Gracie

 Gracie died on her own terms.

She was Vino's colony mate and very ancient too.   I'd had to shave her of mats earlier in the year.    She was always small, but after that, looked even smaller.  She took to following me around, in the last week, very out of character for a feral.  The day before she vanished, I had picked her up and held her tiny body, the first time ever, as she was a wild thing her years here.

Tuesday I was involved in rounding up cats and didn't get much sleep that night before taking them to the vet Wednesday morning.   I tried to find her Tuesday evening, and really looked Wednesday.  But this house and the cat yard have a zillion spots to hide.

I was sure she had become uncomfortable with me picking her up to hold her and decided to move into the cat yard.  Yesterday I searched the cat yard houses and hideouts better and found her.  She was inside one of the big straw filled cat boxes.  She looked as if she was curled up to sleep.  But no.  She had died there.

I wasn't surprised. She wasn't wobbling or stumbling, however.  She was eating and drinking.  She wasn't hiding or crying out.   Thinking back, maybe her turn of behavior, in the few days prior to her death, maybe she was saying goodbye, to me and to her friends.  Having done that, she went to the cat yard and died.

She is one of the ancient ones here.   However I had thought it would be Teddy or Tugs I lost before Gracie.  

So long little quiet sweetie.  Her best friends at the end were fellow elderlies Haley and Nemo, with whom she'd often be found sleeping.

All her colony mates are elderly.  They are from that horrid huge 60 cat colony, where the lady fed all these cats, unfixed, then moved and left them.  I ended up injured, over a fall in wild turkey crap while carrying a trap with cat in it.   Somehow still built a cage room to house the ones not yet placed in the garage, but then the weather turned brutally cold and I could not keep the garage or those cats warm so I moved them inside.  13 in all I was holding then.  The rest were all placed, and I have no idea how I did that, mostly alone.  

The garage cage room is gone now.  For awhile I connected it to the overhead garage cat run that goes to the garage cat room off the cat yard.  But I finally disconnected that and dismantled the cage room, for space.

Two of the 13 cats from there died within a year.  One of pnemonia, the other of saddle clot.   Who is left, after all these years, now that Gracie has passed?   Muted tortis Mona Lisa and Huckleberry.  Vino's sister Mopsy McMuffin.  The ghandi girl Hawkeye.   And boys Arrow and Willy Wonka, both very feral, who live in the cat yard 99% of the time.  

Gracie's date of birth is written in my records as sometime prior to 2011.  The Olson Lane cats were all adults when caught, so I don't really know how old any of them are.

This was in April of this year after I badly shaved her.  Later on I was able to get a bit more off so she didn't appear so ragged.  I am not known to be good with clippers, especially on the wild kitties.

This was her a 4 1/2 years ago on her way to Astoria to have a dental and other medical care.

In her younger days she was beautiful, kept up her grooming well and loved all the cat runs and hide outs, inside and out.

 She had many friends.

So long sweetie

The Olson lane situation was horrendous.  And seemed hopeless.  I could not get help from anywhere local except Heartland Humane in Corvallis fixed most of them.  That was back when they still helped local groups fixing community cats.  I was not a nonprofit at that time, but worked with Poppa Inc out of Hillsboro.  They funded my spay neuter efforts then.  Big time.  But nothing else.   They have long since closed.

When a terrible situation presents itself, a person can throw up their hands in despair or just give it their best shot and I chose the latter approach.   How can you turn your back on that many cats in dire circumstance like that.  It certainly was not their fault.   

So yes, I took on 13 of those cats in the end here, due to my injury and a nasty turn of weather, unable to look for further homes.  And I don't regret it now, so many years later, not one bit.  None of those left are tame cats but they love their lives, and have many friends.  I enjoy watching them interact, if you ask why a person would keep cats that are not tame.  Just an excuse I give to those people who only think there is value to other lives if you get something from it, like loyalty or companionship.  Bah.  I'm not one of those people.

Little Gracie---it was a privilege to give you a safe and happy life with many friends.  Rest in Peace, my dear.