The Littles Birthdays

 My great neice and great nephew both have birthdays this month.   One will be 3, the other will be 6.

But they already have everything they could imagine.  What do I get them?  Anything?  Nothing?

If I go to my brother's for Thanksgiving, I'll see them too, maybe, and can give them birthday presents then.   If I end up not going down, I won't send anything.  

I never know usually if I'm invited to Thanksgiving til last moment.   I never know if my relatives will be elsewhere and have forgotten to tell me.   I never make plans to go or not to go.  I'm very flexible that way and realize that's just how they are.  They're not communicators.  There's the add on with my knee issue.  Although its been pretty good since getting the cyst drained, I have times it is still painful to drive.  Not so much lately, after it has calmed down again, after the incidents with the kitten in the dash and then the raccoons in the cat yard.  Both incidents and the aftermath, inflamed my knee.  I have for the most part ignored the pain with hopes it will calm on its own and it has.  

Monday's long drives, to the clinic, then from the clinic, delivering the cats back after, to Lebanon and Waterloo, gave it a good test.  I drove mostly without much knee pain.  That doesn't mean I could drive 3 1/2 hours straight, down to my brother's place.  Do I attempt it, and get stranded somewhere, unable to continue, or just tell them straight up I can't.   I hate to miss out on seeing them if I can.  At best I see them for a short time twice a year.

My inclination is to go, if I get invited, and take with me what I would need to drain my knee myself, should it fill with fluid by my kneecap driving, from my torn up meniscus.  I have what I would need here.  I've done this before.

I've only seen my other brother briefly twice in the last ten years.  They're in Idaho and he can't drive anymore.   They do go to central Oregon now and then to see their daughter.  Their daughter never communicates with me and I gave up trying years ago.  

Having no family nearby or who even communicate much, whom I rarely see, and then only for a few hours, can be a little tough during the holiday season.  Some years it bothers me, makes me feel lonely, most years I just accept that's how it is.

I love Christmas, because of the colorful lights and Christmas trees.   I can't wait to put mine up.  

I fell asleep early last night.  I woke up briefly around 10:00 p.m. and was startled to see a blue wave had swept the nation.  Then I went back to sleep.

I felt great relief this morning.  I had not been alone in my horror and embarrassment I felt at what our country had become.  I'm not democrat and not republican.  Fiscally, I'm a born tightwad and admire efficient effective use of funds.  I think government exists to clear the road, not cut trees to fall across it to impede people.   That's a generalization.  I can't really describe my politics.   I'm very old fashioned in some ways.  I like to believe Americans are the good guys--both domestically and internationally.  I felt the current climate was to benefit and protect ultra rich people and help them get even richer and more powerful, exploit/forget the rest of us, tear apart our treasured national parks...on and on...it felt hopeless.   Hope things get better--like the price of everything.

Five Kitties

 I took five kitties up to the Salem clinic to be fixed yesterday.

The three black kitties from Waterloo---Spooks, a young girl; her brother Phebee, yes that was the name given him by his feeder, and the older male (just two years old, the other two were under a year) Tyson.  

I also took a long hair Siamese girl, tame, abandoned at the boat ramp in Waterloo months ago.  

 

This was her when she jumped in a friends car at the park.  She's an indoor outdoor cat now, nearby.

And I took Cinder, a boy who showed up at an already fixed colony, at the Peacock House, just outside Lebanon.

Cinder

She has two others who have showed up recently also whom she will now catch one by one.

The neighbor where I caught the black cats has an orange tabby too who runs all over Waterloo and badly needs fixed.  I will get him done promptly somewhere.

Some neighbors vanished.  I don't know if they moved permanently, or even if one of them is still alive.  I saw a moving van and lots of family cars at their place a few days ago.  He had suffered some sort of medical mishap during a surgical procedure.   His sister said something about an IV put in wrong but I don't know for sure.  We were talk/yelling back and forth across the street from one another.  She thought he'd be ok, so it was a surprise to see the moving van there.  And I wonder what happened.  I haven't seen his sister since to ask.    I hope they're both ok, he and his wife.  I liked them a lot.  They were here when I moved to the block 20 years ago.  There has been a lot of turnover on the block in the years I've lived here.  Four different sets of neighbors next door for instance.   New neighbors who don't talk to anyone in the house beyond them too.

The Lebanon lady who moved to the trashed out property last spring is really ill.   I stopped by there when in the area picking up cats and had to stay way clear of her, as she caught something a couple days ago, the flu or covid I don't know what, but looked like death warmed over and could barely breath.  I stayed by my car while she was on the porch waving me off in warning to stay clear.

There's a lot of sickness in the area currently.   I am not sure what it is going around.  Someone told me its a bad flu.

Today is election day here.   I voted over a week ago.   It will be tomorrow or beyond before all the results are in.   There could be big changes in our state.   Two women who hate each other are vying for governor, as they did four years back.   One ultra conservative, the other ultra liberal.  Too bad there's not a no nonsense get things done "no party" candidate to choose.   

Well at least five more cats were fixed.   I have a couple of appointments in 10 days, then no others for the rest of the month.  Fine by me.  Well, when I checked the clinic portal, those two appointments I thought I had in ten days aren't there.   I messaged the clinic lady, so far no response.   Not sure why they didn't record them when made them, onto my client portal.  So I may have no more appointments this month.  Also fine by me, except I'd like to get that Waterloo orange boy in.

Black Cats on All Hallow's Eve

 Only fitting to catch some black cats on Halloween.

It's good luck to help black cats on such a day.  

I went over to where else, Waterloo, to help out an old friend.  She had a black kitten show up there awhile back and her neighbor had one too.  They figure they are siblings, both on their own needing somewhere to find food.  So these two neighbors were chosen.

I was chosen to catch them to be fixed, which is, as I said, good luck, to help black cats on Halloween.

I set up the drop trap at P's place first.   

TC, who was dumped at the park, came up on the porch and we met eyes.  

I caught him about 7 years ago, in the heat of summer,  after he got left behind in the fall the year before.  

Nice to see you again TC

Spooks, the little black one number one

First I caught Tyson, the black long hair male, under the drop trap.  Then this little one, Spooks, caught he or she too.  Then we went to the neighbors with the drop trap and caught the teen there, also black.  She calls him or her Phebe.  

Spooky

Phebe from the neighbor

Tyson, who roams all over Waterloo and likes to fight

I came home with the three cats in traps.   I trapped them last night because I get paranoid over these rare appointments we get now, and don't want to risk wasting even one.   

I saw the trick or treaters were already out in Lebanon.  Wow, I thought, I better hurry.  Also I knew I didn't have much candy to hand out.   Once in Albany, I went to the wheeler Dealer store, although now its called something else and I haven't bothered to remember its new name, owned by new company.   But they had no Halloween candy, a clerk said. 

So I went to a different store and got candy and went home and I wasn't even up my driveway when I saw kids with their adults on the sidewalk, dressed up, which is the fun of Halloween---kids and dressing up.   I quickly ripped open a bag of candy in my car, dumped some into the coffee mug in my car, which was clean by the way, opened the door and offered it to the kids, who were happy about it.

Quite a few kids came along last night, some of them with their parents who are neighbors.  It was lovely and fun.

The birds of fall....a few of them anyway

Last night a lady messaged needing I think 7 cats fixed.   I approved four, since we're running low on funds.  We funded a lot of spay neuters last month, but money doesn't go far.   Mostly now having to use a private clinic where tame cats cost $125 and ferals $100.   Then there's the high price of gas right now to add in, to costs, and the skyrocketing cost of cat food.

If there are people out there now having an easy time of it making ends meet, bless your hearts.  The rest of us are struggling big time.

Samhain to All Hallows Eve to...What We Have Now

 Halloween is one of those morphed holidays, like Christmas, that started with the Celts.

The celts celebrated it as Samhain (sow-in).  Originally it was just a gaelic festival celebrating end of harvest and winters start.   They beleived the curtain between the living and the dead blurred on this night.   They lit huge bonfires and wore masks to disguise themselves from evil spirits free roaming.

The Christians had other uses for the date.   November 1st became All Saints Day, where saints and martyrs were honored.   Later on, November 2 became All Souls Day, to include the dead in the mix.   The night before All Saints Day became All Hallow's Eve, when Christians prayed and fasted.  All Hallows' Eve, once a time of prayer and fasting, among Christians, and a time of masks and bonfires, to hide out from evil spirits by the Celts, became Halloween.

Trick or treating came from the medieval tradition of souling, where the poor went door to door, to receive food in exchange for prayers.

People initially carved faces that held hot coals in turnips and potatoes to ward off evil spirits.  Now we carve faces into pumpkins and mostly we're hoping gangs of badly parented teens will stay away.  Now some wear masks to scare people but the Celts wore them to disguise themselves from evil spirits.  I think evil spirits would sprint not just run from some of today's costumes, like the dinosaurs and kids in banana suits that make me laugh out loud to see.

Whatever its history, today's Halloween is fun for kids of all ages.  If we got to trick or treat at all, as kids, once home, we could choose one piece of candy collected only, to eat.  The rest my parents would take and claim it was for later and put it into the locked basement freezer.   We never would see it again. We also sometimes wondered what else might be in that locked basement freezer.  Halloween was not fun in our house.

This year, not many houses I've passed have decorations up.   I figure its the tight economy.  Nobody has extra money these days around here.   Not anyone I know at least.  Even Halloween candy is very expensive at the stores.  I got a small mixed bag of candy last night, in case kids come by, to hand out, and if too many come by, I'll shut out the lights once what I have is gone.

I saw a story about this broom maker business down in Eugene.  They make functioning brooms and also brooms for witches and warlocks or anyone that would like or needs a real broom.  It was such a Eugene story.  Eugenians like their oddities and are good at supporting local businesses.  

Check out Eugene's broom makers.

13 Cats Fixed This Week

 My little nonprofit fascilitated getting 13 cats fixed this week.

On Monday, it was five cats from Albany, but all I did was get the appointments and loan the traps.  The caregivers trapped, transported and even paid for their five to be fixed.   I never even saw them.

Yesterday, it was four cats from Lacomb fixed, a mom and her three kittens.    This lady had contacted SCR to adopt barn cats.  This was when Tempest, the river path mom, was needing a barn home.   But instead SCR asked me if I had any appointments available, because the lady had discovered cats in her own barn, trapped them, and held them in large collapsible wire dog crates, until she brought them to me Tuesday night.   I'd gotten four more appointments in Salem at a spay event OHSS was holding.

I held them here the night, transported them up to the clinic and picked them up also, since she works.

I took them to her straight from the clinic and she put them back in the dog crates for recovery and they will become her barn cats.  She also paid all costs for them to be fixed.

Spicy, the mom, an older girl

Fireball, the only boy

Sweetie, a girl tabby tux

Mimic, a torbi girl kitten

As I backed out of my driveway, yesterday morning, to take the cats to the clinic, I saw something under my apple tree in the front.  I couldn't believe my eyes.  It was Huckleberry--my oldest most frail kitty.   My heart fluttered.  How did she get outside. It was cold and rainy. I stopped my car and tried to herd her towards and into the garage but she vanished.  

I left my garage door propped open and left for the clinic.  I was  heartsick and so worried and also could not figure out how she got out.   Then I remembered the accident with the doors.   I'd been working in the cat yard taking out tree sprouts, some that had grown up and into the cat wire at the top.  I wanted to secure the cat yard after the raccoon incident.   I'd taken some of the branches out through the garage cat room door, then outside from the garage.  I was sure I securely closed the cat room door but left the garage door open.  It was very windy and the doors don't latch properly sometimes due to sinkage.   I got a phone call while putting the branches in the bin, and sat in my car to answer it.  When I went back into the garage, I saw the cat room door was open.  The windy condtions pushing through the open garage door or from the cat yard out probably played a role in the cat room door being pushed open.

I couldn't find any cats missing and never thought about old Huckleberry getting out.  That had been two days before and I was sure I saw her the day before.  I always check on her since she's so old.

But the night before, when the lady brought  the cats to me, she brought them to my front door, which also doesn't close well unless I really make sure it latches.  I  think she got out then, in the back and forth, hauling them into the house, then to the bathroom.  I don't think the door latched shut.  

I was sick to my stomach with worry on the drive back from the clinic.  When I got home I quickly went and checked around the yard for her.  I used the phone camera to check inside a couple cat shelters I have outside.  She was in one of them.  I quickly went to the garage, got two of my nets, went back out, covered both holes in the cat shelter at same time and she instantly shot out into one net.    I had  a soft blankee around my neck and used it to cover her and scruffed her through it and carried her inside.  While I had her, I updated her on flea treatment and worming, then released her in the warm house.

She was so happy to be back inside.

My old old gal Huckleberry, eating tuna after I got her back inside.

I then did an inventory to be sure there were no other escapees, laid eyes on all the cats, to be sure, although they thought I was nuts doing it, but too bad.

After I returned the cats to Lacomb, last night, it was already late and dark, due to a late pickup time.  I then went straight to Lebanon and picked up the four that were to be fixed today in Corvallis--another mom and three kittens.

This is from the Lebanon house of cats.  12 fixed there already.  Now 16 fixed.  All tame.   Just preventing it from becoming a massive issue this spring there.  

They had them ready, in carriers, even labeled.

The mom cat

Felix, a very sweet tame boy kitten

Willow, a tiny little girl, she said Willow is the runt

Callie, a faded torbi.

I took these four over to Corvallis to be fixed today.  But their owners picked them up this afternoon, so I was done once I got home.

13 more cats fixed this week.  A good number!   .A lucky number for the cats of this area.

Recliner Cat Fixing

 

It's Black Cat appreciation Day but Otto isn't into it.

Oh my I've had it easy lately, with cat fixing.

This month, already, as of today, up to 29 fixed, with 8 more on the docket for tomorrow and Thursday.

I've barely lifted a finger.   I now loan out traps and sometimes transport and try to raise funds.

Mostly I arrange fixes and trap loans, transport, from the comfort of my recliner, using my phone.  Yup.  It's descended to that.  But its highly effective and when people have to do more of it themselves, I don't get burned out and the people get to see how it works so just maybe they'll leave me out of the equation the next time.

Ooops.  In the count, I forgot to add in 6 others, who came down from Milwaukie to be fixed and HCC paid half their bill.

So that puts us up at 35 helped so far this month.  

9 of the cats are from an Albany colony.  They trap and transport their own.

12 so far, come from an overrun house in Lebanon.  Getting them all fixed (4 to go, scheduled for Thursday) will prevent this from becoming a hoarder house.   The old woman is beyond happy.

They're all tame cats.

With that group of cats, I pick them up night before and transport them over.  They pick them up. 

I intensely dislike manipulators.   Mid summer a lady wanted help with five cats, one already pregnant again.  I approved funding for her and offered traps.  She put it off time and again.  I told her to at least get the  mom in to be fixed or there would be more.  She did not do that.  Then she claimed the mom disappeared.   One of the four teens died to of a tragic accident.   After the three teens were fixed, whom she had told me were ferals and they were not at all, she adopted them out.   Afterwards, she kept in touch, giving me compliments, asking how I was, by text.  I thought "somethings' up".   People don't do this cause they're nice.  They want something.  Sure enough, turns out mom never disappeared and has eight kittens and she was hoping I'd say HCC would pay for all 9 to be fixed, over $1000 cost.  I gave her the link to the FCCO instead.   Lady, I'm out.  When you have religious views about cat abortion, that's fine, but you can pay for the cost of your beliefs, not me.

Tabitha, from the Sweet Home 7-11 colony

Sure, I still trap now and then, but not often, which is fine.  I'm old and I want my joints to last til next summer so I can head out to the mountain lakes again.

I had a great summer, despite my knee blowing out.  I didn't do anything but day trips, to the reservoir and to Waldo lake but I went far more frequently than I have in past summers.

I have photos of all those adventures and will look back at them over and over again all winter long.

Now I need to stockpile more books for the winter.   Time to head to library sales.  I skipped out on garage sales this summer because last thing I need is more junk.   I love garage saling/treasure hunting.   But its easier to bypass them than say no to stuff I see if I stop and look.

By and large my knee isn't bad.  My back is even better.  It hurts now and then after over use but my leg and foot no longer go numb.  I still do the exercises given me for my back.   I raved so much about the pt place I went to for my back, my old neighbor wants to go there.  She's been referred for pt for her back and leg issues.  I told her the name of the place but I also thought to myself, "its not magic.  You'll actually need to do the exercises given."  

Today is rainy and icky out.  Gloomy, gray, moldy wet air.  Yeah.  Tomorrow will likely be the same.

Gigi is climbing up on the bed and thinks its a great day to just nap.  She's right.

Celebrate

 Very very soon now, the US mid term elections will be over.

No more slick ads, promoting this person or that person, mostly lies I'm sure.  They tell you what you want to hear. And show black and white ugly photos of their opponents.  They all do this.   Like its a template for really annoying all of us poor souls.

The TV ads are constant.  Now if I watch TV, its caption only.   I can just look away when the politicos start pushing themselves and all they will do to improve everyone's life tremendously.  Sure you will.

Being a penny pincher, the ads make me literally hurt inside because I can see piles and piles of money burning in the background.   And I can think of what that money could do, if it wasn't getting donated to politicos and their gleamy eyed visions of how to better control us.  Did I say that?  I meant make everyone's life unicorns and smiley faces.

The mailbox by now, being close to election time, with money in politico PAC's left to spend, are filled with candidate's eye catching expensive to print "slicks", which I recycle immediately.  

I can't wait to celebrate the end of it all.  

I voted already.   I didn't want to vote for some of the candidates, but I'll be more considerate of who I vote for when the person I voted against, in every choice, is out of office.