Happy National Frozen Yogurt Day!

Double, double toil and trouble; 

Fire burn and caldron bubble. 

Fillet of a fenny snake, 

In the caldron boil and bake; 

Eye of newt and toe of frog, 

Wool of bat and tongue of dog, 

Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting, 

Lizard's leg and howlet's wing, 

For a charm of powerful trouble, 

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. 

Double, double toil and trouble; 

Fire burn and caldron bubble. 

Cool it with a baboon's blood, 

Then the charm is firm and good.

Can anybody guess where this came from?  I just had a silly moment.  This has nothing to do with cats, well, not really, I guess.

Speaking of flying, the snow was flying this morning.  Tomorrow, it will be flying even more.  We are supposed to get up to 10 inches by Thursday.  As you can imagine, its not going to be good for me.  Its hard to go out at 3:45 am. when its been snowing, and the accumulation is so great that you have to shovel.  Most places that are not in the back of vacant lots, I need to shovel a small path from the sidewalk or street to not only get to it, but to provide a space for the cats to get out and walk on.  10 inches is over most of their heads, so shoveling a small space in front of their shelter is a must.  Sometimes, I need to shovel the snow OFF the shelter, as its covering the openings for the cats to get in and out of.  At least the temperature this morning is not as numbing as it was yesterday, when we had the winds.

MY NEEDS:

Large heavy dinner plates, with indentation enough so that the food won’t slide off the sides when the cat eats.  There is one spot, under a carport, where there is an opening into the vacant house where God knows what kind of animals go into, but each day, another plate (paper or tin) that I’ve placed there goes missing.  I usually see them half dragged into this hole in the foundation…  I need a heavy plate so that it can’t be dragged…  My other need is brick, and boards.

So far, in the past week, I’ve had nobody messing with my shelters.  The one on Niagara, in a big open field/lot has been left untouched after I placed a note saying ‘call me’ with my number attached.  Its probably just coincidence.  I can’t be that lucky – nor can a person who can actually unhinge the roof of these shelters, knowing its displacing a cat in need - change their tune and think, oh, what she is doing is so wonderful, I won’t bother these cats anymore.  Every single morning I pull up to a shelter and wonder if it will still be there.  My dream would be to have the City provide these shelters in their many vacant lots throughout Rochester.  They offer these lots to folks that would like to plant a garden.  I did this several years ago, to not only beautify a very bleak area, but to continue to provide shelter for many stray and homeless cats that came to depend on me.  Rats?  Yes, there were several.  I did not have a solution.  I was told I had to remove those shelters by the City.  This is where Big Red #2 came from and survived at.  This is where five other cats came to migrate just up the street to where I feed now.  I tended the garden last year, but not as well, or as often.  I now feel guilt to abandon it, especially after I received the help I did from people with dirt, pavers, flowers and labor.  The people that moved into the house next door use the front of the lot to park on, the kids have their toys and playhouses all around it, and its just hard to enforce.

I am hoping for an update on Milo soon with a picture, but from what I know, his new mom is happy with him.  From rags to riches!  All these cats are so lucky!

Have a great day!

"Don't let idiots ruin your day."