If you can't tell from the trees, then the cats are a sure giveaway. Cold weather has arrived in Minnesota.

I took these photos from the living room window last month. We had a brief period of cold weather that turned all the leaves. One of these days, I really should do a time lapse series from a fixed camera.



Since then, I saw sleet for about 20 seconds, I saw a dusting of snow, and my car slid twice on icy unsalted bridges during cold days. For the most part, though, we've had above-freezing weather during the days.

My car windshield got a nick a few weeks ago from a rock. I scheduled someone to repair the windshield with their magic resin, but 24 hours before they were due to arrive, the temperature sank down to the -13C/+8F range, and that single spot of damage cracked across the whole width of the windshield. I had the entire glass replaced that day. I see frost on my car windshield this morning, but the temperature is forecast to get almost up to freezing today.

The cats make it obvious that cold weather has arrived. Both cats enjoy sitting on top of my high-airflow computer case. The top panel is made up entirely of airholes (like the metal screen on microwave ovens), so all the heat from the electronics can flow upward and out. Here you see my old cat, T'Reese, enjoying the warmth from the silicon furnace.

A serious design flaw of this case is the top-located power button. You can't see it in this shot, because T'Reese is sitting on it. As the cats step up or down from this perch, they often hit the button and prompt immediate shutdown of my pc. Unhappy me. I've developed the habit of opening a Notepad text document with nothing in it, just so it prompts me briefly if I want to cancel the shutdown or not. It gives me the seconds that I need to halt the shutdown before I lose my pc game or browser window.

T'Reese also has the habit (only during cold weather) of laying down in bed at night at my feet. She started doing that again last week. Not to be outdone, Hope has learned to cover herself in blankets by digging and rolling.

I enjoy winters in Minnesota when the snow arrives late.  The problem with snow here is that it lingers on the ground for months.  The snow usually doesn't begin disappearing from the ground until March or April.  If snow first arrives in October, then it makes a very long and dreary winter of the bland, bright, snowy landscape.  It's almost December this year, though, and still no snow pack on the ground.

I keep saying it, but global warming will be good to Minnesota.

Here are pictures of my cat, Hope, in a variety of poses.





I like these two because they show off her white upside-down-T on her chest and her Egyptian-mascara black streak off of each eye.


Stop playing pc games, and turn off that light!


I'll explain more later on why I took this series of photographs.

It's been such a very long time since I last made a Furry Friday post.

Animals:

Wrigley is a natural lap cat.  He has very long, white hair.  It develops quite a bit of static when you pet him, but he does like petting.  During the times that I have visited him, he eventually crawled up into my lap for more contact.  Being a large cat, he makes for a very warm cover in cold weather.  He tolerates another cat in the room with him, so he might make a good choice for a multi-cat home.

Paris shares the same colony room with Wrigley.  She isn't aggressive, but she does get hissy if another cat comes too close.  By herself, however, she's extremely friendly.  She pursues people for friendly attention, and she especially likes getting rubbed along her neck.  She appears to have some sort of eye condition that keeps her right eye partly closed.  I don't know the details on it, but it doesn't seem to affect her health in any noticeable way.  If Paris is kept as an only cat in the household, I think her demeanor would fit well with persons of any age, young or old.

Corky is also very friendly.  His brindle coloration is very pretty, and it doesn't show up well at all in this photograph.  While I was petting Corky, even the volunteer came up to me and mentioned his coloration.  Corky didn't join in the barking while other dogs in the kennel were worked up about something, so he seems to have a laid-back personality.  That personality trait might make him suitable as a companion for persons of any age.  I thought he was adorable, so I'm surprised that he hasn't already found his new home.

At the time of this writing, all three of these animals were available for visitation and adoption at the Golden Valley facility.

While bicycle commuters may be familiar with delays caused by weather or construction, I think maybe I've found a new and interesting obstruction.  I've worked at AHS for 3.5 years, and this occasion is my first encounter with solo dog exercise.  Normally they take animals outdoors for a run around the park area.  This animal must have been a special needs case because of either health or temperament.

I park my bicycle indoors at the corporate garage and dock area.  It's a very large space that can accommodate large vehicles, several trailers, and many pallets of animal food.  During humane investigations cases that involve seizure of large numbers of animals, we keep the overflow in temporary cages set up in this area too.

I finished work for the day, changed clothes in the locker room, then went down to the garage to get my bike for the commute home.  I ended up having to wait another 10-15 minutes until the garage space was free.  I'm not complaining.  Animals get the right-of-way in the shelter.  I'm amused more than anything else.  :)

I've still been neglecting Furry Friday posts.  Sorry about that oversight.  My stress level has gone down a bit, but animals are still moving through our shelter to adoption so fast that I don't have time to learn their personalities very well before they're already out to a new home.

Here's a rabbit that I met about 4 weeks ago.  I noticed the remarkable fur right away.  When I found time for a quick visit, I also discovered a very friendly personality.  Of course, this animal got adopted a day or two later.

It's a little hard to see in this photo, but maybe you can notice the sunburn on my forearm?  That's from my early days of commuting by bicycle.  I never did burn badly enough to peel skin, but I do have a nice dark tone now that I'm unaccustomed to having.  Most people in this cold climate have typical pasty pale skin.  *laugh*

I can't even remember the last time I did a Furry Friday post.  I have two reasons for that oversight.  First, the bad reason is that I've been burned out (see other recent posts).  Second, however, the very good reason is because animals have been adopted so quickly that I simply haven't had time to get to know them before they find homes!  At a recent employee meeting, they shared with us some year-to-year comparisons for the month.  Last year, the average cat spent a whole month under our roof before finding a home.  This year, that average time is already down to just one week.  The improvement has really been that dramatic.

We've reduced prices to help get more potential adopters matched up with new pets.  We've gone to intake only by appointment to help keep animals in homes before coming here.  We've changed to doing initial health and behavior exams during the intake appointment, so animals can be immediately approved for placement on the adoption floor rather than waiting in stressful crowded cages for their turn.

All of these changes have reduced both length-of-stay and also euthanasia rates by large amounts.  It's all very good for the animals.  It means that our cat rooms are no longer filled with animals waiting long times for a new home.  It means that my initial reason for spotlighting some lingering animals is now gone.  That's a good thing.  :)

(Totally unrelated, but a patch to one of our databases didn't go well tonight.  A few minutes ago, I filed an urgent bug report with the developers so we can get a quick fix made.  I can't remember right now if previous patches ever went bad.  Here's hoping that it's not something I did wrong.  Argh!  Time for some sleep before getting up at dawn to face another day.)

Hope needs encouragement, at least in the beginning.  She seemed not to eat or drink on her own, but only while I was there with her to comfort her.  She would eat a few bites then come back to my lap for petting.  After some reassurance, she would return to the food bowl for a few more bites.  Repeat the cycle until the meal was finally done.  It was slow but dependable progress.

Sometimes, a little shit is a good thing.  I last saw Hope vomit on Thursday, the first day that she came to stay in the basement here (the day also pictured in this first photograph).  She had diarrhea too.  On Sunday I finally saw solid stool formations in the litterbox.  I guessed the dewormer and penicillin were doing some good.  Her appetite and strength have improved considerably after these milestones.

Specialized attention may still be helpful, though.  In spite of all her progress, I wasn't seeing her drink any water.  I ran a stream of water from the showerhead into the bathtub, causing a small rivulet of water to flow down the center.  After some investigation, Hope finally lapped up a few drinks of water from the stream.  I went to the store to buy one of those electric water dispensers.  It maintains the illusion of fresh running water.  After first install, Hope drank for about 20 seconds to refresh herself.  Mission accomplished.  No more worries about her recovery.

Jealousy is a many splendored thing.  T'Reese hears the mewing through the basement door, she sees me taking smelly food to the noisemaker, and she guesses that I'm spending my time doing something terribly, wonderfully interesting on the other side of that door.  T'Reese has been a lot more vocal and attentive lately when I come back up to tend to her needs too.  She's still no lap cat, but she seems to intuit that her hulking food dispenser is sharing bounty with another beast.

Hope benefits from attention.  Hope has improved so much during the last week that she's become the stereotypical energetic kitten (pictured here playing with my belt).  When I release her from behind the cardboard wall, she darts around the basement, pouncing on every dark spot in the tile floor.  I don't know yet if she recognizes me as distinct from the other humans in the household, or if I'm just her hulking food dispenser too.  Unlike T'Reese, Hope is very friendly with everyone.

While I was gone at work, one of my roommates took this video of Hope escaping her cardboard prison.  Much different from the nearly dead kitten that I saw delivered to the shelter only a week earlier.


Now, off to shower before I'm late for work this afternoon.

Yes, I'll be taking a break for a while.  I'm not sure when I'll be back reading and posting.

Animal: A friendly siamese mix appeared in the big colony room this week.  Wicket is a 3-year-old neutered male. Quite friendly with both people and other cats, zhey would be a good addition for any home. Wicket enjoyed lots of petting but wasn't as happy about being picked up.  I don't usually see siamese with such dark coloration, but it looked really nice on this slender guy.

As of this writing, Wicket is still available for visitation and adoption at our Golden Valley facility.



I did my best to capture of photo of Wicket rubbing against my fuzzy chin.  Kind of blurry, though.

Story:  I dramatically misread a human this week, or I could have been a bit more helpful.  I drove out to the east metro to replace a bad pc.  The pc desk in the exam room was crowded because a group of young visitors were there getting a nice tour and demonstration.  I stood out of the way to wait until they finished.

Someone had a young cat on the exam table and was showing everyone how we give animals their id microchip.  (No actual insertion was involved, just mimicking of the process.)  I noticed one youngling acting strange, so I started watching that human instead of the cat.  I was thinking maybe zhey was "just like me", so I thought nothing of it when zhey turned aside to face the wall alone.  Yep, just like me as a kid. When zhey seemed to trip and fall, again I thought "just like me", none too graceful or coordinated.

My mistake.  Nearby adults got involved, and that's when I came to realize that the poor little one had fainted after succumbing to all the unfamiliar sounds and smells and ideas.  I've fainted before, and I remembered that when my mind is out of phase, a drink of very cold water helps to snap my attention back into focus as the sense of coldness travels down through my body.  So I went on a hunt for iced water.  It took a while, and it was a small adventure to wash a cup clean and gather the ice while in an unfamiliar building, but I finally got it to the adults and child.  I hope it was useful to them, even if it was rather late to arrive.

Animals:  I've found a natural lap cat.  Sophie is a bit of a runt, somewhat on the small side for 1 year of age.  This spayed female is a shorthair mix with fur that is mostly white.  Very friendly and with a loud purr, Sophie will make a great companion for a person of any age that's looking for a close friend.  I've never seen zhem hissy with the other cats in the colony room.  More the reverse, actually, I've seen Sophie reach out slowly with a paw trying to touch another cat on the shoulder.

In the same colony room, Puma was actually the first animal to approach me and climb to my lap when I sat down.  What I noticed right away was the very soft fur.  Around the shoulders, the black fur is as silky as a rabbit's.  This middle-aged (5.2 years) female is pleasantly friendly with humans but has some issues around other animals.  The paperwork cautions specifically about sharing space with dogs.  Even in the colony room, however, Puma dislikes having other cats approach too closely.  Not one to actively seek out trouble, Puma will still get hissy if anyone else crosses into zheir personal space.  I think Puma should go to a home where there are no other animals to require sharing food bowls or the adoration of humans.

As of this writing, Sophie and Puma are both available for visitation and adoption at our Golden Valley facility.

How You Can Help:  I ran across another story at work this week about a cat brought to us after zheir owners moved away and just abandoned zhem outside the door to the apartment complex.  I think it was a neighbor who brought the cat to us.  Please, if you see domesticated animals without a human caretaker, take just a little time to exercise some responsibility yourself.

It doesn't mean that you have to take the animal into your home.  Cities in warmer climates have spay-then-release programs that would be good for roaming critters.  Here in the frozen north, however, you'll probably need to bring the abandoned animal to your nearest shelter system.  Bring animals in sooner rather than later.  Healthy and friendly animals have a better chance at placement than injured, ill, or ill-tempered street fighters.  When freezing weather arrives, I start seeing animals on our adoption floor with missing ear bits and tail bits... I assume from frost bite.  It makes me wonder about the other animals that didn't survive the harsh lesson of winter.

Story:  I haven't been posting much of anything lately, somehow distracted by nothing of great import.  How did I miss a whole month of Furry Fridays?  Well, at least there was this one incident last week that's worthy of sharing.

I was walking the hallway downstairs (separated from the adoption areas that are upstairs) after dealing with printer problems in the Exam room when I heard a sound sort of like a human child cry but not exactly.  It had the right pitch and volume but wrong timbre and duration.  I looked around and saw someone walking down the hallway with a large blanket.  I had a suspicion, so I dallied at the end the hallway before turning a corner...

The human reached the scale at the other end of the hallway and then lifted up the blanket.  Sure enough, a fawn was there.  Zhey was none too happy about the journey to getting weighed.  I don't know the story, but I figure our Wildlife department got the deer moved along quickly to volunteer rehabilitators who can care for injured or orphaned animals until they're strong enough to release back into the wild.  This job doesn' t pay much, but it does have its occasional perks with unusual surprises waiting around any corner.  :)

Animals:  Jem has been waiting at the adoption floor for a few weeks already.  The patch of skin and fur that's sloughing off at the shoulder probably doesn't help encourage human interest.  For those who are curious anyway, the further revelation of ear mites and additional medical treatments must chase off any remaining desire.  But truly there's a very friendly kitty waiting behind these inconveniences!

Jem is a 2-year-old spayed female with a pretty grey, yellow, and white coloring.  Zhey has been cautious but adorable every time that we've visited together.  I think Jem would be good in a home with people of any age.  Zhey likes lots of petting, although rubbing the ears does cause a flat-ear-and-head-shake reaction because of the uncomfortable ear problem.  I think that maybe a course of medication is provided during adoption, but the adopter does still need to apply ear medication until the problem is cured.

Also waiting a few weeks, Earthquake's stay on the adoption floor is a little more difficult to understand.  Not that you could tell from this crouched mug shot, but this 7-month-old neutered male is actually extraordinarily friendly.  (I'm guessing that the bow tie was unappreciated only because it was unreachable by paws.)  The name, however, is very appropriate.  With a purr that isn't easily heard but is very easily felt throughout zheir whole body, this active guy enjoys lots of play time.   Earthquake is very willing to cuddle and provide attention just to get a chance at bounding around the floor chasing everything that shakes and crackles.  I think that zhey would be great in a home with either kids or active adults.  Earthquake even seemed curious about the other cats nearby, although there were cage doors separating everyone so I don't know how well zhey tolerates other felines in close proximity.

Definitely a solo cat, however, is Summer.  I saw this pretty kitty and figured that even by the end of the day, zhey would be gone to a new home.  First day went by, and then second day went by... it must be the "only cat" designation that discourages human interest.  That's too bad, because Summer has been quite curious and affectionate with me.  I think humans of any age would do well with this wide-eyed wonder.  Soft and cuddly, Summer is a 1-year-old spayed female Siamese mix who deserves a home among humans that can provide a lot of attention.

As of this writing, Jem, Earthquake, and Summer are all available for visitation and adoption at our Golden Valley facility.

How You Can Help:  If you know someone trying to find a new home for their family pet, please do try to help them find a suitable adopter.  It's in the best interest of the animal to avoid the whole stressful ordeal of moving through any shelter environment.  If the pet can move directly from one home to another, without having to spend time among hundreds of other unfamiliar animals in a shelter, then there's less opportunity for disease transmission or stress related illness.  If someone asks you, then please just take a minute to sincerely consider options for where their animal could be placed.  Yes, your local animal shelter can offer a useful opportunity for someone's pet, but it might be better for the animal if a well-placed recommendation could find a pet a new home without involving the shelter system.

I usually sleep 2am-10am, so being at work at 7am made it a "caffeine day" for me.  :)  I was tuckered out by the time the day was over.  I came back home and slept afterwards.

The official news is that we exceeded our $1 million goal!  We had about 5,000 animals and 10,000 people.  We were billing it as the largest animal/person walk fundraiser on the planet, and I'm guessing that we succeeded there too.

Last year, I posted photos of the 2009 Walk from everywhere that I could find them, whether I took the images or not.  This year, since I actually had the opportunity to go outside and see the event near my building, I'll include only the collection of photos that I took with my camera.  Other people had photos of the horse, goat, baboon, guinea pigs, and other species, but most of what I saw was the traditional domestic animal.

Here are my Livejournal galleries:
http://pics.livejournal.com/mellowtigger/gallery/0002fr59 (26 images, Walk For Animals 2010, my photos)
http://pics.livejournal.com/mellowtigger/gallery/0001hsbr (26 images, Walk For Animals 2009, not my photos)

( Cut just to save 9 images from loading... )

Other public galleries include:
www.facebook.com/animalhumanesociety#!/album.php?aid=203820&id=35867734713 (Facebook, official page)
www.flickr.com/photos/animalhumanesociety/sets/72157623826653179/ (Flickr, official page)
www.flickr.com/search/?q=ahswfa&w=all (Flickr, user-tagged images)

It was fun and rewarding, but it was also stressful and I'm glad that it's over with.  It's grown so huge that I've recommended next year they move it out to the Minnesota State Fairgrounds.