Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Let it Snow. But Will it Snow?

I was going to the north coast with cats today, two of them, one from Kings Valley and Chessie.   I worked so hard yesterday to prepare.

Preparation included trapping the final two adults needing fixed (that I know of) at the Albany colony.  I caught Missy, the black tux mom of the bathroom kittens.  Then I caught Splotch, an unknown sex kitty with no ear tip I knew needed fixed.

I took those two plus the three bathroom kittens (Titan's siblings) up to Salem to be fixed yesterday.  I named the bathroom kittens Arizona, Rum and Jamaica.  Arizona was so named in honor of my Nebraska friend Barbara's dream.  She and her husband vacationed in Arizona this last fall and loved it and hope to move there and I hope they can.  I'd like to visit them when they do.  \

So in honor of Barbara and Jeff's Arizona dream, I give you little Arizona....
Arizona was spayed yesterday and looks a lot like her brother Titan
Rum and Jamaica, the two all black kittens, were spayed yesterday also.  Yup, all three were girls.

Jamaica is so fluffy and compact and darling, but still a wild little thing.

Rum is more laid back and I believe will be the next to tame
Well Missy and Splotch---both girls, too.  I knew Missy was.  She's mom of the kittens but wanted nothing to do with them Monday night.  Too scared I guess.
Missy, black tux mom of kittens, was fixed yesterday

So was Splotch, who turned out to also be a girl

After I trapped them, the feeder lady's adult son mentioned he sure wished he could rig something warm for the cats under the deck.  I mentioned I had straw, taking up space in my garage.  I had gotten a bale to stuff cat shelters with, but one bale of straw goes a long way.   He said to bring it over.  So I took the two adults I had just trapped home, and loaded the straw.  Once there, he said he'd need to hire someone to take it under the deck on a tarp since his knees were bad.  I said I'd do it.  I went under easy enough.  Made me feel young!

I pulled the tarp with the straw behind me as I crawled under the deck and ended up tacking the tarp up to the bottom of the deck and forming a six foot long U shaped shelter, covered above, with the tarp attached to the bottom of the deck, behind and on the bottom.  The straw was inside the U.

I could have slept comfortable and cozy inside that!

Also on Monday Julie came by and brought me traps she'd bought to make life easier for my neck, back, knees and shoulder.   They are the smaller Tomahawk 606's, the classic useful lightweight transfer trap.  She also brought me two smaller kitten size 605's.  This was incredibly kind and helpful to me and my aging joints.  Should extend my trapping life.  Also, I can transport more cats using these smaller traps, than I can with my big old things.

This is one of the brand new 606's
She also took two of the cat shelters donated by a Brooks woman that I had cleaned up and stuffed with straw, over to the Waterloo Residential colony caretaker, with a bag of food for her.

Since they were strong plastic, one a plastic dog house and one a large igloo, with only one entrance (no exit) they were more suitable to cats not threatened where they live with predation.

Yesterday also, in preparation for the trip I didn't take today, I changed the oil, oil filter, and air filter on the car.  Its been using oil lately, but not just using it, leaking it, but at the filter.  Probably a cheap gasket or something.  So I'd known I needed to do that.

I picked up the cats in Salem who had been fixed and stopped on the way back at the farm colony, earlier than usual, but I needed to go to bed early.  At this point I still thought I would go to Astoria with cats.   And whom did I see, when driving in, out in the parking lot, trying to eat a scrap of old bread wedged into the gravel?  Little Black!
Little Black on the left.  His brother Benji is on the right.  Benji was hit by a car and killed last spring.

I hadn't seen Little Black for over six months, not since before I found his brother, Benji, dead on the road.   It was like seeing a ghost.  He used to be so tame.  Not now.  I couldn't help but exclaim, in joy, Little Black!  He ran.  But I jiggled the cat food jug and he paused.  I knew he was very hungry.   I overloaded all the bowls of food there, with wet and dry.   I knew he would come back for it.

But as I pulled up the driveway back home, to await the arrival of the Kings Valley cat who was to go today too, I saw I had only one working headlight, when my lights hit the light colored side of the garage.

"Aw shoot," I thought and looked at the clock.   After 5:00 p.m.  Would a parts store be open?  I raced off, hoping one would be open til 5:30 at least and with the heavy traffic now, in our overwhelmed little crowded town, took me almost 20 minutes to get less than 2 miles to the closest store.  Five minutes to closing.  I got a bulb, drove home, changed it, now had both lights working.

But inside, TV on, watching the weather on the news, I decided I couldn't chance it.   Now they were predicting, one channel that is, up to four inches in Portland, and earlier snow by 6:00 a.m. today in my area, and heavier.  Then another channel said something different.  I didn't know what to believe.  Better safe than sorry, I decided.

I have no snow chains, no snow tires and the tires I have, although just two years old, have not held up well at all.  They're shit, is another way to say it.  I've kept the pressure up on them, they've not endured excessive miles, I had them rotated, and yet they've worn down already to having very little tread with maybe 10,000 miles on them.  They sure don't pass the penny insert Lincoln head test.  I got scammed on them.  I had kept two of the tires they took off when I got them installed two years ago after a friend got them for me, for Christmas.  The old pair have more tread on them than these do and those had way over 50,000 on them.  Closer to 80k I think.  This is the same place that didn't balance the tires when I had them rotated then would only balance two when they were bumping and jumping after the rotate like a Mexican jumping bean.

So, like I said, better safe than sorry.  I left a message with the clinic, to cancel for today, even though it was an after hours message, and will call again today, later, to reschedule.  Meanwhile, although its cold out, not a flake to be seen.

Let it Snow!  Please!


7 comments:

  1. i saw it's supposed to be hitting you today & i was hoping you were hunkered down. that straw beed sounds comfy. that's nice of the man to want to do that. stay warm!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, no snow but freezing rain. However the ground isn't cold enough to let it coat even the asphalt, so its accumulating ice on some windows and outdoor off ground things like the garbage can.

      Delete
  2. Rum looks a lot like Jewel.
    I may be just being grumpy but it did sound to me as if feeder lady's adult son was using you. And your aching bones.
    Look after yourself. Please.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, when something needs done and it sounds like it might get complicated when it isn't, I just do it, EC, whether I'm getting used or not.

      Delete
  3. Tis the season when the best laid plans are changed by the weather. We're supposed to get freezing rain and snow over the weekend so I'm trying to get my out and about things done before then. We'll see.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Straw is an amazing insulator. You do great works! Be well and stay safe.

    ReplyDelete

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