Slurpy Comes Home

Today I was called by the other Silverton cat lady, not the one who told me to bring Slurpy up, but one of the other two. She wanted me to come get her, stating they don't need another adult cat who won't adopt out for months. I didn't know what was going on up there.

I was confused, irritated and worried about Slurpy. So I rushed up and got her back. She's so happy to be home, wants on my lap, hugged, reassured. So ends the help with adoptions.

I paid out $10 for 2.5 gallons of gas. Gas here is now $4 per gallon. $4 PER GALLON!!!!

To drive to Silverton and back cost me over $10!!

I don't know how people are surviving anymore. I don't leave the house. I am definitely going stir crazy however, like cabin fever.

There's no recreation close.

I am worried. Cat food prices also have skyrocketed, along with prices for everything else including water, food and electricity.

Meanwhile, the rich get richer.

Slurpy is home. But how will I continue to feed them all?

I cancelled Netflix. That's $8 a month I'll save. They were also getting too weird and dropping the DVD mailing business, to rename it Qwikster. However, lately, if I returned one for another, it took so long anyhow, like they really don't want to be mailing DVD's. They want people to watch streamed movies.

Don't they know, half of America is too poor to have good enough computers or connections or devices to stream? I can't stream. I can't even watch a youtube video without delays. And I have no streaming device.

The air outside stinks again, like chemicals and detergent. Probably Wah Chang again. It's disgusting. I've contacted the city several times about the stench, but nothing comes of it. I had hoped it was a meth house, because meth houses can be busted and then the noxious smell is gone.

One time I contacted the city, the city person immediately forwarded my e-mail right to Wah Chang, like the city already knows what causes that smell. Then Wah Chang said it was a pile of grass seed rotting from a nearby grass seed warehouse. Yeah right. I buy that, yeah, sure. Then the city person said when she lived in this area, the air stunk at times too and she had then attributed the smell to that plant. I wasn't sure what she was saying, that I should move, to have clean air maybe.

I am going to get rid of another couch. I don't sit on couches anymore. They're just not comfortable. I don't watch much TV anymore. I get five channels and they are junk food type channels littered in reality shows now. I have not found much of anything I'm interested in watching. That's probably really good, to watch less TV. Sometimes I leave it on while doing chores, for the sound of human voices.

I ran across some products online I'd like to try as cat repellents, partly out of curiosity and partly because there are places I don't want my cats. One product is the scat mat, which emits a slight shock when a cat or anything jumps onto it. There are mats also that emit only an ultra sonic sound. There are X-mats, which most people say don't work that well for most cats. They are plastic, some fold up, with plastic spikes. Dog and cats are not supposed to like the feel of the spikes. Have not read too many good reviews of their effectiveness.

Then there are the motion sensor repellent air spray cans, some with alarms. Those that get best reviews are the ones that can be set to alarm only, as the canned compressed air refills are burned through quickly and are expensive. Some reviewers give them bad marks because if they don't work, they can't be returned, because they are hazardous material (compressed air canisters). Some complain the cat needs to be slow and stupid, because the motion sensor takes so long to react. Some reviews say the product description says the motion sensor reacts only within a three feet range while it really reacts and sprays to any motion within 15 feet.

If they worked, they would be excellent to stop spray marking behavior in certain "treasured" marking spots, because you can move the unit around. They could be moved to keep cats off counters too or away from plants. HOwever, the downside is the expensive refill canisters and all those reviews stating the motion sensor is slow to react and detects at too great a range.

If I can find one on sale, that includes the alarm only setting, I want to try them, just to know.

There are outside motion sensing devices people can get to keep cats out of areas of their yard, too. These devices emit high frequency sound pulses when they sense movement, sounds at too high frequency for humans to hear. They are supposedly very effective.

The scarecrow however remains the most effective yard cat repellent, according to people I've talked to. The scarecrow is a motion activated sprinkler. This deters not only cats but deer and maybe burglars.