Sleep is difficult for me right now. Thinking about this kitten, plus the high heat wave sweeping through at the moment doesn’t give me much relief. Last night I spent the majority of the night visiting the cats in the enclosures. It was cooler out there and GiGi the boarder seemed to be begging me to stay with her. Her owner hasn’t come to see her for about a month now. The last time she was here, GiGi spent more time at my side than her. I think the gal got her feelings hurt, for I’ve not seen her since. Supposedly on the 9th of August, she is going to come and pick up her cat and take her home. I hope that happens. If not, I will merge GiGi into the house so she can have companionship.

I am a librarians daughter and I do a lot of reading. I prefer books over Kindle (call me old-fashioned) I just finished reading one of my favorite author’s (Dean Koontz) book Fear Nothing There is one passage that jumped out of me and applies to my life today. I will share it now:

“We are an arrogant species, full of terrible potential, but we also have the great capacity for love, joy, friendship, generosity, kindness, faith and hope.”

My hope is more of us can find the good in others then be confronted with the bad. My hope is that in the near future, the efforts of CATS Inc., and their volunteers will no longer be needed and we can shut our doors with a smile. That’s my hope, the world will walk kinder, pay it forward and live peacefully with all species.

I went outside this morning when the sun woke up, and the cats came running. Gump prefers to stay outside unless I am going somewhere in the car, then he jumps in and wants to go with me! He is fearless and I am glad he wasn’t de-clawed and de-fanged so he could continue to live. Malcolm one of the cats from the hoarder will now allow me to pet his beautiful black belly without fear of reprisal. Turner my oldest outside kitty (she will be 13 this year) was waiting for her turn in the petting zone. Boo (another of Karen’s cats) sits quietly on the sidelines. She will wait until I am walking and then she will do her ritual and weave in and out of my ankles as I walk making it difficult for me not to stumble. I smile when I look at these beautiful cats and this dries the tears on my face which seems to be appearing more at the moment. I know that stepping out of the shadows and challenging abusers puts them and me at high risk. But the risk is worth it if someone who is a danger to himself and others is pulled out of society and put somewhere to receive help.

Those are my thoughts this morning before I wake up Mike and get his breakfast. For those of you who have asked about him- here is his update. His legs still look like a mess. They will never be normal in color again. They are not healing from the inside, but they aren’t swelling either. They are being wrapped once a week in Portland by the experts and three different types of compression are being applied to the legs. He has a total of ten ulcers on his legs now that were uncovered after the laser removed all the crust and dead skin. He is being watched carefully and he was told he should NEVER get out of bed, but if he does it for only 15 minutes at a time and not for half a day. He’s not that good about following those instructions but he does try.

The last time he was in the hospital, his kids came to visit. The boys pretty much cornered me and told me that they would make me an offer. They would tear down our existing home and build on the back of the property a one-story home that was handicapped equipped. They would pay for it all on one condition. I had to stop rescuing cats! I had to concentrate on their dad and that was the deal. I was raw from emotions and bone tired and stressed to the max. I took a deep breath and told them that I appreciated the offer but had to say no. I think they were quite surprised and one said something to me that caused me to burst out crying and run out of the yard. They meant well but it was to overwhelming.

When Mike got out of the hospital and then the nursing home, I finally told him about that conversation. He was angry at first that they would ask such a thing but he promised not to talk to them about it. They meant well, they just didn’t understand. These cats are my ministry and missions are never easy. I am a firm believer that Mike’s cat Taylor has kept him interested in living much more than I ever could. She is so spoiled by him, it makes me grin.

Okay I am rambling now so need to go. Don’t know what’s in store for me today only know that God has given me strong shoes to get through it all. NONE of you know how awesome I think ALL of you are. How you help me on really bad days and how you validate me in so many different ways. So I am telling all of you now from deep within my heart- “THANK YOU!”