I don't know what happened with those two weeks of doing too much so that now I can't bring myself to do much of anything.
I haven't cleaned the traps yet from after returning all those cats early last Friday morning. That's so unlike me.
I have no energy for drama right now whatsoever. I leave my phone sound turned off.
It's been pouring too, so what can a person do when its so wet out but inside chores.
I'd like to finish a couple of colonies, using the funds we have left and the private clinic. But the places to finish have disinterested unengaged caretakers which makes it so difficult.
Also, both locations the caretakers themselves have traps and could, if they applied themselves, catch the cats themselves. But haven't and probably never will.
I'll get back to myself one of these days. Maybe when the shock of winter hitting hard here and early wears off. The knowledge the next months will be hard, with the weather yucky and icky and if the sun comes out it still won't be warm, is depressing.
I'm toying with the idea of partial retirement---closing the spay neuter mission for now, since, let's face it, I can't really get cats fixed when there's no place to get it done affordably anymore.
The decline of the most local option, the clinic in Salem, to pretty much insignificance in spay neuter help, along with the lying that went on, when the Portland shelter took over the Salem one, that nothing will change, when everything did, its been a blow. Not just for cats in the mid valley but to those who help them, mentally and financially. I have this gut feeling that Portland shelter wanted it this way, to rip the hearts out of mid valley cat helpers. I don't know why I think that, just a feeling, a resentment towards them because they lied in the first place. I had tried to be so optimistic. They have so much money, I thought of course they'll see the extent of the overpopulation problem and jump in to set up even more clinics, expand them and help solve the problem. Ha. What a joke. When any organization has a PR spin department, red flags!!!!!
So I decided to look through old photos, poorly organized on my computer.
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| This was the yard when I first moved in, before the ground began to sink in many spots from constant rain, before the two maples grew to massive girths and began dropping branches on the house and car and had to be removed. This was after fencing the yard, before I covered it to contain the cats. Even then, the yard seemed incapable of growing grass, due to moisure content and clay soil. |
I remember the episode from the next few photos. On way to FCCO with a lot of cats, something flew off a vehicle ahead of me, just before Wilsonville on the freeway, slicing part of the sidewall of my tire. No one slowed or gave way as I tried to get to the right hand side of the freeway. When I made it off the freeway I realized there was a dead smelling deer very near me. I had to remove all the cats, to get to the jack and donut, so carried them down a slope so they wouldn't be as afraid with the freeway noise. No one offered help. I got the donut on, and by the time I got to the FCCO, it was flat too. The regular tire I'd taken off was ruined. AAA came to the FCCO and fixed the flat donut and I then took off to find a tire shop to replace the tire. Costly trip.
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| 16 cats carried down a hill to be out of harms way from the freeway. |
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| Tire with destroyed sidewall |
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| Dead rotting deer near where I pulled off freeway. |
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| Flat donut |
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| One of the many branches that fell off the maple before it was cut down. |
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| Snow dusting the hills, taken over a decade ago |
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| Who could forget the Guinea that showed up--very loud bird. He or she vanished about the time I decided to drop trap the bird and send it off to a place who wanted it. |
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| And all the ducks who mysteriously showed up here now and then |
I hope you can reclaim some energy.
ReplyDeleteI sent a small donation the other day. I hope it has arrived. You do amazing work.
I just found that, in my email notifications. THANK YOU!
DeleteDefinitely sounds like the blahs. I go through those low energy periods from time to time. Hang in there!
ReplyDeleteI'll try, thanks. I just recalled I took 16 cats in all to Portland, the 16th (one of them Rosy to her new home). And five to Salem, the 14th. Then I took 15 more to be fixed the next week, plus trapped four other kittens, got them to two places, and finally took Buggyboo to Portland Friday too. So in two weeks time, 41 cats. That's why I'm so tired.
DeleteYour body and mind are telling you that you need to take it easy for a while after your recent marathon session. It sounds like a good time to go through photos. Maybe you will inspire me to do the same.
ReplyDeleteMy photos are in a dither.
DeleteToo much rain can make trees grow too fast with weak wood, which might be why the trees were so prone to dropping branches. It's a nice collection of photos and a wander down your memory lane.
ReplyDeleteI never thought of that as a reason they dropped branches so often.
DeleteI have found that they make it so hard to get spaying and neutering done. In my old complex, there were about 15-20 cats I fed. The organizations just seemed to TRY and make it impossible for me to get them in.
ReplyDeleteIt sure is tough to find it around here.
DeleteConsidering all you've been doing, I'm surprised you didn't get exhausted earlier. Take the time to rest. You've earned some time off. The energy will return once your body has gotten the rest it needs.
ReplyDeleteYeah, a winter hibernation is in order.
DeleteYou just need to stop for a while--- ANd we all need to get past this election.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it's time to take a break. You'll come out the other side refreshed and ready to tackle the things that are important to you.
ReplyDeleteMe again--- Waterfalls are on the Oregon side. They're all marvelous and all worth a visit.
ReplyDeleteThey are marvelous. I love hiking in the gorge, there are so many and so beautiful!
DeleteMy family had guineas when I was a child, and I'll never forget the day when--at age seven--I got off the school, ran through a ditch, and was attacked on the head by a mother guinea who had her nest in the ditch. When I screamed, my elderly and nearly blind, Granny ran sprinting from the house with a broom. In the clash of motherly instincts, I'm glad to say she won.
ReplyDeleteYes, the rain is tedious, and I was sad to read in your most recent post that you are indisposed.
Love,
Snowbrush
I think I'm better, or is that the aleve. Hmmm. When that bird suddenly appeared, very loudly, here on the cul de sac, no one knew where it came from. I had to look up exactly what it was and I'm very happy he or she vanished before I tried drop trapping it, because then what, to try to get it out and into a large live trap? Well, I hadn't thought it through yet, but I did have a friend who would have taken it. I picked up cats to be fixed at a small house, rural road, with signs posted everywhere to watch out for the tom turkey. A wild tom turkey had taken over guarding their front porch and routinely attacked any delivery drivers. They had a big broom on the driveway, with a sign that said "use this if you must approach porch". I needed it.
Delete