A Strange Phenomenon

One of the strangest things that has happened in our lives has to do with FFRC (Friends of Feline Rescue Center) in Defiance, Ohio and their 24/7 webcam.

 Cyndi and I watch this webcam about 7 to 10 hours a day, not that we watch it constantly but it is on. In the time that we have been watching which is about a year and a half, we have seen little ones come and go, some are adopted into their forever homes and some don't make it. We are always elated when one of the kittens or older cats get adopted and goes to their new home. During the kitten season (which is between March and September) the center may have between 80 and 110 cats and kittens.

We have seen kittens come in and have been thrown from cars or maybe was sleeping under the hood and got hit by the fan and have had to have a leg amputated and they still get adopted. And some come in and they aren't strong enough and don't make it. These are the ones that are part of the phenomenon I'm going to discuss. It's amazing that you can see these cats and kittens come into the center and you watch them day after day and you learn their names and you look forward to seeing them every day. They make you laugh and they make you cry, some times happy tears and sometimes the other kind. And that's the phenomenon I'm talking about. You never get to hold these cats, you don't get to pet them, you never feel them purr and yet you love them. You love them to the point that when they pass away they just break your heart and you cry as if it was your own pet that you just lost.

We just had a very sad example of this just last weekend. Our little Bravo, a black 3 month old, small for his age, kitten. He was born with defects to his back legs. One was stiff and shooting kind of straight out and the other one was pulled in kind of tight and they both caused him some pain and they did nothing but get in the way. So the vets decided to amputate both legs. They waited until he was at least 2 1/2 pounds. While he gained weight he built up strength in his front legs. Strength enough that he could pull himself all over the center and he could go up and down stairs. He was a cute bundle of fur and all the volunteers at the center loved him as did all the viewers on the webcam. 

Well on Wednesday Aug. 15th Bravo had his surgery and when he came home he was yelling in a lot of pain but Jacci (the centers director) gave him some pain meds and took care of him that night. The next day he was not in as much pain and he was doing so good and he was actually walking with his two legs and he was actually lifting up his little torso and looking for his friends to play with.

No comes the sad part, that night just before midnight Bravo started to go down hill rapidly and Jacci tried everything she knew and was on the phone to the vet 4 times trying to save this little guy. But just a little after midnight he passed on and made his trip over the Rainbow Bridge. Now when Cyndi and I found out we just broke down into tears. This for a little black kitten we had never petted, we never held him and never heard him purr. How this happens I don't understand. I don't know why we could shed tears for this little kitten we never touched just watched on a webcam.

I'm sure this is also the same thing that others do when movie stars and singers or sports people have passed on and others that never really knew them cry also. A very strange phenomenon if you ask me.

Marriage and Gold Prospecting

John, my brother, got married to Sue Brown in 1976. For their honeymoon they went to Southern California, where they planned to go to Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm and all of the tourist attractions in Southern California. They also planned a trip to KEEN engineering, to buy a 3" suction dredge for us to use  for gold prospecting. But I get a little ahead of myself.

John and Sue got married on a Saturday 3 days before John turned 30. I tell everyone that he was 30 when he got married. The reason I say he was 30 is because as we were growing up I said that "My brother wouldn't get married until he was 30." He is not cheating me with three days. So he got married when he was 30.

They were married in a small church in Santa Clara. There were about 30 friends and family. Mostly friends because all of our family lived back east, most of them in Pennsylvania. Sue's family was there, about 10 to 15. It was a very nice ceremony with a little humor. Of course I had the job of helping John get ready. So when John wasn't around I took his shoes and with white shoe polish I wrote HELP. HE on the sole of one shoe, his left. And LP on the sole of the right shoe. Now when he knelt down, you would see HELP on the soles of his shoes. Now it was about 10 minutes before the ceremony and we were waiting in an area outside of the church. John was just pacing around and I was worried that all his pacing was going to wear off the shoe polish on the soles of his feet.

Finally it was time and we walked into the church and stood at the alter with the priest waiting for Sue. The wedding march played and Sue came down the aisle. She was beautiful and was taking her time. She was aware of the word on the bottom of John's shoe. We told Sue so that if there was any laughter she wouldn't panic. If she hadn't known and during the ceremony she heard them laughing or giggling she would have panicked thinking, her dress was torn, her hair was falling down,, something, so we gave her a heads up. She was a good sport.

Now we were at the point where we had to kneel. I was John's best man and Sue had her maid of honor and we also had to kneel when John and Sue knelt. As soon as we knelt,  I started to hear some giggling at the front of the church, and it slowly started to move it's way towards the back of the church. Pretty soon everyone was giggling, they were trying to keep the giggling to a minimum but it wasn't easy. And the most exciting part was that John put his feet side by side. It was great, no gap between the letters HE and LP. HELP looked like it should, all one word. I know the friend of ours that was taking pictures got a very good picture of the feet. I am sorry that I can't scan it and include it with this story but those pictures were lost during one of John and Sue's moves.

The reception was also small, we had it at one of Sue's friends house and we used the garage and back yard. We had a great time and the happy couple had a great time. After most of the formalities were done, you know, the toast, first dance, garter throwing, bouquet tossing and so on, John and Sue make their way to the back yard to open presents. They got everything they wanted. They didn't need a lot because they had been living together for a while and had a lot of their household items. After the presents were opened they were getting ready to leave. John came up to me and gave me the key to his apartment to check on things while they were gone.

Okay, now I had John and Sue's key to their apartment and they were out of town. What practical joke do I make on their apartment? Corn flakes in the bed? Naw, too messy and they're going to be tired when they get home from all that driving. There's jello in the bath tub...hmmm... too hard to clean up. The light bulb goes on and I have good idea. Not too messy and pretty easy to clean up before they could go to bed. What is it you ask? I got a gross of balloons. That's a dozen dozens, which is 144 balloons for those non mathematical sorts. So about a week before their scheduled return I started blowing up balloons. I blew them up at home, at work during breaks and lunch. I got my mom helping. I'd blow up a balloon and stuff it in a garbage bag. When I filled up one bag I'd get another. Some of my 144 balloons popped while blowing them up and some had a hole in them. But after filling about 6 garbage bags I went to their apartment. They lived in the same apartment complex as I did. They were across the grass area about 20 feet away. I grabbed all the bags by the top where they were tied closed. When I get in their apartment I start dumping out balloons, I filled up the bath tub, I put them in the bed and then threw blankets over them. There were balloons in the living room, the bathroom, the bedroom, all over the place. It was great! I had to be careful as I left their apartment so none would escape. Some of the balloons tried to get away but I didn't let them.

So now John and Sue were on their honeymoon and having a great time. They were planning to get home on a Sunday and they gave me a call just before they were to get home. They wanted to know if everything was okay and should they stop at the store before they get home. I said yes, you need milk and some butter and some other things. They get home and when they get in the apartment they can't believe their eyes. They bust out laughing and popping balloons. Now Sue wants to pick up the balloons and put them in a trash bag and then pop them, that way the balloon part is in the bag not on the floor or wherever. But John wants to open the dredge box and look at it. So he pops the balloons in the living room and then goes out to the car and gets the box with the dredge in it.

3" Suction Dredge

We were now owners of a 3" suction dredge. Now we could get some gold, we could move the loose gravel over bedrock 10 times faster then we could before. This would help us get more gold. Gold is the heaviest metal and it will settle to the bottom of a riverbed and the dredge will suck the gravel on top of it. The dredge will suck up the gold too and the gold will be caught in the sluice box attached to the dredge. That was our new piece of equipment and we couldn't wait to go out prospecting.


 Wait till I tell you the story about the frozen wet suit.

My Cat, Tiger

Tiger was the runt of three orange tabbies my cat Tumbleweed had. Tumbleweed was a female orange and white long haired cat that I bred with an all black male long haired cat named Charlie that I had also. When I decided that I wanted to let Charlie and Tumbleweed have kittens I started to ask friends and family if they would like to have a kitten from my two cats. I was able to find 5 homes before the kittens were even born. But when Tumbleweed had her kittens she had six. Three orange tabbies, 2 calicoes and one black cat with a tiny white spot on his chest. The calicoes and the black one were spoken for. I had 2 other friends that didn't care what color the cat was so they would take one of the tabbies and I decided to keep the runt of the three orange tabbies. 

I named this little guy Tiger. I'm just a sucker for that name for orange tabbies, I had another orange tabby when I was a kid that we named Tiger. Tiger was very affectionate and he loved to curl up in my arms when I would lie on my stomach on the bed and watch TV. He was always in the bedroom when I was in there. I would eat in my bedroom because that was where my TV  was. Tiger was taught not to eat off my plate. I could leave the room and he would not take anything off the plate. I could leave for a long time and leave anything, fish, chicken or meat and he would not touch it. 

But Tiger loved ice cream and when I would bring a bowl of ice cream in the bedroom it was fair game and he would dig in. Now I know some will be grossed out, but I would let Tiger and my other cats eat out of my bowl.  I would no sooner set that bowl of ice cream down and he was in it. That was my boy Tiger. I'm sure by now you've noticed that I speak about Tiger in the past tense. Yes he is gone and I can't wait to see him as he waits for me at the Rainbow Bridge. Yes I am a believer that our pets go to heaven.

So Tiger I will join you some time soon and we'll have a great big bowl of ice cream.  LOVE YOU BOY!

One of the coolest things to happen

This is another short story and it's about this laptop that I'm using. What I really want is a tablet, but this will be okay until I can get one. Now, how did I get this? First off it's an HP Pavilion with AMD Turion  64 Mobile Processor ML-34 (1.8GHz, 1MB L2 cache, up to 1600mhz system bus) 1024MB system memory, 80GB hard drive, Windows XP and 15" widescreen. 

On Thursdays I go to Anita's Knitting and Crocheting club and one day I was telling Anita that I want to get a tablet or a laptop because it's hard to sit at the desk and use the PC. Well, Anita said she would be right back and she went to her apartment and came down with this laptop. She said that she wanted a computer so she could play solitaire, but she wasn't using this laptop very much and it was a gift to her also. So passing it along to me was just paying it forward. And that's how I got this cool laptop. It was one of the coolest thing to happen to me except for the day we went out for brunch for my birthday. 


My birthday was on Monday, but I wanted to go out for all you can eat brunch. So we went out for brunch on the Sunday before my birthday. Cyndi and I invited our friends Alan and Jan to go with us. We were enjoying our meal and we had had a wonderful time. The food was great, the chef came by,  as did the owner. And finally the waitress came by and said, "I suppose you're waiting for your check. Well you won't be getting one. The gentleman at the table beside you paid for your meal. All four of you plus the tip. So you don't owe anything." We couldn't believe it and we don't know why he chose us but how cool is that? It must have been about $100.00. That has to be the second coolest thing to happen to me after the laptop.

A trip to the coroners office before I'm ready.

Let's start out with a disclaimer. This will not be very graphic but if your squeamish maybe you should skip  this story.

I have an AA in Law Enforcement that I got from De Anza Jr. College in Cupertino, Calif. One of my classes was Patrol Procedures and our instructor managed to arrange an autopsy for the class. Wow ,were we excited and everyone showed up. No one cut class that day. Not that anyone in this class cut class very often, especially me. The date was set and our instructor gave us the address where to meet him for our tour of the county facilities. The autopsy was going to be done at Santa Clara County coroners office. We had to meet our teacher so that we could sign in and get our visitor badges. After signing in and getting our badges we went down the elevator to the basement to the coroners office and their autopsy rooms.

As we entered the room there was a large table in the middle of the room. Obviously there was a body under the sheet that was on the table. As all of us gathered around, the person doing the autopsy told us that if we felt like we were getting sick or going to faint to leave the room. Our teacher had already had us buddy up so that if we did get sick or afraid that we might pass out, we had someone to help us. As our assistant coroner was ready to start he pulled off the sheet and exposed our victim to us. He was a male that was about 62 years of age. There was no known cause of death, that's why they were doing the autopsy. They did know that he died alone and that they knew he was an alcoholic and that was about all.

Not remembering the assistant coroners name I'll just call him the teacher since he was teaching us. He started out with an incision from just below the esophagus down to the belly button. This was to allow access to the innards. After the incision, he used an electric  saw to cut the ribs so he could get to the vital organs. After cutting the ribs out completely he then started to remove vital organs one at a time starting with the heart. The first thing is to weigh it and record that, then the lungs, then the next organs in their proper order which I don't remember. So far I am doing okay and only 3 girls have left the room. After removing everything and weighing them, and even slicing the liver, heart and some of the other organs, our teacher is going to examine the brain. He made an incision all the way around the head and then he brought the electric saw back out and started to saw the skull to gain access to the brain. This is when I lost it, I was getting dizzy and I was afraid I would faint or get sick. After leaving the room for awhile I felt better and I returned.

As the teacher got the brain out and started to slice it, he showed us things that indicated minor strokes and other things that were in the brain that I don't remember now. This was back in 1970 or 1971 so my memory is not the best. When I got back into the room, he was telling us things that they look for and showing us things that indicated that the man had died of natural causes. I was feeling fine and the info kept me interested. I really think that when he used the saw to cut open the skull, it seemed inhuman to me, even though he was dead, and that's what got to me. Really stupid to let that get you upset.

After it was all over I can say that it was the most interesting and exciting thing that I've ever been  lucky enough to see. I did finish school and I got my A.A. in Law Enforcement but I never became a policeman, because I could never make weight requirements. But I do not believe any education is wasted and I have been fortunate to have gotten an A.A. degree from De Anza College. I am very proud of my degree.

Another MOM story.

This is a short story, I think it's short. My mom had an unusual condition. She had the ability to take care of almost any crisis and then after it was over or if the doctor was present, she would faint. Here are some examples.

The first one takes place when I was about 4 years old and we still lived in Pennsylvania. I was out playing in the front yard on the sidewalk and I fell and landed on my knee. I had about a half inch cut and was bleeding a lot. I went crying into the house to Mom and she sat me down and she cleaned up the cut. She bandaged it and went into the living room to sit down. She was starting to feel light headed. I was still whimpering and I crawled up into moms lap as she sat on the sofa. As soon as I got up in her lap and laid my head down against her chest she passed out. Everything was over so she could relax and that meant she would pass out.

Now we're living in Calif. and my dad is diabetic and he takes insulin shots every morning. This was in 1955 and things were not as sophisticated as they are now and the only way they could test the diabetes   was by using urine. That was not very accurate to say the least. Anyway, this one morning dad hit a vein and his insulin went through his blood and that caused him to go into insulin shock. He went into convulsions and hit his head repeatedly on the kitchen floor. In his insulin shock, he got up and went into the bathroom and closed the door and fell against it. I could have  helped him by giving him something sweet, but I couldn't get the door opened. Back then we used Karo syrup, not orange juice as they recommend now. 

Mom was at work and she had just started her new job and I didn't know the number. My brother had gone to school already. It's good that I hadn't gone yet. I couldn't get the bathroom door open and I was scared, but, for a 6 year old, I didn't panic . I called the operator and explained my situation, and all I could tell her was that my mom worked for a milk company in Santa Clara. She started to look and the only milk company was Carnation Milk. That was it! The operator called and got Mom on the phone. She also called for an ambulance to come for my dad. I explained everything to Mom and she said she would be home in about 15 minutes.

Mom actually got home before the ambulance got there. She tried to get into the bathroom and she couldn't get in either. Finally the ambulance got there and the two guys were able to push the door open and move Dad. They got him up on the gurney and bandaged his head. He had a cut just above his eye from banging his head on the floor. Mom got some syrup in him and they took my dad to our family doctor's office. As they brought my dad into the office and to an exam room, our  doctor took one look at my mom and said, "We'd better take care of you first." So they got her to lie down on an exam table and gave her some smelling salts. Our doctor was able to see by my mom's color that she was about to pass out. See, the doctor was there and everything was going to be okay and my dad would be taken care of so Mom was no longer needed. Dad got 7 stitches from the head banging. One of the original head bangers.


The next story is about me again. Now I am 11 years old and John and I are in Boy Scouts. Well one summer day we had this wonderful idea to raise some money. Down the street there was an empty lot and there was a lot of wood and we had the idea to gather  up the wood to sell. Some of it had to be cut. Well, being Scouts,  John and I had our own axes that we got for chopping wood when we went camping. So we decided could chop up the wood so we could sell it. We stopped for a break. I had seen other people take the ax and stick it in the end of a log. Well that's what I planned to do but one problem, the piece of wood was only about 2 inches in diameter. Now this was way to small to make this work. But that didn't stop this know-it-all. So here I was in flip flops, which was my first mistake. I put my foot on this piece of wood and swung the ax and it ricocheted off the end of the wood and hit my foot just on the inside of the ankle. Boy did it start to bleed. I was screaming in pain and running home with blood all over the street. When we got home John called Mom at work, and told her what happened and she was on her way. John  knew that he had to apply pressure on the wound. It hurt but he had to do it. When Mom got home she bandaged me the best she could and off we went to the doctor's office. Once at the office and the crisis was over,  they made her sit down and have some smelling salts. Again, she knew everything was okay because the doctor was there and she would pass out. The way my foot was cut by the ax it couldn't be stitched, so I just got a bandage. Of course I have a scar, but I'm okay.


That was my mom in a crisis. She could take care of the crisis but once it was over she was useless.