Last night I took Uriah for his walk a little later than usual. I was trying to avoid the mosquitoes by heading outside when it was nearly dark. That didn’t work. They were busy buzzing, and bugging me just as they did and hour earlier. 

Wednesday is garbage day. I have notes posted to remind me of the fact. I only had a couple of bags I debated dragging them down the driveway, but last week when I attempted that, Uriah though we were playing and grabbed one of the bags, breaking it, and spreading the trash all over the driveway…

This week, I tossed the two bags on the hood of the car and slowly pulled out of the garage.

 I rolled down the car widow as slowly passed that large Blue Spruce when I felt a pinch on the side of my face. My immediate thought was, “Mosquitoes!” I tried to brush it off out the window, except it wouldn’t move. The small inset struck itself to my skin. Without even thinking, I peeled it off with my nails. I was still slowly moving towards the road. (I have a four hundred foot driveway.)

I glanced at what I pulled off the side of my face and stared at it. It was upside down and wiggling its little legs furiously. It was cute in a way. Sort of! The shiny back body sparkled in the sunlight. I was not amused, when my eyes adjusted and I recognized it as a tick. Still irritated when I pulled back into the garage, I told my husband all about being ticked when I rolled down the car window. He couldn’t stop laughing,..at me!  He said, between laughter, that he never met anyone who attracted so many ticks the way I do. 

He called me a tick magnet! 

I would rather be a money magnet!  

*I have been out of it for the past couple of weeks. I realized I had written the above post on Thursday, July 1^st and never posted it to my Blog.  Way too many things have been creeping up around here and I’m not including the mosquitoes, or the odd looking flying bugs. I even made a video that I never posted…  Ooops! Had to find it! Here it is! It is a little long- four minutes.  You are walking with me among the milkweeds near the front pond, and you won’t be bothered by the bugs.

The weather has been interesting. High heat and humidity and storms that attempt to blow the house down.

Today, July 10 is our eighth wedding anniversary.  I know I’m on the internet updating. Michael is still sleeping so it’s okay:-)

My husband’s health took a turn for the worse. I dragged him kicking and screaming to a new neurologist. He now has tests all this month. He can’t drive until we know what’s up. He is not happy about that..

I have had thyroid problems my entire life, I no longer have a thyroid and it still causes issues. Heavy Sigh! 

Just before my husband’s doctor’s appointment, I decided to try for examiner.com and they accepted me.  I will write articles on, Hampshire’s plant life.  If you stop over there I would appreciate any comments.  Or, just send me an email and tell me what I am missing.  Or, just read.  I need to work on the set up of the articles.

If anyone wants to try to write for the examiner and needs some advice on how to get noticed- ask me. I will be very happy to help.  

 If you give them my examiner ID number  56021  I get a referral fee.

I will keep posting here, this Blog is for me and all of you who like to take a walk without the bug bites:-)

I hope everyone is doing well.   Be happy and safe!

Last Tuesday morning I was talking on the phone and surfing the internet, while checking hundreds of emails.  When I decided to pull up the Tails web site, which is the Pet rescue place where we adopted Sanosuke in February of this year.

 I had sent Tails a copy and link to my Blog story about Sanosuke,  the one where I wrote about his adoption.  Soon after that Blog posting, Sano’s litter mates were adopted and their pictures disappeared off the adoption site.  So when I pulled up their site I was very surprised to see a kitten that looked like one of Sano’s sisters. Her name was Hershey.

I was curious about her history.  Why was she still there? Was she brought back?  Maybe I was wrong!  Cats look very similar, right?

I pulled out Sanosuke’s file and compared the litter numbers; they matched except for the last two digits. Which made sense each kitten would have their own number.

Biting my nails I clicked off the site and went about to reading emails.

Then my curiosity got to me and I called Tails and asked if any of Sanosuke’s litter mates where still there. I gave my phone number to the woman and was told I would get a call back.

Within thirty minutes Tails called back. I was told; one of Sano’s sisters had never been adopted. When the other kittens were adopted they moved her out of the cage into the cat room.  It wasn’t a good place for her. She was placed in a room that was being closed off due to a fungal infection.

Ooops!

I was told she was never ill. She never had an infection! Yet, she had to go through the incubation period of nearly two months while she got dipped; physically held down under water with only her eyes and mouth showing. The process can make a cat crazy and this kitten was in a room with a lot of other cats that needed help. They only had two wonderful people to take care of them physically and mentally. Hershey wasn’t given the attention she needed.  So her mental health was set to the side while they dealt with other cats, seemly, more stressed than her.  

I felt claustrophobic just hearing about it.

Now if you had read my original story on Sanosuke, you would know that he and his litter mates had very little human contact, besides getting medical care and being fed.  We were warned he was nearly feral.

Now, here I was hearing that she may never be just right, ‘and’ she will need a lot of one-on-one care. ‘And’ she wasn’t very social. ‘And’ she would freak when someone came near her. I thanked the woman for calling me back and hung up.

Then I hunted down Michael and told him the story.

Michael asked what I was going to do. One more kitten would be an expense. But then again cats are very clean and social animals. But this one may be broken.  Then he walked away from me…

It took me ten minutes of thinking.

The cats I had for years were from a mama kitty. She was my daughter’s first animal rescue.  My daughter was ten years old at that time.  I had been very surprised when that little cat gave birth, in the closet, within a month of coming into the house.  Her kittens never left my life. The last one, Sandy died at eighteen while I  held her.   

I grabbed my keys and headed for the car. Michael laughed and called out the door. “Don’t come back without her!”

When I entered Tails, the receptionist looked up and smiled and asked me if, I was there to adopt Hershey?

Laughing I asked, how she knew? She told me Michael had already called and informed them I was coming for her.

I filled out some paperwork while she located someone to help me.

A wonderfully patient volunteer took me in a room to talk. “When you saw, Hershey how did you get along with her? Was she friendly?”

I had to be honest; I haven’t seen her since we adopted Sanosuke and I told her so. I did ask, if Hershey was the kitten that had been staring at me though the glass wall?  She had spotted me when I walked in and we had ‘a moment’ through the glass. I cooed. And she stared.

I was told that was her.

Then, I explained that I was taking, Hershey home to her brother.

The woman looked at me quietly and said. “He may not remember her.”

“He will!” I said with a smile. “I have fed and observed feral cats for years. They know a family member when they are reunited.”

I don’t think she believed me…

She was trying to stop me from being disappointed.

When I said, “They just need to be shown to each other gently and with love.”

The interview was over and I finished signing the papers.

Hershey was placed in a room for me to observe her, and allowing me time to change my mind. I was warned not to enter the room.  I was told; she would freak due to her history and lack of human contact, and may hurt me or herself.  I needed to wait before I entered the room. She had just clawed the technician who brought her to me 

I waited a few minutes for the kitten to move away from the door. Then I entered the room.

I sat on the chair and waited.

She hid behind a chair and stared.

She had a look in her eyes similar to the animals on the commercials that have been abused.  So sad and scared!  I started talking telling her about her brother. She wasn’t listening to me at all.

Cats need to form a bond with humans in order to see them. Otherwise they have eyes only for other cats. Here she was, stuck in a room with a human.  And the only other people she knew would grab her and give her medicine and didn’t have time to play.

Carefully I moved the chair she was hiding behind and picked her up. She was stiff and extremely frighten. I started to rock her like a baby, and then she leaned against me without relaxing.

During this time I could hear the sound of the puppies and dogs from the doggie area. I wanted to go see them, but not today.

So many animals calling out for someone to love!

When I brought her home, Michael grabbed the carrier from the care and carefully set it down in the living room.

Tomoe hissed and hid.

                                  Kenshin glared and hid.

                                                                         PJ walked up and said, hello.  When she hissed at him, PJ looked like his feelings were hurt.

                                                                              Then

                                                                                    Sanosuke, slowly

                                                                                                            walked up

                                                                                                                          to the carrier.

They touched noses, and made happy sounds. She reached through the bars and gentle touched Sano’s head. He rubbed against the cage as she cried loudly from inside. Sanosuke sat and watched, as we set her up in a cage in the living room. He never stopped taking to her!  

They remembered each other and both are very happy. We changed her name to Kaoru…

Helping an animal doesn’t mean you have to adopt. You could volunteer, or donate money, or cat and dog crates, or baby blankets or new toys.   

If everyone can save just one animal, just one..   Just think how wonderful that would be!

I looked up into the beautiful night sky. Smiled at the full moon and the sprinkling of stars- then I remembered my camera. I ran in the house, and ran back outside.

I clicked and adjusted the specs. The pictures looked like a big white fuzzy spot on black.

I turned off the camera and called to Uriah. I was standing at the door, when behind me the howling started. A stray sound that echoed across the snow covered fields. The coyotes were singing to the moon.

I hit the video button and crossed my fingers this works. Uriah complained a little. I thought I heard a train. Suddenly, one of the coyotes howled very close by, somewhere in the trees to the east of us.  The fur on Uriah’s neck stood up and he made a movement towards the sound.

A few seconds later everything was very still.

It was very dark outside! This video is very hard to see! Please, turn your sound up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPgU4j3RDrI