Journal of a Sabbatical

December 6, 2000

lockmaster

Adopt these cats at Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society

Today's Bird Sightings:
Plum Island
Canada goose (216)
herring gull (3)
northern shrike (1)
American tree sparrow (1)
northern harrier (1)
snow goose (2)
black capped chickadee (1)
Salisbury Beach
herring gulls and ring-billed gulls galore
northern cardinal (1)

Mammals:
harbor seals (13)

Today's Reading: Autumn from the Journal of Henry David Thoreau edited by H.G.O. Blake

Add locksmith to the list of second careers I've ruled out. It looks simple enough. Roy is fixing the lock on one of those metal file cabinets. Supposedly it wouldn't lock. Roy jiggles and fiddles and adjusts the bar on the inside of the drawer then tells me to push in the cylinder. I do so. "OK, now turn the key and it should pop right out," says he. So I turn the key. The cylinder pops out all right. It keeps right on going until it detaches from the mechanism inside the drawer and dangles from the hole. The cabinet is now locked. "We fixed it!" exclaims Roy. Boy did we fix it. We both double over with laughter. I catch my breath long enough to tell Barb we really need a locksmith before another wave of laughter overtakes both of us. Back at the sink among the dirty dishes Roy observes that it's a darn good thing we broke it otherwise nobody would've called a locksmith.

Miss Newburyport is in love with me. She rubs against my legs, head butts me, scent marks me, and then Miss "not a lap cat" Newburyport tries to jump into my lap! She can't quite get onto my knee so she leaps onto the table where I'm writing down notes on the cats to add to the web site. She scent marks my notebook, my pen, my camera... my head... She head butts me some more and I put the pen down to pet her. She purrs. Yes, Miss Newburyport, the old curmudgeon, purrs! Don't tell Wilbur.

Continuing my massive effort to get all the shelter kitties, even the shy hard to photograph ones, onto the web site, today I concentrate on some of the ones who've eluded me before. Ashley was here last Wednesday and I did try to photograph her then but she burrowed underneath her blanket and hissed at me. So today I try just standing there with the cage door open until she pokes her head out . She's small and Siamese and shy.

We're having another run of black cats. Black cats are tough to photograph. They just look like blobs with no features unless you get the light just right. Clancy's new and a kitten and very very black. Not a smidgen of white on him. He would rather chase the lens cap than look at the lens. Kendra keeps trying to get him to look at me but I think he wants to run around the office and explore. Scooter is another black cat, a longhaired 2 year old male who was given up. Scooter is a real lap cat. He is affectionate and friendly especially with adults and loves to be petted. Scooter likes to be the boss.

Kiwi's a new girl too. One who loves to play. Such a cute face! She likes being petted and didn't mind having her picture taken. There wasn't a whole lot of info on her cage card like age and whether she's a former feral or a surrender so I'll have to make stuff up. There are only so many ways you can say affectionate/friendly, timid but enjoys being petted, etc.

Molly's one of the shy ones who's been here awhile but I haven't been able to get a good picture of. I managed to catch her just after she captured a paper bag from Patches. Momentarily she runs to the other side of the room and helps Sandy knock over one of those carpeted kitty condos. It makes a huge thud and Patches runs to hide behind the credenza. Molly takes off in the other direction and Sandy stands around looking proud of his accomplishment.

Patches is one of the shy ones too, although all the shy ones are being lots bolder today. I wonder if it's the phase of the moon, the change in the weather, the situation in Florida (do cats care about politics?) ... Do they know that Heather II got adopted again (she's the one who got returned because she didn't get along with a kitten who was adopted along with her) because of her adorable picture on the web site and now they all want to be on the web site too?

And, yes, that is Stormy looking utterly blissful in the picture at the top of the page. Don't be fooled. She does not want a belly rub.