Welcome to 2006

Sorry I've been MIA.

Yes, there are New Year's resolutions. They are the usual mundane things:

Mark and I resolved to become vegetarian (again).
I will lose 15 pounds (via exercise)
I will keep in touch with my Friends of Wildrun, and personal friends I have neglected.
I will improve at work
I will start up my wildlife control business again on a very limited basis.
I will write the God Damned Book before someone else does. No, there will be no further discussion about the GDB book, because it is on the single subject about cats that has NOT been published. Believe it or not, there is one. Just. One. And I'm not sharing.

Yesterday I counted cats. When Pooh and Piglet (playing in the photo above) go to their new home I will have only thirteen cats in the cat facility. Thirteen may sound like a lot to you, but that's the lowest we've had in years. That may change if we do end up with kittens from the Gulf region this week, but still, to stay down under 20 cats is a major accomplishment for me. We adopted out five cats this month. I forgot to take Rhett and Scarlett down off of Petfinder.com so I ended up with more inquiries about them today. I sent apologies, forwarded their email onto one other reputable feral cat rescuer I know who has kittens, and took Rhett and "Scarlett" (who are now Fred and George of Harry Potter fame) down off the pet list.

Pooh and Piglet are awfully tired of being shut up in their 4'x8' run. I let them out into the facility to play once it is swept and the communal cat box is picked up and they romp with abandon. I don't want them exposed to any chance of recontracting giardia before they go to their new home, so they must play alone.

Rhett and Scarlett were neutered and delivered to their new home. They are very happy to live in a home with two floors, couches, beds, three other cats who apparently are tolerating them amiably, and a family who loves them. I went by to see them, and they were curled up purring on the couch.

Pinky the scared white feral cat and Hops, a foster kitten, will be getting neutered in two weeks. That gives me a bit of time to make some money. The neuter itself isn't so expensive, but the giardia testing and FeLV testing racks up. I get great discounts, but one still must pay for one's eccentric habits.

It looks like I will be going back into wildlife control, but only locally (within 5 miles of Spencer), and only for sick and injured wildlife (raccoons with rabies and distemper, hit-by-car animals, baby skunks stuck in window wells that need a lift to freedom, etc.). I don't have time to cage-trap nuisance wildlife, or do exclusion, and sick/injured work is a service that a community needs. I sent off the check for my license, and ordered new business cards and post cards. I'll leave them at the post office and contact the local police and town clerk. I've decided to just charge a $50 flat fee to pick up a sick wild animal. I'll reserve the right to lower or waive the fee for low income or elderly, as I often do.

Cat rescue, of course, as always, is free.

But this won't be until my wildlife control license arrives, and that may be awhile. I got a 97 on the new exam, which is required for renewal. I supposed I should be happy with that except, after being involved with wildlife control for 15 years, I can't help but dwell on what three questions I got wrong!!!!!

So, it's a new year. Here we go.