Year End Shelter Report

Well, Maisie, the white cat, and Squirt, one of the triplets, got adopted this week. Heathcliff, another of the triplets, is spoken for by one of the volunteers. So there are 30 cats at the shelter right now.

We arrived to find the President of the organization leaving with the new Executive Administrator. He will be our first full time employee -- moving up in the world of non profits, aren't we? A pleasant hello, and they left us to our work.

Into the big room first, to look for all 8 (yes, eight) cats in there, three of whom are hiders. Zoe was under a table but came out. Candy decided she didn't want company, which was unusual. Ginny and Gidget both let me brush their long haired selves. Grady behaved -- he looked out the door, but didn't offer to run out for once. Prissy was herself, and swatted at me when i got too close to her with the brush. Clint was under a chair, and Baby took me forever to find, which is hard for a fat cat to do. She managed, however, to wedge herself into a tiny padded crevice, and growled when i looked at her.

Frieda talked up a storm as she usually does, and enjoyed her head scratching. Nanette is in the kitchen these days, because she is very people friendly but doesn't seem to get along with any other cats.

The cages had Manimal, a/k/a Manny, a very shy boy who hid behind his litter box. He accepted petting after a while. Isabelle, Bobby the Bobtail (yes, really), and Molly are waiting for vet work, and doing okay back there.

The rooms haven't changed much. Bebe seems to love roaming up and down the halls when she is let out, and likes her roomie Katy. JuJu continues to be very distrustful, and Bowie sweet and loving. Heathcliff and Peepers aren't eating much; they have never been separated from Squirt or Dora and so they seem a bit lonely since their adoption.

Lucky is still skinny as a stick, but his skin condition is better. We are "lucky" that he takes his pills so willingly if they are in a pill pocket. Harley still doesn't eat enough, and i honestly think Tiffany and Rosie are eating his portion.

Sophia and Roxanne are doing well, as are Devon and Corrie. My two favorites, Dustie and Angel, are well and happy.

Of course, while there, i forgot to pick up more kitten food for my own little tykes, so i will go back after work and get some. They are going through a 10lb. bag every week, and growing like weeds.

Our own Kida Cat is on and antibiotic for a sinus infection, along with Sweetie and Bigger Girl. The house is a sneeze zone right now.

So we will spend New Year's Eve cleaning the church, and cooking black-eyed peas (fresh! not canned!) and cabbage. The Mouth, formerly Grumpy Gus, will be there, making up for lost time in the grub devouring department.

However you choose to spend the day, Happy New Year, everyone!


Today is:

Baal Fire Festival -- Allendale, Northumberland

Check Your Smoke Alarms Day

Cowbellion de Rakin Revel -- Mobile, Alabama (One of the first "Mystik Krewes" founded in 1830 to celebrate Mardi Gras.)

Day of Sekhmet -- Ancient Egypt (Lucky Day of Sekhmet, the lion-headed goddess)

Fairy Eve's Year News -- Fairy Calendar

Feast day of Iemanja, Goddess of the Sea -- Brazil

Harvest Day -- Benin

Hogmanay Day -- Scotland (Auld Year's Night)

International Solidarity Day -- Azerbaijan

Kwanzaa, Day 6 -- Creativity

Make Up Your Mind Day

Namahge -- Japan (devil appearing holiday)

National Champagne Day

New Year's Eve

No Interruptions Day

No Resolution Day

Noche de Pedimento (wishing night)

Okera Matsuri, Sacred Fire Rite -- Yasaka Shrine, Kyoto, Japan

Omisoka Day -- Japan

Procrastinator's Day -- you have to make up your mind

Republic Day -- Congo

Revolution Day -- Ghana

Saint Sylvester's Day - Belgium, Germany, France and Switzerland

Samoan Fire Dance -- Samoa

Seventh Day of Christmas

Silvesterklause -- Urnäsch, Switzerland

Swinging the Fireballs -- Stonehaven, Kincardineshire, Scotland

Watch Night -- Christian

World Peace Meditation Day (International observance of one hour beginning 12:00 PM GMT, focusing thought and energy on peace.)

You're All Done Day (More like "all done in" if you are like me!)


Birthdays Today:

Joe McIntyre, 1972
Val Kilmer, 1959
Bebe Neuwirth, 1958
Donna Summer, 1948
Tim Matheson, 1947
Barbara Carrera, 1945
John Denver, 1943
Ben Kingsley, 1943
Andy Summers, 1942
Sarah Miles, 1941
Anthony Hopkins, 1937
Odetta, 1930
Simon Wiesenthal, 1908
George C. Marshall, 1880
Henri Matisse, 1869


Today in History:

80,000 Vandals, Alans and Suebians attack the Rhine at Mainz, crossing into and beginning the invation of Gallia, 406
Byzantine General Belisarius completes the conquest of Sicily, defeating the Ostrogothic garrison of Syracuse, and ending his consulship for the year, 535
Ch'an monk Ho-tse Shen-hui interred in a stupa built in China, 765
James I of Aragon the Conqueror enters Medina Mayurqa (now known as Palma, Spain) thus consummating the Christian conquest of the island of Majorca, 1229
100,000 Jews expelled from Sicily, 1492
The British East India Company chartered, 1600
The first Huguenots depart France to Cape of Good Hope, 1687
A window tax is imposed in England, causing many shopkeepers to brick up their windows to avoid the tax, 1695
Rhode Island establishes wage & price controls to curb inflation: Limit is 70 cents a day for carpenters, 42 cents for tailors, 1776
Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa as new capital of Canada, 1857
The cornerstone is laid for Honolulu, Hawai'i's Iolani Palace, the only royal palace in the US, 1879
Edison gives 1st public demonstration of his incandescent lamp, 1879
Ellis Island (NYC) opens as a US immigration depot, 1890
Brooklyn's last day as a city, it incorporates into NYC (1/1/1898), 1897
Boers & British army sign peace treaty, 1902
The first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square, then known as Longacre Square, in New York, New York, 1904
For the first time a ball drops at Times Square to signal the new year, 1907
The last San Francisco firehorses are retired, 1921
The chimes of Big Ben are broadcast on radio for the first time by the BBC, 1923
Dr R N Harger's "drunkometer," the first breath test, is introduced in Indiana, 1938
The farthing coin ceases to be legal tender in the United Kingdom, 1960
The Central African Federation officially collapses and splits into Zambia, Malawi and Rhodesia, 1963
The AT&T Bell System is broken up by the United States Government, 1983
All official Soviet Union institutions have ceased operations by this date and the Soviet Union is officially dissolved, 1991
Czechoslovakia is peacefully dissolved in what is dubbed by media as the Velvet Divorce, resulting in the creation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, 1992
This date is skipped altogether in Kiribati as the Phoenix Islands and Line Islands change time zones, 1994
The European Exchange Rate Mechanism freezes the values of the legacy currencies in the Eurozone, and establishes the value of the euro currency, 1998
The United States Government hands control of the Panama Canal (as well all the adjacent land to the canal known as the Panama Canal Zone) to Panama, 1999
The official opening of Taipei 101, the tallest skyscraper at that time in the world, 2004