If I had written this Tuesday night, I would have good news. Since I didn’t get to it until now, I have … even better news. :)
Summing up: We learned after Christmas that we were going to lose our rental home of some 16 years. Shortly after we got here in late 2001 (or was it early 2002? Tempus fuhgeddaboutit; early 2002 sounds right), we inherited a small number of strays and feral cats that rapidly became a large and thriving feral/stray/abandoned cat colony. Some of the ones we inherited are still out there, 15/16 years later. I put out a desperate call for help and got an overwhelming, immensely humbling and gratifying response from the Kos pootie crowd — seriously, well over $5000 in donations to help us find and lock down a new home that we could take at least some of our outdoor guys, and to find safe and loving homes for the remaining 30 or so. If you want to read up on the preceding events, you can hit these links:
The End of Our Feral Colony: Please Help Us Save Lives
Update to the Great Cat Colony Move
Why We Aren't Taking the Cats and Moving to Rural Trumpland
So let’s take the update by the numbers, most important things first.
Cats
Leading with the best news. My wife met up with this wonderful lady named Rachel, recommended by our local cat group. She lives in East Whadafuck, Brunswick County, way the hell off and gone, and is as Southern as you can get. Mrs. Max had already spoken with her, and though she sounds like she just rolled over a pickup truck with dogs and guns flying every whichaway, she is a truly decent person who loves her cats. She has a (mostly) feral colony of well over 100 (!) and says a few more won’t hurt nuthin. To quote: “Yew just braing em all out here, honey. We’ll take good care uv em and they’ll be safe and loved all their days.” So except for the six or seven we’re taking with us, they are ALL going to the country. She has an enormous piece of land, no wetlands (so no alligators), and she says she hasn’t seen a coyote on her property in almost ten years. She does see a lot of deer, raccoons and every once in a while a fox. Her husband, who apparently looks and sounds like Larry the Cable Guy, calls himself a “master trapper,” and is willing to help us trap our guys and get them out there. He’s been trapping raccoons (“Ah luv em but they’re eatin up our caht food like crazy!”) and taking them several miles away to the deep woods, where he releases them. Mrs. Max told them about the Jew-hater who initially wanted to rent us a place, and Rachel said something like, “Lord Gawdamighty, those people make me tahrd. We’s all God’s chillern. You wear that Star of David proud round here, hon.” We’re going to have the monthly food delivery we get from the cat group sent to their house, and both of them say we’re welcome to come out and visit our guys any time we like. The cherry on the icing? They have 12 indoor cats, and they are all as friendly as wagtail pups. My wife was inundated with them when she came into the house. Friendly cats go with good people. Our guys are going to be in good hands.
(Sassy, the big guy in the photo, is going out there too. Our original intention was to take him with us, but he will absolutely love the room he will have out there. He’s a bit solitary, and he’s a big roamer even though he’s fixed. He wouldn’t like it where we’re going. Too cramped.)
House
We found a guy who is renting us a lovely little home in town. It has a surprisingly big yard, is somewhat fenced (more about that in a minute), is close to our work, and is set up very nicely for both indoor and outdoor cats. Unlike our rattrap house, it is solidly built, has central air and heating, has a functional stove and a dishwasher, and has a roof that isn’t on the verge of collapsing. I could go on, but short version, it’s a nice little place, cozy but with plenty of room for us and our indoor guys. Lease gets signed tomorrow.
Money
We’ve spent less than $100 of the money we were given, all on flea treatments. We feel we owe it to you guys to spend it wisely and all to benefit those guys, so we’ve hoarded it like dragons until we need to spend it on taking care of this situation. Some of it will go to security deposits, moving expenses and the like, but a big piece of it is going to shore up the fencing on the property, with “cat fencing” attached to the top to keep our guys in and the neighborhood animals out. We’re probably going to buy a drop trap and some spay/neuter treatments for the few outdoor guys who have managed to dodge us all these years. And we are going to spend on one indulgence. We have a group of four among our crew we call the “Mitchy Me’s” (it’s a Scottish saying roughly equivalent to “Oh my goodness!”, I’m given to understand), who we keep separated from the rest because, well, they’re loopy. They’re going to have the second floor as their domain. We’re going to build them an enormous cat playground up there where they can have a blast. The money you guys contributed is making this possible. We literally could not be doing this without you.
We have until June 30 to move. We’re planning on being out by mid-May. Will post photos of happy cats and the Mitchy Me playhouse once everything is in place.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. You made this happen.
Side note: this will get published before I get up (I sleep late on my days off). I’ll check on the comments later in the day.
This is our gal Little Bear, when she was a little thing some 12 years ago, and one of many torties in the colony. She’s going with us. She’s slowing down a lot, and will be perfectly happy with her boy toys Milo and Gizmo, snoozing together on the sun porch. Thought you guys would appreciate a bit more eye candy. :)