Tyrone

Picture below (click on picture for close up) is of a cat that needs a home.  If anyone knows of anyone, please help 'Mother' out (yes, you can rename her!).  :)

Well, it was a quiet weekend out there.  Not too much happening except witnessing a few raccoons scurrying away from my feeding spots, and a few whiffs of a skunk that had recently sprayed - and actually saw one each up ahead at two of my spots.  Last year was the first year I had seen skunks in the city - and I had never seen so many. Actually, it wasn't how many there were, but how often I was probably seeing the same ones and how they were hanging around at a few of my locations.  I have this fear now that this will be the year I get sprayed!  I will be extra cautious from here on when I am bending down and peeking inside the shelters when I arrive.  The raccoons are easily scared away with a loud stomp of the foot, and a 'git git' uttered from me.  But boy they sure do make a mess.  You always know when they've been around because they leave the water bowls filthy.  They must eat rocks because you will always see one or two of those in the bowls. 

I saw Milly on Short Street Sunday morning.  It was a relief to see her, but also sad at the same time.  I wonder if she knows that Morgan is not around, her companion for over a year now.  I am still sad about Morgan and Chico - still can't believe I found one dead and the other half dead, the very same morning, at two different locations.  What are the odds.  I guess they are good in these neighborhoods - any neighborhood actually that has an overpopulation of homeless/feral cats.  They get hit by cars, they crawl off somewhere to die.  I've heard they go under porches a lot.  Can you imagine if everyone in the city removed their porches, how many carcasses you'd find.  Sad, really.  I am thankful these two knew enough to go into these safe shelters for their final moments.  I've picked up too many dead cats from the roads before.

At the Baldwin location, there is a tiny village for all eight cats that I usually see here - the village being made up of several plastic totes, and a large wooden hut with boards and a very large tarp covering these - its like a little maze inside - it has kept these cats warm and alive this winter, and the food has stayed dry also.  This is where Peanut Butter and Jelly were rescued earlier in the winter, and Frazer and Cody were rescued last winter, and several kittens prior to that. As I got out of the car Sunday morning I heard 'its the cat lady!' from a black gentleman walking down the street.  I greeted him with a smile and we began the nicest conversation I've had in a while with a passerby (at 5 am.).  :)

He went on to sing my praises about what I do, told me he lived on Grand, has seen me through the years, told me that if anyone ever messed with me, he would mess them up (not exactly his words), and so forth.  What a GREAT guy he was.  He said his name was Tyrone, and that his mom used to live over on Bay Street but died in a fire two years ago.  I remember that fire well.  I wrote about it and took a few photos that day right here on this blog.   My heart went out to Tyrone.  How very sad. And to think, he lives on a street that has just seen two fires destroy houses right on Grand Avenue in the past year, the last just a few weeks ago.  Tyrone was just a really nice, pleasant man with a huge smile and gave a great hug.  He didn't hit on me, ask me for money or a cigarette, he was just kind.  Boy is that rare.  THAT is what makes my day. 

Here is the picture and post that I wrote two years ago about that fire that Tyrone's mom died in.  What a coincidence.   Eerie, actually...  Click on the pic to see up close... 

Bay Street 2012

July 6, 2012 (from Blog)

"Another emotional situation I encountered this week was the sight of this house:   I drove past this house and just had to turn around.  I was shocked.  I rolled down my window to look closer, and could still smell the fire, even though it happened last weekend.  I hope you can zoom in on the front of this house, there are words spray painted on the boards in front saying "Will always be missed Grandma, Tootsie"  and "RIP Grandma".   I have never been involved in a fire, nor even witnessed one.  As I was looking at this house, realizing that someone died in this fire, I looked over across the street and noticed a woman sitting on her porch, directly across from the house.  I drove over and spoke to her, and just lost it.  I told her I could not believe how sad this was, and said how bad it must have been for her to just watch this, and she told me that the woman who died was bedridden, and that she actually wasn't watching the fire, she ran in and got the kids that were in there out.  I just sobbed.  Such a sad sad sad situation.  Someone's mother, someone's grandmother, someone's daughter, someone's wife, someone's aunt, someone's niece, someone's girlfriend, someone's best friend.   Seeing this was just so profound, so tragic.  We parted after I wished her a blessed day, and she said the same to me.  Two strangers bonded for one brief minute."

Have a wonderful and safe day everyone!

"The only person you should try to be better than,

is the person you were yesterday."