$4 per gallon gas is almost here. It might be here. I haven't checked pump prices today. The price is climbing that fast.
What does this mean to me? Means my world has shrunk even more because unless I'm out trapping cats, or picking them up and transporting them to the clinic, on my one day a week, I'm here, home, car parked. Means higher prices for everything transported, which is everything. Hardly anything we buy is locally produced, including food, sadly. Granted, I don't buy much. I buy human food, cat food, cat litter, flea and wormer, vaccines, laundry soap, dish soap, toilet paper and coffee.
Coffee beans, that is. I have a small grinder given me years ago, by a dear friend. I treasure that grinder. I grind the beans for my morning cup. I have one cup of coffee per day and I make it here.
I have not purchased clothing in a very long time. It shows. My jeans are worn thin again. I have an urge to sew, always have. My hands are getting stiff sometimes now, from bite wounds through joints. They have come back to haunt me.
I fix my jeans, but I'd like to be able to alter ill fitting clothes. The clothes on racks in stores are so cheaply and poorly made now. They rarely fit well and the sizes seem different not only by brand but by individual pair of same brand.
I would like nothing better than to rip out seams and alter to fit. I would also like to repair jeans and other clothing stylishly using other worn out clothing, to make old clothes workable but also visibly pleasing.
Our addiction to blue jeans in America comes at cost to the environment. The blue dye bay! I remember seeing photos of the bay destroyed by dye used in the manufacture of "blue" jeans and ever since, I have a hard time with the whole blue jean concept. I can't remember if that was in India or China or Bangledesh or just where, but it sure hit home, what our purchasing, our obsessions, actually cost.
Seems like everything we do destroys not only our planet but ourselves.
I'm making my own shoes. The first pair, from rubber off an old bike tire, will be also formed with spray foam insulation, to fit my foot, which will be inside a vasoline covered plastic bag. This is fun stuff.
Today I will purchase the spray foam insulation, before it disappears off shelves for the summer.
I am going to find out what temperature melts rubber too. Then I'll make molds for home made shoes. There's tons of rubber out there for the taking, along roads and highways, from big truck tire blow outs! There's no sense wasting free resources.
I've thought of insane creations, like spring loaded splints attached at the waist, hinged at the knee with the spring load removing the work needed done by aging knees. Why not? The external skeleton will bottom out in shoes, with the spring pistons attached to the shoes. Probably everyone's seen the fleximetal semi stilts whose design and spring allow sleedy running and high jumping. And they're amazing.
I have lots of projects in mind. I should work on the colony catcher project, but that project would take an investment of materials money. I could use a welder too. I could figure out how to weld, by reading books on the subject, and some practise. Or, maybe I can just find someone with a welder and some free time.
With gas prices as high as they are, I think a lot of people may be staying home a lot more. A person can easily get bored around here if home confined, as there is not much to do, but get into it with neighbors over their lawn grass height, relative greenness and weeds.
I was thinking of trying to get into the Y here to get exercise but have been warned by several parties to expect religious recruitment there. Hard to believe that a gym would be that way. It's quite expensive to join anyhow, and I am shy around strangers. I don't like exercising with strangers and am unlikely to exercise at a gym, due to that reluctance. I've had gym memberships before, long ago.
I'm trying to find exercise I'll likely keep doing. I need to schedule myself to go at least once a week to Corvallis and hike Bald Hill or Chip Ross or Mac Forest. There are no such recreational opportunities in Albany.
In addition, the air has been smelling even during the day now sometimes of the acrid chemical smell that burns my nose. I've smelled the smell off and on since moving here, but usually only at night and now and then, when the air is still. It's a laundry detergent chemical smell. I figured at first it must be a meth lab somewhere nearby, and hoped it was, because I figured eventually it would be busted and the smell problem would be gone then.
I tried to inquire, by posting on craigslist, as to what that smell is in the air, and the consensus among others bothered by the smell is that it is from one of the industrial plants nearby. I also got a ton of sarcastic and irrelevant replies.
The thought the smell might be a permanent fixture in the air around me, makes me depressed, that I will need to endure now a caustic burning chemical smell to the air when outside.
That can't be healthy and even less healthy if one is exercising outside and breathing hard. I will keep trying to find out what that is and why it is in the air. I e-mailed the city, asking what it could be, and how I might find out. Smells are hard to pinpoint I bet. I am still hopeful it's a meth lab, because meth labs can be busted and the smell they emit is then gone for good. Not so easy if you have a nearby industrial plant spitting out crap into the air.
Monday, March 07, 2011
Another Reason to Shoot Yourself Before You End up in a Nursing Home: Lots of the Workers are Criminals
I suppose pretty much everyone knows this already, that criminals end up working at nursing homes. Click the post title to read the story citing new statistics.
Where every other industry might have some standards, the industries caring for the vulnerable often have one standard: making money for the owner. If this means hiring people who have been convicted of drug offenses and criminal offenses that include burglary even crimes against persons, they'll do it.
I worked at nursing homes during my brief college career to make ends meet, including the one behind which I'm now trapping unwanted cats in Corvallis. I'm not surprised they're unwanted there.
When I worked there in the 80's, the place should have been closed for criminal neglect. I worked nightshift. Often there was no laundry aide and no adult diapers and two employees only. It was a nightmare.
We were not given gloves to change and clean up human feces and it was unbelievably sad to see once independent vibrant human beings laying in their own feces, covered in bedsores, unable to ever get out of bed. We were pushed relentlessly by admin, and were not supposed to stop and take time to talk to the terribly lonely old.
It was a joke later, that half the employees smoked pot on their breaks out back. I quit. Employees routinely would not show up for work, so they'd call the reliables, the gullibles in, until the overtime hours were unbearable.
The job is also physically stressful in that the homes I worked in back then did not have lift equipment which meant employess lifted dead weight routinely, and sometimes, dangerously, on their own, because of lack of staffing.
It was depressing beyond depressing to work at such a place.
I never want to end up in a nursing home. I hope not to have a stroke, that would limit my ability, at my end, to pull a trigger, slash with a knife, step off a cliff, whatever I needed to do to keep out of ending up waiting to die at any place like most American nursing homes.
I cannot imagine any dignified human being who would want their life to end like that.
'
Where every other industry might have some standards, the industries caring for the vulnerable often have one standard: making money for the owner. If this means hiring people who have been convicted of drug offenses and criminal offenses that include burglary even crimes against persons, they'll do it.
I worked at nursing homes during my brief college career to make ends meet, including the one behind which I'm now trapping unwanted cats in Corvallis. I'm not surprised they're unwanted there.
When I worked there in the 80's, the place should have been closed for criminal neglect. I worked nightshift. Often there was no laundry aide and no adult diapers and two employees only. It was a nightmare.
We were not given gloves to change and clean up human feces and it was unbelievably sad to see once independent vibrant human beings laying in their own feces, covered in bedsores, unable to ever get out of bed. We were pushed relentlessly by admin, and were not supposed to stop and take time to talk to the terribly lonely old.
It was a joke later, that half the employees smoked pot on their breaks out back. I quit. Employees routinely would not show up for work, so they'd call the reliables, the gullibles in, until the overtime hours were unbearable.
The job is also physically stressful in that the homes I worked in back then did not have lift equipment which meant employess lifted dead weight routinely, and sometimes, dangerously, on their own, because of lack of staffing.
It was depressing beyond depressing to work at such a place.
I never want to end up in a nursing home. I hope not to have a stroke, that would limit my ability, at my end, to pull a trigger, slash with a knife, step off a cliff, whatever I needed to do to keep out of ending up waiting to die at any place like most American nursing homes.
I cannot imagine any dignified human being who would want their life to end like that.
'
Sunday, March 06, 2011
Goodbye Nemo
Nemo, the N. Albany kitten, now a teen, and three months shy of being a year old, got a home today with a Salem family. I took him up myself to meet the family. They're really sweet people, good with animals. I hope it works out. If it doesn't, he can come back, but this is as good as it gets.
They have a great veterinarian who also is a personal friend of theirs.
Good luck Nemo!
Saturday, March 05, 2011
Nemo Leaves Tomorrow
Nemo is leaving tomorrow on a trial run with a great Salem family. I very much hope it works out, because they're great people. They'll have to work at it some, since he's shy at first to new people.
They know this and want to try and I'm sure up for that. I am crossing my fingers he adjusts.
My friend Keni, Poppa's president, took one of her rescues, who seemed depressed there, all the way to her mother, down in southern Cal. Only the kitty became ill and did not snap out of it, and her mother's vet thinks she has underlying cardiomyopathy. She may have already passed.
This is killing Keni, and her mother, and me to even think of the sorrow both are going through. It's not easy, rescuing cats. There are so many conditions they can get that you'll never see or know about, or be able to find out they have unless you're like a millionaire.
Bless you, all you little people out there trying to save the world. There are plenty who just look away or make money off various ills of society. Kind hearts coupled with action oriented bodies are hard to come by. Complainers, arm chair quarterbacks--they're everywhere.
Nemo gets a shot at a home tomorrow. Won't be easy on him. He's settled in. Nope, will be very hard on him for weeks, but if they persist, have patience, and he adjusts, he'll be better off.
They know this and want to try and I'm sure up for that. I am crossing my fingers he adjusts.
My friend Keni, Poppa's president, took one of her rescues, who seemed depressed there, all the way to her mother, down in southern Cal. Only the kitty became ill and did not snap out of it, and her mother's vet thinks she has underlying cardiomyopathy. She may have already passed.
This is killing Keni, and her mother, and me to even think of the sorrow both are going through. It's not easy, rescuing cats. There are so many conditions they can get that you'll never see or know about, or be able to find out they have unless you're like a millionaire.
Bless you, all you little people out there trying to save the world. There are plenty who just look away or make money off various ills of society. Kind hearts coupled with action oriented bodies are hard to come by. Complainers, arm chair quarterbacks--they're everywhere.
Nemo gets a shot at a home tomorrow. Won't be easy on him. He's settled in. Nope, will be very hard on him for weeks, but if they persist, have patience, and he adjusts, he'll be better off.
Males Behaving Badly: Mike Huckabee/Charlie Sheen
Charlie Sheen is insane. He's fried his brain on drugs and it shows.
I do not know what Mike Huckabee fried his brains on, perhaps his own ego.
Mike Huckabee has a truth problem. He knows President Obama didn't grow up in Africa or in a Muslim culture, but he keeps saying that on the radio. Mr. Lying Morality.
Click the post title to go to an article on Huckabee's comments on Obama and preggie Portman.
When confronted with his lies, he said he meant Indonesia and it's the same thing. So Hawaii is Indonesia, not America, Huckabee? He wants nothing more than to make sheeplike Americans repeat his lies and if he has to cut Hawaii off the American map to do it, no problem. But lying is not real a moral lapse, right Liar Huckabee?
Then, despite his moral lapses in lies about Obama, he decides to judge Oscar winner Portman, because she is pregnant and not married to her boyfriend. This judgement precludes his rant against young unwed welfare mothers. No mention of the male impregnators, or of them being a burden on society, which they are, just as much as the young girls they impregnate. It's always just the women catching flack.
The obvious cul de sac he's driven himself into, is the implication on abortion, which he is against. If the young unwed preggies can't get an abortion they will become a burden on society. What is the answer then, Mr. Huckabee, stoning them to death?
I'd actually like to see Yuckabee and Sarah Palin, with unwed Bristol at her side, fight it out over this. Sarah Palin is always well armed.
I also think Yuckabee's truth lapses about Obama and Muslim culture are Freudian slips. Because Mike Yuckabee, with his views on controlling women, is very well suited to become a religious leader in someplace like Iran, or, with the Taliban.
On the flip side of the coin, male Charlie Sheen runs about apparently also addicted to sex and bad behavior towards women. He is glamorized for this behavior. Mike Huckabee so far has not come forward to publicly berate Sheen's behavior, only Oscar winner preggie Portman, which leads me to believe Huckabee is very concerned about controlling women.
I'd say both are men behaving very badly, like a-holes.
Sheen isn't running for President. Huckabee probably will. So who is more dangerous to women?
I do not know what Mike Huckabee fried his brains on, perhaps his own ego.
Mike Huckabee has a truth problem. He knows President Obama didn't grow up in Africa or in a Muslim culture, but he keeps saying that on the radio. Mr. Lying Morality.
Click the post title to go to an article on Huckabee's comments on Obama and preggie Portman.
When confronted with his lies, he said he meant Indonesia and it's the same thing. So Hawaii is Indonesia, not America, Huckabee? He wants nothing more than to make sheeplike Americans repeat his lies and if he has to cut Hawaii off the American map to do it, no problem. But lying is not real a moral lapse, right Liar Huckabee?
Then, despite his moral lapses in lies about Obama, he decides to judge Oscar winner Portman, because she is pregnant and not married to her boyfriend. This judgement precludes his rant against young unwed welfare mothers. No mention of the male impregnators, or of them being a burden on society, which they are, just as much as the young girls they impregnate. It's always just the women catching flack.
The obvious cul de sac he's driven himself into, is the implication on abortion, which he is against. If the young unwed preggies can't get an abortion they will become a burden on society. What is the answer then, Mr. Huckabee, stoning them to death?
I'd actually like to see Yuckabee and Sarah Palin, with unwed Bristol at her side, fight it out over this. Sarah Palin is always well armed.
I also think Yuckabee's truth lapses about Obama and Muslim culture are Freudian slips. Because Mike Yuckabee, with his views on controlling women, is very well suited to become a religious leader in someplace like Iran, or, with the Taliban.
On the flip side of the coin, male Charlie Sheen runs about apparently also addicted to sex and bad behavior towards women. He is glamorized for this behavior. Mike Huckabee so far has not come forward to publicly berate Sheen's behavior, only Oscar winner preggie Portman, which leads me to believe Huckabee is very concerned about controlling women.
I'd say both are men behaving very badly, like a-holes.
Sheen isn't running for President. Huckabee probably will. So who is more dangerous to women?
Friday, March 04, 2011
19 Cats Fixed Today
Below are photos of the 19 cats fixed today. 15 are from Mt. Hope Drive in Lebanon and 4 are from Monroe. I know I am missing a photo of at least one of the Mt. Hope blacks, but I am exhausted so too bad!!
One of the two tame short hair black teen females, with URI's, worms and low body mass from poor nutrition, spayed today.
These are the two females together, both spayed today, from the Mt. Hope Drive colony.
Tuffy, a little gray tux manx male, neutered today from Mt. Hope.
Gray and white manx female, spayed today from Mt. Hope.
Gray and white male with the severe ear infection, that the vet cleaned out, caused initially by earmites, neutered today.
Gray tab on white female, spayed today, from Mt. Hope colony.
Siamese male, neutered today, from Mt. Hope colony.
The Siamese male again.
Brown tabby tux female, spayed today, from Mt. Hope colony.
DSH brown tabby female, from Mt. Hope colony, spayed today.
Finn, the short hair black male with the severe heart murmur, fixed today. He did not get eartipped because the vet had him under gas anesthesia literally only for seconds, to be able to neuter him, but not kill him with the anesthesia, due to his heart murmur.
I think this big long hair black is the female.
Unknown sex black tux long hair fixed today.
A long hair black teen fixed today, from the Mt. Hope colony.
And another long hair black from the Mt. Hope colony fixed today.
Male Siamese kitten from Monroe fixed today.
The three Monroe female kittens fixed today.
This is what the same kittens looked like a few weeks ago, when too little to be fixed.
You read the post title right. 19 Cats!!!
It was a tight fit to get them all into my car. Four were kittens from Monroe born to a dumped off mom. She had five kittens and I tried to get her and all five fixed once before but four of the kittens were under weight for surgery. Today those four were fixed.
Who were the other 15? Well, they all came from that Mt. Hope Dr. Lebanon colony. By the time I got there yesterday afternoon, they already had four in carriers and a trap. As fast as I got traps out and ready, and the niece took them around to the back patio to set them, the cats went in, one after another.
They had not been fed yesterday, you see, and, the niece had set up a trap so it wouldn't spring and fed inside it for four days. These folks actually followed directions and participated. The niece couldn't believe nobody else does that.
Made it so easy.
After I left last night, they caught two more, with the last two traps I'd left them. This morning, when I picked up those two, I set another trap. I saw two cats come running when she called, like she was going to feed them. One went right into the trap. I had no more traps, but did have a small carrier. The old woman got ahold of the other cat by the scruff and we backed him into that carrier. Job done.
In total 11 females and 8 males were fixed today, from Monroe and Lebanon. The Lebanon colony mix included 7 males and 8 females. All adult females were in heat but none were pregnant.
Many have severe URI's and low bone mass feel to them and that's because they are chock full of worms. The woman has a bottle of wormer but never actually went ahead and wormed them. Now, I'm telling her to worm them, three times, two weeks apart, then again in six months. One male had a severe ear infection which began with earmites. He then scratched himself silly and the scratches became infected.
Another male, that last one we put in a carrier this morning had a severe heart murmur. The vet saved him til last, stood over him as he was put under gas anesthesia, ready to cut, and did a record fast neuter, then they quickly brought him out of the anesthesia. He survived, which is amazing.
So, good day, despite being a difficult day. I was tired out. I even gave two of the cats from Lebanon, with URI's, antibiotics and sub cu fluids last night, in addition to worming them, to give them a head start on recuperation.
Tomorrow they'll all go home. The Monroe kittens already went home.
Gas prices are out of this world. $3.60 per gallon now. Up 10 cents a gallon since two days ago. Can you believe that?
For that reason, I dared not come home. I knew the cats would not be ready until late and they weren't, not til 5:00 p.m. So, it was my home away from home where I spent my time, my vacation home--the rest area!
I'm sure the circling cleaning crew, always there, and lazy as sin (they drive to each piece of litter in the parking lot, then one gets out to pick it up and gets back into the truck--takes two people and a truck to pick up litter there), think I'm homeless and living there. I don't give a shit. They're public rest areas and I'm a member of the public.
One of the two tame short hair black teen females, with URI's, worms and low body mass from poor nutrition, spayed today.
These are the two females together, both spayed today, from the Mt. Hope Drive colony.
Tuffy, a little gray tux manx male, neutered today from Mt. Hope.
Gray and white manx female, spayed today from Mt. Hope.
Gray and white male with the severe ear infection, that the vet cleaned out, caused initially by earmites, neutered today.
Gray tab on white female, spayed today, from Mt. Hope colony.
Siamese male, neutered today, from Mt. Hope colony.
The Siamese male again.
Brown tabby tux female, spayed today, from Mt. Hope colony.
DSH brown tabby female, from Mt. Hope colony, spayed today.
Finn, the short hair black male with the severe heart murmur, fixed today. He did not get eartipped because the vet had him under gas anesthesia literally only for seconds, to be able to neuter him, but not kill him with the anesthesia, due to his heart murmur.
I think this big long hair black is the female.
Unknown sex black tux long hair fixed today.
A long hair black teen fixed today, from the Mt. Hope colony.
And another long hair black from the Mt. Hope colony fixed today. 
Male Siamese kitten from Monroe fixed today.
The three Monroe female kittens fixed today.
This is what the same kittens looked like a few weeks ago, when too little to be fixed.You read the post title right. 19 Cats!!!
It was a tight fit to get them all into my car. Four were kittens from Monroe born to a dumped off mom. She had five kittens and I tried to get her and all five fixed once before but four of the kittens were under weight for surgery. Today those four were fixed.
Who were the other 15? Well, they all came from that Mt. Hope Dr. Lebanon colony. By the time I got there yesterday afternoon, they already had four in carriers and a trap. As fast as I got traps out and ready, and the niece took them around to the back patio to set them, the cats went in, one after another.
They had not been fed yesterday, you see, and, the niece had set up a trap so it wouldn't spring and fed inside it for four days. These folks actually followed directions and participated. The niece couldn't believe nobody else does that.
Made it so easy.
After I left last night, they caught two more, with the last two traps I'd left them. This morning, when I picked up those two, I set another trap. I saw two cats come running when she called, like she was going to feed them. One went right into the trap. I had no more traps, but did have a small carrier. The old woman got ahold of the other cat by the scruff and we backed him into that carrier. Job done.
In total 11 females and 8 males were fixed today, from Monroe and Lebanon. The Lebanon colony mix included 7 males and 8 females. All adult females were in heat but none were pregnant.
Many have severe URI's and low bone mass feel to them and that's because they are chock full of worms. The woman has a bottle of wormer but never actually went ahead and wormed them. Now, I'm telling her to worm them, three times, two weeks apart, then again in six months. One male had a severe ear infection which began with earmites. He then scratched himself silly and the scratches became infected.
Another male, that last one we put in a carrier this morning had a severe heart murmur. The vet saved him til last, stood over him as he was put under gas anesthesia, ready to cut, and did a record fast neuter, then they quickly brought him out of the anesthesia. He survived, which is amazing.
So, good day, despite being a difficult day. I was tired out. I even gave two of the cats from Lebanon, with URI's, antibiotics and sub cu fluids last night, in addition to worming them, to give them a head start on recuperation.
Tomorrow they'll all go home. The Monroe kittens already went home.
Gas prices are out of this world. $3.60 per gallon now. Up 10 cents a gallon since two days ago. Can you believe that?
For that reason, I dared not come home. I knew the cats would not be ready until late and they weren't, not til 5:00 p.m. So, it was my home away from home where I spent my time, my vacation home--the rest area!
I'm sure the circling cleaning crew, always there, and lazy as sin (they drive to each piece of litter in the parking lot, then one gets out to pick it up and gets back into the truck--takes two people and a truck to pick up litter there), think I'm homeless and living there. I don't give a shit. They're public rest areas and I'm a member of the public.
Thursday, March 03, 2011
I HATE Adoptions
I told the Olympia woman "no" on Valentino. She did not take it well and became mean. I understand it.
Why did I say "no"? Because I can't do a home visit and have no idea who she is. We got to talking about it, a couple Poppa board members and myself, yesterday, when I was up there with him. Most rescues don't adopt out beyond a certain mileage radius because you can't check the people out and because it is slightly strange when there are plenty of in need animals everywhere, for someone to want an animal so far away.
Valentino's story is compelling. And he's super wonderful.
But would I hand him over to a complete stranger for a four hour drive, not knowing anything about them other than what they've told me themselves? No. Can't do it.
The other thing is, she never called me. She'd say she would call me, but never did. I finally tried calling her, got her son, who had no idea what I was talking about, said he'd have his mother call, but she didn't. Not til a couple days later, for about four minutes. I find this strange. It might not be to her, but it is to me.
I hate doing adoptions. I have no idea who people are calling me, wanting to take a living breathing soul home. These cats trust me, they're vulnerable in my hands. It literally eats me in stress to adopt them out. I like adopting out to people I know. I hate adopting to strangers. I'm not cut out for it.
I've had lots of bad outcomes, cats being eaten by predators or abandoned. I do the best I can. You can sometimes tell too, if you say "no", how they react, because a lot of people, myself included, would completely understand why I would not send Valentino off to a stranger far away. I took the insults tonight, that's for sure. Guess it's the price I pay to try to make sure Valentino gets his great home, without so much guesswork.
I don't like adopting to young married heterosexuals now, because I know they'll shortly be divorced. I've had lots of adoptions go bad for that reason. I have so many people call wanting a kitten to give their new boyfriend or girlfriend and around here, boyfriends and girlfriends are real short term entities. I have people call because their toddler wants a kitten and "I want a kitten to give my toddler." Give me a break.
I like adopting to gay men. They're very attentive to their pets and caring. I like adopting to middle aged to older single women, middle aged to older couples and to retired people. I like adopting to young educated yuppies or new agers, single or living together. Sure, some of them are strange, but they love their animals and shoulder a sense of responsibility.
Other than that, I HATE ADOPTIONS. YES, I AM SHOUTING! They chew me up inside.
Would the Olympia people have given Valentino a good home? I don't know. I don't know them. I tried to tell it was nothing personal, just the fact I don't know her and it's so far away, I can't drive up and do a home check. Costs too much, in time and gas. In the end, that's the only way I would have figured it out. People can say anything. It's so hard to know.
There is good news for cats tonight. There is this Mt. Hope colony. The caretaker contacted Poppa Inc. requesting help. Seems they're half a spit distance from the 5th wheel colony, where Zuli, Forest, Turbo, Gizmo and Rainy come from, just a field away.
I go up there because today's the day to trap them. 15 I was told, maybe. Well, they already had four in carriers and the one trap, borrowed by a niece. And then shoved another young tame male into one of my traps. That's five right there.
Then we set traps and caught six more. They've caught another since. That's 12. There might be two more, she thought. She was supposed to trap up til she goes to bed and then in the morning before I get there.
I'd already promised to take up four Monroe kittens who were underweight last time I tried. All but one, that is, the biggest boy, and their mother, who did get fixed.
So, beside an angry rejected adoptor e-mailing, I got like 16 cats in my garage and car. One of the black ones is sick. I already dosed her on antibiotics, eye and oral, and gave her fluids, and wormed her. Is that efficiency or what, even in the face of dejection over the Valentino adoption?
Sure I have guilt over telling her "no". Maybe she's a super duper wonderful cat person. But I don't know if she is or isn't. That's the thing. And it's so damn far away. I wish she could stop her insults long enough to understand that, that it is not personal, it's that I don't know her and that she's so darn far away.
I got 15, maybe 16 cats going to be fixed tomorrow. That's damn good, for the cats of this area. Damn good. I"m happy. And I barely lifted a finger. It was hailing, puonding, roaring hail up there. I got soaked but I didn't mind much.
Spring is schizophrenic here. Doesn't know what to do with itself. Should I snow? Spring asks, and then, angrily, spring throws down hail hard and fast. Spring doesn't know if its winter or summer, you see and that id crisis is hard on spring. Spring doesn't understand it is all about the flowers blooming and the grass growing up fast and green. Everybody loves, you spring. We smile at the thought of you coming. You don't need to pound down, but we love you anyhow. We don't care what you do, we just love you.
Why did I say "no"? Because I can't do a home visit and have no idea who she is. We got to talking about it, a couple Poppa board members and myself, yesterday, when I was up there with him. Most rescues don't adopt out beyond a certain mileage radius because you can't check the people out and because it is slightly strange when there are plenty of in need animals everywhere, for someone to want an animal so far away.
Valentino's story is compelling. And he's super wonderful.
But would I hand him over to a complete stranger for a four hour drive, not knowing anything about them other than what they've told me themselves? No. Can't do it.
The other thing is, she never called me. She'd say she would call me, but never did. I finally tried calling her, got her son, who had no idea what I was talking about, said he'd have his mother call, but she didn't. Not til a couple days later, for about four minutes. I find this strange. It might not be to her, but it is to me.
I hate doing adoptions. I have no idea who people are calling me, wanting to take a living breathing soul home. These cats trust me, they're vulnerable in my hands. It literally eats me in stress to adopt them out. I like adopting out to people I know. I hate adopting to strangers. I'm not cut out for it.
I've had lots of bad outcomes, cats being eaten by predators or abandoned. I do the best I can. You can sometimes tell too, if you say "no", how they react, because a lot of people, myself included, would completely understand why I would not send Valentino off to a stranger far away. I took the insults tonight, that's for sure. Guess it's the price I pay to try to make sure Valentino gets his great home, without so much guesswork.
I don't like adopting to young married heterosexuals now, because I know they'll shortly be divorced. I've had lots of adoptions go bad for that reason. I have so many people call wanting a kitten to give their new boyfriend or girlfriend and around here, boyfriends and girlfriends are real short term entities. I have people call because their toddler wants a kitten and "I want a kitten to give my toddler." Give me a break.
I like adopting to gay men. They're very attentive to their pets and caring. I like adopting to middle aged to older single women, middle aged to older couples and to retired people. I like adopting to young educated yuppies or new agers, single or living together. Sure, some of them are strange, but they love their animals and shoulder a sense of responsibility.
Other than that, I HATE ADOPTIONS. YES, I AM SHOUTING! They chew me up inside.
Would the Olympia people have given Valentino a good home? I don't know. I don't know them. I tried to tell it was nothing personal, just the fact I don't know her and it's so far away, I can't drive up and do a home check. Costs too much, in time and gas. In the end, that's the only way I would have figured it out. People can say anything. It's so hard to know.
There is good news for cats tonight. There is this Mt. Hope colony. The caretaker contacted Poppa Inc. requesting help. Seems they're half a spit distance from the 5th wheel colony, where Zuli, Forest, Turbo, Gizmo and Rainy come from, just a field away.
I go up there because today's the day to trap them. 15 I was told, maybe. Well, they already had four in carriers and the one trap, borrowed by a niece. And then shoved another young tame male into one of my traps. That's five right there.
Then we set traps and caught six more. They've caught another since. That's 12. There might be two more, she thought. She was supposed to trap up til she goes to bed and then in the morning before I get there.
I'd already promised to take up four Monroe kittens who were underweight last time I tried. All but one, that is, the biggest boy, and their mother, who did get fixed.
So, beside an angry rejected adoptor e-mailing, I got like 16 cats in my garage and car. One of the black ones is sick. I already dosed her on antibiotics, eye and oral, and gave her fluids, and wormed her. Is that efficiency or what, even in the face of dejection over the Valentino adoption?
Sure I have guilt over telling her "no". Maybe she's a super duper wonderful cat person. But I don't know if she is or isn't. That's the thing. And it's so damn far away. I wish she could stop her insults long enough to understand that, that it is not personal, it's that I don't know her and that she's so darn far away.
I got 15, maybe 16 cats going to be fixed tomorrow. That's damn good, for the cats of this area. Damn good. I"m happy. And I barely lifted a finger. It was hailing, puonding, roaring hail up there. I got soaked but I didn't mind much.
Spring is schizophrenic here. Doesn't know what to do with itself. Should I snow? Spring asks, and then, angrily, spring throws down hail hard and fast. Spring doesn't know if its winter or summer, you see and that id crisis is hard on spring. Spring doesn't understand it is all about the flowers blooming and the grass growing up fast and green. Everybody loves, you spring. We smile at the thought of you coming. You don't need to pound down, but we love you anyhow. We don't care what you do, we just love you.
Lost Little Dog, Corvallis. If you are Driving Highway 20, Conifer, Circle, Seavy, WATCH FOR THIS DOG!!!
Lost Dog - not giving up! (Last spotted near Cheldelin/Garden Ave)
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Date: 2011-02-25, 9:42AM PST
Reply to: comm-rnkzk-2234033435@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
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Corvallis - Please keep your eyes open for this little dog! She has been missing since January 19 and could be anywhere in the city! She was last spotted arround Cheldilin School area in early February. She's also been seen on Garden Ave. off of Hwy 20.
The dog’s name is Mo and she is a long haired Chihuahua. Her body is white and her hair is medium length. Her face is brown and white with some black markings and a white stripe down the forehead. Her tail is white, brown and black.
This small dog was lost from a home on Glacier Way across the tracks to the east from Cheldelin Middle school. The sightings have been near the school and on Seavy and in the fields around Garden Ave.
This dog is a rescue dog from a home where she was kept as a breed dog with 56 other dogs; she is afraid of people and is partially deaf. She has on a black and pink collar but no tags and her nipples are prominent from nursing puppies. Mo is microchiped.
This dog could be anywhere by now and will most likely run if approached. If spotted please call Julie @ 541 752-5292or the Heartland Humane Society @ 541 757-9000 so that we can come immediately to try to lure her. We will come as soon as we can after getting the call so please be precise as to where you last saw her. She can really run so please don’t chase her, just watch what direction she goes.
Please help, this dog was making great progress in trusting people before she went missing and is a dear little animal and very much loved.
541 752-5392
541 757-9000 = Heartland Humane Society
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
Valentino's Dental and Turbo's Adoptor Sends Photos
Valentino got five bad teeth pulled today and the rest cleaned. He came home with pain meds and antibiotics. All this done, for $121. Nickel, the Stayton trailer park male, abandoned there declawed and already neutered, with a swollen jaw from an infected tooth, also had five teeth pulled today and the rest cleaned, for the same low price. He returned to Keni's and in a couple weeks, will go up for adoption.
Lucky boys and I'm glad Keni found that clinic.
It was a long early drive for me. I had to be up by 5:00 a.m.
I get home and find Turbo's adoptor had sent new photos. He's from the Lebanon 5th Wheeler colony, same place Zuli came from. His name is now ET. That woman adopted a kitten from Corvallis from my one volunteer, at least three years ago. She fostered three kittens, semi-ferals from Corvallis, then bowed out, because it was too much with working all day, to be able to have time to work with kittens. She found two of them homes, in the end. Berry went to this home. The girl went up to a home in WA, and Thor, the manx, came here, because he had manx syndrome, unable to control his bowels. He finally went to a barn near Corvallis.
I never met the woman who adopted Berry, one of the three Corvallis kittens, but he is doing just fine, and now named Guber. Turbo was adopted by the same great animal lover and renamed ET, because he's soooooo polydactyl. Et's new people just adore him and he is going through a huge growth spurt right now, getting long and lanky.
Turbo, now known as ET, in the window at his new home.
Their older cat Hobbs, with Turbo/ET.
The third cat they own, Berry, formerly of Corvallis, is now known as Guber.
Lucky boys and I'm glad Keni found that clinic.
It was a long early drive for me. I had to be up by 5:00 a.m.
I get home and find Turbo's adoptor had sent new photos. He's from the Lebanon 5th Wheeler colony, same place Zuli came from. His name is now ET. That woman adopted a kitten from Corvallis from my one volunteer, at least three years ago. She fostered three kittens, semi-ferals from Corvallis, then bowed out, because it was too much with working all day, to be able to have time to work with kittens. She found two of them homes, in the end. Berry went to this home. The girl went up to a home in WA, and Thor, the manx, came here, because he had manx syndrome, unable to control his bowels. He finally went to a barn near Corvallis.
I never met the woman who adopted Berry, one of the three Corvallis kittens, but he is doing just fine, and now named Guber. Turbo was adopted by the same great animal lover and renamed ET, because he's soooooo polydactyl. Et's new people just adore him and he is going through a huge growth spurt right now, getting long and lanky.
Turbo, now known as ET, in the window at his new home.
Their older cat Hobbs, with Turbo/ET.
The third cat they own, Berry, formerly of Corvallis, is now known as Guber.
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
Birthdays Come and Birthdays Go
It was my birthday today.
I didn't do anything. I was worn out and fell asleep on the couch and woke almost unable to swallow, some muscle or tendon out of place in my throat which finally snapped back into place. I woke up at 4:00 a.m. on the couch, which is soft and uncomfortable and bad on my back and neck. In fact, it might be the cause of much of my back and neck troubles lately, sitting on it in the evening.
I stayed up a bit, fed the two cats from my yard fixed yesterday, who were in my car, and went back to bed, sleeping late.
I did all the cleaning, which can take two hours here, every morning, then finally got going and took the orange cat over to Heartland. I took a couple calls about cats and that was about it for the day, except for more cleaning of carriers and traps used in yesterday's transport and burying Simba.
There's always so much cleaning, constant cleaning.
And laundry.
Been depressed I suppose. Am lonely. Wish I had a family.
I didn't do anything. I was worn out and fell asleep on the couch and woke almost unable to swallow, some muscle or tendon out of place in my throat which finally snapped back into place. I woke up at 4:00 a.m. on the couch, which is soft and uncomfortable and bad on my back and neck. In fact, it might be the cause of much of my back and neck troubles lately, sitting on it in the evening.
I stayed up a bit, fed the two cats from my yard fixed yesterday, who were in my car, and went back to bed, sleeping late.
I did all the cleaning, which can take two hours here, every morning, then finally got going and took the orange cat over to Heartland. I took a couple calls about cats and that was about it for the day, except for more cleaning of carriers and traps used in yesterday's transport and burying Simba.
There's always so much cleaning, constant cleaning.
And laundry.
Been depressed I suppose. Am lonely. Wish I had a family.
Word on the Street: Someone Passing Out Free Kittens AND My Number
I received word that someone was giving out free kittens at the Dollar Store, maybe in Lebanon, with a bag of food, and a card with my name and number, that stated I would get them fixed for them for free.
I want to know who this is. That's insanity.
Giving me, my time, my gas money, Poppa Inc's money, away with their kittens, that were, I was told, plenty big enough to be fixed prior to these people handing them out. I will get to the bottom of this.
This is someone who was irresponsible with their cat and now, without my permission, is exploiting me and Poppa Inc., for their own benefit/convenience.
And it's not free. Free is for people who refuse to recognize the worth of what they are getting and won't even donate a minimal copay, like $10. Nothing is free. Someone pays for it somewhere.
This is directed at the person handing out those kittens with my number attached: FIX YOUR DAMN FEMALE NOW!!!
I want to know who this is. That's insanity.
Giving me, my time, my gas money, Poppa Inc's money, away with their kittens, that were, I was told, plenty big enough to be fixed prior to these people handing them out. I will get to the bottom of this.
This is someone who was irresponsible with their cat and now, without my permission, is exploiting me and Poppa Inc., for their own benefit/convenience.
And it's not free. Free is for people who refuse to recognize the worth of what they are getting and won't even donate a minimal copay, like $10. Nothing is free. Someone pays for it somewhere.
This is directed at the person handing out those kittens with my number attached: FIX YOUR DAMN FEMALE NOW!!!
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