Lookin' for Love in All the Wrong Places...

That's Johnny Lee - for y'all Texas country folks out there...  

Today was TNR Thursday.  There are so many unneutered animals out there.  I can't imagine how many pregnant cats, in-heat cats, males sniffing around there are... I must get them all!  But for today, and $120 later, we have Stripey and Sulli.  Sulli was an easy catch after setting the trap down on the corner of Central and Second, the Mailbox kitties I call them.  He is one of many.  He went right in after that tasty tuna.

SULLI

STRIPEY

I set the second trap on the corner of Third and Central, where several new cats have been congregating, and none of them was going near this new contraption placed in front of their normal feeding spot inside the front porch.  I moved it across the street, as I have built a shelter on the lot across because this house is set for demolition this year, and drove off to do the rest of my spots on the Back Nine.  I went back, and Stripey was inside the trap eating, but the door didn't shut, he didn't step on the trip plate.  The trip plate is way up front, but I wasn't going to wait.  I walked toward him and shut the door behind him!  Poor guy.  He is so confused.  So is Sulli.  I hate this, but it must be done.  NO MORE BABIES!  Thank you Tracy and Paula for sponsoring their spays at Rochester Community Animal Clinic on Bay Street (585.288.0600)!  (and thanks for telling me!  The clinic gets so busy, they forget to tell me if someone has donated!) 

❤❤❤❤❤

As you all know, I welcome others to write a guest post on my blog.  I sometimes don't feel like writing, but I know some of you (one or two) people read this daily, and I don't like to disappoint!  :)  And I KNOW there are many of you that can write a paragraph or two, so c'mon!  send me something!  :)  I received the following from Joel, who offered to write a guest post, and here it is...

… what would the cats Janine cares for think of her ? What would it be like to eavesdrop on them on a cold winters night ?

A Guardian Angel

    It's 4 am on a cold, blustery February morning in the small city of Rochester New York. In an empty lot next to a dilapidated, long abandoned house (it was foreclosed on years ago, and is now the abode of the occasional drug user and a drift of sour, long faded memories) a few members of the local population of feral cats have gathered to catch up on the news and swap feline war stories. A rail thin, male with a black and white patchy pattern overcoat and tattered ears from many street fights twitches his tail and looks around at the group gathered behind a pile of old bald tires.

"I tell ya - something is going on around here." He growls in a rough, raspy voice. He's had a bad sinus infection for the last week, and it makes him sound like a human after a lifelong addiction to cheap cigarettes.

"You always say that Tony." Minnie, a female with dirty orange fur and a scabbed over nose replies. She might have been a looker once, but a few years prowling around the back alleyways and living off garbage and the occasional dead bird have robbed her of most of that. Still - if she had shown any signs of being in heat any of the locals would probably have jumped her anyways. But she never had. Maybe it had something to do with the missing tip of her left ear.

"Do I ?" the male asked in his raspy croak. "Maybe so, but none of you can tell me what happened to Bacardi, or Popcorn or Melody. And now I cant find Snatch ! We was supposed to go trash can raidin tonight and I cant find him anywhere !"

"Maybe Tony has something there." Another female with a dark, tiger striped sable fur said, strolling up to the little group and sitting gently on the frozen dirt next to the first with the disheveled orange coat.

"I been seein this human coming around for the last couple years. Never paid it no mind - 'cept Cici on the next street over told me that free food has been showing up on the porch next to her hideout lately. She said at first she stayed well clear of it, but a couple of her friends tried it and it was delicious. So Cici waited for the human to leave and then tried it herself. She swears it was the best meal she's had in years!"

"Hey I know that place !" A handsome tiger striped tabby chimes in. "I was there just yesterday. I seen a paper plate with a bunch of juicy lookin meat chunks on it, but the rats was crawlin all over it. I was too late to get any, but I could smell it from where I was under a car all the way across the street."

"See ? Told ya." Tony affirms.

"So what." Minnie argues back, "We can use all the help we can get. In case you haven't noticed, there aint no other humans feedin us or even payin us any attention at all. Far as they concerned, we're just another rat to kick if we get too close."

"I agree with Minnie." The tiger striped female says with a growl. "I'm planning on waiting under that porch until the human shows up again and get me a free meal. I'm sick of fightin the rats for scraps."

Tony shakes his head and gets up to slink away. He's had about enough of this nonsense.

"Don't say I din't warn ya. Messin with humans is nuthin but trouble."

The rest of the group watches him walk away, tail held high with narrowed eyes. The bone numbing winter wind pushes little ripples into his dirty cow patch fur, reminding them again how desperate winter time for animals can be.

"Come on Minnie, lets head over and find Cici. I wanna see for myself what this human is offering. I'm starving ! Literally starving."

… to be continued ….

This guy is hysterical.  :)  Can't wait for more Joel! 

Vacation day tomorrow, woo hooooooooooooooo!

Have a great day!

“The timeless in you is aware of life's timelessness. And knows that yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream.”  

- Kahil Gibran