What I Do (in a nutshell)

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better.  It's not.  ~Dr. Seuss

I thought I would give a brief summation of my spots and what I encounter on a normal daily day.  I leave the house now at 5:30 a.m. hoping that at least half my last half of my route is dimly lit by the dawn's early light.  On mornings that it has rained the night before, I have my seat next to me stacked with dry towels.  My first stop is a corner house that is unoccupied.  By unoccupied, I mean half boarded up, and an open window with a curtain blowing in the breeze on the porch.  I have been seeing two or three kittens here, they are around 10-12 weeks old, and I see at least three adults each morning.  I lay down paper plates of food, and fill the water bowl.  My second stop is just around the corner and I place food and water down for usually two cats, but three were there this morning, on the sidewalk, but under a house porch if its raining.  My third stop is down the street where I feed Poppi - a sweet tortoise that lets me touch the tip of her nose - and usually another red or white cat.  I place down a bowl of food here and water, but know there are raccoons lurking nearby at this spot.  My next stop is around the corner at an abandoned house where I actually moved feeding spots to the house across the road because of the raccoons there.   Three (raccoons) to be exact.  I feed three cats at this location every morning, where they are waiting for me on the railing.  Then down the street to the location where the neighbors helped me move my hut from one property to the other.  There are four kitties there waiting for me.  Three black and white, the other I can't tell as its still too dark.  The next location is around the corner where there are maybe 8 cats waiting.  One actually runs up and jumps on the door jamb when I open the door.  He wants a pat, and wants to be fed!  I go behind the house there where the owner has given me permission, and depending on if there are raccoons there, I place as much food as I can and water, under boards I have leaning against the house, and in the igloo.  I have just recently seen three kittens, maybe four or five weeks out now.  Their mother was one of the pregnant cats I could not get there.  She was missing for a month, and obviously gave birth to these babies.  I leave there after trying to fill all of those bellies, and drive by one of the spots I've already placed food down to make sure the racoons didn't cross the street to eat the food.  I then go to the next spot (this one I go to three times a week due to not seeing who is eating, raccoon or feral cats) and place down food and water behind a very large board against a building.  I have a hut settled in here too.  A nice Jamaican man named Wilbert allows me t0 feed here.  I then go to the next spot, where there are more raccoons, yes, they were there this morning.  I feed maybe four to five cats here.  This the location where they come to the road to greet me and follow me to the back of the dark lot like the Pied Piper.  I place food and water down here, behind boards that are leaning against a garage from the street behind.  I also place down dry towels at this location, as it gets soaked after the rains.  Then onto what I now call Part B of my morning route.  (HAVE I LOST YOU YET?)  I cross over to another neighborhood and onto my first spot where Red resides.  I feed him, and three others, two of which are very sick, and change the towel there where I have a lean to.  Then down the street is where Emma, the mommy I had fixed a few weeks ago, and her only other baby - I rescued her other two girls and have just had adopted BOTH to a new home yesterday.  I call this third unrescued kitten Rufus (thank you my sweet niece Brenna who named him).   I place food and water down on an abandoned house's porch - this spot is unsheltered - and off to the next spot on the next street.  Here I feed around 3 cats on the porch of an abandoned house.  Then to the next street where I feed "Miss B's cats" (uh huh....) under a tree.  Three I had neutered, but one is still waiting.   I must figure out a plan for this crew before snow falls.  Then to my last spot where I feed a variety of kitties from everywhere, with two little bowls of food and a bowl of water under a tree.  There is a beautiful red fluffy kitten there, about 13 weeks old.  And thats that.  By now, I breathe a sigh of relief that I have fed a lot of hungry empty bellies.  And I go home to clean up my car, clean up wet towels, and clean up me.   So, has anyone counted how many spots I go to, and how many cats I've fed?  I still haven't counted.  I would be overwhelmed if I knew.