Mothballs

Mrrrr Friends,

Mothballs stink and you should keep them away from critters....especially moths.

But I feel like I've been in them since August.

I was having my mid-life crisis, and there was the whole ordeal with the deer fly. I felt like my life was spinning out of control...the only constants were Oom and Boo's love, Alex's stripeyness, and my kibble consumption.

Then there was the big bad water on 28 August. That was just awful for lots of critters and folks. Ava the cat is missing still, the pony got washed away, and I just can't imagine how many other good critters got the tough end. But there was the barn cat in Keene that hung on for dear life, my pal Black is okay in the hardware, and Mike the Cow and his pals are okay too. The water was super high and fast and ate up some people houses and my other neighbor people's barn. Now, some of the people seem mad at the river. Puts it all in perspective for a furry guy.

And then last week, I got this nice letter:

Diesel,


I was a former Wisconsinite who moved to Oklahoma City in 2009. My family grew back in 2004 when we adopted Oy from Sauk County Humane Society, which is how I happened upon your blog. My family grew yet again in 2006 when yet another kitty joined our pack, this one hailing from Westby and going by the moniker Mog.


I had my old PC buried in storage until tonight and going through my old bookmarks, I realized I had forgotten to check your blog as diligently as I had. It was a pleasure to get caught up.


In honor of a belated Diesel Day, I must say that shelter animals are of the most in need of a home and it is up to all animal lovers to spread the word of how in need these animals are.


In honor of you and animals everywhere, happy belated Diesel Day and many, many more :)


C.J., Oy and Mog


That was nice. Thanks Oy, thanks Mog...extra big love for C.J. from me.

And my brook is still fine...swollen from a few days of rain and they kind of messed it up down where it meets the beleaguered river, but up here...there is hope.

Stay out of the mothballs...there's too much to do.

Celebrate Diesel Day!

Mrrrr Friends,

Thursday 26 May is Diesel Day!

Diesel Day commemorates my adoption from the Sauk County Humane Society in Baraboo, Wisconsin. It is a nation-wide celebration for loving, giving to, and caring for cats, other furry , feathered, and scaly companions, and the people who go to the mat for them.

Every year, according to the Humane Society of the United States, 6 to 8 million cats and dogs enter animal shelters. In bad economic times, the number of animals surrendered to shelters, or simply turned out of their homes, increases dramatically. The burden on the 4000 to 5000 shelters in the US is prodigious.

So Diesel Day is an opportunity for you to help out. Call your local shelter and see if they need some of your volunteer time, a few boxes of Yeowww! Stinkies, bags and bags and bags of kibble, or just some of the fluttery, green money stuff.

Maybe you've been thinking of adopting that special furry or feathered someone? Or perhaps you have just the right number furry friends living with and taking care of you, but you can encourage your local kibble store to make a donation, or check with your vet and ask if they donate time or supplies to their local shelter or offer discounts to newly adopted critters. Diesel Day is the perfect day to act on your good intentions!

If you are too lazy to do that, or if you just want to score points with the Big D, support my two favorite shelters: the Sauk County (WI) Humane Society or North Country (NY) SPCA. These are both fine facilities with hard-working, caring people and would deeply appreciate your recognition of their efforts on Diesel Day! Tell them I sent you.

Me? Besides hitting you up, wIth the help of my people and my human Granma, I mailed off a package to my local shelter with green stuff and a fine Yeowww! toy for my cat pals waiting for adoption.

Giving away without regret is one of the most important things a being can do. You’ll be amazed at what comes back to you. I still have extended family in Wisconsin and, you never know, you may be directly aiding a furry cousin of mine…another future feline blogger.

Make sure you tell them Diesel sent you. If they look at you funny, send them here.

Happy Diesel Day!!!

MrrrrRr Friends,

It's here: Diesel Day. Wednesday May 26 marks the anniversary of my adoption at the Sauk County Humane Society in Baraboo, Wisconsin. My people understand that the adoption was mutual - they got me and I got them - real permanent.  Alex was a bit unsure about the whole thing at first, but she's grown accustom to my furry face and lovable antics.

Since that wonderful day, I've tried to make May 26 a day to recognize the joy that all furry, feathered, hoofed, and scaled critters bring into human lives. If you have a non-human companion, this is a great day to commemorate their coming into your life. It is also an important day for reaching out to those companion critters who don’t have homes, and to the people and organizations who are caring for them and working to make their lives better.

Times are tough out there for humans, wild things, and companion critters alike. Even in good times for humans, the number of homeless dogs, cats, birds, and other critters numbers in the tens of millions in the US alone. Every year, according to the Humane Society of the United States, 6 to 8 million cats and dogs enter animal shelters. In bad economic times, the number of animals surrendered to shelters, or simply turned out of their homes, increases dramatically. The burden on the 4000 to 5000 shelters in the US is prodigious.

So Diesel Day is an opportunity for you to plan and get started helping out. Maybe you've been thinking of adopting that special furry or feathered someone? Maybe you live near a shelter and can offer them some needed supplies or a helping hand? Or perhaps you have just the right number furry friends living with and taking care of you, but you can encourage you local kibble store to make a donation, or check with your vet and ask if they donate time or supplies to their local shelter or offer discounts to newly adopted critters. Today's the day to put your plan in motion and make it happen!

As I've noted before, I am especially appreciative if you want to help one of my two favorite shelters: my former shelter in Wisconsin, or my local shelter the North Country SPCA in Westport New York.
Remember, most shelters are 501(c) 3 not-for-profit charities. They run entirely on donations – which are, for the money-minded among you, tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Giving away without regret is one of the most important things a being can do. You’ll be amazed at what comes back to you. I still have extended family in Wisconsin and, you never know, you may be directly aiding a furry cousin of mine…another future feline blogger.

Make sure you tell them Diesel sent you. If they look at you funny, send them here.

Diesel Day Eve!

Mrrrrr Friends,

I hope you all had productive weekends and enjoyed all your plans and preparations for celebrating May 26, Diesel Day.

I did some serious prowling in my kingdom. Here I am confirming that sedges have edges - don't eat this stuff unless you have some serious digestive blockage that needs a quick turnaround.

Oom put on her funny furry-bottom boots and prowled around in my brook clearing out some excess wood without harming the cool fish hiding spots and bug places...she did scare the heck out of a little crayfish guy hanging out in the water. She said she was encouraging natural water flow to minimize stagnant pools and lessen black fly breeding, but I think it was just an excuse for playing in the water and looking for Diesel Brook trout. I hung out in the cool grasses listening to screaming and swearing crayfish. A big old Pileated Woodpecker flew right over us as he coursed downed the brook path with a big old twig in his beak and we met a very nice frog...I think it was a chorus frog...

I also looked for an appropriate natural Diesel Day gift for my cat pal Alex. I'm hoping to send some Stinkies to my pals at the shelter, but I need to get hold of the blue plastic card with all the numbers on it to make that happen. Alex likes a well thought out, organic gift. These bracken ferns are quite appealing. Hmmm....

What are your plans for Diesel Day? Wednesday is coming soon! 

5 Days and Counting

Mrrrrr Cat-loving Humans,

Remember, Wednesday May 26 is Diesel Day! A nation-wide celebration for loving, giving to, and caring for cats, other furry and feathered companions, and the people who go to the mat for them.

Now's the time to call your local shelter and see if they need some of your volunteer time, a few boxes of Yeowww! Stinkies, bags and bags and bags of kibble, or just some of the fluttery, green stuff. Then you'll be prepared to facilitate Diesel Day celebrations.

If you are too lazy to do that, or if you want to score points with the Big D, support my two favorite shelters: the Sauk County (WI) Humane Society or North Country (NY) SPCA. These are both fine facilities with hard-working, caring people and would deeply appreciate your recognition of their efforts on Diesel Day! Tell them I sent you.

You might want to be scoping out where to buy very cool treats for your own feline friends. Likely, you do not have anything better to do this weekend. If you're at your local cat gear shop, ask them if they are supporting Diesel Day by making a donation of needed products or greenbacks to their local shelter.

To my cat pals out there - Spook, Dusty, Hawk, Brewster and the rest of you - pester your people, give them the big love, remind them that there are tens of thousands of wonderful cats within a day's drive of you that need their support. If they aren't paying attention, furr them. If you still need to make your point...partially digested spring grass on their shoes can really help focus them.  You of course need to follow that up with extreme cuteness to win the day.

Send them here for full instructions.

Me and Spring? We're Back!

Mrrrrrr Friends,

I've been away. The rigors of perimeter duty, blogging, product testing, and living a furry life in a human world can be exhusting, so I went on a month-long cat retreat. Here I am in a cat bonding and digging ritual I shared with some of my aboriginal cat pals.

The trigger for my departure was the release of the iPad. I found myself feeling uncharacteristically acquisitive. Catnip toys, kibble and a good Barolo or Bordeaux is one thing...feeling the urge for an iPad...meerrrw. So I went on a prowl about, visiting friends, doing some serious motionless contemplation (what humans often mistake for sleeping) reconnecting with my essential cat: kibble digestion, digging good holes for nuggets, the study of birds and tiny mammals, tree-scaling, fish identification, cat antics like threading human legs while they're walking at night...you get the idea.

But I'm back for spring and to prep you for the coming of Diesel Day! It's true, Diesel Day is only a month away.

Are you ready?

Happy Diesel Day!!

Mrrrr Friends,

My life continues to be rich and busy and I hope yours is too.

I wanted to wish you a happy Diesel Day and remind you that this is a great day to consider how to make the lives of homeless animals, and those who care for them at wonderful shelters everywhere, a little better. Consider an adoption, or a donation of $$$$ or chow (my personal favorite is Hill's Science diet but the folks at the shelter usually have preferences so, check with them). If you don't have a local shelter you care about please consider contacting the excellent folks at the Sauk County Humane Society in Baraboo, WI. Diesel Day is a national celebration of my adoption from that humble but generous establishment.

I'm also blogging here to tell you that, while I have been very quiet of late, we are about to embark on a new adventure.

Yep, that's not the yard at the little house. I've moved. I'm officially a new resident of the Adirondack Park and there is much to explore! Check in again here soon!

Upper Jay all the way!

Your furry friend,

Diesel Day #2

Mrrrrr Friends,

Another year has passed and another D-Day approaches. Mark your calendars – Monday May 26 is Diesel Day! Diesel Day is a national holiday this year – even the postman gets a day off!

I have a proposition for you about how to celebrate this fine holiday.

First, a little context: Diesel Day is my celebration day. It marks the anniversary of my adoption at the Sauk County Humane Society in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Since that wonderful moment, I’ve worked to make Diesel Day a day to recognize the joy that all furry, feathered, hoofed, and scaled critters bring into your lives. If you have a non-human companion, this is a great day to commemorate their coming into your life. It is also an important day for reaching out to those companion critters who don’t have homes and to the people and organizations who are caring for them and working to make their lives better.

Times are tough out there for humans and companion critters alike. Even in good times for humans, the number of homeless dogs, cats, birds, and other critters numbers in the tens of millions in the US alone. Every year, according to the Humane Society of the United States, 6 to 8 million cats and dogs enter animal shelters. This represents only a portion of the number of homeless, wanderer critters and does not take into account other companion species. In bad economic times, the number of animals surrendered to shelters, or simply turned out of their homes, increases dramatically. The burden on the 4000 to 5000 shelters in the US is prodigious.


Diesel Day is about helping out a little bit. Here’s my proposition: if you’ve been thinking of bringing a critter into your life and are able to make a long-term, indeed, life-long commitment, please consider adopting on Diesel Day. Visit your local shelter, introduce yourself to some of the critters and find out if one of them is that special someone.

If you can’t adopt, you can help my fellow companion critters by doing one of the following things:
1/ Make a donation to the Sauk County Humane Society - $5, $15, $50 or, better yet, $150 buys food, medical care, toys, pays the electric, heat, and other overhead and ensures this awesome shelter has the staff it needs to run efficiently. I urge you to write and send a check on or before Monday May 26, and note on it that you’ve contributed in celebration of Diesel Day – believe me, they remember me. SCHS: 618 Highway 136, Baraboo, WI 53913, http://www.saukhumane.org/

2/ Donate a HUGE bag of food to the Sauk County Humane Society. You know how I love food! I ate many bags when I was there. They serve Purina Cat and Kitten Chow. Take it right in and tell them you brought it in celebration of Diesel Day.

3/ Find your local shelter, go in, and ask them how you can help. If money is as tight for you as it is for them, consider volunteering an hour a two a week cleaning, working with records, or helping with the animals. You could even join the Board if you have that set of skills. Tell them a certain ex-shelter cat sent you.

4/ Ask your veterinarian if they support a local shelter by donating their time to help care for the animals there. Tell them it is important to you that there is a network of animal health care professionals supporting the local shelter. My Wisconsin vet, Mara, gave me a free first visit – complete with shots – because my person adopted me from the shelter.

Remember, most shelters are 501(c) 3 not-for-profit charities. They run entirely on donations – which are, for the money-minded among you, tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

As I said last year, giving away without regret is one of the most important things a being can do. You’ll be amazed at what comes back to you. I still have extended family in Wisconsin and, you never know, you may be directly aiding a furry cousin of mine…another future feline blogger.

Thanks for your support!

Happy Diesel Day!!!

Consider a donation to my favorite animal shelter or yours!

The Sauk County Human Society can be reached at:
618 Highway 136
Baraboo, WI 53913
(608) 356-2520

Tell them Diesel sent you.

New post just below (part two of two)

Celebrate Diesel Day!

MrrrrRrrr Friends,

Saturday 26 May is Diesel Day – a day of celebration and thanksgiving for the good that furry companions can bring into human lives and for the humans that work hard to see that beings like me find the homes and people of their dreams. It is the day I was adopted by my people from the Sauk County Humane Society in Baraboo, Wisconsin.

My blogs this week will be devoted to getting you revved up to celebrate with me.

I’m betting that none of you has gotten through life without caring for a furry or feathered creature or, at least, enjoying the momentary company of a friend’s dog, marveling at the feathers on a companion bird, or sharing the wise glance of a cat. Most of the companion animals I’ve met in my life – and I’ve met quite a few – are yearning to be in a relationship with a human. To be sure, that’s all about living securely, knowing you will be fed, kept warm, and given the respect and care due to any living thing. It is, however, also about companionship, friendship, and love.

But let’s face it, there are a lot of us out there. Because we are determined to live and love, we reproduce. Hey, we’re animals (just like you), and we simply have the urge to merge.

In the US, one 1990 estimate has 60 million cats in the care of people. That does not include the number of wanderers or free-roaming cats, which may be just as high. I can’t help you with how many dogs there are, but the news is that cats are the most populous home animal.

So the people who care for us when we are otherwise uncared for are an important part of the equation. It is a tough world out there. More cats die from being struck by cars than by any other means. But many of those struck may be impaired in some other way: a fight with another animal, exposure to a chemical, exhaustion, hunger, and, I am very sad to say, sometimes by abuse from humans. We don’t want to be confined, but we do want to be cared for.

It is then, a mixed bag when we end up in our local shelter. It’s warm, we get medical care, good food, and, in most cases, a second chance. But we do sit in smallish cages and wait…it can be agonizing at times. Certainly, there are bad places that pretend to be shelters, run by unscrupulous people with no honor. The majority of shelters, however, are run by people with big hearts and good intentions who know how to pull in the knowledge and expertise to care for their animals well. I was lucky enough to land in one of these and my debt to the good folks of the Sauk County Humane Society is great.

You note I don’t use the “P” word. It’s just that my friends and I feel that we aren’t here solely for the enjoyment of humans. We think our lives – simple seeming though they may be – have an integrity of their own. No offense, but “pet” seems so much based on ownership. We’d rather be your friends. So I choose companion animal…longer but basically more respectful.

Okay, so what’s my point?

I’d like you to celebrate Diesel Day with me. If you have a furry friend in your life, if you ever have had such a friend, if you know someone who depends on an animal companion, if you’ve smiled at a dog with its person, or a cat laying in someone’s lap, or a Mynah bird’s bawdy language, or if you simply enjoy this blog, it is a good time to give something back.

I’ll be sharing part of my story with you later this week. The upshot, though, is that I wouldn’t be here without the good people at the Sauk County Humane Society. They rescued me, they made sure I was healthy, and they worked like crazy to find me a home. And they found me the home beyond my dreams.

Please consider supporting the lives of misplaced animals and the good people that work to keep them healthy and find them homes. I am hoping that you might take the time to do one (or more) of the following this week in celebration of Diesel Day.

1/ Make a donation to the Sauk County Humane Society - $5, $15, $50 or, better yet, $150 buys food, medical care, toys, pays the electric, heat, and other overhead and ensures the shelter has the staff it needs to run efficiently. I urge you to write and send a check on or before Saturday 26 May and note on it that you’ve contributed in celebration of Diesel Day – believe me, they remember me.

2/ Donate a HUGE bag of food to the Sauk County Humane Society. You know how I love food! I ate many bags when I was there. They serve Purina Cat and Kitten Chow. Take it right in and tell them you brought it in celebration of Diesel Day.

3/ Find your local shelter, go in, and ask them how you can help. If money is as tight for you as it is for them, consider volunteering an hour a two a week cleaning, working with records, or helping with the animals. You could even join the Board if you have that set of skills. Tell them a certain ex-shelter cat sent you.

4/ Ask your veterinarian if they support a local shelter by donating their time to help care for the animals there. Tell them it is important to you that there is a network of animal health care professionals supporting the local shelter. My Wisconsin vet, Mara, gave me a free first visit – complete with shots – because my person adopted me from the shelter.

Remember, most shelters are 501(c) 3 not-for-profit charities. They run entirely on donations – which are, for the money-minded among you, tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

I promise I will not be hitting you up like this very often, but I do hope you will act. I still have extended family in Wisconsin and, you never know, you may be directly aiding a furry cousin of mine…another future feline blogger.

Giving away without regret is one of the most important things a being can do. You’ll be amazed at what comes back to you. Granted, it is a crap shoot…someone might give you back some really ugly toy with no catnip in it…but you gotta try.

The Sauk County Human Society can be reached at:
618 Highway 136
Baraboo, WI 53913
(608) 356-2520

Tell them Diesel sent you.