Saturday, September 06, 2014

Wild NIght in Corvallis

A wildfire up above Timberhill shopping center in Corvallis was reported about 9:00 p.m. last night, in the brush and trees of Chip Ross park.  This area is heavily populated.  On twitter, check out #CorvallisFire and #ChipRossFire.

I was in Corvallis at that time, returning Dweezil to the apartments where she is fed.  The return took some time, because the daughter of the feeder wanted to chat, and I was asking her about the mystery black tux, with the inverted V of white and a black chin spot.  Her mother, the feeder, had claimed that was a new show cat, whom, I had pointed out, looked pregnant in the photo she sent me of the cat.  Her daughter claims that cat is actually "Shy", (a name not description), a cat her mother told me vanished over a month ago.  If this is indeed "Shy", then she's going to be pregnant for sure. And, given the timeline of when I got all the boys there fixed, she has to be very close to full term (60 days).  I was horrified.

Then the daughter told me they'll all be gone for four days and they figure I can sit there in my car and catch anybody unfixed during the time they are gone.  I began to bristle inside to hear that.  These are able bodied people who actually own two traps and why in the world can't they trap the cats they feed?  Why do they treat me this way, like my time is theirs to take, for nothing, like some kind of a slave to everyone who does not fix the cats they feed?

That's how I felt.  I know however they will never take the time to do it and the cats suffer and have for years, born to die, because they don't take the time.

So I bristle and feel used but know inside I have to be the one, because no one else will.

But about when I was leaving, the sirens began.  I figured it was just party problems with returning students.  But when I got home, I saw the posts on facebook about the fire, rapidly expanding and in an area just above and beside multiple housing developments.  My stomach began to churn in worry, thinking about animals in those houses, and the cats allowed to free roam that can't be quickly found and contained for evacuation.

By midnight, the fire was mostly contained, the paper's facebook page said.  There had been, in the space of those few hours, hurried mandatory evacuations and massive numbers of people migrating to the fire area to gawk.  That must have made the fire harder to fight.

Check out some fabulous photos at the Corvallis Gazette Times website:

See Corvallis fire photos here!

And this video of the fire!

11 comments:

  1. Their crude personalities and lack of empathy for you extends to their action toward cats in general. To them, THEY have things to do. YOU have nothing better to do. You can spay and neuter, but you can't fix stupid.

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  2. Yup, no empathy for me. And really none for the cats they claim to love either. Or they would have fixed them long ago.

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  3. Sounds like wastes of oxygen to me.

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  4. Jim is right. They do sound like complete oxygen thieves.

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  5. Maybe I should just say to hell with doing it, do it yourself. Maybe I will. Probably I won't, because I feel for the cat and the offspring who will not live long, and the mother who will try so hard for them.

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  6. My prediction, knowing you, is that you will remember that it is not about those oxygen wasters, and it is not about you, it is about the cats, and you will humble (=humiliate) yourself and act accordingly. My further prediction is that 100 years from now you will be the one laughing, and you will be surrounded by a thousand cats who followed you across the Rainbow Bridge.

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  7. Jim, I'm glad you have that fantasy for yourself as I don't believe in the Rainbow Bridge or heaven. That's like when people tell me, "well at least you're going to heaven" in apology for using me or not wanting involved with me. Religion has always been served up to the poor as an alternative, a reward in a later life, with none in this one, if you are good and don't kill your oppressors because then you go to hell. LOL. The opiate of the masses and the saving grace of oppressors through the ages--"don't kill us, you'll go to hell. Suffer now because later you'll worship and serve a different god (than us, your masters here on earth) when up in heaven where streets are paved in gold, for some reason.

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  8. All that you say is true, and I would add that gold, being as soft as it is, would be one of the worst possible paving materials. I would disagree on only one point. It is not a fantasy, it is a myth, a myth expressing a reality that cannot be expressed otherwise. But in a sense it is icing on the cake. You don't rescue cats to get a reward here or hereafter. You do it because it is the right thing to do. And therein lies your reward. Virtue is, indeed, its own reward, and maybe it is its only reward. But for those whose hearts are in tune with the Cosmos, that is enough.

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  9. You are right, its own reward, to finish a job, to not quit on those cats, or that neighborhood, to see it through, no matter what, that is a great reward, worth more than almost anything.

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  10. Now I'm against violence, but there are some people... well, I just want to slap their faces off for their stupidity.

    Their disrespect for you earns them the first half a dozen slaps for a start.

    Glad to see another who hears of a dangerous disaster and their first thought is for the animals.

    My view is, there's plenty of folks who focus their compassion on the people, too few who care for the beasts.

    Keep on keeping on.

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  11. Now I'm against violence, but there are some people... well, I just want to slap their faces off for their stupidity.

    Their disrespect for you earns them the first half a dozen slaps for a start.

    Glad to see another who hears of a dangerous disaster and their first thought is for the animals.

    My view is, there's plenty of folks who focus their compassion on the people, too few who care for the beasts.

    Keep on keeping on.

    ReplyDelete

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