Cat Tales :: Part 1

Last Wednesday night, I took my puppy outside and heard a very distinct "meow" sound... uggh another cat/kitten got dumped. This has happened before. Twice actually. And I am NOT a cat person. I live in the country next to a creek so apparently people think its the perfect spot to drop of their unwanted animals. These people are wrong.
First it was a fully grown cat that apparently used to be a house cat. Whenever I opened the door - garage or house - it would try and sneak inside. SO not okay with me. A "neighbor" several miles tried to take it in. Two days later, it founds it's way back to my front porch. The neighbor was no longer interested in keeping this wandering cat so it went to the shelter. I honestly hope it found a nice home somewhere.
Then this past winter, we were outside playing with the dogs and heard a meow from the creek. A little while later a kitten wandered out. Not having a clue what to do (I have zero experience with cats beyond disliking them immensely), I called my aunt Flora and cousin Jamie (they love cats). They gave me some suggestions most of which I followed (I did not agree to bring the cat into my house though). Unfortunately the kitten got run over by a car the next day and I truly felt bad for the thing.

We have been (dumped) animal free for several months now. That is, until Wednesday night. Anyway, Mackie (the puppy) and I headed outside so she could go potty and I head a LOUD meow. Constantly. In fact, I am pretty sure I heard it inside my house before I went outside. Anyway, not being a cat person and being home alone at the moment, I grabbed a flashlight and golf club (not to hit it, to move the bushes if necessary), and followed the sound to my flower bed. The cat of unknown size, orgin and meanness was completely hidden inside a bush. I could not see it and to be honest, I was too scared to move the bush with my hand to really see it. Thankfully my knight in shining honor (i.e. the husband) pulled into the drive way just in time to save the day.
He was able to spot the cat and confirm that the scary mean cat was in fact a tiny kitten. He tried to grab it and it darted to another bush. I kind of tried to corner it but was still a little scared of touching the feisty and fast creature so it ran past me under the BBQ grill (it has a cabinet on the bottom that is about 3 inches from the ground). We couldn't get it out (and there was NO way that I would stick my hand in there to get scratch or whatever else cats do to people), so the humanitarian in me filled an old bowl with milk and a piece of bread and left it for the kitten. The next morning the bread was missing, the milk was mostly still there and the kitten was no where to be found. My thinking was as least we filled its stomach for its next leg of the journey (assuming that journey led it to a different house).
My assumption was a bit early... tune in tomorrow for cat tales part 2 of this __?__ part series... but in the meantime, what kind of bad experiences have you had with cats, strays or other unknown creatures?  Are you a cat person? 

Swagbucks!

I just signed up for Swagbucks and can not figure our why I did not sign up sooner! For those unfamiliar (like I was 1 week and 1 day ago), Swagbucks is basically a online network/program that rewards you for various activities you are already doing on the internet.

The easiest way to earn Swagbucks is to download the toolbar and to use their search engine (instead of using google). When doing searches you will randomly be rewarded with Swagbucks - I average winning 10 swagbucks every 8th time or so that I search.

So what do you do with the Swagbucks that you win? You visit the Swagstore and pick our prizes, gift certificates and more. After a week of searches a handful of other activities, I "bought" at $5 Amazon e-certificate for 450 Swagbucks. Based on my research, the $5 Amazon GC is apparently the most popular item in the Swagstore. Also in my research, I found bloggers that bought laptops, gaming systems, and their ENTIRE Christmas shopping list from the Swagstore.

Its fun, its easy, its free, and it can make money. If you are going to spend time messing around on the internet why not get paid for it? Sign up here if you are interested - and if you sign up, please use one of my links so I can get referral Swagbucks for you signing up!

Once you sign up, be sure to download the toolbar, without it you won't really get any swagbucks unless you really seek them out.

In full disclosure, sometimes their search engine is not a good as google - if I can't find what I'm looking for with my Swagbucks search, I just research in google. Also Swagbucks can suck you in and turn time into a black hole... there are surveys, games and lots more. You have been warned!