TGIT!

Well, today was pretty normal.  Get up, go out, feed over 100 cats, get to work.

And that number is no exaggeration.   I'm only counting the ones I can see.

Melville 1 - average 3 cats
Parsells 1 - average 3 cats
Parsells 2 - average 5 cats
Melville 2 - average 3 cats
Melville 3 - average 3 cats
Garson 1 - average 2 cats
Garson 2 - average 8 cats
Baldwin - average 5 cats
Parsells 3 - average 3 cats
Webster & Ferndale - average 3 cats
Pennsylvania - average 5 cats
Third & Central - average 4 cats
Second & Central - average 6 cats
Hebard Niagara corner lot - average 1 cat
Niagara & Central - average 6 cats
Central & Fifth - average 7 cats
Short - average 5 cats
Seventh - average 3 cats
Bay - average 2 cats

OK, so that's 77, but you can bet your bottom dollar that at each of these locations, there are feral cats just waiting for me to leave so that they can join the others for their morning feeding frenzy.

Tomorrow will not be normal.  They are calling for over a foot of snow, two feet in some places, and its supposed to be HEAVY snow.  This will surely take its toll on me with the shoveling.  And it will take its toll on the cats, I am sure.

I was at the Central and Fifth location this morning and as I was walking back to the car from the dark vacant lot there was a man standing there and he asked if I needed help.  I yelled to him quietly that I was feeding cats.  He said, 'oh I remember you!  you brought me sandwiches a few years ago when I was homeless!  and I fed the cats for you too!'  I chuckled, how nice it was for him to remember that.  We got to chatting and his name is Roy.  Roy was apparently living with his 'queen' and was out looking for cans and stuff.  He was very appreciative of the fact that I gave him food, and I had a friend for life.

The morning prior, I was on Garson leaving one of my feeding spots and the car that had gone past me was backing up, and the woman rolled down her window and asked me if i was the 'feral cat lady.'  FERAL CAT LADY?  I don't think so...  As fond as I am of cats, I don't want to be called a cat lady!  and now the FERAL cat lady!  I did look pretty odd walking away after hunching over the underneath portion of a boarded up house.  I asked her what she was doing, and she was the REPO LADY!  She said she remembered me from a few years back and just stopped to say hello.  Now THERE's a job!  She said she would be too afraid to do what I do, but what about her job?  I would be scared to do THAT!  She had some contraption on the hood on back of her car...  Not sure what that was, but boy that's gotta be interesting...

The morning prior to that, I ran into a woman named Melanie.  Now, Melanie was walking around Second and Central one day last week and I said hello to her as I got out of the car.  I actually thought it was a petite man at first, because of how small of a frame, and the jeans were hanging low.  She came up to me and I realized the person was a soft spoken woman.  Her name was Melanie. I asked her what she was doing out there at that time of day.  She was looking for a cigarette, and waiting for the House of Mercy to open.  She was telling me it opened at a certain time for breakfast.  I gave her what change I had, after realizing she wasn't using it for drugs or drink.  She told me she spent 20 years in prison for having been busted for some huge amount of cocaine.  She had just recently gotten out, but was planning to move back to Florida in May where her family was from.  She was actually a nice, sweet woman.

There are so many interesting people in this world if you just take the time to stop and say hello to them.  They may not be someone you want to bring home to meet the family, but nevertheless, even good people fall on hard times.

I am blessed to be able to get out of my warm bed this morning and be able to walk.

Therefore, its a great day!

Make it a good one yourself!

"Be grateful

for what you

have. Your

 life, no matter

 how bad you

think it is,

 is someone

 else's

 fairytale."