We did it!!! After two days of hard work and lots of preparation .... it's official .... Connor's Eagle Scout project is done. It turned out great!! The first day, with the help of a few very hard working scouts (and mom) .... he churned out two wooden shelters that we painted scout green. Also eight portable shelters made out of Rubbermaid containers and insulation. Today we delivered the shelters, cleaned up the area (pulling weeds and picking up debris) and planting hostas and blue bells. The boys and I went to lunch at "Dogs on Clark" while enjoying the air and water show and fighting traffic from the Cubs Game ..... oh by the way ... any of you Cub's fans may remember Ivy the cat who came out on the field .... she is a resident feral who now has been relocated to the TreeHouse ... we were on the look out for her.... but alas no celebrity sightings ...... :-(. Connor now has to write a summary of the project, a paper on life goals and what it means to him to be an Eagle, lots of signatures and a Board of Review. Then it will be official!!!

I wanted to thank a few people (I learned it does take a village!!!) for their help in our journey. Uncle Don for help in getting all the materials and cutting the wood for the permanent shelters, Mr. Amir for showing us how they went together (Connor and I didnt have a clue until he came over and made it look so easy ..... he is also who made my kitchen so beautiful) and giving us tools and nails to use, Mr Teetak (our neighbor) for coming over, helping and loaning us lots of stuff we didnt have and giving us some great advice, JC Lichts (Jason) for donating the paint and sandpaper, and the scouts who came over and worked so hard. A special shout out to Keven Vicks who worked both days and made the whole experience seem effortless with his easy going demeanor and casual conversation.

Although the Eagle Project is done ...... I still have lots of work helping the neighborhood kitties. My goals is to TNR most of them this fall......

Well .... I finally made my way over to Barb's and the situation is as dire as ever. I was hoping to find socialized and friendly kittens to find homes for ..... but sadly the kitties born under her couch now live inside her home and are as feral as the rest of her group. She still has alot of kittens outside that must have been too small for Ian and I to find when we did our sweep .... but after about ten weeks (the point of no return for ferals) .... there is little hope of socializing them. I tried to catch a few of them (scratching the heck out of my legs) ... but those little stinkers are fast. I now realize I must invest in some traps .... and when my schedule permits ..... catch as many as possible .... and TNR!!! Connor and I are making a few extra shelters and I plan on taking Barb to a workshop this fall on winterizing your feral cat colony.

Connor's Eagle project is scheduled for this Friday and Saturday. Friday we will be making two permanent shelters and ten portable shelters. Saturday we will make the journey to the north side of Chicago to the Tree House Humane Society (Tree House Humane Society - Chicago No-kill Cat Adoption Shelter). We will then clean up their parking lot .... plant Hosta's for the kitties ... and leave the shelters for their many colonies.

I've been trying to contact my neighbor Barb .... the feral cat lady. Everytime I have gone over to her home there has been no answer and I am always worried about her health and well being. She has been weighing heavy on my mind because I have promised to help her with her kitties and the last time I had spoken to her was when we took the kittens out of her yard (or was it when we took three of her cats to get TNR'd?) back in May. Anyway ...... I just spoke to her and plan on stopping by on Wednesday (my only day off this week). She still has five kittens that one of her ferals decided to surprise her with by sneaking into her house and giving birth under her sofa along with her many other kitties taking up residency in her home (plus her outdoor kitties). I am hoping to find homes for them or at least a shelter that can help us out ... kittens are usually fairly easy to place. We are going to set some dates to set out traps and take as many of her kitties to get fixed that we can. Sadly, she said her colony seems to be shrinking ..... although after chatting with some of my neighbors at my annual garage sale, there may just be more people feeding them .... we will never know. Garage sales are really wonderful at getting rid of stuff but also meeting interesting people and catching up with neighbors that I seem to only see once a year at my sales. I had a few cat items out and a very nice lady bought them and told me she rescued cats ....... well ...... of course I had to tell her my story about the ferals and Connor's project. She then related her story of how the police now watch her because she was caught with eighty-five cats in her home. The police told her she had forty eight hours to get rid of the cats or they would all be euthanized. She made lots of phone calls and found a shelter in Chicago Ridge that had just opened up a new cat wing, had no cats and took all eighty five of them...... funny how some things just seem to work out for people trying to do the right thing in the wrong way. I had a small little kittie sign that I had just bought in Arizona that said "that is Ms. Crazy Cat Lady to you" ..... it was the perfect size for a small spot in my mud room but before she left ..... I took it off the wall and gave it to her saying "this is really meant for you" ..... she left with a smile (and some really great stuff from the garage sale) ..... and a new friend that said she would help me out with the "neighborhood kitties". OK ... so now you are all thinking that I am becoming this crazy cat lady .... but crazy ... NO ... I have been an animal lover my entire life and see how a pet can change a person's life. I just got a phone call from a girl who was interested in adopting one of my kittens ..... she had come over to see them and I told her "you have to take at least two" ...... especially with kittens, two are so much easier because when you are gone, they have each other to keep occupied and are not sooooo needy. She took two that night and had borrowed my carrier ..... so when she called me about returning my carrier, she told me how those kittens saved her life ... she had just gone through a nasty divorce, etc......... and was very lonely. Now when she gets home .... those two little kitties are there for her and absolutely changed her life. So I think ... my two little feral kittens .... who had no chance for any decent life ..... brought this girl so much happiness ..... OK .... I am feeling pretty good about this :-)

So now my son Connor who is a Life Scout in the Boy Scouts .... was looking for a meaningful project to accomplish for his Eagle... the kitties and helping the neighbor seemed ideal .... although the Scout Leaders felt like chasing kitties was not such a good idea .... we decided to help an organization that helps ferals and strays in the Chicago area. Tree House Humane Society is a cageless, no kill shelter that house approximately 300 kitties. As you walk the floors and hear the history of all these beautiful creatures .... most will probably live their days out in this shelter waiting for a family .... you can only hope and pray that some family will find it in their heart to take home maybe a bit of a misfit but so loving in spite of all the hard ships they have encountered in their life.

So now we are in full on mode of working towards constructing feral kitty shelters for the Tree House and cleaning up the back area of their shelter .... planting hostas for the kitties to relax, keep cool and hide in if needed .......

But of course .... working with a teenager is never easy ... stay tuned for our adventures on getting this project done by the time Connor turns 18 .... September 14 .... 50 days!!!!

The Story

I've decided to start this blog because I have been trying to help a neighbor of mine who has a feral cat problem. On any given day she probably has any where between 10 to 20 cats in her yard looking for food and a safe haven .... which she dutifully provides these beautiful but wild cats. A feral cat is not a stray .... they were born in the wild and have had no contact with humans except for the minimal contact of being fed. Someone who cares for these animals is called either a humane care giver or colony manager. My neighbor, who has become a bit of a hoarder ..... she now has about 10 to 15 cats inside her house along with all the outside creatures. She is a wonderful and caring woman who is a bit over her head with all the cats.

I told her I would help her out and at first, while trying to research feral cats, came across alot of negativity and closed doors. While going through the mail, I found an article in my Anti-Cruelty Magazine .... ok .. for those that know me, I am a huge cat lover ..... an organization called Allie Cat Allies that gave workshops on managing feral cat colonies. The only effective way to manage them is to TNR (trap, nueter and release) ..... any of these beautiful creatures that end up in shelters are doomed to be euthanized due to their inability to be placed in a home and tamed. They are similar to a racoon or squirrel ...... yet they look just like the average house cat.

My oldest son, Ian, and I went over this spring and plucked out six of the feral kittens we found in her yard .... determined to give them at least a chance. The kittens that were so frightened and hissey ... (some bit the crap out me) .... turned out to be the sweetest most loving ... human needing animals. We found homes for them and are so happy they are not destined to be wild cats roaming the streets of Oak Brook.