Tragic End to a Good Day

 I went to Waldo Lake yesterday. 

 It was supposed to be 80 or more degrees there.    For the most part it was warm enough at least for a couple hours.  Then clouds rolled in but it was still pleasant.

I left about 11:00 and got there near 1:00.   

I had bought a new hand pump and had no trouble blowing up my board this time.  Ha!  Finally.

I paddled along the east bank to the south end, toward the island.  My usual route these days.

Suddenly, near the cove where I first saw those four duckling with their mom, I see flashes of red all around me in the water.   Kokanee!!!  Spawning time.

Probably 15 or 20, really hard to count fish zooming around.

All spawner red.  

Kokanee are landlocked deep water loving salmon often found in Oregon lakes and reservoirs.   These are the fish, prized elsewhere, that died by the thousands upon thousands, when the corp of engineers began deep drawing down reservoirs, like Green Peter above Foster, in our county.  They did so because they were required to by a judge, as a result of a lawsuit brought by, among other groups, the native fish society who apparently like migrating salmon not landlockers.

The red in the water are salmon

 I paddled on past the island, going around its shore side.  There were too many people and dogs there enjoying the day for me to want to stop and go swimming.   On along the shoreline I continued to the west side of the lake.  On along the west side I went all the way to the old tunnel.  I've been to the tunnel many times over the years.  There's a big log up by the sign, about the tunnel, its history.  I like to sit on that log to take a break and just enjoy.

The tunnel sign

Sealed up tunnel entrance

 

The tragic end?   Well, when I was driving out of the boat ramp parking lot a biker had just left, on his large motorcycle.   I got up to the stop sign at Shadow Bay road and the road down to the highway, where there is a stop sign, and I saw some cars stopped.  I got out and went up and there was the biker laid out on his stomach, the stop sign was torn out of the dirt and laying a bit farther on from him and his bike was another 20 feet beyond that.   

A lady was talking to him.  His legs were broken, one badly bleeding.  She'd tried to put a tourniquet around his thigh, with a strap but she said it was not tight.  I went to find a stick to tighten it, and ended up getting a flashlight from my car to use.  When  I got back to him, she said they'd lost his pulse.  Now he had to be flipped to his back for cpr, no matter what that might do if he had spinal injuries.  Ambulance is far far away, like 45 minutes.  So we flipped him, I his legs.   

Three people, two women and a man, proceeded to take turns giving him cpr for 30 or 40 minutes until the ambulance arrived and declared him dead.     Poor man, just out for a ride or a day trip or something, laughing down at the boat ramp minutes before he crashed.  If a car was involved too, they had vanished from the scene.  The police will figure out what happened.    Rip whomever you were in life.  In the end, you had a dozen or more kayakers around you.

Today a neighbor is taking all five bathroom kittens in, to tame them off for adoption.  She's done this before, no novice to doing it, with cats and kittens from a relatives colony.   I am so grateful.

Back to Tcha Timanwi

 Marys Peak is sacred to the Kalapuya Indian tribe.  

The mountains real name is Tcha Timanwi.  Oral history of the Kalapuya's refers to it as a place of refuge natives climbed for safety during massive floods in the valley.  It is the tallest mountain in the coast range at 4097 feet.  I think it got the white name Mary from a settler named Mary Lloyd who first crossed the creek that becomes the Marys river.  Another version of its name is Chintimini.

I wrote an essay about it either in high school or early college and since then have called the peak Tcha Timanwi.  Chintimini is easier to pronounce, however.

It's also the place some very cruel person dumped a young mom and her kittens to die horribly and slowly.  Cowardly and cruel behavior.

The first facebook post about the dumping came from a Springfield woman on September 8.  She and her friend saw them when hiking and caught the first two kittens.   She contacted me on the 16th, and I went up and did not find them but I did leave about 5 or 6 lbs of dry food.

One of the first two caught by the women who spotted them the 8th.

Then about three or four days ago, I was forwarded a new post by someone else about them.  That woman went up and caught one of the kittens, who she took to a rescue.  Another woman contacted me about them but had immediately gone up, seen the mom and set her own trap.  I went up the next day, despite deciding not to, to stay out of it, and checked her trap.  The mom cat was inside.   I set three more traps.  She checked them later on and there were two more kittens in one of the traps.

The lady who caught the other kitten then went up to the check the traps again and even spend the night camping.   We think all still living are caught now.  The woman who caught mom will foster all three kittens, as the rescue who took the first thinks that kitten would do better with siblings.  Mom is at the radpets being spayed today.  She is named Marys.

The other kitten caught the 8th of September.

It's a good news story.   

The last two kittens caught.  I don't have a photo of the other kitten caught by the woman who saw them again recently.  

Marys the mom

I also took Scamp in to the clinic this morning to be fixed.  He's the last of the river path kittens needing to go in.  And I took Missy and Spots, two cats from the Lebanon hoarder man.  He's in the hospital and his daughters are trying hard to get anybody not yet fixed in to be fixed while he's gone.  But they're horrified by the state of their angry father's trailer and his hoarding obsession and how awful it is for the cats.   They don't know what to do.  I got 60 or so fixed there a year ago and it was nightmare dealing with him and the exhaustion.  I never went inside the trailer.   I feel for those women although we joked about how damaged many of us are from our parents behaviors.  I did not get photos of Missy and Spots.

Marys and her kittens will be fostered by the kind woman who caught Marys, who, without fanfare, without discussion, just went up and set a trap.  I get uncomfortable posting such stories because people then think I did it all and I did almost nothing  They were saved by others.  I didn't do much, just went up to look one day and then helped with trapping one day housed mom after she was caught, got her fixed, but now she and her kittens will be fostered elsewhere.

Growling Mom

 I made a video of the River Path kittens but mom was growling at me for being near her kittens and very tired.   So I overlaid it with audio, thanks to imovie.  Imovie app supplies audio clips to choose from for a video.

Today, four of them are going in to be fixed.  They were all to be fixed on Thursday but I have four appointments in Salem today and neither caregiver I gave them to caught any cats.  At least that I know of.  I really never heard back at all from one of them and only when I contacted the other of them.  They did not contact me.  It was sad.  I felt foolish for entrusting them with these precious hard to get spots.  

But, they won't be wasted.  Four of the five kittens will go.

Which one won't go today?  The one I can't get into a trap again, with mom growling at me as I try.

All the River Kittens

 All six river path kittens are caught.

I went back Wednesday evening and caught the last two kittens within about an hour.  

First I caught the Siamese girl, then the last kitten to catch was the 2nd tabby on white.

They joined their little friends in the bathroom.  Five kittens in my bathroom since the calico went to a friend and is doing great.  Plus mom.  Who is now guarding them relentlessly.   I ignore her growling at me and play with them anyway.

Calico River Path kitten in her new home

I've spent Thursday doing chores and running around.  I went to the Farmers Market in Lebanon and got some nice vegetables.  The highlight was getting two yellow tomatoes.  I wish I'd gotten five or six.   They're delicious and gone already.

I went to the Mennonite store then, in search of bargains but only got a few apples and some broccoli. Oh, and two salad mix boxes for $.50 each.

Most stores now bulk package vegetables.  Produces a lot of waste for us singletons.

By Friday, I was beat and could barely move, felt sick I was so tired out and everything hurt, most likely from contorting myself into positions my body should not contort into, when trying to get Dash out of the dashboard of my car.

Today I stayed home too, read, played with my cats, cleaned.  There is always cleaning to do.  I try to not leave home unless necessary because gas prices are killer.   Rascal, the black young male, came into the garage for awhile.  He is a very polite cat.  I showed him a chair he could sleep in.  He's so polite that after playing for a bit, he went to that same chair and curled up for a nap.  If its cold or wet out, he's got the garage now and feels comfortable there.  Gigi half likes him and that says a lot about him, if Gigi says ok to share "her" garage with him, although mostly she's in the house now.

The last tabby on white caught, up top on left.  Then Thimbleena, the tabby tux girl, and Dash, lower right, the dashboard boy.

That's Dory the torbie, on the bottom with the so far unnamed tabby on white on top.

Tempest, their now spayed torbie mom.  Is it my imagination that she might want to be tame.  Am I seeing things I want to see instead of reality, I wonder.  She's exhausted, from the starvation weeks she went through while caring for kittens after the homeless man who fed them died.  Just caring for six kittens and trying to keep them safe in the environment where they were born exhausted her.  The males haven't a care in the world, by comparison to the mom cats.  The weight of the world is the burden of mothers.

Thimbleena and Dash are the tamest so far.

I haven't named the little Siamese girl yet either.  She wasn't in great shape when I finally caught her Wednesday night and is shy.  She's extremely soft and sweet even though still scared.  She'd been without her mom four days by Wednesday night.  How terrifying that must have been.

They'll all be fixed next week at some point.  I have four appointments Monday in Salem but the two caretakers I gave them to so far haven't caught a single cat.  If they fail, I'll just take in four of the kittens and they can try again for the 1st, when I have the appointments for the kittens.    Switcheroo if they don't catch their cats by tomorrow.   

Gigi on my lap

I was trying to figure out her age.   The neighbors behind me relinquished her to me in 2022 and claimed then she was at least 5, which would make her 9 years old. 

But here's a photo of Gigi with a black and white cat I took in May of 2017 when I had no idea where she might even live.  Her original name was Butters, the neighbors told me when they relinquished her..   Adult then, 9 years ago.  

River Kitten Scramble

 I was contacted about kittens living along the river pedestrian path and down the steep embankment.

The lady feeding them said she spotted them just a few weeks back, and started leaving food.  She didn't know for sure if there was a mom nearby.  A homeless man had fed them but he died recently.

I agreed to help, with a little anxiety, not knowing where I could place the kittens with so many rescues already full.  These are some of the photos she sent.

She met me there Sunday morning.  She usually doesn't feed in the morning so I thought chances of catching any at a time she doesn't feed them might be slim.

Within three minutes of setting a trap, the mom cat she wasn't sure was still there, was caught.

I named her Tempest and fortunately Radpets got her in to be fixed yesterday.  She was not a happy cat being held in a holding cage in the garage.   She was a very very hungry cat however and ate three cans of wet food within a couple hours of being caught.

However the kittens were not coming up the embankment to where the trap was set and she usually feeds.  There is a lot of traffic along the path, both bikes and pedestrians, also homeless folk.

I went back Monday evening a couple hours prior to the time she usually feeds and set the trap farther down the embankment.   I caught two in one trap within an hour.   A calico and a torbie.   When getting them back up to the path, a little tabby tux stared at me, from the brush only feet from me.   I felt she was so hungry I could reach down and pick her up but when I looked back, she had vanished.

The calico and the torbi

Dash, the boy kitten who escaped into my car dashboard

Dash the kitten up in the car dash

The next catch was a tabby on white.   I transferred him into the cage with the girls, because I had only three traps in all and wanted to set two at a time.   Meanwhile the feeder lady and her girlfriend showed up along with a friend, the adult daughter of some folks I trapped for.  She wanted to tame the little calico.  She's tamed kittens before.   I was going to transfer her into the carrier from the trap but this attempt went south and the little tabby on white bit my finger and scooted out somehow, into the rest of my car---somewhere.

This event stopped everything in its tracks.  I couldn't get out of my car, not knowing where the kitten might be.  I didn't want him to escape.   I searched and searched for an hour at least.  Hot from the closed car windows, the stress, and the effort.  I was contorting my body to look under seats and up in the dash in ways I have not turned nor twisted in years.   

I conceded defeat in the end, and opened all doors and windows.  If he was to escape, it should be here, along the river, in his familiar home.   The feeder ladies and friend watched to see if he'd come out, but they saw nothing.  They helped unload my car, to search better--nothing.   I knew then he was indeed somewheere in the dash.  

I asked them to check the set traps and there was a fourth kitten in one of the traps.   The little tabby tux I had seen.  By now we knew there were six kittens, not five as the feeder had thought.  I was home by 11:00 but not in bed because I took some parts off my dash to look for the kitten.  I spotted the kitten down under a speaker cover on the top of the dash.  I had removed the cover and then the speaker itself but the kitten just moved farther down.  I had removed the glove compartment and searched around the heater core and AC heater fan but nothing.

Exhaustion set in.   And common sense.   I left his siblings in the car, in two traps and set another trap between them.   I should have done this to begin with but......

Yesterday morning, when I was leaving with his mom in my personal car, for the clinic, I checked the trap in the cat carrier car and he was in it.   Big sigh of relief.  After taking mom to the clinic, I moved the four kittens into my bathroom.  Three girls and the dash boy.   The calico went home with my friend later in the day.   

I picked up the mom from the clinic and after that, it was crash out.  I was so tired out.  I went to bed shortly after 5:00 p.m. and slept til 9:30 p.m., was up awhile, then back in bed.   This morning I moved the mom to the bathroom with her three kittens.  It didn't go well. I thought it would because they'd been meowing back and forth from garage to bathroom.   The holding cage she was in was merely through a wall to the bathroom.

She attacked her kittens repeatedly within the first half hour.  I went in and brought little Dash out for awhile, holding him, syringe feeding him.  He suddenly bolted from my arms, ran out into the living room but let me pick him up again with no trouble.  The runs to the cat yard and cat yard itself are not kitten proof.  Some of the fencing has spaces where a kitten could easily escape.  It's meant for adult cats.

Tonight I return to catch last two kittens.   I was too tired last night.

The kittens are about 9 weeks old.   I'm trying to find a rescue to take them.  And a barn home to take mom since she really has no permanent feeder anymore, after the homeless man died.  She's been ravenous since I trapped her.

Tabby tux little girl.  I named her Thimbleena.  Thimble for short.

Escape

 I took off to Waldo Lake this morning.   I think it was about 10:30.  

It was a last minute thing.   I'd been getting so many requests for cat help and there's nothing I can do right now about large colonies with the FCCO appointment request form closed.

My nonprofit has approved funding for 20 plus cats but some of the people approved haven't even made appointments weeks after they were approved.  So now there will be a two week time limit.  Prove you have appointments by end of two weeks, or funding is terminated.  That's because the funds, once approved, get frozen, so we don't go in the red.  But if people aren't going to get appointments once approved, I can't twist their arm and we need those funds for other cats.

Anyhow, the last straw came from a Sweet Home woman using bully tactics.   It got my brain in whirl.

I knew i had to get out of cell coverage and away.  So that's what I did.

I had a grand time even though I thought I'd fixed my hand pump to blow up the inflatible kayak board  but it wouldn't work and then the back up battery powered one kept quitting.  I think it was overheating or something.  It's crap too, what can I say.  I did feel like a loser with other people there at day use and me struggling to find fittings to make one of the two work, oh my.  Finally I had enough air in the board.  The seat back was really under inflated but there was nothing I could do to get air in it, since even the battery powered one had quit by then.

But the important thing was I got out on Waldo Lake and you know how that affects me.   I love it.  I stayed til I knew there wasn't much sun left.   I didn't swim this time but I went a long way on the board.  That board is light and fast.   Makes Waldo Lake seem small almost, its so fast to paddle clear across.   Ah, I'm being a braggart about that board.  If I only I could find the right fittings and pump to blow it up without a big time hassle.

There were a few other kayakers out and some sailboats.  There were some folks heading out in convoys of canoes, to overnight out there along the lake at remote campsites.

The most interesting thing I saw was what appeared to be a pair of river otters.  Yeah, they are not normal at Waldo Lake.  Neither are beavers.  Too inhospitable, as AI puts it.  I've never in my life and trips to Waldo seen otters or beaver.  And yet there were two bobbing heads staring it me, from near shore on the last point, on the west side, heading north, before I'd come around it and see the old sealed tunnel entrance, off in the distance.

Their heads looked from a distance like seals, only furry then they'd dive and come back up.  By this time I was about 20 feet away and scrambling for my phone so I could take photos.  But then one reared its body vertically out of the water, for a better look at me.  Then both headed towards my board.  I thought "nope".  My board can be punctured!   I looked way across the lake towards the boat ramp area and thought 'that would be a very long cold swim'.   That's when I took off paddling out from shore fast.   Sorry kiddos, you are not going to climb aboard and puncture my kayak.  I had my life jacket already on just in case and also I carry the age old boogie board as life raft.    They were not far from my board when I took out paddling and they quickly then lost interest.

I looked for someone who might be a Waldo regular.  By that I mean someone who loves nature and appreciates Waldo greatly and has a biological interest.  In other words, isn't just a self involved thrill seeker type.  I didn't see anyone I would immediately think fit that bill but its not unusual for such people to be present at Waldo.  I asked kayakers and others once at the boat ramp if they'd seen otters/whatevers over on the other side of the lake.  No one had.  One guy said they must be beavers.  I never saw anything but their heads to make an accurate ID, but I witnessed their otter like behavior.

I know what I saw.

Anyway, back home now and had a happy day at Waldo.  I looked up what rivers are close to Waldo and its the North Fork of the Middle fork of the Willamette originates in the north of Waldo Lake. They probably came over from there.  Just adventuring around, testing the waters.  Waldo Lake has no incoming streams or rivers.

I need to resolve the pump situation.

The photo dump:

So long Waldo.   Maybe I'll see you again before winter hits too hard.  

Unexpectedly Home

 I was going to go to Waldo lake today.

Last night, after I returned from Marys Peak, weather report said 80 up there today.  But this morning I checked again before leaving and it said cloudy with thunderstorms.  I don't go to lakes when there are thunderstorm threats.  Gas is expensive to drive two hours up there and to have lightning flashing off, when I'm out on a lake--nope! 

So I'm home and mindlessly scrolling funny videos.  My brain is slow and not even awake today.  The load of cat tragedies and huge numbers of calls about cats needing spay neuter has weighted me down.  Funny videos and some isolation from it all help quite a lot.  Dead brain days, I call days like these.  

Here's my drive home last night.  The coast highway to Waldport has a stretch of extreme curves.  I had my phone up in dashcam position for the curvy section when I came back from Marys Peak cat hunt.  I added soundtrack from imovie.