cats, cats, and more cats

on sunday, i attended the feral cat coalition's biannual "super clinic". the basic idea is to get as many feral cats as possible spayed or neutered in a single day. this time we got 218. there were 12 vets doing the surgeries, and a hundred or so volunteers performing various other functions. i groomed and cleaned ears of the still-unconscious kitties who had just been fixed, and in the process received a nasty sunburn on my neck and shoulders.
a co-worker of mine asked me to find her a new friend, and thus i was also on a mission to find a calico kitten old enough to have been fixed, but young enough to tame... and voila, patches has been discovered. she is tiny and terrified, but in the best kind of home i can think of for a scared baby - with three quiet people who LOVE CATS (man, is she going to be spoiled!!!). it was great to be able to go and pick out a kitten from the dozen or so at the clinic, and then not have another cat at my house. i should set up a business "shopping" for pets - people could say they want a young adult maine coon in orange, and i search all the shelters, etc. until i find one. they get what they want, i have fun, and no breeders involved.
speaking of business... i have sold some herbal tea. as in, i got cash for it instead of it being a present. this is very cool.
... but back to the clinic - i learned that, although i still do want to be a crazy cat lady, i should probably not associate much with other crazy cat ladies, because they are all, well, crazy. there were only about three people there i would consider sane, and i'm not one of them. most of the crazy cat ladies i spoke to are incredibly paranoid - the one who had brought the kitten didn't want to let me take her because she was afraid to give a kitten to a young person. i had to promise that i would trust my co-worker to take care of my own cats, should something horrible happen to me - and even then she repeatedly asked if i was sure, and would i go inspect the premesis before i left the kitten there, and would i make sure she got to the vet to get all her shots, and that if the thing doesn't work out i should bring the kitten right back to her... and on and on. i had been under the impression that she wanted to find a home for the kitten, but maybe i was wrong...
and then, after she finally agreed to let me take the kitten, she hovered around the carrier, checking on patches every couple of minutes. she swore that another crazy cat lady (who she thought was crazy - imagine that!) was going to grab the kitten and run off...
and that crazy cat lady did end up leaving with a different kitten, but asked me not to tell anyone that she had taken it, but just to say that "somebody did"...
and then...
another lady couldn't seem to understand that the cats actually do need to come out of the anasthesia before you can take them away from the clinic (and the vets). first she "knew they'd be fine", then she had "stuff to do". the stuff became errands, the errands became picking somebody up at the airport, which became that she had to go now so she could let the cats go so she would get to work on time the next morning?!? i must admit that the logic on that one eluded me - especially since cats aren't supposed to be released the same day, since they are still groggy and vulnerable to predators, etc. i don't know. this was the same lady who opened a carrier to hug a kitten (after being asked not to, as we were outdoors, and nobody wanted any cats to escape) and then yelled at another crazy cat lady for opening "her" trap to try to wake up her cat so she could go home...
and i could go on.
on another note, i made goodies for the hurricane-katrina-rescue funds bake sale that was held at the same location. for some reason, i was incredibly motivated the day before, and i made both pecan fudge and garden veggie quiche. i had never made quiche before, but it did all sell, so i'm assuming it turned out alright. and shaggy seemed to enjoy the pieces that didn't make it to the sale (i damaged some while trying to get them out of the pie pan).
and if anyone is available to go rescue animals in louisiana, i know people who will fly you out there, give you initial training and support, etc. they have enough funds, just not enough people. if i didn't have to work, i would be so trudging through muck after critters right now.
and the weather is insane. we had the loudest, most continuous thunder i have ever experienced last night. hobbes woke me up to listen to it. of course, he wasn't scared, he just thought that i might need some cuddling to make me feel better through all the flashing and loud noises...
this morning, the lighning was still visible a ways north of us - quite a show!! of course, the lightning and thunder brought rain with them, which led to the inevitable leaky roof at work. we sprung a new leak this time, and it happened to be right above an unassembled furniture item that had been removed from its box and then returned without hardware. so now we can claim water damage as a reason for the loss, and maybe get reimbursed for part of the thing...
and i was "able" (meaning "required") to attend anti-harrassment training yesterday after work (can anyone say overtime?). apparantly, the state of california passed a new law, so all managers have to go through this training. i thought i wasn't too much of a harrassment risk, but i learned that we hug too much in my store, and i'm supposed to make it stop. i'm saddened that people are such idiots. i realize that not everybody is a hugger, and i respect that, but i think it's great that people are comfortable enough with their co-workers in my store that they can hug each other. i promise, i'm not trying to get it on with any of my employees, and i'm pretty sure that none of them are trying to get it on with each other...
i'm also not allowed to use the word "favor", as in, "can you do me a favor?" i may say "please do blah blah blah", or "would you blah blah blah". no favors. that probably means that i'm not supposed to refer to store items as "presents", as in, when i have something that i want someone to put away, i say "i got you a present!", hand them the item, and they usually put it away. maybe i should become a robot. of course, that would probably offend someone. i think political correctness is a tad overrated.
and on the moving front - i tried to schedule our phone/utilities/etc. to be transferred to our new apartment, but the people who still live there haven't notified anyone of their intent to move out, so i couldn't schedule anything except the washer and dryer being moved by their parent company, who apparantly doesn't keep track of who lives there right now. we are making progress on the packing. several boxes and several kitty litter buckets are ready to go. and i am happy to report that, as part of our "downsizing" efforts, two trash bags full of stuff have been thrown away! and we have formally decided that goodwill will probably not accept either of our card tables, as both are in horrible condition, so at least one of them will go in the trash. the other might make it into a new closet, depending on how much other stuff we can fit in the same closet... our computer desk is also not going to make the cut, as it broke the other day when shaggy leaned against it. poor desk from biglots...
and the fun continues