Cats, and Dogs, did I tell you KJ has returned.

It started sometime back in June, my neighbor was walking around her yard like she’d lost something, making a whispering sound. I asked her about it. She replied that a moma cat (her words) had given birth under her shed, and she was trying to find them to feed them. The cat must have felt unsafe because she moved out of my neighbors yard, and for a while was gone. I’d seen a few cats wandering around the neighborhood bring back memories of when my neighbor on the other side would feed the stray cats. At one point I’d look out on my north side, where I had wood chips piled and see about a half dozen cats hanging out. That was twenty years ago.

Next I heard, and saw a black cat in the garage. Then a calico cat walked across the street. All of this danger never hit home until my daughter Elena texted she’d captured two kittens and had them in the house in the cat carriers in her room. Teri pleaded with her to set them free. What was she going to do with them? All I could think about was the amount of ticks, and fleas, the cats were infested with. She’d hugged them to her chest, was she going to check for ticks, and fleas? With typical Elena attitude, and love for animals, (cats) she set them free, where she found them. The next day, the mother had not been seen, and Elena, with her mother, had talked to a cat rescue place. The cat rescue women delivered a trap, and we set it out hoping to catch the mother. A day and a half later I’m going out to close the trap. I was told, if you don’t you could catch a skunk or other night creatures. It’s lightly raining, and it’s dark. In the trap is a dark fur ball. Elena yells out the window, “What did you catch?” I tell her, “The black cat” she says it’s not the mother as she runs down stairs to take control of the situation. I convinced her not to bring the cat into the house. The next day, Sunday, Elena got up and delivered the cat to the rescue place. Later in the day, or the next the supposed fee free fix for the cat had disappeared because of an overflow of feral cats needing to be fixed.Teri and Elena, I think, decided to split the fee of $130.00. A good price, but at one point it was free. It was not appreciated. We had plans on Sunday, but almost cancelled them because of the cat. We went ahead and had breakfast at the diner in Central Nyack. Usually the food is consistent, and good. They were busy, and the quality of the food suffered a bit. It was still nice to get together with Sean, Nastia, Elena, and Teri to do this. Somewhere over breakfast Teri reminded me she ‘needs’ to go to the SPCA in Westchester. Since we put down Misha, Cassie has been depressed, and acting weird. She’s been very clingy, and not eating like she should. She’s spent no time on the bed at night crawling under the bed almost immediately, her safety spot. Teri had her eye on a particular puppy, it is white like all the dogs she falls in love with, but this one was a male. I didn’t want a male dog in the house because of fears even a fixed dog will lift its leg, and pee on the furniture. I warned her Elena would get angry at the dog, and treat it worse than she ever did Cassie, or Misha.

Teri’s been a little short tempered with me lately. I’m not saying it is totally unjustified, but I thought it was excessive, and consistent. So we went to ‘look’ at the dog, or’other dogs’ that were available. We arrived totally unprepared to adopt a dog, going complete ‘Muller’ in this operation. If you haven’t figured out what that is yet, it’s playing it as it comes, letting the chips fall where they may, you know, ‘JoeMulleringit’. We walked into the SPCA, it’s a really nice facility. The place is well run. Next comes what I thought was going to be the part I hate the most, the interview to determine if we are fit to adopt a dog maybe no one else will want. In this messed up world it is harder to adopt a dog, then to have a child. The SPCA was cool about it. They just wanted some paperwork on line filled out, then we could look at the dogs available. Of course the first dog I see is a dog that’s been at the facility for a while. He’s older, and he has his back to me, and it kills me. If we didn’t have a skitzo dog, maybe we should have adopted it. Down the hallway were all of the puppies, and Teri’s white puppy. It turns out the dog has ring worm, and if we want to ‘meet it’ we have to ‘gown up’ like we are going into surgery. Elena tries to follow the directions, but she steps into the enclosure before she puts on the booties. It turns out you can spread ring worm by walking in its spoors, or touching it. It can stay on surfaces for up to 18 months. You’d think a good cold winter would kill it. The girls, Sean, and Teri go in, I skip. I’m still bummed by that first dog. The dog called Snowball is in the middle of ring worm treatment that will last for about ten days more. Sunday is the 5th, so when she gets checked by the vet at the SPCA on the 15th she should be ring worm free. Now the catch. They will not hold a dog. I offered an extra $100.00, and still they said no. Teri wants the dog, so we agree to take it. How are we going to take the dog home when we don’t even have a leash? They sell us a nice cage for $25.00, donate a leash, and a blanket for the dog. I fit the cage in the back of Teri’s car, just barely. Nastia walks out of the SPCA with the dog clutched in a towel, against her chest. She’s gonna get ring worm again! We put her in the cage, and we started home. The dog is surprisingly quiet the whole trip home.

We stop at Home Depot for tarps, and cover the floor of Nastia’s old room (still sounds weird to say) , set up Nancy’s cage with the new one we got so he has a place to sleep, and a place to pee. Nastia, and Elena are touching him without gloves or gown, Teri tries to cover herself. To my surprise Elena sleeps in the room with the dog for the first two nights. She trains the dog, and is being patient, and not violent. I couldn’t be more pleased. The will be free to roam the house starting after his vet appointment on the 15th. We’re under a week to go as of now.

KJ came home with his parents about a month ago. His father’s job didn’t work out down there, and they figured it would be best to return. Amanda’s support group, and family is here after all. KJ came back in time to pick blueberries. A week or so after we were hit with a Saturday wind, and rain storm that must have opened a few holes in the netting because when I went out to what should have been peak berry season, all the ripe berries were gone. I closed up the holes, hopefully and the season that ran into the beginning of August might still run that long, but with a whole lot less berries. I was even thinking of making blueberry jam, not any more. So if you see a bunch of really fat birds around Congers, they recently ate at my blueberry patch.