Montag, 3. August 2009

Three new posts, a cat visit and a NEW postcard record!

92 Postcards! Can you say it with me, NINTY-TWO! Oh yeah, bring it down……90, 91 and 92! That is right, with Linda and Cheryl, I did 92 postcards this weekend (even though I had food poisoning!), posted Sunday evening - already heading out to YOU. AND I went on a cat visit. Ha! 92! Yes, I will admit I am a little proud after being sick for so long, to have a new record. Which means 250 postcards this month I hope. I hope.

What happened was that I was ill AGAIN, in fact I was ill every day this week and the only time I wasn’t was when I wrote that blog. Bowel Impaction, fevers, chills, overheating, shock – all the fun stuff. So I started after three days of trying, I started on Friday to match some postcards of people we hadn’t done in a while. And after the nap Linda helped me, and she goes, “Now you aren’t slipping in an extra page are you!”

Innocent look.

So we did four pages out of the 19 pages we now have and then we started to sticker. And Cheryl came and we stickered. And it was fun, we used up so many sticker and dover books of Japanese stickers, we were out of whole sections of stickers. The previous week we had done kids, 25 kids, but his week we did stickers and after the stickers Linda counted them (why?), I thought she would say 56 or 64. But no, it was NINTY TWO.

So we split them up and started stamping. And it didn’t take as long as we thought, just kept stamping, and stopped for dinner and stamped some more. I had a mini stroke and so if you get a postcard with the right side barely there or gone, that was me as I had no feeling or power on the right side. But I stamped some more and then they were all done. And I started writing.

I have a new post over on the The Postcard Project. I hope with the new cool in the weather I will energy to put posts up there every 10 to 14 days instead of once a month. But I am telling people to spread the news that you do not have to be in dire straits to get a postcard, all you need is to want something other than bills and junk mail coming in your mail box (or something nice for your kids). It is your choice. Personally, I like postcards now and then. So tell people to email me with the title Postcard and if you know anyone overseas or on ships, in active duty, or back here, or a vet who is just back, let me know and I will send a postcard, and another. I am nearing 2,500 postcards.

There is also a new post over at A Girl’s gotta Fly, which is asking people to let us know if you are still where you were (I mean, some addresses we got over a year ago, has anything changed)? We are asking because we are getting returns, and after spending so much effort, to have it returned when it COULD go to your new address is a bummer. Also, the way Linda words the blog, it gives the chance to be noble and go, “Oh, I don’t NEED a postcard like others and so you can take me off the list.” – that’s what I would say from the way she worded it. Well, here is the answer: NO! It is not like I am flying off to get my Noble Prize so I am too busy or doing my paid tour of Japan for BBC. I like doing postcards. I like sending YOU a postcard. If you don’t like the postcards I send you, tell me so I can send you ones you like. If you really don’t want post, then yeah, I’ll take you off the list. But please, let me choose how I use my energy. When I am ready to work full time on a book, the postcards will slow to a trickle for a while, and I will let you know. Until then; we have a summer, a fall and a start of winter, and the more it rains, and the more snow is threatened, the better it is to get a lifeline of fun from the outside world. Because that is what all this pain and isolation has stolen from me: FUN. And whismy, and shots of me in my panties. So I am going to get that back.

I had only 10 postcards left to write with over two hours left and so we went for the last 30 minutes at the Victoria RSPCA animal shelter (I did 92!). It was dark (they had turned off the lights) and it was HOT. These cats had fur and were hot, really hot. I mean, Jasmine would not even PLAY with me, but was sitting all prim and proper like it was adoption day and wanted to look her best (I guess it was). But for heat sitting very still works for me, and works for cats too.

We met up with some new cats, one of which was called Miracle and like HIGH places, so Linda went over and played with this gray cat. She said that’s what we need in our life, a little miracle.

I on the other hand started playing with a one to two year old white cat with ‘melt me like butter’ blue eyes. Yes, I know white cats CAN become deaf later in life but my parents have a perfectly white cat and it is not deaf or blind, just likes to eat and chase things. I found out it was called Angel. Hmmm.....is there a theme going on.

I also went to the outside area where I met some of the cats from last week, and while one was on my lap, Jasper was already trying to climb up my wheelchair. Linda says that I am ‘Snow White’ or ‘Sleeping Beauty’ the way all the animals seem to come to me. Errr…okay.

I did find Rose from last week, the one year old who liked to watch the play with Jasmine and I. I gave her some treats we brought this time and she stayed most of my visit in my lap. Not just as I rolled around, but also as I did the two inch drop backwards in my chair to get back inside. She gripped a little but never moved. Rose would be a perfect cat if you like a cat to go with you on your bike or maybe in your car, or on your wheelchair. She like the mobile and ‘up here’ view, and this time, as there were no other visitors, as she likes being petted, I could hear her purr. Very soft but steady, her purr goes on and on. To be honest, I was surprised that Rose had not been adopted. Why?

So FAR every time we come, we talk about four cats, and every time we come back, be it one week or two, half of the cats we talk about have been adopted, like Elizabeth was, and Murray and Betsie. So we went to look for that cute grey and peachy cat from last time, the one I showed to illustrate how people can’t tell the difference in black cats. Adopted. But that was it. Rose was still here! So I was at 25% for this week. What is going on?

Well, it seems that the shelter now has kittens, a whole pile of them, and I mean LITERALLY, we could see in the room but not go in as the kittens were piling over each other and walking around and exploring. I saw the RSPCA officer and asked her about the kittens and she went, “Ug, KITTENS!” in a ‘oh great!’ voice.

‘You don’t like kittens?’ I asked because it is sort of odd for someone to work for RSPCA and not like kittens.

She said, ‘Most people never get past that room, (the kitten room is closer to the front desk, you have to pass it to go to the cat area) and when you know 50% or more are coming back, when they could be giving homes to cats instead….’

I got it. I mean, after a while seeing the same people who instead of taking a cute 1 year old, or 2 year old who has been there 5 months, and giving it a home. They take a kitten, they come back and now the RSPCA has ANOTHER adult cat to find a home for. The cute cat I showed in last week’s blog that got adopted....it had been there eight months. Wow.

A lot of cats end which up in the Victoria RSPCA who are literally perfect pets and have been, like this cute cat, she was left here when the owners decided to move. Now she has to compete against kittens. And yet, a lovely, gentle two year old cat who is ready to go home.

Well with Jasmine not playing I looked for Harley but the cage was open and we figured that Harley had either bloodied another person or got in a fight and was in the recovery area. So no playing 'catch the finger and bite off the top' today.

Here is Linda playing with Miracle, who is very friendly and seems to be attracted to boobs. I was watching Miracle and thinking, a) I want to be a cat and b) can I share? Miracle had found a shady spot up top and wasn’t giving it up. I think this is a cat you would have to looking atop bookcases for. Here he is giving Linda a ‘cat kiss’ of a nose to nose.
As for me, I had gone back and was playing with Angel, who liked to play with a little mouse I had brought with me but more so liked to be stroked right on the jaw line, and on the cheeks (I don't know why I play with the cats in cages, maybe because I can identify, but I wish I could stroke her, but we make do). Angel is not only beautiful but very affectionate and about 2 years old, lively but in a sort of sedately regal way. Will play catch, or chase the mouse, once she has determined that is what you want. But after getting stroked on the jaw, Angel was in some sort of cat bliss.
Thomas, the black cat and Jasmine played the domination game for ‘who will sit under the wheelchair’ and Thomas won again. He looks so rigorous like some stern professor when he pushes the other cats to show he is in charge. I wanted to know…..now that you own the string, do you want to play? So I started twitching it and soon Thomas was showing a completely different side. Jumping and leaping, and standing on the back legs to get up at that evil twitchy string!

Well, the half hour was up and with Rose on my lap I rolled over to see Jasmine, who was still sitting in the ‘perfect poise’ position. I tempted with fingers, and finally twitched the camera strap and that did it. Jasmine was down my end of the cage with some mock play of catch and release. I took away the strap and used my fingers and she caught them too, after some licking. Here she is at the end of play time, my finger firmly caught, she can lay back, relax and cool back down.
As for Harley...we asked at the front as we were leaving and they say, “Yeah, he got adopted.” ADOPTED? HARLEY? Apparently he had been left in the shelter because he had a extreme habit of beheading all the birds of the surrounding area. So I was right. And I found it odd that the same cat that liked to ‘play rough’ got adopted in the week. But yes, turns out that 2 of the four from last week were adopted, the cute pink kitty and …HARLEY. So I am still at 50% adoption per visit. I can’t explain it but I am going to keep visiting. We figured some guy who likes motorcycles came by who likes a cat with ‘spunk’ as the front counter said, and didn’t mind a cat who could take care of himself (or take over the neighborhood), a MAN’s cat! Harley. Good luck in your new home. And good luck to all small animals around as well.

Please remember to click the links for Postcard Project and A Girl’s Gotta Fly for the new posts there and I hope you had a fun weekend (92! I did 92! Woo Hoo!).

Keine Kommentare:

Kommentar veröffentlichen

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...