Fed up with looking like hell

Getting another cat dumped on me sort of made me snap. I need to find homes for these nice family cats, and in order to do so, I need to have space for nice families to come see them. The rooms in the upstairs of the house worked to some extent, but if the person can't climb stairs, they are out of luck in both the house and the cat facility. And while the downstairs of the barn is painted, it still looks like...a barn. I've grown increasingly sensitive to having people see me as a "cat lady" first and foremost, but I can't help but feel everything LOOKS cat lady-like. Over time, things get shabby, and after you've fixed them six or seven times, it gets old.

However, it's not old to the people who visit. If they walk in and see rope unwinding on the cat furniture, they don't see the six times you've cut it all off and replaced it, or thrown out old cat trees and purchased brand new ones. They see only THAT shabby cat tree.

Today I was walking up to the barn, privately lamenting that the windows, once again, needed to be scraped and painted. A piece of glass fell out of one window awhile ago. It looks like hell.

I walked inside the first floor and the crumbling concrete by the door met my eyes. Sure, I'd done some creative spatter-paint work to disguise the stained 80+ year old floor. Still. The wind whistled around the door itself. It was a barn floor, and a barn door.

Enough.

Cricket and Pauli (the new cat) went into the vet today, and when I drove back into pick Pauli up from his neuter, I went to Lowe's to price sheet vinyl (it'll be $400) and Home Depot for windows. I decided to do the windows first and picked up four. Once I got Pauli settled in at the cat facility, I went into demolition mode and discovered old barns aren't so easy to tear apart. However they do finally succumb to a crowbar, hammer, and Sawzall. Then I discovered the opening were larger than the windows. I only managed to tack the windows up to make sure everything would work out before it got too dark. I'll have to take them down, flash them properly, paint the trim on both sides, and put it all back up again. But they already look so much better. And INSIDE. Wow. What a difference.

Four windows, vinyl on the floor, a new door, and a vestibule so cats can't sneak out. That's the plan.

Tea, Portia, and blogging

The porch kitty who showed up here awhile ago is now Portia. She had been staying downtairs in the barn cat facility, but I brought her inside to the boarding rooms while I was traveling. It's quiet as heck up here (time to add a radio) so tonight I came up with the camera, a mug of tea, and my netbook to get a photo of her and spend some time.

When I took Portia into the vet to be spayed, I asked them to check for a spay scar. Her fur was entirely too glossy for an unfixed adult female. Sure enough, they found one, so after a combo test and vaccinations, home she came.

I put an ad in the Broader View Weekly (thank you, Karen!) and called Stray Haven, but haven't heard a peep.

Tonight, I finally convinced her to stop rubbing, rolling, and purring and come up on my lap to lay down awhile. As we sat here, I suddenly realized her paws were awfully soft...

Portia is declawed!

What is your story, little girl? How did you get here? Do you belong to one of my neighbors who has not thought to stop by? Did some pissed off boyfriend dump you here because his girlfriend loved you too much? Did your owner die and at-a-loss relatives figured here you'd "find a home" (if the elements didn't kill you first)?

Being declawed will make her much more adoptable. I just don't want to adopt out someone's lost and beloved cat.

Grumble, grumble...more snow

So, it all melted (well, most of it) and it all came back.

Just in case you were wondering if the truck could get buried even worse than the last storm, the answer is "Yes."