Spaghetti with Tater Tots and a Momma Dog

We've eaten Mexican food for dinner the last couple of nights in Grenada and since we were in Winona tonight we stopped by the Pizza Inn for a little Italian fare. Yum, yum. Obviously there wasn't any pizza that didn't have cheese or squirrel on it, but they did have a marinara sauce for pasta and tater tots. So that's what I had, spaghetti and tater tots. It was like I was 9 again.

We picked up a momma dog today running up a highway. We ran her in to the vet to see if he thought she was still nursing - unfortunately he thought she was, so we grabbed some dog treats and ran her back to where we grabbed her to hopefully try and follow her back to the puppies. With me on foot and Doll following a few hundred feet back in the pick-up, we set out. At first it went pretty slow - momma dog just sat there looking at me wondering why I smelled like bacon and if I was gonna share that bacon with her. Then for no real reason, she set off with me following as close as my out of shape legs would allow me to follow. Through a couple of barbed wire fences, a flooded field, then back out onto another road, I followed her for about two miles. The whole way along she was checking the garbage at the side of the road for food and looking back at me to make sure I was still in to, then she just stopped and didn't seem to want to go in any one direction. It was at that point we decided to take her back to the sanctuary for some food and we'd try again later.

Tonight we set back out with her to see if she was now more desperate to get to her pups. Same routine as earlier, me on foot and Doll in the truck, we followed her for about a half mile. Then she ran up to a house and sat on the porch. I went up and knocked on the door. This guy came to the door and said that she was his dog. We asked where she slept, if she had a dog house and he said that she didn't, she just slept where ever. He confirmed she had puppies, but he didn't know where they were. He seemed pretty annoyed actually that we had taken interest in her. So we left her to his 'care' since there was nothing we could really do.

It was really sad driving away from her standing there in the driveway with nowhere to go since her 'guardian' had now closed the door and returned to his warm couch.

Jet Plane

I haven't updated here in about a month, so I'm not even sure anyone will read this, but I figured I'd make the effort to try to get back into the writing mood. I can't say there hasn't been anything going on, there has, I've just been too lazy and unmotivated to write about it. So here's a synopsis of my last month.

Tomorrow I leave for two weeks for IDA's animal sanctuary, Project Hope, in rural Mississippi. When I offered to go over a month ago, I felt like the day to actually leave would never come - now that day is tomorrow. I'm not thrilled about the trip. I'm happy to go and help, especially over Christmas, but Mississippi sucks and the prospect of spending two weeks there seems like a death sentence.

The four kittens I trapped at my apartment building are all being fostered at an IDA vounteer's house. I went and visited them yesterday and they're coming along, but still skittish (and downright terrified at times.) The foster parent, Eileen, is a former vet tech, so she knows a thing or two about handling animals and she's doing a fantastic job. She has an appointment to take the kittens (cats now, really) to Oregon Humane on the 26th of this month. After seeing the cats yesterday, I have serious doubts about their ability to make it in a loud, strange animal shelter environment. They are all so sweet, I want them to make it and get a good home. We'll monitor their progress at OHS and if they aren't doing well, we'll pull them out.

For Thanksgiving we had a huge potluck at the new IDA office. We guessed there were probably 50 people that showed up. It was a huge success and provided a lot of folks who didn't have somewhere to go (like yours truly) with a place. We also had a huge turnout for Fur Free Friday. There were at least 150 people who came out.

I'm now working out of the new office space. I miss my cats during the day, but it's nice to have all of my work stuff out of my tiny apartment and be in a larger space where I can spread out. I've only been working from the office for a week and biked in one day - it's a long ride in, like 7 miles with lots of hills, but I'm going to try to ride in a few times per week.

There've been other things, but that's all I have time for right now. I'm headed off to a puppy mill protest at Scamp's Pet Store downtown. Next time I write will be from Mississippi - assuming I have time to write. Bye for now.

Happy Weekend

I laughed about this all day and thought I'd share. Have a great weekend.

Fear of a Black Planet

I still cannot believe we did it - good job NC, VA, OH and FL. I am so psyched about the next (hopefully) 8 years. I really think this guy is going to be great - like better than Bill Clinton great.

There are a bunch of reports coming out now from McCain aides, no less, about just what a dipshit Palin truly is. How the hell can you know that and continue to hide it from the American voters? How wreckless. This is from Fox News and it explains Palin's problems - Fox News! This clip is fucking amazing - listen to the WHOLE segment.

Gator Eats Beagle

Best. Halloween costume. Ever.

Well, I'm all done with trapping - at least for now. I did infact have a whole family - mom, dad and 4 kittens (one male, three female.) All have been spayed or neutered and the mom and dad have already been released back to where they were trapped. The kittens have been released into a large room at our new IDA NW office. They're pretty feral and are going to need a lot of coaxing to get them to come around. The male, who was caught first, is close to coming out of his shell, but the females are all really wild.

Fingers-crossed, I've hopefully jumped through my last hoop on my pending litigation against the toolbag who hit me back in February. This has dragged on and on and has been a super pain in the ass. Worst part, my hand is jacked up and won't ever be the same. I should know in 4-6 weeks what sort of settlement to expect.

Trappin'

Trying to make her as comfortable as possible in my tiny laundry room.

I'm working late tonight trapping some feral cats that are around my building. I started last night and was surprised to find more than I had initially suspected - there are at least 6 and I had only seen 3-4. Looks like a mama, daddy and 4 kittens around the age of 12-14 weeks I'd guess. There's also a really sweet long-haired gray cat as well who won't stop following me and eating the canned food I put out to draw the ferals over. Tonight the gray cat tripped one of the traps, so hopefully I've seen the last of her - at least while I'm trapping.

Unfortunately, Portland is really no better than any other part of the country and there are limited resources to pay for the spays and neuters these cats are about to undergo. Connie, my co-worker, has been a real help in finding resources. It's still going to cost us around $30 per cat for the surgeries.

The kitten I trapped last night was of course terrified. She was however, very gentle and didn't take the many opportunities I gave her to tear me a new one, so I have hope that we can work with her and the rest of the kittens to make them adoptable. We are in the process of moving the office here to a much larger space, so we should be able to keep them there while we work on them - which is good because I really got an awakening last night as to just how small my apartment is in trying to keep this one kitten sequestered from my cats. Lot to love about my apartment, but size aint one of those things.

Hopefully I can fill the 3 traps I've got set and get these cats in to surgery tomorrow. And hopefully I won't be up to 3 a.m. making that happen.

The Donkey

My father, who was more of a Democrat that he would like to admit, used to say that my grandfather's side of the family was so strongly Democrat they'd vote for the donkey if he/she ran.

They do things a little differently here in Oregon than in Virginia. Here in Oregon, they mail you a ballot (mine arrived Friday) and a Voter's Pamphlet and you essentially vote from the privacy of your home. You then either mail back the ballot or drop it off. Pretty quick and easy and there's a paper trail, so it's tougher for Carl Rove and his cronies to tamper with. Not that I have to be concerned with that here in my blue state. I mailed mine off today, so I'm all done. It's up to the rest of you people to do the right thing now. (And by 'right thing' I of course mean vote for Obama - don't fuck this up!)