Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Holiday Party THIS Saturday



And if you read this blog and are a friend of ferals, you are invited! Please email me and I'll fire off your invitation (an MSWord attachment) with directions and all. My email address is info @ americancat dot net (fix the email address to standard form)

I've got the next two days off (whoo hoo!) and will be transforming the cat facility from garage sale to winter wonderland. Don't worry, there will be heat on the first floor! The cats and kittens are always warm and cozy on the second floor, and of course the wood stove will be cranking in the house.

Holiday shopping is great for those of you coming from the south. Stop at Owego's RiverRow shops to get a taste of the holidays. Spencers Decemburr to Rememburr is December 1, too, if you have kids. And yes, children are OK, but please leave the dogs at home.

Looking forward to seeing those of you who can make it!

We are (or have) gotten two adult ferals and five kittens fixed this week. It's a busy time.

Spam email subject line of the day.

"Teeth Horse Surveyor Fungus School Cappuccino"
I opened the email because I was fascinated, but no, I didn't click on the link to go buy whatever it was they were selling.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Resolution....





As promised, got some photos taken today. (Click those photos for some serious cuteness)

Happy Winter



(Post-note. A co-worker in PA got ELEVEN inches. I guess winter has really started for her!)

I told you I shouldn't have decorated for Xmas


...because now it's snowing.

It's so beautiful. I could never live in the south.

We have officially passed over to the "dark side"

OK. We are a bit cat crazy. We admit it. However, we (Mark and I) have always considered ourselves fairly stable, a la "cats have their place." They should stay off counters, only one cat is permitted to sleep with us (Norma, and yes indeed, the others have been trained to stay off the bed at night), etc. etc. etc.

But then there is Nick....

Nick is the one who goes outside because he yowls at the windows and refuses to use a litterbox. Nick has had so many trips to the vet we can't count them. Nick is also getting old. He stands up the feline bullies in the household, but it's clear he wishes they would all go away.

Lately he has taken to sleeping in odd places to avoid the bullies. Like...on top of the new garbage can. And lately, right here:



Yes, that is the kitchen counter.

Worse yet, I have not kicked him off. Even worse, MARK has not kicked him off. Because he's, well, Nick.

This has blown our "cats must stay in their place" smugness right out the window.

Now, Nick has a habit of changing favorite sleeping places about every two weeks. So we are hoping he chooses a new one soon.

In the meantime, we are working around him. It's not like he moves. Nick has two modes: "Outside" and "Inside Asleep."

We are officially insane.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

I'm am breaking my own rule...

And I'm decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving even arrives. Now that my travel marathon is over, I went out to yank the summer flowers from the cat facility flower boxes and put up Fall decorations. But then realized in a week I'd have to put up the winter stuff.

So....



Tshirts from the Feral Cat Summit



The one above is from Neighborhood Cats.



This one is from Operation Catnip. I don't see it on their website I really wanted to Catus Interruptus shirt, but I don't want to mislead people by having them think I can offer free spays all the time.

Yeah, I'm doing human laundry for once, instead of cat towels.

Date Change, Holiday Party December ONE

...not December 2.

Suddenly I recalled that last year we had had our Holiday Party on Saturday rather than Sunday (previously it had always been on Sunday) and the feedback I had received was that Saturday was better.

SO....

Our Holiday Party in the cat facility and The House, is Saturday, December 1.

The Barn Sale will be next Saturday, November 24.

The Big Fat Cat Sale (adoption event) will be Sunday, November 25.

At the barn sale we will be downsizing and this means the sale of many antiques and collectibles. We will probably put our signs out on Thanksgiving Day ("Barn Sale, Saturday"). People should be wanting to get out of the house by Saturday, I hope. I can't live with all this stuff through the winter, and we were just too busy this summer to hold the sale during warmer weather. There WILL be heat in the bottom of the barn.

The Sale will be held on the first floor of the cat facility. Things too large for the cat facility, such as the John Deere lawn tractor etc. will be outside.

The Holiday Party, for those who have not attended, is on the first and second floor of the cat facility, and in The House. The party in the barn runs from about 1 to 5. By about 5, most people have moved into the house for a potluck, which runs until the last person gets tired and leaves (usually around midnight). So people can stop by during the day just to say "hi" and pet the cats, or come by in the evening for human companionship, or stay all day and night, if they choose!

We do require an RSVP if you bring guests, as alcohol will be served. This is a private party, not an open house. If you want an invitation, please email me at info (@) americancat (dot) net (dodging spam, there, please reinterpret the email address in normal format) and say you'd love to stop by and see the cats!

Remember, Owego's River Row shops are VERY cool, so it's worth the trip to hit the Spencer/Owego area at this time of year.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

More resolutions

In the interest of creating and maintaining sanity, and getting back to enjoying my work with cats rather than treading water because I'm so busy with other things,

1) I FINALLY created a waiver for people who bring cats here to be housed post-surgery. Now I need to take my forms to Staples and get a 100 or so of each made, so I'm not wasting ink in my printer printing off one or two every time I need them.

2) I FINALLY inventoried our "extra paint" (cans and cans of it from painting the interior of two houses) to see what was left over for free use in the cat facility. I now have a can of white (ceiling) and a can of sealant (to treat the water damage on the ceiling from before we put the new roof on) that we don't need in the house. We also have about 12 empty or almost-empty cans that need to be dried out for disposal. The rest I need to use up repainting rooms in the house before Christmas.
Now I can go buy the paint I need to finish the cat facility, without fear of buying more of what we already have.

3) I NEED to get the "shy guys" into their tentative homes. I have people who are interested in trying out Pinky and Charlie (who are really, really shy) but I needed to be home to do this. The buff kittens are doing OK in the tack room at their barn, so far. Once the "shy guys" are moved, Dustin and Bebe could move into the cat room.

4) I NEED to get ready for a barn sale NEXT SATURDAY, a Big Fat Cat Sale (adoption event) on December 1, and our cat facility Holiday Party on December 2. Save those dates, people!

5) We HAVE two adult ferals here for the Waverly folks, to be fixed next Tuesday. Finally we are back in the business of getting ferals fixed! I've got appointments for the two tiger kittens the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, and for two boys later that week, as well.

6) I NEED to get photos of the kittens up on Petfinder.

Friday, November 16, 2007

VCA Library

I have set some resolutions for myself which I plan to put in place BEFORE the New Year. One of those is making this blog a bit more informative for feral cat folks.

As I deal with problems in my own cat facility, I want to discuss them here. That was one of the purposes of this blog, but in the runabout of day-to-day, that goal has gone by the wayside.

So today, as I determined that I need to deal more comprehensively with ear mites in my cat facility, I stumbled across a pretty decent library from VCA.

The URL is http://www.petshealth.com/dr_library/earmite.html for the earmite article.

Many vets I have encountered recommend ivermectin and Revolution for ear mites (see the bottom of the article above). Since a cat facility has to be treated regularly for fleas and internal parasites as well as ear mites, Revolution tackles a variety of problems at once.

In my opinion, Revolution is well worth the cost as it is packaged for cats. Revolution can be expensive, however, if you have more than the average number of cats. There are places on the web that provide information on how to cut the large dog dose to treat a large number of cats. If you have a large number of cats, you might want to consult with your veterinarian about that option. Your vet may or may not be willing to examine or discuss the issues, as "off-label" use of chemicals and drugs is a twisty path for medical professionals.

The VCA articles above briefly discusses off-label use of certain chemicals for the control of ear mites.

"Off-label" use of chemicals and drugs (and giving advice about off-label use) is tricky stuff. First of all, all drugs and chemical are to be used as directed on the label. In most cases, use of a product contrary to its labeling can be illegal. People can take risks with their OWN lives (and their own "property") and may choose to use products off-label, but it is strictly illegal to use products off-label on someone else's person or property especially in a commercial manner. It may be illegal to use such chemicals AT ALL on some else's person or property.

For example, I can spray hornet spray on a hornet nest on my own home. But if I run around offering to spray other people's hornet nests for a couple of bucks, I need a commercial pest control operator's license. If I used that same hornet spray as a "skunk repellent" (it ISN'T, by the way) this would be an "off-label" use and would be illegal. If I wanted to try hornet spray as a skunk repellent under my own deck (again, it ISN'T a skunk repellent) that would be my own choice. A stupid one, but my own business if I'm the only one at risk. But to utilize it as such on someone else's property isn't permitted.

The reason for this is obvious: chemicals and drugs can cause injury or death if used improperly.

First, off-label "advice" can be dangerous and may not even work. I often hear people talk about using mothballs to repel certain critters. Mothballs seldom work, and some people are deathly allergic to napthalene, the ingredient in mothballs. If you throw boxes of mothballs down your walls, getting them out again if you discover they are making you or your family ill can be impossible. I've read web pages that recommend ammonia in chimneys to rid yourself of raccoons. You may end up with dead baby raccoons if the ammonia is so overpowering that mom leaves the kids behind, or the ammonia kills the babies so mom leaves them there. Ammonia can pack a punch to you as well, in an enclosed space.

There is also the double whammy of changing both the chemical AND the dosage for a particular application. There is a very good reason why chemicals and drugs contain instructions and/or dosages. If you use dog Revolution on a cat (an off-label use) for mites, not fleas (another off-label use) by cutting the dosage for a smaller animal (another off-label use) you have significantly increased the risk to your pet. Make a difference between .1 cc or .01 cc, and you've got a very sick cat.

So you'll notice on this blog, I don't make recommendations for off-label use, even those I might utilize myself on my "own cats. " I may mention that I've heard of certain options and say "consult with your vet" but I'm not in a position to share dosages, etc. If you have a good relationship with your vet, the next time you make an appointment for a visit, you might ask for 10 extra minutes of time for your vet to explain the intricacies and pitfalls of "off label" use of drugs. If there is a chemical or drug you use in high quantities (wormer, for example) you might ask your vet for advice on the variety of options there are, out there.

Your vet also may be able to sell you larger quantities of a wormer for a lower price, etc. if you both sit down and work out a "herd health" protocol. This is a term that relates to those of us who deal with the very special medical problems that come with having a large number of animals (whether cows, horses, goats, cats, or dogs) in close proximity to one another. How you treat an upper respiratory in an adult cat in a single cat household may vary from how you treat an upper respiratory in a kitten when you have ten kittens! Your vet needs to know your special circumstances to treat your animals most effectively.

This VCA library seems to be a great resource. I'm looking forward to checking out their other subjects.

If you have a favorite pet/medical library you've found online, please send the URL my way (or search words for Google). I'm going to add a list of library links in my sidebar. I'm only going to add particularly excellent ones. Thanks!

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Home again

I hate little planes. Hate them hate them hate them.

We had to fly over that storm in the Poconos and little planes don't go very high. The plane was getting tossed around, and every now and then it would drop....whoosh, stabilize, whoosh...one drop after another, as we went through the weather front. And of course I was in the very back row, so you could hear the luggage sliding around in the tail. Yikes! I did not like that trip AT ALL. I'm glad I didn't look at the satellite image before I got on, or when they asked for two volunteers because they were under a "weight restriction" I would have realized it was to lighten the load flying through a storm, and I would have rented a car and driven home instead.

And I'd still be driving. And I'd probably hit ice in the Poconos. Flying was probably safer.

But I'm safe on the ground now, having promised my soul to the storm spirits if they would only give us safe passage. Having been on a little plane in Alaska during daylight, I know that a plane falling a few feet isn't a big deal, but I still don't much enjoy the experience. And that's all my flying travel for the year, thank goodness.

And then I got to Ithaca and discovered, despite all those vehicles I see that say "Ithaca Airport Limosine" they do NOT have a shuttle, nor do Ithaca taxis take credit cards. I had 21.00 on my ATM card and a 20 withdrawal with a $2 fee is...$22 dollars. But the bank took pity and gave me the extra buck over my limit, otherwise I'd be sitting up at the airport still, trying to beg a ride from strangers.

As I was checking out my ATM card, I discovered that if you try to access your account more than twice in a short period of time...it refuses you on the third try! So after discovering that I DID have money to get home after checking my balance, when I tried to swipe my card to actually withdraw the money, it refused to let me in. So I had to sit around for 15 minutes until it forgot who I was, and let me in again.

I could not use my work credit card, because I haven't reset the pin to something memorable, and I don't think they smile on cash advances, anyway.

But I'm home! Nick met me at the door, Jack said "hi" then immediately started terrorizing the other cats (Mark and I have decided Jack is going to spend some time in the cat facility this next week to re-set the pecking order in the house), the Waverly folks have caught two ferals (whoo hoo!), and Mark is off to his conference.

And I am off to the cat facility to see how the little monsters have trashed it this afternoon, and to set up the downstairs heater and cages for the ferals arriving tonight or tomorrow a.m.

I'm coming home, I've done my time...

No, actually it was quite fun. I'm sitting in the Tampa airport and should be on my way to Philly and then to Ithaca in short order.

My plane arrives at around 6:00 and Mark has stashed a vehicle for me at I.C. Getting from the airport to I.C. might be an adventure since my cash card tells me I have insufficient funds at the ATM, so I hope the shuttle takes a credit card!

It was great to see everyone from work. This was a working retreat, which we do once a year or so. It has been 18 months since the last one, and a lot of new faces have been added whom I had only met via the internet. This is really our only chance to get together, explain in person what our jobs are, and present the state of our slice of the working "pie." As usual, the new faces were all attached to great people, and now when I heap work on them (or they heap work on me) during the usual day-to-day I can put a face to the type on my laptop screen.

After the Feral Cat Summit and two days of work meetings, last night it was nice to be treated to a short harbor cruise. Far-off city lights reflecting off calm flat water was the perfect way to unwind after days of people, people, people under fluorescent lights. Well, there was the singing of "Hotel California" at the top of our lungs to the very loud restaurant band--I guess that wasn't particularly calming, but it certainly was hilarious and so totally high-school. I guess that was our primal scream.

But I'm glad to be heading home. I'm even looking forward to scooping litter boxes, and I'll bet Donna is ready to be able to spend a day at home instead of driving over to my place three times a day!!!!

Monday, November 12, 2007

Just like old times...


Sometimes I do miss the wildlife calls. (from http://icanhascheezburger.com/)

Airport blogging with a beer

We have a truly decadent society, where you can sit down with your wireless laptop in a TGI Friday's at the Tampa Airport, and work right through lunch answering work email.

Is this a good thing? Or a bad thing? There is something to be said about leaving work behind. But also something to be said for having something to do at lunch, instead of sitting alone.

It sounds like Donna is doing OK with the cats (other than me running out and leaving her to have to figure out which cage was Kitty Corn's, since he was playing keep-away when I left). Red's owner emailed. She's been out of town so will check to see if he's back, and if not she'll come over to our place to look for him. I sent Mark an email to make sure food is left out for Red in case he's decided to make our place his temporary home for the holidays.

The 80 degree weather is nice, but I'm spending most of my time inside. I understand you all are a bit chilly in NY!

The Waverly folks emailed me. They will be trapping ferals on Thursday (the day I return) so they can bring cats over Friday a.m. Then they are out of town the following week, so I'll arrange to get the first batch of cats fixed while they are gone.

We are planning our yearly Holiday Party With the Cats on December 2nd!!!! Mark your calendars!

Back to work!

Sunday, November 11, 2007

220 feral folk all in one room!

What a great seminar! The National Feral Cat Summit was a success from beginning to end. Well, I could have done with a shorter walk from the parking lot to the meeting room (you had to be there and walk the Long Walk to realize how amusing that statement is) but at least I burned up a a few calories carrying my two boxes.

HSUS has a great new video, directed by Bryan Kortis of Neighborhood Cats, that will be available soon. We had a preview. It was rather a Twilight Zone/time warp experience to see trap/neuter/return portrayed in its recent respectability. Rather like seeing the radical flower child in a business suit. Amazing. And very cool. And very inspiring. I signed up for a free copy once it's released, hopefully be the end of the year.

The speakers were exceptional, and of course the networking was one of the most valuable parts. It was a talkative place. People like to think cat folk are traditionally loners. I think it's more likely its hard for them to find a crowd who share their passions. And here were 220 like-minded people. And no one was playing the wallflower.

The only thing I missed was the mewing of bottle babies. Usually someone has had to smuggle some in because they could not leave them behind. But all was quiet in the mew-factor. I hope that means that feral cat care has reached the point where people have a network to help them so they can, in fact, get out of the house.

Speaking of which, Mark, Donna and Tim, Valarie and Craig, Christy and Gordon, Becky and Chris...thanks for caring for the fur balls. I hope everything is OK!

Oh, DRAT! Joanna, I was going to look for you!!! Were you there? Darn it! I'm here in Orlando all through Sunday if you are still here!

My last visit to Orlando was in 1976. Yeah, more than 30 years ago. I distinctly remember the drive out to Disneyworld and Sea World. It was a long drive down a four lane with almost nothing around it but a few hotels.

Every square foot is filled down with neon, restaurants, hotels, attractions. Sea World and Disney are smack in the middle. From the middle of nothing, to the middle of everything. And what it took was 31 years. Scary.

Friday, November 09, 2007

I'm off to Florida for the National Feral Cat Summit...

...and I forgot my camera! Argh!

I have a minute before security opens (yes...small airport). As usual it was rush, rush, rush, dashing kittens all over the county last night and this morning, and Donna, I'm sorry, I had to leave their cages dirty. The sneezers had their meds this a.m. so they are set for the day, and the meds are on the pen holder on the SMALL whiteboard...

Valarie, I did not have time to get flea meds to you for your fosters. I'll give you a call to let you know where to pick it up at the cat facility...

A whole week of blogging with no camera? What a bummer.

See you on the warm side of the U.S.

Remember Angel? He's BAAAAAaaaaack!

Guess who showed up on our porch tonight?

Yeah, Angel, the Rune Hill cat I catnapped last spring.

I wondered if he might find his way over the hill again once cold weather kicked in. He ran away twice, but finally let me pick him up for a cuddle in the chair on the porch. He ate about 3/4 cup of Nick's dry food. There's a shelter on the porch now, so if he decides to camp out, he's got a place to get out of the weather. There's also one in the barn, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's where the possum hangs out.

He has some burrs in his fur, but unless Mark takes the sissors to him while I'm gone, they are going to have to wait until I get back next week.

I guess I'll go find his owner's email address and let her know he's hanging out over here and has food and shelter, if he doesn't show up at home during the day. I wouldn't want her to worry. If he's still hanging out here when I get back, I'll haul him on home, unless they tell me he's trekking back and forth from their place to our place without a problem

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Shakespeare's doing fine!

I got this this morning:

Hi Susan,
I just wanted to thank you again for bringing Shakespeare into Dorothy's life. I have checked on them twice now and they both seem to be enjoying each other's company!

Chris
Sigh. Contentment. Shakespeare has a home.

And hey, for once it took less than a year. Barely.

See, Shakespeare, all that lobbying paid off! You may not have gone home with any of the people you sucked up to when they visited, but Anne must have remembered what a wonderful cat you were, to recommend you to Chris!

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

One-week foster homes needed!

Is my blogging time when I BEGIN the post, or when I END it and hit "publish post?" I don't want to miss posting today (11/6/2007) even though I've totally destroyed any chance of posting every day in November for NaBloMoPo.

Anybody want to borrow kittens? I'm off to Florida on Friday, returning next Thursday, and I have at least four kittens (two sets of two) who need to get out of here.

I have four others, but two of those are getting over a sneeze, and the two new ones are going back to the home of the people who rescued them, while I'm gone. I guess the sneezy ones will stay here, so as not to infect anybody's pets in their homes.

Please raise your hand if you want to laugh at kittens for about a week!

Saturday, November 03, 2007

Finding your sisters on line.

Cool. Hey dear sister Linda, did you know your music is online?

And Espie loses out to Shakespeare...

Shakespeare was adopted!. Yes, it was supposed to be Espie's home, but Espie needed a dental and Shakespeare was ready to go, so Shakespeare got the loving home at Kendal At Ithaca. Shakespeare immediately accepted the fresh catnip homecoming gift from his new caretaker, and he was so enamored of her he barely said "goodbye" to me. (but he did!)

OK, you want to talk customer service? When we arrived at Shakespeare's new room at Kendal, there was a half screen door on his new caretaker's room, which she had to keep her previous older cat from getting into the hallway and the rest of the facility. I knew that Shakespeare could pop over that in about 10 seconds. So I mentioned it to Chris (one of our vets, who had generously arranged this adoption). She went to the front desk and was told that a maintenance person would be there within two hours with a FULL SCREEN DOOR to keep Shakespeare in.

Oh my! How incredible!

Each room has access to a center courtyard, so Shakespeare gets to hang out safely outdoors. How lucky is that?

Espie is a hit at America Recycles Day

I already screwed up NaBloPoMo by failing to blog yesterday. My normal attitude would be "Aw, the hell with it then" but no, I AM going to post every additional day this month! Damn it!

Today we spend the whole day at America Recycles Day at the Ithaca Mall (that's us, number three on the list as The American Cat Project). It was certainly twice as large as last year and oh MY, there were lots of kids! And they all knew how to politely pet a cat. Espie was a champ and hung out with the cage wide open.

No, really. I just left her cage wide open and people just came over and petted her. I had her in the halter and lead to start, but it became clear that she wasn't going to jump out on her own, and was going to lean into every hand that came her way. I took the halter off her (normally something I would never do) and we both enjoyed her admiring throngs.

We gave her a few "time outs" when her tail started twitching, by closing the cage and putting a "Taking a break. Come back in 20 minutes for pets!" sign on her cage. Normally a cat makes it about three hours before it signals that enough is enough at public events. Espie had lines of visitors from 10:00 am through 3:50 pm. She was amazing. I have never seen a cat this amenable to the public.

A number of people indicated they were interested in her and took her card. The TC SPCA adopted out two cats today! Wonderful!!!!

This little kid showed up and hung out with Espie for almost ten full minutes. I was beginning to worry I had my first abandoned child (are they like kittens? Can I keep him in a cage at night?) but his parents were actually two booths away, keeping an eye on him, figuring he was safe with Espie. I was quite happy when when they came over and I could ask "Hey, is he yours?"




(Click my photo and check out my cute tongue and these wonderful paws! And look, I brought in donations for half a spay, too!)

Little did I know that almost every child would be able to READ her difficult name off her bio on her cage. Why? Well, this is why.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

It's a Kitten November

And you know what happens when you have too many kittens in one place. Yup, you got it. They start to SNEEZE. And no one wants a sneezing kitten.

I took Tubbs and Schubert off to the off-site adoption cage at my vets, and both seemed as healthy as can be. Yet by the end of the day, Tubbs was sneezing his head off, and they both had to come home (you can't have sneezing kittens at a vet's office!)

One of the two kittens adopted from a foster home also was sneezing...yet he hadn't been here for well over a month. So that had to be a sneeze from a different source. Although I suppose I could have carried it to him when I came over to vaccinate and worm him.

At any rate, it seems like a fairly benign sneeze. Nonetheless, it postpones adoptions, and with growing kittens, that's not good!

The two black kittens who are already adopted are upstairs in the cat facility away from the other kittens. And the two adopted kittens who are boarding are in the house, also sequestered.

We're on NaBloPoMo!


So maybe this will be the kick in the butt so that I post each day this month. And what is NaBloPoMo? Well, go here to find out! It's an alternative to those of us who can't hack NaNoWriMo

The Soup Diet

In an attempt to keep from eating the heavy-duty weight-gaining not-so-healthy comfort food that Mark and I normally cook (or the prepared boxed food I eat), we decided that for a month, we would eat home made soup.

Yup, that's it. Just soup.

And it's actually been a pretty enjoyable experience. We have a pretty good cookbook library, and of course there is the internet.

Here is tonight's excessively easy recipe, although the price on shrimp appears to have skyrocketed. This one is actually spicy enough without the shrimp that navy beans or something similar could be substituted and it would still be a great soup. And you wouldn't be eating any little critters.

The wine is also optional--I don't have any to add. And I left out the onion, since there was salsa in the recipe already. I used Newman's Own mild salsa, and there's plenty left for salsa and chips. Oh yeah, there is no fresh cilantro/coriander, so I used dried. I wish I could blog an aroma, because this stuff smells incredible.

Title: Baby Shrimp Tomato Soup
Keys: Seafood
Yield: 6

Ingredients:

1 x 28 oz can stewed tomato
1 cup mild salsa
1 med onion, chopped
2 clv garlic, chopped
1 tbl sugar
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
4 cup vegetable stock
1/2 cup red wine
1 cup cooked baby shrimp
1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander


Method:
In a large soup pot, combine the stewed tomatoes and their juice, salsa, onion, garlic, sugar, basil, thyme, salt, pepper, stock and wine. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Stir in shrimp and coriander and simmer until heated through.

I found this recipe on Food Down Under Here is their main database

Post dinner update: I would add only 1/2 cup salsa in the future (unless you like spicy!) and would add rice or beans in addition to the shrimp.