Let the Bashing Begin

So let me share a little bit on what lengths I have to go through to be allowed to feed homeless starving animals that also need shelter from our weather in the city, from weather we had like this past winter for example. This POS, who did allow me to place shelters for many years now against the side of his rental property in the city, has written the following dialogue.  I hope you don't read into my responses other than anything but trying to be as kind as possible without puking from disgust.  I obviously tried to deflect from his vile comments, while still maintaining my dignity, I think.

>>> I asked  you  to scale  down  the  cat  shacks;  1 -   4  ft   area    ..............&   you  owe  me  a  message   for  rent......lol

>>

>>> Hey Mike!!!  I did scale down from when you asked me last.  AND I did send you a message the next day asking if it was acceptable what I did. 

>>>

>>> You know I appreciate SO much what you are allowing me to do.  There are so many kitties at that spot that depend on those shelters from the storms, the horrible winter weather we have, and they need a place where their food will stay dry during those storms.  I don't know how much I can scale back. 

>>>

>>> And PS, if you really want me to give you a little $ each month, I would be happy to.  I will also weed around there if you would like.  TELL me what you would like me to do.  I am SO grateful to you.  :) !  :)

>> got  no  e mails;    they   don't really  use  it;   they  live  inside  &  underneath my garage..............I suggested  a   leg  rub  or  back  massage.......I ache   a  lot  from  work

>> Tell ya what.  I got a gift certificate to Massage Envy in Webster.  I have next Friday off, I can book a massage for us both? And yes, they do use those shelters, it kept them alive over the winter.  And the board lean to protects the food every single day from the weather.  Let me know if you want to get a massage with me on Friday, my treat! 

anothr  appt  to   go to;   it  becomes   more  work; wanted  something informal in the comfort of  my home..........how  much money  per month ?

> Well, lets see Mike, I spend $10,000 + to feed and sterilize nearly

> 100 cats each year in that second of the city, I make a lowly

> secretarial wage that I am just barely able to pay my bills.  You tell

> me how much you would like me to pay you each month, and I will see if

> I can come up with it.  :)

you're  the  one  that  offered;   I gave  you  a  chance  to  put  a number on it;   now  you're  turning it  back  on me  with   the propaganda;  Lets  make  it  simple.   Get  the stuff out  of  there  within a  week   or  I'll be  putting  it  on the  curb  next  wed.   PLease  no further  discussion

MY FINAL WORD: Wow Mike. I don't know when you decided that you didn't like me (or why), or care for the fact that these animals have depended on me and that shelter on that street for so long, but that’s a very mean thing to do, to them.

Do you really want to live the last half of your life knowing you were cruel to a person who is only trying to help animals and didn’t do anything to you except try to be your friend?  And to take it out on the cats? 

I will do as you ask.  I am a peaceful person.  

This is one example of what I have to go through to help animals - with people that are not all there.  Why can't the city help, and provide safe places for me in the vacant lots for me to feed in?  We are doing a service to this community!  By spaying and neutering, these cats won't multiply and will eventually die out, naturally.  Read this - it tells you HOW TNR works for the community!  http://www.alleycat.org/casefortnr

MEL from Melville Street

FANNY from Ferndale

Its TNR Tuesday, and I trapped two cats this morning.  One on Ferndale/Webster, the other on Merrill Street.  What a CRRRRAZZZZY morning it was too.  First, I placed a trap on Parsells where I have rescued many a sweet kitty, and TNR'd four now, I believe.  I placed it under the tree where I've been feeding, just outside of what I thought was LISA's 'old' house (she USED to live in the back apartment of this house, or so I thought).  I drove off to feed at my next spot, and drove back only to find Lisa standing over the trap.  I got out, said Hi Lisa!  She was standing there holding a hammer.  She asked what the trap was for, I said to trap the kitties.  She said What For?  I said to Spay and Neuter them.  She said What For?  Then she started with her gobbledygook conversation - Lisa has some mental issues, she is certifiable.  She is as sweet as can be at times, but also mostly incoherent, and she has been known to torture animals.  I don't think she thinks in her mind she is torturing them, she is just crazy.  Anyways, no sense in talking to her, or arguing with her, so I took the trap and drove off to place it at Ferndale (which is where Crazy Marilee lives around the corner from).  I went back to place food down where Lisa lives because these cats are hungry, and I was going to place them further down the street, but here comes Lisa again.  No hammer this time.  She asked me if I could take her to Wegmans to get something to drink.  I told her I was on my route, but if she allowed me to place the food down for the cats, and she doesn't touch them, I would bring her back something.

Anyways, this is all the time I have for today.  There is so much to report out there.  I will need to move the shelters on Hayward to a spot where I think I can relocate the kitties to, if they will learn to go there.  I am  hoping to get some help to move these very heavy shelters on to the back of my Jeep, if they will fit, and place them in this different spot.  Its such a hardship for these animals, because I feed at least five that are visible there.   Here we go again.

Have a nice day.

"For better or worse, our future will be determined in large part by our dreams and by the struggle to make them real."

A Raccoon, A Rat, and A Rabbi Walk Into A Bar

Sorry, I tried all weekend to think of a good joke here, but just couldn't.  The only thing I did not see this weekend was a rabbi.  I did, however, see my share of raccoons and rats.  I had to remove a very large rat from my walking path at 7th Street, he was dead, and right in the way.  Gross.  I had a very large bug stuck in my hair this morning.  Gross.  As I have said, what I do is totally gross sometimes, mainly in the spring and summer months, when every creepy crawler is out there.  Waiting for me.  Ready to jump out at me at a moments notice.

All night long it rained, and poured, then rained, and rumbles of thunder and bright streaks of lightening filled the sky.  I got up at my usual 3 am. and prayed that it would stop for me when I had to leave the house at 4:15.  Wouldn't you know it, it did.

Some good news from the weekend is I heard from Barney's new mom and she reports:  Barney is being very good, using the litter box and coming upstairs and being friendly.  Thank GOD for this.  I was so nervous and upset about this situation, that he would be returned.

Wubbles is doing good from what I hear also.  I picked Frisco up from my sister's on Saturday, and he has been spending his time lazing about in the front bedroom.  He is very lonely.  I've put up a wooden open slatted gate in the doorway for him to sniff at the other cats from the other side, but can't leave him like that because cats have a tendency to jump pretty far up, and over it, so I must watch him at all times.  And I don't have a lot of time to watch him, so for a few minutes here and there, he can see the other kitties and get used to them.  I am praying someone comes along soon and adopts, or offers to foster him.  He is a nice boy.  He walked up to me three Sundays ago with a chicken bone lodged in the roof of his mouth, no way to swallow.  He surely would have died.  I am still waiting to see his gratitude though.  He has not warmed up to me the way he did with my sister, but it will come in time.  I think he is leery of me, even though I consider myself the cat whisperer.  :)

I've been feeding this beautiful cat above on my way home each morning now.  If you click on the picture, you can see her a little bit better.  Its hard to get a picture of her.  She get just so close and gets scared, but the whole time I am there she is crying.  She is absolutely beautiful.  I have two spots at the clinic tomorrow, she might be one of them.  I HATE putting her back on the street though.  This really does suck, what I have to do, but it must be done.  I have to just keep putting one foot forward, and forget about my emotions.

Hi George: 

George is the cat in the house that you always seem to trip over.  He is always just RIGHT THERE. 

Don't forget my fundraiser on July 18th.  It should be a lot of fun.  And its for a good cause, if I do say so myself!  Food, music, fun...  LOTS of good raffle items.  Still looking for that second band, but if we don't find it, we will have to resort to my singing.  Just kidding.  Piped in music will be the next choice.  Kristin has revised the flier and I will have a copy to share with you tomorrow.

Have a great day everyone. 

“And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.”

Dedication

As I got back into the car this morning, after I was at my 12th stop, which is at the corner of Central and Third, on the front and back porch of a boarded up house, where the steps are covered in filth, where there is a pile of something really rancid on the side of the house before you go up the steps to the back porch where there are more shelters, I realize how GROSS this mission I am on can be.  I won't publish some of the gross things I've seen and touched, but I thought to myself as I got in, and probably said it out loud, THIS is DEDICATION.  There isn't a day that goes by that I am not out there at 4:15 feeding over 50 cats that I know of, and this morning, 9 extra cats I saw on the side of the streets driving to my normal stops.  Of those 9, 6 were en route home.

Seriously, I saw a cat on the sidewalk driving down Melville Street, so I immediately pulled over.  Hey, you have NO idea if they've eaten in the past 24 hours.  NO IDEA.  So I do it. I once had a girl that was a rescuer/foster that drove with me one morning, I think we may have been trapping, and she said to me when I would see a cat - Janine - you can't pull over each time.  You can't save them all.  Well, yes I can!  And I will continue to do it!  So when I pulled over for this one cat, out of the woodwork comes two more.  I placed two bowls and a water bowl down and drove on.  At the next corner, voila!  Another cat.  I pulled over, and again, two more cats behind that one.  A black kitty, a beautiful white fluff with beautiful black markings.  And another calico.  Of course you just want to take them, but all you can do is feed them and drive off.

We have GOT to do something about this situation.  We need funding, we need more vets to offer low cost services, and we need more people out there willing to trap, and feed these animals.

Please spread the word.  Please do your share to help in this life you've been given.

Last evening I drove Wubby over to her new home.  I was supposed to be there at 6, and if any of you know me I am ALWAYS on time, but most of the time, I am there BEFORE that.  So, it was ten minutes to six, so I pulled off to a side street, unzipped the carrier the crying Wubby was in, and held her in my arms.  I became so attached to this little girl I whisked from Ferndale and Webster that morning three weeks ago.  She was brought to vet for spaying, she was pregnant, and only 7 months old.  The babies were the size of peanuts.  We both became attached to each other, so this was a hard one for me.  She was clingy, and sick for most of the time I had her, but after hundreds of dollars being spent, she was healthy, but scared.  Her new family welcomed her with open arms, and I received a good report this morning.  It was heartwrenching when I left her because I felt like I was abandoning her.  She had immediately gone into hiding when I let her out of her carrier.  This is the same family that adopted Cookie - one of the Robert Wesleyan college kittens. Here is a before, and after pic of Cookie, now named Bella.  And by the way, Wubby is now Wubbles.  :)

Cookie - 5 months

Cookie/Bella - 1 yr. 5 mos!

So to you, Kellie, and all the others that have given a second chance to a cat from the streets, thank you from the bottom of my heart - and theirs, I am sure.

Have a good day.

"Courage, sacrifice, determination, commitment, toughness, heart, talent, guts.  That's what little girls are made of."

Go Hug A Cat

Its National Hug your Cat Day.

No post today.   I need a break.

Have a nice day!

PS, thank you for your kind comments yesterday!!!


Here are some pics to tide you over.  :)

Gus - my sister's Pit

He is the sweetest boy EVER!

Frisco

He needs a home!!!

My 'new' chairs (freshly painted)

Still needs some work in the back

My sweet little home

Babies

It was a sad morning for me.  I pulled up at my Garson spot, where I rescued Gemma last this past winter and who is still missing from her adoptive home in the city after a month, and I walked across the expansive grassy field to the back where the shelter is set up behind a long brick garage type structure.

I bent down to straighten out the towel inside, and noticed a dead kitten.  As I looked beyond that, there was another one.  They each were maybe 5-6 weeks old.  Little baby tabbies.  Their tiny bodies - the lower half to be exact, were stripped down to their little skeletons.  Something must have eaten them.  It was definitely not a sight for the squeamish, and for the first time in  long time, tears welled up in my eyes.  I have become quite hardened to death out there after having picked up so many dead cats off the streets over my lifetime.  But when you see innocent babies like that, your heart breaks.

I gently picked each one up by its scruff, and placed them close to one another on the towel, swaddling them.  When I got home, I placed them in another soft little blanket someone made and donated to me, with kitty prints on it.  A hole in my yard was dug, a prayer was said, and they were buried together peacefully.  May God rest their tiny souls.

This is the reason why TNR - trap neuter return  - is so important.  We must stop the cycle of cats having babies out there.  I can feed them and shelter them, but I can't protect them.  Please do your part in helping with the overpopulation of animals in our world.  Whatever you can do - if each person took responsibility for the life of even just one animal, we wouldn't have tragedies like this.

Thanks, and have a great day.

13.5 Oz.

My wish list for today?  That the rain will end, and 13.5 oz. cans of Friskie's wet food.  They are so much easier when prepping the food for the following morning, which is done immediately each day after I return from doing my rounds.  I use close to 15 of these sized cans each day to feed the 50+ cats - and that's giving them just a small bit per cat.  I also go through nearly 24 pounds of dry food per day.  Its crazy, isn't it?  But think about how many cats are hungry out there, and this holds them over until the next morning when I come around again to give them their daily sustenance.

Its wet and miserable out again today.  A fine constant mist.  My hair looks like Bozo the Clown's hair.  Although not red.

We are preparing for the fundraiser, slowly.  The main things on my mind are the food and booze, my two favorites.  :)   I have had offers for a few gift baskets, which I am thrilled about.  We need gift baskets to raffle off.  Last year we had awesome baskets.  I am looking forward to see what we have this year.  We are also in need of a second band to play for a few hours from 4-6ish.  If worse comes to worse, we play CD music.  But it would be nice. Anyone out there know of some musical talent that might want to help out a good cause?  We had over 200 people last year come and go, and music was definitely an essential element to its success.  I can't wait.  July 18th.  Please mark it on your calendars!

Wubby cost me another $85 yesterday.  She was spayed a few weeks ago for $100, brought in for conjunctivitis and URI last week which cost me another $145, and yesterday, after still sneezing, her two medicines cost me $85.   People don't realize the cost of rescuing just one cat.  They don't all cost this much, but there is an expense.  I ask for only $40 minimum of a 'donation.'  I am not comfortable talking about money, asking for money.  There are some adopters that have never given me anything, even though their cat cost me minimum $50 to spay and neuter.  Does it bother me, yes, but the price of knowing these cats are off the street is enough for me. 

They are all precious, and so many more out there need homes.  Please spread the word!~

Have a great day!

Kodak Moments?

Below are pictures I was able to get on Saturday morning before my crappy camera died on me.  I hate that camera so much. 

 

 

This morning it was absolutely miserable out.  Not only did it rain steadily all day yesterday, Sunday, but it poured steadily all night long.  I left the house at 4:15 this morning to a steady heavy mist falling on every strand of my hair.  It will now be a frizz ball for the rest of this week, after having paid to get it straightened last week.  My hair abhors the humidity.  And I abhor my hair when its humid out.  But never mind my hair, its the poor animals.  The first and second picture below is the only spot I have that has no shelter whatsoever.  I started putting food here on Parsells in early spring because of the many kitties I saw there as I was headed to my REAL first spot.  I have TNRd at least four here, and rescued one.  The red beauty below is new.   I place the bowls down even in the rain, knowing they will stand there in the rain and eat, they are so hungry. 

 

Then there are the towels.  I replaced most of them at all 16 locations.  Soaking wet.  I am not sure how all that moisture gets inside the shelters I've built.  Maybe its the tarps I have draped over the shelters, maybe some are not waterproof.   I wish I had the perfect shelters at each of these locations.  These cats really depend on them.  I pray the rain ends today.  We've all had enough.

 

Shelterless feeding spot on Parsells

Little Baby at 1st Parsells spot - one of the twins

Petey on Parsells

Paulie on Parsells

Little baby on Baldwin

One highlight of the weekend. Sunday morning - with Sunday Sheryl - on Second Street (yes, where the murder took place last week), as we were behind Paul's house we could hear what sounded like a puppy whimpering.  I quickly poured the food and water down, and we went to investigate.  I went into the neighbor's back yard to see if I could find something, and all I found was a forest of weeds. I don't think they have ever mowed their lawn back there, but I also saw a fenced in dog cage, empty.  We went behind the next house, which is the bootlegger's house. and immediately jumped because a large black pit bull started to bark its head off. The dog was tethered to something.  We couldn't stay to find the puppy making this distressed noise.  I immediately went back to the car and called 911.  There was no house number on the house to give them.  I just gave them the details, and headed on my way to finish my route.  I hope they went to investigate.  The 911 operator said it would be reported to animal control, and 911.  I am dying to know what happened. 

I know my concerned friends think I am nuts.  But I will tell you this.  I would rather die trying to save an animal than.................  well, I don't know how to end that sentence.  But if I suspect an animal is hurting, I will do everything in my power to help that animal.  Period.  Thank you for your concern.  :)

Here are more pictures of Frisco, the kitty who had a chicken bone lodged in his mouth.  He needs a home desperately.  Please spread the word:

 

And now, go and have a great day!

 

“We need, in a special way, to work twice as hard to help people understand that the animals are fellow creatures, that we must protect them and love them as we love ourselves.”