A Mama Kitty's Work Is Never Done

After seven years and I can't even tell you how much money, I finally managed to have a grand total of 43 stray and feral cats in our neighborhood spayed and neutered.  Managed to find homes for 27 of those.  I'm left with way too many I care for every day, and my neighbor takes care of three.  I can tell you it's been hard work, but rewarding.  Unfortunately during those years I had to bury far too many of those little babies.  Living on a somewhat main road wasn't good for a feral colony I can tell you that.  

I thought that those days were over.  Ha!  Today, while out working in the yard, a neighbor stops by and asks me if I know anyone looking for a cat.  Apparently someone dumped this little girl off down the street from our house and she's been hanging out in the woods and in a neighbors drainage ditch.  Nothing doing but I drag the family down there to check it out.  I tool some photographs and managed to run into the young lady helping to take care of her.  Both were sweet as can be, and the little cat was just adorable.  Very loving, obviously wanting more than a ditch and a little spot in the woods for a home.  

I can't for the life of me imagine why someone would just dump their cat.  Feral cats know what to do to survive.  The ordinary housecat raised in a home, is a little bit lost when they're suddenly just dumped out into the wild with no one to feed them or make sure they have fresh water.  It literally breaks my heart.  Anyway, I hit up my old rescue page and have a few nibbles on a maybe foster home for her until we can find her forever home.  

People, I can't say it loud enough or long enough, take care of your pets.  Spay and or neuter them, don't take them on unless you are able to, and if you find yourself in a situation where you're unable to care for them any longer, find someone else who can.  Please for the love of GOD don't just dump them and hope they do okay.  Look at this little sweetie and say a little prayer that someone will take her in and love her for the rest of her life!

Never forget, but let's do more than just remember.

So tomorrow is the anniversary of the single most horrifying event on US soil in my lifetime.  My stepfather is a WWII veteran so I know horrible things have happened throughout the history of our country, and to this day, I respect the hell out of the services veterans and current members of our military provide daily.  For me though?  9/11 is the black day.  I still have a hard time thinking about how blue the sky was that day.  It just didn't seem right.  Still doesn't.  I remember sitting on my sofa, unable to really comprehend that this was really happening.  I think I might have called my husband, and wondering what my daughter was doing at school.  If there were televisions there, broadcasting, showing the kids those horrors.  I remember wanting her at home so I could wrap my arms around her and just know that she was safe.

I remember thinking about all the children who were in those buildings, and all the children who weren't, but whose parents wouldn't be going home to wrap them in their arms that night.  I think about all the mothers and fathers, husbands, wives, sisters, brothers, aunts and uncles, girlfriends, boyfriends, etc. who were lost to their loved ones that day, and for WHAT?  3,000 souls lost to punctuate a message of hatred.  I think that maybe before that day, I thought that this world just might be capable of living in peace.  One day at least.  Now I don't think so anymore, and it breaks my heart.

A few months after that day, our family made a short trip to NYC.  I remember standing there, those deep dark holes staring up at me like the blackened eyes of a nation.  The cross that still stands reaching out and somehow touching a part of my heart that was still broken and bleeding, and giving me, maybe not hope, but something I needed at the time.  Something I still don't fully understand.  I stood in front of the firehouse that lost every single man that day and I'm not ashamed to say I cried.  Full out sobbing.  I'll never forget that day either.  There were others there, tourists and New Yorkers, and I don't think it was possible so soon to walk by without being touched in some way or another, even for the people who lived it every day and probably still do.

Every year since then, our family has made it a point to visit fire stations, police stations, even a short visit to the Sheriff who lives down the street to take a little box of pies, or cupcakes, or something just to say thank you.  The first year, the table at the fire house was full.  Dozens of people had stopped by.  Over the years, fewer and fewer people made the effort.  Last year, we were the only ones who stopped by.  That makes me sad too.  With the current wave of police loathing and hatred, I think we've forgotten the people who are always there for us.  The people who have devoted their lives to keeping us safe.  People who, in the scheme of things, make next to nothing for their services, but live their lives never knowing when their light will be snuffed out, whose families never quite breathe fully until their loved one is home from another shift and they can exhale at last.

Tomorrow, some of us will think about 9/11 and the sacrifices that were made, but let's remember those here at home too.  Our military, the police and firefighters who do what those lost on 9/11 did that day, their jobs.  Take a minute out of your day to shake their hand, tell them thank you, tell them you appreciate them.  Buy a police officer a cup of coffee and a dozen Krispy Kremes or take a fire house a couple of pizzas or some cupcakes.  Be that person who helps them to remember that there are still people who appreciate what they do, and remember why they do it.  Let's do that something, not only to thank them for their service but to honor those never made it home.

And thanks for all the fish.

I'm not sure, but maybe making my comeback during the premier of Sons of Anarchy might be questionable at best.  I'm no Gemma, but hey, at least someone out there is aging gracefully right?  One day maybe I'll be able to rock a pair of jeans and some leather boots like that woman!  So that was an awkward intro huh?  I feel like I'm way out of my depth here, and hoping it's like riding a bike!  I've missed blogging.  I've missed writing in general and I've pretty much given up that I'll ever be able to write anything more substantial than a poem or a blog post.

I've learned a lot about my sleeping disorder in the past year or two and even though I'm still positive about it, I'm willing to accept my limitations and that focus I've talked about before has gotten the best of me.  That's not to say I'm down or depressed or all negative about it, nah, I'm too blase about it to be all that.  It's my life, for better or worse, and I'm going to make the best of it.   Always.

With that out of the way, I'm going to try this again.  I'll probably never be one of those bloggers that eeeeeveryone loves and visits daily, I'm too unpredictable for that, but I'm going to do what I can, what makes me happy.  I'm going to write when I've got something to write about, share with you my crazy, sometimes out of control life, the exploits of cats and kids and husbands and yes, the crazy cat lady too!

I won't overwhelm you with details right now, I've gotten quite a bit done on the stuff I wanted to work on around the house, somehow or other the kiddo has become a college senior, hopefully I'll be able to share some really fantastic news with you soon (news that we're waiting to hear about, so hopefully it'll be fantastic anyway, we're hoping), got all my hair cut off, went to my first Nascar race and have become a certified fangirl, and yes, I turned 50.  There was nothing graceful about it, but I didn't kick and scream either.

I will say I've missed you guys.  You know who you are.  I hope you believe me because all you've got is my word to prove it.  I'm a little daunted by this to be honest, I went back and read some of my old posts and hey, I'm a little bit funny.  I don't remember being that funny so I was surprised and a little shocked.  Hopefully that's au natural so I won't have to try and some magic writing humor will sneak out and I won't have to stress about it.  I guess we'll see huh?

Welcome aboard, and if you're still here, thanks for sticking around!

Me and the Kiddo (not fangirling, but melting.  It was HOT)

Donna!