Ten Extras

 I have ten extra cats in my garage.

Nine are in traps, just brought over from the Scravel colony.   

They are almost all orange tabbies, with bits of white here and there.  These are going to the FCCO to be fixed Thursday along with anymore he can catch.  I already took 14 of the cats from the colony to be fixed in Salem.   

They have 15 at least spots for Thursday.  I hope they can get any left.

In addition, I haven't returned Tumilo yet to Sweet Home.  It's a long drive over and back and I just didn't have it in me today.  So he's been in a cage recuperating.  I mean, its really comfortable, litter box, bed, lounging shelf, all the wet food he can eat.  So I'm not worried about when to get him back.   He has a broken canine and I tried to find somewhere he could have that pulled that isn't two months out on appoinments and where it wouldn't cost a small fortune (almost everywhere).  But the coast clinic hasn't responded and they're about the only ones who might work him in fast and not cost a fortune.

Anyhow, he'll have to go back without the tooth pulled most likely.

I imagine it will fall out soon enough anyway.

When the guy arrived late with the nine, all the while we unloaded them, the neighbors dogs barked only a few feet away, from behind my fence, their yard.  Those dogs are so darned annoying with the barking whenever they're out in the yard.  the neighbors don't even try to train them or stop them when they bark their heads off like that.  They drown out my TV and I become the curmudgeon, yelling from inside "shut up".    That can drive a person nuts though--constant barking.

I'm going to order a hanging anti bark thing.  I'm not sure they work, but will try.

Am really fed up.

Five More Cats

 I took five cats up to be fixed yesterday.   

I went Sunday morning back up to the Sweet Home 7-11 colony.   I was there by 7:00 a.m. and didn't get home til 3:00.  That's 8 hours and I caught only one of the unfixed ones and wouldn't you know, one I didn't know was even there.

He's a black tux boy, younger and smaller than four of the big massive scary boys around there.  Two of them are fixed now, but the other two I was after, along with two others who are girls and likely pregnant by now.

8 hours, one cat.

Tumilo from 7-11 colony

My friend who checks on cat dumping spots, found two more tame kitties, obviously brothers. They came running out of brush at a pullout on a rural road to her.  Both cats have short crooked tails.  Which is a sure sign of inbreeding.   I took both of them up to be fixed yesterday.  I imagine she will try to get them in, one at a time, to the only shelter around these parts, but it costs money to relinquish a cat to them.  Also, it helps get them in if they're already fixed.

Twisted Mister

Zigzag

The other two fixed were both girls.  The Lebanon girl Jane, well a Lebanon rescue took in her kittens, but she still needed fixed so now Jane is fixed.  She's so tiny!   And the other cat is a girl from Albany.  She came to the family asking for help during the ice storm.  They let her in and she promptly gave birth.  But kittens are eating on their own now so Princess Mamba could be fixed.

Jane from Lebanon

Princess Mamba from Albany

There's a big ta do in Lebanon right now.  Some claimed it was a movie being filmed over not far from my Lebanon friends' place.  Instead, its an episode of Hoarders--Buried Alive.  Yup.   That crew could stay in this area for two years filming episodes, I swear.   Anyhow, only in Lebanon would a hoarder house episode filming become a big circus like event.  Whomever the hoarder is will probably become a local celebrity.

Anyhow, while I was up those long hours in Sweet Home after 7-11 cats, I took a break and went to the reservoir.   It's super low, but another lawsuit by fish people dictates they can't fill it til mid May.   Who knows if we'll have a reservoir to enjoy this summer or not.

The lake looks so small when its as low as it is, because the surface area is currently so small.  Its gotta be down 40 feet at least from full pool.   Boat ramps high and dry.  I don't like to see it this low, but I had to find a bathroom and public restrooms are hard to find.  I knew there's a vault toilet at Calkins.  I didn't want to drive home and come back later in the evening when trapping is easier either, because the cost of gas is edging toward $5 a gallon and there's just hardly any way to survive anymore with prices the way they are.  Not just gas and utilities, but food prices are beyond real.

When these groups decide to sue, like they did over the reservoirs, they seem to target poor areas, where the people who live there don't have money or clout to fight them and I think they see us as people who just don't matter.   Their elitism was exposed when one fish group lady said in response to a reporter asking about loss of business and somewhere to recreate for locals, that they (us) could travel to other Oregon lakes.  Like we all have that kind of money.   I shouldn't think about that, just hope they get filled and the rich people who live in other places and even other states, leave us be.

I don't usually say this publicly, but the COVID years were the best years of my life financially speaking.   Those relief checks the government sent out let me get my car fixed (twice) and also buy my beloved sit on top kayak.  I know that's terrible to say when so many thousands died all over the world, and health care providers were stressed to the max.  I know its very selfish to say it.

I took this photo and the next from a pullout along highway 20 across from The Point restaurant.  You can look across to see Gedney Creek boat ramp high and dry.

This photo looks down toward the arm where Calkins boat ramp is.  Again it looks so diminished when so low.  You can see the bridge that crosses that arm if you look closely, but there's almost no water in that arm right now.

Then I went to Calkins boat ramp to find it ridiculously waterless.  I'm sitting on the dock between the two boat ramps past the concrete ends of the boat ramps looking way down to the tiny bit of water in that arm.  I've never seen it this low before.

From the top of the ramps.  The docks float when the water level is normal.  Right now there's almost no water in this arm.  We kayakers and rafters prefer calkins boat ramp because its not extremely steep and long like Gedney Creek and Sunnyside.

Muck, yuck and almost no water in this arm.

We're still mired in overcast, rain and gloom weatherwise here.

The Wolverine Visits Linn County

 I don't know if its the same Oregon touring wandering wolverine that was seen yesterday outside Lebanon on Golden Valley road.  

The wandering wolverine was last seen in the south hills of Eugene.  To get to Lebanon, where he was seen if its the same wolverine, he would have had to cross the Willamette River and I5, then the Calapooia River and also the S. Santiam.  All these crossings, no big deal for a wolverine I suppose.  But how'd he get so smart as to dodge all the cars, trucks, big rigs and the shoot anything gun nuts from where he or she started, in the Cascades, then along the Columbia River Gorge to the coast,  to now?  

I'm not buying its the same wolverine, but in true Wandering Wolverine state touring fashion, the Lebanon sighted wolverine was seen and photographed in broad daylight near a house.   So is it or isn't it the one and only WW?

I mean why wouldn't a wolverine visit our county?   Lots of chickens and ducks everywhere and roadkill, which is the preferred diet of wolverines--already dead things.

Here's the link but I think it will only work if you have a facebook account.

Ok, here's the video off Crystal Perry's post above, for those without facebook.

Night Cats

 I saw a new cat briefly in my backyard a couple days ago.  

 

So I set up my game cam that night, to see who is coming through. I haven't seen Bob in awhile.  I wondered if he would show.

Next morning, its exciting to go get the game cam and download the contents of the card.  No wandering wolverines, thank goodness.

The black tux new cat was on it.   He'd also shown up atop my cat yard yesterday, running the permimeter.  I have no idea where he came from or if he belongs to someone.  Looks fat and healthy though, so I am guessing a neighbor has a new cat.

Cisco appeared on the game cam off and on half the night.   He's well fed by neighbors and I took him to be fixed a few weeks back.  

I made a video with imovie, an iphone app.  It's so fun to use.  My game cam, given to me by a Lacomb lady, is also great fun.  

Fritter too appeared.  Fritter's the boy who has had it rough.  First abandoned by his people in the apartments.  Then the man at the end took him in and cared for him, only to die falling in his garage.  His family members asked the family who bought the house then, to care for him.  They did, until they split and he moved out and sold the house recently.  Now there are new people living in that house, Fritters house really, and I don't know who they are or what they are like but several other neighbors take care of him, includiing me.  He's an old man cat now.

Lastly, I was surprised to see a skinny raccoon on the game cam.  He drank water and was quickly gone and did not appear again on the camera.   I haven't seen a raccoon around here for ages.  I'm glad I sealed up the cat door to the garage that Gigi had been using.  I'll put out the cam again to see if he's routinely coming through.  I don't have food out he could get to but he may come just for the water.

Here's to night stalkers and the unknown.

No Eclipse Fever Here

 No feverish eclipse obsessions around here this year.  As opposed to 2017 when we were on the totality path.

I went to the lake with my raft that year, expecting it to be jammed in boats, to find myself nearly alone on the reservoir.  

I was not feverish or fanatical about it before or after and couldn't explain even to myself why not.  Yeah, its a rare thing but some people turn it into some mystical event that affects them, in some spiritual way.  I can not understand it.

This year I'm not sure many people bought the eclipse glasses or even looked up into our cloudy skies to see if the sun with part of the moon over a corner, appeared.   I didn't.  The sky did not darken more than it already was, from cloud cover weather gloom.

This years winter seems one of the longest and gloomiest ever.   Seems like the rains will never end.  Drags on and on.  But we do have two nice days coming up, allegedly.   Looking forward to those.

Here's the video I took with a cell camera of the 2017 eclipse from the lake.  It's nothing special, and you can't tell its eclipsing but its what I have.

Rarely, I buy a lottery ticket.  Once I won about $12.  But someone won the powerball lottery with a jackpot of over a billion dollars.  Someone in Oregon.   Immediately I began messaging friends I know buy tickets to ask  "Did you win it?"  I really hoped by some miracle of the odds just because the winner is in Oregon I might know them.   Like my Lebanon friend who needs the money to buy her own place.   Like the Lebanon couple I know, always renting out rooms in their rental to relatives who lost their place to live, who want a house of their own.   Like so many of the tiny hard working cat helpers I know, and what they could and would do for good with such money.

Who knows who won.  The winning ticket was sold in north Portland near the airport and might even be some outsider, passing through, bought it at a convenience store, then grabbed a plane on to somewhere else. 

I don't know what multi millionaires even do with all that money.   Own too much to even manage?   Go insane?  Some give a lot away.   Become liked only because you have money?   Party too much?   I don't know.  I can't imagine it.   Most people I know can barely keep up on rent and electric and water bills.

Skyrocketing Electric Use

 I just read an article about the massive increase in electricity demand, so much so almost no state can keep up and some industries are building their own power plants.

Data storage centers take massive amounts of power 24 hours a day.  This is a result of cloud computing.   We have quite a few of those centers in eastern Oregon, taking our water too as they require tremendous cooling capacity.  There is push back now in some areas about more coming in.

NY Times article on our increasing electricity needs.

HIgh tech and turning green require a lot of power, turns out. And money.

A friend in Lebanon bought a used (four year old I think) Chevy volt.  It's a nice quiet car and has about 170 mile range.  She isn't worried about the range because she has a gas car and a gas pickup for longer trips.  Her electric car takes about two days to charge at her house.   

My neighbor has a car with all the electronic bells and whistles, including side view radar sensors to warn her if something is coming up beside her.  Well she backed up and scraped the end of her roommates big rig barely scratching one rear side and ended up with over $1000 in repairs just to replace the one sensor.  There are now a lot of sensors on new cars.   Little tiny parking lot type accidents that damage even one of those result in very costly repairs.

My car came previously dinged up.  Now the paint is chipping off, from age.  I got it used off craigslist in N. E. Portland for $3600 with over 120k miles on it then.  I had to borrow money from a friend to buy it, but its been a great car.  The guy had had trouble selling it because it was a stick shift and also due to the dings.  Stick shifts in Portland congestion traffic will burn out a clutch fast and they're not fun in stop and go traffic.  

No engine troubles, but quite a few external troubles, from the two O2 sensors, Mass Air Flow sensor, Throttle Position Sensor, to wheel bearings, brakes, belts, alternator, starter, the usual wear and tear items.   No repair has been as expensive as my neighbors tiny little side view sensor replacement outside of maybe the clutch replacement.  When I bought it, the clutch needed replaced, but I stalled two years on that before it burned out on a steep hill in Sweet Home.

What I'm saying is wouldn't it be nice if there was a basic simple car that folks like myself could still buy, without all the electronic crap we really don't need on it, without the bells and whistles or even electronically controlled windows.  So it was affordable and simple, lightweight, easy on the fuel consumption.   

Yesterday was one of the gloomiest days yet, I thought---cold and wet and no sun at all.  Today may be about the same.  We could break into the low 50's on Monday.   It's difficult to keep a smile plastered on my face these gray icky wet damp cold days, in April no less.   Chronic Oregon winter, that won't give into spring.  Sometimes I wonder why I never moved to somewhere with at least a couple more months of warmth.   

I took Pandora back up to Friends of Felines Friday.  She'd developed an incision site problem and had to have surgery to repair it.  In the meantime a friend sent the video I made of her to the director of FOF and asked if they could take her, to adopt her out and she agreed to make that happen.  So I came home without her, after a few hours in Keizer waiting for her to get the incision site repair.    It's a good deal for her to get a chance to get a real home instead of running around parking lots hoping to get food from kind souls.  I just hope she gets a great home.  You never know.   

Wandering Wolverine

First, Pandora, from 7-11 colony, still here, very sweet, looking for rescue/shelter placement.   Today I moved her to my bathroom from the garage cage.  She's developed a seroma under her incision site and am waiting to see what the clinic who fixed her thinks I should do for it. She was going to be fixed and returned but then I realized when she got back from her spay surgery and was talking in the trap, that she too is one of the tame ones.  The colony is a mix, since they originated with a hoarder next to the 7-11.

 Wolverines in Oregon are rarely seen.  They are secretive and generally out of sight in the mountain regions of the state.  And very rare.

However, one wolverine is on the move apparently.   Seen three times near Nehalem on the coast, after being seen along the Columbia River farther east.  Then it was seen in Newport.  And today, video of the poor fella running down a residential street in Eugene.   

Will he make it out of Eugene alive?  With all those cars and gawkers?   Don't know.

Here's a news story on the first coastal sightings.

There are several news stories just up about the Eugene sightings.  Hope he makes it out alive, although I never want to meet a wolverine close up and personal.   Learned from childhood to make myself scarce if ever I was to encounter one.

Here's the best Eugene video of the wolverine I think.