Dex and the Bathroom Ferals

Dex is very weak. I took her up to the vet where she got a long term antibiotic injection. She still weighs in at over 7.8 pounds, so has not lost a great deal of weight. I cleaned out the sick cage and got her settled back in, on her heating pad, once home, then, since Miss Daisy was clamoring for it, let her inside. But when I tried to get her out, she raised a fuss. She wants to be special and in the sick cage and, of course, enjoying that heating pad. So for now, I let them be. Dex likes the company.

Unless I forget to add these, here are photos of the two cats fixed last Monday, thanks to Poppa Inc. funds:
Pregnant tame Albany female, fixed last Monday.
Silverton male Felix Jr. fixed last Monday.

I have 8 ferals in my bathroom from that darn business. I need to get to work on a solution for them. I am routinely petting Sassy and also Rogue, the one male, a teenager, whose sister, Tilly, was the last one I caught. Or re-caught rather. I had first trapped Haley, the calico, and her two teen kids from a previous litter--Tilly and Rogue, then released them after they were fixed. I thought the business was going to take them back, build housing units and feed them. I was wrong. When I re-trapped Haley, Rogue was right by the trap screaming his head off and screamed from the warehouse as I left with her. I set another trap and caught him within half hour. They were starved. I thought Tilly might have died, but re-trapped her a couple days ago. She was desperate and skinny, backbone prominent. But she's quickly fattening up and growing too.
Haley, the Business colony calico, and also the closest of the three adults to being tame. Actually there are only two adults of the cats so far caught, Misty, who is very feral, and Haley here. The third close to adulthood is Cougie, the abbytorbitux, who is late teen in age.Alexi, Sassy's sister, and oh so cute. I can't quite figure out who is the mother of Sassy and Alexi. They are sisters and the youngest of all the cats I've caught. Rogue and Tilly definitely have Haley's nose structure. Alexi and Sassy look far more like Cougie, but Cougie is too young to have had kittens I think. I could be wrong. However, the maintenance man believe there is yet another torbi/calico out there, not yet caught.
Tilly, Rogue's sister.Sassy!
Sassy again!
Tilly again!Rogue, who is very pretty.

I saw the feral housing units the business built for that other woman. They're nice, except they have only one way in or out. The manager said they could build some for me also. I said "Great! Can you make them just like that only with two entry/exit holes?" I then explained why they like that. He agreed to it. I'm excited!

I think Haley was once tame. She has not let me pet her, but will sit out in the open a foot from me, trying to get up the nerve. Rogue will tame and so will Tilly. Alexi will, if I get on it, and so will Cougie. The only one in question is Misty, who seems ballistic feral.

Interestingly enough, two of the males I caught at that apartment complex, which is on a side street that extends back to less than half mile from the back of the business, are also seen at the business. As is a third. I hope to catch him at the apartment complex where the catching is far easier. These males do roam.

Even more interesting, after viewing the three kittens from the last unfixed tame female I got fixed for a man there with four females, I asked who owns a Siamese male. Two of the kittens are Siamese and the third is an orange tabby with bright blue eyes.

I was then told someone abandoned two Siamese and one tenant took in one, while the other, the male roams. She described him and accurately described the male still visiting my yard on occasion. In fact, he was here again tonight, driving my cats nuts. Traps are set. So the actions of someone at that complex, who abandoned a Siamese male, are affecting me and my cats and pee marking behavior here.

I've come across more abandoned Siamese than you would think would happen. People love to get them as kittens. People with bad habits and who treat animals lousy get the kittens because they're cute then cut them loose, because they're lousy people to begin with and only get the kittens for status. I have a Siamese kitten. I'm cool. Woohoo.

Exterminating Angel Press Publishes My Christmas Story--Sunville Times

Click the post title to go the Exterminating Angel Press as they publish the first two chapters of Sunville Times, my Christmas story.

I saw an article about EAP in the paper, and immediately went to their website. After reading about their online magazine, I knew it was a fit for Sunville Times, the original Christmas story I wrote a few years back and hoped to hawk for spay neuter bucks.

I waited slightly too late that year to even try to sell it before Christmas. I struggled long and into the wee hours before Christmas Eve, to get it into chapbook form on my computer and some copies printed off.

I was at a loss as to where to sell the copies I made. So, I took a homemade table down to the sidewalk across from Squirrels Tavern, to hawk it from the street on Christmas Eve afternoon. I had only one Christmas tape--Jimmy Buffet, A Pirate's Christmas. Something like that. I had a cassette player. Off I went.

Jimmy Buffet's voice got lower and slower as the batteries in the cassette player faded. Drunks at Squirrels screamed encouragement at me and hurled curses at passers by who failed to purchase a copy of Sunville Times.

At one point, an old Swede came by, doused in alcohol, and whispered hoarsely, "I don't want to buy the book. I want to buy you."

"I'm not a whore," I answered, "but buy this book and I will give you at least to the count of 15 before I haul out the pepper spray." I smiled. He bought the book.

I made $200 that Christmas Eve for spay neuter. Since then, outside of selling a few at a swap meet and Kate's friend selling a few at her used bookstore, the concept has laid idle.

That is, until I saw the article about Exterminating Angel Press. When I watched video clips of AEPs "Snotty Saves the Day", I knew I had found a site that likely would accept Sunville Times. They did accept it and will publish it in four segments, the last, right before Christmas of this coming year.

Dex in Serious Trouble

Dex got a cold about three days ago. Two days ago she went into hiding, which clued me that she was in big trouble. Dex never hides. She is always wanting on my lap or beside me in bed. Night before last I put her in the sick cage and began massive sub cu fluids, vaporing stints, antibiotics, which are hard to get down her, because she's gagging.

Gagging is a symptom of kidney failure also.

She functions ok when not stressed by something like a cold. But if she gets anything, due to age and her kidney function being so low, she can be gone quickly, which is what is going on now.

She's been on a heating pad, snuggled into hot water bottles and with help of the infant vaporizer, the muscous is loosening at least, so she can snorfle and try to sneeze it out. I thought yesterday about getting her a convenia injection today. Convenia is a long lasting antibiotic injection and very helpful for hard to medicate cats, for whatever reason they are hard to medicate. In Dex's case, it's her gag reflex.

I've weighed the cost back and forth in my mind, with her liklihood of survival, which is not high.

Today she'll get the injection and a better chance, with it, at pulling through this latest crisis. I wish I was rich. Or even not constantly struggling financially. That would sure help.

If I don't get her the shot, I'll question myself. She probably will not live either way.

Fat Zach has fans visiting tomorrow who may adopt him. What do you think of that? I am both hopeful and in horror over the idea he might be leaving here. I love Fat Zach. But....I have lots of cats here to love and he'd likely get more of the love he craves in a home of his own.

I have some exceptional cats here: Zach, Valentino, Sage, Starry, Slurpy......it's hard to part with any of these exceptionals. But if the home is right, I will. Valentino has thrown off the balance here, because he is so possessive of me and always on my lap. The other cats get no chance now. It's hard on them.

He likes Miss Daisy and Fat Zach. He does not like Slurpy, Starry or my own cat, Electra, because, when he first came here, they were not very nice to him. He'd like to make up with them, but there's distrust on both sides.

Electra, too, is quite old. 13 years old now. Vision, my Corvallis river cat, is ancient. 17 now. I keep thinking this will be her last year, but she plays like a kitten and especially adores two other black tux long hairs, the brother and sister pair, Panda and Solomon, originally from Lebanon. They're six years old now. Time flies.

A bus driver, who adopted some Corvallis river cats, when I was trying to save them, including Scratch, the sister of Captain Courageous, says Scratch and Half-n-half are both still alive. Scratch is 16. The River Cats have formidable genes and wonderful natures. Scratch lived among the rocks down from Mater Engineering while Half n Half was part of the alley cats who lived between Mater Engineering and Allan Brothers warehouse. The Alley Tribe also included Paint, Muddy, Stripe and Mouse.

They're all dead. Stripe and Muddy died in the river project. They were brothers. Paint and Mouse went to this woman and her husband who live out near Alsea, but worked in Corvallis. They wanted mousers then did not contain the cats even one night, with a huge windstorm coming in, even though they had promised to. It was sickening and still is, to think about the way she treated them and gave them no chance at all.

Half n Half ended up alone in the alley. I spent a freezing Christmas Eve out trying to re-trap her, to save her from the river project. The bus driver, who had adopted Scratch out of my low income high rise apartment, before I left it due to severe roof leaks, then took in Half n Half, too.

I spent massive time re-trapping Vision also, to save her from the River Project. She'd play nights on the bulldozers and other equipment down along the river for the project. I knew it would not end well for her so I made the exhausting effort to get her out. I finally used a mouse from Petco, to catch her. I put the mouse in a small cage behind the trap. The mouse survived just fine and went to a woman in Monmouth later who had a couple other pet mice and took Baitman in.

Captain Courageous, who had been fed since she was a kitten, by old man Ray, had moved farther south to live along the Mary's when the project began. He pledged to take her in, almost daily since I met him, and he never did and she finally became ill he said, at which point I raced over, tried to find and save her too, since he was and is so lazy and lame. I could not find her.

I still curse old Ray and his never ending bullshit promises. Old Ray had fed the River Cats and allowed them to reproduce way before I ever met him. An old woman fed cats farther south and along the Mary's and she even offered to pay for Rays' river cats to be fixed, if he'd catch them. Ray was retired from the university and lazy as sin. He never fixed one of those cats or donated a dime to help get them done, when I got it done.

I have little respect for lazy old men full of bullshit but I'll listen to their stories.

Another Call Wanting to Deliver Appliances

Yet another call tonight, three of them actually, in a row, from some delivery company wanting to deliver an ordered appliance. I didn't answer. It was a robocall and the robot voice wanted me to push #1 to schedule and confirm delivery of something.

Only I haven't ordered any appliance or furniture. This is the 3rd such call in as many months. The first was from some company wanting to schedule delivery of some big fancy bed. The second was someone wanting to schedule delivery of a stove and something else from Lowes. I don't know what's been ordered now, using my number. I'm sick of it.

Either it is someone stealing credit cards and using this number, like the last person who had this number who seems to owe everyone in the world money, or it is a scammer using 3PD's ID, to phish.

Either way, I don't talk to them. The third time they called, I could not find my whistle nearby, so I screamed loud and long, into the phone. The cats scattered! Have received no more calls.

Do you think "the scream" was a good response?

What about snuffly snotty sounding sobbing?

Or...hysterical laughter?

I've been known to hold a match beneath a smoke detector as a perfect excuse to get off the phone. "I have to hang up. Sorry. House is on fire."

I've used the old knocking on my desk or wall thing too. "Hey, I got to go. Somebody's at the door."

Scammers and phishers and robocalls take different tactics. I need some fresh ideas!

UPDATE: By the time I got home this afternoon, I had accrued many more calls from 3PD. This time, they mentioned a name. "This call is for Eric Meyers (who knows what spelling on this mystery appliance buyer man's name) and we have your delivery from Lowe's. We are 15 minutes out and want to confirm you are home."

I cracked up to hear this message.

But who and where is Eric Myers and why do Lowe's and 3PD think my number belongs to Mr. Eric Meyers (notice I am interchanging my Meyers/Myers spelling. That's for fun, ok? Fun.)

I should get something out of this mix up or foul play. Next time they try this again, I will just change the delivery address to here! I hope it's something really great, too.

I called the main Lowe's number. The customer service rep was barely understandable and she could not seem to understand what I was trying to get at. I tried hard to tell her my concerns, that this Eric Myers has possibly stolen my ID if that's even his or her name. Or whatever is going on, and I have no idea.

I tried to tell her this is the third time this has happened. But she kept telling me they have nothing to do with it. I could almost picture her with hands over ears, eyes and mouth and also going "La, la la la la." They want no part of this action. She finally gave me 3PD's number. When I called 3PD's customer service line, I was told by robot they are closed. I left a message.

The last time this happened, a couple months ago I guess it was, Lowe's claimed they would investigate. Yeah right. I seriously doubted that then. Obviously that investigation got stalled out somewhere.

I have to benefit somehow from this latest crapola affecting my existence. The next time Eric Meyers or whatever name might be used buys from Lowe's or somewhere else and that delivery driver calls me, whatever that is they are so intent on delivering that they call me over and over and over again, that or those items are going to come here. Because Eric Myers better change the mistake that's going on, or next time, the clean up will be on him and the lounge chair will be coming here.

Help Valentino Get His Dental by Visiting Original Wacky's Blog!

Click the post title to go to Original Wacky's blog post and "Chipin" to help cover the cost of Valentino's redental on May 9!

Thank you Michy, from Valentino and I!

More Cell Problems

I decided to switch to Net10 from tracfone because tracfone minutes are so damn expensive.

With Net10, you can get a 30 day 750 minute card for $25. However, even though Net10 is owned by tracfone, I had to get a new darn phone and the cheapest crappiest ones have gone up in price. I was dismayed at how cheap plastic crappy the phone was, when I opened the box.

I was even more dismayed however, when I tried to make a call on it. I'd added all my contacts and absolutely no calls would go through. Not one. The phone would not even try. Until suddenly it went through on one contact only. We talked briefly then the phone went dead. She tried calling back. I could see her trying on the phone but the phone would not even ring. I tried calling her and it would say I was connected but could hear nothing.

I tried calling customer service then. They are closed. Big surprise.

I am so fed up with cheap crap electronic devices that barely function but are sold as functioning items I would like to stuff it down a just used toilet. I want my money back and I want it back immediately. I'll go without a cell phone. Life will be good again.

I'm not cut out for cell phone use.

It's not my destiny.

My PC has also given me great trouble ever since I clicked the update to Windows 8 button. Stupid me. It was an innocent mistake born of my trusting nature.

Windows 8 screwed my already slow computer so badly I have struggled for days to rid myself of Windows 8. I curse you, Windows 8. You don't work right! I believe I have now accomplished that mission. I killed Windows 8 on my PC.

Now it works again. But......

Valentino's Real Dental Scheduled for May 9

You live and learn and make mistakes along the way. The cheap dental for Valentino done March 2 did nothing to relieve him of his mouth miseries. Afterwards, I was told by the receptionist they pulled five teeth, but nothing more.

But with his increasing drooling, some of it brown, swallowing constantly, the excess saliva produced, I had to do something. I took him to another vet for a consultation. There were red lines of inflammation above nearly every tooth. She noted two cracked broken canines and wondered why they had not been pulled a month earlier in the dental.

I had wondered the same thing. I had even wondered at one point if any teeth had really been pulled.

I finally called the clinic who did that dental and asked which teeth exactly had been pulled. The woman who answered finally said "about five teeth". "About?" I queried. "I want to know exactly which teeth were pulled."

Her first response was "two molars and some pointy ones, the sharp long ones."

"You might be describing canines," I said, "and he still has all four of those, although two are cracked and broken."

"Then incisors," she corrected herself.

I was horrified. What clinic doesn't mark and list the teeth they pull on a cat and what vet tech or assistant would describe teeth as "pointy" instead of by name or number.

I was resigned then to my mistake. I have to look forward, not back.

I know how awful it is to have a painful tooth. I lived with one that needed pulled for months, before I finally found someone to do it. I'd be driving, tooth throbbing, and when stopped at a red light, would pull out pliers I carry in my car, and think, "I'm doing this, right here, right now." But the pliers were not shaped properly to fit into my mouth to yank a back tooth.

Cats have 30 teeth. They have 12 incisors, those little bitty teeth, six up top and six on the bottom, lodged between the "pointy" teeth, the canines--better known as fangs, those long daggers that curve down, below the gumline, into the line of the jaw.

Cats have four canines.

Behind the canines, are the premolars. Cats have ten of those in total. They have three on each side up top and two on each side on the bottom. Behind those are the molars, one on each side, top and bottom, four in all. 30 teeth.

The vet who will do the "redental", my new word, got records from the other clinic where his first dental was done and she thinks they say, because it isn't clear, that they pulled only incisors. I don't even consider incisors real teeth, because they're so small, and when they go bad they usually fall out on their own.

You get what you pay for. If something seems too good to be true, in price, it usually is.

Well, Valentino is set for May 9 and I need to scrounge up money any way I can to pay for what he needed done in the first place so now, it will really get done.

Two Cats Fixed Today

An Albany pregnant female and a Silverton male got fixed today, courtesy of Poppa Inc.

The Albany cat, I was told, was just fat, not pregnant, but if she was pregnant and not fat, I was told, they didn't want the kittens.

So the fat cat was indeed a pregnant cat and she was fixed. One of her adult female kittens from a previous litter was fixed two weeks ago.

The Silverton male was a very very handsome boy and part of a colony. Hopefully the rest will be trapped soon for the fixing.

No more luck with the business cat trapping. The business was open today after being closed up since last Thursday evening. The problem in there is that anywhere the cats settle in or under, that stuff, whatever it is, gets used or moved and they have to move on to somewhere else to take refuge. There's just no place for them there. Also, the problem is they are not fed. I worry now, with a couple kittens, teens actually, out there, with their mothers here, who had to hunt, mainly pigeons, to eat, if they'll just starve if I don't catch them.

It's really tough to find cats and help them out of a large area that is completely locked up and fenced in when they're not even fed at one place. It's a real challenge to find them before they die. I've still got seven in my bathroom and they're taming down as they wait in limbo and as I stew over the safety of those still out there, especially the young ones and the pregnant female who may now have kittens. Imagine being pregnant and having to hunt, or to have kittens, and no food.

It's not a nice life they've lived. The ones here now are living it up and you should see how they've learned to unroll toilet paper in the night. Those darn ferals in my bathroom! Playing like there's no tomorrow.

I never heard another word from the Portland woman, who, when denied Sage, due to the tons of decorative glassware lining every windowsill and shelf in the place, pledged to adopt the older Valentino. Never heard another word.

Goodbye Dickens

Dickens, one of Sage's four boys, moved on to the Marian County rescue, where they will try to find him a home. They're better at it than I am, that's for sure. Wish Dickens and those two ladies luck with him.

Calls for Bush War Crimes Investigation

Click post title to read story.

The magnitude of deceptions prior to the Iraq war by our own government are outlined by an Egyptian in his book, Age of Deception, who calls for investigation of war crimes, against Bush and his administration, for wanton deception in promoting and instigating an illegal war (in Iraq), that led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians. Mohamed ElBaradei was a chief UN nuclear inspector and led investigations into claims by America of Iraq weapons of mass destruction production and nuclear weapons production and was aghast, he says, to watch the refuted claims repeated by Bush as fact.

Menopause

For the last three weeks, I have been under seige. With what, you might ask.

Menocrap, that's what. Symptoms roared into life three weeks ago. They are not fun. They include, but are not limited to: insomnia, constipation, hot flashes, fits of emotion, ranging from sadness to irritibility. My skin will get a rubbery feel.

Movies that might not otherwise cause me to blink will leave me reaching for a kleenex at such times and leave me choking with hiccupy heaving sobs.

I only drink one cup of coffee each morning, but coffee can make things worse. So can chocolate. And it's Easter, the season of chocolate! This time, at least, I didn't get the flush of dazed thinking, which has before come with these periods of menopausal crap.

I tell people at least I don't need a coat!

I know someone who is a big time believer in estrogen pills, but I don't want to go there. She couldn't take the hot flashes or irritibility or sleep disruptions so she has taken those for years.

My brother once confided to me he is very glad he was not born a woman after seeing what his wife goes through with menopause. Sometimes she gets so hot, he can't be in the same bed with her.

I went through surgical menopause a few years back. I thought that would exempt me from the symptoms somewhat. When I asked the doctor a couple years ago why I still get menopausal symptoms after a hysterectomy he said that only makes them worse. What?

Menopausal symptoms come from hormonal imbalances and decreasing production of hormones. That is what I'm told. What I know is I get periodic symptoms, now only a few times a year and that the symtpoms when I get them, last a month to two months, with varying intensity during that time.

So, watch out, people, I'm in hot flash mode.

On the good news side, the small Marian county rescue, that took in three cats from me: Zuli, Willow and Brighty, were able to adopt out two of those cats so far, Willow and Zuli.

Now, they're going to take in Dickens.

I am down on my knees grateful for their help.

Fused Glass Projects Back

I got the fused glass pieces from that craft class back, after they were kilned. I made three little pieces. Two are about three by three inches and the other is smaller. I do not know what I'll do with them.




It's a nice day today. However, I am unable to tolerate being outside. Power tools are roaring so loud it can penetrate clear to my bedroom. Can't watch TV. Can't even think from the racket of the old man and his multitudes of power tools which will likely roar all day long. He's deaf. Big surprise.

I can't take it, have to get out of here. I know how much he loves spring so he can haul out the power tools, even the leaf blower again, which he has been using instead of a rake or mower bag. He takes all day with the power tools, and it drives me nuts. He can barely hear so the roaring doesn't bother him. He knows it drives me nuts, to be unable to go outside or even do anything inside, due to his activities with his awful and loud and horrible power tools. I hate them.

I fricking hate them. This is the first nice day we've had. I can't enjoy it in my backyard or do anything outside. Because of him and his takeover of peace and quiet with his power tools.

Six Albany Cats Fixed Today. Portland Home Not a Fit For Sage.

Three photos, one above and two below, of the young abbytorbi spayed today from the Albany business. She was in heat but not pregnant.


Sassy's sister, a gorgeous torbi, from the Albany business, spayed today. No ear tip, hope to tame her.
Eviction cat, one of two sisters fixed from the ten eviction cats. I delivered both girls afterwards to a local vet clinic.
The other Eviction cat, spayed today. They are sisters.
From off Marian, the final female a man owns, of four. This cat had three kittens, two girls and a boy, who will need fixed in a few weeks. She was in heat again, but now, all four girls are fixed.
The young Corvallis tabby tux girl, who was pregnant at spay today.

I took six cats up to be fixed today. All six were females. Five of them hail from Albany. The sixth and only preggie is from Corvallis. Two girls were in heat, including the abbytorbi from the Albany business. She was not pregnant after all.

I then went on to the adoption interest in Sage. It was a neat cute house and really nice woman. But, when I pulled in, I knew it would not work for Sage. Every window was lined up in decorative glassware. Sage would destroy that home in one "tear". The woman had other collectibles in cubby hole type displays on the walls. I could picture Sage standing on her back legs on the couch and pulling those treasures out to fall one by one, for sport.

This is a house in need of a cat who can't jump and has far less energy than Sage has. On Friday, they are adopting Valentino!!!! He can't jump and if tries, it's a slo mo jump effort. He's perfect for them.

The woman is super nice. I want one of my cats to go there. But the fit has to be right, with a cat who won't destroy her beautiful treasures. Valentino's whiplike tail may prove problematic but despite his tank like build, he is not the swing from the rafters exuberant fat athlete that Sage is. Fat athletes try hard but their trip through glassware is like an elephant's journey through a field of eggs.

I could literally see the aftermath. I could hear the horror this woman would express upon waking one morning or upon returning from a few hours out. It gave me a sick queasy feeling in my stomach, to look at all the glassware and then at Sage. I know her mind.

So I packed her up and came home with her and the six fixed females.

I could not get ahold of the Eviction cat people and finally left the cats with the vet she'd made arrangements with yesterday. Her male is there now.

Last night, late, I tried drop trapping at the business. I wanted badly to catch that last preggie. Instead, the orange male sauntered up, went under the trap, but not to eat. He immediately sprayed it down.

Later, the preggie did show up, but did not come within four feet. Even the bait plate had been soaked down by that darn orange male.

I saw at least four cats while there, from a distance.

I caught nothing in the night there, in the one trap set.

The barn home offered up for the business cats fell through. They have too many predators, including a resident bobcat. They'd be dead within two months. Every one of them. City born ferals aren't used to the same dangers as country ferals. You don't relocate city ferals to the country and expect a good result.

This guy told me Lacomb dairy farmers are having mouse problems but can't get cats to stay put at their farms and dairies. The guy had been in Albany picking up four doomed cats from somebody and two more doomed cats for a neighbor. He claims they run off almost immediately. They probably just dump them out and think they'll stay and also that they won't get killed by the tons of predators roaming rural Lacomb, which in my opinion is cougar central.

Makes me very sad to think of the cats taken out there. One minute you are a house cat, warm and loved and the next, you're in a barn with piles of shit everywhere and cows stomping around or sheep. You don't know where food might be, or where you can sleep that is safe. You run, but unfortunately, there's something waiting for you, something who wants to crack your legs with a bite so you can't escape and then carry you back to their den, and drop you in front of their pups. You try to crawl away, as they circle you, inflicting bites until finally, mercifully, you're dead.

That's the fate of cats in the country this time of year, when mother coyotes, cougars and bobcats are teaching their young to hunt.

Eviction. With Cats.

KATA e-mails, wants me to help some people being evicted get cats fixed. However, this was not about getting cats fixed at all. The situation exploded right as KATA was talking to her. Cops arrived. Locked them out and four cats inside the house.

I called the woman. She actually was on the curb. The lock out eviction had already taken place. The cops had just locked them out of their junker house, with four adult cats inside. She had three four week old kittens in a cardboard box atop piles of other junk in the back of a junker car, with its side bashed in. On the sidewalk, in a storage container with air holes cut in the top, were three more teenage kittens, all black.

I couldn't believe it. They claimed Safehaven would not take any of them without the $50 fee per cat. KATA then called Safehaven begging them to take some of these cats in and I guess they said they'd take the kittens.

In the meantime, the people got landlord and police permission to go back in for the other cats, since they'd been locked in the house without food or water.

I gave them two carriers I'd brought along. Three of the four adults were not fixed. They didn't want any of them. I wanted to at least get them fixed, and made them sign a paper that they'd retrieve the three within 72 hours. She signed it. They were supposed to take the six kittens of two different litters to Savehaven and take the fixed adult male, now in a cardboard box, with them. Somehow.

Really, they shouldn't have. They have no home themselves now. The liklihood of them finding a place to rent is nil to zero.

But I can't take in more cats and nobody else will take them, so I had to make them sign the paper on the three unfixed adults I took and I couldn't take the fixed male although I feel bad for him.

It's a disgusting situation the woman openly claimed was her own fault. Her own daughter was taken from her also, due to the filth inside the house. I guess there are allegations of drug use too. No doubt.

I tried to call Safehaven, hoping, since they're taking the three four week olds, who need bottle fed, that they would also consent to taking their mother, one of the three unfixed adults now in my garage. They did not answer. I then e-mailed. No response so far. You would think they'd gladly take the mom, since it's so much less work to let the mother take care of her kittens until they are weaned. And healthier for the kittens. I hope they contact me. I really wish they'd also take in the four adults.

I guess I'm happy they're taking any of them. I hope those people get them out there. Looked like their car was on its last legs. I told them, because I thought the one guy was going to start crying, not so much over their own self-created situation, but over the plight of the cats, I said to him, "Well, you live and learn and you make a lot of mistakes. You guys are all young enough to change and make great lives for yourselves. But never get cats without getting them fixed, because it'll just cause suffering like this in the end."

I am frustrated beyond frustrated to get drawn into this, the latest Albany cat drama.

I hope this doesn't turn on me, create more misery here for me. I like helping people. I like helping cats. But, I'm really broke already, my own car's falling apart, and there really is a limit on what I can do and what I can bear.

UPDATE: Safehaven will take in the three here, also. The woman only turned in one of three black teens, and kept two of them. I am hoping she'll let me get them fixed tomorrow, however. This all might work out. I am going to give them one of my big carriers, so they can at least keep the three cats they have kept safe while they are homeless themselves and search for a place to live.

UPDATE ON UPDATE: A local vet has agreed to hold the fixed male and the two teen girls they didn't turn over to Safehaven for at least a week, until the motley crew, as I've dubbed these folks, find a new place to live. I took them a carrier for the male, who was taped inside a cardboard box. They handed over the two teen females, who will be fixed tomorrow, then go to the local vet. Ten cats and kittens in trouble, two hours, two headaches at least, but it might work out.

On the up side, I scored off the Portland ad. Finally! Sage might be leaving for a Portland home tomorrow. Sounds like a great couple too. I'm delivering her. It's in NE Portland, hope I can find the place. I'm taking a shitload of cats up to be fixed and then I'll take Sage on to her home. I've driven some in Portland. I should be able to find it. Right? If my car doesn't give me trouble.

On another front UPDATE:

On the way to taking the three adult Eviction Cats to Safehaven, I stopped to check the business traps. I'd caught another kitten, a torbi, Sassy's sister. It's not the one I thought roamed the warehouse, the torbi tux, so there is yet her to catch. When checking the other trap, I saw the fourth preggie, waddling pregnant, kittens tonight pregnant, and so much wished I could sneak up on her and net her. She's trap shy now, because the adult pregnant torbi sat in a trap half the night right there, where another is set now. Gosh darn it anyhow. She's the one I wanted to catch, more so than the torbi, because her pregnancy is farther along.

So, 8 cats caught there so far, seven of whom have been females.

Nabbed Another Preg Female at Albany Business

Caught the above torbi, who is actually an abbytorbi, in coloration, last night, along with the already fixed calico. The calico joined the three others in my bathroom, waiting for some option, somewhere to go. The abbytorbi will be fixed tomorrow. She is the third of four pregnant females, that I know of, roaming that property. The fourth is yet to be caught. The kittens rarely survive there to even be seen, I was told.

Of the seven cats caught there so far, six have been females.

This is not abnormal. All reproductive age females there were already pregnant. The adult males have roamed off to impregnate elsewhere.

I am hoping they will agree to the very few adults returning to the property they know, once all are fixed. The two kittens are highly adoptable, once handled. The other two kittens, fixed and returned, likely are also. I think that's a good deal for the business--getting them all fixed, kittens gone, a handful of adults return.

Car Falling Apart

My car would like to retire. The odometer reads nearly 200,000 miles but the exterior is beat up, scratched with dents. I've used it like a work vehicle. Those are 200k cat miles on that beloved car.

The seat cushions are torn with foam, and in some cases, metal, exposed. Part of the front grill is missing.

A couple weeks ago, backing out of my tight fitting garage, I whacked the driver side mirror backwards, popping out the mirror. This has happened many times. Usually it's me whacking the mirror as I squeeze by and around my car doing work in the garage. This time I barely tapped the frame, which kicks it backwards, doing no harm. But the glass mirror popped out and I was unable this time to pop it right back into place.

This mirror has plastic parts on the backside, upon which it rotates, electrically, from a switch on the door panel. I don't need a switch operated mirror. Or windows for that matter, but one has no choice now. And when those break, my gosh, they can cost hundreds to replace.

I took the thing completely apart, then put it back together, but one side would hang loose. I taped it to hold it in place. While trapping at an apartment complex, a guy who works as a mechanic came to my car window, while I was sitting out there in the dark near midnight. He was hoping I knew someone who had work. He's been out of work for quite some time.

In the end, he tried to get the mirror back into place also. It held for less than half mile before falling loose again.

That's where it's stood, a stand off between the mirror and me, for two weeks now. I asked my mechanic to fix it. Apparently he's busy. He told me to fix it myself.

I tried again today. I again took it completely apart, trying to solve the mystery of why it would not pop back into place. Finally, while using reading glasses, I realized one tiny bit of plastic had broken off one of the swivels, which means it won't hold in place, and there is no hope it ever will unless I replace that part.

I gave up and stuffed the mirror holder shell with torn up plastic bags, to hold the mirror itself out far enough to tape securely. Electronic mirror: dead. All because of a 1/16 inch thick piece of white plastic that is in total about 1/2 inch long. Half of that broke off.

I also was gifted with about 30 cds', no longer wanted by their owner who has all her music on ipod and pc. Thank you, Frodonnah! I had only one cd my car cd player would actually play. I've been listening to the same cd for over a year now. Once I received the cd's from Susannah, I eagerly tried to eject the long standing cd to put in one of the new ones I'd received.

Alas! My car refuses to give up that old cd. It's attached. Obsessed. Literally. The player will not eject it. I tried and tried and tried. I had been so excited about new music. This turn of events dropped my spirits. I wanted to spray the cd player with acid! I e-mailed Susannah, offering to return her cd's. No word yet. It was so kind of her to send them to me.

Not so nice of my car to hold onto the past like that, refusing to eject the cd that has been in there probably two years and force me to listen to that cd forever. Would make an excellent horror movie.

The car is fading. The engine still runs, however, and that's what counts.

Oh how I have loved that car!

Backyard Tree Problem

The maple tree out back is splitting. The crack extends down to about 16 inches from the ground now. There's this big hole at a point about seven feet up where the branches take off from the main trunk. The hole is in the middle and collects water like a bucket that has possibly rotted out the center of the tree.

I noticed the crack yesterday. It was raining and water was pouring out of it. It was strange to see. I think the water was coming from the bucket hole going clear down into the tree and leaking out the crack all the way down. I don't think that is a good sign.

Anyone out there know anything about trees? Should this maple come down now? Is it likely to split completely and fall?

Has anyone else been watching Discovery's Human Planet? I watched tonights' episode. I think it's interesting.

The Stayton Trailer Park Kitten Now

I haven't heard from the Stayton trailer park in awhile. We sure got a lot of cats fixed there, really made a difference. Keni took in four cats from that place. Well, she arranged fosterers for three and still has Nickel, the declawed male found there in terrible shape. Two other teen girls went to someone she knew who fostered them until they got homes. The fourth was a very sick kitten, whom I took clear to I don't remember where, Gladstone or somewhere, to someone else Keni, Poppa's president, knows. She was just going to foster her, since her vet would take payments and none of us had any money for a needed vet visit. But she wound up keeping her.

She looked like this when I picked her up.

Now she looks like this:


My own kitty, Dex, diagnosed with late stage kidney failure last January, had another crisis precipitated by her getting a cold. She got terribly dehydrated. Again, I had to give her several hundred cc's of fluids daily, and she pulled right back out of it within three days. But these kidney crises have to be taking a toll on an old cat.

I discovered massive amounts of fluids, given 120 at a time, over the course of a day, can really flush her clean of toxic buildup if she gets dehydrated and give her a fighting chance. That's how I do it now. 450 to 600 a day, if she gets in trouble. She got so she'd be in the bathroom waiting for the last fluids of the night. If I warm the bag up before giving her fluids, she doesn't seem to notice me giving them much.

I can't fight old age and its effects. Nobody can. I just love her now and when she's gone I'll miss her.

Albany Cat Grant Almost Gone

I was informed by Poppa Inc's treasurer there is just over $800 left in the Albany cat grant. That isn't much. I've taken in hordes of Albany cats lately.

I want to catch another male roaming my yard, finish catching any at that Albany business, get a female fixed from 15th, and try to get the remaining female fixed from that man who had four females, where I also got five stray males fixed. There were also at least two more roaming males there. That will be it for the Albany grant money.

As I still don't know the future of Poppa Inc. for sure, I'll have to hold off after the grant is used, until official word arrives, after their board meeting, which will discuss the future, since Poppa Inc's president is leaving the state.

I don't know if we'll get another Albany grant. It has been highly successful in reducing the numbers of unwanted and free roaming cats in many areas of Albany at a very low cost to Albany, compared to running a shelter. It's quite progressive and forward thinking. It has allowed me to instantly solve any problem that comes to my attention, regarding unfixed cats, which is great, for the community, the cats and for people. It has allowed me to prevent future problems by fixing cats that otherwise won't get fixed, too. I've trapped I believe 26 or 27 cats in my yard alone.

There's another now, a Lynx Point male, who is causing havoc amongst my cats with his behavior outside, spray marking and such. Sam especially is going nuts with him out there at times and has begun pee marking to let me know how unhappy he is that an unfixed male is outside spraying "his territory". I do wish people in this area would take more personal responsibility with their pets, but they don't.

Sam, I'm on it. I am going to nab that wayward spraying Siamese, becaues if I don't, Sam, I know well the consequences on ME!!! And on this house!

Yesterday was cleaning day here. Sure, it could be drudgery but I like cleaning. I'm also doing the earthquake preparedness thing. I attached the one cabinet I have that houses the tv, to a wall stud using a hurricane bracket. They flex slightly.

I don't have otherwise anything heavy that could fall over or out in an earthquake except dishes in cupboards and I"m not sure how to secure those. The cupboards close but do not latch. I'll have to figure out something. I'm going to secure the TV, too, so it can't fall out of the entertainment center. If it did, it would, however, fall only 18 inches, so maybe I should save my effort. I have overhead cat runs and I thought about installing flexibreaks in them, so they could contort all they wanted to, without breaking and falling.

I've determined which table I'd get under (the one without the broken leg), and even have my former bike helmet hung on a hook by my bed. Now that's preparedness! I also reinforced my homemade bunk bed legs, with cinder blocks, to ensure it would not collapse in an earthquake. However, I'm not so sure the top bunk wouldn't collapse down onto me, in the lower bunk, if something struck it.

I know Oregon is due for a big quake. I've been through some quakes. There were two when I lived in the high rise low income apartments in Corvallis. One merely swayed for under twenty seconds. The other was violent shaking and seemed to go on for a minute at least. My cat woke me both times before the quake happened. I also went through one while in Seward, Alaska. I was on a mountain at the time it hit, and suddenly shale began sliding and falling all around me. When I got back to my bosses' basement apartment, all the dishes had fallen out of the cupboards onto the floor.

There's not much around here to fall, unless the house collapsed completely. The trees out back might rip out, which likely would kill the garage and my car. Not much I can do about that. Trees are trees and shit sometimes happens.

I also replaced a couple three vinyl floor pieces in my home improvement day and of course, did the usual sweeping, mopping and litterbox soaking that comes with Fridays.

The Barn

The temp barn home K has for her cats is very nice. Nonetheless, when she could not find three of the first cats she took out there, she became nervous. She will search the entire place with flashlight today, she says, and try to locate them. She's hoping they are hiding behind something.

I would be also nervous if I couldn't find some of my cats. What if they found a hole and got out? It's rural and they don't know where they are and there are coyotes everywhere out there, as there are so many places now.

I asked her if she was excited to be leaving Oregon and this endless depressing rain. She said she is ready to leave today! Who could blame her? She sent me a link to a house she is ready to buy right now, but her mother insists she see it first. Her mother and sister, who live down where K and her husband will be moving to, in southern California, are real estate agents anyhow, which is great for them.

This miserable rain and cold have gone on forever. Soon to be replaced by dust and pollen around here. Prices for everything are going up.

I would leave in an instant if I had a way out.

I worry about what if something happens to me, what will happen to the cats here. K would have helped place them. Now she's leaving. My brother, who owns this house, would find the nearest shelter to haul them off to, I would guess, should I die.

I do think about that. I don't have anyone to even feed them, to leave for a couple of days.

I often envy people with family and friends. I shouldn't. From the sounds of things for some of them, they'd be better off without their families. Everybody ends up dying alone. But, my concern is for the cats here, should something happen to me. I need a plan of action. I do have them listed on my refrigerator door.

But I need to somehow be able to activate a network of people, upon my serious injury or death, who would help immediately get them out of here, if something did happen to me. I bet there are a lot of people who need the same sort of thing.

The Bathroom Three

Sassy, the gray tabby girl kitten from the Albany business, has been in my bathroom since I trapped her. She was fixed yesterday. The other two, now named Stilleto and Misty, have been in a hutch in my garage. My garage is crowded. It's one car and houses my things. I don't have lots of things, for the garden or yard or recreation, but what I have has to share space with my car in the garage, along with two tables I recuperate cats on, in traps, after surgery, and a table that holds the hutch, for holding cats a little longer, like females after surgery should they need it.

With such limited space, and resigned to them not going back, to die on that business property, I moved the other two, one at a time, to the bathroom. First was the silver torbi teenager, whose mother is the now missing calico. She is slightly older than Sassy. Misty is Sassy's mother.

Sassy was quickly happy to see Stilleto, but disappointed I believe, that it was not her sister, the torbi tux, still out there, maybe alive, maybe not alive. She was ecstatic to see Misty. I had suspected Misty was her mother, then had seen them together briefly, right before I trapped Misty.

I named Misty after another Misty, a long hair brown tux, from homeless Camp Boondoggle. She and Stormy, a black psychotic female, were adopted by a woman who lives near Philomath who also had two big dogs. She would not let the cats in the house at night and this, she said, bothered Misty horribly. She had previously adopted two sisters from Heartland. One disappeared, the other was miserable. So I took in Gracie, the cat adopted from Heartland whose sister was killed by predators, apparently. I made the woman promise to lock the cats in the garage at night, to protect them. She thought her two big dogs would ward off predators, which is an urban myth. Predators not only kill dogs but if need be, work around them.

I adopted out Gracie, finally, to a Corvallis woman. Stormy and Misty came back briefly six or 8 months later, while the woman was on a lengthy vacation. The woman had plenty of money, but I never got a dime from her. Later, I heard from her again, when she wanted to adopt another cat.

Misty was dead. She had first disappeared for three days and she and her ex husband found her up a tree, terrified. Obviously she was escaping coyotes and afraid to come down. They finally got her down. Did she keep her in nights then? No, and Misty vanished, killed by coyotes, of course. I told her I never wanted to hear from her again. That's because I don't want to hear when Stormy also is killed.

I get desperate for homes, too desperate, and stupidly hand them over to people who let them be killed, torn apart alive, by predators.

The same fate befell two wonderful kittens from two horrid situations, one down in Shedd and the other on Vine street in Albany. Both were silver tabbies and adopted out by a woman who should have known better than to let them free roam her large N. Albany acreage where she knew there were predators. She told me she'd keep them inside. Both were killed, didn't even last a year. All I went through to save them, all the heartache and expense and love I put into them. Makes you wonder if it's even worth it.

So I name this female Misty, after that other Misty, that delightful laid back wonderful cat, born in a homeless camp, who died in the hands of a high income class woman. Had Misty been able to remain in the homeless camp, although she couldn't because it was being bulldozed, with the lowest class of people out there, she'd still be alive, and loved, I have no doubt.

The higher income class woman saw Misty's function not as a companion but as a mouser, expected to do her duty, roaming nights amidst the coyotes. When she died, she wanted to replace her worker, and if she did, that cat will suffer the same horrible fate.


Sassy, Misty (hiding) and Stilleto.

Business Cats Have Disappeared

The business cats have almost completely disappeared. Even the employees cannot figure it out. Something happened that weekend. I'd trapped three in the 40 minutes I was allowed there on Thursday night. I did not realize they were going to lock up the fenced property and I couldn't trap longer that night. I saw tons of cats that night in the warehouse.

I wasn't allowed back into the property until Monday night, late. I saw then a couple males, from a distance and two pregnant females I did not catch. The weather was good and the cats I saw were widely dispersed in the huge acreage that includes many buildings. I caught two that night, who are still here, left traps set, caught another in the night the next night, but have seen no cats since and neither have the employees.

They confessed they saw no cats that Monday, during the day, before I trapped that night, which was abnormal. Something happened over the weekend I think then is still going on. A predator may have moved in, or there may have been a spill of something toxic that killed them, if they drank water with something toxic in it. They drink water from a very polluted ditch. If it was a predator, it will have been a fox, most likely.

However, the catch there is a predator would have also eaten the cat food I left out. I call it a "marker", leaving a small pile of cat food here or there, to see if a cat has been in that area or to try to locate areas where the cats frequent. And those marker piles are still in place. Nothing has touched them.

It could be. with better weather, they found and migrated over to a nearby fed colony. Some of the adults likely originated from that colony.

It may also be the fact there has been a lot of moving around of all kinds of piled stuff and even huge items there. The calico has not been seen, nor the two tabby on white kittens, now fixed.

For now, trapping is done, because the cats have disappeared. I don't know that they are dead. They're not fed, is the thing, so they could be roaming farther for food. The two pregnant females could have had kittens and be with them. The two males could have roamed off, without further females there in heat. The tabby on white kittens and calico, because I retrapped all three of them that Monday night, could be severely trap shy now.

They claim there were 15 cats. I've trapped six. Three are still here. Two others not yet trapped were pregnant females, two were males and two were kittens. The others not yet trapped also could have been males, now roaming elsewhere in search of sex.

It could be all innocent because the area is so large and they're not fed anywhere. I suspect some may have met their end. I wanted so badly to catch the sister of this little gray tabby kitten now here, taming quickly. I wanted badly to save the kittens at least.

I never count out the cats, however, but for now I'll remove the two traps. I understand the torbi tux kitten is spooked of the traps. Her two sisters have not returned. That's because they're here though, safe and sound, and I wanted her safe and sound also.

Great Fun Tonight

I helped a woman get some cats fixed where they live awhile back. Today, she had another who had showed up, so he was fixed. She also told me her long time live in guy had decided he wasn't happy and left. Her mother was supposed to visit, but she hadn't felt up to it. But she had signed up her mother and herself already for a fused glass class at the senior center. She wondered if I would go in her mother's place.

I went.

I had no idea what fused glass was before arriving. I had a blast. The people were nice and it was relaxing and crafty and fun.

What a great night.

Also, here are photos of the three Albany cats fixed today:
Sassy, as I've named her, the sixth cat caught at the Albany business and she's not going back to die there. I can't do it to her.

The latest show at the Hill street house of cats. Actually, the woman has only one herself, but contacted me last December about fixing strays, including a mom cat, whom she still feeds, and her kitten, whom she and her partner found a home for. That was Mr. Mo. We also got a long hair tabby on white male fixed, a long hair white male fixed, a short hair tabby on white male fixed, an orange tabby male fixed and now this black male.Stray female, taken in a few days ago, by an area resident, fixed today.

Let's Blame Jody Day in Albany

So I get two complaints today, one by phone message and one by e-mail.

The phone message states "I am looking for my cat and I believe he may have been trapped by somebody like you and is missing." Etc etc. Somebody like me.

I called her back. I told I don't steal cats I have plenty here already and resent the implication. I can't find out from her if he is neutered or not, because if he isn't, there you go. He's off roaming looking for love and may die or have died in the process. I told her to go look for the nearest outside allowed unfixed female, then the next if she's already pregnant. Or look to a cat hating neighbor. But not to blame or suggest "people like me" are responsible.

The next accusation came in e-mail (along with "blessings") from a Heatherdale trailer park tenant doing the dirty work of the manager, who misplaced his trap and is passively aggressively suggesting I took it. The trailer park is full of druggees and criminals but let's blame Jody, the woman who has worked her fricking butt off there, for nothing, getting over 100 cats fixed. One Heatherdale cat is still here. Comet.

So, it's Just Blame Jody day in Albany. Yes, I am very powerful and responsible for every Albany problem, from missing unfixed cats to stolen by criminals traps.

Go ahead and blame me. Know how much I give a shit?

You can probably guess.

As an aside, although nobody around here cares, three more Albany cats were fixed today. I'll celebrate privately, because it's good news for the cats of Albany, but the complainers, whiners and butt sitters, well, all they do is what they do best--complain and blame. I do wish they'd get out there and do something decent for the community. Sure be more productive than, say, BLAMING JODY!

Candidate's Kids Failing at OSU. So, Rich OSU Backers Demand They Be Reinstated

Click the post title to see what is going on at OSU. Art Robinson, a very very ultra right wing former and future candidate for the house has been crying foul over his kids failures to graduate OSU graduate programs in nuclear physics, even attacking the apartment chair as a radical feminist.

Now, he's got on board a bunch of rich alumni, who have been involved in raising a lot of money for OSU. They too are conservatives.

OSU cannot respond on why the Robinson kids, I say kids, but they are all adults, are failing due to privacy issues, making Robinsons' claims a seriously one sided attack on OSU.

The fact they now are using ultra rich alumni, and the threat of withholding donations, to get their way, is extremely troubling. In fact, it's disgusting.

I don't know what has gone on with with the two adult children in question, in their quests for advance degrees. We as the public can never know, due to student privacy issues. But Art Robinson's temper tantrums and accusations and now the backing of a bunch of rich conservatives no doubt will get him his way.

Money talks. Money is power. A public university stands no chance in the face of this one sided campaign against a department. I think OSU should speak out in defense of itself, despite the privacy issues, have somebody do so anonymously. Something. One sided smear campaigns aren't fair.

It will be interesting to see if any real information on what happened in that department comes out, or, if under the pressure of money, the university will cave. That would be sad. OSU is full of drama, that I've heard before, but the accusations made by Art Robinson are severe. They are career ending accusations leveled by him at OSU professors and a department. He better be right in his accusations, or I would hope those involved would sue the hell out of him right back for libel and character assasination. Fair is fair.

One More Business Cat Caught in the Night

One of the two traps set last night produced the siver tabby female kitten this morning. She's currently in my bathroom. Of course I'd love to place her, and her sister, the muted torti young teen, now recuperating with the wild thing adult gray tabby, in my garage.

Since they're not getting fed there, I am keeping adult females several days to recuperate, in a rabbit hutch, giving them a nice cozy warm bed and all the food they can eat, which is completely foreign to them. The calico stayed here three days after her surgery. I wish I had somewhere for them all to go, especially the little ones, like this sweetheart little silver tabby girl.

The long hair gray tabby female is totally feral, but these young things, they're not. I played games with this silver tabby kitten in that warehouse on "the long night", her coming within a couple feet of me, begging for food. There's another sister, a torbi tux, whom I sure want to catch. She's so skinny. Like I say, my desire to save them kicks in, but where would I find them a safe place to live?

In other news, my computer connection speed has slowed so badly I cannot watch videos online without long waits for "buffering". I have not attempted to create more youtube videos for the same reason. I do not know if it is my computer or Comcast.

Two More Business Cats Fixed Today

Teenage muted torti, spayed today, from the Albany business cats.
This medium hair gray tabby tux female was very pregnant at spay today. I felt bad for her, to lose her kittens this late, but nobody wants her, let alone them.
This is what she looked like the first time I saw her, before her spay, by the garbage can. She had been inside the dumpster, looking for food.
This is the calico, and muted torti teen, huddled against a building, the first time I saw them out there. The calico (photo below of her taken before her spay) was fixed last Friday and was pregnant again. Her daughter, from previous litter, is the younger one of the two fixed today.

Drop dead tired this a.m. after last night's fiasco late trapping, I slept for an hour as my alarm rang unnoticed by me. I finally jumped out of bed and into my clothes and raced off to check the traps I'd left set at the business, but nary one had been touched. I was then told they had not seen the cats in the usual warehouse the day before. Had I known that, I would not have wasted my night trying to trap them there.

I then did some of the necessary chores here, cleaning litterboxes, filling water and food, before heading north with the pair of girls from the business. After leaving them at the clinic, I headed straight to the rest area, in my filthy stinking car, with no time for a shower this morning for me either, and dropped into a dead sleep. I awakened briefly a couple of times, then to my phone ringing at almost 3:00 p.m., a call from the clinic to say the cats were ready to pick up. So I got about five hours of good sleep in the rest area, propped against my window. Cars are not made for comfortable sleep. They should be.

I think one of the two remaining preggies there, that I know of at least, has given birth. I saw her when I stopped by, to check on the two traps I left with an employee. She looked skinny, was out searching for food. I'm tired and I want to cry for those cats. I wish I had a solution for them.

Yesterday, in taking up 8 cats, 7 of them from Albany, I ran into two more drop dead pregnant females. One was being taken care of by a girlfriend of the owner. She claimed he told her she was already spayed. I told her I could get her fixed, but they refused. I asked them to at least wait then, to hand out the kittens, until they are two months old and can be fixed first. I do not believe that will happen.

The second female is a stray at Pine Meadow and also extremely pregnant. I did not see her, but when I returned the six other cats this woman had, after they were fixed, she said she had her in her daughter's bedroom. They are going to let her have her kittens.

Failure!

Big Adair male, fixed yesterday.

One of six Pine Meadows cats fixed yesterday, from one Albany household. This is one of two muted calicos.Tabby on white Pine Meadow female fixed yesterday.
Orange and white male, Cheese, fixed yesterday.
The two muted calicos from Albany fixed yesterday.

Tabby on white long hair female, fixed yesterday.Tabby on white Albany male fixed yesterday.
College Park drive Albany female PooPoo, spayed yesterday.

I failed miserably tonight, at catching the business cats, and they even hired a security guard to be there while I trapped. I left just after midnight, catching only two unfixed cats. I did recatch all three of the cats I had already taken to be fixed.

I saw few cats. I saw a couple kittens in the warehouse and I saw four adults, two pregnant females and two males. I saw the males only with binoculars then later heard them fighting in the field. The pregnant females came through and then vanished. The two kittens hid out in the warehouse. I think it was the weather and the fact they're never fed, outside of them digging in the dumpsters or begging scraps from workers eating lunch. Isn't that sad?

Of course I'm tired, and I'm disappointed I didn't catch more cats. The weather, if it had only rained, they would have been around, inside the warehouse, catchable. If they'd only feed them for awhile even, so they'd even know what cat food is, the poor cats, they'd be more catchable. I should have baited the traps with trash, or bits of sandwich, or tacos or burgers or fries. Probably would have worked.

I took 8 cats up to be fixed today, which didn't help. I had to be back to the business by 5:00, before they closed the gate, and I barely made it, had no time to really prepare to trap, since I got the last cat delivered back home at twenty minutes to 5:00, giving me only minutes to come home and grab traps and be at the business. Wasn't pretty, let me say. Not at all. And I'm a mess. I really am.

I'm beating myself over not catching them all. Then I think, I didn't start that problem, I didn't cause it, and I'm not even being paid.

The security guard at least got paid for her hours there.

UPDATE: No cats in traps this morning either. I arranged with an employee to set and check traps. He said the problem has been going on ten years at least. It's not going to be solved in one night. But, on the other hand, I wish I could have solved it in the six hours I was there last night.