Barn Home

Yes! Yes! Yes!

Barn homes are few and far between for cat rescue groups. Most are already overrun with cats that thoughtless and cruel people just dump out in the country figuring "someone" will give them a home, since they don't want to be responsible -- never mind, i was about to start a rant that i will save for another day.

So, anyway, when we went to clean the shelter this week, we were greeted with the great news that JuJu, who still hisses at everything, Buttercup, who still tries to bite everyone who cleans her cage, and Clint, whom i almost forgot to care for because i didn't know he was in a cage in the big room and who tried to get me as i fed him, are all headed for a barn home soon. Now we just have Baby, who has reverted to nasty status since being moved back to the store room, and Frieda, who wants attention only on her terms, to deal with. Prissy is really nice when you let her settle down and get to know her. She just despises other cats. Grady is the only one who tolerates her, either, and of course he tries to escape whenever he can. Maybe that's why he is so desperate to get out!

PittyPat, Zeppelin, Milky Way, Cassius, and Ringo have all been adopted, and no, i don't know who picks the names, except for my own fosters. Those come, of course, from the fertile imaginations of my own children, who are as crazy as i am.

Piper is back, with a vengeance it seems, like Grady, escaping at every turn. Candy is being nice, as she no longer has to put up with Baby. Dustie and Angel are loves as always.

The alien cats, staring at everyone who comes by with ET eyes, are all on eye drops. Maybe if DeeDee, Georgie, Jimmy, and Joey would blink once in a while, this wouldn't happen.

After a final scrub of the room with bleach and a scrub of themselves with ringworm shampoo, Maxwell, LuLu, Ginger, and Zeva have been declared clear of the despised infection and ready to be adopted. New friend Whiskers, very much a friendly thing, will be ready as soon as he gets back from the vet.

Precious is still upset, but seems to be calming a little. Her friend Harry, who came in with her, is finally having a settling influence on her. If we can get them into a room, that would help also.

The rooms however, are at a premium right now. Ellen, Gulliver, Portia, Devon, Henry, Neko, Katy, and Emmie are all taking the rest of the available space, and then there are the moms and babies.

All five mothers and all 22 babies are growing and thriving. One mama is hissing at everyone who passes, and is teaching her almost ready to be fixed kittens to do the same. We have to get people in to play with all of these kittens soon, maybe get them into rooms where they will get more interaction. Even the youngest are getting old enough to need more time with people so they will grow up friendly and trusting.

Miss W was busy with the final bleaching of the quarantine room when we went in, so i got the privilege of caring for the mamas and babies this time. Thus i have seen that all of these babies need interaction. They are doing well, though, and we will have our hands full getting homes for everyone.

Lucky, the shelter mascot now, is really showing his age. He has decided the floor is his favorite litter box. He still lives for treats, and takes his pills like a trooper if they are wrapped in something he loves to eat. Such a loving old guy, happy just eating and watching people and messing on the floor and getting petted whenever anyone has a moment to spare.

Speaking of full hands, my baker's dozen is still at that count. Gabriel continues to refuse to eat for hours at a time, during which he is plied with IV fluids and sugar water, then suddenly scarfs a whole bottle, only to refuse to eat again for another long stretch. If he makes it, it will be a miracle on the order of our own Hope, who by all rights should never have made it past her first day. Gabriel, however, shouldn't come out of it with brain damage like she did.


Today is

Amtrak Day

Beltaine / Samhain -- Wicca

Chimney Sweeps Day

Constitution Day -- Marshall Islands

Executive Coaching Day

Faint-Hearted Fairies May (or May Not) Ball -- Fairy Calendar

Gujarat Day / Maharashtra Day -- India

Holocaust Remembrance Day

International Labour/Workers Day -- celebrated by many nations

Keep Kids Alive! Drive 25 Day (20-25mph in school zones, please)

Law Day, USA

Lei Day -- Hawai'i

Loyalty Day

May Day -- celebrated as the beginning of summer in some places, as a Labor Day in others

Mother Goose Day

Motorcycle Mass and Blessing the Bikes Day -- Patterson, New Jersey, US

National Chocolate Parfait Day

National Dance Day

National Infertility Survival Day

National Love Day -- Czech Republic (couples flock to the memorial of the poet Karel Hynek Mácha in Prague and kiss)

New Home Owner's Day

'Obby 'Oss (Hobby Horse) Parade -- Padstow, Cornwall, England (every May 1 since 1502, if the records are correct)

People's Unity Day -- Kazakhstan

Riding of the Bounds -- Berwick-upon-Tweed, Casey, England (riders scour the countryside to be sure the Scots have not encroached upon English soil in this 5 century old tradition)

Rodonitsa -- Slavic Pagan Calendar (day to offer feasts to the ancestors, named for Rod, god of family and the cosmos)

Santacruzan / Flore de Mayo -- Philippines (lasts through the month)

Save the Rhino Day -- International

School Principals' Day

St. Efsio's Day

St. Joseph the Worker's Day

St. Peregrine Laziosi's Day (patron against cancer)

St. Tamenend's Day (aka Tammany's Day)

St. Walpurga's Day (The saint who banishes the evil from Walpurgis night.)

Virgen de Chapi -- Peru

Yom HaSho'ah -- Jewish

Yotaka Matsuri -- Fukuno, Toyama, Japan (enjoy floats, paper lanters, and mock battles in this two day festival)

Zuni Green Corn Dance -- Zuni Native Americans (welcoming back the Corn Maidens who fled during the winter, through the 4th)


Birthdays Today:

Tim McGraw, 1967
Ray Parker, Jr., 1954
Rita Coolidge, 1945
Judy Collins, 1939
Terry Southern, 1924
Jack Paar, 1918
Glenn Ford, 1916
Kate Smith, 1909
Calamity Jane (Martha Jane Burke), 1852
King Kamehameha I of Hawai'i, 1738


Today in History:

The Wars of Scottish Independence end with a treaty recognizing the Kingdom of Scotland as a separate entity, 1328
The Act of Union joins the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, 1707
Species Plantarum is published by Linnaeus, marking the formal start date of plant taxonomy adopted by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, 1753
Josiah Wedgwood founds the Wedgwood pottery company in Great Britain, 1759
Jesuit-taught Adam Weishaupt establishes the Illuminati in Ingolstadt (Upper Bavaria), 1776
Kamehameha, the king of Hawai'i defeats Kalanikupule and establishes the Kingdom of Hawai'i, 1785
Opening night of the opera The Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Vienna, Austria, 1786
The British colonies abolish slavery, 1834
The Penny Black, the first official adhesive postage stamp, is issued in the United Kingdom, 1840
Hong Kong Police Force, the world's second, Asia's first modern police force is established, 1844
Queen Victoria opens the Great Exhibition in London, 1851
The Empire of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay sign the Treaty of the Triple Alliance, 1865
The Folies Bergère opens in Paris, 1869
Moses Fleetwood Walker becomes the first black person to play in a professional baseball game in the United States, 1884
The RMS Lusitania departs from New York City on her two hundred and second, and final, crossing of the North Atlantic, 1915
The first cooked meals on a scheduled flight are introduced on an Imperial Airways flight from London to Paris, 1927
The dwarf planet Pluto is officially named, 1930
The Empire State Building is dedicated in New York City, 1931
The Summer Olympics are canceled due to war, 1940
The Salk vaccine is made available to the public, 1956
Fidel Castro proclaims Cuba a socialist nation and abolishes elections, 1961
Amtrak is formed to take over the U.S. passenger rail service, 1971
Pope John Paul II beatifies Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz, 1987
On the same day, Rickey Henderson of the Oakland A's sets the record for stolen bases (his 939th), and Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers pitches his 7th career no-hitter, breaking his own record, 1991
Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the European Union, , 2004
Same-sex marriage is legalized in Sweden, 2009