Trying not to be a morning wimp

I took off four half-days this week (working 11-3) so I can trap cats in the afternoon/evening and take them into the vet for vaccination in the early a.m. I made a vet appointment for T-F, 8:00 am, failing to take into account that I would be working a full day on Monday and would not have time to trap in evening for the Tuesday appointment.

Brain fart.

I nearly wimped out and said "Oh well, I'll call the vet and say I won't be in Tuesday a.m." Although I knew that if I got up early...REALLY early (like 4:00 am) I probably could set traps at one site and catch a cat or two before the vet appointment. And that would be a start.

There once was a time when I trapped "nuisance" wildlife every weekend and got out of bed at 4:30 with just a minor groan. I quite often set traps all night and slept in my truck (those were the days!) to vaccinate raccoons.

I'm getting old. Now I find it irrational to get up that early.

Anyway, when I was tucking in the kittens tonight I gave myself a good mental kick in the butt, dragged out all my traps, got my trap covers, paper plates, a plastic spoon, and came inside the house to crank open cat food cans and tuna (to pre-mix into Gladware so I'm not popping cans in the field) and I'm just getting ready to set my alarm for 4:00 am.

I'll set the traps in the morning and grab a few newspapers to camp my butt at Manos for a few hours. I can also go to the 24-hour Wegmans to stock up on bait cat food for the next few days. Maybe I can even find my ragged old Wildrun sweatshirt from my wildlife trapping days.

In case you didn't know, diner waitresses are really nice to early morning contractors. It's a whole different world. Even the nicest waitress is twice as nice at 5:00 am to the scattered crowd of working class men getting a cup of coffee. And I say men because, without exception, I have been in the only woman in the diner in the morning dark hours as the sun rises. And the waitresses treat me like gold. I want to hug them before leaving and say "You didn't just make my day, you made my LIFE."

Also...

I feel badly because today, for the first time all summer, I had to say NO. I got an email from a person who had caught some older feral kittens that had been running around their place since June. I started to think how I could fit them in...then realized there was just no way. No way at all. So I emailed back and offered to try and get them fixed at my vet's discount rate. That's all I can do right now.

I usually try to take all kittens from my immediate area, but these guys are big and wild so need an expert handler and lots of work. I can't just pawn them off on a small-kitten foster home. And there is no room here, especially since some of these re-vax ferals are going to be new ferals that need holding and fixing and the vet may not be able to fit them in until next week.

There comes a time when the line is drawn. Today the line was drawn. I've said yes to vaccinating 20-30 ferals this week. I have to say no to more kittens.

See you in the morning!