Tycoony & Freaking...a little

Picture: Lovey loving on Tycoon Kitty, Cooney wondering why I'm flashing this thing at him and won't let him go back to sleep.

This is the final week of prep for the marathon. I have my menu all planned out and groceries purchased, except for fresh fruit of course. I'm starting to freak a little...will it rain, SNOW? How will my legs be since I have been sick the past few weeks? Will I hit the wall at 20? 21? At all? Will the whole race be like the wall? Will I meet my goal time? Will I throw up at the end? Will anyone be there to see me finish? How steep are the hills? Will I need to walk up them? What if I trip? What if I need a short sleeved shirt part way through? What if my shoes get wet? See what I mean? Yup, I'm freakin.

Anyway, I've been doing some things for Paw Prints to prepare for the craft fair in November. It's going to be really cool...we have some neat things so come down...it's all for the cats we have- nothing is taken for overhead.

I wanted to write the story of Tycoon Kitty, Tycoony, or Grandpa as we call him. My friend, a high school classmate, works for a dog rescue in Des Moines, so she totally gets the animal loving thing. Her brother is going through a divorce and took his 14 year old cat to live in an insulated shed at his parent's house. My friend saw him looking out the shed window meowing to himself, so she called me. That's no way for a cat to live. No matter what. I couldn't really do anything at the time, but just couldn't stop thinking about him and how he must have been thinking "what did I do wrong?". A few weeks ago, we brought him HOME. He lives with the other fosters in our basement (it's finished) and seems to be pretty happy. I did mistake his emotions and thought he was playing and found out the painful way that no, he wasn't, and he didn't appreciate my hand on his head. He walks around a lot but when I come downstairs several times a day, he comes walking over. He also needed some help with the litter box situation. After I put it where he was going, he decided to just go in it. Hopefully that continues when I move the thing back. I pick him up a lot and he curls up in my arms and he purrrs and kneeds his clawless paws. That reminds me, Goldie is now declawed. I couldn't take the shredded carpet....I digress.

So our new family member is getting along just ok. That's a LOT of adjustment for an old cat to make...home to shed to other home to other home to other home with tons of kittens wanting to play with tail. He's relatively grumpy if he gets upstairs, but I think it's almost just desserts for Goldie, who spent months chasing other cats.

My lecture of the day is...if you take the responsibility to adopt a pet, you don't try and fit them into you life...you do it. It's like having children. Your new landlord doesn't take pets? Find a new landlord. What would you do if they said no kids, just let Grandma take the kids for your convenience? It's not right, not fair, and extremely selfish. So here is Paw Prints, taking care of the animals that YOU committed to but just decided that something else came along. And by the way, Grandpa cat hadn't been to the vet in 10 years, and had ear mites so bad that his ears were full and all misshapen, as you can see in the picture. End of lecture.

Tycoony is happy, healthy, well fed, loved, and warm. Thanks Paw Prints, I couldn't have done this without you! (My friend wouldn't have known I was into rescue so he would still be living in a glorified shed.) Thanks Court, for loving him enough to know what's best for him and for asking for help!