Blank

My mind, that is....Things are starting to get crazy at work preparing for our fall governing board meeting and my association's annual conference the first week of November. We'll be in the Windy City--Chicago. I do love Chicago and hope we have some frosty weather when I'm there.

Also the hot dry weather here has not helped! Well, dry as in no rain, but it is still humid. I just heard on NPR driving home tonight that on the East Coast the humidity levels have risen 2.2% over the last decade. (Have I ever mentioned that I HATE humidity?) I think I have a few times. But hopefully the weather should be breaking tomorrow and the forecast weekend highs are for the mid-60s!! At times like this I kind of shut down and retreat from the world. I have been bad about blogging and keeping up with other bloggers. I just don't really have anything interesting or original to say or comment on right now. My animals are my saviors. It's amazing that the same cats that can drive me to drink (well, maybe not drink...usually sugar) having to clean up cat vomit (Butterball) or cat pee (Greybeard), are the same animals that keep me sane during stressful times. I do love them so...each in their own special way. So, a couple of photos please....

All together now.......Awwwww. Lisa and Chloe. Both cats came over from my neighbor's house. With all my neighbor's dogs and the constant arrival of new foster cats and dogs, it was just too much for these two nervous nellies. They have calmed down and blossomed here at the Possumlady Home for Wayward Cats. This photo makes me laugh as it reminds me of a time when friends of mine were over a number of years ago. We went out to get something to eat and when we returned, my friend Paul (who really dislikes cats), walked past two of my cats who were curled up just like the photo, glanced at them, and said "get a room!"

Chloe....my sentiments exactly!

Elephant Sanctuary on CBS Sunday Morning!!!!

Dulary arrives at the Sanctuary

A quick note to watch CBS Sunday Morning tomorrow, October 7. They will have a segment on the Elephant Sanctuary and the arrival of Dulary. Bill Geist will be the narrator. I hope he doesn't make it too cutesy or silly. Anyhow, it comes on at different times around the country, but here in the East it is on from 9:00-10:30 am.

I'm excited!!

Fluffy, Furry.....Thursday

So it doesn't have the same ring as "fluffy, furry Friday" but I actually FELT like blogging tonight. Go figure.

Let's see....who shall we write about tonight. Hmmm, how about Greybeard. Yes, Greybeard it is.

My name is Greybeard. Fear my pee*

*To be explained later.

Early January of 2005 was pretty mild. I remember grilling on New Year's Eve. Windows and doors were open and I was at the end of my 2 week break from work and running over to my local animal shelter helping out during the day. Every once in a while I would catch a flash of gray (grey?) in the back yard. Oh, great, I thought...another cat. I immediately called my neighbor thinking it was one of hers but, unfortunately, it wasn't. When I could get more then a glimpse I could tell it was quite a thin cat and he looked old. If he saw me though, he would bolt. He clearly tried to stay away from the other cats but with food and water on the front porch he really had no choice. I would see him wolfing down food only to (again) catch me looking at him from behind the storm door and he would hiss and run off.

Then we had a cold snap with a snowstorm predicted on a Saturday in mid-January. I got up really early and by 7:00 a few flakes were already falling. When I got in my car to run my errands around 8:00 I saw the gray cat crawling out of my window well. Oh, I felt so bad. It was really cold the night before and all he had were a few leaves in a window well to keep him warm. Off to Petsmart!! I bought a small insulated dog house and a big fluffy cat bed to go inside, brought it home and put it right next to the window well out of the wind and snow. And, just as an added incentive, sprinkled some catnip inside. Next day I saw little cat footprints all around it. That made me feel better. I just hope it was the gray cat using the house.

Winter gave way to spring and I was out in the yard a lot doing spring clean up. I would see the gray cat sitting far away, but he was watching me. If I stood up and looked at him though, he would hiss and run away. So, I named him-- Greybeard. Spring gave way to Summer and it got to the point where he would no longer run off the porch if he saw me watching him. Then, I started walking out the door on the front porch. It took a few weeks but he no longer ran away when I was actually ON the front porch just a few feet away from him. Then he let me put some tasty wet cat food down in front of him. He would start eating and I slowly moved to pet his head. He would stop eating, hiss, then continue to eat. This went on through September when it got to the point where I could sit crossleg on the floor of the porch with him laying a few feet from me. Then, one night in October as I sat crossleg on the porch floor, Greybeard walked over to me and started purring and rubbing up against me. My heart skipped a beat! THEN, he actually crawled in my lap, curled up and just looked up at me, purring the entire time. Tears were streaming down my face as I thought of this poor cat who obviously was not feral, going without any kind of love or affection for so long. After that night, I could basically do anything with him--pick him up, lay him on his back, carry him around, (check his little dodads to make sure he was neutered), with Greybeard just purring his little heart out giving me his complete and utter trust.

In December of 2005 we had an early winter. The first week was cold and sleety. I had little igloos on the front porch for the cats but Greybeard would not go in them. I would come home from work and he would be covered in snow, sitting on the front porch waiting for me. I never wanted to bring him inside because as loving and trusting that he was with me, he was the exact opposite with any cat. Hissing and lashing out if a cat got a little too close to him. But, I tried. I had to keep an eye on him but he SO wanted to be inside that it seemed like he was tolerating the cats more easily.

BUT, Greybeard has a major problem. He is old and mostly deaf. He is also incontinent. It's not like he sprays to mark his territory. He just walks to a place, squats and pees. He uses the litter box about half the time. The summer I just don't let him in except for a few hours after I come home from work. But, when it's time for bed, I have to put him back outside. This past Friday night he was curled up and looked SO peaceful I gave in and let him sleep and went to bed myself. I woke on Saturday and noticed Greybeard was no where to be found. That's odd, he is usually either in the kitchen or living room. Then, I noticed the light on my phone was out so I check the power strip that I had it plugged into. The power strip also has a light and that light was off. I picked it up and urine came pouring out of it. GREYBEARD!!!!! Oh, I was mad. Then, I thought, oh my God, what if he got electrocuted and dragged himself somewhere to die. But, I found him under my bed acting like nothing was wrong. He has been outside ever since. I just talked to my neighbor and when it gets too cold for him to be out, she will let me borrow one of her caged cat condos where I can put a litter box on the bottom and has a couple of ledges for him to sleep and a place for food and water. Yea, like I have the space for that. But, you gotta do what you gotta do.

What? Is there a problem?

The War

Now, before you get turned off by the post title, I'm not blogging about the Iraq war. You have heard about donor fatique. It's what many nonprofits were talking about after the Tsunami and Katrina where good folks like you and I were becoming numb to all the causes that needed our time and money. Well now they are talking about "rage fatigue" where a great many people are becoming almost numb to the war in Iraq, along with the current Administration because of our constant anger over the senselessness of it all. I have rage fatigue.

But, I digress. The post will be just a quick talk about the current Ken Burns' film documentary on PBS entitled The War, about World War II. If you haven't seen it, you should. I felt like I had seen enough about World War II with all the movies out there and documentaries (remember the BBC series in the 70s, The World at War?) But in honor of my father who died in 1984 and served in WWII, I feel that I need to watch it. I've seen about 8 hours of the 15 hour documentary and some of the things I've heard and seen have really been eye opening. I keep thinking that it is nothing short of a miracle that my dad came home alive. Not only did he enlist as a Marine right after college graduation, but he served in the South Pacific. Watching the series where they focus for part of the program on the european invasion, then the south pacific, it gauls me that so many of the front line folks like my dad were basically sent out like lambs to the slaughter. Tens of thousands were killed trying to take those little islands, with VERY little training and very little equipment and supplies. My dad basically never talked about his time over there. He did tell two stories though. One was when they were dropped off in the surf and had to wade to shore being contantly shot at. Once they got ashore there was nowhere for them to go so they tried to dig fox holes for cover. Well, they were on coral islands so they could only dig down a few inches. He laid there all night watching the tracer bullets flying just a few inches over his head. The second story was, having enlisted after college, my dad was one of the older men out there fighting. He led companies to battle. One time they were in a fox hole and one of dad's men who was a cocky young guy, either 18 or 19, kept popping he head out of the foxhole yelling at the enemy. My dad kept yelling at him to keep down. The kid popped his head out again and my dad said in an instant, it just disappeared. How anyone can witness what they witnessed, then come back to get married and start families is beyond me.

But, that is just what my dad did. He was on leave in August of 1945 when he and my mom married on August 9th. So many people were getting married it was hard to find an available church. My parents were married at 7:30 in the morning! And, there was an 11:00 wedding waiting in the wings.

For the longest time I thought it was a double wedding, until I realized that my mom's maid of honor wore a veil also. Was that the style back then? My dad's best man was one of his brothers, my Uncle Andy.

Thanks to my sister Becky, a few years ago she took my parent's wedding album and had all the photos copied and put into albums for each of us.

On his way home from the South Pacific to Minnesota, my dad stopped at the PX in Hawaii and bought my mom's engagement and wedding ring. On their 30th anniversary, my mom had the stone of her engagement ring put together with her wedding ring in a new design. Unfortunately, she wasn't real happy with how it came out. My mom died in 2005 and she left me her ring. I absolutely love it. It looks very art noveau'ish, very 20s. A friend once asked me if I ever take the ring off. "Only when I garden" I said, (pause for affect) "which basically means I never take it off!"

My absolute FAVORITE photo of my parents.

Oh, and the happy ending to the story is that while they were on their honeymoon, Japan surrendered and my dad never had to go back to war.

Thanks Dad!!

Reaper

Ahh, the beginning of the new fall television season! Being a product of the tv-generation, I am a definite tv-aholic. I also think it has something to do with being single. I mean, come on, as much as I love my animals, stimulating conversationalists they are not. I am a news junkie, coming home to watch the local news, then two, sometimes three national news broadcasts. (Oh, and before anyone tsk, tsks me, I am also a passionate fan of the Washington Post and read it religiously every day--so there.)

All that said, the television pickings of the last few years have REALLY been dismal. I cannot stomach any kind of reality tv (sorry all you American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, Smarter than a 5th grader, Remember the Lyrics folks). I also cannot stomach any of the incredibly, obscenely gory CSI shows. Bones? Meh. House? Meh. Big, big, Twin Peaks fan (okay, so that was over 15 years ago). Also, I was a diehard Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan (hmm, okay that was over 3-4 years ago). I became hooked on LOST when it started, Six Feet Under (SFU) when it was rebroadcast on BRAVO (and I can say without a doubt that SFU had the most beautiful, emotional, poignant series finale of anything I have ever seen on tv). So without much out there now, I generally cruise the movie channels for old film noir.

I wasn't too excited about this season until I read a review yesterday of a new show called Reaper on the CW channel. I can't even remember how the CW channel came to be but I think it used to be the WB channel. Tom Shales of the Washington Post is a pretty harsh critic so when he likes something, I take notice. Part comedy, part drama (I think they're call dramedies now), the premise of the hour-long show is that a 20 year old slacker (on the eve of his 21st birthday) working at a huge home improvement store, meets up with the devil. Okay, stay with me here. For some reason, (sorry but I tuned in a 9:05 last night so I missed a crucial part) the slacker's parents sold his soul to the devil before he was even born and the devil was coming to collect on his 21st birthday. Now, we all know this premise is not new. "The Devil and Daniel Webster" anyone. And, if anyone remembers, there was a show on a few years ago called Brimstone with the exact same premise. And who can forget the classic Simpsons episode when Homer sells his soul to the devil for a doughnut! (mmmmm, forbidden doughnut.....aaaarrrggghhhh).

But the devil doesn't want the slacker's soul, he wants the slacker to help capture souls that have escaped from hell and are back living on earth doing really bad things. The slacker asks just how is he to go about doing this and the devil produces this sinister looking box that is smoking with gargoyles on it and says "inside this box has been forged from the depths of perdition and should help you" The slacker takes the box and shows it to his best friend (who, after the slacker explains what happened to him, states in a whiny voice "why doesn't anything exciting ever happen to me!") They open the box with much trepidation and inside is a ............Dirt Devil. I guess you had to be there but it's really funny. So, anywho, he uses the Dirt Devil to suck up the soul of some bad soul/person but needs to know where to deposit it. The devil said there are portals to hell all over the earth. In fact, if you're ever at a place and you think "this must be hell on earth", it probably is. So the slacker drops off the Dirt Devil to the local DMV.

Oh, it made me chuckle and laugh out loud and there were some creepy scenes too. But, being on the CW channel and being at the same time as the lame formulaic show "House" it'll probably last 5 or 6 episodes so I'm trying to get everyone to WATCH IT! Tuesday nights at 9:00 Eastern. None of the actors are household names, except for Ray Wise, who brilliantly plays the devil. Any Twin Peaks fans out there? Ray Wise played the creepy Leland Palmer (who was inhabited by the even more creepy evil spirit "Bob"), father of the murdered Laura Palmer. (Am I using the word creepy too many times?)

The Devil and the Slacker

So, take a break from all those mindless reality shows, and the heart wrenching "The War" by Ken Burns on PBS, to watch a thoroughly entertaining, if not unique, show. And now, a word from our sponsor...........

GREAT NEWS FOR MAGGIE and Cross Your Fingers for Minneapolis

Last week the Alaska Zoo board voted to send their lone African elephant Maggie to the PAWS Santuary in California!! Hurray!!!!!

The following is from an article in the Anchorage Daily News..........

********************

Accommodations (for Maggie) will include a sprawling 75-acre enclosure where she can mingle with four other African elephants. She'll have a posh 20,000-square-foot barn in case the central California climate gets a wee bit chilly. And there is an indoor jacuzzi that she can fully submerge in to rest her feet. Seriously.

The decision to name PAWS as top pick came with unanimous agreement at a board meeting Wednesday night, said board president Dick Thwaites. The details of the move still need to be worked out, he said, but both the zoo and the facility have reached a preliminary agreement.
Those details should be ironed out within two weeks, which should offer enough time to ship her off before winter sets in late next month, said Alaska Zoo director Pat Lampi.

"We wanted to get this done before the snow flies," he said. "We chose PAWS because of their facilities and staffing, and we wanted to make the best choice for Maggie."

The PAWS facility recently made headlines when its officials, accompanied by TV personality Bob Barker, visited Anchorage after proposing to take Maggie and fully pay for her relocation expenses.During the visit, Barker said he would donate $750,000 to care for her if she were moved to PAWS.

***************************

Maggie dusting herself up for the trip to California!

Thank you Bob Barker!! I've heard good things about PAWS. While it's not The Elephant Sanctuary, I had real fears that the incredible long distance from Alaska to Tennessee would be too much for Maggie.

On to Minneapolis. Now, I'm not a Minneapolitan. I'm a native St Paulite thank you very much. But, I keep up with Twin City news almost daily thanks to the internet. Even with this connection, I didn't know that the Minneapolis City Council is scheduled to take a vote on whether to ban wild animal circuses from the city. The vote is tomorrow, Friday, September 21st. I don't hold out a lot of hope, though. As much as I tout my home state of Minnesota as being very progressive, truth be told, it has slowly become much more conservative over the past two decades since I left. (Hmmm, I wonder if that is just a coincidence?) There was even a letter to the editor in the Minneapolis Star Tribune today saying the City of Minneapolis should not give-in to the demands of those "animal rights activists". After all, "their hidden agenda is to ban the eating of meat and the wearing of leather" don'tcha know.

(A typical circus elephant can spend up to 20 hours a day like this)

The hearing last week was well attended though by over 100 people in favor of the ban. One of the speakers giving expert testimony was The Elephant Sanctuary's own Executive Director, Carol Buckley. I also found a wonderful Minneapolis-based group called CRY (Circus Reform Yes) that is spearheading this initiative. So, keep your fingers and toes crossed, say a little prayer, send out those positive, progressive vibes so that Minneapolis can join other progressive cities that have already banned wild animal circuses.

Why have I not been Blogging and a Typical Afternoon

Nothing momentous to report just a perfect storm of events including still being exhausted from painting my room and the subsequent hauling of trash and other things out of said room, birthday festivities including my sister and her family coming over and cooking me dinner, while my brother in law power-washed my house for me. As great as this was it still entailed massive cleaning to prepare for their visit, along with cleaning up around my front porch and sides of the house to prepare for the washing. AND, the most important thing, my camera's battery ran out of power. It is now recharging as I speak so hopefully will be back in action by tomorrow.

Now, there is never a typical weekend day here in my neighborhood. There is always something going on. Yesterday started with me finally getting up the nerve to check out a showroom of a company that does nothing but bathroom renovations. My main bathroom attached to my bedroom has needed to be remodeled since I moved in almost 10 years ago. Now that I finally can afford to get it done, I've been hesitant because: a) it looks SO bad, I'm embarrassed to even have workers look at it, and b) I REALLY hate having workers in my house when I'm not there. So, after getting two recommendations of a company, I decided to bite the bullet and drive to their showroom yesterday to take a look around. Well, nobody told me they weren't open on Sundays!! I drive back home disappointed, yet a little relieved. As I get out of my car, my neighbor Nina up the street pulls up and asks for help. Seems another neighbor Margaret found a newborn squirrel in her yard, and as she was just headed out of town, gave it to Nina. Well, Nina called our one and only wildlife rehabber and they were closed for the day. Nina handed the baby off to me and she had to go and pick up her daughter and would be gone a couple of hours. Now, as I said my camera was out of power but I found a photo on the web of just what the baby looked like:

We had the baby warm in a little container of dryer fluff and mulch. I knew they needed to be fed very frequently so I started going on the web when my neighbor Karin dropped by. She works closely with the wildlife rehabbers and thought even though they weren't answering the phone, someone should be there and she would drive the little guy to the Center (a good 45 minutes away). If she did that, would I be so kind as to drop Jake the lab (who she had been taking care of) back to yet another neighbor up the street who was just finishing up an open house. So Jake dragged me up the street where I dropped him off with his owner Barbara. She lives in an absolutely gorgeous craftsman bungalow. She asked me if I wanted to tour the place. But, of course! Oh, my, I wish I had pictures to share. This house built in 1933 and has only had 3 owners. Each one kept the original wooden moldings and trim, tile fireplace and high ceilings, with wood beams. I told her, "wow, just think of all the animals I could have if I had this place!" She thought I should buy it even though it is about $600,000 OVER what my little house could get.

I was chuckling about that as I walked back down my block. I noticed a woman in a red convertible drive up quickly and get out of her car and run up to a neighbors house. Problem was, the car wasn't in park and started rolling backwards. It took me a few seconds to realize this and started yelling to her as I ran to the car. I tried slowing it down as she came running. We both were trying to hold it back and she finally reached in and pulled on the emergency brake. It stopped about a foot from plowing into a parked car. We were both laughing and she gave me a big hug and thanked me profusely. I walked back home to hear my phone ringing. It was my neighbor Karin. She was at the wildlife center and just wanted to let me know that there were people there and they started feeding the little squirrel right away. All is well. I went on to feed my herd. Just a typical Sunday afternoon.