Wouldn’t you know it, the worst storm of the year starts tonight! Oh well, if the Good Lord is willing and the creek don’t rise, th is time tomorrow, I will be halfway across the US headed for the Cat Writers’ Convention in New York.

I have to leave for work soon, but I am praying the rest of my day goes smoother than this morning did. We had quite a windstorm last night and sometime in the night, the wind blew the screen door open and eight cats made their escape! I have gotten back all of them but three; MK, Gideon and McKinley are still loose. I have the trap set but I won’t be here to monitor it. I don’t know if Mike can or not.

Then I go into the bedroom and there is blood all over the floor. Major blood. I scooped up Squirrel and checked her, she was fine, so I checked Mike. He has scraped the top half of his little toe off. The Diabetes has caused his toes to start curling down and when he walks he scrapes his toes on the ground. He can’t feel it, so he doesn’t know it is happening. I told him he needed to go to the hospital- but he won’t go (of course!)

Well the bloodwork is back and although a bit abnormal- nothing jumps out to indicate why she looks so bad. They want to run films on her, but i have declined. I am just going to let her live in the bedroom and watch her closely. Just the vet visit threw her off. She isn’t eating as much as I would like her to and she had a litter pan miss last night. I put in a larger container for her, so now she has four boxes to choose from. She didn’t eat much, I need to go to the store and get her some more canned food. When I sat on the bed, she came over to see me and I brushed her gently. She trilled the entire time. Poor kitty- I hate it when they grow old. They never live as long as we want (or need) them to.

This morning, Ms. Phoebe went to a new home. As I told her new caregiver, the recent addition to our home Gideon- the black cat left on our porch was ready to full-on attack poor Phoebe whenever she came out of the bedroom. After all she has been through in her short life, she deserves to live in a home where she isn’t terrified.

I called Lila tonight and Phoebe is still separated from Lila’s cats but so far all is fine. They have met through the screen several times and no outright hostility from either camp. I am hopeful that this will work out. I love Phoebe and she is a very loving kitty to us, but it was easier to find her a home then it was to place Gideon.

I just received a large package of goodies from Sticky Paws, as Fe-Lines Inc., celebrates 15 years of online business.

Lots of good stuff here all geared to stop cats from ending up in shelters or dumped outside because they are peeing in what we consider inappropriate places (though they think the places are just fine) I will be testing out these fine products and writing them up on my review section of my website felinexpress. There are products to keep cats off counters, out of houseplants, scratching pads and ramps and a new electric pet massager- though I think the dog might like that more than the cats!

Squirrel came home last night. She has been an outside kitty since being born in our barn. We call her Squirrel because her favorite trick when she was a kitten was to run up the walnut tree, tap a walnut with her claws and when it dropped to the ground, she will race down the tree and play for hours. She has been missing a very long time, and when she came in last night, I knew we were in trouble. She is pencil thin- but the good news is she is eating and drinking. She is not very user friendly, so she in the bedroom. I am the only one who can really work with her. I suspect she has worms, but ran her to the vet for bloodwork as she is an older kitty. She is 13 years old. So after her bath, I gathered her in my lap and told her I loved her but her free-roaming days are now over. She looks bad even after the bath, oily coat, smelly- vet agrees with my first suspicion- cancer. She is lying on the bed right now and not having problems with Phoebe who is also a bedroom kitty. I hope for good results to come back on the bloodwork- but honestly, I have been down this path many times and I suspect she isn’t long for this world. 🙁

Jeri called me last night. She and I have been buds since the first day we met back in 1980. I had just been hired as Shipping Supervisor for Millett Sights and she was QC Manager on the factory floor. A single mom raising a daughter against all the odds we became instant friends and have kept in touch all these years.

My bud is dying due to her long-term addiction to smoking. I remember so many times pleading with her to quit, but she said smoking made her feel better. Now, she says she wished she had listened. What she has is inoperable,and terminal. They did one surgery on her and she died on the table, they brought her back and now she has to live with oxygen 24-7 because her lungs are shot.

We talked a long time, we cried some but the damage has been done. I asked her what could I do and she replied, “do what you have been doing all these years. Be my friend and don’t bring this discussion up again among us because I don’t like talking about it.”

So I promised her I would honor her wishes, then went in and had a good cry. She was there when I divorced my first husband and she organized my “Thank God You Are Divorced” Party. Yes, boys and girls, my first husband was THAT bad! She was also the one who prodded me at that party (after my fifth marguerita) to answer an ad from a singles newspaper she had so carefully wrapped up my gift in. That ad, led to a four-year writing relationship long-distance and the ultimate marriage of Mike and I. I owe this woman a lot and I promised not to ditch her in her time of need. I have seen it among Mike’s “friends.” The gradual pulling away because long-term sickness makes many uncomfortable, and when Mike couldn’t supply his friends with what they were taking from him- mostly knives and other items he built- they just left. Didn’t talk about it, just left him confused and dazed and saying to me “What happened to Jack? Arty? Bill and Larry?”

When I am in New York, I am going to see if I can find something special for my friend who is struggling to survive. They have given her a three month window and time is running out.

Although some may not find this amusing, I still have to giggle at our Hurricane Charlie. I think in his past life, this orange hurricane was a gold prospector.

My wedding ring has been missing for a few days. I remember taking it off before I got in the shower and then forgot to put it back on afterward. It was custom-made by Mike especially for me and it has gold nuggets a diamond and an emerald in it. The engagement portion had the emerald which is my birthstone. The wedding band that was fused to the engagement ring (like a piece of the puzzle had a diamond (representing God) and an amethyst (Mike’s birthstone) The meaning behind the fusion of the two is we come together in God. It is a very special ring.

Ok, so it goes missing and I look everywhere. I can’t find it. I am bummed, but I know it will turn-up somewhere.

It did, tonight in the litter scoop when I was cleaning out the litter pans! I also found a spare key to the truck, a ring top off a pop can and a metal shower curtain. Charlie likes to take metal objects and hide his treasure. Thankfully, except for the shower ring- everything else escaped being “wasted” if you get my drift. 🙂

Silly Kitty! Maybe next time I empty the cat litter, I better make a quick pass with our White’s Metal Detector first! LOL

Not a cat, but a manuscript to help people rescue cats or kittens. I just finished the final draft of my proposal and sent it off to a friend of mine who is a great editor. She is going to read it and tweek it so it will be ready two weeks from today.

It was hard to juggle this project with everything else going on- all the cats in the house wanting mom to play and not write. Gosh, how I would love to have an office! I do my writing in the living room, in a corner and there is very little privacy as the television is in the same room. Shasta has to be on my lap, and Gideon has to near the keyboard while Trump reigns above on the printer swatting at papers as they roll out of the printer. But it is done and my hope is someone will want to see the actual manuscript and go ahead with the project.

In it, I tackle everything about rescue from the beginning to the end and everything else in-between. As far as my research goes, I haven’t seen a book on the market today quite like this. So we will just see what happens.

This morning I took both Shasta and Turner in to be neutered. This is it for me, the last neuters of all times. Then, I will turn to and get this dang vet bill off my neck, take care of my crew while still trying to find homes for the kittens here and just concentrate on finishing my manuscript. That’s the plan and this time, I believe God is on board with the agenda. I asked Him first what He wanted me to do, instead of just plowing ahead and doing it.

I was quite embarassed this morning at the vet’s office. I had filled out the spay form and the neuter form and presented it to the girls. Judy came out, picked up Turner, vanished into the back. A few minutes later, she came for Shasta, vanished behind the door only to reappear a few seconds later grinning.

“Mary Anne?” she asked. I turned around and said “Yes?”
“Your little girl kitty- well she has balls!” Then she laughed.

It figures, when the lady gave me the kittens, she said here is a little boy and a little girl and I never even thought to check! I just thought okay, another female better watch her because brother could get her pregnant.

Well, I didn’t have to worry about that, and my neuter bill just decreased by $60.00! Plus the recovery time of a neuter is minutes not hours as in a spay.

Last night when I went to pick up Turner, he freaked out. Someone was shooting nearby (hunting season) and the gun sounded like it was in our backyard. I had Turner scruffed, the gun went off, Turner started, he twisted around, sank his tiny teeth into my right wrist, his back legs found my left wrist and his front legs found my right one. He was out to turn me into shredded wheat. I couldn’t get him off me to save my life, and I knew if I just released him he would hide for days. So while he was still biting me, I carried him into the cage in the bedroom (it is heavily padded- stuck my arms inside and using my body, I used the door as a scraper to get him off me.

Boy it hurt like the dickens and I was bleeding like a stuck pig. He just missed my vein on my wrist with his teeth, but I was raked pretty good. I ran into the bathroom, grabbed the antibacterial soap, lathered up, scrubbed and scrubbed, more hot water, then I poured bleach over both arms and tried not to scream. Another scrub-down, applied neosporin and gulped down some antibiotics I keep on hand. Holy smokes! My arms look like I was in the arena with a baby lion!

I fully expected to wake up this morning to swelling and bruising-but the bleach took care of that. I am sore but not painful. As far as Turner goes, I am sad. We had made such great strides together and now I am once again the ultimate predator in his world. When he comes home, we will just have to start over from scratch (no pun intended!)

But two photos does not a contest make. So instead, if you have a funny, funky or ROTFL video or photo of your cat- share it on whosyourcatty.com and be in line for a bigger prize if you win!

We are being slammed with high winds and heavy rain. All that plastic I put up to protect the kitties in the enclosure has all come ripping down. Last night, the wind was howling so loud it sounded like a bad concert! Lost power for 6 hours- was really peaceful though- the whole town went dark. A bunch of people just aimlessly driving around in the dark, I guess looking for the light. I sat on couch for hours listening to the silence, surrounded by purrs. Though I admit, I was glad when the lights came back on.

I went shopping today- for me! I felt very selfish, but I bought shoes for the trip- and a purse. I am going to be traveling in jeans and in comfort, but once I get to cat writers’ it will be all business. I tried on all my professional attire last night- that was a zoo. I keep my professional clothes in a closet in the living room away from kitties. Opening that door, pulling out dresses, slacks, blazers etc and keeping the black clothes free of cat hair turned into a rodeo! I am happy to say that everything still fits me- some stuff is even loose! I think I have my travel and conference clothes figured out. I was also thrilled to go to a local shoe store and actually find shoes in my size in Women’s! I bought comfortable walking shoes for work and some really cool half boots black for the conference. I guess it is official- in 23 days, i will be flying to New York!