Log #93, July/August 2011

Sick Kitty, Well Kitty

6 September

Jordan and Sosa

The foster kids all developed a crazy symptom, blood blisters on their little footsies. I was alerted to their problem when they started limping (who can see a galloping kitty's foot?). Then they became lethargic. Lethargy is easy to spot.

Sox

Little kitties don't just lie around all day and sleep, so off to the Cat Clinic we traipsed.  Sosa, the worst off, had a temp over 105°, the other two had low-grade fevers one or two degrees higher than normal (101°).  They're now on antibiotics and I hope to hear what the diagnosis is, today.

BuckyKat

Meanwhile, back at the (Mexican) ranch, Bucky was being her sweet little cute self. Shortly after this captivating photo, she peed on Stan's pillow. Our MX kitties are having a hard time adjusting to construction as well as to the loss of their leader, Gale.

Redecorating with Adoptable Kitties

31 August

Mt. St. Helen from Stan's southbound plane

Stan flew out at daybreak and managed to sail over the top of Mount Saint Helen as the sun lit her up. He left a very empty space in the Bothell Home for Waywards, so, naturally, I filled it up.

New furniture at the Bothell Home for Waywards

Two 2-month olds and an older kitty had been living outdoors in Puyallup. They had siblings, which disappeared, as happens in the big, bad outdoor world. The surviving kittens had been socialized enough to catch in a cage, although it took two attempts and alot of antibiotics ... on the catcher, not the catchees.

Once in the house, they dived for the safety of the underworld and would only come out from their bedspring lair for meals and playtime. Soooo, Janet hit on the great idea to corral them in a cage. We set up a cage and the two little ones have been yowling their heads off since the door slammed on them this morning. The older one is already very tame and lovable so he gets to stay loose in the house, although two of the bedrooms are now off-limits. The older one climbs all over me and purrs up a storm.

Anyone interested in adopting one or more kittens? They've already been wormed, received their initial kitten shots, and their blood tests will be back this week -- I'm sure they're healthy.

An Unhealthy Trend

22 August

Hmmm, there's a trend growing, from WA to FL. Brother Mark just had his car broken into, stuff stolen. My mailbox was broken into, mail stolen.  Neither car nor mailbox had been locked.

Here in WA, a young lady of the meth-head persuasion stole mail, not only from mailboxes, but she also had the audacity to tromp onto people's porches and steal UPS and FedEx deliveries. In my mailbox was a $50 Verizon rebate debit card.  On my porch was an Amazon book order. 

The rebate card was found on the perp's person when apprehended, but the book was nowhere to be found.

During the investigation, the police came to visit, twice. The perp had hit mailboxes in the whole 'hood.  The second police visit was to return the stolen debit card, now worth $.49, and some junk mail that had been found scattered about the neighborhood.

The police visits were disconcerting.  There's something about a policeman's attitude, at least the two who visited me ... they seemed to take it for granted that they were welcome to tromp right into the house.  And then there was the one's racist comments.  Was that necessary?  And was it necessary to come to my house at 9:00 PM in an unmarked car, unannounced?

Harrumph. We'd discussed on the phone where my card might have been used so I'd gone online and checked; the perp had used it at a drugstore, a quick mart and an oil-change garage. My 50 bucks went a long way. The 9:00 visit was also to collect the list so they could check if any of the businesses had security cameras. Catching her in the act would help build the case against our little hophead.

As for the lost rebate? Verizon says they'll send me tons of paperwork to fill out, along with a card with a zero balance. Once the papers are returned, they say they'll credit the card with another $50. Well, so far, I've received a zero-balance card, but no paperwork.  Amazon offered to replace the book order.

What we've learned in FL and in WA?  Always lock your car.  Promptly pick up your mail.  About the whole experience?  I was pleased and surprised that corporations would take responsibility for losses that were basically out of their control.  I was surprised that I'd developed such a marked mistrust of policemen, not so surprised that strangers in my house rankled; adopted Mexican attitudes.

John, Cat-Sitter, Foreman, and then Some

14 August

John surveying the 2nd floor addition

Jerry-rigged speaker for the phone

John left boat-cat Ziggy in Eric and Sherrell (s/v Sarana)'s capable cat-hands to avoid a miserable, caterwauling bus ride from Mazatlan to Manzanillo.  In Manzanillo, John not only became head-honcho in the cathouse, but he also jumped into the foreman slot for the SolMate Construction Co., and assumed the responsibilities of IT guy and photo-reporter, as well. 

Stan skipped out shortly after John arrived.  Having a capable linguist and cat handler at home is making Stan's CA and WA vacation that much better!

In the first week of his reign, John faced a multitude of problems, not the least of which was a lightning strike that took out his internet connections, modem, router and all.  That's when he assumed the IT-guy role, a role that's critical to the success of his photo-reporting.  He dealt with the cable guy, got new parts, and was up-and-running in a couple of days, uploading pictures to Picasa, daily, so that Stan and I could watch the on-going construction from afar.  He's been uploading construction pictures on his own Picasa site for everyone to see the progress, which has been awesome.

John taught Cinco how to fetch (here's the movie), and he also learned a trick or two from the construction crew, like how to amplify sound from an IPhone.

More about White Cats/Hurricane Dora

22 July

A note about the white cat that Stan captured and had sterilized (next story down).... She has an owner!

Six months ago a guy moved into the house across the street and brought with him a young boy and two dogs. Every day a woman would drive up in a white sedan to pick up the boy and haul him off, then return in the afternoon to drop the kid off. Is she girlfriend or mother? It has been very hard to tell.

Yesterday, Stan was chatting with her out front and the new white cat was lounging in a cage, sleeping off anesthesia. The conversation rolled around to the cat, and come to find out: the cat belongs to her! Stan revealed that the cat was sterilized that morning.  The cat, herself, seemed unfazed by the presence of her "owner" and napped on without so much as a blink towards her.

Dora's storm track as of Friday

Dora's big waves hitting the beach ...

One certainly wonders about situations where cats, kids and dogs live away from their mothers, but those are questions too sensitive even for a foreigner (or especially for a foreigner) to ask.  Kitty was later released and hasn't been seen since.

And so we move on to ponder acts of nature. Hurricane Dora is behaving nicely, moving along a NW track and leaving our calm coast alone, except for some nice waves and lots of spume from the crashing.

BurntFrog Buffet

20 July

Yet another opportunist has shown up to partake of the Burntfrog Buffet. The cost of grazing is a trip to the vet and a long nap.

New freeloader on her way to Dra. Gaby's

This little girl arrived last week and is tame. Stan's been able to pick her up so the trapping process was very easy.

One might think that living on a dead-end street underneath a flashing neon sign that says, "Drop Unwanted Kitties Here" would max out the seating capacity at the buffet, but the attrition rate for our ferals equals the drop-off rate, so we're holding steady at ten diners. Thankfully, some have become comfortable with the situation and they hang around behind our safe walls where marauding dog packs and speeding cars can't get to them. Maybe the new white cat will stay, too.

In other animal news around Mexico, friends in the Sea of Cortez sent a cool video of a whale rescue. The little guy was wrapped in a nylon net and slowly drowning....

While You Were Working

13 July

Remodeling noises are upsetting to some kitties while others take it in stride and still others take advantage. Our four little darlings seem to be coping with construction chaos, each in their own special way.

For instance, Chivo pees; once he sprayed all over sleeping Stan's bare back. He also has piddled in other strange places like on pillows and curtains. Picudo-of-the-timid-heart, on the other hand, runs and hides each morning and doesn't come out until the workers have left for the evening. But Cinco, the baby, does nothing. He thinks the parade of workers is normal; he's so young he's never known the house when it wasn't under construction. He simply takes the mayhem in stride and goes about his normal sleeping and eating routines. Neither jarring earth compactors nor screeching concrete mixers seem to bother the little guy.

Cinco enjoying the new tile floor

Bucky the opportunist enjoying the neighbor's high grass