Breaking Two Addictions

The darn stupid bill will be voted on today, but you can sign the petition!  I'm not in agreement with the petition, that asks the vote be delayed.  I think the bill needs NIXED!  But sign if you agree and add comments to the effect the bill doesn't need delayed, it's needs voted down!

I am against balls in cats.  However, I'd like to see the democrats in the Oregon Senate and House grow some, to vote this bill down.

Sign the Anti Rescue Bill Petition!

Seems I was addicted to TV.  I thought it would not be that hard when the TV was disconnected.

Oh how wrong I was.

The first day was the worst.  I wandered around, would sit in my "TV chair" then realize there's no TV to be had, get up, walk around, turn on the computer, make pointless comments on Facebook, turn it off, wander around.

Today I did better.  I got a lot done.  It was seriously hot outside today.  But the addiction cravings got to me in the end.  There is an old direct TV dish on my roof from some former tenant.  There is also an ancient huge towering analog antenna up there, rusting and swaying.

I found one jack with a cable connection from one of those two devices and dug the dusty cable end out of the wall.  I found a 15 foot cable and connected it to my TV, turned it on, set it to antenna, and searched.  I got ghosts on only one channel, through severe static.  I was enthralled.  How sad is that?

It was as if I'd quit smoking and.....totally strung out, found a butt along the curb and anxiously sucked at empty paper.

The need for TV urgency finally passed.

I used to turn the news on when I got up.  When I was cat wrangling, I was always up at the crack of dawn. I'd watch the news as I fixed breakfast and morning coffee, then sit down with coffee and eat breakfast watching the news.  It was fun.

At night, I'd have it on whether I was watching it or not.  I'd be playing with my cats, doing chores, with it on, glancing at it now and then.  There were certain shows I liked and would look forward to watching.  Kind of an admission in this day and age, like eating donuts in public.  I remember one person told me TV makes you fat, stupid and boring.  She was probably right all along.

The Internet isn't much better.  I have trouble communicating wisely online, especially when I am lonely or tired.  It's like its not real life to me, more of a game.  I have never met most of my facebook friends.  When someone wants to friend me, I usually do.  That isn't wise.  If I post something and they misunderstand it, the people whom I've never even met, that can get you into trouble.

I've sent e-mails out in a hurry I expect will be understood one way and they're not understood that way at all.  I read people's e-mails too fast often, or not completely, and take things wrong too, on my end.

There's no more TV in my life.  I will have to fill time some way.  But I need to not fill that time on social media.  I don't know the people I'm talking to.  They're like fictional beings to me in some ways.  Out of story books. Or movies.  It is hard for me to connect that they are indeed very real somewhere out there.  I imagine who they are and what they are, but they're never really that way.

Given this I need to quit social media too except for communicating with people I really know, from face to face, and a few I am pretty sure, even though we've not met, I know fairly well.

As for the stupid Oregon bill to regulate rescues, to be voted on tomorrow, I am no longer a rescue, so I have nothing to worry about except the complaints that probably would be filed, claiming I am a rescue without a license.   But if someone makes a false complaint, I will file a lawsuit, against the enforcing agency, or the person who complains.  You have to be seeking donations if not an active rescue, to come under the bill.  I won't anymore.  I'll just pick up more cans to cover costs.

Fratball season is coming up.  I'll have to position myself to somehow benefit from the excessive drinking habits of Corvallis students and football fans.  And boy do they drink.

I made almost $200 in one day doing just that, many years ago, when I still lived in Corvallis.  I had trouble finding a parking space close enough, that I could walk back and forth.   I was in awe of what went on outside the stadium.  It was like a Roman Gladiator event.  The excess was unbelievable.  People were there with huge RV's, big screen TV setups, expensive foods they were grilling, like salmon and steaks.  Liquor of all kinds was flowing freely.  One man told me he paid $5000 just to have a parking place in the stadium lot for home games.

I got called a cockroach, by, of all people, a drunk old rich lady.  I tried to explain why I needed the money, for gas to transport cats, but that was like debating with a rock.  She was drunk and drink brings out the worst or best in a person.  In her case, it was the worst.  Most can pickers were organized.  One person, at least, would pick up the cans.  Another would guard the bags and a third would drive through quickly, with their truck, and pick them up, at time intervals.  I had no such help.  So I went for the bottles.  Nobody was going for those, because they are heavy and break.  I made a good pile of cash that day.

Later, I was telling my ex boyfriend about it, still in shock over what I saw there.  I had seen my first uber rich.  He defended the display and said such events are needed.  People's lives are stressed and hard and they need a release like that he said.  He said there should be more such events not less. After I thought about it, I had to agree.  They were having fun!

It is sad there will be no more Valentino's in my life, no more Mangos rescued injured and starved from the freeway....

I used to think Oregon Humane was OK, didn't know much about them, because they're way up there in Portland, except there were some horror stories in years of yore, like with most shelters.  But they turned around and I figure do a good job.  But then, the director decided to get political and go after us little people helping animals so I don't like them anymore at all.

The bill is a big eye opener to me.  I understand now, how rich and powerful people who want to control the world and us, can easily do it pairing up with politicians.  Yikes!

In the end, the thin sisters caught the mom and five kittens in all.  The big male got away from them when they were cleaning his cage.  Tomorrow the mom gets fixed.  They said she's super wild.  I hope she doesn't get away from them before she's fixed.

I told them to leave a trap set, water out, over in that yard, just in case, to cover their butts, because, there could be another kitten under that shed and you sure wouldn't want him or her under there alone, so young, in this terrible heat.

The young hotshot fire crew dying in Arizona just breaks my heart.  I don't like to hear about younger people dying.  Hotshots are usually young and strong and eager and just makes my stomach churn with sadness to hear of it.

This heat wave coming right before the 4th is very dangerous with fireworks.  Lots of people have no sense about it and will fire them off anywhere and put property and life in danger.  This neighborhood is usually full of people shooting off illegal fireworks.  They have started up a couple of times last few days only to suddenly stop. Police must be cruising watching for it I figure.  Something.  Or maybe they've just become too hard to find or too expensive.    I hope the illegal fireworks people don't burn houses this year.  I hope they don't burn down mine!!

Politiking and Cat Trapping

I'm tired.

I'm going to bed.

I have been helping the thin sisters catch those kittens, a few blocks from where they live.

Seems a black female had four (at least) black kittens in a man's backyard.  He wasn't feeding them.

The thin sisters found out and asked me to help trap them since I've helped them before.

When they heard my funding was gone and that I could not take in the kittens, due to that Oregon stupid bill, and other reasons, they tried to find somewhere else they might go if caught.  Safehaven is full, but, the thin sisters offered to pay all expenses for the kittens, including, once they're old enough, for them to be fixed.  That moved them to the head of the wait list.

That's like super Good Samaritan legend stuff, that they would do that, for this little family.

In the meantime, they got a cage to hold the mom and kittens, until mom could be fixed and the kittens can get in somewhere.  It will be outside their house, under cover, however.

I went and set traps, gave them advice.  We set up a check the trap schedule.  The heat wave has hit which makes night trapping the only real option.  I got the night shift trap checking.  About 2:00 a.m., I find a huge black male in one trap.

 He's in somewhat rough shape but has been owned at some point.

Last night I'd talked to people in the nearby apartment complex.  The man with the backyard kittens had pointed a calico in a field behind his house, says he likes her, that she's tame.  I knew where she came from, because I got her fixed about a year ago.  On May 31 a year ago, to be exact.  I looked her up, by her address.  We little rescues don't keep very good records though, do we?  We must be regulated and hand slapped and fined in that regard, don't we Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney, (Prime sponsor of SB 6 that fines, severely regulates rescues and denies us 4th amendment rights as American citizens). and Sharon Harmon, (author of the section of SB 6 regulating rescues) director of the biggest richest shelter in the state?   We're so stupid and evil and all.  Is my bad attitude showing?  OMG.  Yes it is!

Bailey the calico's owners were not home.  When I got her fixed they wanted to get another stray female fixed, but she got out the night before, and then was never fixed. Now, neighbors claim, they are missing a black male, long missing him.  I think this boy is going to be him.  I'll try to get ahold of them again tonight.

Right now, he's over in the thin sisters yard also.  I loaned them another cage.  He settled right in.  I already wormed him.

So was one busy night.  Felt good to be doing something I know and at the time I like--night, stars out, temperature perfect!   Inbetween trap checks, I was blistered reading how that SB 6 anti rescue bill kept changing, including how they added that section 12, declaring it an emergency, that rescues be regulated, so that the bill would be implemented immediately, the day its voted on, if passed. And most rescues don't even know its coming.   I kept just staring at that, unbelieving that things like this can happen in America, that people sit down and write bills to control people, inflict horrors on them, make their lives harder.

Maybe I am really dumb, to not understand these power plays happen, in secret. Wow!  Bowl me over!

I like believing people are basically good and I wish the people who wrote this bill would not make me want to rethink on that.

So two kittens got caught last night and are now in the thin sisters cage.  And two were in the same trap early this morning.  The man thinks there were only four, but the thin sisters will keep at it to make sure.  Mom still needs caught.

And that's a night job in this heat.  I'll be on the night shift trap check again.

It's off to bed for me.

Probably my sleep will include nightmares of secret meetings and people, like me, getting hauled off by men in black and disappearing forever.

I'm also adjusting to life without Tv.  I didn't realize I was addicted.  My brother had given me that gift for a few years, of internet and basic TV, but he lost his job and can't afford it now.  I so much appreciate the gift of TV and internet for the time I had it.

I got an internet connection of my own.  In six months, when its cost doubles, I will probably have to end it too, unless I can find another deal.  But for six months, I am web connected, which is wonderful.

Yesterday, no morning news, no sitting with my cats, in the evening in my chair.  It has been a tougher change than I thought it would be.  Change is good I hear.  Will just take time.

Oregon Law Regulating Rescues In Violation of 4th Amendment of the United States Constitution

New changes to the bill.  This bill has now been deemed an emergency for public peace, health and safety, so that it can be implemented the day its passed.  And most rescues do not even know about it.  It's really dangerous and unbelievable.....Had to add this change in the bill up top!  Who lets this happen?  This really is not supposed to happen in America.  Here is the added section declaring it a public emergency!  Can you believe this stuff?

SECTION 12.  { + This 2013 Act being necessary for the
immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an
emergency is declared to exist, and this 2013 Act takes effect on
its passage. + 

This means every rescue would be immediately in violation, since it takes effect immediately if passed and no rescues were even informed about this bill. 

The lunatics are running the asylum for sure.

Here's my original post, but the bill also has changed in its body too, declaring civil penalties rescuers can be given, and that if even record violations are discovered, all the animals can be impounded, I believe it reads (I don't speak governmentese) which usually means killed in most areas of Oregon.  this is for the good of the animals?  No.  Of course not.  It will drive rescues to close and kill animals and reduce options for animals.

I do not understand why someone would write something so harsh against rescues while also declaring rescues are a shelters' partners.

This is a vendetta against rescues seems to me.  Written by the director of the states' largest shelter who earns six figures.   What in the world?

Apparently, we rescuers, are on a par with terrorists in Oregon.  The clause allowing an enforcement agency to enter a rescue (usually our homes) upon any complaint and at any "reasonable" time, without a warrant, is in direct violation of the 4th Amendment of the United States Constitution.

I had a deep down gut outrage over the bill, that This is America and they can't just demand to enter people's houses without a warrant.  I'd forgotten.  I am protected.  I am protected from this by none other than the United States Constitution.  That's where that deep down outrage was coming from.

That's how serious this is.  That violating a rescuers rights under the constitution is not a big huge automatic no no, among Oregon legislators, is shocking.

Also, attempts to silence a Portland woman opposing the bill border on the surreal.  It's like the Sopranos.  I cannot believe this goes on.   The rich and powerful really are very very scary people!  I never got one reply back from any of the many senators I e-mailed in opposition.  However, a woman they probably deem better connected and up in Portland has received responses trying to get her to drop opposition or meet with them.

Can you believe that?  I can think that my opinion matters.  But they know I have no money.  They've never heard of me.  No money means no power, so fuck me and my little opinions.  These people are down right scary, these politicians affecting our little lives in drastic ways, with a yay or a nay vote on this or that yawner legislation.  Big Time Eye opener!

Apparently, we are not even considered Americans or we are considered so low on humanity's scale, that we are not due rights other citizens are granted.

Here is the 4th amendment of the United States Constitution:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons,
houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and
seizures, shall not be violated; and no Warrants shall issue but
upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and
particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.


And here is clause ten in the law under consideration by the Oregon legislators, known as Senate Bill 6 currently.  No warrant is required to demand entry to inspect in one's own home.  Normal citizens, even hoarders and animal abusers, can refuse until a warrant is procured.  Not rescuers.

SECTION 10.  { + (1) As used in this section and section 11 of
this 2013 Act:
  (a) 'Animal' means any nonhuman mammal, bird, reptile,
amphibian or fish.
  (b) 'Animal rescue entity' means an individual or organization,
including but not limited to an animal control agency, humane
society, animal shelter, animal sanctuary or boarding kennel not
subject to ORS 167.374, but excluding a veterinary facility, that
keeps, houses, and maintains in its custody 10 or more animals
and that solicits or accepts donations in any form.
  (c) 'Enforcing agency' means the agency that operates a city or
county dog licensing and control program under ORS 609.035 to
609.110 or under any city or county ordinances or regulations
that operate in lieu of ORS 609.035 to 609.110, or any other
agency designated the enforcing agency by the city or county
governing body.
  (2) Any animal rescue entity shall comply with all of the
following record-keeping requirements:
  (a) Maintain a record for each animal that identifies:
  (A) The date of birth for the animal or, if the date of birth
is unknown, the approximate age of the animal;
  (B) The date the animal rescue entity acquired possession,
control or charge of the animal and the source of the animal;
  (C) The number of offspring the animal produced while in the
possession or control of the animal rescue entity, if applicable;
  (D) The disposition the animal rescue entity makes of each
animal possessed by, controlled by or in the charge of the animal
rescue entity, including the date of disposition, manner of
disposition and the name and address for any individual or
organization taking possession, control or charge of an animal;
  (E) The source of the animal, date of acquisition, age, sex,
breed type and weight of the animal at intake; and
  (F) A photograph of the animal taken within 24 hours of intake
by the animal rescue entity.
  (b) Permit an authorized representative of the enforcing agency
to inspect records of the animal rescue entity required by this
subsection and furnish reports and information required by the
enforcing agency, as provided under section 11 of this 2013 Act.
  (3) An animal rescue entity shall comply with the following
licensing requirements:
  (a) The entity shall obtain a license issued by the enforcing
agency in accordance with this section and any rules or policies
adopted by the enforcing agency; and
  (b) The entity shall pay a reasonable fee, as determined by the
enforcing agency, for a license or an annual renewal of the
license to provide for the actual cost of enforcing this section
and section 11 of this 2013 Act.
  (4) The enforcing agency may not issue or renew a license under
this section unless the animal rescue entity is in compliance
with this section and section 11 of this 2013 Act.
  (5) An animal rescue entity may transfer a license issued under
this section to another person with the written consent of the
enforcing agency, provided that the transferee otherwise
qualifies to be licensed as an animal rescue entity under this
section and rules applicable to the transferee and does not have
a certified unpaid debt to the state. The transferee shall submit
a signed release to the enforcing agency permitting the
performance of a background investigation of the transferee, and
the enforcing agency shall conduct the background investigation.
  (6) An applicant for a license issued under this section shall
demonstrate that the animal rescue entity that is the subject of
the application complies with all standards imposed under
applicable law.
  (7) Any animal rescue entity is subject to inspection by the
enforcing agency as provided in section 11 of this 2013 Act.
  (8)(a) A violation of this section may result in imposition of
civil penalties to be determined by the enforcing agency,
including but not limited to impoundment of all animals under the
animal rescue's control, the revocation of the animal rescue's
license to operate animal rescue operations and a civil penalty
of not more than $500 for each violation.
  (b) Before a civil penalty may be imposed under this section,
the enforcing agency shall adopt rules or policies that:
  (A) Ensure that a person who is the subject of an alleged
violation receives notice of the allegations and potential
imposition of civil penalties;
  (B) Allow for an opportunity for a hearing prior to the
imposition of civil penalties; and
  (C) Allow for the opportunity for judicial review of the
imposition of civil penalties.
  (9) Moneys raised by the enforcing agency under this section
are dedicated to and shall be used for enforcing agency
operations undertaken pursuant to this section and section 11 of
this 2013 Act. + }
  SECTION 11.  { + (1) Whenever an authorized representative of
an enforcing agency is advised or has reason to believe that an
animal rescue entity is operating without a license, the
authorized representative may visit and conduct an on-site
investigation of the premises of the animal rescue entity. The
purpose of an investigation under this section is to determine
whether the animal rescue entity is subject to the requirements
of section 10 of this 2013 Act.
  (2) At any reasonable time, an authorized representative of an
enforcing agency, a law enforcement agency or the United States
Department of Agriculture may conduct an on-site investigation of
the premises of any licensed animal rescue entity to determine
whether the entity is in compliance with section 10 of this 2013
Act.
  (3) An authorized representative of the enforcing agency or a
law enforcement agency shall conduct an on-site investigation of
the premises of any licensed animal rescue entity if the agency
receives a complaint about the animal rescue entity related to
the failure to comply with the requirements of section 10 of this
2013 Act that the agency determines is credible and serious. The
investigation by the agency shall be limited to determining if
the animal rescue entity has failed to comply with the
requirements of section 10 of this 2013 Act.
  (4) Any state agency that receives a complaint about a licensed
animal rescue entity shall notify the enforcing agency about the
complaint and any subsequent action taken by the state agency
based on that complaint.
  (5) A licensed animal rescue entity shall permit an authorized
representative of the enforcing agency to inspect records of the
animal rescue entity and shall furnish any reports and
information required by the enforcing agency.
  (6) If, during the course of an inspection made under this
section, the enforcing agency finds evidence of animal cruelty in
violation of ORS 167.310 to 167.351, 167.352, 167.355 or 167.360
to 167.372, the enforcing agency shall seize the evidence and
report the violation to law enforcement. Evidence of animal
cruelty found through a valid inspection under this section shall
be presumed admissible in any subsequent criminal proceeding. + }
  SECTION 12.  { + This 2013 Act being necessary for the
immediate preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an
emergency is declared to exist, and this 2013 Act takes effect on
its passage. + }
                         ----------

Please contact your Oregon state senators or representatives to express outrage.   

If any of the people involved with this bill want to fix the wording so you're not in violation of the United State Constitution, make an exception. No rescue operating from their own home or foster homes are subject to the terms of this bill.   There.  An easy fix for you.  

The Bored Cat Wrangler

What am I going to do with the rest of my life?

Sit around?  Complain?  Make snarky useless comments on online videos and facebook?

Read?

What the hell am I going to do with the rest of my life?

I've been searching for volunteer opportunities, local ones, since I have no intention of further damaging my car to help other people.  That would be self-destructive.

Most of the nonprofits in this county are church related or church run and that isn't something I could swallow.  I don't want to clean litter boxes either, for a shelter.  I clean plenty of litter boxes here.

It's not that easy to find a match up of interest for volunteering.  I'm not a people person. I don't want to sit and talk to somebody.  I'm no good at that.  I fall asleep in committee meetings.  They are high strength ambien to me.  I don't mean to fall asleep the moment a meeting begins, but I do.   I don't want to volunteer for any nonprofit whose staff and directors make huge salaries.  That is demeaning.

There must be something out there I could find to do.  Something meaningful and a match to my skills.

Would it not be nice if the two big shelters in this area would create a Cat Wrangler position.  When someone needed feral cats trapped and fixed, I'd be called.  There would be no cat removal however whatsoever.  I would be provided a vehicle and somewhere the cats could be fixed, even if it was transporting them to the FCCO, with a deal worked out with both shelters and the FCCO for payment.

When I wasn't trapping, I could do as I used to do, cruise craigslist or go door to door, searching out pockets of unfixed cats and kittens and get that done also, getting them fixed at whatever clinic the two shelters had set up for that.

Cat wrangling is highly effective in reducing the overpopulation problem.  I'm good at it.

But would they even consider it, or find a way to fund this effort or even work together to do it?

Probably not, but I might give it a shot.  No harm comes from asking.

It would be a progressive cost effective program, that's for sure.

I am still getting all kinds of calls for help.

A Matter of Principle

There are times one must take a stand.  That time has come for me.  I don't like controversy.  But one part of the animal welfare bill, now under consideration by the Oregon Legislature, written by the OHS director, is wrong.

Don't get me wrong.  Oregon Humane is a nice shelter, very large, very well funded, way up in Portland.  They don't affect us down here.  They don't help rescues down here and neither do we help them.  Although I have trapped cats in Portland for spay neuter which indirectly does affect every intake shelter by reducing their intakes.  Their director makes six figures.  Down here, we rescue types, usually come in the four figure range in income.  That's right.  Under $10,000 a year.  There's a world of difference between Portland and where I live.  We're like a different country.

We don't write laws down here that hurt people in Portland.  So why can't they return the favor?  Why not some respect?  We're not you, but that doesn't mean we don't try our best and lay it out to help animals.  Maybe you wouldn't mind to have an agency barge into your home.  Maybe $100 is nothing to you.  It's a huge amount to us down here.  We scramble for every little crumb.

The law under consideration requires people with over ten animals who also attempt to get donations, in any form, to support their care, to register and pay for a license, with the state and submit to inspections.   This bill was written without any notice to those it would affect--little rescues.  I would not even have known about it, but for spotting a posting on a big shelters website urging support.  This too was horribly wrong to do, to write it and try to run it through without participation from those it would affect or even notifying them.

The inspections are done by the local enforcing agency--animal control.  They are allowed to "inspect at any reasonable time" if there is a complaint that an unlicensed rescue is operating or that a rescue is not adhering to other specifications listed under licensing.

Rescues operate out of their own homes.  How would you like to live under that sort of threat, of animal control barging up and demanding entry, at any time?  Think how you would feel, not only if you'd helped tons of people and now the state wants to charge you for doing so, but if you could at any time be "raided".

This is America, for gosh sakes.

We all know people who don't like cats.  We have neighbors who don't like us.  You think they won't use this?  Yes they will.

It is take a stand time for me.  I will not pay $100 for a license to care.

I will not allow animal control into my place at any reasonable time for them.

I live in America, not in N. Korea.  I think.

In other news, I transported 14 cats up to Salem to be fixed for KATA.  KATA also opposes this bill.

In other news, an Albany woman called, wanting help for a neighbor man who feeds a feral mom and her kittens.  He's feeding the kittens milk, she said, which is making them very sick.  I told her I have no more funding and there is really no place to take a cat, at low cost, around here to be fixed.  They said they'd pay for the mom cat to be fixed at their own vet then.  They expected I would take the kittens and were surprised when I said "no".   I told them about this law being considered.  They said they knew people on Safehaven's board, and would call them and try to get the kittens in there that way, if I would help trap them all.  I agreed to that.

I know these women as the thin sisters.  A few years ago, I was called about a white mother cat outside the SS office, before it moved, living under the building next door.  She was blind.  I had to lead her into a trap with bits of tuna, since she otherwise had not gone into the caller's trap.  I determined she was lactating.  I met the thin sisters when I was on my stomach peering into the foundation of the building, making mother cat calls, and getting replies from under the building.

The thin sisters were able to shimmy under, through a teensy hole, and pull them out to safety.  They went on to foster those kittens and adopt the mother cat, who had eye surgery but still can barely see.  She is, however, extremely loving, they report.  So off I go, to see what is what with this latest mom, with kittens, and we will, despite no resources here, try to save them.

Here is the video I made of the little family back then:

Oregon Bullshit Law in the Works Creates Gestapo State for Animal Rescues

Last thing Oregon needs is more unenforced laws.  We have plenty now.  Most animal cruelty, neglect and abandonment laws are blatantly ignored here where I live.  People abandon cats every week here.  It's a mentality.  Law looks the other way.  I gave up reporting abandonment.  Nonetheless, highly paid animal people and big ass shelters, who have no clue how people live in much of the state, have decided to create yet another law.  This one targets me!  (and those like me)

Once, when I got called upon by mental health in this county, when I lived in the neighboring county, to help some guy near Lebanon, I thought to just get cats fixed, I was brought face to face with the crapola.   Inside his trailer, crap was three feet deep in spots.  Literally.  There was cat shit piled high atop even the stove.  Ammonia burned my eyes and throat when inside.

Nevertheless, I went at it, in my fashion, even in wavering light, as the crazed man preached the word of god behind me, shoveling out a a massive deep pile of cat shit in one corner that swallowed wiring and even stereo speakers, that nonetheless were blaring Christian rock music.  When a friend came along, to see for herself, she immediately called 911. The deputy who came would not go inside.   He yelled "this is what I hate about animal people, they don't care about people."  I had to differ.  Nobody helped this man.  Not his church.  Not his neighbors.  Not the authorities who are supposed to deal with animal hoarders.  Not the health department and not the police.  Only animal people cared enough to help the man.  The deputy didn't even write a report.

Who cared about who was irrelevant anyway.  He had specific laws to enforce.  He refused to do that.

That's classic Linn County for you.

Helping animals is a thankless job.  People use you, use emotional blackmail on you, promise to pay you back for your gas, but then don't and manipulate you to get their cat situation solved, without breaking a sweat on their part.  Here in Linn County where I live, there are zero services for cats. None.  Nada.  Stray cats and excess cats and kittens born each year, they're on their own.   There is one No Kill shelter who gets tons of donations but is rarely known to take in a cat, for reasons unknown.  They are useless actually, to cats in this county.  Local authorities already ignore animal laws, like state laws against abandonment.  Abandonment rates in this county are sky high.

 A handful of little people and small rescues have tried to stem the tides of suffering and make a difference.  Like me.  And now to add to the misery, is this Oregon bill.

Read the bill here.

This bill sounds nice, on the outside.  But go deeper.

Deeper in you will find that it will regulate by license and inspection every rescue or person with ten or more rescue animals who also seeks donations in any form. Like me begging for cat food.  Or trying to raise money so a cat can have a bad tooth pulled.  Really now?

Really?

Now you're going to regulate and charge fees to the little tiny people trying to solve the problem, when no one else will, when the big shelters drip in money and directors make six figures?  Really now, you're going after the little people?

You talking heads committee type people cannot keep your paws out of other people's lives and struggles, can you?   You won't actually pass a law that would be helpful in solving the state's companion animal overpopulation problem. Like why not charge fees to anyone who breeds their cat or dog, or is an outright breeder?   Or pass mandatory spay neuter laws.  Now that might help.

 But you will blindly create more problems, by limiting a desperate animals' options, driving people out of the state, and  causing the deaths of animals, that a person has rescued but who cannot afford the ridiculous license and intrusions by state inspections.

Oh, people say, if your place is neat and clean and animals well kept, you have nothing to fear.  Really?  Are you that naive?  Go talk to some contractors to find out just how nasty inspectors can be, especially if they have some chip on their shoulder or didn't get the right blend to start them out at Starbucks.

Sure there are shit rescues.  But there are far more cats and dogs who die due to overpopulation and people who breed dogs and cats for profit, and from hoarders.  And probably the number one cause of death for cats and dogs, is big shelters.  They're often nothing more than death camps, where cats and dogs wait to be gassed.

Oh, people say, this would stop unscrupulous animal abusers like that Keizer woman who kept five or six dogs to a crate etc.  She was allegedly a rescue.  But she never was, really.  She was a scammer, trying to make money off dogs.  Well law enforcement had been informed previously about her, I was told then, and did nothing despite complaints then.  Laws on the books already would have criminalized her behavior.

About three years ago, I got a call at 10:00 p.m. on a Saturday night.  That was rude enough.  Some guy wanted to borrow my traps.  Seems he was a house flipper and he'd bought a foreclosed upon Lebanon house and claimed the couple were cat collectors and left behind 40 cats.

I cussed him out good for bothering me late night like that, to get his needs fulfilled and asked him what he was going to do with the cats.  No answer.  There isn't one for cats in Linn County.  It haunted me all night.  I called KATA.  They had been called by the man too.  One volunteers' personal phone number had been given to him by animal control.  WTF!

We went at it the next day, with the stupid house flipper sitting in his fancy SUV watching, not helping, for gosh sakes, not helping.   Neighbors watched in curiosity.  One told me I was sick, because I cared and I needed cured for caring.  I said "You need cured.  You didn't even help out your neighbor so that strangers have to come in to help at their own expense?"

Come to find out the "collector" couple husband worked for the county.  And they were friends with the animal control officer who had been so quick to hand out my number and that of the other rescue involved.  I was mad.  Tired out and mad.  I filed a complaint against animal control for, number one, being friends with these people and not helping them get those cats fixed and number two, for, instead of helping when they got foreclosed on, giving out my number.  That is just wrong!

The commissioner told me when he asked the animal control man about it that he said he considered them a referring agency not one that really does anything.  What?   That's government in action.  Refer work to little unfunded poor people and kick back.

But now, in the name of protecting animals, from us horrible little evil rescuers, you're going to charge fees and invade our space, and judge us further?  And the fees will go to....wait for it...local animal control....the enforcing agency for this new shit law in this area.  How do you like that?   Get fees from me?

Not from me you won't.  I have no money for this.  Nor a stomach for it.  I will leave the state with my cats or my cats will die. One or the other.

 Fuck you state of Oregon and goody two shoe rich bitch clueless people pushing this. Fuck you for killing my soul and my cats.

And by the way, I can tell school's out for the summer.  The kids are online.  How do I know?   Check out google stat search terms used that brought people to my blog today:

cat penis	9
cats penis	3
biggest penis ever	1
black+and+white+cat+blue+and+yellow+eyes	1
cat window box	1
cat's penis	1
cats penis images	1
cats. woman

If I'm known for nothing else in this world, if my entire life were summed up by google, I'd be known for the cat penis photo.   That's me.  And I'm proud!

I have a chip on my shoulder myself.  The state ruined my life once already, with the abusive mental system, forcing drugs on me, giving me labels I'll never shake, engulfing me in forever poverty.  I have a metal plate to remind myself of that beating I took by staff on that Portland psyche ward.  It reminds me also I went before one of the same senators now sponsoring this bill, basically to beg for justice, for my life stolen and an atrocity committed against me (the beating).  I was dismissed then, after my three minutes.  In one committee, only two members were present and one got up and left while I was talking.  It was an experience, to realize, "Ok, there's no hope here either."

Now that same senator is helping craft legislation that will, if enacted, drastically affect my little life.   I can hardly believe it. There's no winning for me I know at this point.  I just want to survive til I die. Where can a person run to, with their cats, to be free and happy and left alone?

I know life isn't fair.  But....come on!

I'm not going to roll over, expose my stomach and whisper, "That's ok.  Go ahead.  It will hurt me but that's ok."

It's important bullshit be called out as bullshit.  Yes, this law will hurt me and others and animals.  No, current laws on the books now, are not enforced.  Why add more?  It's a feel good thing for somebody.

The new law in the works is bullshit.  Just more bullshit.

Miff the Cats with Home Redo Project

I've been doing a redo.  And the cats don't like it one bit.

They interfere.  They glare.  They stare.  They jump atop me when I am sleeping.  They yowl and fight with one another too, to express their hatred of my inattentiveness to them, in favor of "the project".  I have completely destroyed their lives, they complain and loudly.

So today, I hope to finish it up.

I was slowed down by a broken car, swollen finger joints, and waiting out product drying.

Most of "the project" involved prying up particle board that had been damaged by moisture, of various types.  I first cut the areas I wanted to removed with a circular saw.  Then I pried up the old particle board with a screw driver, which is how I got swollen finger joints.  It's not as easy as it sounds.

Then I pried out the staples with a screwdriver.

Then I measured the areas I'd cut out.  I had OSB pieces of various sizes and shapes, up in my rafters, that were the right thickness. I gleaned those from a pile of wood in Millersburg, left for the scroungers, after a fire destroyed a house.  The pieces I hauled home were from the remodel post fire.

I cut them to the dimensions I needed and installed them.  I filled cracks and holes with Fix All.  I painted the new boards.  I caulked the edge of the wall where it meets the floor.

New boards get a coat of paint.

The black on the wall is the spray rubber.  You can buy it in white and clear, too.

Then I got this "brilliant" thought.  Why not use that rubber spray I got to stop the leaks in my gutters to seal up the wall/floor edge so not even Sam, and his evil pee mark ways, could infiltrate!   So I did it!!!   Boy did that stink up the house.  Then there was the 24 hour wait for it to dry solid.

Then I had to repaint.  Which is my chore today. I repainted the kitchen while I was at it.  Gone will be my brilliant neon burgandy colored wall.  I had only paint in shades of green.

Going, going, gone with my neon burgandy colored wall.  How sad.

Kitchen repaint!

  After the paint dries, I lay out that sheet vinyl I drug home last Sunday. And after that, I glue on the molding I got at the Restore.  $5 bought me 50 feet.  Way more than I need for this project......but...of course there will be other projects.

The cats will probably never forgive the destruction of their favorite familiar runs, even if its a short lived loss for them.  They remember things.  And they get even!  I'll have to watch my back for a long time to come, and always have cat treats in my pocket for appeasement.

I'll add more photos as I finish up.

Pretty much done!

I'd never replaced sub floor before.  Now I have!

I'd never laid sheet vinyl before.  Now I have!  I didn't know how but I watched some youtube videos and went at it anyhow.  I am proud of the finished job!

Cry Like a River

There's been stress here lately.  The car, mainly.  Then the work, replacing part of the floor, that has been quite painful on my body.  My finger joints are currently swollen up like grapes.  That's what you get with over use and age.

The car is in the shop again today and I should get a call to say its done any minute now.  I hope.  The guy was renting some tool, to make it easier and safer on the car and him, to pull out the transaxle and replace the damaged inner seal.

I open my e-mail to find an update from a very kind woman who adopted a kitty treasure---old Valentino, the big orange guy from 34th street in Albany, who, the person over the phone declared, must be rabid because he was drooling.  His name is now Ziggy and he lives in Portland.

The last thing I needed at the time was another cat, like always, or more expenses, like always.

I took him to be neutered, but had told the caller he'd have to go back, once fixed.  He was a mess.  There was grease ground into his fur, huge fleas crawling his body.  His ears were matted closed in ear mite debris. He had burns on two legs.  His long hair was matted.  And he drooled pus from a mouth full of bad teeth.

I took him to Wilsonville to be fixed.  The vet called me while he was under anesthesia and said he was a total wreck, and about all his bad teeth.  I had a few dollars extra with me, but not more than $20.  I asked the vet if he could pull the worst teeth or tooth, for the money I had.  He refused, urged me to turn him out, once he was back in Albany, that he wouldn't live long, with a mouth that bad, and that I'd done my duty getting him fixed.  I pretended I would do this, when talking to the vet, but it is not in me to do such a thing to a cat.

I made three videos of Valentino.  I spent money I didn't have on repeat dentals, to get his mouth fixed.  In the end, I heard about a vet in the Turner area and called her. I had no money left.  I found her website.  On it, she mentioned someone I knew very well, Vince, a retired three star army colonel I used to trap cats with in the Salem area.   I called him St. Vince.  I got Electra from St. Vince, who trapped her in a Silverton colony.  Vince had died. This vet had also been his friend.  I mentioned Vince in the e-mail I sent her.  I didn't really expect a reply, but she replied immediately and told me to bring Valentino up.

She checked him out in her home and charged me nothing.  She gave me some medicines for him too.  She told me she has now limited her practice because of health issues but responded to me because I had also known Vince.

Valentino was here a year when the Portland woman, connected with a rescue I knew, wanted to adopt him.  I knew this was his chance, that she would be perfect for him.  Off he went.

That's been two years is it now?  I can't remember.

Today, I got the e-mail update.  I thought she was going to say he died.  He'd tested positive for FIV in the end, after one test said he was negative.  I braced for the news.

But it was far from a death notice e-mail.  She described how much she loves him, how he's her favorite cat, her constant companion.  She said he wears a T-shirt to protect his skin when he scratches at himself, since his skin is dry from FIV.  She described how he bonded with her favorite cat, who was dying from illness and old age, and laid by him and with him, kept him warm, as he faded.  She said he accepts all the other cats there, and even two fosters who were returned after several years in a home.

I reread that e-mail, my emotions bubbling over into tears.  Finally I gave in and blubbered openly.

Here is the original video I made after taking in Valentino.  Watch it.  Then consider this boy, thrown out here, now lives a life of light and love.




I complain I ruined my car helping out people and their cats.  It's true.  I did ruin my car doing that.  My car has heart to perform as it did the last years, despite its mileage and not being a car made to do the things I called upon my car to do.

But when it comes back to me, in my face, like today, the after stories of my days as a cat wrangler, was it worth it?

Yes it was.

I'd do it all again, if my car was willing, and I could find the funding.

I'd do it all again.

Until Later....

Tomorrow I may be disconnected from TV and internet.  I've been spoiled rotten having these two things.  My brother has given me this gift for awhile, but is unable to continue.

I believe it will be tomorrow that the cable is cut, line goes dead, etc. etc.  Off the pacifier for me.

I know a lot of people make comments about TV and how bad it is to watch and all.  But I like watching at night, dropped out exhausted in my chair.  I'll miss it.

As for internet I hope to get another different type of connection soon.  It won't be as speedy, but I'm sure it will be adequate.

I was dismayed when learning about internet access provided by the phone company in this area.  They want you to bundle, for one thing.  They had one stand alone offer.  You got a decent price for 12 months, then the price went up and you are locked in for five years.  What?  Five years?  You are kidding me.  Who  lets companies get away with this?  Where's the FCC?  When they checked my address, the service rep's eager mood changed.  She had just told me I'd need 7 Mbps if I wanted to stream at least, preferably 12.  But after checking my address, she said the phone lines in this area will carry only up to 3 Mbps.

Meanwhile, the car still sits leaking transmission fluid by the pint.  I clean up the mess under it in the morning, fill it back up, and back it out of the garage.  At night, I put more in, and drive it back into the garage.

May be fixed later in the week, if I can ignite a fire in the right place.  I am trying to do that.

It's a long walk to anywhere from here.

Somebody walked into my house last week and declared it stinks.  I was horrified.

It's Peeman Sam caused.  He became very agitated over all those males of late.  Like the four new show unaltered males who came through the yard, a couple of whom came back for a week or two, after I got them neutered, but none have been back in awhile .  But when they were passing through routinely, they spray marked everything and inflamed my ultra insecure boy.  Then there were the other four males I tried to save, those wonderful strays.  Mango, from the Shell station parking lot.  Hobo, who in the end, died.  Sherman, the bobtail Scottish Fold, now in a Portland home.  And lastly, Da Vinci, from N. Albany.  I had to bring them into the bathroom because the garage was too hot to hold cats at that time.  One by one, they finally moved out and on, but they left a legacy---their unfixed big boy smell and this drove Sam mad.

So, I ripped up the sticky vinyl squares, that never really did keep out moisture, not even from mopping, off the sub floor of particle board and found the bad spots.  There were only about three small patches of damaged particle board subfloor.  Nonetheless, today I ripped out the sub floor in those spots, and I hate it when particle board gets used as sub floor, because it bubbles up with moisture then turns to sawdust.   I used a Goodwill circular saw, a screw driver for prying it up and a kitchen knife, which broke in the end, for trimming.  I could not find my box cutter.  I'd gotten a piece of sheet vinyl, not enough to cover the entire dining and living room.  That was too much money, but enough for one area.  Tomorrow it gets laid out.  It's the kind you don't have to glue.  Nice and easy.

I felt proud getting that done.  I had been horrified when that woman said that and embarrassed. The moment she left I began ripping the floor squares up to find the problem spots.   And I was mad at Sam and my easy heart, that melts when I see a stray in trouble.   It was not easy to get that old particle board out with those tools.  I replaced the spots I took out with OSB I had in my rafters, gleaned from the Millersburg fire house remodel.  Some pieces were just the right thickness.  I could not believe my luck in having that.

Been a stressful few days.

Until later...hopefully....