Sheltering in Place

There are few spay neuter reservations to be had lately.

Fortunately I have a few weekly appointments until the end of April already made.  That's how I got 8 of the new colony cats fixed last Monday.  This Monday I have 7 more appointments and will get  7 more of them done, leaving at least five in need of fixing there.

So I've been doing projects around the house.  I got the 2nd bedroom completely done with the vinyl remnants covering it.   It looks nice, I think, even though the vinyl was very very cheap, being in the remnant corner.

Two more cats showed up at the county park, where I worked an entire summer to get cats fixed there, then had to remove the majority of them.   I don't know where they came from, possibly probably dumped there.  Both are very young.  Just teenagers.  They appeared at the same time.

One looks pregnant.  I have not been able to catch her, despite hours spent trying, but I did catch her little buddy, a very young all black, now in the garage, also awaiting one of the scarce spay neuter reservations.  I believe they were likely trapped to be dumped.  They are very trap shy and that is not ordinary for hungry teens.  It's a constant problem there.

The original problem was created by camp hosts who either fed cats or had cats that were not fixed and let them reproduce in the briars.  The kittens grew up wild had kittens of their own, etc.  The camp hosts move on and leave them too on their own.  Homeless campers then would bring their pets to the park with them, and leave them when they left.   So it won't end there, as long as there are heartless irresponsible people,  but when I get involved in an area I tend to keep involved to try to keep things under control.  Last fall it was a mom and her teen kittens left under a picnic table in a makeshift cage.  Kata took them.

I get lots of requests to trap all over the valley and can't do it all especially with such limited access to spay neuter.  I don't do removal.  Even when I tell people that, plain and simple, they still think I will.   I have to cut it off short with those requests or I start in with the nightmares about the poor cats involved.   Been doing this too long maybe.   The stress reaction can begin just with a few words someone says now.  In Benton County, they have animal control for removal situations.  That person is paid and so let them do it.  In Linn County, we have no services at all.

We have no affordable spay neuter here in Linn county either.  We're very fortunate that Heartland Humane, in Benton County, offers up leftover space in their surgery, when available, to Linn County rescues for spay neuter.  This space is very limited but we'll take what we can get over here.

Our only other option is Willamette Humane in Salem, or the drive clear to Portland, to the FCCO, which means spending the day in Portland and battling the horrendous congestion on the way up and the way back, which now can add hours to the trip.

Oregon is experiencing a massive influx of people.  The roads and highways cannot handle the influx.  We are in crisis and everybody knows it but often people blame the state for not building bigger massive highways sooner.  The point really is there are too many people moving here to handle.

I can understand why people want to leave bleak violent urban environments for Oregon.  I was born in Oregon.  I can't even tolerate the thought of living somewhere without greenery and a way to get away.  But now I find myself living in a rapidly growing freeway city surrounded in grass seed fields, that cause me allergies, and wishing I had a way out.  It's too crowded, too many cars, too many people and no nature to be had without driving a long way.  My older brother and his wife finally left congested expensive Portland for Idaho and they like it there.  I may never see them again is the downside of that.

 Oregon was already tagged as 2nd most expensive living state in the union.  Gas prices here fifth highest.  Why?  I don't know why everything is so expensive here.  Even water/sewer rates in this town where I live are going up, up and up.  The city wants to raise rates 13% per year.  That's nuts and there's no way many of us could ever afford that if they do it.

I'm still paying on the new old car and now it has to go to the shop.  On left curves when driving it makes a sometimes very load growling noise.  I think it might be a wheel bearing, or otherwise is somehow related to steering or wheels.

The appointment is Tuesday.  Wish me luck its not something major or really expensive.

At least the high wind storm predicted for yesterday wasn't so much of anything.  There was wind but nothing spectacular.