Covid Dead

 Covid is killing a lot of people in the US.   Thousands upon thousands.

In the newspapers, they run a few stories about some of the folks who have died.  Many are middle aged with many family members mourning their deaths, vowing to honor their dead by sharing their covid stories and urging people to take precautions.  Fat chance that will help in America.

I went to a grocery store in Lebanon two days back.  A blow hard man was inside, with only a face shield, which he'd pushed up.  He was approaching almost everyone to loudly talk (yell) about the hoax virus.  He was fat and bald and poorly dressed and spoke in illiterate conspiracy theories.  I tried hard to avoid him in the small store.  There were others inside without masks too.  I won't go there again.  When I got out, I was happy but I wanted to bathe in sanitizer, especially my ears, from the drivel he spouted.

I don't know how many cases we had yesterday in this county alone.  63 new cases maybe it was.  More people have died too.  36 one day in Oregon, 30 another, and on it goes.  We're hard hit here as is every state now.

Our current president does not care one bit about the thousands dying daily of covid but rather is focused on pouting over the election.  This is his legacy.

I now unfortunately know a  lot of folks who have caught Covid.   All have survived, thank goodness.  I remember the first time, way back in March, or was it late May, the time is all baffled now in my brain.  I was trapping in Lacomb, checking out a barn with cats and was wearing a mask.  The barn owner wasn't, and I'd apologized at first as I had scrambled to find my mask in my car and she said "oh don't worry, we have a friend living here who had it."   She felt by then she didn't need protection from me, if I possibly had the virus, thinking they'd been exposed already, repeatedly, without consequence.  She caught it at work, at the veterans home, where several residents died of the virus.  No one else in their household had caught it, at least shown no symptoms, from her, however.  So that was good.

I remember when Karen came down in late February, right before Oregon closed down for two months, to help trap a large Sweet Home situation and in the process, found a man across the street who had five cats and talked to him.  Ten days later he was dead.  He'd been taken to the hospital with pneumonia, came home and died.   We both figured he had undiagnosed Covid at that time.   

I caught two Albany cats, a boy and a girl, both half wild, half tame, likely leave behinds.   To catch them I got up very early to set traps and caught them one at a time, both before 8:00 a.m.   I'd taken the older lady a trap, to feed them in and she was going to get them fixed at her own vet.  I went Monday just to set the trap she'd supposedly been feeding in and the cats would have nothing to do with the trap and she gave up in about an hour and I had to go retrieve the trap.   So that's why I decided to just go very early in the morning before most are stirring to try to get them and fortunately I did.  I have no photos yet.  I've been bad that way lately.  I'll get photos later and add them.

Alfred of Albany

Cece of Albany

The Egg Place colony lady called me too.  That's way over close to Sweet Home.  She'd had another cat show up whom she thought was dumped, maybe in a carrier, because he is terrified of carriers, but wants petted by her and is beautiful.  She was happy to have him stay but wanted him fixed.  

Oh I can't recall how many cats I took from there to be fixed last winter, but they sure look healthy now.  I set up my drop trap, this was about 9:30 a.m. yesterday, and quickly caught him as the other cats did not want to eat under the drop trap with an unfixed boy.  He wants to fit in there but can't yet because he isn't fixed so we'll just help him along that way today.

They call him Mr. Chubs.  Again, I'll add a photo soon.

Mr. Chubs of Egg Place

The other two cats going off to be fixed today are both girls who've had litters and friends were at them to get their cats fixed.   In fact the Lebanon girl cat owners were referred to me, to get their cat fixed, by a familiar name--Garnett!  The Lebanon tracks colony caretaker.  Sure got a lot fixed there last year too, including Gunnie, that old gray male I even took to have a dental last October, at the coast.  And the cat who had that big piece of skin hanging off his throat....that place.  

Anyhow, MeowMeow will be spayed today.  They still have three or four kittens from her latest litter.  She's a little torbi girl.  I went to Sodaville to get another girl badly needing fixed.  Her name is Zoey.  Yes, I'll get the photos up. These are the first five whs Salem appointments I have had in quite awhile.  I have five more next Friday too, but no more after that.

MeowMeow of Lebanon

Zoey of Sodaville

I've been watching episodes of "Alone".  It's free on the Roku channel.  They take ten or twelve out to some remote locations, each one seperated from the others, and leave them.  They give them training first, with cameras, because they have to film themselves surviving, best they can.  They have a satelite phone, first aid kit, and also a gps device that shows their location and they can message the series crew and with the push of a button be rescued at any time.

Mostly its very boring as the contestants opine to the camera, in the dark or during the day of their misery or pasts or how much they miss their families.  There were two stand out guys, one in season one and one in season two, who were high energy and extremely talented at survival skills.  The season one stand out even built a boat and a two string guitar.  But he tapped out early, bored I think.  And in the second season, there was another high energy super talented guy who made a boat from a  plastic tub he found and fancy shelter.  He too did not win the half million by being the last hold out.

They have to build shelters, survive the elements, find their own food.  And survive being completely alone.   When all the others have tapped out, the one left is the winner, but none of them know when the others have left or how many might be left or how long they'll have to survive to be the last standing.

I think in the first season two people tapped out within the first day, one within 12 hours and in the second season one man was gone within a few hours too.  All because they encountered bears visiting their makeshift shelter at night, or stumbled onto a bear in the woods quickly and panicked over it.  In season two, a Portland woman with MS survived two months before tapping out, and coexisted with the bears, even foraging for food near them.  Season One's winnter was very cool, quoted literature passages, and was not the chronic whiner to the cameras that some of the men become, after weeks there.  Anyhow, I get bored with the show quickly, however.