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December,
2006 |
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Dear friends,
The above
wasps or hornets in Jim’s snow blower are not Charley’s Strays, but
Limestone guys with a home of their own in our front yard. Or at least they
had one there, untouched by us, until it got cold and they died or moved on to
a warmer place. I have no idea what these insects do when it gets cold up here
in Maine. We watched them build their beautiful nest from spring until fall.
They let us sit within a couple of feet to them, and would just divert their
flight plan a little. Jim started getting concerned about not being able to
use his snow blower by the time we would have all this white stuff dumped on
us, but the poor things were long gone, or dead, by the time the snow blower
was needed. Since I don’t think we will ever have something like that to look
at and watch again, I took some pictures, and now I would like to share one
with you. It was a very big nest, took in just about the whole stack of the
blower, measuring 18” long and 9” wide.
I am sure you
are more interested in Charley’s critters than our insects. So we will
leave them to whatever they are doing, and go to Kim Doherty, a lady we met at
the fundraiser, who did A LOT for our dogs and cats this month. She had
an auction on eBay you may remember the flyer telling you about it last month.
An explanation for our older folks who are not familiar with computers for one
and the Internet for the other: eBay is kind of an online store, where you can
sell, or auction off your own things, new or used, or you can buy or bid on
items you think you have to have or can’t live without. It’s really lots of
fun, especially the bidding part when someone outbids you in the last few
seconds of the auction. And your heart is pounding like crazy because you just
want this particular thing so bad, and now it’s gone.
J
Kim, who is
very involved in helping different animal shelters raising money, offered to
do an auction for us. We gladly accepted her offer. So Kim collected all kinds
of items from different people. The hard and time consuming part is taking
pictures and then submitting these with a detailed description to eBay, and
Kim did a great job. |
I
imagine it took her all day Sunday to list the first 45 mugs, quilts,
baskets and so on, and another couple of days to list another 80 or 90
items. Not only did she describe all those different items. She also put
some great detail about Charley's Strays on eBay, which probably
made many people take a closer look at our Shelter.
Kim did
very well, and made around $1300 for our animals! This money is
earmarked for converting the barn. Since Kim did all the work, I asked
her to decide what we should use the money for. So please don’t leave us
hanging in the air next month; this money is really needed very badly
for building material, and should not be used for the “regular bills”.
Without
the following people this auction would not have been possible – they
donated lots of beautiful items:
Nancy Bitonti: if you have a
computer, check out her store on eBay, maybe you can do a favor in
return and buy from her: Her User ID is
ilovdoxies.
Kim Doherty:
Nancy and Kim donated about 95% of the items for sale!
Cathy O’Connor: “Our"
Cathy has been involved for many years helping our Shelter and has been
involved many years with the rescue of mostly cats. She donated Beanie
Babies.
Jackie Lowney:
longtime supporter of Charley's, made several baskets.
Chandra Pemberton:
I am not sure what Chandra donated, she is one of Kim’s
friends.
Al and Judy Smith:
Al is the guy who’s
been doing a great job at our fundraiser auctioning off different items.
He and Judy also donated lots of items for the eBay auction; dog
sweaters and similar things.
“Greenies”
also sent some items, I believe mostly treats.
I know
without you this auction would not have taken place!
THANK
YOU! |
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So I was thinking – if our donors – YOU- would send me maybe one
or two items which are new, or like new, and could be sold, - I
could try to put an auction together on ebay in spring myself! The
items would have to be fairly light because of the shipping cost.
It should not be dishes or glass because they are so breakable and
need lots of packing. Besides things like that don’t really sell
that well. Collectible items like animal figures, or new books
about animals, or what sold really well were animal sweaters,
small beds and such, well, anything that would be a bit out of the
ordinary. Not necessarily animal things, other items sell well
too. So when you do your “spring cleaning” maybe you will find a
thing or two. But please do not mail it to the Shelter – because
it would sit around there and space is very limited as it is, send
it to my home address. I will collect it and when I have enough
together, I will set up an auction for the Shelter.
The Shelter news is not much this months. Jim went to Clinton in
the middle of December to pick up a load of donated food, and
while he was there, he and Mike repaired the phone line – we could
call out. But anybody who tried to call in got disconnected.
Verizon told us it was not in their line, but had to be from the
box into our kennel. If they would repair it, we would have to pay
an arm and a leg. So anyway, between the two guys and a friend of
Mike’s who furnished a very tall ladder, the long line was
replaced, and all is well again.
Good news from our supporter, Kathleen Hillman, who adopted one of
our dogs a couple of months ago. Kathleen said: “Earl is doing
great. It is like he has always lived here. He is a full-fledged
member of the family – thank you from our family and Earl. We love
him!” |
God knows I wish I would get lots and lots of letters like that,
and not phone calls from people saying: I've got to get rid of
him/her and making a thousand stupid excuses.
Naturally for every bit of good news there is some bad too.
Cooper, our hound who was adopted in summer, was returned a couple
of weeks ago. Supposedly "he tried to eat the new litter of
kittens”. Hello! Don’t people know yet NOT to get another litter
of kittens?! And calling it the "new litter" makes me pretty sure
that there is an "old litter" around too. With all the help the
different spay/neuter organizations in Maine give to people, there
is no need of any more “new litters". Things like that make me so
angry, I could scream!
We took in a small female dog who was pulled out of “ that bad
Shelter” I have been writing about before. Sadly the poor nameless
dog was in such bad shape, that Dr. Slack said she had to be put
to sleep. Very sad indeed, and I will not make you feel bad by
going into details.
And of course not a month goes by without another poor dog needing
help: A seven month old very sweet and fairly small dog named
Damion found his way to our Shelter via his people, who also
wanted to “get rid of” him.
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Cat Report –December 2006
When we
left off last month, Kennebec was sick. He’s fine now – more later.
Alison has been sick and recovered; so except for Randy being on
post-dental antibiotics – more about that later, too, all our cats are
in pretty good shape.
Kenn
mostly wouldn’t eat. A couple times he seemed to feel bad for a few
hours, but usually he acted normal, except around his food dish. He
decided to move into the kitchen, and gradually, with food available all
day and into the night, and with me offering everything I could think
of, he started eating again. I was glad I have BabyJay’s kittens: The
first thing that tasted good to Kenn was canned kitten food.
Now
that he’s well, Kenn still likes living in the kitchen, where he
scampers around and hides in new places. So now the kitchen cats are my
own elderly Otis, who gets thyroid medication twice a day and therefore
can’t share his main meals; Brook, our senior with the tumor on her heel
that sometimes bleeds; and Kennebec, who bounces to meet me at the door
and attacks my ankles. I try to fix meals and clean up in between
picking up Otis’s medicated dishes, keeping the snack dishes full,
remembering to put away everything that doesn’t need a cat’s nose
in it, mopping up Brookie’s bloody trails, calming occasional spats
(usually when Kenn gets too audacious with one of the seniors) and
shooing cats off the stove and shelves. |
Alison
also didn’t eat well for a few days. She started refusing food on a
Saturday morning, of course. By Monday when I could have taken her to
the vet she was doing better, eating about half of what I gave her, and
in another week she was cleaning her dish again. Like Kenn, she acted
otherwise normal.
Randy’s
dental work went well; he came home the same day and by evening was wide
awake and ready to eat. The doctor said he could eat his dry CD
(the Science Diet formula that’s good for cats with a history of urinary
tract problems) with no trouble, but he’s supposed to go through a
bottle of Clavamox, as a preventive. And is that ever fun! I believe
I’ve done it at least once before, because the whole performance feels
familiar. When he and Alison come into the room where they eat their
CD, he growls and struggles frantically until I get a towel wrapped
around his flailing legs. Then he starts howling, yowling, sirening and
moaning. When he sees the dropper of clavamox coming he closes his
mouth, without stopping screaming. Eventually he opens up and I pop the
dropper in fast. Then he sputters once, hops out of the towel and eats.
BabyJay’s spaying a couple days ago went smoothly. She didn’t need an
overnight stay, and her incision looks fine so far. Her boys have their
appointments to be neutered in January.
Thanks
to all of you for your help and support. With all the cats have done and
will do to the vet bill, they’re taking their share these three
months! Thanks, too, to the Parent family, the Charles cat and Karen for
helping keep the pantry stocked, and to my cat-rescuer friends Jessica
and Linda, who share bedding that people donate to them.
By the
time you read this, I hope you will have had a good Christmas and be
looking forward to 2007. Best wishes to all, including your four-legged
family members. |
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And now to our supporters:
We
received a donation from Mary Klayda in memory of her husband Frank and
brother Charlie. Viola McDonald sent us her Christmas gifts in the form
of checks made out by her relatives. And Marian Delarue had her daughter
send us a check instead of buying a Christmas gift for her mom. Thank
you very much to all of you!
Our
donors went out of their way this month to send us money for extra
treats for the animals, and to keep them warm and comfortable. So a big
THANK YOU goes to: |
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ADA Fence, Palmyra
Al & Judy Smith, Belmont
Ames-McKinney, Grand Isle
Barb & Jon
Anderson, Augusta
Betsy Anderson, Framingham
Carla McQuillean, Winthrop
Cindy
Houston, Woburn
Cristine Cardello, Melrose
Cynthia Herrick, W. Newton
Dale Critchley, S. Weymouth
Doris Lary, Hartland
Dorothy D’Alessandro, Ossipee
Dorothy Eckstein, Medford
Elizabeth Fay, Northport
Elizabeth Johnson, Sanford
Enid Hayes, Halifax
Gail Orcheski, Upton
Grace Kiley, W. Roxbury
Harriet Snyder, Brockton
Inge Maiellano, Marblehead
Iris Martinello, Tewksbury |
Irma Simon, S.China
Jean Catignani,Conway
Joe Blake, New Bedford
Joe D’Alessandro, Tuftonboro
John Caswell, Newport
Jon & Barb Anderson, Augusta
Josephine Ford, Holden
Josephine Smith, Woburn
Judy Rohweder, Northport
Kathleen Hillman, Chelmsford
Lauren Alden, Stoughton
Leslie Tucker, Reading
Linda Clish, Bangor
Linda Merriam, Dresden
Lisa D’Alessandro, Raymond
Lorena Clark, Beverly
Marcia Smith, Bucksport
Marian Delarue, Woburn
Marie O’Brien, Pawtucket
Marlene Kaplan, Melrose
Mary Klayda, Winchester |
Mildred Walker, Presque Isle
Nancy Capone, Wakefield
Naomi Teixeira, Jay
Pat Thain, N. Billerica
Paula Wisniowski, Tyngsboro
R.D Bournival, Palm Beach
Richard Lizotte, Newton
Roberta Chaves, Westport
Roger Ellis, Holden
Rose Chioccola, Stoneham
Rust Pappathanasi, Swampscott
Sandra Nicholson, Beverly
Susan Borsic, Woburn
Sylvia Cohen, Newton
Viola McDonald, Woburn
Werner Eckstein, Woburn
Willa Rockett, Belmont
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By the
time you receive this newsletter Jim and I will be doing like the
snowbirds - heading south. We have been invited again by Jim’s
army-buddy for a stay in Georgia. Afterwards we will meet a friend in
the panhandle of Florida, and then keep on going to Merritt Island to
visit my daughter and son-in-law who moved to Florida this past summer
from Germany. Luke and Nikki, our two furry companions, will be coming
with us. So I will not send any “thank you” notes in January, but please
don’t forget our animals. They will be in the very good hands of Mary,
Karen, Ted and Mike.They still will need food, and warmth, and laundered
blankets. Thank you! |
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Wishing you a Happy 2007 |
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Gabriele,
Karen,
Mary,
Mike,
Ted
and
Jim |
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