Caught the Kitten

I caught the kitten, but not the mom. I guess there may be a couple others, the woman has also seen intermittently. I want to catch the mom, who looks I am told, like the male fixed today, only slightly smaller. The kitten looks like a little boy.

Well, I have him in the bathroom. Big mistake, I know. He's got a slight cold and a very very loud purr. He wants me to be his mom, clean his mouth, rub his chin and comfort him as he curls against my warm body. He's a nice little boy who thinks now he's got it made, being nice and warm, and cuddled and well fed for once. Boy. He probably does have it made. That purr, that little face, that total trust he's handing me, a stranger to him. I can't turn him out after he's neutered.

I'll find him somebody to love him. Oh, what a sucker I am.

Duke (the kitten formerly known as Toby) and Pearl Doing Good

I am told Duke, Toby's new name, and Black Pearl are doing great in their new home. The folks just sent me photos.

Night in the Car

The Millersburg cat, who did turn out to be a male, and she has seen the other one, the female, who looks just like this one, only is pregnant. He's probably a brother, she thinks.
The boy mistaken for a preggie female.
Brother, a Tattoo Prairie colony male, fixed through the Neuterscooter 1 1/2 years ago.
The New Show at Tattoo Prairie, now fixed.
Owned Albany torbi tux, with multiple toes! Spayed today.
Nelson, the latest good looking male who showed up inside my friends house in Philomath. He came through her cat door. She's had a slew of males coming through lately. But she catches them all and they get fixed.
Nelson again. My car stinks again, like big male!


I had a "vacation" night, a "camping" night, so to speak. More cats showed up at the bulldozed trailer where Sam and Oci came from. I hadn't heard from the woman who originally fed the cats there, after they were abandoned when the woman who lived in the trailer was arrested for like three DUI's or something, had her kids taken away. She never came back for the cats and left two dogs locked inside the trailer too. This woman actually broke a window to save them.

Over a year later, she's still checking to see if there are more cats. She said there was a very pregnant black and white and four month old gray kitten. So I trapped the black and white before midnight, but just before. I saw the sleek round headed gray kitten too, in a shed, and he's so adorable and not really feral.

But this black and white sure looks big headed and bejoweled and large footed to be a girl. Granted, the cats' stomach is huge and bulging, like a preggie might be, but it could be a male with a worm belly.

So I asked the woman, and sent a photo, "is this your preggie girl cat?" She thinks it is, said the girl cat looks like a male, but thought her head was smaller, and maybe her body size, too. She asked if the cat hissed then let me pet it. I said "No hissing, just hyperventilating in the trap, but I did scratch its' ear. Seems like it might want petted, but it was late and dark. I didn't really try."

I went back to check the trap to see if the kitten was in it. He wasn't. He was snoozing. I dozed in my car for four hours then, but couldn't sleep because I needed to pee and it was just too cold to squat out by my car. I guess I could've.

I came home about 4:30 a.m. The woman feeds at 5:00 a.m. due to an early work schedule. I left her a note under the dish she feeds in.

She's curious too, to see if it is really a preggie girl, or if this lone kitten paired up with a male maybe. The kittens head is baseball round, like the black and whites, however. They seem related by shape.

I took the black and white, plus three others up to be fixed at the clinic. The three others are an orange tux male who showed up at Tattoo Prairie colony, where Stinod comes from. I stop by old colonies now and again, to say "hi" and see about any newcomers.

I ran a line out from the trap set on the porch at Tattoo Prairie colony, to selectively drop the trap door on the orange male, since there are a dozen fixed cats there. But the only two who came out were "Brother" the black male, and the orange male. I cut the clothes line, which I'd tied off to the passenger seat headrest and the door of the trap fell, but not all the way. The clothes line is not good for such use, as it isn't so smooth, to make a smooth drop once I cut the line. It catches and kinks. I quickly strode to the trap, hoping the cat didn't bolt out, since the door hadn't fallen enough to latch it. I got up there in time and he got caught.

Then my Philomath friend had yet another male show up. Probably again a caste off or unnoticed up at the collectors place on the hill. That's where I think he came from. She gets some good looking male cats come down. She gives them what they need: food and love. So they stay. I get them fixed. This is a really pretty gray tux long hair under a year old or about a year. Last summer's litter from somebody. I got to get up to that collectors house on the hill again. Check them out again.

Then the fourth cat is a little torbi from Albany, under a year, too. Low incomers. Only one of whom was out of bed this morning. Where I need to be.

Rainy Rainy Day

I am soggy to the core. This rain is driving me moldy, driving me dismal and bland and monotone. It's been going on forever it seeems like.

Mr. Sun, return please, even for a day, thank you.

I haven't left the house today. It's my revolt. Against the cost of cars. But the reverse revenge, from the car culture, is, that without a car, I don't see anybody all day and start to go stir crazy quick. I don't have anywhere to go, honestly, when not working.

Not that doesn't take an hour or more drive.

I shop in Salem, but not very often, maybe twice a month, to get human and cat food. Or in Corvallis, because I know people in Corvallis. Or did. But I like to go back over there. I imagine I'll run into someone I know and be able to chat with another human. Or even more. My dreams go wild when I've been isolated way too much.

Cars are expensive and money pits. I oft wish society wasn't built around their ownership, because I"d like to not own one.

But neither do I want stuck in Albany every day of every week of every year til I die. Oh my god, what a nightmare to think of that! So I need my car. I need it to get my groceries, my cat food and my cat litter and for my work. I need to dream I might stumble upon enough money to go on some little vacation too one day. I need that in the offing, in the possibilities pile, to keep on going.

If I didn't have my car, I'd probably end up walking around the endless concrete streets a few times a week and the rest of the time, sit staring at the stupid TV or read a book.

It'd be a lonely life I think, but lots of people don't ahve cars in Albany. I didn't have a car for lots and lots of years when I lived in Corvallis. If you had a car, in the circles I was in, everybody was after those people, wanting rides to the store, rides to go swimming somewhere, to go camping, to go to Portland. People who had cars tried to hide the fact they had a car so they didn't get inundated.

I'm basically complaining tonight, just stir crazy thats' all, from this rainy drizzly icky weather that won't break and show me that sun up there, behind those clouds raining. It's there, shining. I just can't feel it. It could evaporate all those clouds and their rain and shine on me. Come on Sun. Shine on down. I need you.

I think it would only be fair if everyone in the southern hemishere switched places with northern hemispherees, for three months at least, once a year, the shift to coincide with our Oregon dreary winter. The rest of the country is getting slammed this year too, with cold weather and snow. I know. I'm complaining for all of us, don't you see, not just me.

I want the days long and warm again. I'd take mildly long with a hint of sun. That's enough.

Four Cats Fixed Today

This is one of the scores of Maine Coon looking cats in the area where the male Maine Coon went missing in Salem.

Below are photos of the four cats fixed yesterday:
This black feral female kitten originates from Corvallis. Her siblings and mother were fixed in October, but she was under two pounds. Now she will join them in their new barn type home.
This beautiful Siamese female showed up as a stray at a house in Lebanon.
Next door, to where I picked up the Siamese, live a handsome pair, including this black and white female, fixed yesterday. Her half brother, below, was also fixed yesterday.


Today, I was back at it, in limited form, however. I took in four cats. Three of them came from Lebanon. One Siamese female wandered to this house, where I'd gotten two cats fixed before, as a stray after neighbors moved out. They suspect the neighbors left her behind. They will try to find her a home now.

Another neighbor had two cats, both offspring, in seperate litters of the first person's sister's cat. The sister did not care for her, and she ended up cared for by the more responsible sister. When I took that mother cat in, however, she had a massive tumor that involved several organs and had to be euthanized.

The boy fixed today, taken in as a loved owned cat, appeared very healthy. His half sister, from same now deceased mother but a later litter, was spayed today. Other than worms, she too looks happy and healthy.

The fourth cat fixed, was a little feral female kitten from Corvallis. Her mom and three siblings were fixed way back at the FCCO clinic last October. But she was too little. In the meantime, the woman who brought them to the clinic, a big time animal lover, found a home for the mom and siblings. They are still in containment in a large shed. This little girl will join her family in a few days.

Three Lebanon cats and kitten from Corvallis now fixed. Thank you Poppa Inc.

I think the pink and blue collars on the boy and girl from same Lebanon house are cute!

25% Increase in Cost for my Car Insurance

I just got a copy of my new car insurance policy, to begin in February. It's gone up about $100, just for liability. No tickets. No Wrecks. Ever. And this is my reward, to have my policy rate increase 25%.

Oh, and by the way, FYI, there is no inflation. I must be imagining this %25 rate increase. Must be a figment of my imagination. I found that out when I got the papers from SSI that there would be no cost of living increase because there is no inflation. Yeah, right, uh huh. I really believe that one! Ha! I'll call up the insurance broker Monday and say, "This can't be right. This increase, it can't be right. There's no inflation you see. The government says so, so take back this massive rate increase right now!"

I'm sure they'll listen and give me my old rate back immediately, won't they?

If I had a wreck, my insurance company would not stand behind me. They never do. They take my money every month, almost an entire month's income per year. But would they stand behind me if I had a wreck? I bet not.

Christmas Decor Photos

I'm taking down the tree and decorations today. I will miss Christmas.Mr. Treetop Santa, who had a rough time this Christmas. The cats were fascinated with Mr. Santa and took turns knocking him to the floor.


My infamous card pole. I wrap the ornamental wood stove (never approved for use) with red and green electrical tape then attach any Christmas cards I get.

I love to hang Christmas stockings. I get the stockings at the Dollar Tree.
This is my favorite ornament. I got this ornament at cut rate cost when Albright and Raw Drug Store closed in Corvallis.
I have several over the doorknob decorations, all from the dollar store.
I love this Noel ornament. I have one that says "JOY" also. They came from the dollar store.



This bell ornament came from the Cats Meow thrift store in Corvallis.

Teddy, from the homeless camp, taken today. He's getting long and big!
Shaulin, from the Bengal group, taken today.
Very old Vision, one of my original river cats, who lived along the banks of the Willamette in Corvallis where I lived with them. Then came the Corvallis River front project that endangered all my cats. Many died as a result of the project or dislocation from their home. Vision is at least 15, maybe older. I've known her since 1995, when I first met her along the Willamette River. She was Captain Courageous' granddaughter and daughter of Mukluk.
Shady is from the BS colony originally and has chronic herpes. She is a mischeif maker and fun lover and HATES to have eye drops put into her eyes. She screams like the world is ending before I even try, if she even thinks I might be going for the eyedrops. It's a big pain in the butt to medicate her.