It’s kitten season again! The shelter is housing a dozen and about a dozen more are being fostered by some of our most generous volunteers. See how precious they are… and remember… they ALL need a safe and loving home.

I’ve taken the advice I received and decided to post when the timing works. And so, here I am.

I’ve been researching fundraising ideas for the shelter. A small group of the volunteers met a few weeks back, and discussed ways we thought we could improve conditions and chances for adoption at the shelter. We formed a Cleanup Day and decided to carry it out quarterly.

Our first cleanup day was about two weeks ago. It was a lot of work – 12 solid hours the first day and another 8 the next. We’re not finished but we did a bang-up job, if I may say so myself, and the cats were quite intrigued.

We thought they’d be afraid. After all, we certainly upset their normal, peaceful routine. We moved everything, scrubbed and powerwashed their cages, the floor, their toys and climbers. They weren’t fazed in the least. Instead, they watched intently. Eyeballing everything that went on, each clearly hoping to be the first to check out what we did when the opportunity arose.

The place smells better, looks better and, hopefully, by the time we’re finished with this first-in-a-long-time cleaning, we’ll be able to make potential adoptive families eager to adopt and to bring friends by to do the same.

So beyond the cleaning, we decided to work out ideas for fundraising and adoptions. We’ve yet to come up with a new and exciting adoption event idea, but we have a potentially profitable fundraising idea – magazines. Yup. Simple, plain ole magazines. A person renews their subscription or orders a new one and the shelter receives 40% of the sale. Sounds like a win-win plan to me!

As for adoption events – or even other fundraising ideas – I’m open to suggestion. And to make it interesting, I’ll make it into a contest.  Whoever comes up with the best and most usable adoption event idea, or fundraising campaign idea will get to pick a magazine of their choice from the above campaign and it will be my gift – to the winner and to the shelter. Another win-win. Now THAT’s what I call a successful campaign.

That is the questions, isn’t it?

There just isn’t enough time. There’s so much to say but hardly time to say it. I don’t know how time imploded but, somehow, for me, it did. I find myself rising earlier and earlier each morning, feeding my cats – mine and my foster babies who will remain with me until Mother’s day when they go to their new adoptive home – and then the rush is on. Before I know it, I’m washing the dinner dishes and preparing for bed.

It’s good, I suppose. It means we’re doing a lot with our days. But there doesn’t seem to be time to do some of the more personal things I enjoy – like writing. Whether here or on my story. For some reason, everything writing-related has been pushed aside. I will get back to it, and I will wonder what happened that caused me to stop writing in the first place. But, for now, I must let this blog alone and focus on stretching the hours in my days.

I’ve had a wonderful time here. I’ve loved reading other blogs and commenting. I’ve enjoyed “knowing” my blogging friends. I hope you’re all still putting your heartfelt words out there for others to read and I so hope to join you in that endeavor again.

Until then, thank you for being my online buddies. Thanks for the encouragement when I needed it. And thanks for sharing your own lives here and on your personal blogs. You’ve been my online fun and I know once I close up shop here, I’ll want to come back again full steam.

Because goodbyes are so very difficult, I want to leave you with a smile. As an animal lover AND a Queen fan, this video made me laugh aloud. I hope it will do the same for you. Enjoy!

 [youtube="http://www.youtube.com/v/cJOZp2ZftCw&hl=en]

See you all soon.

The news couldn’t be better for the two kittens I’m fostering. They have a home. A wonderfully loving home – TOGETHER! Friends of ours stopped by the other evening. They’d had a beautiful cat years ago and were now – though I was unaware – in the ‘market’ for another. Well, when they saw these little guys, it was like the Fate’s said, “Here you go! Spread the love and be happy!”

They will give these little guys as many hugs and kisses as we’ve given them during these formative days. It’s going to be hard to say goodbye to them but at least I know they’ll be heading off on a wonderful and happy life journey. We’ll have them here until the mid to end of May, though, so by then they might have to pry these kittens from my hands. It’s okay. I’ve done and will continue to do what’s necessary to ensure these guys are as social and affectionate as cats can be. I couldn’t be happier to know they’re going together to this particular home.

And in other news… I posted my query to my romance writer’s discussion board and received some fantastic feedback. I wish I’d posted it before I sent it to agents, but there you have it – the way my Gemini mind works is not always logical. So… I’ve revised my query and am ready to send it to the next round of agents when/if my final query and contest entry come back with R’s like the rest of them did.

And in yet other news… the weather here is finally spring-like and I cannot wait to get out into the glorious sunshine. My hope today is that Daughter and I can spend the early afternoon in the park for lunch and some studies. I think photography class should be switched to today so we can take some early spring photos of the park and marina.

Yup. Even with rejections flowing in… life can indeed be good.

I didn’t even check to see when I posted here last. I know it’s been a while, though… too long, actually. Life getting in the way and all that.

So what’s been happening here? Well… rejections are flowing in.  Two are still out but… well… the odds aren’t so great, now are they? Ah, well. All part of the process.

Besides that, I’m focusing on my newest wip and while it’s slow-going, I don’t mind so much. If I’ve learned anything with the past three stories I’ve written it’s this – better to take time planning than waste time revising.

Meanwhile, it’s kitten season again and the shelter is filling up once more. Just last week, some very kind heart called us to say she rescued 6 kittens who had been stuffed into a paper bag and tossed into a commercial garbage dumpster. Thanks to this wonderful lady who heard their cries and stopped to do something about it, these kittens – all six – are in foster homes where they’re safe, loved and being bottle fed. Soon… if we foster parents can bring ourselves to allow it… they’ll leave our homes and go to new ones. To their very own special families. Until then, we’re feeding them around the clock (I have two, and two other volunteers each have two) and just simply adoring them.

Yes. Giving them up is going to be a very difficult thing to do.

So… what’s new by you? Have some good news to share? I’d love to hear it. Especially now after receiving not one but two rejections in one day.

I know I haven’t been here in a while and, honestly, I can’t say why. The days are just flying by and the hours in each seem to have gotten shorter.

I’ve been working on the plot of my new story and still have April 1st as my goal to start writing it. That’s something I’ve learned from my previous work – a simple yet rounded bit of plotting works well for me. I’m that cross between plotter and pantser. And April 1st is when I hope to put plotting aside and start a month of pounding out some pantser pages.

Meanwhile, we’ve been attending a variety of homeschooling activities – which, not surprisingly pick up as the weather gets less frigid. We’ve watched holocaust movies and discussed World War II. We’ve watched David Copperfield and Oliver Twist, and turned them into lessons about 19th Century England. I’ve finally learned how to turn a simple event into an opportunity for learning and realize that every day life has more lessons in it than anything we could possibly plan.

Take the shelter, for instance. The lessons there are immeasurable. Daughter is learning so much from volunteering – not only about compassion and responsibility, but also about human strengths and weaknesses. She’s learning, sadly, that more often than not, when people see something curious, they stand back and leave it for someone else to investigate or fix. Even when stepping in can save a life. Or possibly save a life. I guess we’ll never know for sure.

We lost two newborn kittens last night. That’s what this is all about. The mother rejected them and everyone, apparently, thought it was just an anomaly… a mother cat not feeding her babies. Surely, they thought, it’s just at this moment she’s not doing so. Sadly, that just wasn’t the case and no matter what we did during our shift… it was simply too late.

Mother Nature is a cruel, cruel bitch at times but never more so than when an innocent is made to suffer. I don’t know that we could have done anything to save these kittens, in fact, on many levels I know we couldn’t have. Still…  and maybe this is partly the writer in me asking… but I’ll always wonder, ‘what if’.

There’s one thing I can count on at the shelter and that is the warm furry greetings I get at the door.

Walking in there and seeing all those bright eyes and whiskered faces makes me smile somewhere deep inside. Every day, a precious bunch of cats line up by the door, each vying for the highest perch. And they wait their turn to be greeted by name, with a loving scruff between the ears, a scratch on their back just before their tail, or for some, no touches, just brief eye-to-eye contact. In return, I’m serenaded with a perfectly tuned chorus of purrs. I’m butted by adoring little heads, forced to stand still as furry bodies wind themselves around my legs and my most favorite greeting of all, given wet little whiskered kisses on my cheek.

It’s the whiskered kisses of one I’m going to miss. The whiskered kiss I always saved for last because it was the most adoring, the most innocent and unassuming of all.

Frannie, I’m stunned and saddened. For a small boy, you certainly filled the space… and my heart. I won’t be the only one to miss you, and I’m not the only one confused by your passing. Never a day went by without a contented spring in your step – especially when you set off to spit out your pill somewhere “private”, or a laugh at the way you grumbled while scratching your ears – as if you hated having to scratch them yourself.

You’ll be missed by human and feline alike and you will always, always be loved.

As an animal rescue volunteer, it’s my job to see that our cats are safe, healthy and happy. Whenever I can, I and the other volunteers, spread the word about our cats with the hope we’ll find loving homes for them.

One thing I cannot stress enough is the need for people to spay and neuter their pets. Indeed, if people would trap, neuter and return strays, the situation would be much less severe. Cats are mulitplying in numbers we can’t manage alone. The need for community involvement is vital. It’s also a lot to ask – and we know this. Our job, then, is to educate the community about TNR programs and to get out there ourselves to get it done.  

In order for this to happen, we need funds. It’s simple really. Everything costs money - and these days money is very hard to come by. Which leads me to my shameless plug. I’ve set up a blog about our organization. On the blog are Google ads and Google ads pay pennies per click. If you can find the time to check out the blog, post a comment, click an ad and spread the word to others you might know who are interested, I, the other volunteers and our precious felines would be eternally grateful. A few pennies here, a few more there, and who knows, maybe we can rescue, feed, socialize and find a home for one more lucky cat.

Click the photo below to go to the blog … and let me know what you think. Any way I can improve it to bring more traffic is a way I’m willing to try.

The holidays are coming. There is no holiday more exciting for me than Christmas. I become a kid again at the very thought of it. I romanticize it. There’s a ton of work involved and while I’m in the thick of it, I do grumble. But that passes quickly and I get back to being a happy Santa’s helper.

Since Christmas is so special for me, I like to make it last. Instead of waiting until Christmas week, it’s been a tradition in my home to put up our tree right after Thanksgiving dinner. (Don’t worry – my tree isn’t up yet. The photo above is from last year) That entire weekend is spent decorating the house and setting up the Christmas village. (the rest of the month is spent trying to keep the cats away from said village ) The transition from plain to warm and festive always gives me pause. We play, we tease, we exhaust ourselves but it’s all worth it. By the end of Thanksgiving weekend, gifts I’ve already purchased are wrapped and set under the tree and we’ve taken our holiday photo.

Now THAT is an adventure in itself. Cats. Remember – we now have four of them. They’re fine on their own – investigating to their hearts are happy - so happy, in fact, they practically glow.

But, a camera on a tripod scares the willies out of them and so gathering them for a photo op is not the easiest thing to do. In fact, if ever you’ve heard the expression ‘the fur was flying’, well, that certainly applies to those couple of hours in my home when we round them up and try to take that perfect shot. We’re always laughing in the Christmas photo and when we send it as our Christmas card, I’m told those who receive it see the fun – and stress – we had while posing.

Sharing smiles. Sharing warmth. Sharing good food and best wishes. It’s what the season is about. I’ve loved the holidays for as long as I can recall and hope to always feel that hot-toddy warmth deep inside of me each year as it comes around again.

Which holiday is your favorite and why?

 Today is one of our fundraising events for the shelter. These precious kitties need as much as we can give them since we run solely on private donations and volunteer energy. The group has been working tirelessly for a month to get this together and I think it’s going to be great. All the Yard Sale info for today is on our website – A.C.T. 

In other busy news… Some of you might remember I was fostering an adorable kitten that was dumped at the shelter.

She was terrified at first and hid under my sofa for the first two days I had her. After that, she inched her way closer to us and to my other cats. She made our home hers. She traveled from bowl to bowl taking a taste of the other cats’ food, she tried out each and every cat bed, played with all the toys and otherwise took over the house.

Two of my own kitties, Lady and Dobby, wanted nothing to do with her.

Fidget was the one who snuggled with her and did the ‘mommy thing’ by grooming her head to toe.

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He’s not a mommy but… hey. That’s the animal world for ya.

And then there’s Ansel. The papa of the group. He’s my biggest and eldest baby. He was as terrified of her as she was of us when she’d first arrived. Naturally, when it was time for her to go to her permanent home, he’d finally warmed up to her. (Don’t let the eyes fool you, he IS happy she’s sleeping next to him. Really.)

Letting this little one go was brutally painful. As tiny as she is, she filled our home and our hearts. I know she’s with a great family now and she’ll adjust – probably sooner than I will. She needed to learn how to fit in and get along. And she did. I need to learn how to say goodbye without falling apart. And I didn’t.

I am an animal lover through and through. Taking in this abandoned kitten was inevitable from the moment I ripped open the box in which she’d been dumped at the shelter. I was going to foster her, socialize her so she could easy go into a loving home. There was no question.

Yes. My intention was to foster the last three kittens I took home from the shelter, and now, more than a year later, they are as much a part of my family as I am. It was no wonder, then, that everyone I spoke to about fostering this one laughed at me.

“It’s true,” I said. “I’m not keeping her, I’m just fostering her.”

“Uh-huh” was the standard chuckling reply.

In truth, I have considered keeping her. But that would mean FIVE cats in my house. One for each room.

Uh… no.

Put aside the fact that she fits inside every nook and cranny there is in my little house. Forget the fact we keep repeating one line all day and night, “Where’s the baby?” Forget the messy kitten coolie and baby-fine talons… um… nails… that slice through skin like a hot knife through butta (hey, I’m a New Yorker). Forget the endless heart-wrenching cries at 4am when baby is hungry… and forget the hissing and attitudes of the ‘elder’ cats in the house.

Forget all that because this kitten is precious. And yes, she’s already cozied up into my heart.

But I can’t keep her. I have four already and we have a neat little routine going. Besides, she’s here for one reason – to be taught what it means to be part of a family so that she can be part of one herself. And guess what? She has a home. Sight-unseen, someone has eagerly agreed to take her and so, come Monday, I’ll say goodbye to my fragile little calico and know, somewhere in my sad little heart, that she’ll be happy and very well cared for.

I’ll also know that I was the one lucky enough to receive her first ever head-butt. And I taught her to feel safe enough to love.

It’s tough enough to find homes for the cats we already have at the shelter but when kitten season comes around, we’re inundated with more of these babies. We do what we can to socialize the new ones as they come in so they’re ready to interact with other cats and with people. It’s good for us as animal lovers to bring a skittish kitten around but it’s even better for them because a happy cat is usually a cat who will be adopted.

Thing is, as a shelter, we can’t always control how the cats come to us. Some are from various neighborhoods and we’re called in to help trap, neuter and release. Sometimes, the ones we trap and neuter are so friendly or docile we simply can’t release them again and try to find adoptive parents for them. It’s a great feeling to know you’ve rescued a cat off the street and have found it a safe and loving home.

What’s not such a great feeling is finding animals dumped at our door.

Sure, people mean well. They think the cats they dump will be better off with us – and maybe they will. But it costs money to house and care for these cats. If someone wants to rescue a cat and decides to leave it with us, I wish they’d mail us a donation check, too. Instead, we’re left with the tab. As a shelter that gets it funds solely from donations, paying surprise bills like this is not the easiest thing to do.

Take this past Monday night… I’m driving to the shelter and I get a call from my co-volunteer. She’s scared. There’s a cardboard box precariously placed mid-way down the stairs to the shelter. It’s wrapped and wrapped with black electrical tape and the only ‘air holes’ are handle cutouts in the cardboard. There’s no sound from the box and no movement. There’s no indication of how long that box has been there. Hours, perhaps, in 78 degree weather? Imagine being alone and sealed in a box for hours.

I get there moments later, tear the tape from the box and peer inside. Two wide and frightened eyes stared up at me from way in the corner behind a small mound of ‘bedding’ (towels). It’s a kitten. A tiny calico, silent as can be.

That tiny seven-week-old calico, who we’ve named Lady and I call Lady Di, cost us an easy $100.00 right out of the box. Literally. She needed a flea bath, flea treatments, a fecal to test for worms, blood work to test for fatal and contagious diseases, and an overall exam. We want our kitties healthy. Now we have to house and feed her until she’s adopted and if that doesn’t happen before she’s 6 months old, we’re dolling out dough to pay for her to be spayed.

Don’t get me wrong, that’s what a shelter is for. But please, if you think a cat will be better off at a shelter and decide to leave that animal at the shelter door, be sure the animal is safe AND include a note stating your intention to send a donation… and then follow through.

Meanwhile, Lady Di is at my house being socialized. She’s still scared and hiding and my cats are not giving her an easy time of it, either. She’ll learn to hold her own and she’ll learn to play and trust. My job is to teach her while keeping her safe, fed, clean and secure.

I just hope I’m able to give her up when our ‘training’ period is over. She’s a precious little thing and easily wormed her way into our hearts. Take a look at her and tell me if she doesn’t do the same for you.
  

Every September, the Queens Farm Museum holds their annual Harvest Festival. I have taken Daughter to this festival every year since she was able to walk. For the past four years, she’s invited friends along. Since her birthday is around the same time this is her party.  Her friends look forward to it almost as much as she does. And to be honest, I look forward to it, too.

This year, the festival will have a double meaning for us. Not only will it be a celebration for Deanna’s birthday with friends she adores, but it will also be a special day for some of our precious shelter cats.

Today, at the Queens Farm Museum, volunteers from A.C.T. (animals can’t talk) animal shelter will be there hosting an adoptathon. (Daughter designed and set up the shelter’s website, btw) It’s a wonderful idea one of our dedicated volunteers came up with and a whole crew of volunteers have offered to help. I cannot wait to see people gravitate toward the adoption table. Our kittens and older cats are so adorable and loving, I don’t know how anyone will be able to resist them.

Of course, there’s a tight screening process potential adoptive parents must endure, but that’s to ensure the safety of our cats. No one will carry a cat away from the farm except the volunteers – back to the shelter. Hopefully, we’ll have names and references and before the week is out, some of these furry babies will pack their belongings and arrive in a happy and loving new home.

What a wonderful birthday gift that would be for Daughter.

That… and a cell phone.

I see it this way… Daughter is now a full fledged teen. A TEEN!!!! She’s been asking for a cell phone for about two years. She’s homeschooled. Hmm. That means she’s around me much of the time. Why on earth would she need a phone? I’m still not clear on the answer to that, but this is a big leap of a birthday and so I relented. It’s time. My little girl is growing up.

She wanted an iPod and a phone, so I got her the Juke phone – music and phone in one.

She’s going to love it. LOVE. It.

Talk about growing up… her cake is no longer shaped like a teddy bear, a princess or a powerpuff girl. Nope. Instead, this year, her cake will be the same as her gift – a cell phone. I shape and decorate a cake each year according to her interests. Harry Potter was one year, a pirate another. It’s fun to look back on her birthdays, see the cake and be reminded of what occupied her mind during those years. I suppose soon she’ll outgrow the need for a ‘theme’ cake but I’ve a feeling I never will.

When this cake is ready, I’ll post a photo – it’s baking as I type. And if you all behave… I might even post the recipe, which I must say is terribly rich and decadent.

Happy birthday my little one who is not so little anymore.  May you dream without limits and may your every dream come true. (just remember your mother when they do. )

I volunteer at an animal shelter. It’s rewarding work but often sad as well.

We’re a no-kill cat shelter. On the surface, that sounds wonderful, and it is. We don’t kill cats that have been there “too long” in order to make room for new cats. However, what that means is we become filled to capacity quickly – and often. If our older cats are not adopted, and sadly, most people choose kittens over adult cats, then they remain with us until they live out their natural lives, never to have a loving family of their own. That severely limits our ability to rescue new cats or kittens and get them into loving homes.

This is kitten season. Kittens arrive at the shelter en masse now and while MOST of them will find homes, the young mothers of these kittens will be returned from whence they came. Yes, they’ve been spayed, so they will not repopulate the area, but they’re out there on their own again, having to fend for themselves. Why? Because we haven’t the room to house them.

The most humane way to treat the cat overpopulation problem is with a relatively simple thing called “TNR”, or trap-neuter-return. Strays are humanely trapped, spayed or neutered, allowed to heal, then returned to their community. Sadly, some of the trapped cats were once family pets but have since been abandoned for various reasons – some of which you cannot imagine. They’re friendly and innocent and have only survived the ‘wild’ because of luck. They need homes. They need to feel and be safe again. Unless the cat population is controlled by the practice of TNR, too many of these sweet things will continue to reproduce and add yet more strain on an already strained system – where too many shelters filled to capacity will destroy the animals they hold or be so overwhelmed they’ll unwittingly lose sight of the reason they’re volunteering there in the first place. To rescue animals and to find them safe and loving homes where they can give (and receive) affection only those privy to a cat’s world will ever fully appreciate.

Trap-neuter-return. A solution to so many problems.

And on a personal note – Bonita, you sweet beautiful thing, you will be missed by all of us, human and feline alike.

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I wanted to blog about writing again today but I was almost unable to do anything online at all… in fact, my computer refused to boot up this morning. It took three attempts – two force shut-downs, three reboots with system scans and one final automatic system restore in order to get my computer going.

Here’s what’s been going on -

The night before last, a bunch of pop-ups took over my screen. They were all the same – blank web pages with “about:blank” in the address bar. Apparently, “about-blank” is a virus, adware, spyware or other hijacking program that somehow weaseled it’s way into my system. Even when I was off-line, the popups would pop up. Tens of them at first, then what seemed like hundreds.

I disconnected from the internet – shut down the wi-fi – and did all the scans I could think to do to rid my system of whatever bugs it had. Nothing seemed to work.

Yesterday, I downloaded some anti-spyware programs from the web – and yes, I was concerned that some of them might actually feed the virus rather than destroy it. I downloaded StopZilla, AdwareAway and Spyware Terminator (I hear Spyware Blaster is a good one to run, too). I ran all of those plus McAfee, Spybot and Adaware. Each program deleted something it called a “high” or “critical” threat. Done. I thought.

Then I had to take my cat to the vet – he’s been losing weight and there’s no explanation for it. He lost a pound at the last check up last week and another ounce and a half by yesterday. He has another appointment for next week to be weighed but was given one of his vaccinations yesterday. I took him home and he had a terrible reaction to it – never happened before and he’s now 11 years old. He was itchy. Itchy like you would not believe. Rolling, scratching, rippling his muscles looking like his skin was crawling. I rushed him back to the vet and he was given an antihistamine that should have knocked him out. It had the opposite affect. He started mewing and throwing up all over the place. And then he turned very aggressive. My sweet, affection kitty turned into the Looney Tunes version of the Tasmanian devil! He was panting and bolting through the house. His body got all puffed up like when a cat is ready to kill. And then he went after my smallest cat – Lady. He was biting and hitting her and she just fell to the floor in surrender. I had to fight to get him off of her. Finally, finally – about an hour later – he calmed and was my sweet, skittish boy again.

With all that, I didn’t even think about my computer. Or… about backing up my work. If you’re hearing the death march, I’m not surprised. The last time I backed up my work was about two weeks ago. If that.

This morning, the computer wouldn’t start and I thought for sure I’d lost everything. I don’t know to what point my system has been restored but it’s working now and I’m about to back up everything. Every. Thing. Then, I’m going to call the vet and tell him what happened to my cat last night. And THEN, I’m going to run all the scans I can run on my system and maybe even call in a pro.

“about:blank”. If you see it back up EVERYTHING and call someone who knows about computers. Don’t wait. Don’t try to fix it yourself. It’s sneaky. It hides in various files, renaming itself so your anti-virus or spyware detection programs cannot find it. It’s nasty and will make your life hell. I know this first hand.