Foot Pain

 I went back up Quartzville road Tuesday night.  

I worked at Gleaners in the morning and didn't get out of there til around 2:30 after distribution.  I'd been late to get to set up duties because my license plate was hanging by one stripped out rusty bolt, flopping in the wind.

I stopped at an auto parts store and got license plate bolts and put them on in their parking lot.  They fit perfectly and my plate is secure.   I ordered 10 clips too, because the back hatch inside felt cover is being held by about two clips now.  They haven't come in yet, unfortunately.   The guy at the store had this book, its pages filled with clips.  Not photos, actual clips, and he turned page after page of clips, in trying to come up with one that would fit.   The plastic clips that hold everything now from the front grill and bumper to the back hatch felt cover, are all different, in each car model and also not standard to each car, meaning one piece might require certain clips while another part, yet a different type.  It's kind of a nightmare, when they break and they often do.

My front grill is hanging on by two clips after three of them broke when I hit the deer.   

The front grill is plastic as is the bumper on my car.   In fact, I have trouble finding any metal to attach something like a magnetic phone holder.   

I got to Gleaners, and enjoyed my time there, as usual.  I get to see people and that is a rarity for me.   Yes, we work hard setting up.

I left after distribution, came home, unloaded what food I got, and immediatley headed up to Quartzville road.  I was a bit nervous over it.  The snow level was supposed to be at 1500 feet but I could see snow in the hills around Lebanon.  My car does not have the clearance around the tires necessary for chains, although I have some that will fit the tires.   I can use them at extremely low speeds, which is why I carry them anyhow.

My car does unbelievably well on snow anyway.   Its the low center of balance and its relatively widely spaced tires compared to center of balance.   I've stopped on a hill in 8 inches of snow and easily started up again.

There were sparse patches of snow along the road up.  The most was in the Thistle Creek parking lot, where I get the one bar of cell service.  It was all slush though.  It was pouring down rain all the way up and most of the night.   I saw no sign of the cat all that long night and fell asleep almost immediately after checking the trap.  Every few hours my alarm would go off on my phone and I"d check the trap then go back to sleep.  No food eaten.  No wet cat paw prints on the cement on either side, under the covered area in front of the bathrooms.   No cat eyes in the dark.  Not even the deer were out.

I decided to wait to come home until I saw a couple of log trucks go by, to be sure the road was clear of debris.   Branches and rocks fall onto that road a lot, especially when we have windstorms like we did Tuesday night, a bomb cyclone they called it.   Lots of wind and rain, snow in the mountains.

The log trucks come charging out of the darkness all lit up, like dragons.   I love seeing them.  This time, especially since I knew the road home was clear.  So I left out food and another shelter (someone had already put one up there.  It's not been used however).  

I developed neck issues almost immediatley from the awkward crooked way I slept.  And sesamoiditis, on the bottom of my foot, in the small bones of my big toe joint.   I've had this before.   It's extremely painful but I'm going to rig something like for blisters, to take the pressure off the area.

So forced do nothing days the rest of the week.   Tomorrow I take Boulder, Poof and Julian to meet Silverton Cat Rescue's barn cat placement team.   They will be happy to be out of the bathroom.  They eat and poop so much!   New gray, whom I haven't named, will be fixed and tested on Monday at the OHSS clinic.  I only got a few spots there this month and they are Monday and will all be used for Quartzville road cats, since they can be tested there, for an added $35 per cat.  They have to be tested for SCR barn cat placement.  A lebanon woman has the other four, all gray tuxes, who will go with the gray in my bathroom Monday to be fixed and tested.

Then its the wait for barn homes for the next five.  Julie took two Siamese from Quartzville road to FCCO to be fixed because its unlikely they can ever be placed in barn homes due to their light color, and so could be fixed without being tested.

The gray one I trapped last Monday night acts traumatized.  He lays in front of the heat vent in the bathroom, and also eats and eats.  He has not bonded with the three fixed ones leaving tomorrow.  I can tell he has suffered mentally severely and really needs some time.

My other issue is old gal Tweetie, still wild as all get out, and now with probable IBS, pooping everywhere.  I've wormed her, given her meds for other possible parasites, and now will have to cage her, as I can't deal with it.   Once caged, I'll see if metronizadole helps at all.   If its IBS that's a killer of old cats.   She is not handleable at all, can't be examined at the vet because she's too wild, can't be treated unless she'll eat something mixed in food.   Super old gal.  

I was going to go down to my brother's at least for the day Thanksgiving but with the ball of my left food, my clutch foot, unworkable, not sure I will go.   It may be that clutch car driving is inflaming it.