From the category archives:

Louisiana Trip

Tattooed!

March 13, 2006

Paw Print TattooAfter years of pining over getting a tattoo, I finally got one. A black paw print on the underside of my left wrist. It’s simple, unique (not out of a book) and small, only about an inch by inch in size. I adore it. It means so much to me, on many levels.

I called my mother from New Orleans a few days before I went and gave her updates about what was going on with me, the happenings there, etc.. I also blurted out, "And I’m going to get a tattoo". Her response? "Cool! You’ve wanted one for years. I’m surprised you haven’t gotten one yet"!

It was done by Walt Clark on February 23rd at Rings of Desire, a piercing shop near the French Quarter. He was a guest tattoo artist there for only a short time. A friend of mine, Mark Morgan, also got a tattoo at the same time. His was much more elaborate and included a full-color cat on his shoulder. I’ll have to bug him for a photo. It really is a cool tattoo.

I wanted to wait until it healed somewhat to take photos. It’s still not 100% healed, but I was anxious to share. A few people warned me that I will have this when I’m 80 years old. You know what? That makes me happy. I’ll look down at my wrinkly old skin, with my tattoo all faded and remember my time in New Orleans, remember all the animals I helped save and be able to show my grandchildren a relic of my youth. Neat.

31 comments Read the full post →

A Ruby in the Rough

March 10, 2006

RubyThere are a couple of felines that found a special place in my heart. Ruby, the adorable kitty in these photos, is one of them. One of our star volunteers, Alice, named her.

Recognize her? She is the cat staring wide-eyed out of the humane trap that Craig and I caught one evening. You can see the photo of her in the blog post I made on January 25th.

Little Ruby was so sweet and used to "make biscuits" as soon as you started petting her. For the first few days, however, the cat area staff thought she was feral (wild). She was not feral, obviously. A lot of cats who we once thought were feral came out of their shells in just a few days. It amazed me every time, too.

RubyAnyway, I digress. Back to Ruby. During the Super Adoption event, she won the hearts of a mom and son family. The son was so gentle with her and I was very happy with the match. They had another kitty named Sapphire, so they wanted to keep her name. It was fate! She went home with them that day and I’m sure she’s spoiled and loved.

I will shamefully admit that letting her go to another family was rough, even though it is a perfect home for her. She wasn’t even my cat! I just trapped her and cared for her for a few days. Part of rescue work is letting go, however, and working at Celebration Station for 2 1/2 months taught me quite well on how to do just that. Rescue, care for, kiss them on their furry little head goodbye – all in a few days. No one ever claimed it would be easy, though, right?

2 comments Read the full post →

Closure

March 3, 2006

My suitcases are finally empty, laundry is going in full force and I am getting ready for a weekend with my family in-law.

Returning to normal life has been easier than I expected. Although I still feel like I need to constantly be doing something, I am adjusting to my former routines with ease.

I think I finally feel some amount of closure regarding Katrina animals. Sure, there are still lots of animals out on the street in Louisiana, but there are animals out on the street in every city around the world. That’s a much larger issue in and of itself, but I digress.

I can finally let go of the need to go back and help. Although, apparently, I talk in my sleep about cats, giving medication and getting cats ready for transport. So, subconsciously, I guess some part of me will always feel connected and I’m sure come the next hurricane, I’ll be eating my words.

Oh! After looking at all my photos, I realise that I have a few updates regarding some of the animals I mentioned in former posts. I’ll be writing about them in the next few days as I work on getting the photos resized and prettied up.

And speaking of animals.. our kitties are doing okay. Celeste and Kanji have met Noni and it looks like we’ll have to monitor their meetings for a little bit longer. Noni seems to want to have me all to herself and gets defensive when Celeste or Kanji comes to visit. We’ll work on that. Sheesh..

0 comments Read the full post →

Home Sweet Home

March 1, 2006

I am not feeling well, so this will be short and sweet. I left Celebration Station yesterday morning, with Noni by my side. She was a trooper the entire way and didn’t make a peep. Several people marveled at what a good kitty she was. It was a long trip, with two flights and an hour layover in between, but we made it home safe and sound. Celeste and Kanji haven’t met her yet, but I plan to facilitate their meeting sometime tomorrow. New kitty introductions take time and patience. 🙂

I am working on getting my photos from my two prior trips uploaded, but considering the sheer amount of them, it might take a few weeks. They will all be under photos to the left when I do get them up. Oh, and I am writing something with a little more closure.. and reflection of my time doing pet rescue in Louisiana. Stay tuned.

2 comments Read the full post →