Two Long Days

The hardest two days of the week are now history.

Thank goodness.

Wednesday I took 12 cats to Portland, 9 of those to be fixed, plus 3 more kittens, relinquished by caretakers, to a rescue.

I only had to trap four of the cats, four from an Albany colony.   There are five cats in the colony but I caught only four of the five.

Another N. Albany boy was fixed too.  His caretaker had contacted the FCCO, so I merely transported him.  She brought him here and picked up last night.

The other seven, including the 3 relinquished kittens, came from a Sweet Home trailer park.

Ok, it's Faces of the Fixed photo time!   We will start with the four fixed from Sweet Home, who went back after they were fixed.   3 girls and one boy.

Siamese girl now fixed

And her little girl kitten, now also fixed

Torti teen, girl of course

And the only boy, the lynx point teenager

Two of the three kittens, who were relinquished.

And the third kitten from the trailer park, relinquished and now with a rescue in Portland

This is the gray tabby boy from N. Albany also fixed yesterday.

The four I caught at the Albany colony included 2 girls and 2 boys.  This handsome black tux is a boy and made FCCO cat of the day on the FCCO's facebook page.

And the other boy

This is mom of the four teens (one of those teens is still not caught) and she is now fixed

One of her kids is this fire torti, now fixed

That was yesterday.  I got back home with the cats and then it was time to get them to their various owners.  That took some time, as did clean up of traps and laundry.   And a change of plans for today.

I never meant to schedule a trip to Portland with a dozen cats, then the next day, a trip clear to the north coast clinic.  I had the trip to the affordable clinic scheduled for last Wednesday and the dozen cats scheduled for last Friday.  Then came that ice storm, and I cancelled the coast trip but rescheduled it that same day for today.   Last Friday's FCCO clinic was cancelled due to the lingering ice, but those cats needed fixed, so when they said they could fix them yesterday, I knew it would make for a hard two days, but I went for it.

I was to take one of my cats and someone else's barn cat for dental care at the coast affordable clinic.  But she couldn't get down from where she lives due to freezing fog.  I was worried if I went, I would encounter it also but I'd already cancelled for these two cats once before, the day it snowed and turned to ice, carmaggedon day.

I couldn't cancel again, I figured.  

I decided to go ahead and go and take Buffy, along with Chessie.  I knew Buffy had a bad mouth again, because sometimes she'll claw at the sides of her mouth.

Buffy

Chessie

But getting settled down, catching those two, packing the car for the trip, all after the clean up from yesterday's trip with cats to Portland, meant I got to bed late, when I had to be up at 3:30 and leave by 4:30 a.m.   So I didn't get my full sleep in.

Nevertheless, off I went at 4:30 a.m.   Not a car on the road once I left Portland and headed west on highway 26.  I encountered only two other vehicles the entire trip, in the dark, over the coast range.  There was roadside old snow, but no ice or anything.

After I dropped off the cats I headed to a beach parking lot.  It was verycold, and often wet.   I rolled out my sleeping bag in the back and tried to nap.  I had some pleasant and some strange dreams.  In one dream I had knocked on the door of a house.   A man answered it and I pointed behind me.  Outside the door was some young animal, maybe a baby burro or calf, don't know, soaking wet and shivering.  The man laughed and had no sympathy at all.  So I went back out and wrapped a blanket around the animal and was then sleeping next to it in the back of my car to keep the pathetically cold baby warm.   Strange dream.

Almost no people visited that particular parking lot while I was there and those who did, did not stay long because it was so cold, wet and windy.

A couple of rough looking gulls eyed me through the rain splotched windshield from the parking lot.  I finally gave in, rolled down the window and threw a handful of dry cat food out across the the asphalt in their direction.  It did not take them long to gulp every piece.

I read a book I'd brought along, after my two hour nap.  I had my Sterno stove this time, and was able to fix hot chocolate and coffee.  Next time I'll take soup to heat too.

 The trip home with Buffy and Chessie was five hours of hell.  Why?  Portland, that's why.  Getting from Beaverton on 217, down to I5 to just south of Wilsonville took over two hours, bumper to bumper, stop and go.   Six hours of driving in one day is bad enough.   Make that eight with the add on two hours coming home with the congested traffic jam that is Portland and I am a twisted muscle twitching hurting worn out mess tonight.

But the worst two days of the week are now over.

So I'm good.