Friday, August 19, 2011

13 Albany Cats Fixed Today

That's right, I got my kittens fixed plus 8 other Albany cats. I drove 3 hours one way to get it done. Because the clinic could do 12 that day, I figured why waste those spots. So I trapped some cats over on an Albany street. Three people had contacted me from that street. There's more needing caught there. I took down 8 from the street, all ferals.

One woman had confined two females to her garage, until she could find a way to get them fixed.

My goodness that clinic is nice. What a fantastic friendly and quirky crew they have there. I liked them.

I was dead dog tired from mowing a field for some friends. Took seven hours Thursday. It wasn't physical labor, but it was hot yesterday. I got to drive a tractor though, to do it. First time. I LOVED it. Driving a tractor is very boring, very bouncy, very dirty and very hot. I went through one field of wall to wall seeded dandelion heads, which blew up in huge clouds around me.

I liked driving the tractor. They're slow, and tall to climb up into, and simple to drive. I've never been able to tolerate boring jobs well, not when I was younger anyhow. Can line in an Alaska cannery, good example. I was a salmon slimer. I wore rain gear and held a knife and scraped off the scales of fish sometimes 12 or 14 or 16 hours a day. The fish slid into a sink of cold water to wait for my knife.

We lived for the 15 minute breaks. They were very unhealthy breaks that offered black coffee and pastries. One guy got fired for stepping from his station for a few seconds to check the clock to see how close it was to break time.

Some stations got dismissed first for the breaks, like the beheading machine people, so those jobs were prized, even though there were bloody accidents on the machines sometimes, if somebody reached in if they'd positioned a fish wrong, trying to right the error and their arm or hand got chomped.

I once got put on the can inspection line, and became so hypnotized by the cans moving by, because I was so exhausted I fell asleep standing up. My coworkers pushed me over, although I caught myself in time. They thought it was funny and it probably was. Thereafter, I was sent only to my mucky scaly station on the slime line, which kept me awake because of the cold water on my hands, and being sprayed constantly on my rubber booted feet, by the hose guy, to get scales and glop, like guts, off.

I tried to talk some farmers into hiring me to drive columbine but at that time, the two farmers I tried, friends of mine, said I would never be able to tolerate boredom like that. I suppose they were right. Three miles an hour for 12 hours or more. Sounds like fun, right? I probably would have blinked out into a mind vacation, gone somewhere in my mind, somewhere real nice and pleasant and driven a terribly expensive machine off into a river, smiling blankly until that water hit me.

After I finished that mowing, my friends donated me gas to get down and back to the spay clinic and an old sewing machine. I'd wanted a sewing machine. I don't know if it works. If not, I will try to fix it.

That night then after mowing, since I only had the five kittens here to take and 12 reservations, I had to trap to fill those spots. I caught 8 at two locations on that one Albany street. I had to be on the road by 4:30 in the morning Friday and didn't get to bed til midnight. Think I'm tired out? I am exhausted!

I am so happy I got the bathroom kittens fixed. It's a great efficient clinic and very low cost, with all sorts of package deals, like the feral package. It's a Humane Alliance nonprofit spay neuter clinic run by Tamara, a friend of mine who used to live in Albany. I put in a plea to her, since I had no way to get these kittens fixed, and she said "Bring them down Friday."

I jumped on that. Yes I did. I know a good offer when I hear one. Where else would I have been able to get it done? Nowhere else.

This will not be a frequent trip I make, due to gas prices and the miles on my car. I won't be taking down people's tame owned cats, just ferals and fosters. Gives me a way to finish the colonies I've been working.

The cost to drive down there is about $23 one way, close to $50 round trip, if pre trip trapping gas money is included. It is 160 miles, if I did no other driving, to trap before hand, or down there, during the day. My car gets about 30 mpg. But I do drive before hand to trap, adding on miles and money. Along with bait costs.

It's a beautiful drive once you're off I5. I can go down I5 and cut off to Drain, on highway 38, and follow the North Umpqua River along, first on its north side, until you hit Scottsdale, then on the south side, to Reedsport. From Reedsport, I head south on 101.

There was a wreck near Hauser, when I drove down yesterday, that closed highway 101 and detoured around it. Must have been bad.

I could also go I5 to Eugene, take the Beltline to 126 and head west on that road through Veneta then on to Florence on the coast. From Florence, I'd also head south on highway 101 to North Bend. The clinic is in Empire, I think, officially.

All kittens and ferals fixed did quite well. The feral 8 will go back. Hate to take back one little 9 week old female kitten. She's so alone there, cris crossing the street,trying to snatch food out from under the adults. People put out food only at night and it is quickly gone. I have nowhere for her to go and no one willing to foster her.

It's bed time. Way past. Will sleep 24 hours likely. Have two more messages on my machine from people who must think I have a ton of money, to zip all over two counties as their official unpaid helper. Not so. Am broke. And, can't help them with their cats.

I'm making a little gas fund jar.

Still doesn't do much for the problem of putting miles a car that already has 200k on it. That's an issue. If my car dies, I won't be able to even take my own cats to the vet, get cat food or anything else. I'm a couple miles from the nearest grocery store and 30 miles round trip from the nearest affordable grocery store.

I do not want to join the ranks of those out here who buy what they need at the corner Circle K.

The car thing is huge. Sure be nice to have a transport van with gas supplied!!! What a dreamer I am.







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