Wednesday

I braved it alone again this morning.  Someone was supposed to be helping me, but he fell asleep and slept through his alarm.  Oh well.  I toughed it out. There are so many cats out there waiting and watching for me.  Nothing unusual happened except on Short Street, every other post on this vacant lot was decorated with a shiny red star.  Really weird considering how there are barely any humans living on this very short street, let alone kids.  Just run down houses either vacant, or rentals. 

Thanks to June for going with me on Monday.   As we were finishing up on Fourth Street, there was a car ahead that stopped before the stop sign and wasn't moving.  This black man got out of the car and began walking toward me in the truck.  He called out 'can I use your phone?' and went on to explain that he had just found a handgun laying in the street and he wanted to call police.  So, I dialed 911 for him and handed him the phone.  He explained the situation, told the operator that he had the gun wrapped up on his front seat and that he would be sitting on the side of the street waiting.  He was smart.  And careful.  I told him I saw him get out of his car and pick something up before I pulled up behind him and if he needed a witness, to call me.  I handed him my card.  He thanked me, I drove off and finished up just at the end of Fourth Street and Bay.  I drove back to Fourth and Central to see if cops had arrived, and yes, they surely did.  All four cars!  He gave me the thumbs up as I drove past him and I never heard from him so assumed all went well.  Scary though.  If it hadn't been him driving, it would have been me that found it.  It was light out at this time.

Never a dull moment.

Lets not forget Bailey who needs a home.  Spread the word!  Sweet girl.

Have a great day!

Max

To the rescue!  Thanks Max for coming out with me this morning.  Max is a night owl.  He studies at the U of R and the lab he works in is open only from 12:30 pm. to midnight on certain days.  So he doesn't mind staying up late so he can sleep all morning on the days he can go into the lab.  He is a brain, studying sperm whales, or something or other.  Went to Harvard.  He bought a house here in Rochester when he migrated from Boston to attend college.  Max is also my foster dad.  I cannot  remember how he heard about me.  Max?  He currently has a mother and five kittens that he was kind enough to help a neighbor with, that is now in my rescue.  I just shake my head yes when my fosters say, can I take in under your rescue?  What can I say.  I can't say no to an animal in need.  So thats that.  Anybody want a kitten?

Hopefully picture of Momma Kitty coming soon!

It was rather quiet and boring for Max and his first time out wandering around in the dark feeding cats.  We did see a hooker though, but Max said it wasn't his first time seeing one - he lives near Lyell Avenue!

I am running out of food again.  I just spent $240 on 16 small bags from Chewy.  That's ridiculous.  If anyone is so inclined, if you would kindly order nothing more than the 25 lb. bags, that would be best.  The 30+ pounds are SO HEAVY for me to drag/carry/sling over my shoulder.  Thank you!  And I sure can use those larger sized cans of wet food.  They are so much more convenient.

Welp, thanks for reading, and have a great day!

Lonesome Cowgirl

That's me, I braved it on my own today.  I went out to feed at all my locations all by my lonesome self.  And I survived!  I am doing this an hour later though, than my normal time, because half way through the route, it is starting to get lighter, so that makes it much more safe, and I can see around me.  To think I couldn't do this even with another person a year ago due to the two surgeries I had within months apart - first in February breaking my ankle and tibula, and then the hip surgery in May.  I was a wreck.  Now, 20 pounds lighter, and feeling great, I am back to my old self.  OLD is the key word here.  I do feel old, but am much more flexible than I ever was.

Once in a while, you see cop cars blocking streets in the city.  This morning it was between Denver and Stout on Parsells.  I have a feeding spot in between there so I asked the cop if I could get in but he said no, something about search warrants...  So, those kitties did not get fed today.  I feel bad.  Its a house where you literally have to sneak behind.  The shelters have remained there since the cat friendly family moved, but one was destroyed, and the house and yard is a mess since the new tenants moved in.  Maybe it was their house involved in the search warrant.

Busy weekend.  I delivered Flopsy and Cotton to their new and forever family yesterday.  The kids were SO excited to get them.  I received the following pics today from their dad...

So that's a great thing!  This week/weekend the other two siblings of that bunch, Mopsy and Peter, will be delivered to their new homes.  Surgeries pending, of course!

Have a great day!

"The weak can never forgive.  

Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."

No Cat Day!

Me in Colorado - I was barely 16! 
And not even THINKING about cats!

Completely veering off track today.  I'm feeling a bit blue.  Found this while cleaning out stuff...  Just a good reminder for all of us.



On the day I die a lot will happen.

A lot will change.

The world will be busy.

On the day I die, all the important appointments I made will be left unattended.

The many plans I had yet to complete will remain forever undone.

The calendar that ruled so many of my days will now be irrelevant to me.

All the material things I so chased and guarded and treasured will be left in the hands of others to care for or to discard.

The words of my critics which so burdened me will cease to sting or capture anymore. They will be unable to touch me.

The arguments I believed I’d won here will not serve me or bring me any satisfaction or solace.

All my noisy incoming notifications and texts and calls will go unanswered. Their great urgency will be quieted.

My many nagging regrets will all be resigned to the past, where they should have always been anyway.

Every superficial worry about my body that I ever labored over; about my waistline or hairline or frown lines, will fade away.

My carefully crafted image, the one I worked so hard to shape for others here, will be left to them to complete anyway.

The sterling reputation I once struggled so greatly to maintain will be of little concern for me anymore.

All the small and large anxieties that stole sleep from me each night will be rendered powerless.

The deep and towering mysteries about life and death that so consumed my mind will finally be clarified in a way that they could never be before while I lived.

These things will certainly all be true on the day that I die.

Yet for as much as will happen on that day, one more thing that will happen.

On the day I die, the few people who really know and truly love me will grieve deeply.

They will feel a void.

They will feel cheated.

They will not feel ready.

They will feel as though a part of them has died as well.

And on that day, more than anything in the world they will want more time with me.

I know this from those I love and grieve over.

And so knowing this, while I am still alive I’ll try to remember that my time with them is finite and fleeting and so very precious—and I’ll do my best not to waste a second of it.

I’ll try not to squander a priceless moment worrying about all the other things that will happen on the day I die, because many of those things are either not my concern or beyond my control.

Friends, those other things have an insidious way of keeping you from living even as you live; vying for your attention, competing for your affections.

They rob you of the joy of this unrepeatable, uncontainable, ever-evaporating Now with those who love you and want only to share it with you.

Don’t miss the chance to dance with them while you can.

It’s easy to waste so much daylight in the days before you die.

Don’t let your life be stolen every day, by all that you’ve been led to believe matters, because on the day you die—the fact is that much of it simply won’t.

Yes, you and I will die one day.

But before that day comes: let us live.

Have a nice day.

More Kittens!

Thank you JUNE BUG.  She braved the dark and met me at my house at 4 am. to go out and get the feeding done.  I thank you so much June.  The company is what I appreciate most.  It was a rather uneventful morning, but I did try to trap the petite yet pregnant black cat on the corner of Stout and Grand, thanks to a very kind woman named Carols Ferals who offered to get her into vet this Friday.  She was there, but the problem is, so were at least five other starving cats just waiting to go into the trap that was set just for her.  So I had to walk away.  She just wouldn't go in with so much competition.  Hopefully Carols Ferals can help with this.  She is ready to burst.

And now for kitten pics.  The ones below were photographed by a friend and former foster and adopter, Jennifer.  Jennifer has kindly offered to help me with the flood of emails requesting kittens that I get on a daily basis.  She will screen, and set up meet and greets to find homes for these babies.  And the ones below are just a small handful of what we have available.  The hits just keep on coming.

These kittens being fostered by Estelle:

Kittens below being fostered by Cyndy:

Cricket

Cricket

James

Jesse

Jiminy

Jiminy and Cricket

These kittens below are unnamed and being fostered by Max:

Good lord.

Have a great day.

"Its not 

what you say 

to everyone else

that determines

your life;

its what

you whisper

to yourself that has

the greatest power."

Kittens Galore

My foster Max saw a plea in NextDoor for help with mom and kittens in his neighborhood.  Well...  Max to the rescue.  He reached out to me to ask if he could help her through my rescue.  What could I say.  Three more.

We now have 31 kittens in our care at the moment.  We have 8 kittens currently scheduled outside that number that are in their new homes, and surgeries scheduled.  They are scheduled at Caring for Cats and with the surgery and vaccines, etc., its costing me $145 per cat/kitten.  My adoption fee is $140 per kitten.  I'm losing money.  RCAC was closed for many months, and many cats on the streets had babies, and there are lots of them.  The clinic is now open but their prices rose.

Not to mention, I am bombarded with requests for adoption that I can't get through in a timely manner.  I'm a one man band.  I could use some help actually with this.  Someone to screen, set up appointments for meet and greets with the kittens at the foster homes.  Anyone?

I didn't get any offers of help going forward with the feeding out there, and I am thinking about this and its very sad.  I am not blaming anyone - who wants to go out that early in the morning?  I get that.  But its sad for the cats.  I usually go out on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturdays, but I didn't go out today.   I've cut back because I just don't have the energy and its very costly to feed close to 60 pounds of dry cat food alone at over 20 locations.

Sorry, I might be feeling just a tad sorry for myself - but really the cats out there - today.  I started this myself and will have to end it myself, someday.  Soon.

That's all I have.  I'll end this on a happy note.

Some more saved kittens!

Thanks Max!  Have a great day everyone!

Help Wanted (Needed)

Good morning!  Thank you Kristin for coming with me today to help me feed many many many hungry cats.  Including one very pregnant one on Grand and Stout. 

I am sharing some personal information with you that I wouldn't normally do, but I am looking for help with feeding on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.  As you all know, Kings has been helping me for many years now, and has been my rock when it comes to helping me with so many things, I am now coming to realize.   I am so thankful for his help through many thicks, and thins. We are no longer together and I am not comfortable with going on my own, in the dark, into this area of our city.  Not that its dangerous, but because no female should be anywhere alone in the dark.  I know I used to do this by myself for God knows how many years, but I can't anymore.  Kristin arrived this morning at 4 am. which wasn't bad, because by 5 it was getting light out.   We were done by 5:30 am. It takes about 1.5 hours and involves walking, bending down, and petting a cat here and there.  I am willing to pay the right person.  Even if three people offered one day a week, I would be ever so grateful.  Think about it!  A chance to be with me!!  :)



We now have nearly 30 kittens in my rescue.

Here is a sneak preview of some:

Jiminy, Cricket, Jesse and James!

I just cannot believe it.  Someone reminded me that I vowed not to do kittens this year.  I had so many last year it was just horrible.  Kittens are a LOT of work, and very expensive.  So far this last batch of four from Garson cost me $1500.  And that wasn't even for the regular spay/neuter and shots!  Kristin is fostering six - two already pending adoption together, Sue is fostering 14 - out of those, nine are pending adoption?, Cyndy is fostering four, and Estelle is fostering five.   Its bananas.

Other than that, that's all I got.

"That which does not kill us 

makes us stronger."

Bananas!

What an insane weekend.  I don't even know where to begin.  Let's start on Saturday.

Saturday Sheryl and I went out faithfully at 4:30 am. (Sheryl won't come any earlier) and made our way to each stop where we dutifully fed and watered at each of the locations where my shelters are set up, and where very hungry cats are waiting.  Once we got to Central, where Sheryl gets out to feed and I scour the area from the safety of my locked truck for any crazy people lurking in the shadows, I noticed her coming back with intent to tell me something.  Sure enough, she told me there was a kitten in a shelter.

So I said with dread 'ok, lets go get it.'  Grab the carrier and off we went.  We realized we would have to remove some very heavy 6ft. boards and remove the giant tarp (this is a large shelter), and boy was that gross.  The bugs, the years of soot mixed with water, yuck.  We had blocked of the opening you see above so that whatever was in there could not escape.  Once we were able to pry open the top of the shelter, there was this little one huddled in a corner, all by itself.  So we scooped it up and rebuilt the shelter.  Not an easy feat to do either.

Fast forward, Sheryl took kitten to her house so that I could find time to get someone to foster.  Sure enough, Kristin reached out as she has three babies and little Billy could join them so he wouldn't be all alone.  Kristin also was concerned that maybe there were more there that we didn't see so off she went with her husband Sunday morning to scope it out - taking apart the shelter again and looking, but they did not find any kittens.  Thanks guys for doing that. 

Here is little Billy, scared and alone, right after rescue:

Adorbs.  And let me tell you, I already have a gazillion applications in for this little one.  Sorry folks.  He is scared right now still but will come around.

Then the riots started in the city later that day.  Then I started to get texts that night and early morning telling me to be careful.  I knew nothing about it until I turned on the news late that night to watch the coverage.  Bananas.  People are nuts.  As if we don't have enough going on in our world right now and as if our law enforcement don't have enough on their hands.  Professional rioters, and I am sure a few locals looking for a thrill were involved as well.

Friday I had to rush little Lulu to the emergency vet.  Guess how much her overnight stay and treatment was...  $980.  And remember a month prior, I had to take her and her siblings in to the same Emergency for treatment of vomiting, etc.  That was another $500.  Lulu was lethargic and come to find out had a temp of 105.  I brought her home Saturday morning and nursed her through the day and night spoon feeding her and taking her temp.  It was down thank god and she was eating the baby food but was still weak.  By Sunday, she had a little more pep.  Her adoptive family came over and brought her home and nothing but good news!  Here she is with her human big sister...  Gianna.  And her new name is Scout!

Snowball went to his new home on Saturday as well.  He is loving life!  Here he is relaxing with his new big sister!

Finally, Jake and Ernie went to their new homes on Saturday.  From what I hear about the care they are getting, this adoptive younger couple are really great parents.  Doting and loving on them.  They sit and watch their every move and are totally in love.  It was hard for me to let them go.  Such sweeties.

And that's all I have for now!!

Have a great day

"Enjoy the little things in life, because one day you will look back, and realize they were the big things."