Taking in the View!

Just a cute little vacation from information for a cute little photo of Emmy grooming in front of the mirror. Awws all around.

Garden Update

As of today everything is officially planted. The garden looks great and weed free.* We shall see how long it last.


*I did leave some weeds around the volunteer sunflowers. I was going to pull them, in fact was in the process of pulling them, when I noticed Rose was relaxing in her "jungle" paradise of those weeds. Since then I have noticed her hanging out there quite a bit, so I have decided to leave them there. FYI, Rose is one of the ferals I have TNRed (grammar?) She has taken up permanent residence on my porch and surrounding area. She was Porch Kitty until I broke done and named her. She is fully an outdoor cat, but if anyone wanted her for an indoor kitty, she is forever trying to come inside. I should post of photo of her in the sunflowers but I don't have one. Sad. Well, this post took a major side trip. Tee Hee. By the way, as of this post, Rose is the lovely cat featured as my profile photo.

TNR photos

Here are some photos of the TNR process. I had two live traps set and covered near the feeding stations. I did not set food out the day before to make the bait more attractive. I used aromatic wet food in the traps. The traps are then covered with breathable fabric so the cats are more likely to go. The second photo is one of a trapped cat. (If you look in the first photo you can see the trap with burlap has been engaged.) The cat on the outside is Rose, she is a feral who has decided to be a tame cat. She was spayed during the first wave of TNR. The second the recovery room set up. I have a crate that is made for cats. I have it in a small room that can be closed off from my pets. Again the crate is kept covered to help keep the comfort of the cat during the recovery. It is important especially after a spay surgery to try and keep the cat comfortable and quiet for 48 hours. This timing really worked out for me. The two days I had her indoors in recovery, it was gray and rainy. However, release day was beautiful and sunny. This cat made a mad dash for her barn. We shall see how long before I see her again. I always have my vet use dissolving stitches so I don't have to worry about that. He also ear tips them while they are out. This is a process of removing the tip of one ear. This may sound cruel to some, however, it is the suggested method for typical TNR methods. It prevents cats from having unnecessary anesthesia and surgery only to find out they have already been trapped. Ear tipping will allow me to see immediately so I could just release the ear tipped cat.

TNR

Today is a TNR day. If you you don't know TNR stands for Trap - Neuter - Return. It is the most environmental and humane way to deal with a feral cat population. I will go into more detail in another post the difference between feral and stray cats. However, it is really early and I do need to start getting ready for work. I have set two live traps - Have-a-Heart, are the traps of my choosing, and made arrangements with a vet to perform the procedure at a reduced price. My dear sweet mother is dropping them off at the clinic as I must go to work at 6:00 or 6:30 and the clinic doesn't open til 8. I will pick them up in the afternoon after work. It will be interesting because I have to also take in Emmy, for her yearly vaccines. The ride home should sound like a choir of angels, tee hee. At least it is only a four mile drive. I have already in the first five minutes made on successful trap. Yeah. Slowly and surely I will sterilize all the barn cats around here. Granted, I have to combat the continual drop off of new cats. Ugh. More on that later.

Cat Hair Dilemma

So I dearly love my feline friends, however, I don't like wearing their fur with me whereever I go - I was going through the lint rollar strips like a madwomen. While at Target (okay, I admit I am a bit of a Target addict, I am working on it) I saw this package on an endcap. They had the 'as seen on tv' label on the package. It came with this large model and a little travel one. I bought them on a whim (yes, something else I am working on) and have been thrilled ever since, I still have my disposible lint roller from before simply because I haven't finished using it because I use the reusable one more. It is wonderful, just keep an eye out for one. (I have no idea what the real name is, I bought this about a year ago.)