The New Year Begins

Sometimes I'm in the right place to see something spectacular.

That's how I felt returning from Lebanon New Years Day.  It was almost dark and the sky was painted gorgeous.

I pulled off the highway to take photos and just watch the display in awe.

Other cars also were pulling off.

This was the finale of New Year's Day in the mid valley of Oregon.

Saturday I went out to a remote location along the river up beyond Sweet Home, with my drop trap.  At least four cats remained roaming an abandoned property.  The owner had died.  All those living there evicted.  The property had become one giant homeless camp prior to the property owners death, and with his permission.  The homeless had lots of cats but KATA had already gotten them fixed.  Then came the eviction of everyone on the property after the owner died.

Unbelievably, KATA been able to retrap almost all the cats again, except for four, who had become trap shy.  You have to know that the KATA ladies are not young.  Doris is in her 70's and Vicki in her 60's.   When it comes down to hard work and persistence, seems like its older folks end up doing it.

They hoped a drop trap would catch one of the four left, who is mostly tame. So they asked if I could try.  I did catch her, thank goodness because I would have hated to let them down.  I had to carry in the drop trap since now there's a locked gate across the way in.  It was about a quarter mile walk to where the cats had lived with their people. The little long hair gray girl was too shy to be picked up and put in a carrier and wouldn't go near a regular trap.  Within moments of me setting up the drop trap, she was under it gulping food.  So caught her, then a tabby on white, whom I had to "flirt with" to get her comfortable enough to enter a trap.

I think I have described flirting with cats before, as means to reduce their anxiety so they'll enter a trap.   Unfortunately the black and white one was beside the trap when the gray tabby on white entered and it sprung.  We left with just the two and two more still left there.   I never saw one of those two, but Doris did.  Yesterday, they caught the white and black.  But the gray manx is still up there.

I meant to take photos up there but it was pouring rain and I didn't want to ruin another camera if it should get wet.

New Years' Eve I sent a text Happy New Year to my brother.  Graphics appeared as I hit "send".  They were spectacular.  Fireworks shooting off, on black background, popping sounds.  It was so much fun, I began texting everyone I knew the same three words, just to see the graphics.  Then my brother and sister in law in Idaho began doing the same thing.  That was my big New Year's Eve bash!

Little fun things!

New Year's Day I took five cats from various places, all previously fixed, to my friend who places barn cats.  This is a huge help as these are cats who absolutely cannot remain where they are at.  Usually the case is someone has moved or died and no one is left to feed them, which was the case with these latest five.  It is ALWAYS best if wild cats are fixed then returned to where they came from and are being fed. 

There have been some really terrible situations lately.  Like up above Sweet Home, a woman killed herself.  She had over 20 cats, almost all already fixed through KATA.  Thankfully Safehaven took over a dozen of these poor kitties.  KATA has several more of them, but four remain up there in that location.  The problem being for them, everyone is so full of unwanted cats there's nowhere for them to go.  The suicide woman's cats are all tame.

Yesterday, I went clear to Washington State!   Along the way, I dropped off Jack, one of the remaining four older kittens in my bathroom.  I'd found someone willing to foster him and find him a home.  He's such a wonderful boy, from that big colony I've been "fixing" between Albany and Lebanon.  I will miss him.

 In Woodland, I helped load six pallets of donated cat food into four vehicles.  Animal Rescue and Care Fund had been offered two of the pallets of donated food and they asked if I would take them.  This was a pet supply warehouse in Woodland.  The groups involved, who had been offered food, also included Furry Friends and a Hayden Island man who cares for three hundred cats, along with a woman from Brooks and a woman from Silverton.  Both Jodie from Brooks and Julie from Silverton care for cats and trap cats to be fixed.

  I jumped all over the offer to get some of the food, even though I knew I couldn't get two pallets worth in my little car.  These were packaged in 7 lb bags, five of such bags were shrink wrapped together. There were 25  five-bag slicks to a pallet, or 825 lbs.

I was able to fit one pallet worth of food into my car and helped load the other five pallets into other vehicles.  With all that weight in my car, the clearance between the bottom of the back bumper and pavement was just inches.

The food will be shared with colony feeders and KATA.

So long Jack and good luck!

I was so worn out from loading all that food last night then unloaded what was in my car into my garage,  I was in bed by 6:00 p.m. and had a heating pad on my neck and shoulder.   I woke briefly around midnight but was soon in bed again. 

I am relieved to have a garage full of cat food for cats I feed and to help others.  It won't last long, I'll tell you straight.   There is such high need.  It's a great start to the new year.

I want to say this about my car.  The two pickups that hauled food were able to each take 1 1/2 pallets.   Think about that.  Pickup versus tiny car.  The pickup could not even take twice as much as my little tiny car.  I think my car is really very wonderful!