All right. Someone needs to make sense of what's been happening in my life and explain it to me. I've been lucky to be part of some amazing cat rescues the past few weeks---First there was our Black Adult Mama Cat, now named Freya, who had no chance at Henry Co. Care & Control, but who, after I posted a plea for her, through the help of a lot of great folks, was able to get busted out and off to new, loving home. Then I found Chester, the 21 yr old kitty, who got away from his family and was lost for 5 days. I found him-saved his life. As of just yesterday, Chester is still doing well and more and more like his “old” self every day.

Then there was the Calico Mama, so friendly and loving, but who had no hope to be free from Death Row. Fate stepped in for her and I was able to help be part of the team of folks who got her out of the shelter and into loving foster care. She was adopted before she even made it out of the shelter and will be in her new home in another week or so.

It wasn't enough. Her two cowbaby kittens needed a rescue as well. This one I handled on my own and these babies are coming to me. Within hours of their rescue, I found out about four more kittens who had just arrived at the shelter and who face the same odds of getting out alive. I rescued them, too, but now I'm “full up” and can't take any more to foster.

That's a lot of saves for ONE person with no shelter and just a few bucks in her pocket. But...

Yesterday I saved my first HUMAN and things got even crazier after that happened!

Sam and I had a client meeting at a local coffee shop at noon. We were starving for something to eat and to finally get paid for our web design project we had just finished. Our client walked in the door, but looked strange. He had a bruise under his left eye and on the bridge of his nose. I made a joke as he sat down and asked him what happened.

He said; “You know...” and could not finish the sentence. He kept saying the same thing and gesturing in frustration. Then it hit me, the injury was NEW and he was either having a stroke or something else was going on!!!

Thankfully, my Mother was an Emergency Medical Technician Crew Chief, and I learned a few things from her. I asked my client to smile. He did. Nice and symmetrical-but it was a grimace of frustration. Okay, no drooping facial things going on, so maybe not a stroke, but he cannot speak any more! He gestured for paper so we grabbed a note pad, we couldn't read his writing. I looked around and noticed a bicycle cop-who, I'm sorry but I can't take them seriously, and told him something was wrong and we needed an ambulance.

This is crazy. I don't know my client that well and I didn't want to overreact when maybe he was diabetic and needed sugar or gosh, I knew he had a clear airway, was breathing basically ok, was agitated (if I couldn't talk I would be, too), but what was wrong with him? I hoped he would not be mad at me for jumping to get him on an ambulance when maybe he just needed a cookie?...I managed to get his phone. I apologized for going through his private stuff, but he wrote his wife's name down and I found it as a "favorite" on his iPhone. Another cop showed up as I reached his wife.

The Cop wanted to talk to me, but I had to talk to her first. I didn't have time to rehearse what to say, so it came out weird. First, I was calling on her husband's phone and she didn't know this woman using her husband's phone! In a shaky voice I told her what my Mother said to me when my father had a stroke. She said he had “an event”...then I told her he could not speak and she started to cry. She was an hour away, but thankfully had a friend who could drive her to the local hospital. I got off the phone and talked to the Officer.

We were all trying to figure out our Client's address-Sam had that since he had the invoice in his hand that we were not going to get paid for that day (hey, these are desperate times!) and it had the info on it. Finally an EMT showed up and started to assess things. About 10 minutes later, a huge mob of folks showed up. More cops, some official looking woman in a suit with a badge attached to her belt, 3 or 4 more EMTs. Meanwhile the folks in the cafe are wondering what is going on and the staff is worried that he fell on their property!

My poor client. I rubbed his back and told him it was going to be okay and to not worry. That we caught it soon and he would be in good hands. He is friends with surgeons at the same hospital so I knew he would get extra good attention. I just wanted him OUT of the cafe so he could get the help he needed, fast!

I asked one of the Officers if I should go with my client or follow in the car, but he reminded me that not being a family member, they would pretty much ignore me. Since they had everything worked out and knew how to reach me and Sam, we decided it was best to just let them take our Client and leave it at that.

After they left, a few of the staff came over and asked us if we wanted anything. Sam and I just sat there with our eyes full of tears and said “no thank you.”

Then Sam turned to me and said; “That was the WORST client meeting I've ever had!”

Yah think?

I didn't want to leave him, but I had another meeting to get to. I went to dish big time dirt on the shhhh...Director of the group I used to be with and the person I was meeting didn't have a cell phone so I couldn't call to cancel. Suddenly, I didn't want to dish dirt or get into my car and drive off. Life just felt so fragile. He was our client, a few years older than we are. He seems in good health, has a wicked sharp mind and loving family. How quickly all that can change. It's very sobering.

I ended up having a good chat with this top secret person. I heard some interesting things and realized that my leaving that group was what I needed to do. Now I have the freedom to really make a difference and find my own way in the world...

But that was before I got the call asking me if I was maybe interested in taking over a shelter and running it as my own. It is staffed with volunteers. Has been around for a long time. They don't even do fundraising. They have plenty of money! And no, I was not sleeping and having a nice dream. The offer, though not a serious one at this point, is a sincere one. I can just step in and do my thing...or maybe I can't, but it's a SHELTER with only cages for new arrivals and they really are NO KILL. They don't put down for space reasons or healthy animals. What the heck?! This can't be!

It's kinda like the OTHER thing that happened yesterday between the tornado warnings and violent thunderstorms...I could not sleep. I went to bed crying, knowing a few more sweet babies were going to be euthanized at 7am. I didn't want to tell you guys about it. It's bad enough that I knew. It was late at night when I got the message. There was no time to find a rescue, so I laid there and wept for them.

©2010 Henry Co. Care & Control

But it's okay. Don't you cry for them, too. Good old Fate was keeping me awake, I guess. 'Cause something miraculous happened. I pulled off the one thing I was sure I could not...

I've been trying to write this post for a week. I'm torn between writing a virtual rant vs. just moving forward with my life. The temptation is to light these words on fire and to really let off a years' worth of steam, but reason states that those of us in the rescue community all know each other and burn one bridge now means making trouble for yourself later.

So with that in mind, I will write this:

I QUIT.

©2009 Robin A.F. Olson. Spencer says it all.

I left The Animal Center for good. No turning back. Done. Whatever reasons I have for this, for now, will be my own. I gave it my all for 5 years, but there was a price to pay that I wasn't willing to pay any longer. I leave angry and hurt, but I know in time those feelings will fade away and for now, I can use that energy to do something positive.

I've been grappling with what to do next. The answer has been right in front of me for a long time, but I was afraid to give it a shot. I'll continue to use my tiny networking skills to help rescue cats from southern death row shelters. I'll also keep doing everything I did before, but...

I'm going to make a go of it on my own. I'm going to start my own Non-Profit Cat Rescue Group. Stupid idea or perfect timing, I have no idea. There are lots of hurdles ahead, but I'm going to try. This is the dawning of my new journey. The road I've travelled on has led me to this place. I stand here before you and take a deep breath. I'm ready to stick my neck out, kick some ass and save lots more cats.

You're welcome to come along for the ride and see how this pans out. Maybe you'll say “I knew her back when she first started that group...it was just her, but now look at it!” but hopefully not; “Oh yes, that was before she got stuck with all those cats she couldn't adopt out and went crazy and they found her body...the cats got to it first...”

I'm truly scared. I had all these plans to start super small, go slowly, only take those two cute cow kittens in to foster and see how it goes...

But so many need help! I can't just sit here with two foster kittens when I have room for more! Oh boy...what have I done?

Details of my craziness coming soon...

I returned to the Blue Colony Diner, the location where Chester was last seen before he got away from his family's car on June 28th. Even though I knew Chester was safely tucked at home and eating well, the rescue a thing of the past; I still felt distressed being back there again. The shock of finding Chester lingers. His limp, almost lifeless body in my arms. Trying not to lose my cool, while I was shaking, trying to think of what to do next, hoping he would not die. I will never forget it.

The Blue Colony Diner.

The Diner is surrounded on two sides by DENSE brush. The north side is almost impenetrable. The west and south sides are flanked by either a very busy main road or an interstate highway (I-84). This is definitely not a great place to lose a cat.

©2010 Robin A.F. Olson. The east side of the property, facing the woods where I eventually found Chester.

The back of the parking lot is where we thought Chester had escaped to. Over to the far right of the lot, there's an access point to the woods, past some large boulders. That's where I wanted to enter, but as you may recall from my original post about finding Chester, there was a creepy SUV parked there, so I entered the woods to the right of the 4th car from the left.

©2010 Robin A.F. Olson. The woods by the Diner.

Just steps over some large rocks and into a dry creek gully, this is what you'd see. Thick woodland. When I was there last, the sun was very low. The woods had an orange cast and it was much darker. I was pulled in a direction that was almost straight out from the middle of this photo.

©2010 Robin A.F. Olson. Artists' interpretation of finding Chester. The lighting was much different. Everything had a bright orange cast or deep shadow. Chester was well into the shadows.

I was looking left, right, up, down. I walked about 40 or 50 feet. Then, I thought I saw something. I tried to re-create what I saw, above. If you look closely, you can see Chester, just about the same way I did. He was so still, I thought he was just part of the brush-and sadly, he matched it perfectly, too!

©2010 Robin A.F. Olson. Looking towards the Diner from where Chester was found.

Once I realized I'd found my boy, (sorry, he's not mine, but I do feel a certainly attachment to him) had him untangled from his leash and in my arms, I turned to face the Diner parking lot. This is the view. As you can see, the diner is out of sight. I could hear the music faintly from the loudspeakers they have near the front door, but I couldn't see the building until I got closer.

Being back on the scene, I was surprised at how much brush there was. I don't recall running through it. In fact, I remember little of anything after I had Chester. I know I ran as fast as I could towards the parking lot and my waiting car. How I got there...not sure.

Last night I got an email from Ruth, Chester's Mama. She told me that Chester is eating well and surprising them every moment. Chester was adopted as a kitten from a shelter in Westchester County, NY, which is how he got his name. Chester also lives with a big doggie and travels with his family from their home in NY to their summer home in Maine. A nice life for a kitty and fortunately, he will be able to continue to enjoy it.

Late this summer when Chester and his family return to NY, they might stop by so we can finally meet each other and the story will have come full circle. Be assured, should that day arrive, that I will be waiting, heart racing, camera in hand, ready to share the moment with all of you who worried and prayed for this story to have a happy ending.

...and thankfully right now, we have just that.

YOU MUST CALL HENRY CO. AT (770) 288-7401 BEFORE 7AM TOMORROW JUNE 23 or this family will be euthanized. They are OUT OF SPACE at this shelter. Other mamas and kittens are also going to be put down.

If any GA licensed rescue group can provide a foster space for this family or any other mama and kittens at Henry Co., I will make sure to help you with fundraising for these cats. We can find the money, we need someone to go get those cats tomorrow! Please!

--------------DIRECTLY FROM HENRY COUNTY CARE & CONTROL----------

Really really awesome family! Mom ID# 6/7-2237 is young and super sweet, her 3 kits are just gorgeous and over the hump so to speak, they are older toddlers and fat healthy butterballs.

As always with nursing families they are available to Georgia Dept of Ag licensed rescues only. If you choose to seek out of state help please be prepared to use your in state license.

**Please Note; When forwarding, crossposting, or re-posting I ask that you leave this message intact exactly as it was written by me. I do not give permission to post my message, part of my message, or my photographs on Craig's List. Thank you for your help and support, and for respecting my wishes.**
Betsy Merchant~

We are very rescue friendly and are more than happy to work with any rescue group as long as the group has a valid Georgia Department of Agriculture license! Any rescue group, whether in or out of state, that takes pets from Georgia shelters, is required, by Georgia law, to have a rescue license issued by the Georgia Department of Agriculture's Animal Protection Division. Having tax exempt status is not the same as a license. For more information on obtaining a license, please call (404) 656-4914.

Contact:

mystiblu@bellsouth.net

Henry County Animal Care and Control

527 Hampton Street

McDonough, Georgia 30253

(770) 288-7401

http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/GA67.html

Our Hours:

Monday-Friday: 9 am-4:30 pm

Saturday: 9 am-1 pm

Sunday: Closed

County Observed Holidays: Closed

The shelter is located at 527 Hampton Street in McDonough. We are located south of Atlanta off I-75. Take exit 218 and head east on 20/81

toward McDonough. Our address is 527 Hwy 20/81 East.

For all other information regarding ordinances, county codes, and other functions of Henry County Animal Care and Control please visit www.hcacc.org

THERE IS LITTLE TIME. THIS SHELTER EUTHANIZES MOMS & BABIES AT A FAST RATE. IF YOU ARE IN GEORGIA & HAVE A GA RESCUE LICENSE YOU CAN PULL THESE CATS INTO YOUR PROGRAM. IF YOU ARE NOT A GA SHELTER, but ARE WITH A LICENSED SHELTER IN THE USA, CONTACT ME ASAP AND I MAY BE ABLE TO GET SOMEONE TO PULL THE CATS ON YOUR BEHALF. WE CAN ALSO HELP YOU ARRANGE TRANSPORT. HURRY. TIME IS RUNNING OUT.

PLEASE RE-TWEET, FACEBOOK, WHATEVER YOU CAN DO TO SPREAD THE WORD! THANK YOU!

--------------DIRECTLY FROM HENRY COUNTY CARE & CONTROL----------

I just had to name this cat Cuddles and you can see why. I try not to name them, it makes it so much harder on everyone. The cats have such limited time here and we struggle to not make it personal......but this girl is just amazing and everyone has to know.

Cuddles ID# 6/7-2222 adores her kittens! The babies are gorgeous! She has 6 total.

The shelter is at capacity. These cats cannot be held. Their last day alive could be Monday June 13th unless we get a rescue commitment.

Please let me know if anyone is in a position to help.

MORE MAMAS AND BABIES FACE THE SAME DEAD-LINE!!!

Really really awesome family! Mom ID# 6/17-2237 is young and super sweet, her 4 kits are just gorgeous and over the hump so to speak, they are older toddlers and fat healthy butterballs.

----------------------

Really really awesome family! Mom ID# 6/7-2237 is young and super sweet, her 3 kits are just gorgeous and over the hump so to speak, they are older toddlers and fat healthy butterballs.

As always with nursing families they are available to Georgia Dept of Ag licensed rescues only. If you choose to seek out of state help please be prepared to use your in state license.

**Please Note; When forwarding, crossposting, or re-posting I ask that you leave this message intact exactly as it was written by me. I do not give permission to post my message, part of my message, or my photographs on Craig's List. Thank you for your help and support, and for respecting my wishes.**
Betsy Merchant~

We are very rescue friendly and are more than happy to work with any rescue group as long as the group has a valid Georgia Department of Agriculture license! Any rescue group, whether in or out of state, that takes pets from Georgia shelters, is required, by Georgia law, to have a rescue license issued by the Georgia Department of Agriculture's Animal Protection Division. Having tax exempt status is not the same as a license. For more information on obtaining a license, please call (404) 656-4914.

Contact:

mystiblu@bellsouth.net

Henry County Animal Care and Control

527 Hampton Street

McDonough, Georgia 30253

(770) 288-7401

http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/GA67.html

Our Hours:

Monday-Friday: 9 am-4:30 pm

Saturday: 9 am-1 pm

Sunday: Closed

County Observed Holidays: Closed

The shelter is located at 527 Hampton Street in McDonough. We are located south of Atlanta off I-75. Take exit 218 and head east on 20/81

toward McDonough. Our address is 527 Hwy 20/81 East.

For all other information regarding ordinances, county codes, and other functions of Henry County Animal Care and Control please visit www.hcacc.org

I hate June.

I'm sorry. I'm sure some of you were born in June or celebrate their wedding anniversary in June, but to me, June sucks.

June means death: two of my cats and my Father. For some reason, there's a black cloud over me in June. I feel myself hunkering down as Memorial Day approaches, fearful of what is next. Is there really a reason for June being so bad? It's probably just coincidence, but riddle me this, Batman...

...It's barely June. I've been sick with some sort of stomach funk since the 1st. It waxes and wanes. I'm slowly getting better, but still feel run down and just want to sleep. My gut aches and I feel very queasy.

I just found out my dear Uncle died. He died in May, but I didn't find out until over a week later via E-MAIL! I didn't even get a chance to go to his funeral.

This weekend the TV in the living room died. It makes this sad siren-y noise if you try to power it up. The screen is cold and black. I don't smoke. I rarely drink. I watch too much TV. I have a TV in my bedroom. It's not the end of the world, but I HAVE NO TV IN MY LIVING ROOM! WHAT WILL I DO AT NIGHT WHEN WE HAVE DINNER? WE WATCH TV AND EAT. YES, I KNOW IT'S WRONG, BUT I'M HUMAN. I HAVE MY FAULTS. I should read or write more or be a better citizen, but I LOVE MY CRAPPY TV SHOWS! I also don't want to shell out a lot of money to get a NEW TV because we will have to get an HD TV and that will mean a big HEADACHE. Many of the components will have to be upgraded to HD OR we can just sit in the bedroom forever.

To break the curse of June, I decided to F-it, go further into debt and buy a new TV. We went to Best Buy yesterday and got a BIG flat screen tv (we currently have a dead 36" big behemoth non-HD TV). I'm already imagining the cats urinating on it and already planning how I will keep them from doing that (SSScats-which I highly recommend! and YELLING-which only feels good to me, and perhaps, is not the best idea for the cat).

Next, we will have to build a cheapy stand for the TV, which no doubt will cause at least one scowl per person and Sam will get mad at me because I tell him how to do it and he can fix it without me "helping" (except that it will be done the "wrong way"). Then we will have to de-wire the jungle of cables from the TV, VCR, TIVO, Cable Box, Pre-Amp, Amp, Cassette deck (yes we STILL have one, but it's going "away"), CD-Player (why bother we have iPods), TURNTABLE (gasp!) and Sub-Woofer.

Whatever happened to buying a tv, sitting it on a plastic milk crate, plugging it in, adjusting the antenna and watching it? Okay, the picture sucked.

And NO, we did not buy a 3D TV. Are you crazy? I just know that one day there is going to be a study out that says those TVs mess up your vision, not to mention it makes me nauseous to see too much 3D. Life is too 3D for me.

On the way home, a severe thunderstorm hit. I had to go get the car, so I ran in the pouring rain, got the car, picked Sam up. I was soaked. Two seconds later, the clouds parted and the sky was blue! Great.

I had to back road it home. Something happened on Route 34 and the traffic was at a standstill.

Our power went OUT. So we tried to look at the bright side. We LEFT home and went to the movies. We saw “Get Him to the Greek,” which was funny and tender (okay maybe not so tender, but funny). By the time we got home, CL&P had showed up and fixed the problem! Things were looking up!

So I powered up my computer. I have a 2TB (terabyte, which is oodles bigger than gigabyte) backup system. It contains 4 hard drives. Guess what wasn't working?

I stayed up until 3AM trying to fix the problem to no avail. All my precious kitten photos, all my client files, all gone. I was lucky that I have all the original files and only lost the backup, but the BACKUP is what is not supposed to FAIL! But it's JUNE, so remember that.

I got on the phone with tech support at Drobo. Jeremy helped me. He was VERY helpful and terrific, even when I said “shit” after he told me there was no saving the data and we'd have to reformat all four drives. In the end, one of the four drives was starting to fail and two of the newer drives were installed BEFORE I did a "firmware" (whatever that is) update, which caused a very slow corruption of how the files were written. Now that the drives are reformatted, everything should work well, other than the one drive that I'm doing to pitch into the back yard.

Now I need to spend MORE money to get a new drive. Fun.

It is June 7th. Twenty three more days to go. Maybe it's just the luck of the draw. Some bad stuff that will work itself out? No worries. Right?

Not so sure about that.

Oh yeah. I'm supposed to write about CATS!

The cats, knock wood, are doing well and I have very happy news about Candy which I will share tomorrow---after I share my news that tomorrow morning I'll be interviewing Dr. Katrina Warren of Animal Planet's Housecat Housecall!

It should be a fun interview, so make sure you check back in tomorrow for an update! Hopefully it will go well, but remember, it's June.

I learned at an early age that I would never be a sports heroine when instead of gracefully grabbing a fly ball in my mitt, I caught it with my FACE. The ball hit me on my upper lip, chipping my top two and bottom front two teeth. I was 9. I was wearing the new, matching bright orange polyester short set my Mother had just got me from K-Mart. I was terrified I'd get blood on my clothes and get yelled at, so while I was screaming and squirting blood, I held my head forward to drip onto the ground, as I walked the three (hundred, it seemed) blocks back to my family's house.

I was lucky that just about at that time, my Dentist had learned about a new procedure where you could use some sort of concrete (or whatever) and bond it onto the chipped teeth. He did the repair, while I was trying not to pass out from having all the nerves exposed in my teeth.

The repair lasted all these MANY years, but it was discolored and the bonded material was chipping away over time. It didn't look great and my front teeth, well, they aren't so aesthetically pleasing, anyway, so...my Dentist, Dr. David, who is awesome, who I share the same birthday with, same day and YEAR, has been after me to get veneers.

What a complete waste of money. Pure vanity! Just re-bond the teeth and be done. But the re-bonding won't ever match and will discolor. The material will fail and I will still have teeth that flare out at the bottom, like an outdated skirt from Goodwill.

We're about to lose our Health Insurance and I had some money left to use in the dental plan. I figured I was going to get about 25% off if I did the veneers, so in case I ever become famous, I figured, why not?

Let's just say, that although Dr. David is a fine Dentist and I really like him a lot, I can't understand how celebrities get a full set of these things. Holy crap! It's not that painful during, well not painful at all, but afterwards, yikes, not fun, but the WORST is when the temporaries come off and you get to hear your temporaries being CRACKED, following by pieces of the material falling down your shirt. I know I'm going to have nightmares about this.

After the chipping, cracking, buzz sawing, I was left with a fat lip, numb inside my nose and gums and with a much nicer smile. I will post before and after photos, maybe.

Bob Dole, my cat, also went to the dentist, well, he saw Dr. Larry. Since Bob has FIV+, he's prone to having gum/teeth problems. Bob's down to about 6 teeth and we're doing all we can to KEEP what he has left. Dr. Larry told me that Bob had a nasty looking molar and that it needed work now to prevent it from having to come out later. We ran the usual blood panel and everything looked normal, except for Bob's ALT. Bob has never had a normal ALT, but word was it was not as high as it had been in the past. I give kudos to his raw diet and no-more-kibble nutrition for making a difference.

That said, all the good blood work in the world wasn't going to assure me that the sedation wouldn't kill Bob or mess him up badly. I hate having Bob sedated and I'm sure I'm a pain in the ass about asking to have someone call me the second he's awake and the procedure is done. Bob's old. I don't know how old, but maybe 14 or so?

The other thing Bob needed was a haircut. I do brush him, but not often enough. He gets nasty mats and with the warm weather upon us, I thought that for once I'd get him a “lion cut” which would remove all the mats and give him a fresh look for the summer. I hoped he wouldn't be embarrassed.

Bob took it like a champ. Bob is unflappable unless he's hungry-then there's a LOT of flapping. Sam and I picked him up at 6:30pm. We got to see him in his cage. The cage card had “FIV+” highlighted in marker, under his name. It made me sad. Bob had to be separated from the other animals. I never think about him being contagious to anyone. In fact, I am going to have his combo test re-run. I dunno...are there false positives?

Bob looked a bit sad. He didn't have any teeth extracted, which was great, so I knew he would be too uncomfortable. I called to him and opened the cage door. He looked so odd! It was if there was Bob's head, attached to another body all together. I could still see the mackerel stripes where his fur was trimmed away. He feels very nice and smooth and has very cute fur “boots” on this legs. Super Deb, knew I'd be posting photos of her work, so she made sure to do an extra nice job. I never thought writing a Blog would bring a perk like that! Yes, Super-Deb, you will still be called “Super.” You did a good job. I think Bob appreciates, too, that you “expressed” his anal glands (if you want to read more about why cats need their anal glands cleaned out, see my post here). I'm sorry I didn't notice he was having a problem back there! I was also surprised that Bob has STUD tail! What's up with that? I guess once a stud, always a stud.

Bob's home now and crabby. He wants to eat. I'm not supposed to feed him, so I fed him a little bit. He wants more and is hissing at all the other cats and checking out their empty plates for a scrap to eat. I want to eat, but my gums are killing me and the nerves in my front teeth are throbbing. I'm crabby, too. Sam had a crown replaced yesterday and a filling done a few days ago, but somehow he remains crabby-free. It's been “2:30” for too long. Here's hoping for a time change coming soon.(crossing paws).

I didn't have much time to spend with Candy today. I had to dash off early; okay it was 11 AM, to meet my friend, Marcia so we could see Sex & the City 2. I felt bad about leaving Candy, but I didn't expect any changes from her today since last night she wasn't too friendly and was back to her uber-hissy routine.

I'd been looking forward to get a hit of chick-flick-bliss. The last movie (I tried) to watch was Inglorious Basterds, which I would guess is about as far from chick-flick as you can get.

I'm sad to say that after watching S&TC2, I'm still longing for that chick-flick-high. I'm the perfect demographic for this movie. I should have loved it! Instead, acting was stiff and the costuming bordered on ridiculous, no, it WAS ridiculous! Yes, fashion dares to push us in new directions, make a statement, but does a bright red dress with metal spikes on the shoulders say "dare" or "don't you dare make this actress look like a punk rock Michael Jackson (sans glove)!"?

I wear black stretchy pants. I no nothing about fashion, but I do know about common sense and I'm sorry, but the Emperor is NAKED. In fact, naked might have been better.

There were NO cats of any kind in this movie and just one token pocket Yorkie. How can the characters have any soul without a pet? Sure, they have perfectly clean apartments and their garments are not covered in cat hair, but really. Where is the plot without some fluffy cat scratching up Carrie's perfect sofa or peeing inside her closet door!

Lastly, I'm sorry but Kim Catrell, I will never be thin or in great shape, the way you are (so kudos to you), but honey, you are too old for some of the lines you yelled out at any guy you thought you could hump. You don't even wait to find out if the guy is available before you say you are “open to anything and available all day and night.” When you're 30 and you say that, sure it's tacky, but you can get away with it. When you're a bit (a lot)...OLDER, it comes off as desperate and made my skin crawl. Wouldn't it have been more interesting to find out what “Samantha” was like as a woman who decided that 30 years of screwing around was tiring and maybe it was time to grow up? It doesn't mean you give up your sexuality, but it shouldn't be so important to flaunt it all the time. Maybe she was afraid of losing her "power" over men? That said, what does that say about women? There's a long conversation for all of us-how we use our sexuality as power over men, but this is not the place to delve into that subject.

Yes, this is a blog about cats, but it's my Blog so I can stray (pardon the rescue pun) if I need to! So one more thing-Carrie. What are you thinking? Another character that needs to grow up. The truth is, that you get married and the romance fades away. Sure it comes back from time to time, but it's never going to be like it was during all those years of you courting Mr. Big and vice versa. There's nothing wrong with watching tv or (gasp!) learning to cook a meal once in awhile. Does going out to galas and spending a sick amount of money on yourself really make the world a better place? You're living with Mr. Big! What is your problem? You're loaded! What worries do you have? My God...

Perhaps if the economy was in better shape or I was 15 years younger, I might fall for this stuff, but get real. People are struggling and suffering. Watching four well-to-do women worry about themselves and no one else, is irritating.

I got home from the movie and spent some time with Candy. She knows nothing about the foolishness of humans, only that they scare her. I sat with her, as I do, with my legs crammed in front of the open door of the dog crate. I sit as long as I can stand it, while my legs fall asleep. I jiggle the new toys I got her and gave her some treats which she ignored. She didn't seem to hiss as much and it took less time for her to come towards me.

I felt impatient about Candy's progress, so I decided to just give her a bigger push. After I brushed her and snuck in a few pets, I gave her chicken baby food from a spoon. She was sitting right next to me. My legs were buzzing. I wanted to move them, but I didn't dare. I jabbed my finger into the can of baby food and offered it to her. Instead of hissing, she licked it off!

Hee, hee, hee, right off my finger!

I grabbed my camera. I knew I only had one shot before she ran off, so I made it work. I also didn't want to take my eyes off her in case she was going to bite me. I got the shot, then I moved my hand a bit and she walked into my lap, looking for more chicken. I petted her and fed her. She PURRED. She let me pet her for a short time, then jumped down-completely blasè about the whole thing!

Just when I figured things were going at a slower pace, she surprises me again. So far I have not had her try to bite or claw me. This is great news! Of course, she had to turn and hiss a little bit when she was done getting a snack, but I ignored her and moved on. Kinda like how I felt about the characters in S&TC2. They need to move on (and please GOD, get some less dopey looking clothing).

18 months.

That's how long I've been trying to find a cure for Gracie's dermatitis. I am so stressed out from all the tests, treatments, baths, specialists NOT curing her problem! I know it stresses HER out and that stresses me out, too

I'd planned on writing a post about taking Gracie to visit a homeopathic Vet. About how you need to have a different mindset about expectations of results. That it will take time.

If you factor in that Gracie had LOTS of different meds for a year, then it will take a very long time for them to work out of her system. She's only had homeopathic treatments since January. She's on a very restricted raw diet. I have to be PATIENT.

Two weeks ago, I thought that FINALLY Gracie was starting to improve. She had chewed the fur off her belly, but it was starting to grow back. Instead of an armor of scabs, the size and spacing of the scabs was much improved.

Then I tweaked her diet and she got a new treatment. I don't know which did it, but something really effected her badly. I noticed her skin got worse, so I put her back on her old diet. Today, she went to her "western" vet, Dr Larry, because I thought she had an injury to her eye.

Her eye was fine, but when we flipped her over to see how her belly was, this was what we saw.

Gracie did this to herself. It's from over-grooming. At the left is her belly and the injury goes inside her left rear leg.

It was very difficult NOT to cry when I saw this. I was in such a state of shock, I didn't know what to say. I was ashamed that I missed this horrific and painful injury and all I wanted to do was give her a big fat shot of steroids, which I KNOW would make her feel better, but which, in the long run will kill her.

What makes matters worse was that I chose not to do anything for her. Her homeopathic Vet would not agree to give Gracie ANYTHING right now-espeically steroids or antibiotics, which would be the next steps. We were able to reach Dr. Hermans, who quickly re-arranged her schedule so that she could see Gracie in a few days and she also told me some things I could do for her to keep Gracie comfortable until her appointment.

Dr. Larry, bless him, with the most open mind of any doctor in the universe, suddenly told me that he felt that I should get Gracie in to get acupuncture done because he'd seen amazing results. Perhaps it would help to calm her down and break her OCD-ish cycle of over grooming?

Instead of pushing me to use "his method" of treatment, he respected Dr Hermans wishes (and mine) and he gave me good suggestions. Gracie is going to get acupuncture in early June, or sooner if they can fit me in.

Dr. Larry says a home for Gracie by herself is the ultimate answer, but I reminded him that she was FINE for years in this same house, with the crazy foster cats. I hope that if she was all right once, she can return to good health again one day. Right now I want to crawl into a hole and hide. I feel terrible for my baby girl. Just terrible. I need a magic wand so I can fix her up and help her be happy again. I can't be a bad cat-mama. I just can't.

Unfortunately, it looks like in this regard, I already am. If I could find Gracie a great home (along with her daughter, Petunia), I would do it. But who would want a cat with a known medical condition? I can't promise it would go away. This is so frustrating and exhausting.

Please, please, please. Let me find the cure for my cat! I'm running out of options.

...RINGWORM!!!!

I HAZ IT.

Note: this is a SMALL, dime-sized lesion on my side. Sorry the photo is crappy, but do you REALLY want a nice, clear image? No. I doubt it! I started treating it two days ago. Hopefully it won't SPREAD.

Ah...ringworm. You suck.