Vacation Day!

Hooray!  Although I won't get much relaxation today.  My life is way too busy.  I know I shouldn't complain, but really, I wish everything would fall into place like its supposed to, and I could sit and say 'I wish I had something to do!" 

Whitey - named Noxie (Noxema) by Sunday Sheryl, from Niagara Street, spent the night in my bathroom after being spayed yesterday.  She was not pregnant.  But boy did she look it.  As a matter of fact, on the phone with the clinic (Noxie has blood in her urine, they did a urine analysis and sent her home with some medication to take daily - which by the way, she is VERY good about giving a pill to.  She is really just a sweet sweet lap cat), I could hear the doctor say that it doesn't appear that she was ever - so where did the three all white and one black kittens come from then?  That's a mystery to me.  She must be the mom.  As a matter of fact, I had someone reach out to me to adopt/foster her (they always do when the cat is pretty and unique - sad but true - how come the Plain Janes and the Hairy Larry's don't get scooped as quickly?).  My point above I was going to make was that I was determined yesterday to return her to the streets (as sad as that would be) because I didn't want to leave her babies there without their mommy.  It was a huge moral struggle for me to think about this yesterday, but I finally caved in after a friend said she would try to trap the three remaining baby kittens there - there is one white and one black one that are maybe 4-5 months old.  There is another muted calico that appears to be 6-7 weeks old also.  I don't want them left there alone.  No idea what to do with them, but I just can't have them there.

Skinny Minnie is still here, and I am praying another friend will try to get her into Scottsville Animal Hospital.  I just can't have extra cats around with my lifestyle, full time job, and now FIVE KITTENS that I have to go and get this morning.  They will go into the walk in clinic on Saturday to determine sex, figure out whats going on with their eyes, and then we go from there.  Uggg.

That's it in a nutshell.  I am planning on being at 196 Pennsylvania Avenue near the public market - this is the empty lot that I received a garden permit for - to stake out what will be the garden, which I am figuring will be like 10x8' with some beautiful hardy perennials and some annuals for the remainder of the season.  I am hoping my friends will show to help me!  :)  I plan on being there this Sunday at 11. 

Make it a good day!

Another Rescue!

Cell phone back working.  Turns out, after I received a new phone, it was the battery.  GRRRRR.........

Just to be clear, I don't rescue cats from the street on a whim.  If I did, I would have hundreds.  They are either going to a foster who has offered, or they are going to someone who wants to adopt one.  In rare instances, I get them because they are sick, or in danger.  

Right now I have THREE extra cats in my house.  The pregnant Skinny Minnie that I had spayed on Friday, the one that a friend who previously adopted Sooty from me had said to 'hold on to her - will let you know tomorrow if I can give her a try' - something came up where this friend had to put this plan on hold, and then realizing how tiny and frail she was, I couldn't put her back.  I sure hope she will change her mind and adopt this kitty - Otherwise, I will have to figure out another alternative, even if it means bringing her to a shelter (assuming they are low on cats and knowing this cat is very adoptable, they won't euthanize her).  I CANNOT take on another cat right now. Then this white mother cat who is pregnant and going to be spayed this morning has been in my bathroom since yesterday morning who is VERY sweet, but her babies are still on Niagara, and I must return her to them.  Speaking of, I saw a baby muted calico kitten there this morning, no more than two months old.  :(  SO SAD driving away from this.  

Then we have .................  (drumroll).......

MEET WILLIE!  from Webster and Ferndale.  I have a friend who adopted Webster (since dearly departed), Tigger and Frisco (had the chicken bone stuck in the roof of his mouth and was dying) in the past year, and now she wants Willie.  I am so grateful to her.  He has been waiting for me every single morning at this vacant house, just down from Crazy Maryleigh.  He is NOT A FOLLOWER.  She wanders around this area with cats following her!  All sick and and none fixed.  She is sick.  This is the second morning in a row now that she is just hanging around this corner and when I pull up, she uses her cell phone to either call 911, or pretend she is, and God knows what she is telling them.   I just shake my head, place food and water for the animals that can find it, and drive off.  She comes back an hour or so later and dumps the food and water, even though she has been told not to be on the property, by the police.   I still can't believe the Humane Society never did anything about the situation on her street, with her burying cats and kittens.  At least I got another cat out of there.  He was an easy catch.

Needless to say, its a little hectic in my house right now.

WILLIE from Webster/Ferndale

Another friend, her husband was the one that built that beautiful wooden shelter, with a cat face cut out for the entrance, drove to the property where ANGRY TIM destroyed it on, and got the pieces for her husband to rebuild.  She ran into Tim apparently, and here is what she had to tell me:

"I picked up the pieces this afternoon..pat will look at it when he gets home...looks like he can put it back together...Tim was there and agitated...I think you will continue to have a serious problem with him...he's adamant that he doesn't want them fed there...says it attracts skunks that spray on his house..he also claims his brother is going to buy the lot..I hope he doesn't try to poison them"

I am so disgusted in this man.  Would he get his brother to buy the land?  After I invest my time in trying to make the lot pretty?  Would he be that desperate to get me out of there?  I hate this man.  I would love to buy it myself, just to stop this.

Look what else I did yesterday:  I went over and took pictures of the kittens that will be in my care after tomorrow morning.  These are the kittens that the mother cat had, her second litter, and the woman that has the cat and kittens is not able to care for them, so I will be taking custody, and having mom fixed this coming Tuesday.  HELP. 

A woman who adopted Domino from me last year is helping me this Saturday by taking these kittens to the walk in clinic hours so that their eyes can be checked out.  She is helping me immensely as I have to be somewhere for nearly the entire day on Saturday.

Sunday at 11:00, I am hoping a bunch of friends will come by 196 (vacant lot next door to #202) Pennslvania Avenue - near Fourth Street - near the public market - to help me sketch out a plan for the garden I have been granted a permit to build here.  This will help those cats immensely.  Thanks to everyone who has supported me through all my endeavors.  I REALLY COULD NOT do it without you.

Have a nice day!

~Martin Luther King

Gotcha!

Yesterday didn't start out well.  I wondered why my alarm didn't go off on my cell phone at 3:15 a.m. (I had already been awake since 2:45, but I set it JUST IN CASE).  It was dead.  No cell, no text messages.  What would we do without our cellies?  Well, we survive, barely.  :)  Then my car was dropped off at Goodyear due to the very loud muffler sound, and I received the diagnosis that morning of a certain pipe underneath that costs $500 and with labor, would be $600.  I just finished paying them $600 for brake lines earlier in July.  I asked them to see about patching it up, which they said they could try, and it cost me $40.  My car is 10 years old.  Its now patching up time.  I can't afford a monthly $200+ car payment.  Pretty sad, but its true.  New cell is on its way, after I filed ANOTHER insurance claim on it.  Its a junky cell phone. The cheapest you can get, almost.  $25 deductible.  Uggh.

CLICK ON THE PICS TO VIEW UP CLOSE

Well look who I snatched up this morning?  I stopped, as I always do, at Niagara JUST TO CHECK ON THE WATER and to try to make nice with the white momma kitty who had three white and one black kittens in the springtime.  Its not one of my regular spots, but the girl that cares for them here doesn't come every day, and the raccoons get to the water and food and they have nothing until she returns, so I try my best to go there.  This mommy is pregnant again, or at least she looks and feels like it.  She came up to me when I was placing some wet food down for her, coaxing her, and I had the carrier waiting for her standing up just a few feet away.  I had one appointment for TNR for tomorrow, Thursday, so I said, let me get her, and WHAM!  Got her.  She is scared to death in my bathroom, but safe, and won't be having any more babies.  She is gorgeous, very dirty, but gorgeous.  She has one blue eye, and one gold.  I feel terrible taking her away from her babies for two whole days, but it has to be done.  Besides, I've only seen one white and one black kitten.  Have no idea what happened to the other two white kittens.  So sad.

It was heartbreaking to drop Markie, the big red male on Melville, and Trixie back off at Third and Central this morning after I had them neutered and spayed yesterday.  Trixie still had milk in her ducts, and not sure where her babies are.  She was barely a year old.  She followed my truck when I slowly drove away.  I felt like I was abandoning a cat.  In reality, I was, but who can take her?  I still have Skinny Minnie in my house as an extra.  On Friday evening, when I had a bunch of girls over for wine (anyone was welcome!), one of the girls told me she would consider taking her if I could keep her over the weekend, but turns out she changed her mind due to 'unforeseen circumstances.'  So I am 'stuck' with Skinny Minnie until I can find her a home.  Its so unfair, having to turn loose these animals back to the streets.  They don't deserve it.  They deserve homes.  Somewhere to be safe, fed and loved.  this is why its so important to TNR, so that we aren't allowing these animals to reproduce and reproduce.  Our goal is to reduce the suffering by reducing the population.  That's why I could slap that Brenda.  She is the reason I do what I do.  She allows her cat to continue to have kittens.  There ought to be a law.

I am excited for my garden plot on the lot on Pennsylvania near Fourth.  I left a note for Julio, giving him fair warning that I received the permit and would begin planning on Sunday.  I enlisted the help of a few friends, and I will stake out where the garden will go in this lot.  I am sure it will be pretty once its all done.  My aim is to keep these cats that have established their home here safe and fed and sheltered through the harsh weather.  Their huts will be barely visible from the street, and hopefully designed well enough that they wouldn't be an eyesore even without a garden hiding it.  The next obstacle is for Tim to know.  He is the monster that destroyed the other shelters there on Sunday morning.  JERK.  I wonder how he will react.

Thats it for today.  Just the usual spiel.  Have a good one.

"Never give up. There is no such thing as an ending – 

just a new beginning."

TNR Tuesday!

Oh whatta morning!  I got a text from a friend who feeds at Niagara, where the white kitty had three white and one black babies in the spring.  She said she and another woman trapped last night and got two pregnant females.  I am hoping one is the white one, who IS pregnant, but I haven't seen her in three days now.  But I saw baby white kitten this morning.  Just one.  There is an apartment building across the street where there is a nasty man who won't allow the multiple cats that live over there to be fed through a gate.  The apartment complex is Susan B. Anthony, between Niagara and 1st Streets on Central Park.  The owners/manager of the place needs to be contacted and advised of the situation, so that the people trying to help, by getting these cats fixed, can do so in peace.  The dozen or so cats that are at this location need to be spayed, fed and sheltered.  Bottom line.  We need these ignorant people to wake up.

I started off not quite sure of my plan for TNR today.  Well, I take that back.  I had figured on Brenda from Second Street's PREGNANT for the SECOND TIME cat - as she promised me yesterday morning she would be ready to put the cat in the carrier when I came around and let me take it to be spayed today.  I knew in the back of my mind that this probably wouldn't happen, but I did try.  I pulled up, sure enough, she is sitting there in the front, with the cat, and a couple of other women.  She said 'you ain't taking my cat and having her babies killed."  She agreed yesterday, when she was sober.  Today, you could tell she wasn't quite as sober.  After a bit of pleading, arguing and telling her some facts about the situation with kittens in this city (again), I got into my car and drove off, disgusted in her, telling her I would never help her again.  (I had given her a full bag of cat food again yesterday after she asked me for some).  This kind of mentality drives me crazy.  I can understand not wanting these unborn kittens aborted, but there are many other HUGE factors that make this the right and humane thing to do.  If you question it, let me know, I will give you some of those on the next blog.

Trixie from Third

Markie Mark

Markie Mark from Melville

I trapped a beautiful sweet red boy with some injuries to his face on Melville, so I started off the morning right.  One down, one to go.  After realizing I wasn't getting Brenda's cat, I went to Third Street, and behind me heard MEOW.  I looked, and it was a cat that walked up to me behind Second Street last week, with a pretty pink collar on, and had recently given birth.  Sure enough, there she as on Third and Central, and I grabbed her.  Hooray!  So off they go to get fixed, and put back tomorrow.  It KILLS me to do, but I must.  Unless someone will take them!  :(

Well, if anyone read my blog from a day or two ago (or was it yesterday?), I mentioned how I applied for a garden permit with the city of Rochester between Julio's house and Tim's house, because neither of them really want the cats there, but that is their home, and I will do whatever I have to to help these animals.  So, I go to the NET office yesterday on my lunch and bring the application I filled out and faxed early last week, because the officers on Sunday told me this might speed things up if I went there.  I did, and I met a kind older black woman who after a few minutes of conversation - telling her what I wanted to do (plant a pretty garden in this bleak area of that street) she said 'oh, you are the cat lady!', which I chuckled ...  I do not consider myself the cat lady.  No no no.  She went on to tell me how bad the area she lives in is.  Anyways, she told me that if I didn't hear anything soon, to call another woman at such and such number.

I got home from work and guess what was in the mail???????????????????  The permit!!!  WOO HOO!!!  I haven't had time to process this, but I am putting out a plea now for help and volunteers.  It wouldn't take more than an hour of your time to help me establish a raised bed in the middle of this lot, add soil, some perennials for blooming in the spring, and some mulch perhaps.  But I need to work on this soon.  Any one have a rototiller?  Anyone willing to donate some topsoil?  Anyone willing to donate some bulbs and plants for right now?  Anyone willing to meet me there some Sunday morning SOON and help me?  I would be forever grateful to you for this help, as it means that I can now be on that property legally, and won't have my shelters trashed without someone being arrested for vandalism (Tim).   Please consider helping me, I really need it.

Have a great day.

"To be hopeful in bad times is based on the fact that human history is not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand Utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."

Good Times, Bad Times

You know I've had my share....  LED ZEPPLIN.  Yes.  :)

This weekend was crazy up and down with emotion.  I did have some good times, with friends coming over, some laughs, a lot of wine, but unfortunately, there were some sad and mad moments too.

Saturday morning I was honored with a new friend to ride along with me - she wanted to see first hand what I do each and every day.  She arrived at 4 am. and off we went.  At my first REAL shelter, I was greeted by the twins, and the fluffy boy, as usual, but as I was pouring the food down, June pointed to something and I turned around and right next to me, on top of the shelter, was a baby kitten, no older than four weeks old, with eyes completely covered in something, or so it looked to me in the dark.  I immediately scooped it up and placed it in my carrier in the car.  I then went about my regular route, I had to, but my heart was pounding upon finding this little creature.  At one of the further spots, as we stood there in the dark on Garson, we heard gunshots, in the distance, but gunshots nevertheless.  I looked at June and told her 'this is not the norm'!  You came on an odd morning, usually its very quiet"!

When I got home, I immediately made the decision that this kitten needed to be seen so off it went to the Emergency Vets office and after diagnosis of a corneal perforated ulcer in both eyes

Definition
A complicated corneal ulcer is one that has additional factors present which are not only delaying the normal healing response but have the potential to cause further deterioration of the cornea. These factors can be intrinsic or acquired. Sepsis is the most common acquired reason which can directly destroy the cornea as well as by stimulation of intrinsic "self destruct" mechanisms (collagenase). In addition, other complications of septic ulcers are uveitis and cataract.

, the vet recommended euthanasia.  She told me that the little boy was suffering and in a great deal of pain.  I agreed, knowing I could never care for this animal with its needs, and financially, down the road, it would have to endure surgery, eye removal, etc.  All sorts of testing.  With what I do on a daily basis, I just couldn't do it, not to mention afford it.  The visit alone was $300.  This entire thing was heartbreaking to me, the tears flowed most of the morning.  I will never forget this baby that had such a short life, and most of it spent in pain.  God rest his tiny soul.

On Sunday morning, I received a message from someone - Julio - on Pennsylvania Ave telling me that he 'didn't like threats and that he would call animal control and the police because of the shelters on the city lot.'  I thought, well, I had better go over there.  As I pulled up, there was Tim, the black guy that lives on the other side of this city lot where I moved my stuff to last week, smashing to smithereens my shelters, including the beautifully designed wooden hut made for me last year by a friend and her husband.  I got out of the car in a rage, and immediately called 911.  Tim had a hammer in his hand and I thought he was going to come at me.  He was in a rage also.   Tim finally left and went back into his house.  After 15 mins. or so, the cops showed up and I knew what they would tell me. Its a city lot, he has just as much right to this lot as I do, which is about zilch, and that I should find another location for the shelters.  They certainly did not understand that you can't just move eight+ cats that have depended on these shelters and food here for at least five years now.  I tried to explain the situation, but they just kept reciting the law to me.  I cried.  I knew I was defeated.  They tried to talk to Tim, but he wouldn't answer the door.  I mentioned to them that I had applied for a garden permit just last week to care for this lot, but hadn't heard back.  They told me to go to the NET office for this, told me the address, and said they may be able to hurry the permit along.  I would have no problem if this were granted.  I don't think I will get it because I need a group to back me up, like boy scouts or something.  Needless to say, this was a nightmare at the time.  This morning, whats left of what we put back in the lot was still there this morning.  The cats were all waiting for me.

This is the pregnant cat I picked up on Parsells Friday morning.  She was spayed, and now needs a home desperately.  I call her skinny Minnie.  She is so thin and dainty.  And sweet and loving.  I just could not put her back on the street.  Please please spread the word about her. 

I ran into Brenda on Second Street this morning.  She came over to me in the dark.  I greeted her by telling her I was upset with her due to her response to me when I came to get her cat that had given birth months prior to take to clinic for spaying.  She was very drunk and said she changed her mind.  This time, she told me, as the cat sat just a distance from us, that it was pregnant again.  I gave her a stern lecture, and I think she has agreed to let me take the cat tomorrow.  I told her I would pull up in her driveway with a carrier and she must get the cat into it.  I have two appointments for tomorrow for TNR.  I did not bargain to have Brenda's cat tomorrow as one of the spots to fill, there are just so many I need to do.  I need to also check on the mother cat on Trust Street, across from Miss B's house, that has five newborn kittens.  As soon as they are weaned, the momma cat goes in for spay, and I take the five kittens, that I have no clue what I will do with.  But they can't remain with this woman, who can't even care for the mother cat.  Sad, but true.

Speaking of, I have not seen the white cat on Niagara nor her baby.  And white cat is pregnant.  I spotted a few of the kittens on 7th Street.  I also continue to see the hernia cat each morning on Ferndale and Webster, waiting for food to be placed there.  Crazy Maryleigh continues to come by this property, where she has been told by police not to trespass on, and empty the bowls later in the morning.  I went to her neighbor's house yesterday, Mary, who was in the process of getting her stuff together to move.  She told me her husband was arrested and is facing four years on auto theft.  Said someone gave him $15 to do something with a car, and turned out to be stolen.  What people do for drugs is beyond me.  She said it was better that he is gone, that its just her and her son now.  I didn't get into it.  I got hot and bothered when she pointed out one of her beautiful dogs that was pregnant.  I told her the situation in shelters, and she didn't care because 'she loves babies.'  I told her to keep in touch.  No sign of Crazy Mary the past few days.

Thats it in a nutshell.  I could go on and on but must get to work!

Have a good day.

I'M STILL HERE 

Friend, please don’t mourn for me

I’m still here, though you don’t see.

I’m right by your side each night and day

and within your heart I long to stay.

My body is gone but I’m always near.

I’m everything you feel, see or hear.

My spirit is free, but I’ll never depart

as long as you keep me alive in your heart.

I’ll never wander out of your sight-

I’m the brightest star on a summer’s night.

I’ll never be beyond your reach-

I’m the warm moist sand when you’re at the beach.

I’m the colorful leaves when fall comes around

and the pure white snow that blankets the ground.

I’m the beautiful flowers of which you’re so fond,

The clear cool water in a quiet pond.

I’m the first bright blossom you’ll see in the spring,

The first warm raindrop that April will bring.

I’m the first ray of light when the sun starts to shine,

and you’ll see that the face in the moon shine is mine.

When you start thinking there’s no one to love you,

you can talk to through the Lord up above you.

I’ll whisper my answer through the leaves on the trees,

and you’ll feel my presence in the soft summer breeze.

I’m the hot salty tears that flow when you weep

and the beautiful dreams that come while you sleep.

I’m the smile you see on a baby’s face.

Just look for me friend, I’m every place!

   

epidemic

[ep-i-dem-ik] /ˌɛp ɪˈdɛm ɪk/ 

• Examples
• Word Origin

adjective

1.

Also, epidemical. (of a disease) affecting many persons at the same time, and spreading from person to person in a locality where the disease is not permanently prevalent.

2.

extremely prevalent; widespread.

noun

3.

a temporary prevalence of a disease.

4.

a rapid spread or increase in the occurrence of something:

an epidemic of riots.

Some mornings are just more exciting than others (if you want to call what I do 'exciting')!!  ??  As I drove to my second location (out of what now....   18?) where I feed an AVERAGE of four cats per spot, I placed the food and water on the steps of a vacant porch on Parsells, where five cats hovered around, including this one, that is now following me back to my car, he desperately wants to get out of there.  My heart breaks.  As I went down the steps to get in the car to go to my next spot, I saw a cat on the sidewalk, mostly white, which some black around her face and tail, and she was hugely pregnant.  I bent down, put my finger out to her, and over to me she came.  I thought to myself, 'ok, you don't have a spot at the clinic, and you can't just walk in there and ask them to take this cat', but I didn't hesitate.  I got the carrier in the back, opened it up, went back to her, and after several times of getting her to come back close to me - of course the wet food I had helped - I was able to grab her by the neck!  BLAM!  Gotcha!  My brain not be too quick, but my hands are.   I was shaking when I got into the drivers seat.  'what was I going to do now?' - I texted Laura, and told her what I'd done, and begged to see if she had an open spot at the clinic I could use.  YES!  She texted me back, and off little PEARL from Parsells will go!

Pregnant Pearl from Parsells

He wants a home so badly!

I know some of you have issues with the spaying of a pregnant cat.  I don't.  It used to bother me, but seeing what I've seen on a daily basis for the past 15 is shocking to me, and the last thing we need is more kittens.  The shelters and rescue groups are FULL of them.  The kill shelters are murdering millions of animals each year because there are too many.  NO WAY.  Not on my watch.  The FIVE kittens on 7th Street - God only knows how long they will live, I still can't get them trapped and into safety.  The white cat on Niagara, I am assuming is pregnant.  Her little ones - first there were three white ones, I see only one now.  Her black kitten is across the street in the parking lot, and they are getting older.  Where did the other two go?  Did they suffer?  Are they suffering?  

Just look at some of these pictures I took this very morning!  (click on them to view up close)

Melville Girl - NEEDS A HOME

Melville Boy - is having a hard time breathing/swallowing

White Kitten on Niagara

Mommy Kitty on Niagara

Mommy and Baby

Cats across the street on Niagara, all starving

I have to sneak food under this fence.

Boy on Ferndale and Webster - NEEDS A HOME!  Very loving!

This is an epidemic in our city.  The City of Rochester, the County of Monroe, someone must do something to help!  We need more volunteers for TNR, we need more low income clinics!  We need the city to pay for this!  Step up and do something!  I CAN'T DO IT ALONE~!  The rescue groups, where they may have MAYBE 5-10 volunteers that do this, WE CAN'T FIX this problem without help!

So many people have been reached out to for help. to get the word out, the get the city to do something, Brother Wease, Rachel Barnhart - many others I can't think of at this moment - but nothing.  These are people who are influential and could make a difference for these animals.  For God's sake, I've been in the newspaper twice, on television twice, had a proclamation by the mayor for Janine Wagner Day in the city of Rochester, and was on the front page of the Democrat and Chronical!  Nothing has changed!  No one will  help!

And we still have a lunatic off Webster Avenue that won't let the cats on her street get help.  they are all sick and diseased, and need spay and neuter.  She is burying their newborns.  And we can't even get the Humane Society to do anything about it.

There is something wrong with this picture.

Please think of something and DO IT.  Help me.

On a better note to end the week, little Squirt, who wandered into my yard a couple of weeks ago, was adopted by my friend Kim, her husband Billy, and their son Brady.  They adopted Harold from me two years ago, from Central Park.  Happy endings, I love them!

Noelle and Squirt!

Kim and Squirt!

Have a nice day.

Three passions have governed my life:

The longings for love, the search for knowledge, 

And unbearable pity for the suffering of [humankind]. 

Love brings ecstasy and relieves loneliness. 

In the union of love I have seen 

In a mystic miniature the prefiguring vision 

Of the heavens that saints and poets have imagined.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge. 

I have wished to understand the hearts of [people]. 

I have wished to know why the stars shine. 

Love and knowledge led upwards to the heavens, 

But always pity brought me back to earth; 

Cries of pain reverberated in my heart 

Of children in famine, of victims tortured 

And of old people left helpless. 

I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, 

And I too suffer. 

This has been my life; I found it worth living.

Thursday Ponderings

Have you ever driven down a city street and seen a cat dart from here to there, into a bush, across a road, in a field, under a porch.  Have you ever even noticed?  Twenty years ago, I wouldn't have noticed, until I opened my eyes to the little things that go unnoticed in our daily lives.

Animal welfare means how an animal is coping with the conditions in which it lives. Ensuring animal welfare is a human responsibility that includes consideration for all aspects of animal well-being, including proper shelter, management, food, spay neuter and shots, responsible care, humane handling, and, when necessary, humane euthanasia.

I do strongly believe that humans have the obligation and responsibility to protect other animals and to provide for them lives free from fear, hunger, or suffering. Humans are the only animals capable of providing these things. We should always try to think of ways to decrease the suffering of animals. If there is a way that all our interests can coincide without infringing on each other, then that is the path we should take.  As humans, we are able to think of ways to not only improve our own lives, but also those of others. 

Its up to everyone.  The city of Rochester is OUR city, whether you live in the suburbs, the country, on the Finger Lakes, our city is still the heartland of the surrounding counties.  These are OUR CATS.  YOUR CATS.

This morning was just like any other, nothing out of the ordinary.  My shelters remained in place in the vacant lot next to JULIO's 'house'.  I didn't see all the kitties that are normally there - its traumatic for this to happen to cats, to have their only 'home' taken away like this jerk did yesterday.  I need help reestablishing this shelter - I need to replace straw, replace the tarps, etc.  There is so much work to do when you are readying a shelter for the winter for these cats. Unfortunately, the totes - styrofoam - were waterlogged, and were of no use to the cats to begin with.  I felt bad as I poured out the rancid water, and wet straw.  Where to these poor babies sleep. 

This is the second morning I have seen head tilted yellow eyed black kitty with a hernia, just waiting for me under a car on Webster and Ferndale - and without ML lurking in the shadows.  I was also able to pet for a while the white kitty on Niagara, and am pretty sure she is pregnant - she looks bloated and her belly feels hard.  I was only able to get two appts. Tuesday, no more this week, so I wasn't able to get her and have her spayed.  We don't have enough vets to offer low cost spay and neuter.  RCAC is convenient to me because I have a full time job on top of trying to do this.  My vehicle is over 10 years old, I can't drive too far without fear of having to spend that extra $500+ work it already needs, so I am just pushing my limits with my cars.

I have only spotted one white kitten out of the white kitty's three original babies, and the little black kitten hangs across the street behind the fence where there is a large apartment complex.  There are a TON of unspayed/unneutered cats behind this fence.  I need help here.  A mass TNR sweep must be done.  There are many females.

I pulled up to my 7th Street location, where I just let the mommy cat back Tuesday evening after I had her spayed to be with her five kittens, and the board that covers the shelters was down, and I did not see one kitten this morning.  Two bowls were missing also.  I am not sure what happened here, but I am hoping they were around, just not visible - its so dark I can only see their illuminated eyes with my flashlight normally.  I need help getting these kittens also. 

Reports on Squirt, Tig, Emmett, Pip, Maizy and Murphy (formally known as Haven and Meadow) are all positive.  They are getting used to their new digs, some faster than others, but all are in good hands.  What a great feeling it is to know you rescued these babies from the streets, socialized them enough to be able to find good homes for them.

Have a good day.

At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done.

We will be judged by 'I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me, I was homeless and you took me in.'

Hungry not only for bread -- but hungry for love. Naked not only for clothing -- but naked for human dignity and respect. Homeless not only for want of a room of bricks -- but homeless because of rejection.

RAGE

The older I get, the more laid back I become.  I am pretty mellow about stuff nowadays, I can brush things off fairly easily.  I have a healthy fear of losing  family member, a friend, and my job, the latter would be devastating due to the only income paying the bills, and all this crazy cat stuff that I do that normally costs me $10,000 plus each year from my own pocket.  The only thing that can enrage me is the jeopardy of the welfare of babies, the elderly, and animals.  Any kind of abuse of one of those three - you just want to lash out and hurt them.  But I couldn't do that, I just want justice. 

These pictures were taken on my way to work.  See below for what happened.

Shelter After Moving to Lot

POS house that trashed my stuff

The aftermath

This morning, on 202 Pennsylvania Avenue, I found all my stuff piled to the curb for trash pick up today.  This has been the home to at least eight cats for the last five plus years.  The boarded up house was just that, boarded up, until last fall when someone was beginning to fix the place up, slowly.  I finally met the man at some point - I can't remember the circumstance, but I told him what I was doing and he asked me to not put food on the porch.  So I didn't.  All the shelters were behind the house against the garage.  This past week I knew he was really at renovating, and possibility of moving in because of new windows, etc.  There is a vacant lot next door, that I have moved my things to in the past, and they were trashed.  The city owns it.  Now, this man, Julio, COULD have moved this stuff, or asked me by leaving a note, to the property next to him.  But he didn't.  He put all of it to the curb.  These eight plus cats have lived here for many years now, all fixed, and endured all sorts of weather and circumstances, thanks to the shelters, and my going there every day and feeding them.  Here comes this guy and destroys everything in the blink of an eye.  HOW IS THIS LEGAL?  We managed to move everything - just about - to the back of the vacant lot next door, call for the missing cats by now, and I went to the truck and got my paper and pen and basically wrote, DEAR JULIO, thanks for your kindness!  My stuff is on city property and if you even touch it, I will have you arrested for vandalism.  And I left my cell number.  I will now drive there before work to get a picture of this makeshift shelter to be sure its recorded.  I really need advice here.  There is no where else to move this stuff, and this is city property that shouldn't have a problem with this.  Its not hurting anyone or anything.  Isn't there someone who has some sway with someone???  To me, THIS IS ANIMAL CRUELTY.

When I came back to take pictures I met a SUPER nice girl that lives across the street, her name is Pam, a kind black girl.  She said the guy is CREEPY.  She threatened to call the police on him after he made some untoward remarks to her.  She took my card and promised to call me if she sees him touch my stuff.

Then there is the other thorn in my side.  I have figured out Crazy Maryleigh Frank's latest MO - she knows when I am going to show up, so she deliberately hangs near the property she has been told by the police not to trespass on, in order to hamper us from trapping the gazillion reproducing cats there - which by the way, she IS killing the newborns and placing them in bags and burying them.  Although last week she called the dead animal pickup, a service the City provides, and they couldn't believe their eyes.  She had a bag of newborns in the bag.  I am sure this can be verified by the call that came in for it last week for Webster Crescent.  Anyways, when I pull up, its like I am herding sheep, I slowly start to drive alongside the sidewalk with her, and she always heads back to her street, and just before the corner, in front of the police camera just above, she dials 911 (although I can't confirm she is really dialling) and reports that I am harassing her.  She continues to empty the food bowls placed on the property where she is banned from when I drive away.  These cats are multiplying and she believes the humane society are Al Qaeda.   She is a sick woman.  If you could see this sight each morning - she walks around and there are at least two that follow her, one being the very sick black cat with the hernia hanging almost to the ground, sucking the very life out of it.  She knows what she is doing, she is very very cunning.  She has got to be stopped.  I still can't believe nothing has been done thus far.  Her neighbor Mary is beside herself.  She will be moving end of July, and will never have gotten this issue she has called about so many times resolved.

The good news is that besides Momma Cat from 7th Street, where her five babies were waiting for her when I released her back there yesterday evening after she had been spayed at the clinic, the other three that were trapped are all now NOT going to be reproducing again either.  Two males, two females. 

Susie

Hebard 

Niagara

Bazza from Baldwin

It was tough letting Bazza go this morning. You can tell he is a sweet cat, a stray, and doesn't really fit in with the others here on Baldwin and Grand - all eight or so here, he has always kept his distance but had just started to trust me, which is how I was able to grab him yesterday and place him in my carrier to go to the clinic for neutering.  This morning, he was petrified.  I hated to let him go.  He deserved a home.

Please consider these animals, and please help me figure out what to do with this one spot.  I need advice, for sure.

Have a good day.

"No matter the situation, never let your emotions overpower your intelligence."