The Way it Is

 You can't change people.  Especially once they're adults.  

I have to accept people the way they are.  We're all messed up in our own way.   I remember long long ago, at a tie dye party in Corvallis south town, my friends current live in boyfriend, sitting in a lawn chair with a beer, said "Jody you try too hard.   None of us are anybody.  We're all fuck ups.  Relax and have a good time with life."  The gospel according to Dave, who had married and divorced five times by then, and was a bit financially strapped by various child support orders.

I'm reminding myself  about the gospel of Dave because the Lebanon feeder lady I've been following around for over a decade, getting cats fixed she feeds in the most unlikely spots, along rural roads, public parks, never getting them fixed, started another colony on that same rural road where I trapped, removed 15 or so she fed a year ago.

Someone sent me a photo, not her, someone driving along there.  But, I know the place the photo was taken very very well, having spent so much time along there when she was in the hospital, to finally catch all the cats in four different locations along that road alone, get them fixed, and with the barn cat folks help, get them relocated.

I knew it wouldn't end though and it didn't.  Even though she wasn't feeding cats, she then fed skunks or whatever might want the cat food, in the same places.   Last spring, she told me two cats showed up there.  I said they'll breed more cats, you need to catch them, get them fixed.  She did not.  She never has.  So it didn't really surprise me when the lady driving along there sent me this photo:

Mom and Kitten in the brush

I sent the feeder lady the photo and just got one response.  I didn't think I'd get any response.   She said there had been 3 kittens but she thought two had been killed and said there were other adults.  Thankfully the lady who saw these two went back and caught the kitten.  A little girl, maybe 7 weeks old.  She said the kitten has lice.   I told her Frontline and Revolution both kill lice.  She had Revolution.

I think all but one of the River Path kittens are now in homes.  My neighbor, who took them from me weeks ago,  is really good at it.   I think the last one is leaving today to a home.   That's really good news.  I sent her a photo yesterday at about the same time she sent me one.   A wild turkey hen, alone, no flock, was down in front of another neighbors garage.   That's a first on the block.  Flocks roam around at will in many neighborhoods, particularly in Lebanon, known for wild turkeys.  But a lone hen?  That's odd.   Its hard to consider a lone wild turkey a real turkey because they are flocks, family and loners don't make it long.  By the time I got home from picking up the two cats at the clinic in Corvallis and returning them to their two caregivers, the turkey was nowhere to be seen.

I meant to take three cats to the clinic yesterday.  I was going to take that big orange tabby Waterloo male.   Then one from Crabtree, a colony there, and give a ride to another cat whose caretaker had an appointment but had to work.  That cat just needed a ride over and back.

I called the Waterloo lady about 4:30, to be sure she had the cat contained.  That was Monday.   She answered but she said she was in Albany, something about the police at her storage locker with her, and she was going through stuff.  I have no idea what that was about.  I was miffed.  She hadn't bothered to call me and I would have been over in Waterloo at 5:00 wondering where the hell she was. 

 It was pouring down rain, in buckets, made it hard to see driving.   I still had to pick up the cat getting a ride with me to the clinic from Lebanon.  I couldn't put her off any longer since she had a kids ball game to go to.  I had planned to pick up both the Waterloo cat and Lebanon cat, same trip, near same time.  I finally had to go get the Lebanon cat, as I had promised.   Once I had her in the car, sitting in the Walmart parking lot in the pouring rain, after 5:30 by now, I texted the Waterloo lady I was going home.  She had not even left Albany yet to go back to her home in Waterloo and her cat was out free roaming somewhere.   She briefly tried to play victim, that I wouldn't wait on her, but I wasn't buying into that crap.

The Crabtree cat is from a large colony that is over half fixed now, thanks to the effort of the feeder man and a friend of his and mine.  

Little Black is a male and was fixed yesterday.

Little Black a little boy

Thi black tux girl from Lebanon, a stray cared for by a woman, turned out to be already spayed.  At least she got an eartip and vaccines and now the lady knows she's fixed.

My nonprofit paid for four other cats the day before.  They were from a colony at an Albany apartment complex.   And today, two more cats will be fixed from outside Lebanon, but the lady who trapped them, at an abandoned house, where they had been abandoned, will transport.  They are going to a barn home she said, through SCR, afterwards.  She found the barn home for them, then had them apply through SCR, to make it easier, since she doesn't have the setups that they do, to loan out.  

So this week, its 8 cats helped, by my itty bitty nonprofit.   I feel all happy glowy inside every time another cat gets fixed.   Like a bell rings!  (getting into the season)

It's veterans day today.  There's a parade in town.   I have gone to it a number of times but also skipped it many times.  You must take your own chair, find a place which often involves a lot of walking while carrying a chair, sit or stand a very long time.   These days my back, knee, pick a joint, can't take that.   

Last night, Gigi claimed my lap and does not like me to move.

Gigi knows best.  Remember, we're all fuck ups.  It makes life easier to remember that.

Waiting on Trap Pickup

 Scio lady is coming soon, to pick up three traps for her appointments Monday and Tuesday.

I've got them ready, sitting out by the garage, for her convenience.  These days mostly I just loan out traps or pay for the fixes or both.

She's been catching cats on the porch of an empty house near her son's school.   Same old road I caught so many along, that my friend fed.   This lady already caught three, and has a barn home for the two teens of the three waiting.  They get fixed the 11th I think it is.

I had two spots the 11th but the clinic forgot to enter them onto the portal, so now the two spots are on the tenth, and I gave one of them up to this lady.   Apparently she has a barn home for three more of the abandoned cats on the porch of the abandoned house.   

The one I'll be picking up for the 10th appointments will be the orange tabby who badly needs fixing in Waterloo.  The 2nd cat will be from the Scio lady.

I've been trying to make the house better.  The vinyl floor squares that were to last only five years are showing a lot of wear, in the hall, 20 years after I put them in.  20 year lifespan when they declared on the box, "good for five", that's pretty darn good.  

I got some rigid floor panels a few months back when on sale.  Only one box, which was idiotic, but oh well.  Now I'll need another box or two, to complete the hallway end to end.   I covered a middle section with these simple to install panels.  They're kind of cheap feeling underfoot and don't lock together all that well, turns out, but should last until I die.

Since they are 3 feet long and the hallway 3 feet wide, I installed them that way, very quickly.   I caulked the edges to prevent moisture from getting under them that way.   But since the one box only did a short section, looks kind of crappy for now.   I will be repainting the garish yellow walls too, a light gray.  Long overdue on that.  

I'll have to get more of these, to extend it down past both bedrooms on one end and down to the living room wall at the other.   Yes, the house is full of mismatched very old vinyl flooring.   20 years old.  Old paint job.  Very old and done with what I could scrounge at the habitat store initially.  Also sparse old furniture, none bought new.   Next garage sale season, I'll be trying to upgrade on some furniture.  I wish I could get inspired with creativity, to redo, with used items.   People do wonders with nothing, maybe a little paint, along with their own creative minds.  I'm trying to channel those people, lol.  So far no luck.

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I can't believe the amount of junk I don't need that has once again accumulated.   I'm ridding myself of that too.   Giving away anything of it still usable.  

I got a cart!   I love it.  Silverton Cat Rescue lady gave it to me.   It makes my life easier!  No more hauling cats in traps by hand.  I can just load them on the cart.

Check it out!

This was just after I put it together.  The handle folds down.

By the time I started in on this post again, the traps have long been picked up.   Scio lady came with her two boys.  I was chatting with Siah, the older boy, while their mother took Liam inside to use my bathroom, talking about all the projects I needed to do and had put off, and he said, very seriously, but you're so lucky to have somewhere to call home.   I stopped talking then and said "you are so right."  Perspective.  Delivered by a ten year old.

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.