Bling is back. I had to go retrieve him. He behaved exactly as I told her he might for up to two weeks. He hid under the bed. A day of this behavior however, and she wanted him gone. So I went and got him.
I don't get it, but then I don't get a lot of anything these days. He's back and thrilled to be back, racing around chirping, tail up, fat sides waddling, happy as a clam. Sure I'm frustrated. But oh well. Not much I can do. He's a nice boy.
Frodonnah, THANK YOU, for the Revolution. That is soooo helpful. I appreciate it!
I've been terribly bored lately, with the big lull in getting cats fixed. Terribly alone too. Not much I can do about it. I thought I had a big break when I answered a craigslist ad from Corvallis. A woman was trying to start a walking group. Boy, did I jump on that. But then she e-mailed she wasn't going to do it. I'd tried the same tactic and got only spam responses.
So, I'm working on the home made bed frame. It's slow going because I have to paint the boards. There's not much space in my garage and it's cold in there, so paint dries real real slow! Real slow. Not much space means I paint only a couple boards at a time, one side at a time. I put each end of the board on a live trap sitting upright to paint, in front of my car.
When it's done, it will function and be pretty, unlike the stupid useless Ikea crapola bed frame that came without function. What a rip off. I siced the OR Dept. of Justice pitbulls on them. I hope they get some answers and an apology out of the machine people of Ikea. I am not holding my breath on that, however, and have moved on with my life. The useless pieces of Ikea bedframe wood will become cat runs.
I mean to do some projects. I want to try out a cat teeter totter. I want to make a cat ride down. For that, I will need two pieces of PVC, I figure, maybe four inch, maybe 10 feet long. I will cut a slit down one piece, leaving the pipe intact at each end. I will insert into the PVC with the slit a smaller piece of PVC, at the top of which I will attach cable rope. I will cut a hole in the side of the small piece, into which I will insert and attach an arm that will extrude through the longitudinal slit down the pipe. To that arm I will attach a platform with sides. I will glue carpet to that. This is what the cats will ride down on.
That slit piece carrying the platform, will be attached at an angle, top to bottom, maybe 45 degrees. The smaller piece of pvc inside the larger diameter will have that cable rope attached at its top. That will run over a pulley and down into the second equal length pipe, that will stand vertically. Inside that piece, attached to the other end of the cable rope, I will add counter weight. Weight equal to the weight of the platform would hold it in place, at the top. Cat steps onto the platform and it starts sliding down at the angle. The counter weight will provide resistance and I might add a spring. Once the cat steps off at the bottom, the counter weight will take it back to the top. Won;t that be fun? Yes, it will.
I call it the De-elevator.
I just need to find some free or discarded PVC, is all, since I'm almost broke again.
Then, I want to make another cat wheel. That prototype was fun, but I made it of very very previously used pieces of cedar fence board. It was heavy and fell apart in one summer. The cats loved it, however. Wish I had a welder to weld a lightweight frame. But I don't, so I must get very creative on the next one, with materials, too (the being broke thing).
A bored mind is a dangerous mind. I know mine is. I start wanting to invent cat gadgets of all sorts. I once wanted to create a cat zip line run, from one window to the cat yard. How cool would that be? I know they'd love it. Or grow to love it. I wanted to create a perimeter tube, that went all around the house under the eaves, for the cats to race around and around the house. Boy would that ever have sealed my fate as nuts in this neighborhood, except for with the kids.
I go to garage sales and thrift stores and look at things, and think, oh my gawd, that item could be used for this alternative purpose.
Well anyhow, I better get to bed. Maybe tomorrow I'll get a call about cats needing fixed. The trailer court preggie is beyond my control. I tried to hand it off, to another person who sometimes traps. She might try it, not sure, however.
The Sprite Oldies still have my traps but are in the midst of a lot of doctor appointments and currently don't want to try for the one remaining unfixed cat amongst all those. Other people I know of, with one or two unfixed cats, don't return my calls on getting them fixed. This is frustrating, but nothing I can do about it.
I only leave the house now to get groceries or, like I did tonight, go retrieve poor Bling. Another storm is supposedly moving in and I am tired of this dreary weather but also wondering what in the world I can do with the rest of my life. I love this house but I am really for homesick for somewhere to live where I can connect with other people and have some recreation. I don't want to die here completely alone surrounded by concrete. I am lonesome for my roots. Maybe I'm just plain lonesome.
I think I do ok really. I think most people who are alone as much as I am would be far crazier than me by now. That's just a guess and I might be wrong.
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Matilda Gets Her Ear Hematoma Drained
Matilda went to the vet today and had her ear hematoma drained. The vet also injected antibiotics and some steroid inbetween the seperated layers of skin. She does have an ear infection, in that left ear, and is on ear antibiotics for 14 days.
The receptionist, when I went in, gave me a hug and said "Welcome Back". Made me feel very good.
In other news, I had seen an ad for a free cat in the paper that caught my eye. It said the cat was a neutered declawed blind male. There's only one cat in town I know that would fit such a description.
I don't know the cat personally, but I met him briefly once. See I helped catch his sister. His sister, and him before, were living under the building next to the SS building. He was rescued by this couple who were feeding the cats. She wasn't. Not until the people who owned that building told the woman feeding her he was going to block off the places she got under. The woman could not trap her. That's because she was blind.
I trapped her in five minutes, using bits of tuna to lead her right into the trap. But, after trapping her, I panicked totally. She was lactating. It was a Friday night. How to get ahold of the buildings' owner and would they even care there were kittens under that building.
I was out calling at the foundation holes of that building most of that night. The next day, the woman who had fed her, who had rescued her brother months before, the cat in the ad, left messages with the property management company.
Early Sunday morning they opened up the underneath. Meanwhile, I was at the FCCO clinic, with the white female mom.
The building was wired with an alarm system, or the feeders would have gone in without permission perhaps. By this time, a pair of sisters came by, saw the efforts going on to get under the building, asked what was going on, and one of them, both being very skinny, crawled under and pulled out the two kittens, a boy and a girl. The original feeder took them home with her. I took a break from the FCCO clinic, and went and got them there, at her house, when she called to tell me she had them. That's when I met the brother of the white female.
He had the same congenital small and recessed eye problem going on, which had rendered him, with the resultant inturned eyelids and lashes, virtually blind.
I had the white females' kittens and her, here for a short time, after the mom was fixed, but the two sisters took them all in to foster. Eventually, they got the kittens a home together and kept the mom. Can you imagine what it must have been like for a blind feral mom, to try to raise kittens? She did a damn good job of it.
She's very happy now, and has had two surgeries to help her see better. She has recessed tiny eyes, like her brother.
I called the sisters up last night and told them about the ad, and that it was the white female's brother being advertised as needing a home. Those people who rescued him originally must have something going on, to have to give him up.
(I'd looked up the number associated with the ad, and sure enough, it was the number of the people who had the white female's brother.)
The sisters called me today to say they are adopting him. They said they're very excited and are going to take him straight to the their vet to see if anything can be done to help his eyesight.
The receptionist, when I went in, gave me a hug and said "Welcome Back". Made me feel very good.
In other news, I had seen an ad for a free cat in the paper that caught my eye. It said the cat was a neutered declawed blind male. There's only one cat in town I know that would fit such a description.
I don't know the cat personally, but I met him briefly once. See I helped catch his sister. His sister, and him before, were living under the building next to the SS building. He was rescued by this couple who were feeding the cats. She wasn't. Not until the people who owned that building told the woman feeding her he was going to block off the places she got under. The woman could not trap her. That's because she was blind.
I trapped her in five minutes, using bits of tuna to lead her right into the trap. But, after trapping her, I panicked totally. She was lactating. It was a Friday night. How to get ahold of the buildings' owner and would they even care there were kittens under that building.
I was out calling at the foundation holes of that building most of that night. The next day, the woman who had fed her, who had rescued her brother months before, the cat in the ad, left messages with the property management company.
Early Sunday morning they opened up the underneath. Meanwhile, I was at the FCCO clinic, with the white female mom.
The building was wired with an alarm system, or the feeders would have gone in without permission perhaps. By this time, a pair of sisters came by, saw the efforts going on to get under the building, asked what was going on, and one of them, both being very skinny, crawled under and pulled out the two kittens, a boy and a girl. The original feeder took them home with her. I took a break from the FCCO clinic, and went and got them there, at her house, when she called to tell me she had them. That's when I met the brother of the white female.
He had the same congenital small and recessed eye problem going on, which had rendered him, with the resultant inturned eyelids and lashes, virtually blind.
I had the white females' kittens and her, here for a short time, after the mom was fixed, but the two sisters took them all in to foster. Eventually, they got the kittens a home together and kept the mom. Can you imagine what it must have been like for a blind feral mom, to try to raise kittens? She did a damn good job of it.
She's very happy now, and has had two surgeries to help her see better. She has recessed tiny eyes, like her brother.
I called the sisters up last night and told them about the ad, and that it was the white female's brother being advertised as needing a home. Those people who rescued him originally must have something going on, to have to give him up.
(I'd looked up the number associated with the ad, and sure enough, it was the number of the people who had the white female's brother.)
The sisters called me today to say they are adopting him. They said they're very excited and are going to take him straight to the their vet to see if anything can be done to help his eyesight.
Fibs and FIV in Adair Cats
Who else thinks the latest story about reasons for a 2.5 million payout to Mike Belloti, by the U of O athletic department, as the leaving athletic director, is a big fat made up after the fact fib? I do. I do.
Their butts are in a sling and they got together to make up a halfway believable story to tell us public, like we'll swallow it with a smile, is what I think, personally. Well, probably most will. I don't buy it. I don't buy it one bit.
Boy, I could sure use 2.5 million, as a buy out, for quitting one extreme pay job to take another (Belloti's going to now work for ESPN). I think cat trappers' should make almost as much or more as an athletic director makes. You bet. We're worth it. My salary is currently zero, Mike. How many cats have you had fixed?
Ok, sure, you've had a few football wins. Your ball game is different than my ball game of choice. My ball game of choice is to have balls cut off. Hahahahahaha. Just kidding with you there, Mike. Oh no, I'm not at all sour on your massive pay off for whatever you got paid off for, which is probably some shadow thing, or brotherly love gift showers between ball men.
Actually I heard once he was married to, or sleeping with, a rescue type. I might have dreamed that. Yeah, probably made that up in my mind, to try to justify all the inequity crap in this world. Like cat trapper salary: zero dollars per year. Athletic director: 2.5 million to be fake fired.
In other news, my Adair Village friend borrowed a trap the day before yesterday. She'd been feeding another male, not fixed, outside her home, who showed up limping badly.
Anyhow, he's untouchable, but was sleeping in her garage lately, due to his front leg injury. So she closed the garage and set my trap which he went in, within five minutes.
He went to the vet and also tested positive for FIV, like the three other strays from Adair. Those other three who were positive, she fed a good two miles from her home. All three were tame and had been abandoned. The fact this free roaming Adair male is also FIV positive probably means any unfixed free roaming male over two in that area is positive by now. It's what you call a cluster.
It's a relatively small community and unfortunately, a lot of people don't fix their cats, especially their males, and let them free roam. So, in such a small area, those unfixed males fight. One of them, at some point, came in with FIV, and began fighting with other unfixed males, spreading the disease. I would imagine it is widespread in Adair. At least this woman is taking it upon herself to get the strays fixed, because otherwise, the disease will continue. It will anyway, unless the people of Adair fix their free roaming cats.
So anyhow, she's going to keep him, figuring rightly, he probably won't fight now that he is fixed and that by now, any unfixed male in Adair is FIV positive. He'll be neutered and his front leg absess treated.
I've been using a sagging shelf above my washer/dryer as a greenhouse for seed sprouting. It works like magic! I put them on that shelf, inside a plastic bag, with one end open, in little pots, and doesn't take two days, and they're growing like weeds!!!! Must be a combo of the heat and occasional steam from the washer. I had no other place where it was warm and also where the cats would not dig up the dirt in the little pots.
I was disappointed in my compost pile. I thought I had composted a ton of material, from piles of leaves, to shredded paper, to food leftovers. That all composted down to almost nothing, like a couple buckets full for use this spring. I guess it makes sense but I was disappointed all that composting from last summer on to now, rotted down to pretty much nothing to use for my small garden.
Their butts are in a sling and they got together to make up a halfway believable story to tell us public, like we'll swallow it with a smile, is what I think, personally. Well, probably most will. I don't buy it. I don't buy it one bit.
Boy, I could sure use 2.5 million, as a buy out, for quitting one extreme pay job to take another (Belloti's going to now work for ESPN). I think cat trappers' should make almost as much or more as an athletic director makes. You bet. We're worth it. My salary is currently zero, Mike. How many cats have you had fixed?
Ok, sure, you've had a few football wins. Your ball game is different than my ball game of choice. My ball game of choice is to have balls cut off. Hahahahahaha. Just kidding with you there, Mike. Oh no, I'm not at all sour on your massive pay off for whatever you got paid off for, which is probably some shadow thing, or brotherly love gift showers between ball men.
Actually I heard once he was married to, or sleeping with, a rescue type. I might have dreamed that. Yeah, probably made that up in my mind, to try to justify all the inequity crap in this world. Like cat trapper salary: zero dollars per year. Athletic director: 2.5 million to be fake fired.
In other news, my Adair Village friend borrowed a trap the day before yesterday. She'd been feeding another male, not fixed, outside her home, who showed up limping badly.
Anyhow, he's untouchable, but was sleeping in her garage lately, due to his front leg injury. So she closed the garage and set my trap which he went in, within five minutes.
He went to the vet and also tested positive for FIV, like the three other strays from Adair. Those other three who were positive, she fed a good two miles from her home. All three were tame and had been abandoned. The fact this free roaming Adair male is also FIV positive probably means any unfixed free roaming male over two in that area is positive by now. It's what you call a cluster.
It's a relatively small community and unfortunately, a lot of people don't fix their cats, especially their males, and let them free roam. So, in such a small area, those unfixed males fight. One of them, at some point, came in with FIV, and began fighting with other unfixed males, spreading the disease. I would imagine it is widespread in Adair. At least this woman is taking it upon herself to get the strays fixed, because otherwise, the disease will continue. It will anyway, unless the people of Adair fix their free roaming cats.
So anyhow, she's going to keep him, figuring rightly, he probably won't fight now that he is fixed and that by now, any unfixed male in Adair is FIV positive. He'll be neutered and his front leg absess treated.
I've been using a sagging shelf above my washer/dryer as a greenhouse for seed sprouting. It works like magic! I put them on that shelf, inside a plastic bag, with one end open, in little pots, and doesn't take two days, and they're growing like weeds!!!! Must be a combo of the heat and occasional steam from the washer. I had no other place where it was warm and also where the cats would not dig up the dirt in the little pots.
I was disappointed in my compost pile. I thought I had composted a ton of material, from piles of leaves, to shredded paper, to food leftovers. That all composted down to almost nothing, like a couple buckets full for use this spring. I guess it makes sense but I was disappointed all that composting from last summer on to now, rotted down to pretty much nothing to use for my small garden.
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Alby, Formerly Crusty
Alby had surgery and his adoptors sent me a photo of him. He just had surgery yesterday, but he's looking pretty darn decent!
Blingo Heads out for his New Home
I took Blingo over to his new home today. The couple are very nice, and have three cats already. He did not seem that upset, just quiet. He liked it here and felt betrayed that I was taking him elsewhere. He will get over that. He does not have to compete there like here for even small amounts of attention. There is a female tabby tux who will love him, I know, could tell. He's going to be ok, but he doesn't know it yet, so his guilt inducing gaze burned on me, when I let him out, in the woman's bedroom.
My soul still feels that burn. I can't help it, I love them all. It's hard to say goodbye but they're happier, you see, if its' a good home, and fewer cats to compete with, be bullied by, more attention, they just won't know it for awhile.
Nonetheless I pine away here for days, trying not worry, or to think about how they might be faring. I have to try to let them go. It's hard on me. I hate adopting out cats. I'd like to just catch them and get them fixed and return them. I don't like handning out living breathing lives to strangers and just hoping they're going to behave decently towards that life. I just hate it.
These folks have a track record of kindness, so I felt much easier. Crusty's new people had the track record too.
Anyhow, Blingo's gone. What a big fat wonderful guy he is. Good luck, Mister.
My soul still feels that burn. I can't help it, I love them all. It's hard to say goodbye but they're happier, you see, if its' a good home, and fewer cats to compete with, be bullied by, more attention, they just won't know it for awhile.
Nonetheless I pine away here for days, trying not worry, or to think about how they might be faring. I have to try to let them go. It's hard on me. I hate adopting out cats. I'd like to just catch them and get them fixed and return them. I don't like handning out living breathing lives to strangers and just hoping they're going to behave decently towards that life. I just hate it.
These folks have a track record of kindness, so I felt much easier. Crusty's new people had the track record too.
Anyhow, Blingo's gone. What a big fat wonderful guy he is. Good luck, Mister.
Monday, April 05, 2010
Matilda
Matilda has an ear infection, not earmites, is what is going on. She is shaking her head and has liquid sounds in one ear. So, she's going on antibiotics and I will have to make a trip to Portland to get her in to see a vet. Often on cats like her, with extremely hair enshrouded ears, the infection can be a combination of fungus and bacteria.
When I rescued her, from that Lebanon stinkhole, she had an ear infection so bad, she held her head cockeyed. She was on antibiotics for some time then. It was likely then the infection had reached her inner ear, which can show in cockeyed head position and balance problems. These can lead to facial or eyelid drooping from inflammation of the facial nerve on that side. Since then, she's had other milder infections. I believe it is due to her excess ear hair that traps moisture and heat inside those poor ears.
I clipped all this hair again. It was only two months ago, I gave her a partial clip job. It grows fast on her. She mostly likes to remain in the garage room and yard but comes in when she's having trouble with her ears or poop on her butt then I give her a clip job. Maybe she needs electrolysis on those ears, to keep the hair inside them from ever growing back.
We are sure having a heavy windstorm. A tree limb was down on one street, freshly torn from the trunk. I never saw this in the forecast.
When I rescued her, from that Lebanon stinkhole, she had an ear infection so bad, she held her head cockeyed. She was on antibiotics for some time then. It was likely then the infection had reached her inner ear, which can show in cockeyed head position and balance problems. These can lead to facial or eyelid drooping from inflammation of the facial nerve on that side. Since then, she's had other milder infections. I believe it is due to her excess ear hair that traps moisture and heat inside those poor ears.
I clipped all this hair again. It was only two months ago, I gave her a partial clip job. It grows fast on her. She mostly likes to remain in the garage room and yard but comes in when she's having trouble with her ears or poop on her butt then I give her a clip job. Maybe she needs electrolysis on those ears, to keep the hair inside them from ever growing back.
We are sure having a heavy windstorm. A tree limb was down on one street, freshly torn from the trunk. I never saw this in the forecast.
Sunday, April 04, 2010
Counterfeit Advantage and Frontline a Problem
Counterfeit flea and tick control products for dogs and cats are becoming commonplace. They are very difficult to tell from legit product. Click the post title to go to an EPA site that gives hints on how to id fake product.
Since so many people buy so much product online now, counterfeiters of all kinds have emerged from the woodwork to try to cash in. Flea products are expensive so it is no wonder the market has attraction to counterfeiters and criminals.
A cat died at a local vet clinic after the owner purchased and used flea product from, the clinic told me, a popular online pet supply store. It was determined the product was counterfeit. These sites sometimes do not know their supplier purchased the product from counterfeiters. Counterfeit supplies get mingled into legit product before shipping, too.
Pharmaceutical counterfeiting has become big business. I watched a news story on drug gangs in Mexico, making fake Advil and Tylenol. What they used to make the pills from was totally disgusting, but I can't remember what it was. I do remember they used road line paint to coat the fake pills before they were packaged and sent off to be sold in the good ol pill popping US of A.
Also on the rise, pharmaceutical theft. Sometimes it is outright gun toting theivery at pharmacies. Many such events have been in the news lately here in Oregon. But on the news a week or so ago, was a huge theft at a drug warehouse. Massive amounts of drugs were stolen, to be resold on the black market to criminal suppliers, who then sell it to retailers, who usually have no clue it's stolen (or counterfeit).
However, some of the drugs taken needed refrigeration to remain potent. Once sold, these drugs, in that one warehouse burglary, caused some pain and suffering for diabetics, because the product did not work, due to improper storage by the theives. Diabetics were being hospitalized with destabilized blood sugar levels. The problem was traced to inactive medicine and finally to the thefts at the one warehouse.
Counterfeit products get into all sorts of supply chains and could even end up in a vet clinic. Know how to determine if a product is counterfeit, or at least, the best ways to try, because you can't always tell.
Recommendations for Advantage are to check the tube itself, since outside packaging and insert are usually the same. Make sure the tube is all in English, for one thing, not German or French. Also, EPA dosages by weight are NOT posted on the outside box of legit Advantage products nor is an expiration date. Anyhow, go to the website to check all the tips given, on both Frontline and Advantage, so you can know the most common ways to avoid counterfeit flea products for dogs and cats.
I have a very suspicious nature, and have poured over the boxes and tubes of Advantage I have purchased in the last year from two different online stores. Even though they do not have any of the problems listed with counterfeit product on the websites, I am still suspicious of one box in particular. Why? Because the tubes are not the same color as all the other tubes of that particular size Advantage, bought from another online merchant later on, and because the color stickers included, as reminders for monthly dosing, are green, instead of blue to match the color of the tube, like in the later box.
I bought that box online at kv vet and the more recent box at another online merchant. However, upon closer inspection, the latest box I bought is three years old, manufactured in 2007, which might explain the differences in tube color and sticker color. I won't purchase from the latter merchant again, selling old product like that.
I used to buy from Petshed, but quit when Advantage came with even the outer box in a foreign language, can't remember what language, but it wasn't English. I kept the box to report it, then accidentally recycled it.
Since so many people buy so much product online now, counterfeiters of all kinds have emerged from the woodwork to try to cash in. Flea products are expensive so it is no wonder the market has attraction to counterfeiters and criminals.
A cat died at a local vet clinic after the owner purchased and used flea product from, the clinic told me, a popular online pet supply store. It was determined the product was counterfeit. These sites sometimes do not know their supplier purchased the product from counterfeiters. Counterfeit supplies get mingled into legit product before shipping, too.
Pharmaceutical counterfeiting has become big business. I watched a news story on drug gangs in Mexico, making fake Advil and Tylenol. What they used to make the pills from was totally disgusting, but I can't remember what it was. I do remember they used road line paint to coat the fake pills before they were packaged and sent off to be sold in the good ol pill popping US of A.
Also on the rise, pharmaceutical theft. Sometimes it is outright gun toting theivery at pharmacies. Many such events have been in the news lately here in Oregon. But on the news a week or so ago, was a huge theft at a drug warehouse. Massive amounts of drugs were stolen, to be resold on the black market to criminal suppliers, who then sell it to retailers, who usually have no clue it's stolen (or counterfeit).
However, some of the drugs taken needed refrigeration to remain potent. Once sold, these drugs, in that one warehouse burglary, caused some pain and suffering for diabetics, because the product did not work, due to improper storage by the theives. Diabetics were being hospitalized with destabilized blood sugar levels. The problem was traced to inactive medicine and finally to the thefts at the one warehouse.
Counterfeit products get into all sorts of supply chains and could even end up in a vet clinic. Know how to determine if a product is counterfeit, or at least, the best ways to try, because you can't always tell.
Recommendations for Advantage are to check the tube itself, since outside packaging and insert are usually the same. Make sure the tube is all in English, for one thing, not German or French. Also, EPA dosages by weight are NOT posted on the outside box of legit Advantage products nor is an expiration date. Anyhow, go to the website to check all the tips given, on both Frontline and Advantage, so you can know the most common ways to avoid counterfeit flea products for dogs and cats.
I have a very suspicious nature, and have poured over the boxes and tubes of Advantage I have purchased in the last year from two different online stores. Even though they do not have any of the problems listed with counterfeit product on the websites, I am still suspicious of one box in particular. Why? Because the tubes are not the same color as all the other tubes of that particular size Advantage, bought from another online merchant later on, and because the color stickers included, as reminders for monthly dosing, are green, instead of blue to match the color of the tube, like in the later box.
I bought that box online at kv vet and the more recent box at another online merchant. However, upon closer inspection, the latest box I bought is three years old, manufactured in 2007, which might explain the differences in tube color and sticker color. I won't purchase from the latter merchant again, selling old product like that.
I used to buy from Petshed, but quit when Advantage came with even the outer box in a foreign language, can't remember what language, but it wasn't English. I kept the box to report it, then accidentally recycled it.
Review of Law Abiding Citizen
I rented Law Abiding Citizen. Redbox is wonderful! Hope you've caught on to $1 movie rentals by now.
The plot of the movie runs like this. In the opening scene, a man opens the door, and is attacked by two assailants with clubs. When his wife rushes in, to find out what is going on, she too is attacked. When both are tied and duct taped, one man pushes a knife into each, then rapes the wife as she dies. As the man is losing consciousness, his little girl walks in and one assailant says, "It's ok, kids love me" as he heads towards the little girl. The woman and little girl die. The man survives.
A career minded assistant prosecutor cuts a deal with the two killers, after a judge disallows some DNA evidence. One killer gets death while the other gets a very light prison term for ratting out his buddy. Fast forward ten years.
The prosecutor attends while the death sentence is carried out on the one killer. The other has by now been released. Something goes very very wrong when the third drug is administered. The inmate violently convulses and is in obvious agony for a couple of minutes, before finally dying.
Police believe the other killer must be involved and try to find him. Just before police arrive at his apartment, the man gets a strange phone call, alerting him to the imminent arrival of the police. He is directed in escape by the anonymous caller, who directs him to a police car, with officer inside, to hijack for escape. The killer takes the cop out, under an overpass, to kill him, being directed by the anonymous caller. The "cop" he is about to kill, turns around, to reveal he is on the phone, and the anonymous caller is him.
The killer tries to shoot, but the gun has no bullets and has already, via some small spikes on its handle, poisoned him with venom from puffer fish, that render him paralyzed but left with the ability to see, hear and feel everything. The cop is really the man whose wife and child were murdered. He takes him to a warehouse he owns, and systematically cuts off every appendage, including his eyelids, should he try to close his eyes while being tortured. He must watch his own tortured death, because the man has a mirror over him.
The man is immediately caught and jailed. And yet, he is in total control, while in jail, much to the consternation of those who were involved in the trial ten years earlier, killing all those involved and many other innocents, at will. The judge who dismissed DNA evidence is killed in her chambers, in front of the DA and assistant DA, when she answers her cell phone and it fires a bullet into her brain.
In the end, through property record searches, the DA, formerly the assistant DA, but the DA has by now been murdered and he has been promoted, it is found the man actually owns a warehouse right next to the prison. Before that, they had been warned by a spy, that the man worked as the brains behind spies, and specialized in tech devices to kill people when he is not present. The spy he worked with declares, in a Deep Throat like encounter, "If he wants you dead, you're dead." Then he runs off down the tunnel, trench coat flapping. Whatever.
A search of the warehouse by the prison reveals the man, in the ten years since his wife and daughter were murdered, tunneled in to every single cell in solitary, so no matter what cell he was placed in, he could come and go at will. He made sure he was in solitary by killing in extremely bloody fashion, his cell mate on the regular block.
The movie was ok, but didn't flow for me. In the end, I felt manipulated, like the crime at the beginning had to be contrived to justify then create the rest of the movie. Someone wanted to make a point about being soft on criminals and awkwardly carved out a movie plot to put his or her points to film.
I thought at one point the film was going to pretend to be futuristic or sci fi, even Batmanish, because of the outrageous accomplishments of a man behind bars, taking revenge on the people involved in the trial of the two men who killed his wife and daughter.
The very end is a satisfying turn, by the so far wimpy high win rate assistant prosecutor, who finally gets the up on this guy. But most of the movie is not satisfying or even witty enough, in the ways the imprisoned man takes his revenge out on those involved in the trial.
This is a very violent movie. The bloodiest scene is when the man repeatedly stabs his cell mate in the neck. Blood is sprayed everywhere. The second bloodiest scene is when the judge is shot from a cell phone gun.
Are we too soft on monsters who kill people and/or rape women and children?
When criminals invade another person's life, to satisfy their own wants, the effect on any survivors is devastating. No one has the right to come into another person's home, or to kill another person or to rape another person. I do think rape should be capital offense or no parole offense. But, there must be heavy burdens of proof for all crimes to be sure innocents are not victimized by the justice system. As for executions, I've always thought a bullet to the back of the head, when the criminal is not expecting it is the best approach.
The plot of the movie runs like this. In the opening scene, a man opens the door, and is attacked by two assailants with clubs. When his wife rushes in, to find out what is going on, she too is attacked. When both are tied and duct taped, one man pushes a knife into each, then rapes the wife as she dies. As the man is losing consciousness, his little girl walks in and one assailant says, "It's ok, kids love me" as he heads towards the little girl. The woman and little girl die. The man survives.
A career minded assistant prosecutor cuts a deal with the two killers, after a judge disallows some DNA evidence. One killer gets death while the other gets a very light prison term for ratting out his buddy. Fast forward ten years.
The prosecutor attends while the death sentence is carried out on the one killer. The other has by now been released. Something goes very very wrong when the third drug is administered. The inmate violently convulses and is in obvious agony for a couple of minutes, before finally dying.
Police believe the other killer must be involved and try to find him. Just before police arrive at his apartment, the man gets a strange phone call, alerting him to the imminent arrival of the police. He is directed in escape by the anonymous caller, who directs him to a police car, with officer inside, to hijack for escape. The killer takes the cop out, under an overpass, to kill him, being directed by the anonymous caller. The "cop" he is about to kill, turns around, to reveal he is on the phone, and the anonymous caller is him.
The killer tries to shoot, but the gun has no bullets and has already, via some small spikes on its handle, poisoned him with venom from puffer fish, that render him paralyzed but left with the ability to see, hear and feel everything. The cop is really the man whose wife and child were murdered. He takes him to a warehouse he owns, and systematically cuts off every appendage, including his eyelids, should he try to close his eyes while being tortured. He must watch his own tortured death, because the man has a mirror over him.
The man is immediately caught and jailed. And yet, he is in total control, while in jail, much to the consternation of those who were involved in the trial ten years earlier, killing all those involved and many other innocents, at will. The judge who dismissed DNA evidence is killed in her chambers, in front of the DA and assistant DA, when she answers her cell phone and it fires a bullet into her brain.
In the end, through property record searches, the DA, formerly the assistant DA, but the DA has by now been murdered and he has been promoted, it is found the man actually owns a warehouse right next to the prison. Before that, they had been warned by a spy, that the man worked as the brains behind spies, and specialized in tech devices to kill people when he is not present. The spy he worked with declares, in a Deep Throat like encounter, "If he wants you dead, you're dead." Then he runs off down the tunnel, trench coat flapping. Whatever.
A search of the warehouse by the prison reveals the man, in the ten years since his wife and daughter were murdered, tunneled in to every single cell in solitary, so no matter what cell he was placed in, he could come and go at will. He made sure he was in solitary by killing in extremely bloody fashion, his cell mate on the regular block.
The movie was ok, but didn't flow for me. In the end, I felt manipulated, like the crime at the beginning had to be contrived to justify then create the rest of the movie. Someone wanted to make a point about being soft on criminals and awkwardly carved out a movie plot to put his or her points to film.
I thought at one point the film was going to pretend to be futuristic or sci fi, even Batmanish, because of the outrageous accomplishments of a man behind bars, taking revenge on the people involved in the trial of the two men who killed his wife and daughter.
The very end is a satisfying turn, by the so far wimpy high win rate assistant prosecutor, who finally gets the up on this guy. But most of the movie is not satisfying or even witty enough, in the ways the imprisoned man takes his revenge out on those involved in the trial.
This is a very violent movie. The bloodiest scene is when the man repeatedly stabs his cell mate in the neck. Blood is sprayed everywhere. The second bloodiest scene is when the judge is shot from a cell phone gun.
Are we too soft on monsters who kill people and/or rape women and children?
When criminals invade another person's life, to satisfy their own wants, the effect on any survivors is devastating. No one has the right to come into another person's home, or to kill another person or to rape another person. I do think rape should be capital offense or no parole offense. But, there must be heavy burdens of proof for all crimes to be sure innocents are not victimized by the justice system. As for executions, I've always thought a bullet to the back of the head, when the criminal is not expecting it is the best approach.
I have a Craigslist Couch. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah!
I happened upon a decent looking couch on craigslist a week ago, and called the number. Usually, by the time I see something decent on craigslist for a really good price and this was an outstanding price, it's already gone. Or, I can't find a way to get it here.
Well, this guy offered to deliver for nothing. I sealed the deal sight unseen. Why? Because he sounded really honest on the phone. I know, dumb. But this time, it paid off.
He finally had a window of opportunity yesterday evening, when the rain stopped for awhile, and brought it over. It is the nicest couch I've ever owned. He delivered it into my garage. After that, I pushed and shoved and cursed it in through the door and moved aside the disgusting loveseat from the dumpster.
I have a craigslist couch! It's a great couch. I promptly fell asleep on it last night.
I also got the wood to make my own bunk bed frame. The wood cost far far less than that useless Ikea frame I got that didn't have any way to support the mattress. Right now I'm painting the boards. Boy, deja vu. I did that with the Ikea wood before realizing there was no hardware in the bottom of that big prepackaged box to hold up the mattress.
I also got a new toy, courtesy of Jeanne from Baltimore. She had sent me a live trap for my birthday that I picked out on Amazon without really looking at it. It turned out to be a collapsible, and those are shit. So I returned it and got an Amazon refund. She later sent me a tomahawk transfer trap. Two gifts! It was a great wonder!
I had that amazon credit. I bought a baby monitor off an Amazon vendor. I'd always wanted a baby monitor. This one allegedly has a 300 foot range. It has sound AND video monitor. I am using it in conjuction with my remote control to spring traps. They operate on different frequencies so the baby monitor camera being right there, operating on 900 freq, won't spring the receiver unit on the trap from my remote control. I have two different receiver units. One is very very subject to interference, operating in the 100 freq range while the other is a controlled freq. and not subject to interference, unless someone is operating an RC sailboat nearby.
So, I can watch a trap in decent resolution on a small monitor from my car or elsewhere within range, and then trigger the trap on a certain cat, without being real close by. That is cool! I am making a weatherproof housing for the baby monitor camera.
A friend in Portland, whose husband is a tech wizard, is also going to ask him to rig a remote dialer for traps. When the trap closes then, it would dial me on my cell phone to let me know.
As I have told others, it is way past time to bring trapping into the tech age. There is no reason, other than ignorance on the part of us old trappers, to do things the hard way.
I have Matilda in the spare bedroom sick cage. She's had an inflamed eye. She also needed shaved again. She has WAY too much hair and has come to love the spring clip job. She's had a right ear hematoma since I rescued her, from the Lebanon situation. I've not had the money to have it repaired. When she gets earmites however, you can't even see them or clean her ear properly due to that hematoma. I need to get that fixed for her.
Matilda is a high maintenance cat, due to her long hair. It doesn't mat too badly, not like Stinod's, but, she gets crap stuck to her butt, and the fine nature of the undercoat hair, creates problems for her, with hairballs and itchiness and too hotedness. Boy am I ever making up my own words today.
She has to have her ears clipped, for the excess hair, too. And the excess ear hair seems to contribute to her getting recurring earmites more easily. So, she is much higher maintenance than the other cats here, needing constant clip jobs and earmite control. I need to get some Revolution, but it is sooo darn expensive. I usually get it in spring, for all the long hair cats, since they get and keep earmites far more frequently than the short hairs.
I have to get that hematoma repaired too, for Matilda. I've put it off and off.
Well, this guy offered to deliver for nothing. I sealed the deal sight unseen. Why? Because he sounded really honest on the phone. I know, dumb. But this time, it paid off.
He finally had a window of opportunity yesterday evening, when the rain stopped for awhile, and brought it over. It is the nicest couch I've ever owned. He delivered it into my garage. After that, I pushed and shoved and cursed it in through the door and moved aside the disgusting loveseat from the dumpster.
I have a craigslist couch! It's a great couch. I promptly fell asleep on it last night.
I also got the wood to make my own bunk bed frame. The wood cost far far less than that useless Ikea frame I got that didn't have any way to support the mattress. Right now I'm painting the boards. Boy, deja vu. I did that with the Ikea wood before realizing there was no hardware in the bottom of that big prepackaged box to hold up the mattress.
I also got a new toy, courtesy of Jeanne from Baltimore. She had sent me a live trap for my birthday that I picked out on Amazon without really looking at it. It turned out to be a collapsible, and those are shit. So I returned it and got an Amazon refund. She later sent me a tomahawk transfer trap. Two gifts! It was a great wonder!
I had that amazon credit. I bought a baby monitor off an Amazon vendor. I'd always wanted a baby monitor. This one allegedly has a 300 foot range. It has sound AND video monitor. I am using it in conjuction with my remote control to spring traps. They operate on different frequencies so the baby monitor camera being right there, operating on 900 freq, won't spring the receiver unit on the trap from my remote control. I have two different receiver units. One is very very subject to interference, operating in the 100 freq range while the other is a controlled freq. and not subject to interference, unless someone is operating an RC sailboat nearby.
So, I can watch a trap in decent resolution on a small monitor from my car or elsewhere within range, and then trigger the trap on a certain cat, without being real close by. That is cool! I am making a weatherproof housing for the baby monitor camera.
A friend in Portland, whose husband is a tech wizard, is also going to ask him to rig a remote dialer for traps. When the trap closes then, it would dial me on my cell phone to let me know.
As I have told others, it is way past time to bring trapping into the tech age. There is no reason, other than ignorance on the part of us old trappers, to do things the hard way.
I have Matilda in the spare bedroom sick cage. She's had an inflamed eye. She also needed shaved again. She has WAY too much hair and has come to love the spring clip job. She's had a right ear hematoma since I rescued her, from the Lebanon situation. I've not had the money to have it repaired. When she gets earmites however, you can't even see them or clean her ear properly due to that hematoma. I need to get that fixed for her.
Matilda is a high maintenance cat, due to her long hair. It doesn't mat too badly, not like Stinod's, but, she gets crap stuck to her butt, and the fine nature of the undercoat hair, creates problems for her, with hairballs and itchiness and too hotedness. Boy am I ever making up my own words today.
She has to have her ears clipped, for the excess hair, too. And the excess ear hair seems to contribute to her getting recurring earmites more easily. So, she is much higher maintenance than the other cats here, needing constant clip jobs and earmite control. I need to get some Revolution, but it is sooo darn expensive. I usually get it in spring, for all the long hair cats, since they get and keep earmites far more frequently than the short hairs.
I have to get that hematoma repaired too, for Matilda. I've put it off and off.
Saturday, April 03, 2010
Comet Then and Now
Comet now.
Comet with his brother Jedi, as kittens.
Molly, Comet's mom, provided by Diane of Corvallis.Comet was one of 16 kittens I took from the carport and behind trailer 52 at Heatherdale trailer park. Trailer 52 was then occupied by an old woman, whose daughter and son were, at the time, though middle aged, very much into heavy drugs. But the daughter had a big soft spot for cats. She got the one cat, now with a friend of mine in Corvallis, at SafeHaven. At that time, SafeHaven did not fix most cats and none of the kittens prior to adoption. The cat went on to overpopulate the entire area, having litter after litter after litter. She was pregnant once again, when I got her fixed. I think she sighed a huge sigh of relief when she was finally spayed and relieved of that horrible burden. Having kittens born to suffer and die in carports and under trailers isn't a nice thing on a mother, barely noticed or fed herself.
Molly was adopted by an old man, who loved her until he died. Then my friend, Diane, who lives next to the where the old man lived, took over Molly's care. Thank you Diane. Comet is one of Molly's kittens.
Trailer 52 was in the news again, recently, because of a shooting at Heatherdale that occurred at Trailer 52, I believe, or at least bullets struck Trailer 52. A man climbed into a tree and tried to shoot someone, allegedly his ex girlfriend, through the wall of the trailer. However, since he moved out, she had moved in a TV, placed against the window and the TV is what saved both her and her latest boyfriend, who also had warrants out. The new boyfriend was struck by a bullet that lodged in his head but did not do any real damage. Mr. attempted murderer is in jail.
My back was failing me that summer. I could barely walk even a few feet. I was trying my best to get all the cats at Heatherdale fixed before the inevitable occurred. The inevitable was, I knew, inability to walk at all. I had been trying without success to get any sort of diagnostics done on my back. The only thing I could get covered, I was told, was attendance at a chronic pain class in Lebanon. I thought that was quite visionless, of the local OHP HMO, run by Good Sam. I thought that because I couldn't even get diagnostics done, to see if it was something fixable.
My big break came when I was suddenly switched to medicare and for six months, I wasn't under a medicare HMO. Freedom!
My back was fixable, diagnostics confirmed, but in very dire shape. I had a long term severely extruded disc hardened over and crushing a nerve. By then, I had no nerve reflex left in my right knee. I was going to lose most nerve impulse to my right leg, then I'd lose my leg. I had surgery, had to. The surgery saved my leg and ability to walk. It's why I'm a neurosurgeon groupie. I'm a big fan of neurosurgeons. I have reason to be.
It's also why I am so darn suspicious of HMO's and their intent. Back diagnostics was listed as a covered service, in my plan, and yet I was refused repeatedly. Cost saving measure, but was it really? I had an operating room nurse friend, who works in the Portland area, who told me over and over it was covered, that they fix poor people's backs all the time up there. Even those on OHP.
She said if nothing else, I needed to move out of the valley, out of Good Sam's OHP HMO coverage area, then I could get helped. I was set to do that because otherwise, I was going to be in a wheelchair. The pain was bad enough and of course I was not eligible for any sort of pain relief, for whatever reason, I guess because I was poor. I have no clue, just was happy God intervened and the switch to medicare and the window of opportunity when not on any HMO.
I digress. Right when I took in those 16 Heatherdale kittens my back was failing, so it was hard to find homes for them, while trying to finish up getting all the cats fixed before my back made that completely impossible. Comet fell through the adoption cracks and is still with me! He's a beautiful big bobtail guy, who buddied up with another bobtail, Cattyhop, from the Slaughterhouse colony kittens. She too was the only one of a half dozen or more very very ill kittens from that colony, who, in the end, did not get a home.
My back issues remind me of a movie I rented a few weeks ago. I cannot even remember the name of the movie. The movie was about a poor family in Iran, struggling to survive. The woman had a bad back from a ruptured disc and wanted surgery on it, like a neighbor woman had, which had relieved the neighbor woman's pain, this woman argued to her husband. But the husband would have none of it, and claimed he thought she'd die if she were to have surgery, but he was really a louse.
So the woman suffered from the pain and still had to try to keep up with cooking and cleaning. The husband would scream at her if she had to defend the family to the landlord there for rent money. There was no respite for women there, that was for sure. The movie was really about the two children, a boy and a girl. The boy had taken his sisters' very worn shoes to be sewn again, but he lost them on the way home. Thereafter, to avoid being beaten by their father, the children hide the fact they have only one pair of shoes between them, that they share. The girl wears her brothers sneakers to school, then races home as fast as she can, and he puts them on and runs to school.
The scenes are artistically shown and beautiful, despite the harshness of the reality of the family's lives.
On a swap day at the mosque, the man of the family picks up a spray pump filled with insecticide. He then takes his son to the big city, on the handlebars of his old bike, to seek employment for the day by knocking on the doors of the rich. The man has no luck knocking on doors and asking for work to spray the trees, but the boy finally tries at one house. Another little boy answers the buzzer and demands they come in, because he is lonely and lives with his grandfather. While the two boys play, the man sprays the trees in the large courtyard and does a few other chores for which he is paid a small fortune.
Together they head home on the old bike, celebrating this windfall, making big plans for making more money, when, on a steep hill, the brakes fail on the old bike and they crash. The bike is destroyed and they must hitch a ride home, all their money gone.
The boy enters a foot race after trying out at school for it. The third place prize is a new pair of shoes. He is determined to come in third, to solve the children's hardship of sharing one pair of old sneakers. Many boys in the race are well equipped and supported. Nonetheless, his anger and hardships drive him to win the race. He is terribly disappointed as he watched the third place winner get the coveted shoes.
When he arrives home, he tells his sister he did not come in third. From his efforts in the race, however, the one pair of shoes they share now has detached soles. And that is the end of the movie.
Crimini and Blackberry Now (homeless camp kittens)
Crimini in the trap when I caught her.
Crimini at Keni's, right after I took her up, after trapping her.
Blackberry peeking out from a bed at Keni's.
Blackberry when she was here after I trapped her at the Corvallis homeless camp.
Blackberry now, spayed, tame and loved, in a home of her own with her sister.
Crimini now, in a home with her sister.Crimini and Blackberry were two of three very very tiny kittens struggling in the homeless camps late last fall. The third, I never caught and allegedly was mauled by a dog in the camps at the time. I had to sneak into the camps to set traps for these little ones, in the dark of night, right amongst the tents of sleeping campers.
It was far easier, you see, to do it that way. I knew every square foot of that area by then. To catch three tiny kittens in a large area, overgrown in berry vines, piles of trash and drunks with issues, was not possible during the daylight hours, when there was just too much interference from people, dogs, and because these frightened kittens hid out from the people and dogs during the day.
The only chance I had and they had was for me to sneak into the camps silent as a mouse in the dark. So that's what I did and I caught two of the three.
Keni, Poppa's president, fostered them in Beaverton until finally about a month ago, they got a home together. They were both girls and were fixed through Poppa Inc. funds. There were only five weeks old when I caught them but had been cut loose by their mom, or their mom was dead. Now, they are in a home together! The photos were provided to Keni by the woman who adopted them. It's quite heartwarming.
What's Easter and Why the Eggs and Bunnies?
I guess Christians and Catholics celebrate Easter as the day they believe Christ was resurrected. But what of the bunnies and eggs, which are a far more common American version of Easter?
Well, like other holidays, Christmas comes to mind, Easter is a mix of pagan and Christian celebrations and symbols.
Off Yahoo: "Hundreds of years ago, "many pagan cultures held spring festivals." One festival was devoted to "Eostre, the goddess of dawn," and this Eostre was "linked to the hare and the egg, both symbols of fertility." Christian missionaries, in an attempt to convert the pagans, began to turn these festivals into Christian holidays by mixing the pagan traditions with their own. Two celebrations became one.
From around the web: "eggs have long been a symbol of rebirth and thus associated with spring celebrations." Back in the 600s, "Pope Gregory the Great forbade the eating of eggs during Lent (the 40 days preceding Easter), and this helped make eggs a special treat at Easter."
The modern version of the Easter Bunny was influenced by German traditions from the 1500s. According to Mental Floss, "The Germans converted the pagan rabbit image into Oschter Haws, a rabbit that was believed to lay a nest of colored eggs as gifts for good children."
Well, like other holidays, Christmas comes to mind, Easter is a mix of pagan and Christian celebrations and symbols.
Off Yahoo: "Hundreds of years ago, "many pagan cultures held spring festivals." One festival was devoted to "Eostre, the goddess of dawn," and this Eostre was "linked to the hare and the egg, both symbols of fertility." Christian missionaries, in an attempt to convert the pagans, began to turn these festivals into Christian holidays by mixing the pagan traditions with their own. Two celebrations became one.
From around the web: "eggs have long been a symbol of rebirth and thus associated with spring celebrations." Back in the 600s, "Pope Gregory the Great forbade the eating of eggs during Lent (the 40 days preceding Easter), and this helped make eggs a special treat at Easter."
The modern version of the Easter Bunny was influenced by German traditions from the 1500s. According to Mental Floss, "The Germans converted the pagan rabbit image into Oschter Haws, a rabbit that was believed to lay a nest of colored eggs as gifts for good children."
Friday, April 02, 2010
American Terrorists
Click post title to read an article about more extremist behavior from ultra right wing groups. This time, governors are getting letters demanding they leave office within three days or they will be removed. Of course this implies they will be killed.
These are American terrorists, who want to kill Americans and become its dictators---"do as we say or we will kill you". This is what goes on in third world African nations, awash in violence. They have no patience for democracy or debate. Dictatorships rely on violence and silencing the brains and thoughts of people. This behavior is anti everything American.
Times are scary. I don't listen to Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh because, the last times I have heard them on the radio, it sounds like they are attempting to provoke violence. If someone murdered some Democrat lawmaker, I am confident either one of them would gloat and rejoice. Can you imagine?
They are lucky to live in America. In many other countries, they'd already be in jail with such talk that is very very close to treason.
There are too many people unemployed. When people are unemployed, they have no hope and nothing to lose. Boredom and frustration foster radicalism and is how suicide bombers were recruited in Iraq, from the ranks of the disenfranchised.
I suppose it is not surprising the extremists smoldering in the US are using the current economic crisis to recruit hotblooded disenfranchised people, promising them glory, if they die for their cause, much as Islamic terrorists hold out carrots promising a planet of virgins if one straps a bomb to their chest and blows themselves away for another's cause.
I read conservatives in some places are attempting to rewrite history books and inside the books, the rewrite does not come close to fact. That is atrocious. What in the world is there to fear from truth or the truth of history? I still wish we would all just be nice to one another and work towards solving common problems, at the local level.
I am beginning to see the conservative party like a third world nation extremist group armed to the teeth with anger, slogans and bloody machetes and not much else. I have begun to see them as people bent on destroying America and I don't know why they would want to do that to our country.
We need other parties to rise now, I think. I don't know. All I know is times are scary, very scary and it makes me sad to think Americans are out there plotting to kill their fellow citizens in the name of I don't know what.
Our elected officials are mirrors of ourselves. The mistakes they make in governing mirror our personal problems, faults and weaknesses. Problems in america boil down to problems with communities and the individuals that comprise communities.
If change is to come, then we must change ourselves. If political change is to come, unless we tear apart America, it must come with debate and elections. If groups cannot get enough people to believe what they want is for the best, forcing the issue by killing people reverts America to dictatorship.
When the issues are dissected to the core, to find what some of these extremists really want, the result is illumination. The militia arrested for plotting against police officers had a leader who wanted power. He wanted to create a state for himself that he would rule. That is all telling.
With the health care debate, yes people are suffering for want of health care. But included in the package somehow, should have been incentives for personal change, a call to action for individuals to actually take care of themselves. However, many in these extremist militias would be appalled to think they should take care of their health. They would say if they want to smoke or drink excessively, that is their freedom to do so. And yet, their freedom affects everyone else's insurance rates. In our world, what one person does, affects everyone else.
That's life on our tightly packed beautiful planet. All species live and die on this premise.
These are American terrorists, who want to kill Americans and become its dictators---"do as we say or we will kill you". This is what goes on in third world African nations, awash in violence. They have no patience for democracy or debate. Dictatorships rely on violence and silencing the brains and thoughts of people. This behavior is anti everything American.
Times are scary. I don't listen to Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh because, the last times I have heard them on the radio, it sounds like they are attempting to provoke violence. If someone murdered some Democrat lawmaker, I am confident either one of them would gloat and rejoice. Can you imagine?
They are lucky to live in America. In many other countries, they'd already be in jail with such talk that is very very close to treason.
There are too many people unemployed. When people are unemployed, they have no hope and nothing to lose. Boredom and frustration foster radicalism and is how suicide bombers were recruited in Iraq, from the ranks of the disenfranchised.
I suppose it is not surprising the extremists smoldering in the US are using the current economic crisis to recruit hotblooded disenfranchised people, promising them glory, if they die for their cause, much as Islamic terrorists hold out carrots promising a planet of virgins if one straps a bomb to their chest and blows themselves away for another's cause.
I read conservatives in some places are attempting to rewrite history books and inside the books, the rewrite does not come close to fact. That is atrocious. What in the world is there to fear from truth or the truth of history? I still wish we would all just be nice to one another and work towards solving common problems, at the local level.
I am beginning to see the conservative party like a third world nation extremist group armed to the teeth with anger, slogans and bloody machetes and not much else. I have begun to see them as people bent on destroying America and I don't know why they would want to do that to our country.
We need other parties to rise now, I think. I don't know. All I know is times are scary, very scary and it makes me sad to think Americans are out there plotting to kill their fellow citizens in the name of I don't know what.
Our elected officials are mirrors of ourselves. The mistakes they make in governing mirror our personal problems, faults and weaknesses. Problems in america boil down to problems with communities and the individuals that comprise communities.
If change is to come, then we must change ourselves. If political change is to come, unless we tear apart America, it must come with debate and elections. If groups cannot get enough people to believe what they want is for the best, forcing the issue by killing people reverts America to dictatorship.
When the issues are dissected to the core, to find what some of these extremists really want, the result is illumination. The militia arrested for plotting against police officers had a leader who wanted power. He wanted to create a state for himself that he would rule. That is all telling.
With the health care debate, yes people are suffering for want of health care. But included in the package somehow, should have been incentives for personal change, a call to action for individuals to actually take care of themselves. However, many in these extremist militias would be appalled to think they should take care of their health. They would say if they want to smoke or drink excessively, that is their freedom to do so. And yet, their freedom affects everyone else's insurance rates. In our world, what one person does, affects everyone else.
That's life on our tightly packed beautiful planet. All species live and die on this premise.
Bling Panics. Says No to Leaving.
Bling panicked when the adoptor came into his room. It wasn't fear of her, it was fear of leaving here. He's already decided he's staying. He's a very smart cat and he knows when a stranger comes through the door, somebody leaves with them. He doesn't know where they end up or what happens to them then. He is really really insistent he wants to stay with me.
How to deal with such a cat and his fears. He has found sanctuary from a hard life here. He loves me. He has great fear of the unknown out there, and rightfully so. It is very tough.
I've come to realize how hard all the traumas cats face are on them. Some show it more than others but they all go through it.
Being abandoned by the people they have known is terribly hard on them. Ending up sitting in a cage at a shelter is desperately difficult on a cat. They know when others suddenly are gone something has heppened. They know when cats are killed at shelters and I cannot understand how anyone would think they don't.
Cats communicate with each other. They form strong bonds and friendships with each other.
When I see these ads on craigslist, about people treating them like trading cards or just getting cats on a whim, then wanting them gone, all I think about is how that cat is being affected, whether the average person can see it or not.
It's the curse of understanding. It's the curse to know all animals go through the same things. We like to think they don't. That's because we treat animals like a commodity, so we can butcher them and treat them like they're not not living beings.
It's been a hard road for me, to realize how complex the animal mind is, how deep their bonds are, to places and to other animals within and without their species and how tragic, often, are their encounters with humans.
How to deal with such a cat and his fears. He has found sanctuary from a hard life here. He loves me. He has great fear of the unknown out there, and rightfully so. It is very tough.
I've come to realize how hard all the traumas cats face are on them. Some show it more than others but they all go through it.
Being abandoned by the people they have known is terribly hard on them. Ending up sitting in a cage at a shelter is desperately difficult on a cat. They know when others suddenly are gone something has heppened. They know when cats are killed at shelters and I cannot understand how anyone would think they don't.
Cats communicate with each other. They form strong bonds and friendships with each other.
When I see these ads on craigslist, about people treating them like trading cards or just getting cats on a whim, then wanting them gone, all I think about is how that cat is being affected, whether the average person can see it or not.
It's the curse of understanding. It's the curse to know all animals go through the same things. We like to think they don't. That's because we treat animals like a commodity, so we can butcher them and treat them like they're not not living beings.
It's been a hard road for me, to realize how complex the animal mind is, how deep their bonds are, to places and to other animals within and without their species and how tragic, often, are their encounters with humans.
Spring Planting
Yesterday, I got some seeds started in plastic small pots, for later replanting outside. I am trying different methods for sprouting, out of curiosity. I also moved one of the collapsible frames I got from a tractor guy, whom I helped with cats. Tractor parts come packed in them, and they just throw them out. They are cool and stackable and make easy vegetable beds. I stack two, one atop the other.
I put one out front, after lining the grass it was to go around, with plastic then cardboard to kill it. I don't have much soil, to fill it with, but will get some somewhere. Out front of my place is the only place I get sun for vegetable growing.
I've been eating too much easter candy. I was going to send some friends small surprise boxes, then ate what I was going to send. I gave the homeless some of the candy I had left. Better they eat it than me, because I've been eating way too much.
Sorry Jeanne and others. You were meant to get Easter surprise boxes. But I ate them. I know how pathetic that sounds and you are right. Very very bad me!
Well, the woman from south Corvallis who is interested in adopting Blingo is supposed to arrive soon. The couch man from craigslist called and cancelled. I saw a couch offered for a very low price on craigslist and called the number. He will deliver it, he said, and that was to be today, but today it is raining far too hard to deliver a couch in an open pickup. He called to say he'd have to wait for a break from the rain. I am very very excited about getting a couch again.
I put one out front, after lining the grass it was to go around, with plastic then cardboard to kill it. I don't have much soil, to fill it with, but will get some somewhere. Out front of my place is the only place I get sun for vegetable growing.
I've been eating too much easter candy. I was going to send some friends small surprise boxes, then ate what I was going to send. I gave the homeless some of the candy I had left. Better they eat it than me, because I've been eating way too much.
Sorry Jeanne and others. You were meant to get Easter surprise boxes. But I ate them. I know how pathetic that sounds and you are right. Very very bad me!
Well, the woman from south Corvallis who is interested in adopting Blingo is supposed to arrive soon. The couch man from craigslist called and cancelled. I saw a couch offered for a very low price on craigslist and called the number. He will deliver it, he said, and that was to be today, but today it is raining far too hard to deliver a couch in an open pickup. He called to say he'd have to wait for a break from the rain. I am very very excited about getting a couch again.
Thursday, April 01, 2010
Coyote in Corvallis
I went over tonight, to see if I could intercept the homeless campers, give them some cat food. Sometimes I can find them this time of night, without going into the camps. I came around by where the trail goes in, and saw an animal running along the level of the berry vines. I thought it was a deer.
It then cut out onto the sidewalk and loped along the sidewalk a few feet before cutting across in front of my car. It was a big coyote. This always riles me up, to see a coyote very near where cats are trying to survive. I rolled down my window and yelled at him to get the hell out of here. He was across the road by now and on the edge of the field there, between two city streets.
I turned around and came back to his side. He didn't budge and was waiting to cross back to the camps side and I didn't want him over there at all, fearing for the cats.
I pulled up near him, within 30 feet with my window down, yelled at him again, to get the hell out of here. He just stared at me, like "yeah, big deal, what are you going to do about it?" I took the safety off my bear pepper spray to show him exactly what I was going to do about it, but he ran.
The whole thing was slightly surreal. Cars were going by. It's right in Corvallis. And I'm yelling at a coyote, who is unimpressed and obviously very used to people.
Then two of the campers rode up on bikes. As I was talking to them, a jogger jogged on by, probably completely unaware there was a coyote over in the brush right by where she was jogging along, on the sidewalk. Suppose it's no big deal. They're everywhere.
I told the campers to watch out, that the coyote came right out of their camps, that he might have killed and eaten some of the cats. They had seen coyotes before, said there's a pack of about six of them, in and out of the fields there, and have been for a long time.
They want me to take out the tame older female, said she'd be the one the coyotes would get, if he didn't tonight. That black male, tame, I photographed farther up, a few weeks back, has been in the camps, howling mournfully, Richard said. He's looking for love, only everybodys' fixed now, I told Richard, and he corrected me, saying, "You mean sex, not love. They're different." I said "You're right."
Gosh darn that coyote. Gosh darn it. Those poor cats. Getting eaten by a coyote is about the worst fate you could imagine outside of being eaten by a bobcat. With a cougar, it's quick, but not so quick with a bobcat or with coyotes.
I'm not one of these people who doesn't defend their own. I don't have anything against coyotes, but if something or someone I love is in danger of being eaten by one, I'm going to defend what I love, let me tell you, no ifs, ands or buts about it.
I do not understand people who get cats and let them be eaten by coyotes and act like its nothing. It's like letting your kid play with child molestors and expecting either that nothing will happen or, when it does, they say, "oh well, not our fault, we'll have another kid." That's so fricking asswipe pathetic, makes me barf, when I hear that. What kind of a person is that lame? I would not let my own cats face that sort of danger and that danger, of predators, is everywhere in Oregon, as evidenced tonight, when I encountered that coyote in Corvallis.
I got a bunch of cats fixed for the old vet in Jefferson before he retired. His mom lived on the property and fed some cats, and his mom in law. The mom in law had seen coyotes grab two different cats and run back to the tree line with the cat still in its jaws. There was nothing she could do. Eventually the coyotes killed all the cats she fed.
There have been numerous reports lately in the news of coyotes killing pets in Portland suburbs. In one report, a coyote came through the dog door and took a small dog right out of a laundry room. In Hillsboro, a man stood with his children outside their house and described how a coyote came and snatched and ate, one by one, all the female cats kittens. The coyote emerged from a park across the street I wished the reporter had asked why then he wasn't keeping that poor mother cat, who had survived, inside or getting her spayed. That's idiotic.
In one instance in WA state, a woman engaged in a tug of war with a coyote who came right onto her back porch and grabbed her cat. She was bitten in the process, but said she would not give up, because of the look of complete terror in the eyes of her beloved cat. Her cat was injured badly but survived and the woman had no regrets about fighting the coyote for her cat, although officials sternly reprimanded her, on the news, or anyone doing that, because of the danger.
It then cut out onto the sidewalk and loped along the sidewalk a few feet before cutting across in front of my car. It was a big coyote. This always riles me up, to see a coyote very near where cats are trying to survive. I rolled down my window and yelled at him to get the hell out of here. He was across the road by now and on the edge of the field there, between two city streets.
I turned around and came back to his side. He didn't budge and was waiting to cross back to the camps side and I didn't want him over there at all, fearing for the cats.
I pulled up near him, within 30 feet with my window down, yelled at him again, to get the hell out of here. He just stared at me, like "yeah, big deal, what are you going to do about it?" I took the safety off my bear pepper spray to show him exactly what I was going to do about it, but he ran.
The whole thing was slightly surreal. Cars were going by. It's right in Corvallis. And I'm yelling at a coyote, who is unimpressed and obviously very used to people.
Then two of the campers rode up on bikes. As I was talking to them, a jogger jogged on by, probably completely unaware there was a coyote over in the brush right by where she was jogging along, on the sidewalk. Suppose it's no big deal. They're everywhere.
I told the campers to watch out, that the coyote came right out of their camps, that he might have killed and eaten some of the cats. They had seen coyotes before, said there's a pack of about six of them, in and out of the fields there, and have been for a long time.
They want me to take out the tame older female, said she'd be the one the coyotes would get, if he didn't tonight. That black male, tame, I photographed farther up, a few weeks back, has been in the camps, howling mournfully, Richard said. He's looking for love, only everybodys' fixed now, I told Richard, and he corrected me, saying, "You mean sex, not love. They're different." I said "You're right."
Gosh darn that coyote. Gosh darn it. Those poor cats. Getting eaten by a coyote is about the worst fate you could imagine outside of being eaten by a bobcat. With a cougar, it's quick, but not so quick with a bobcat or with coyotes.
I'm not one of these people who doesn't defend their own. I don't have anything against coyotes, but if something or someone I love is in danger of being eaten by one, I'm going to defend what I love, let me tell you, no ifs, ands or buts about it.
I do not understand people who get cats and let them be eaten by coyotes and act like its nothing. It's like letting your kid play with child molestors and expecting either that nothing will happen or, when it does, they say, "oh well, not our fault, we'll have another kid." That's so fricking asswipe pathetic, makes me barf, when I hear that. What kind of a person is that lame? I would not let my own cats face that sort of danger and that danger, of predators, is everywhere in Oregon, as evidenced tonight, when I encountered that coyote in Corvallis.
I got a bunch of cats fixed for the old vet in Jefferson before he retired. His mom lived on the property and fed some cats, and his mom in law. The mom in law had seen coyotes grab two different cats and run back to the tree line with the cat still in its jaws. There was nothing she could do. Eventually the coyotes killed all the cats she fed.
There have been numerous reports lately in the news of coyotes killing pets in Portland suburbs. In one report, a coyote came through the dog door and took a small dog right out of a laundry room. In Hillsboro, a man stood with his children outside their house and described how a coyote came and snatched and ate, one by one, all the female cats kittens. The coyote emerged from a park across the street I wished the reporter had asked why then he wasn't keeping that poor mother cat, who had survived, inside or getting her spayed. That's idiotic.
In one instance in WA state, a woman engaged in a tug of war with a coyote who came right onto her back porch and grabbed her cat. She was bitten in the process, but said she would not give up, because of the look of complete terror in the eyes of her beloved cat. Her cat was injured badly but survived and the woman had no regrets about fighting the coyote for her cat, although officials sternly reprimanded her, on the news, or anyone doing that, because of the danger.
Blingo Might have a Home
A Corvallis woman has contcted me, interested in adopting Bling. She sounds like a really good person and has three other fixed cats she has rescued over the years. She's coming tomorrow to meet him. Keep your fingers crossed!
Cat Fixing Stats for 2009
I didn't take in as many as the year before, when I took in close to one thousand, but then I dealt with lack of funding last year, as is happening this year. This year's numbers will be lower also due to the fact I currently do not have a local vet to take cats in to, for fixing.
I took in far fewer feral cats to be fixed last year and that's because I've run into far fewer feral cat colonies. Getting house cats fixed prevents feral colonies from ever starting. Usually, feral colonies ramp up the number of cats per situation while tame cat numbers represent a lot more travelling and work per cat. Usually there are two cats per situation in tame cat households on average, sometimes many more, but the lower numbers per situation on tame versus feral mean more work when the tame cat numbers are higher. The numbers represent a vast amount of time spent in phone calls, arranging pickups, etc, whereas with feral colonies, I might sit out in the dark a night or two to catch a couple dozen cats and transport them all in one or two trips.
The tame cat numbers represent a lot of travelling two and fro and my car shows it. I'm making an appointment to get the car checked out. My mechanic is in the process of moving his shop, so have to wait a bit on that. My brakes are vibrating, the transmission fluid needs changed, hoses checked, radiator flushed and I have a short in my driver's side electric window. When I start the car, the window opens! I have to go through almost ritualistic proceedings to get the window to go down or up, but only sometimes. My mechanic said it's because the control for the drivers side window is actually in the passenger side. I had wondered why lowering and raising the passenger side, will sometimes then allow me to raise or lower the driver's side window.
It's a pain in the butt if I have the window lowered and it won't close again, especially when it's freezing or raining out. Oh, for the old hand crank window. I know I also need new front struts but that is out of my league expensive. I used to change them myself, with a homemade spring compressor, but that was when I had ramps and a lot of daring do, with fixing my chronically breaking down cars myself. Had to, or would have no car to drive. I'd try anything, with almost no tools, and usually it came out sort of ok. I bet I could still do it.
Cat Fixing Numbers for 2009
Total number of cats taken in to be fixed: 651
Number of Males: 290 Number of Females: 361
Number of Feral cats: 190 Number of tame cats: 461
Numbers for 2009 by County:
Benton County: 70 cats
Clackamas County: 7 cats Coos County: 3 cats
Linn County: 505 cats Marion County: 66 Cats
Numbers for 2009 by City:
Albany: 332
Corvallis: 49
Crabtree: 2
Foster: 8
I5 Rest Area: 1
Jefferson: 56
Lacomb: 46
Lebanon: 83
Marian: 8
Monroe: 16
North Bend: 3
Philomath: 4
Rural Linn: 13
Rural Marian: 1
Scio: 4
Sweet Home: 1
Wilsonville: 7
I took in far fewer feral cats to be fixed last year and that's because I've run into far fewer feral cat colonies. Getting house cats fixed prevents feral colonies from ever starting. Usually, feral colonies ramp up the number of cats per situation while tame cat numbers represent a lot more travelling and work per cat. Usually there are two cats per situation in tame cat households on average, sometimes many more, but the lower numbers per situation on tame versus feral mean more work when the tame cat numbers are higher. The numbers represent a vast amount of time spent in phone calls, arranging pickups, etc, whereas with feral colonies, I might sit out in the dark a night or two to catch a couple dozen cats and transport them all in one or two trips.
The tame cat numbers represent a lot of travelling two and fro and my car shows it. I'm making an appointment to get the car checked out. My mechanic is in the process of moving his shop, so have to wait a bit on that. My brakes are vibrating, the transmission fluid needs changed, hoses checked, radiator flushed and I have a short in my driver's side electric window. When I start the car, the window opens! I have to go through almost ritualistic proceedings to get the window to go down or up, but only sometimes. My mechanic said it's because the control for the drivers side window is actually in the passenger side. I had wondered why lowering and raising the passenger side, will sometimes then allow me to raise or lower the driver's side window.
It's a pain in the butt if I have the window lowered and it won't close again, especially when it's freezing or raining out. Oh, for the old hand crank window. I know I also need new front struts but that is out of my league expensive. I used to change them myself, with a homemade spring compressor, but that was when I had ramps and a lot of daring do, with fixing my chronically breaking down cars myself. Had to, or would have no car to drive. I'd try anything, with almost no tools, and usually it came out sort of ok. I bet I could still do it.
Cat Fixing Numbers for 2009
Total number of cats taken in to be fixed: 651
Number of Males: 290 Number of Females: 361
Number of Feral cats: 190 Number of tame cats: 461
Numbers for 2009 by County:
Benton County: 70 cats
Clackamas County: 7 cats Coos County: 3 cats
Linn County: 505 cats Marion County: 66 Cats
Numbers for 2009 by City:
Albany: 332
Corvallis: 49
Crabtree: 2
Foster: 8
I5 Rest Area: 1
Jefferson: 56
Lacomb: 46
Lebanon: 83
Marian: 8
Monroe: 16
North Bend: 3
Philomath: 4
Rural Linn: 13
Rural Marian: 1
Scio: 4
Sweet Home: 1
Wilsonville: 7
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