More Scravel Cats

Last fall, someone moved out of their very nice house up off Scravel Hill, leaving a whole lot of unfixed cats behind. It is very possible that Spirit, Ghosty and Angel, were not dumped at the cemetery, but rather came from that house, which isn't far above it.

The new owners are big animal lovers who immediately took in many of the kittens, got them healthy and have been finding them homes. There were a few they could not catch, so I set traps last night and we caught two of those. One of them is white and young, the other a big black tux male.

When transferring the white cat to a different trap this morning, outside the vet clinic, because the cat had pooped in the trap overnight, the cat indicated to me he wanted petted. So I gave him what he wanted and he acted like he was desperate then, for love. They didn't know he was tame. It's so sad the way people treat animals.

That last owner was described by other neighbors as "a cat lover". Nobody loves cats who doesn't get them fixed, let's them breed like that, then leaves them behind. That's not a cat lover.

These new owners of the house, they're real animal lovers. Real animal lovers are responsible and get their cats and dogs fixed.

I am hoping the new owners will agree to take this white kitty inside, like they have the others, get him healthy and find him a home.

I heard from Candy's new owners. She's doing great and exceedingly happy, already sleeping with them and laying across their laps when they're on the couch. I am so thrilled to have found at least one cat a great home.

I've been feeling like a loser lately, unable to find homes for these cats I've rescued. Finding a home for Candy, a good home, made me feel great. They're out there, now, I know, the good homes. I just have to find them.

I'm going to make a computer room, just a tiny little enclosed space around my computer desk, with about the only thing I know how to use----cedar fence boards. I'll even make a fence type gate. On the top, a solid board. It shouldn't be too hard to do.

I'm going to try to contact the barn home lady again. I am hoping her cell just wasn't charged or something. Keep your fingers crossed. I also pulled the muscle that's been troubling me, in my back but attached somehow to my right arm, again. I injured it shortly after injuring my left clavicle muscle, probably when favoring that side, because this problem muscle is on the other side. It's been a little painful around here lately. I need to let these muscles heal, then get in shape.

The Deceased Old Woman's Kittens, Destroying the Bedroom

It's not really funny anymore, these five kittens, quickly becoming teens, half feral, destroying everything in my former bedroom. They have broken the computer speakers permanently, broken parts on the printer, bitten through wires, destroyed a phone and thrown up on the few books I have left. I am so sick of it. I want them gone.

They have pulled clothes off their hangers in my closet and those clothes have ended up in the litterbox. I want them gone. And if I ever see any members of that old woman's family they're going to see my middle finger.

I have too many cats here and nowhere for them to be. I am really sick of it. They've vomited and crapped on the mattress, the crap one those people dumped on me, saying they were bringing a box springs, frame and head board, too, but never did. That was two months ago. Now I have to pay to have it hauled away.

I want this old disgusting dresser with the tiny narrow drawers that are basically useless except to hold one pair of jeans each, I want it gone, too.

People dump their crap on me. I'm sick of that. But mostly I want these five teens gone. I want part of a life back. They have broken major pieces off this keyboard. these is nothing safe and no way to keep anything safe from them. I want them gone. Gone. Gone. Gone.

I no longer have anywhere to relax in my own place. My lamp is broken. My alarm clock is broken. Can't even think of replacing them, because they'll be broken once again. I am really totally tired of it.

Dryer Problem Discovered

The dryer glide bracket is toast. Keni's husband Gary found this very quickly. There are two metal brackets that hold and guide the cylinder at the front as it spins. The one on the left is flopping, nearly broken off, which is why then the dryer cylinder sags and scrapes on the metal motor bracket. The part is like $10 with shipping, and I ordered it. It'll take about four or five days to get here. The cost of repairing the dryer is going to be under $15. That's very cool.

I'm about to see if the barn home people are home and if so, take these two cats out there. I had actually hoped to trap a buddy for each, from the place each came from. The tabby on white at the rest area, to go with the black female from there. I'm sure they know each other. And the starving calico from the overpass at 34 and 99, to go with Big Gray. I'm sure they also are acquainted. But I never trapped either cat. And these guys can't wait any longer. They'll be in containment a week at the barn, so in that time, maybe I can catch their respective buddies.

If not, I hope they can make new friends at the barn. It's always easier if they go with a buddy, but what do you do if they don't have one?

Is the North Bound Bridge over the Santiam on I5 Safe?

I stopped in at my favorite haunt, the south bound rest area, just to leave food for the tabby on white, and gawk at the leftovers from the flooding. I was under the highway overpasses again, to see if the food I left had been eaten.

I had wondered about why there was water clear up under the overpass, where it meets the bank at the north end on the north bound lanes. It's a horizontal cement slab near the top there. But there's a lot of water on it. Not so on the south bound end.

Not only that, right in the middle of that cement slab, against the back, is a pile of wet gravel, pyramided, like it's falling through from the highway itself. But today, the corner of the square block of concrete that is one of scores of such blocks that form the bottom of the freeway bridge, right out from the pile of gravel, is cracking. I thought "holy shit" and got the hell out from under it.

I told some ODOT folks coming through they should check that out. They were there probably to clean up damage from flooding. But they said they were carpenters. So I just called ODOT's main dispatch and said I think they should check that out, see what's going on.

It's not like that pile of wet gravel there is new. It's been there the entire time I've been looking for Sophie, plus water on that slab, which I did think was strange, meaning it is coming through from the highway. That should not be. But now that crack in that slab next to the falling gravel, which is part of the bottom of the freeway, that spooked me out totally. I bolted out from under there, I tell you. I hope they check that out.

I'm no bridge engineer. I know. Didn't look normal to me, but what do I know.

If it's failing, wouldn't that be bad? But, if it's failing and caught before a collapse, due to the hunt for Sophie and a cat trapper, how strange would that be?

Candy Gets Her Home!

Woohoo. Yippee! Candy got a great home with a couple, who are immense cat lovers. They're a really nice young couple. Indoor only, just a great home, and a great chance for her. Good luck Candy!

Sunshine, the Bottle Babe from Salbastgeon Suites, Now

Sunshine's people send me photos all the time of the three former bottle babes from the bushes outside Salbastgeon Suites in Corvallis. Employees found them there. I tired to find and trap their mom, to no avail. Will be trying again real soon, however.

Anyhow, Melodie from Sublimity, offered to foster them as bottle babes, then couldn't give them up. I know exactly how she felt. Beanie, Sunshine and Flower now have a wonderful home. And, as this photo of Sunshine, the second one, shows, they're doing great. The first one is for contrast. The first photo was of Beanie and Sunshine not long after I took them in, after receiving a frantic call from a Salbastgeon Suites housekeeper.




Keni and her husband are coming down today. Keni's hubby is going to try to fix my dryer. I'm excited. I never get visitors. Never. Keni's been here once before, when she brought down that by old dresser that had been donated to Recycled Gardens to sell, but never sold. Keni is the one who took in the Leukemia positive torti kitten, who likely will test negative second test around. Keni is Poppa's President.

I don't even know how to act with visitors. I haven't been to Corvallis in awhile and I buy food at Winco. So I think I should have something on hand that at least they can drink, right?

I run low on decent food often now that I live in Albany. I just don't get to the Winco often and cannot justify spending money at grocery stores that cost four times more than the same item at Winco. I talked to at least two Albany council people about that the council should try to attract a Winco to Albany since there are so many poor people here and because Winco is an employee owned company. Workers get good wages and benefits, not like these other expensive grocery stores.

They told me I should shop at the grocery outlet if I can't afford other Albany stores. They don't have a clue, I don't suppose, how reasonable Winco Foods is comparatively and how little real food the grocery outlet offers at decent price. By real food I mean nonpackaged and not highly processed food.

So anyhow, I'm thinking I should take a run to the store this morning before they come since I haven't in a long while and am very low on real food items.

I also need to clean and wash my car and get Suzy and Gray Hulk to their new home. The people interested in Candy have contacted me back and filled out the adoption form and we're just going to set up a time they can come meet her. I am so hoping it works out. It's no life for her, living in a bedroom.

Happiness

I am very happy Sophie is home. I guess it was today the owners came down and found her. They must have called me shortly after getting home. I bet they were excited. I figured the high water would bring her out in the open. Thank god for the high water, eh?

Bad news for Country Coach employees in Junction City. They may close permanently, leaving about 800 people without family wage jobs. Coos County just laid off 22 road crew workers, which is 22 more families without a family wage job.

There just don't seem to be many jobs out there. Well, there's fast food and convenience stores, if you want a minimum wage experience, but it is hard to support one person on minimum wage, let alone more than one. You'd think with all the downturn that rent would go down. Rent takes a huge chunk out of people's paycheck, sometimes half of it or more than half, if you're minimum wage. Why isn't rent reflecting the general economy and going down when so many people are having trouble paying rent I wonder. Maybe because of the mortgage crisis? More demand for rentals?

I suppose when people start vacating rentals for inability to pay such high rents then rental rates will drop. And what is up with utility rates rising, when salaries are going down and jobs are vanishing? What is up with that?

This woman I"ve known awhile, rents rurally. It's a run down shack actually. She's paying more than $600 in rent. The property is junked, too, nothing to do with her, but from the landlords shit and she has to pay that kind of money to live in a run down shack. She took it because she has an old dog and some old cats and I guess there was no deposits charged, which is why she could get into it.

But that place should be renting for $350 tops. I bet she also took it because a shack beats living in some apartment complex, a couple floors up with nothing at all to look at or do, but stare at walls, when not working. She likes to have a garden and go for walks in the country.

Anyhow, I think my whole role in the Sophie thing was some guise by the cat gods who have me enslaved, so Suzy and little Feather wouldn't die out there. I think the god of all doesn't like to see a little kitten starve to death out there, unloved and alone. I like to think that anyhow.

I don't think the god of all would be very happy with those who dump little kittens out to die. I think god of all would or does, if possible, put those sorts of souls through as much hell as possible, at some point in their lives, like I like to think god of all does to all abusers of things smaller or less powerful than they.

I like to think these things anyhow. I like to believe in ultimate justice and karma and that good will tromp evil in the end. Especially, in this case, when a willing cat trapper, intent on creating a happy ending for a lost Siamese and her people, spent some long cold interesting nights in her car, and instead saved a desperate young adult and a starving sad kitten.