The Day Be Long

Oh how long was today, and on it goes.  Fog has blurred and lulled my brain now.  I welcome it.

I was up all night trapping, at the cemetery colony, then the Corvallis business colony and even way down at the seed warehouse.  I realized early I would catch mainly kittens too little for fixing at the cemetery colony.  But I never give up and so I tried my best to fill the quota of nine reservations any way I could.  I even set a trap in my yard, for that Siamese, roaming through hungry now and then. 

I caught fixed cats at the Corvallis River business, but I met a nice guy in a night super, middle of the night, who was polite and friendly and who put me at ease immediately.

I caught the black fixed male twice and the upper area brown tabby fixed female too.  Then finally when I pulled the traps I found the rest, including the teens I was after, up in the briars and I spent time with them, talking to them, fed them, grooming those two to trust me to be trapped. 

I caught nothing at the seed warehouse and not surprising.  But was suprised that in a very short time there, saw three of the cats I'm still after--A lynx point Siamese, a long hair black male with hair loss and a short hair black young cat.

Course my radar was up for them and not so much for any other cats.

I came back by the cemetery colony worn out, running late, was already 7:30 a.m. and I needed to head to Portland with who I had, and saw a light gray kitten with white feet running off into the brambles, scared.  I saw the reason.  Two kittens were in one trap.  I was elated.  But my elation was short lived.  Only one was possibly big enough to be fixed.  The other was a third her size.

Once home I got in gear, and despite hissing from the two kitten trap, I just reached on in and pulled out the smaller one and put him into the garage cage that already held four other too small kittens.  I got the brown tabby girl kitten away from her mom, whom she'd been hutched with, and got the mom in a carrier and loaded.  I took the biggest kitten, 2.8 lbs, out of the big carrier he was in, and put him in a small trap, for easier transport.  Off I went.  I left five pound and a halfers in the garage cage and went up with two adult females, an adult male, a gray tabby teen male, a gray tabby male kitten and the muted calico kitten.

I got up to the clinic right on time.  I was exhausted, caffiene wearing low, no sleep since the night before.  I had brought a blanket and intended to sleep the day away in my car.  After registering the cats, a rescue group approached and offered so kindly to take the two youngest I'd brought, the dilute calico and the gray tabby male.  I was overwhelmed with this offer.  They pledged to return for them at 4:30.  They were there with other cats being fixed.

I tried to sleep then, laid out in the back of my filthy stinky car.  My leg hurt.  Everything hurt.  The smell was bad in there, from spilled bait, urine.  I used a cage cover and my coat for a pillow.  I slept.  Two, three hours, but wakened overheated.  The weather had changed, was now hot out, and humid.  I was sweating and miserable.  I tried to sleep off and on throughout the very long day.  Clouds would roll in, giving me relief from sun, but bringing humidity.  I thought I could just die.  But through the day, I got bits of sleep here and there.  Enough to get home on.  Enough to get me through loading the four cats I did bring home, and following a rescue woman through Portland streets to get around the I5 closure near the Rose Quarter.  I would never have figured out how to get south around that without her leading the way.

Am home now, filthy still, worn out, happy I caught so many, worried over having so many kittens, five in my bathroom, six now in the garage because the gray kitten went in a trap over at the colony while I was gone.  He too is under two pounds.  Kind of overwhelmed.  Totally worn out.

However, put an end to another kitten production factory.  The Lebanon Kitten Factory people are now working on solving another situation a couple blocks from them.  I love that.  They're super nice people and wanting to make a difference too.