As you may know, we had 2 very sad events yesterday. My parrot, Einstein has passed away. Shortly after I came home from doing errands, I found him on the floor, already gone. He had no trauma. Steve and I will miss him very much. He was a joy and such a happy bird. We also lost little Purcell, the 4th kitten of the factory kittens. He did the same as the others--became very quiet, stopped eating and quickly passed. Thank you all for your kind words and for caring about Steve and me and this Rescue Center.
Rescue work is never easy, as you also know. Death is certainly a part of life. It's something we have to reckon with. It cannot be avoided. I have to look at each death as a stepping stone, a learning time and a time to realize what we do here. I have to be firm in my beliefs, no matter how hard it is. While some seem so unfair, these things still happen. So, doesn't that make it even more importnat to love while we can and don't hold back. Remember what Suzanne Clothier said: "Our grief, no matter how powerful it may be, is an insufficient measure of the joy we have been given.".
We have thanks to give:
Rebecca H and Willow from Australia--a Pay Pal donation in memory of the 2012 Rainbow Bridge cats and wishes for hope, love and peace
Ingrid S from Netherlands--a PayPal donation, for a Happy New Year
Gust from German--a PayPal donation in honor of the rescuer of Joyful
Jamielee J from PA--a PayPal donation to FFRC
Kuri T--a PayPal donation to FFRC
Lucy O--a PayPal donation to FFRC
Carla C from OR--a PayPal donation, in memory of Einstein
Philip P from NJ--a PayPal donation, in memory of Einstein and Purcell kitty
Looking for a way to build a really warm home for an indoor cat? Check out this site: pinterest.com/pin/6755468162905995/
Thank you to Goss. She has added a new design to our Zazzle account, with Derecho's picture on some items. These are really neat, in that, in his name is CH which represents that he is a cerebellar hypoplasia. The O in his name, Goss made into a heart, with our logo inside it. Really a work of art. Thanks, Goss.
The site is: zazzle.com/fofrescue/gifts?cg=196555081674609150 Click the small links under the products to see more options on colors, shirt materials, etc.
Joyful is a beauty. Slowly, slowly we take it. A little loving here and there. She will many times come forward to us for petting, but then all of a sudden, she gets scared. So, at that point, we just talk to her. This will take some time.
Gallant is making great headway with his burns. Lots of icky dead skin is now coming off easier and easier. He's having more free time to cruise about in Thumper's Room which he likes. He sure loves the attention.
That little JoeBob is something else. He's feeling much better which is resulting in lots of orneriness coming out in him. He has a true liking to tails. Cat tails, kitty tails--any tail that moves. He doesn't even mind if he gets swatted for doing it, from the cat. It's very enticing to him.
2012 Happenings!
(These are just a few of the memories!)
The first cat to arrive here in 2012 was Jacen, a black
male. Was adopted!
The last cat to arrive here in 2012 was Joyful, a white
Persian. Still here!
Here are a few cats that arrived during 2012—just to jog
your memory:
Niven Arrived 2/9
Angel Kisses Arrived 2/2
Maximillion Arrived 3/28
Hoops & YoYo Arrived
4/2
Dolli Anna Arrived 5/7
Bondi Arrived 5/7 (is now a resident)
Nemo Arrived 5/23
Kooper Arrived
7/9
Fiver litter Arrived 7/12
Chambo Arrived 9/20
Kimshi Arrived 10/19
Derecho arrived 7/4, about the time of the big Derecho
storm. What a time this was. Much of this area had no electricity, including
FFRC. We were without any electricity, land phone and water for 1 week. The second day on, we
borrowed a generator from Judy S that helped us with keeping the
refrigerator/freezer and a few lights and fans going. But, the temperature
would get into the mid 90’s every afternoon—so hot, so humid. People helped us
by taking laundry home, bringing ice, bringing water and stopping by to help.
On the 5th day, a special family to FFRC brought a second generator
to help us run a small air conditioner for the rescue area. The cats were so so
hot (as were the humans). This helped us tremendously. Derecho is now a
resident cat forever more!
We had our first Cookbook fundraiser (headed by Leenie) and
our new 2012 calendar fundraiser (headed by Shelley H).
We had 2 extra special
kittens arrive this year, Bravo and Pizazz who will never ever be
forgotten. Both carved a huge spot in all of our hearts.
We had a summer picnic for volunteers at Angie and Bill’s
house.
The 2nd annual Catathon was 6/24, a Sunday. A
huge success!
The 1st annual Catstock was 9/20, despite the
rain, we still had fun. Mike Chamberlin came all the way from California to
sing to us in the evening!
FFRC participated in the voting of The Animal Rescue Site.
We won the top prize of $5,000 and the Ohio top prize of $1,000.
Octavia is still with FFRC. While she still awaits her
forever home, she is sharpening her thievery skills. This year she earned her
Degree In Thievery!
Skittles! Our wonderful Skittles that we were privileged to
have here. She arrived after being lost in the woods in Indiana for 6 weeks. We
had her for 2 weeks while she regained her strength and then flew with her to
reunite her to her mom in Reno.
We have a total of over 5 MILLION views on our kittycam! The
number is 5,366,509!
We have 955 members on our facebook chatters page
We have 377 members on our FFRC facebook page
There are 25 admins for our fb chatters page.
There are 20 mods for our kitty cam.
November 26 was when Mike Chamberlin revisited FFRC from
California to introduce a special CD that he made, just for us!
Our major improvements:
*Cemented the Parking Lot, including drainage to Kitty City
so KC wouldn’t flood again (this was a very long 3 ½ weeks of no parking on
parking lot!)
*Water line to Cat’s Cove, so we have water right to this
building
*Metal awning from FFRC to Kitty Kastle
*Our new Storage Room!
*Back porch was cemented
Our beautiful Miau--ready to be adopted!
