Moving On from Disappointments

 This has not been the greatest week.

However, I caught Phantom, the little wild thing from the county park who lives here now like a phantom.  She's matted again. Mats are painful for kitties. I don't like chasing the wild ones down with my net.  Too old!   I do sometimes but.....I went the lazy way and set up my trap with a remote control and baby monitor, after I finally got it working, which took an hour of fiddling, caught her three hours later and took her into my bathroom.   After that, she does the flip flop and flirts, to get what she wants, in this case, out of the bathroom.  She always behaves this way, arching her back to be petted, cute mews, and its adorable.   I have those $20 clippers I got a decade ago, still work, still recharge, low noise, low power, that are the best!  I got her mats clipped off, flea treated, wormed, vaccine update, in about half hour.   Then out of the bathroom she went to go back to pretending to be wild.   Whatever.  I love her.

Lots of hair!   She's good probably for six months before we do it again.

You little sweetie.  I also call her Cougar Bait sometimes.  That's why I retrapped them at the park, when the park host claimed a cougar was seen right above where they hung out on the trail.   So I went and recaught them the next night.  

Have been unable to get appointments for June at the Salem OHSS clinic.  Was told "next week, we'd get an email to schedule some", never did, that was two weeks ago now almost.   Figure won't get any.  As a result, have had to temporarily close my nonprofits spay neuter mission.   When there's nowhere to get them in to be fixed, you can't exactly have a spay neuter assistance nonprofit.  It's pointless.   We shall see if things get better.  If they don't, I'll have to close that part of HCC.  There are two other missions I wrote into its founding--providing food to those helping community cats and vet care and food for the cats I care for, left in my care, here or elsewhere, as a result of doing my thing--getting cats fixed.

It's been tough to get appointments or even information since whs became Oregon Humane.  OHSS also quit taking in Marion county stray cats, and that building sits in the heart of Marion county and WHS took them in for decades. They have various excuses.  The promises of no change or making things better that came from them last summer never panned out, although I kept up my optimism on the side, wanting to believe.   That took effort.  

My high mileage car is a concern for my future.  I can't make weekly trips to the FCCO in Portland with it now at near 300k miles.  I make sure to change its fluids routinely.  A mechanic told me to stretch out its life that way.  I change the oil myself and flush the radiator/cooling system every two years.   

Retiring might sound like a nice idea but in fact its unhealthy to consider.  I don't do well with nothing to do.  I despise yardwork and gardening, always have, can't force myself to like it.  I do the minimum so neighbors don't complain and that's all I'll ever do.  I don't water in the summer or plant a garden because water here costs a small fortune monthly.

My water splurge is the kiddy pool.   I figured out how to keep it clean.  I made my own skimmer out of some old window screen and other junk.  I don't use chlorine tablets because I'm allergic to chlorine.  Another reason I'm really defensive of the reservoirs.  I love water and I love to swim but I can't use public pools because of the chlorine, that makes me break out in a rash head to toe.  I found some other type of tablets.  Not chlorine.  Doesn't smell.  Doesn't make my skin break out either.  Plus I cover it when not in use.  Course I can't swim in a two feet deep kiddy pool, but when its 90 degrees out, or hotter, which now seems to be the norm around here summers, I can get cooled off.  Am hoping the neighbors get their dogs trained better by summer, so they're not barking constantly when outside.  That is not a peaceful sound.

 I'll go to the lake every day I've not worn myself out there the day before, this summer, in case its bone dry by end of summer and unusable next summer.  I'll spit on any a-holes from Portland I see that might be part of those two reservoir lawsuit groups.  Yeah I say that.  Not sure I really could.  I wish members of those groups could be banned from this county.  They're dangerous.  They don't care about people or how they hurt them.  They'd probably be nice to your face, then behind your back take everything you have.

It's so hard around here to find recreation.  The city has virtually nothing, just highly fertilized block sized parks for dog walkers with some kid playgrounds.    Most are sidewalk parks, if you walk, you walk around the edges of lawns on sidewalks, nothing to enjoy but this is a city surrounded in grass seed production fields and sprawled along a freeway.   The Willamette River runs through it, but is not very usable for recreation, having current, sometimes filth (farm run off, sometimes sewage dumps) and little access.   I quit floating it long time ago.  For one, you have to have people to go with, two cars, drop off and pickup, and two, its unappetizing, often has foamy spots and its brown looking.   

Most of the rivers are freezing cold, even in late summer.  If its super hot, you can be in for a bit, before going numb.  The south Santiam at Waterloo park is freezing cold.  Some of the kids tolerate it far better than adults, who go in to their knees, stand a bit, get the nerve to plunge in, come back out.   

I don't know how Waldo Lake is, after the Cedar Creek fire last summer.   I've not seen photos and don't even know if the campgrounds will open this summer there.  I used to go once a year there, in late August, when the mosquitos aren't so bad, spend one night, generally sleep in the back of my car.  They can eat you alive there and also at Odell Lake and Crescent Lake.  This was before my raft starting popping holes at valves and seams from age.  I have no way to take a kayak very far, with my car, having no way to carry it on top of the car and otherwise putting it inside, up to the windshield in front, back hatch open partway, gassing me out with the exhaust being sucked back in. That wouldn't work for a longer trip than to the reservoirs.   I've been looking at google maps since the whole reservoir thing trying to determine if there is an alternative.  I can't find one, not close enough to use.  So I'm hoping for Foster at least will be full for the summer and I've gone into lala land denial over the whole thing.