This weekend has been very weird. Started out by taking the tortie over to the spay/neuter clinic. Come to find out, she's already been spayed but not eartipped. Which is... odd. They get me a slot at a local vet while she's still coming around, because she has dead tissue in her mouth that's turned black. They fear cancer. I get over there, and the vet sees me just as she's starting to realize that, "Hey. These are humans. I don't like humans." But she's not at the hissing point yet, so that's good. The vet says the spot in her mouth is probably an eosinophilic ulcer, which happens when the cat's allergic to some food it's getting. She'll lick the spot that itches until basically the tissue dies. And it just keeps happening until she gets on hypoallergenic food. He gives her a cortisone shot. I take her back to my place to recover and order some hypoallergenic kibble online.

The plan was to trap McNugget and Sundae last night and take them to the clinic this morning. Not so much. I get the traps set up, head back to the car. A car pulls in next to me and the driver introduces herself and says, "We're trapping here tonight." She says she's the colony's caretaker. I've never seen her because she feeds at 2 a.m. Long story short, I gained a lot of perspective on what it means to be a crazy cat lady, and I've got a long way to go. On the plus side, they were trapping in an hour, so I pulled my traps in, ate dinner at McDonalds, and headed out when I saw folks with traps at the Wendy's next door. Met two expert trappers, one of whom lives right down the street from me. And I got to sit out in a field and watch a drop trap in action (think box and string), which was cool.

So this morning, I went over and let the tortie out. She waited for a sec before realizing she could bolt for the open door. My plan now is to go over and visit the colony whenever I have the time. I know they'll be getting their box full of 3 cans of food and half a bag of Friskies every night at 2 a.m., so I don't have to worry about them starving. But I can provide water and some beneficial food and make their lives a little better. Hopefully. Big thanks goes out to everyone who sponsored

a kitteh. And also big refunds to everybody but Liz, who picked da tortie and so gets a little refund.

This weekend's crazy really reminds me of how grateful I am for my friends and my own personal feline. Who needs a scritchin' right about now.