TGIF

Yes, its finally here.  Even though I don't get a day off from feeding the homeless cats in Rochester, I get two days off from work.  I am grateful. 

I was just snuggling with my latest, unplanned rescue, George - yes, that is what I named 'princess', who turned out to be a 'prince' after his vet visit the day before yesterday.  As I kissed his face, I told him how very lucky he was - how warm and safe and comfortable he was now, and how good he has it for the rest of his short life.  He has the best of both worlds, I told him, as I opened the windows to the room he is still confined to, because he can sleep on warm, cushy blankets, and still enjoy the birds and outdoor life through a window screen.

I saw way too many this morning that don't enjoy that comfort.  They look happy to the naked eye, but those cats are under a ton of stress.  They are dodging glass, cars, people, predators, etc.  Constantly have to be on guard.

I will be moving stuff to the empty lot two houses down on Hayward on Sunday.  I pray the kitties know enough to go there for their shelter and food.  I did not see the black and white kitty I had to return there yesterday after being neutered.  I pray he is safe, along with the other kitties I was used to see there, before this... 'person' next door moved my stuff.  He has no idea how much stress it has caused the cats, and myself included.  Its a dark lot, full of dirt and glass, in which I will have to trudge to each day to get to the shelters.  I will have to be quiet, and on guard.  Curses! 

Rescued Cat

Once I was a lonely cat, just looking for a home.
I had no place to go, no one to call my own.
I wandered up and down the streets, in rain in heat and snow.
I ate whatever I could find, I was always on the go.
My skin would itch, my feet were sore, my body ached with pain.
And no one stopped to give a pat, or gently say my name.
I never saw a loving glance, I was always on the run.
For people thought that hurting me was really lots of fun.

Then one day I heard a voice so gentle, kind and sweet,
and arms so soft reached down to me and took me off my feet.
"No one again will hurt you," was whispered in my ear.
"You'll have a home to call your own where you will know no fear."
"You will be dry, you will be warm, you'll have enough to eat,"
"and rest assured that when you sleep, your dreams will all be sweet."
I was afraid I must admit, I've lived so long in fear.
I can't remember when I let a human come so near.
As she tended to my wounds, and bathed and brushed my fur,
I lay there feeling loved, looking up at her.
           
  Now every night I say a prayer to all the gods that be.
"Thank you for the life I live and all you've given me.
But most of all protect the cats in the pound and on the street.
And send another person to lift them off their feet."

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!

Weary Bones

Buster



Rufus



Daisy

Some of my own brood above.

I am sore today.  My body aches.  I am not sick, its just part of my daily existence.  It might be worsened by the zumba class I had Tuesday evening.  That's a pretty intense workout for this old broad.  I must get up a few times a night, beginning at 11 pm.  Yes, I go to bed pretty early.  And I wake each hour, and try to fall back to sleep, and then around 3:30, I sleep with one eye open, and one eye shut, the open one zooming in on the clock beside my bed.  When it reads 4 am (which is really 3:40 am. - yes, I set it ahead), I get up and begin my day.  Good Lord.  I have a mental alarm in my head, don't need the alarm clock, nor the alarm set on my cell phone, of which I don't have presently because I dropped it in the cat water dish in the kitchen on my way out the door to zumba on Tuesday.  Yes, I tried the rice thing.  No, I didn't try a new battery.  This will cost me $50 deductible with the insurance I have for it.  I lose bank cards, and cell phones.  That's my thing.  I am not proficient at anything electronic, I do not have a fancy schmancy phone, I use it only for phone calls, and occasional texting, of which I am not good at either.  I need a phone for any type of emergency I encounter, or crime I see in the mornings.  Its a necessity now.  I should be getting a new one, sans new contacts I've entered into it in the past six months, because they were not saved.  I hate electronics.  Wish I lived in the 40s and 50s.  Seemed like good times then.  We might have been able to get the overpopulation of animals under control if they had done something about it then.  I wouldn't have to do what I do now.  I wish...

Well, Princess, the cat I rescued Tuesday morning, skin and bone, is really Prince.  I am really getting bad about the sex thing.  Listen, I know the difference between a male and female, and I could swear 'Princess' looks like a female back there.  Well, I am wrong, once again.  I need to find him a cute name now.  He is a really really sweet kitty.  Non-aggressive, loving, attention-starved.  He checked out good at the vet, and got up to date on his shots.  I will need to have him fostered/adopted, I am hoping someone will come along soon. 

The cat I trapped yesterday for neuter and release this morning is back on Hayward.  He was miserable in the carrier I had him in over night, but he ate like a champ.  It was hard to let him go this morning.  But he won't be anyone's baby daddy ever, which is a good thing.  There are so many more out there that I must get spayed and neutered, including this wounded-head red kitty on Baldwin.  He was there again today.

I will end with that for now, and wish you a great day!

"Pray, forgive yourself, appreciate others,

listen to your gut, do things you enjoy,

and remind yourself that we are all

loved and connected."

Hayward

(written Tuesday night)

Here is the baby that I rescued this morning.  Very dirty, but oh so so loving, so gentle.  She (I think I finally figured that out) will cry until I come in the bathroom where she is staying, and when I hold her, she buries her head into my hand that is gently stroking her.  I will be bringing her to the clinic tomorrow, and pray that she turns out leukemia negative.  I've named her Princess for now.

OK, so, remember when I mentioned a few days ago that my shelters were stolen, and boards placed by the road?  Well, I got a call on my cell this morning from the guy that took them.  Apparently, he is a new owner to the house to the left of where my stuff is, and wants them gone.  He is trying to beautify his property, and is trying to get grass to grow there again.  He left a rather abrupt message about me moving my stuff, and that the shelters were to the left of his property, where a house was just demolished.  I called him back, in the privacy of the conference room at work, and very calmly listened, while he listened to me.  He offered that he was working at the house every day, and I could come by and talk further.  To which I did.  I drove there on lunch hour, and saw where my shelters are, way in the back of this filthy, newly unlandscaped empty lot.  He offered to help me fix them up.  I could understand his side, as he could mine.  I told him LEGALLY, he didn’t have a right to remove my stuff, because I had permission from the owner of the house, to which he could get in contact with, but being the kind person I am, I would compromise.  He did say, in rebuttal, that he could take me to court, small claims, for something or other, but that he didn’t want to do that either.  He advised he did like cats, but they were ruining his property.  He had heard about me on NPR?  Or something like that, and told me he admired what I was doing, but he also had a house that he wanted to fix up.

I did mention to him that if it had not been for what I do there, the neuter/spay over the years, there would be a huge problem of overpopulation.  I also told him the problem would never go away, as long as there were cats unspayed and unneutered.   He did say that he was aware of that and appreciated that I was doing it.

So in the meantime, at this location where Candy was rescued, along with at least 20 other cats over the past eight years, along with SO many TNR’s done here, I must figure out a way get these cats over to this new location, but first have to fix up this new location.  Its pretty primitive.  So, I will have to work on this Sunday morning at some point, hopefully with the help of Sunday Sheryl!  J  Wish me luck.

You really do have to feel sorry for these poor animals who are constantly under stress trying to find their food, and shelters that are being moved right out from under them.  

In the meantime, you know what, I REALLY HATE doing what I am doing!  I just want to sleep in, and put that $10,000 that I spend just on food and vet bills every year back into my pocket to enjoy my life and to reap the rewards of working my tail off my whole life! But I don't!  I get up every single day at 3:45 am., face the hardships of going out into the brutal weather we experience, chase off raccoons and opossums, and druggies and prostitutes, and feed cats, and trap cats, and rescue cats, in the dark behind disgusting filthy buildings!  I have to witness injured cats, and dead cats on the streets, sometimes frozen before my eyes, I have to deal with people like this guy!!!  Which, by the way, is nothing compared to what I have dealt with in the past.  But this is the kind of stuff that gets to me, the way people view cats!  If you don't like it, then help me control it!  Don't trash my stuff, and think that I am going to go away and just let the cats starve to death!  UGGGGH.  I could keep going, but I think you catch my drift.  I just had to vent.

Wednesday:

I set two traps this morning, one at Baldwin, hoping to get the head injured beautiful red cat there, and one at Hayward.  I got the sweet little black and white boy on Hayward, because the crappy trap I set on Baldwin malfunctioned.  I hate letting this little boy back out, he is a nice kitty, but I must, I have no one to take him. He waits for me each morning for his food.  Thanks to someone's kind donation, which helped pay for more than half of what it costs for a new one, I was able to order a new trap from Amazon.  Its on its way. 

Lastly, to the 'person' who struck and killed the beautiful black cat on Seventh near Central this morning, you could have at least had the decency to do the humane thing and move the cat to the side of the road.  If you have a driver's license, that is the moral thing to do.  If you are too elderly and didn't know you hit the cat, you shouldn't be driving, but I doubt that was the case.  I gently picked up this poor baby, after wrapping it in cloth, and dropped it off at a vet on their doorstep.  Thank you Laurelton.  They will at least do a humane burial for this poor animal.  Karma.  It will happen.

Have a nice day.

Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free;
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless,
Tempest-tossed to me
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

Statute of Liberty song...  Its befitting of this morning.  Because guess what, I nabbed another one.  From Stout.  She/he (is already eartipped, and if it was a male, they did a good job de-sexing it.   :)    I had every intention of nabbing this one because when I saw it yesterday, at the same location that I had seen it, and had fed it, during this horrible winter we had, and have not seen it since, it was like a skeleton.  It can't weigh more than five pounds.   Skin and bone, but surely an adult cat.  When I fed it last year and through half the winter, it was a heavier kitty.  I am not sure what happened.  Was it trapped somewhere?  Is it sick?  Is it a very old cat and losing its weight, like most do?  I let it out of its carrier in the bathroom just now, and its very friendly.  I am wondering if it has leukemia.  I will have it tested at the clinic when it opens tomorrow.  I can't just ignore sickly looking cats like this.  This was the last thing I wanted, or needed, right now.  I just got Candy/Greta adopted this weekend, Celia adopted a few weeks ago.  I was down to my own manageable brood.  Forgot to mention, Fraser is still not adopted!!  Now I have another in my bathroom.  I will put it out there, if someone can help me foster this one, if its healthy, just malnourished, I would be so appreciative, until we can find it a good home!  Update, it used the litterbox!  Picture coming soon.



Sandy and Monkey

Another great update:  Sandy and Monkey.  "Big Red" I fed for YEARS on the porch of a boarded up house on Garson Ave near Chamberlain St.  I had shelters set up, and I fed so many cats on that porch.  Big Red waited for me every day.  He had so many injuries over the course of time.  I finally had the opportunity to rescue him after my dear friend Maree offered to take him and get him off the street. I did.  It was a truly grateful moment for me because it took so long for him to gain my trust and allow me to finally pet him.  After he went to the vet, and tested positive for FIV, Maree decided to keep him separate from the rest of her brood, and he became a permanent resident of her back enclosed porch area.  I had been feeding, and posting about another cat on Second Street, who at the time was very young, maybe 8 months, and this black and white kitty had a curly tail, so I named her Monkey.  She finally learned to trust me after a bit, and after writing about her, Maree said she would take her also, and she would be a perfect companion for lonely Big Red, who was later renamed Sandy, after Hurricane Sandy, which was belting away the east coast at the time Maree adopted him. They are a pair, the two of them.  They instantly bonded and are now best buds.  Click on the pic to zoom in.

I Have Done Something

I looked at all the homeless, helpless animals on the streets...the cast-offs of human society.

I saw in their eyes love and hope, fear and dread, sadness, and betrayal. And I was angry.

"God," I said, "this is terrible! Why don't you do something?"

God was silent for a moment, and then He spoke softly, "I have done something," he replied.

"I created you."

-- Author Unknown

"Saving the life of one animal may not change the world, but the world will surely change for that one animal"

Holy Moly!

I just love this picture of a man holding his sick dog - pure compassion

Lots going on this past weekend, some good, some not so good.  Saturday morning was eventful -
I heard a cat meowing while I poured food behind Kevin's house on Parsells, for the waiting two red kitties that have been pretty regular there lately.  I shined my powerful light - thanks to Walt and Karon - towards a house two houses down, up toward the attic window - one open, the other next to it closed, and saw a pair of illuminating eyes looking out.  Sure enough, a cat and it seemed in distress.
 

Little Red Before his Rescue!

I went over to investigate after I finished up, shined my light into a room and sort of deemed it to be a duplex house, with the apartment vacant.  I called 911, and took off to my next feeding spot.  Within 15 minutes, an RPD officer called me, stating he was in front of the house, and that he didn't hear anything.  I left the shelter on Short Street to go back and do the familiar cat call that the officer probably did not do.  I pulled up to the officer, and we walked over to the house, and I cat called, and sure enough, there was the kitty up there.  Well, after the officer stated that he would place an order on his call sheet for follow up, and that I should call RAS (Rochester Animal Services) around 8 when they started, and maybe come back at that time and knock on the other half of the duplex house to see if they could determine who's cat and how it may have gotten up there.  After that, he proceeded to get his phone out, and began showing me pictures of his beloved cat that was a rescue, and his dog, which was also a rescue, telling me that he has had several cats and dogs over his lifetime.  I fell in love.  :)  What a guy.  We spoke for at least 10 minutes before I said I had to go finish up my route.  LOVE that man.  You don't come across too many cops that let their guard down like that.  There are a few of them though, that truly love animals, and have helped me immensely, and you guys (and girl) know who you are.  And I thank you from the bottom of my police loving heart.  :) 

My Flowers from last year

I went home and texted my friend from RAS who mentioned she would go over after 7:30 to take a look for the cat.  She called me an hour later and said "Janine, usually you have me go to vacant houses for rescuing a cat, but this house is lived in!"  She knocked on the door, asked if they owned a cat, they said no, she said someone called in  that a cat was in the attic crying, they allowed her to go look the attic was empty of contents and the cat.  She could not see it.  I have no clue what happened to that cat, whether it was hiding in the floor boards, or a wall, but that cat was there crying before.  It may have jumped onto the roof next door, I don't know.  I called for it Sunday morning, and not a peep.  I pray it got out.  Such excitement for one day!

After I left there to do Stout where I feed scratchy and bitey Dexter, and then Chamberlain where Lucy, the Candy lookalike and a few new ones wait for me, I proceeded to Hayward, where I found that some b#$%#d took all three of my very good shelters, dismantled the boards sheltering the food, bowls, towels, everything gone.  The board was on the side of a house, and the pallet was at the curb, so I proceeded to move back everything left, and at least left the food covered as it was forecasted to pour on Saturday.  Bastards.  I don't know if it was the guy that owns that place and rents out the apartments, who gave me permission to feed there years ago.  A nice man (at the time anyways) who lives in Penfield, or the other guy that owns the house next door, where you will recall in previous post, I witnessed a huge black woman come crashing through the plate glass door last year.  I believe he is cleaning up the place to rent out the other half of his house, and maybe he thought this was a blight.  If you could see the trash around there, I am not sure how he could consider my shelters looking bad, but who knows.  I left a note telling them that it was theft of property, that I had permission from owner, and my number.  No call, and as of this morning, Monday, didn't look like anyone had come by there.

Finally, before I have to rush to get ready for work, CANDY HAS BEEN ADOPTED!  And I wait with baited breath to hear how her day and a half gone from me has gone.  Two wonderful folks who previously adopted Abby from me, offered to try her out, see if she gets along with Abby, and I hope all is going well.  Can't wait for an update.  And by the way, her new name:  Greta.  SWEET.  I couldn't be happier for Candy/Greta.  Although she turned into a cat that I would keep myself, she is just that great of a cat.  I love her, and I miss her.  And thank you Carol and Mike!

Before I sign off, I did see two very sick, very thin cats, one on Stout and the other on Baldwin.  Both tabbys, one all grey, the other spotted with white.  The one on Stout I had seen here and there but he's been missing for quite a while. Now, he barely weighs six pounds.  Skin and bone.  I need to rescue him.  The other is shy, sickly.  I will be TNR'g Wednesday, as I have a spot at the clinic, and I will be placing the trap behind Paul's on Second because I think I've spotted a whitish cat with tortoise coloring that looks pregnant.  Wish me luck. 

That's it and have a great day!

"We all have those days when we don't know who we are anymore.  We can find ourselves by first knowing that we are God's children."

Time Is On My Side

Yes it is....  (Mick Jagger, yea baby!)

It was this morning for me because I finished up my rounds in.....  40 minutes!  Record!  That was skipping my second Parsells spot behind Kevin's house, but still, pretty good!  I think it had something to do with the rain that started at 5:05 am., just minutes after I left my house.  Thanks.  That's about 12 hours after I paid to have my hair washed and straightened.  I have to do that because my hair is so thick, and my flattening iron is so cheap.  And I have to have my hair straightened otherwise I look like Bozo the Clown.  Thanks rain.  So I hurried this morning, still saving time to give a scratch on the head for a few of my regulars.

Its also on my side because, thank the Lord, I've been pretty healthy my whole life.  In all my 39 years!  (hee hee), I've never had anything 'bad' happen to me.  I am seeing my friends starting to have stuff happen to them, or some friends who've had ailments most of their lives that are struggling, and even my elderly friends and family, seeing them age faster than I would like.  I still have to thank the Lord for my continued health, and watching my diet, and exercising, of course, because if I didn't have the 'health' that I do now, I would never be able to continue with feeding the city cats of Rochester on a VERY daily basis (I emphasize that because I do this EVERY SINGLE day.  There is NEVER a break for me, and it gets to you every once in a while).  And I continue to do this because of the cats that run to the corner when they hear my car coming (and they KNOW the sound, and look, of my vehicle), and know that they are hungry, and are waiting for me to place their precious, and I mean precious, food for them.

Thanks for your continued reading of my blog, whoever you are (as far as I know, there are about 20 of you?), of course I know who some of you are!  And thanks for the comments you occasionally post, because without those, I would be discouraged.  And thanks for anyone who has ever donated to help feed the cats that I do.  As I've said before, it cost me $100 a week to feed them.  That's a lot of dough. 

I wish you all good health, and a blessed weekend!

"We are still masters of our fate.

We are still captains of our souls."



Bad Hair Day!

Look at my old lover boy, Gordie, now named Boris.  I miss this little guy so much.  He was with me for quite a while before he found himself a new forever home.  Here is the latest update:  "Boris is fine!  Was Mr. Social during my wife's family visit this past Saturday and seems very comfortable with his new family."

Yay!

This morning I let this pretty girl go, back where she came from, in the dirty, dangerous neighborhood of Central and Fifth.  She was pregnant yesterday, but isn't today.  She will not have to give birth under the dirty porch there, where her babies will most likely die, most of them anyway, and she will not have to endure trying to nurse them thru the spring storms that are surely here, and coming.   She will not have to worry about them, when they begin to walk, about corralling them back from the road 20 feet away from the pitiful shelters that they have.   Letting them back out is the hardest thing for me to do, because I am all about rescuing these animals, not letting them go.  But who knows, maybe someday, like so many others, she will learn to trust me, to trust a human, to crave that warmth and kindness, and want to be rescued and loved and given a loving home.  Maybe.

At Baldwin, I believe I saw another pregnant tabby.  Its very dark when I arrive here in the morning, so I can only see a shape before she begins to run away.  She runs for cover when I arrive, after coming out from under the bench where the food is/was.  There are a couple of shelters under there, hopefully she is using them. I have not seen the red injured one that I saw there two days ago.  It was super wet this morning, so many towels will need to be laundered.  Joy.

The landlord on Short Street, who is renovating a house to be rented, dumped this garbage in front of my shelter next door.  Nice.  Would you want to live here?  Disgusting.

Finally, just a couple shots of the two other babies out there that wait for me to arrive each morning, 365 days a year - between 5-6 am, for their breakfast.  Big Red, and this other black fluffball, both homeless, all wishing they had a home. 

Please spread the word.

Have a great day!

 

"Compassion is the radicalism of our time."