Now We Are Seven

The plan for the afternoon was yet another interminable parent meeting. You know the kind, where they go over the exact same information they went over last year at the parent meeting, and the only people who want to be there are the ones who are doing the talking. I'm just the
janitor, the advanced cooking class teacher, and the treasurer. I don't have anything much to say. Our Director makes up for that.

As I gathered the chequebook and a few other papers to take with me, of course the phone rang. There is never enough going on that you can't use just a bit more excitement. From the caller ID I knew it was Meg from the cat rescue, and she doesn't call from adoption day just to chat.

"Mimi, we have a live one, and I was wondering if you were up to it."

"Sure, what's up?"

"A guy threw 4 kittens in a pond to get the mother to go away."

D*mn, ain't humanity great?

"My friend Sara who works with A. Rescue fished them out of the pond, but the mom never came back. They are only about 3-4 days old. Do you think you have room for them? I'm not sure if it was 3 of them, or 4, or if she even told me."

"How can I say no?"

"May I give her your number? She can't get them to you before this evening because she is working with the A. Rescue bake sale fundraiser right now." It seems Sara works with 5 of the seven rescue groups in this area. I later found out she also bottle feeds raccoons and squirrels, and fosters dogs. Wow.

"Sure, have her call me."

She called, and said she could have the kittens to our adoption day site before I went out there to get Bigger Girl after my meeting.

Then, before I could get out the door for the meeting, the doorbell rings. I'm paying for the quiet morning, it seems.

"Miss Mimi, can you give me directions to the rescue shelter?"

It was Bigger Girl's friend Tris. The child has had a long string of bad in her life, and it isn't over yet. Druggie birth father tried to kill her and her birth mom, she was taken from her birth mom because they were homeless. Foster homes, then her adoptive parents tried to get her on the right path. She did very badly in school, always in trouble, then her adoptive mother died 6 months ago, adoptive father is dying of cancer and going into assisted living because the house is
being foreclosed.

As I said, her bad news isn't over yet. She needs to get to the shelter because she is having to rehome all of her animals. She has managed to graduate from high school by a wing and a prayer and is working full time at a vet clinic. She wants to go to vet school, but the apartment complex where she will be moving is only allowing her to keep one of the dogs and one of the cats.

We talked for a few minutes, and I gave her directions. I wish I could give her more.

I grabbed (almost) everything I needed and went to the parent meeting, where it was a mayhem of greeting everyone after a summer apart. I was especially glad to see Kay. She has 6 daughters, only two left at home. She has homeschooled them all while, over the past almost 60
years of her life, she has been a rodeo coordinator, a bottle feeder of English Bulldog puppies for a rescue group, and a missionary in West Africa for 10 years. That is where she adopted the two daughters she is homeschooling now. Still raising children while her 4 older girls have given her 25 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren. She is my hero.

The meeting was just about interminable, a rehash of the rules we all have printed up anyway. No really new information at all, except to the couple of new people. The list of banned items has not grown since #2 Son left co-op; quite understandable, as he was the reason most of those got on a list to begin with.

I ducked out fast and high tailed it to the adoption day event. I asked where the kittens were as I started to help them pick up cages and move tables.

"What do you mean, where are the kittens?" Meg asked.

Great. Sara had gone home to get them, gotten distracted as it turned out because of some scuffle between her Pomeranian and the other dogs, and had forgotten! Meg called her and handed me the phone.

"I'm sorry!" she just about yelled into the phone. She was so embarrassed. I told her not to worry about it, that these things happen. "I'll meet you at the McDonald's on Drew Drive, is that okay?" I told her that would work great, as it would give me time to run to the shelter for extra KMR and a couple of doses of 4in1 vaccine.

It worked out that we both got to the McD's within a minute of each other. She pulled out a carrier with 4 beautiful tiny marble tabbies, two boys and two girls. The story was a bit complicated.

There is a retirement home that does not allow pets, period, amen, and a pregnant stray turned up there about a week ago. Two concerned residents called Sara and asked if she could take the mama before the management did anything. She went out there, but the mama pulled a
disappearing act.

A few days later, mama showed up again, having obviously given birth. They tracked her back and found a den, a hole in a hill, with her and the kittens. The ladies called and Sara rushed out there.

As she traveled over, the management of the home called, screaming at her as she drove that she better get there right now, or they would take care of it themselves. She said she was driving over as fast as the law would allow, and would be there in a few minutes.

She got there in time to see an elderly resident throw a bag into the creek. Apparently, even the time it took her to drive over was too long for them to wait, and they asked him to take care of it. She ran down the bank and fished them out before the bag could sink, and came up screaming. She told me, "I am a b*tch, and I don't mind going to jail for standing up for animals!"

Back at her mom's house, the mama cat was very friendly and cared for the babies, but managed to escape. She is apparently unused to being confined in a house. She never returned, and that was two days ago.

So, now we are 7. Two blanket lined boxes in the kitchen, two warming socks, two bottles, and a whole 5 pound bag of KMR in the fridge.

Prayers that they stay healthy, please. We are inoculating very early and often, doing everything else we can, too.

Including 2am feedings. They are worth it.


Today is:

BaBa Day -- Taiwan (ba ba is Mandarin for both "father" and "8-8")

Bonza Bottler Day

Ferry Fair and Burry Man Parade -- South Queensferry, Edinburgh, Scotland

Flag Day -- Sweden

Dollar Day

Independence Day -- Bhutan

International Character Day

Finest Fairy Finals -- Fairy Calendar (Do only the finest fairies take finals? How do the others get a final grade? :D )

Fourteen Holy Helpers' Day

Happiness Happens Day

Nane Nane -- Tanzania (farmer's day, means "8-8" in Swahili)

Nudist Convention -- Coeur D'Alene, through the 15th (Nope, not for me. Nobody sees these spider veins, sorry.)

National Frozen Custard Day

National Garage Sale Day

Odie Day (Garfield's pal Odie.)

Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Night (Please, I love the stuff but can't grow plants to save my life, I'll leave the porch light on for you!)

St. Cyriacus' Day

St. Dominic's Day

The Date To Create

Victory Day -- Rhode Island


Birthdays Today:

Keith Carradine, 1949
Connie Stevens, 1938
Dustin Hoffman, 1937
Mel Tillis, 1932
Esther Williams, 1923
Rory Calhoun, 1922
Dino De Laurentis, 1919
Matthew Henson, 1866
Emperor Horikawa of Japan, 1079


Today in History:

The Romans destroy the Tower of Antonia, 70
Otto I (The Great) crowned German king, 936
Vijayanagara Empire is rebegun with the crowning of emperor Krishnadeva Raya, 1509
The cornerstone for Tycho Brahe's Uraniborg observatory is laid on Hven, 1576
John Davis enters Cumberland Sound in search of the Northwest Passage, 1585
The first known ascent (indoors) of a hot-air ballon by Bartolomeu de Gusamao, 1709
Jacques Balmat and Dr Michel-Gabriel Paccard become the first to ascend Mont Blanc, 1786
Metal bullet cartridges are patented by Smith and Wesson, 1854
Mimeograph is patented by Thomas Edison, 1876
The millionth patent is filed in the United States Patent Office by Francis Holton for a tubeless vehicle tire, 1911
The United Nations Charter is signed by the United States, the 3rd nation to join, 1945
Iraq occupies and annexes Kuwait, leading to the Gulf War to liberate Kuwait within a couple of weeks, 1990