Pics! with! Santa!

One of the groups I volunteer with was helping at a pet-photos-with-Santa event at a local pet store yesterday, so I loaded up on my allergy meds and headed out.

We were plopped right smack-dab in the middle of the store:

But the backdrop was amazing, and Santa was the BEST.  Here he is, skillfully handling a guinea pig wearing a teeny-tiny holiday hat:

When we took a break, Santa showed me his driver's license.  Santa Claus, One Arctic Circle, North Pole, The World.  Yep, he's legit!   Here's a blurry photo of some ferrets (those little buggers are FAST!  Santa says it's like trying to hold on to wriggly noodles):

These photos were taken by me, on the sidelines.  The actual photographer was really interesting to watch, as she juggled dogs and cats and kids and you-name-it.  Here she is trying to get a perfect shot:

Look at this cat!:

 And here the cat is with his little girl:

At one point, the inevitable happened:

This family had four dogs and a cat, all of whom wanted their photo with Santa, so there was a considerable amount of wrangling involved:

They were coming in by the shopping-cart-load:

 

And my favorite family of the day:  Three cats, two humans, one elf hat, holiday sweaters on everyone, and Santa!:

I have to admit, I've never volunteered at an event quite like this one before.  It was an experience, that's for sure! 

Update on the Craiglist cat!

Remember the cat I played matchmaker for?  The people who adopted him report that he is a sweet, docile cat and is fitting in just fine.  They've gotten him neutered and started him on his vaccinations, and as far as getting along with their other cat,

"as of yesterday they were playing like children taking turns chasing each other back and forth in the apartment, they get along great even cleaning each other’s fur."

Yay!  A happy ending. 

Oh!  And they've named him Buddy-Boy. :)

... climbing various ladders in a dress and fishnet stockings

So!  It suddenly hit me last night that while I had bought my sister Texas's Christmas presents, I still needed to wrap them, and box them, and get them on their way to her.  Because I've discovered over the years that no matter which shipping service you use, packages hit the Texas border and enter some kind of weird Bermuda Triangle of shipping where they either sit in some huge package warehouse for several days before moving on to their destinations, or in one memorable case, they actually turn around and head back across the country before finally ending up in some giant warehouse in Atlanta and then disappearing entirely, DESPITE the fact that you had tracking on the package.

No, I'm not bitter. *ahem*

In other words, I needed to get that package on its way PRONTO.

Well, I couldn't wrap last night, because I had other stuff going on, and I knew that tonight I was going to be busy, because my new camera was finally arriving to replace the old Fuji that bit the dust a couple of weeks ago, and that is a whole 'NOTHER story.  Because as soon as the Fuji died ("lens control error", my a**), I went on line and ordered a new camera from Amazon, but it was going to take several days to get here because I'm too cheap to buy Prime, so I went to Walmart and bought a thirty-dollar point-and-shoot Vivitar to get me through the interim.  But!  That Vivitar is a piece of crap.  I actually went on line and wrote a scathing review of it on Amazon, which I almost never bother to do with anything I purchase, because the camera is the worst thing ever.  I mean, I only paid thirty bucks, so I didn't exactly have high hopes, but I *was* hoping that it would at least take good enough pics that I could use it as a "car camera" once the Nikon I ordered got here,  and shoot a couple of rescue events in the meantime, but I swear to God, my five-dollar FLIP PHONE takes better pictures than that camera.  See the previous post, and the pictures from the rescue?  Those are the crappy kind of photos I get out of that camera.  It did better at the Harley store, I think because the Harley place was lit up like O'Hare, but STILL.  Geeeeez.

*rant over*

So, back to the story.  The new Nikon will be here tonight and I need to figure it out, so I knew I wouldn't have time to start wrapping tonight, but I ALSO knew that no wrapping would get done on ANY date until I got the box of wrapping crap out of the attic.  I had a couple of extra minutes before I had to leave for work this morning, and I figured, I'll grab the wrapping stuff out of the attic NOW, because honestly?  At this point, ALL of my Christmas prep is getting accomplished a few minutes at a time, crammed in between everything else I have going on right now.

*sigh*

COMPLICATING things is the fact that my attic is accessed by a ladder.  A drop-down, TALL ladder, because the attic access door is in the garage ceiling, and the garage is, like, fourteen feet high.  And BECAUSE the ceiling is so high, making the cord you have to yank on to get the ladder assembly to descend ALSO far above my reach, first I have to get out a six-foot stepladder, set it up in the garage (oh yeah, needless to say I also have to pull the car out of there first), CLIMB UP THE STEPLADDER, and then grab the access door cord and yank it, making the attic ladder start to descend, at which point I can ease it down WHILE STILL ON THE SIX-FOOT STEPLADDER, until the attic ladder has fully descended, which is when I climb down OFF of the stepladder and ONTO the attic ladder and climb up INTO the attic to grab whatever I need. 

AND, this morning, while getting ready for work, I put on a dress.  A long, Amish-style dress, because whatever, it was there in the closet, but then I thought, well, THIS dress is kind of dull, and so I put on some fishnet stockings.  Just for fun.

WHICH IS HOW I found myself, at seven-thirty this morning, climbing various ladders in a damn-near-full-length dress and fishnet stockings, and swearing mightily as I tried to maneuver the giant box of Christmas wrapping crap back DOWN the ladders.  Sheesh.

And this, folks, is my life.  NO WONDER I'm always exhausted.

Ha.

... and they're off!

India, Punkin Pie and Mama Rosalita all went to the adoption center yesterday to find their new families! 

 They join Pebbles, who is already there (while I was at the center yesterday people were there filling out an application for her!). Pistol Pete, Lady Bernadette, Squeegee, Bam Bam and Firecracker have already been adopted and are in their new homes. That leaves Jughead and Sandy here at Foster Camp. Don't worry, guys, your turn is coming!

Saturday morning, I did my weekly cleaning stint at the rescue, and I got to meet some celebrities!  

See those two teeny beeny puppies?  That's Laverne and Shirley, and they, along with the rescue's founder, are going to be on the Harry Connick Jr. show on Tuesday!  The show was taped last week and will air tomorrow, Dec. 6.  It is going to be a short segment, only about five minutes, but hopefully the publicity will bring some much-needed funds and volunteers to this super rescue.  Set your tivos!

Here are the areas that I clean:

Two banks of containments, plus some free-standing cages (there are two cages not shown in that bottom pic).  It takes three hours to clean all those cages!  Well, plus I spend some time snuggling with the kitties. :)

After cleaning on Saturday, I had to zip over to the local Harley dealership to wrap gifts as a fundraiser for another group I volunteer with.

Look at these beautiful pups!:

 

 

Here are some of the volunteers:

We were wrapping fiends, I'm tellin' ya.

Yesterday afternoon, after running errands and then getting the girls settled at the adoption center, it was time for this:

The tree-gle has landed!  Ha.  I got it up in the stand and in the house, and that is where I ran out of weekend steam.  Phew!  I'll try to get the lights on it this week, and then hopefully the decorations will go on this coming weekend, although I once again find myself booked both days with rescue events, so time will tell.  Deck the halls, indeed. :)

Just call me the Cat Matchmaker

The local spay/neuter organization I volunteer for received a request this week.  A friend of one of the volunteers had recently had a cat pass away, and was looking for a companion for their remaining cat, who was now terribly lonely.  They weren't really interested in going through one of the local rescues, as they wanted to "rescue" a cat themselves by taking in a homeless cat.  But they ALSO didn't want a feral; they wanted a cat that would be friendly to them, and to their remaining cat.  Could our group help them?  They wanted a male cat, not too young or too old; about two years would be fine.

I put on my thinking cap.  I know of LOTS of people who feed ferals and would love to find them indoor homes, but these people were looking for a friendly cat.  I called the woman with all the barn cats (yes, I am still working to get her cats spayed and neutered; getting multiple slots in the local low-cost programs is taking longer than I anticipated); did she have any friendly male cats on her farm that she would be willing to re-home?  YES, she said, she had several!

Then I went to Craigslist.  Craigslist can be a scary, weird place, but it is also a place where people try to find homes for local strays, and for animals that they can't keep.  GRANTED, sometimes it's for sketchy reasons ("moving", my a**), but still, a cat needing a home is a cat needing a home.  Sure enough, there was a listing for a friendly stray cat that people had taken in but couldn't keep, and they wanted to find it a good home.  Here's the listing:

" Looking to find a home for this sweet boy. We recently rescued him during the snow storms. We asked around our neighborhood and no one seems to claim him. We'd say he's about 8 months old. Very tall cat. We had him checked out by a neighbor who is a vet and she states he's in great health. We unfortunately just cannot keep him. He's very affectionate and loving and loves kids and other animals. He has these beautiful "droopy" eyes :) we are moving on December 3rd (Ed:  *ahem*) and have to find him a home by then. Please contact me if interested!"

Look how cute this cat is!

I had the spay/neuter group contact the people looking for the cat and give them the two options:  (a) their choice of friendly barn cat; go and pick one out, or (b) Craigslist Cat.

This morning I got the message:  They took Craigslist Cat!  They needed a cat, the cat needed a home, and now they'll all live happily ever after.

And I think it's time I got a "Cat Matchmaker" t-shirt.  Ha.

Birthday Loot

I have a time-honored tradition of buying myself birthday (and Christmas) gifts.  Hey, it's a dirty job, but somebody's gotta do it.

So let's see what I got myself this year, shall we?  Let's see, there's a flying cat:

A flying frog, similar to one I bought myself at the State Fair a few years back:

Here they are, patrolling the living room:

Some miscellaneous goodies:

And the cats surprised me by enlisting a personal shopper to get me an address buoy for the front porch!:

All in all, a very enjoyable birthday.  Here's hoping for many more.

It's my birthday, and I'll post a video if I want to ...

Seems appropriate, give the day ...

Nothin' good happens past two a.m., indeed.

Time for ... the 2016 Thanksgiving Tabby Tail Challenge!

I've been having a little fun with this over on Facebook today, so I thought I'd share it with you guys.

aaaaaand it's here - the 2016 Thanksgiving Tabby Tail Challenge!  Who will win?  It's anyone's guess ...

Sandy would like to make sure you take a good look at HIS gorgeous tabby tail ...

and Punkin Pie would like you to consider HER tail:

Yes, yes, Punkin, we SEE your gorgeous tail!: 

Oh no!  The contestants are rushing the judges!  Watch out, that may be an infraction:

It's going to be a tough call, folks ... at this point it looks like all five Foster Campers are in the running!:

Jughead would like to interrupt this broadcast to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!:

 

And the winner is ... Rosalita!  Without her, none of these kittens would even HAVE tabby tails!  Congratulations, Rosalita, you've won the 2016 Thanksgiving Tabby Tail Challenge!  Yaaaaaay!:

Meanwhile, on Facebook ...

Yeah, I've been pretty busy over on Facebook lately.  (And if anybody wants to friend me there, just shoot me an email (rockycat24 AT yahoo DOT com) and I'll give you my Facebook name.)  And my postings are falling into two categories:  Angry rants about the upcoming administration, and cute pics of the foster campers.

I'm pretty sure you're not interested in that FIRST category, so let's review some of the action from the second, okay?

Sleepy Punkin Pie:

"Hey, dis stuff is pretty good - keep it comin', laydee!":

 

"We're tryin' to watch TV, here.  You go 'way.":

 

"'Scuse me, I gotta go see a guy about a dog.":

 

All five in one shot!  And yes, it is just that chaotic around here:

 

"I claim dese Friskies in the name of India!":

 

and former camper Pete says "Hallelujah!":

 

Have a great Thanksgiving, everybody!  And try not to kill anybody at dinner when talk turns to politics.  That's why *I'm* staying home.  :)

The weekend

Let's see, I spent Saturday morning cleaning at the rescue because they were short-handed, and I've gotta tell you, that is a WORKOUT.  Oh man, I used muscles I haven't used in quite a while, evidently, because they are complaining today. (Some of the containments are at eye level, and some are at ground level, and they've all got to be thoroughly cleaned.  It's a lot of bending and reaching, is what I'm saying.) And I've committed to cleaning every Saturday for the next few months, because I am insane.

Saturday afternoon it was seventy degrees out!  Ponyboy helped me with some raking.  "Finally!  I've found the perfect camouflage!," he said.

Yesterday, it was THIRTY degrees out, and snowing and blowing.  I went out for lunch with a friend and got some errands run, but man, it was NOT NICE out.

And this morning I awoke to this:

*SIGH*

Recently Read

Skip it if you wanna.

1.  The Dollmaker by Harriette Arnow - Novel about a backwoods Kentucky family who move to Detroit in World War II so the husband can work in a factory.  Depressing, at times heartbreaking, and one of my absolute favorite books.  You'll become so involved in the life of this family that you won't want the book to end.  Highly recommended.

2.  Max by Howard Fast - Fast-paced novel about film-making in New York at the turn of the (last) century.  Very interesting and just soap-opera-ish to keep it fun.  I enjoyed it!

3.  Claiming Ground by Laura Bell - Subtitled "A Memoir", this is more a series of vignettes of the author's life as a sheep herder in Wyoming in the late seventies.  Did not finish.

4.  Blackbird by Jennifer Lauck.  Memoir.  Young girl's mother gets sick and dies; dad's a real dick.  Dad dies; stepmother is a bigger dick.  The end.

5.  On the Edge of Nowhere by Jim Huntington - One of the best books I've read lately, this memoir by a man who grew up in Alaska in the early 1900s is absolutely mesmerizing.  Very good!

6.  The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry by Kathleen Flinn - Account of the time the author spent at the Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris.  I picked this one up because I really enjoyed another book of hers, Burnt Toast Makes You Sing Good, but I didn't enjoy this one nearly as much, I guess mainly because I'm not interested in cooking techniques.  Did not finish.

7.  Call the Nurse by Mary J. MacLeod - Memoir of a nurse who practiced on a remote Scottish island in the 1970s.  Interesting and entertaining.

8.  The Gin Girl by River Jordan - Murder mystery novel set in Florida. *yawn*  Well, THAT'S a few hours of my life that I won't get back again.

9.  Tending Lives: Nurses on the Medical Front by Echo Heron - True stories from nurses.  Very good.

10.  The Personal History of Rachel DuPree by Ann Weisgarber - Novel about a family of Black homesteaders in South Dakota in the early 1900s.  Good.

And that's what I've been reading.  You?

Letting the cat out of the bag: A story in pictures

First off, I am pleased to be able to say that I will be attending the Women's March on Washington in January to show my support for equal rights for everyone in this country, regardless of gender, skin color, orientation or religion.  Join us! 

Now, a story in pictures:

Kind of startling to see that the kittens are almost as big as Mama, isn't it?  :) 

Another weekend, another adoption event

Yes, it was yet another Saturday at Petco, working to find homes for the rescue's kittens and cats.

Pete:  "What's a guy gotta do to get adopted around here?": 

Just exactly that, Pete!  Within the first hour, a family came in who had been pre-approved for adoption, and they picked Pete and another rescue kitten!  Yaaaaay!

It was a very, very busy day.

Squeegee, who was already at the center, saw that Pete had had success by being very vocal, and gave it his best shot:

And it worked for Squeegee, too!  A family fell in love with Squeeg, and pending application approval, he will be going home this week.  Lady Bernadette, who was also at the center, has already had an approved application and will also be going to her new home.

Two of the kittens at the rescue, chillin' in their hammock.  There was actually a THIRD kitten in there, but he was hanging out in the back of the hammock:

 

India and Pebbles want you to know that they were boooooored: 

There was lots of interest in India, as she is such a good-natured sweetie, but no one has claimed her yet.  Pebbles is now at the center full time, and I'm sure her family will find her soon.

and the best news of all?

Bam Bam, the Foster Camper with a heart murmur, charmed the pants off of one of the rescue's volunteers who specializes in caring for special-needs kitties, and she adopted him!  Bam Bam will spend his life being loved by someone who is expert in caring for kitties who need some extra attention.

So!  A very good day for the Campers, and it felt great to send some happiness out into the world.