgotten his name and recycled the paper he wrote his number on. Before he took down my cat website, he had told me about getting stuck at the pass, down at the CA OR border, so he went off with some woman trucker and got a hotel. Well, I never would have guessed.
I felt like saying "Mister, from dealing with cats, I know the cats who have been breeding all sorts of partners are full of parasites and diseases so no thank you. No Thank You, Mr. Texas Trucker, not interested."
Some of these promiscous truckers must harbor all sorts of diseases and maybe even be the breeding grouds for mutating viruses, since they likely get exposed to different strains of everything all over the country, sleeping here and there and everywhere. Man alive. That's just disgusting.
You don't see most of the truckers. They pull in, in the overflow area, park, and go to sleep, in their sleeper compartments, engines idling away. That rest area doesn't have many trucker spaces and it's tight parking there, especially if the RV's pulling cars or pickups don't have the brains to pull forward far enough. The trucks pull out straight ahead to get back on the onramp to the freeway. They come around when getting off the freeway, looking for a spot in that line up, but there are pull in passenger spaces facing south, too. Often there is no room for trucks to go on through. More than once I got awakened by a truck's headlights blasting in through my car windows. After the first time, I knew the routine. They were stuck, couldn't squeeze through between me and the rear end of some other rig, usually a badly parked RV pulling a car or trailer. So I'd have to move.
ODOT says they can't make that any bigger because it floods clear to the parking lot at times, from the river. It's kind of dangerous as a passenger car to park in the car spots in the overflow due to the big rigs trying to get through very tight spots between the backs of cars and the backs of big rigs and RV's with their excess vehicles.
You wouldn't know the economy's not so good if you park in the overflow area. It's the RV's you see, the excess, huge trailers, too. The RV's are often pulling an extra vehicle, or a trailer filled with expensive toys like ATV's, or even a boat. You see the excess in the overflow parking lot.
You see the sadness over in the regular parking lot by the restrooms--the ragtags, the rubber tramps, the lost souls down and out, filling jugs from their trunks with water to fill an always leaking radiator, always out trying to fix a broken up possession packed car. But they're almost always friendly and smiling, too. These are the souls you can talk to, who have empathy for a lost cat. You can't talk like that to the arrogant pedigreed RV'ers' or those camping out free in their big trailers with their big dogs shitting in the picnic area who have no empathy whatsoever that a cat is out there somewhere, scared, hungry, and dying.
But there is a cat out there suffering somewhere. I never found her. But I tried. Oh how I tried.
At first I tried to explain why I was upset about the free roaming dogs, that I was trying to find a lost cat, that dogs were supposed to be on leash, and walked only in one area, but he didn't give a shit. That's when I blew up and told him off good.
I was in the process of picking up my traps, convinced this is a senseless endeavor. Dog owners have sealed her fate in part. In all my time out there, I saw only one man pick up his dogs' shit. I saw a ton of dog owners let their dogs run, shit and pee in the picnic area, often peeing on the table legs or tables themselves. I saw dangerous dogs let loose to run, big dogs, little dogs, and not one owner seemed intent on behaving according to the rules posted at the rest area, except a handful.
Also last night, four young men pulled up in a white car, got out their big cans of beer, dumped their trash out the door of the car, into the parking lot. One of them couldn't wait, and was unzipping his pants as he exited the car. He looked over it me with a sly grin before pulling out his penis and taking a whiz near the sidewalk a few feet from my car. I stared, incredulous. Then he turned to me and said "Happy New Year" and they drove off, leaving their trash, mostly empty beer cans, in a pile beside where they had parked.
I guess the rest area fascinates me now. I think it'd make a good movie just called "Rest Area". You never know what to expect, really. It's kind of disgusting and seedy, but I think as a movie it could be dressed up enough to be digestible, with a plot thrown in.
I call the rest area "my vacation home". I can go there for a night whenever I want to. It's not so bad, really. LIke a cold C grade motel. Lots of action and drama. Lots of abnormal behavior. Lots of sad stories from people who live in their cars. And then there are the truckers. Many are nice but many are also extremely sexual.
I made a new trucker friend. He's from Texas and wants to call next time he's through here "go to dinner or something". I can imagine what the "or something is" and I've already forgotten his name and recycled the paper he wrote his number on. Before he took down my cat website, he had told me about getting stuck at the pass, down at the CA OR border, so he went off with some woman trucker and got a hotel. Well, I never would have guessed.
I felt like saying "Mister, from dealing with cats, I know the cats who have been breeding all sorts of partners are full of parasites and diseases so no thank you. No Thank You, Mr. Texas Trucker, not interested."
Some of these promiscous truckers must harbor all sorts of diseases and maybe even be the breeding grouds for mutating viruses, since they likely get exposed to different strains of everything all over the country, sleeping here and there and everywhere. Man alive. That's just disgusting.
You don't see most of the truckers. They pull in, in the overflow area, park, and go to sleep, in their sleeper compartments, engines idling away. That rest area doesn't have many trucker spaces and it's tight parking there, especially if the RV's pulling cars or pickups don't have the brains to pull forward far enough. The trucks pull out straight ahead to get back on the onramp to the freeway. They come around when getting off the freeway, looking for a spot in that line up, but there are pull in passenger spaces facing south, too. Often there is no room for trucks to go on through. More than once I got awakened by a truck's headlights blasting in through my car windows. After the first time, I knew the routine. They were stuck, couldn't squeeze through between me and the rear end of some other rig, usually a badly parked RV pulling a car or trailer. So I'd have to move.
ODOT says they can't make that any bigger because it floods clear to the parking lot at times, from the river. It's kind of dangerous as a passenger car to park in the car spots in the overflow due to the big rigs trying to get through very tight spots between the backs of cars and the backs of big rigs and RV's with their excess vehicles.
You wouldn't know the economy's not so good if you park in the overflow area. It's the RV's you see, the excess, huge trailers, too. The RV's are often pulling an extra vehicle, or a trailer filled with expensive toys like ATV's, or even a boat. You see the excess in the overflow parking lot.
You see the sadness over in the regular parking lot by the restrooms--the ragtags, the rubber tramps, the lost souls down and out, filling jugs from their trunks with water to fill an always leaking radiator, always out trying to fix a broken up possession packed car. But they're almost always friendly and smiling, too. These are the souls you can talk to, who have empathy for a lost cat. You can't talk like that to the arrogant pedigreed RV'ers' or those camping out free in their big trailers with their big dogs shitting in the picnic area who have no empathy whatsoever that a cat is out there somewhere, scared, hungry, and dying.
But there is a cat out there suffering somewhere. I never found her. But I tried. Oh how I tried.
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