Cat Food in My Coffee

I can just hear Waylon Jennings singing that tune.  I brought my pumpkin spice coffee with me as I always do to help keep me alert in the dark doing my job every morning) and taking a sip, I felt something small and hard, like a rock, I thought.  Sure enough, it was a kibble of cat food.  Gross.  I guess its better than a bug.  One of the hazards of my morning job.

It was quiet, and dark out this morning.  I DREAD going out each day, but after I turn the corner to the back nine, as I call it, I am rolling.  Although I knew I had to go back to the beginning of my route because I saw a raccoon lurking about, and just KNEW he was going to make a mess of the water and food for poor Petey, Paulie, and the others that depend on the food to last them.  I also had to stop at the real first stop across the street (this is all on Parsells) because nearly every day, I have to chase off a family of really fat raccoons.  They spill the water, and gobble the food up when I first arrive there, after I leave of course.  This is where Parsley still resides.  Parsley, by the way, has learned to trust me all over again, after several attempts to rescue him.  He sidles up to me and just begs for a rub on the head and chin.  I love him.  I wish I could give him a home.  But I can't.  I have too many being fostered right now that need permanent homes.

People mention from time to time that they find it too sad to read this blog.  I tell them that my hopes are to have just one person say, one very rare person say,

I will take one of your most neediest;
or
I will do your route for you one morning - take a break;
or
I will build you a shelter where you can take all your cats that you need to
or
Here is a million dollars, do with it what you need to do.

Sure.

Here is some sweetness for the day:  These kittens are available for adoption!

I haven't had a day off since May of 2014.  Then I had three mornings off.  People ask how this all started.  It started back in 2000, maybe, when I would leisurely go to the Public Market for my veggies on an occasional Saturday, but one morning, I saw a group of eyes in the dark on Bay and First Streets, and knowing they were cats, I just had to go back to my house and get some cat food and bring it back for them, thinking that they were starving. My first encounter with feral cats.  From them, business boomed.  I saw them here, and there, and everywhere.

And that my friends is the rest of the story.

Have a GREAT day!

"Rescue animals aren't broken, they've simply experienced more life than other animals.  If they were human, we would call them wise.  They would be the ones with tales to tell and stories to write, the ones dealt a bad and who responded with courage.  Don't pity them.  Do something.  Help to rescue.  Donate.  Volunteer.  Foster.  Adopt.  And be proud to have their greatness by your side."