Lucky us...not so lucky for NYC

Our part of the storm passed us by with just a short period of high winds. It is now calm and rainy. Poor NYC/NJ though. What a mess.

Stay safe. Bracing for the wind....

(photo courtesy of Andy's Friends Cat Rescue, from Facebook).

Sandy has blown into Tioga County. The wind is high but not raging. They tell us that the worst will come between 9pm (soon!) and 1 am, so I'm trying to print off as much as I can for my job, before I get nailed by the pretty-much-inevitable power outage.

The images coming from Manhattan are frightening. The subways are flooded. A facade has collapsed in Chelsea, leaving apartments wide open to the weather and the street. A crane dangles from a skyscraper. Frightening. And this was all before landfall. Sandy is now on shore.

Here I've taken some steps for safety. The bathtub and every available vessel is full of water. The big barn door is propped on both sides, hopefully to keep it from being blown off. The food in the small freezer has been moved to help pack the chest freezer and hopefully keep it cold if the power goes out. My neighbors have offered their freezer (run by generator) if the power stays out too long. Old food has been tossed. I hauled 30 gallons of kerosene from the VanEtten gas station for my fuel tank. The VanEtten station is out of gas. Spencer still had some when I checked in with them.

I've put food out in the barn and opened the chicken coop (it has no chickens, just hay) in case any lost or displaced critters need a place to go. I picked up everything I could from the barn floor in case the stream jumps the bank and comes flowing down the road again.

Depending on how the streams look, I'll bring the big mower up to the house tomorrow. They say we won't get as much rain as we did during Irene---but far more wind. I bought extra cat food and litter, and have my travel water bowls out. The cat seem oblivious, luckily, although I'm sure they will be getting nervous in the cat facility once the wind really begins to roar.

My only real fear is the big tree by the house. If it should ever go down, no matter where it goes, it will likely wipe something out. The house, the barn, or my car. So once the wind escalates, I'm moving into the furthest section of the house, just in case. I've never experienced 70mph winds before, and I don't know if the tree has, either.

I think, given the continued storms we have been having, it's time for me to take that tree down.

Back to work email. I'm trying to clear out as much as I can, because if I lose power (and I'm sure that's inevitable at some point) my ability to work on the computer will last only a half hour before the battery backup runs out on the router upstairs.

Stay safe, everyone!

"Fujiwhara"...

...sounds like a good name for a kitten.

Tiger Tom sports grim businesswear

Note the skull and crossbones on his tie. There are similar options for humans here. We're glad to see Tiger Tom looking so dapper at home!

'Tis the season to dress cats up

Mine would give me the stink eye, but if your cat doesn't mind being dressed up for Halloween, feel free to send a photo along to me at info at americancat dot net and we'll get her or him posted!

Here's Henry as Superman:

One more!

Are you on Facebook? Can we be friends?

I am here on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/susancgreene If I can't verify you online I may not friend you so don't be offended. ;) Please mention if you put in a friend request, that you read the blog. Thanks! Susan

Greene Colony checks in with a beautiful video

I received a query from a third party about a person who needs help in Greene, NY. Since I like to check in anyway with people I've met in the past, I sent an email off to the guardians of a colony near Greene, whose story has been on the blog in the past here and here.

They sent back helpful information and this absolutely lovely video about their own feral cat experience, here

They obtained affordable spay/neuter via All Animals Matter .I note this organization has a bottle/can drive shed at my mother's veterinarian's office in Norwich, so I hope all my Norwich family and peeps will take their bottles there and help this effort.

Pheona's new home bailed out....

It's always too good to be true. The people who said before this small family was trapped, that they would take the mother, have now decided not to. I'm sure they have a good reason, and it's better for them to not take her, than return her later, IMO. So perfect Pheona needs a home.

She is petite, sweet, has extra toes, likes other cats, and is incredibly playful. She raised her family under a building in Waverly, so you know she's smart and giving. Please spread the word to anyone who is looking for a second cat. I set her down in the middle of all the facility cats and she didn't even have a hiss to share.

She is the perfect cat. And I don't say that about too many cats.

Is Bullet back?

I don't believe I posted about Bullet. He arrived right before travel got heavy for work. One day there was a tuxedo cat staring at me from under my compost tumbler. He was so curious I was sure he would be friendly when I caught him, but after I captured him in my barn, it became clear he was feral.

I had him neutered and figured I'd clean the dormant chicken coup, which has a chicken wire roof, fill it with straw bales, chairs, beds, a big litter pan, and lots of hiding places, and let him get used to the place while I was gone. Then after a few weeks, I would open the door and have him as a barn cat. I bought new large waterers and feeders so Donna and Tim could check on him without having to replenish food.

Well, it was a wash, because even though I'd checked the coop from top to bottom, he got out within half a day and was gone. He climbed right up the wood walls and pushed through a corner of the wire ceiling.

Donna put out food for him while I was gone, but no one touched it. I kept putting food out, but it became clear that it was raccoons who were getting fed. After about three weeks I stopped putting out food, but watched for tracks.

He was neutered, ear tipped, and microchipped, so I hoped that if someone else trapped him and he ended up at the shelter, they would call me. A few of my neighbors have indoor-outdoor cats and put food out, so I hoped he'd found another yard to hang out in.

Yesterday and today I saw a black and white cat. At first I thought "Dumped cat!" but then I remembered Bullet. Perhaps he's come back?

I dug out his photo (above) and have memorized his markings, so if I see the new cats again, and can get an idea whether it could be the same cat. It would be nice if it were, as I've been feeling badly about him. I've put out bowls of food, and I'll set traps again to see what I catch.

Oskar the blind cat...

Opens doors here

"Buffy" gets a home

Pheona and her kittens were rescued in Waverly. The people who noticed the petite dilute calico and her small family fed them, and with the help of Debra, a local animal rescuer, they were captured and brought here to The Owl House. Pheona is now spayed and will be going to live with the people who rescued her.

Her kittens are also altered, and are looking for homes of their own. This past weekend, the kitten who is now named "Buffy" found hers, and has already cuddled in with her new sister/aunt

Here's a shot, taken by Christy, of the boarding room in my house where the kittens are living while they meet their new guardians:

Three more kittens to go! Two of Buffy's brother, and little Gracie.

Arthur

I don't even want to look up to see how long Arthur has been here. Years. He was abandoned here one winter.

He is such a beautiful cat. Everyone loves him. He loves everyone. Well, except other cats. Arthur needs to be an only cat. And yet, there are many people who want to have only one cat. So where is his home?

Arthur is very large, and not in a tubby way. He is beautiful, sleek, affectionate. He has simple eating needs, because he has a sensitive stomach, so he should eat all-meat dry cat food, like Evolve. He can free-feed, because he does not over-eat.

He is playful, and loves the laser toy. I'm sure he'll be in bed with you. He is affectionate without being annoying. Sweet without being cloying.

If you are in central NYS or northern PA, won't you share Arthur's post?

He would really love to have a home.

Arthur can be found on Petfinder, here (click) along with contact information.

Back in the cage you go, Arthur. One more time.

(Photography - Christy Stout. Thank you, Christy, for bringing the blog to life).

It's National Feral Cat Day

Wild Cats from Rachel Horesovsky on Vimeo.

Foothills Animal Shelter, Golden CO

Wouldn't it be nice to have cat facilities like this? This is The Foothills Animal Shelter in Golden, CO. They were only a short and beautiful 25 minutes drive from Black Hawk, so I drove over after the Colorado Animal Welfare Conference concluded.

The photo above is of their Kong iPet room. You can go to the Foothills Animal Shelter page here to play with the cats with toys you can move via your keyboard. I think the current cats have gotten a bit habituated to the internet toys because they are ignoring me this morning, but they surely loved to play while I was there in person!

Back from Colorado

I was in Colorado for the Colorado Animal Welfare Conference Conference. The previous times I've been sent to Colorado, I've been parked in Denver, where I had access to excellent food, but not much scenery. This time I was out in Black Hawk. What a beautiful drive between Black Hawk and Golden, CO.