There is a wonderful organization called Alley Cat Allies. I have a link to them already in the sidebar of this blog, but recent events made me want to promote them a little more.
Alley Cat Allies is a national non-profit organization dedicated to protecting cats. They mainly focus on humane treatment of feral cats and they get their ideas across through education and facts. I have to point out that they use facts because while they are definitely an animal welfare organization, they aren't crazy like PETA (have you seen PETA's "Kittens of the Sea"? Google it if you haven't. Its good for a laugh.). ACA is the organization that began the idea of Trap, Neuter, Return, and instead of me re-writing all of this, I'm just going to copy and paste a note that I posted on my Facebook page a few days ago, which explains the sad, recent events that sparked my idea of making Alley Cat Allies more well known.
Most people who know me know that I have a house full of cats. I know that there are a lot of people who probably think we're crazy cat people and some people who appreciate what we do. Every single one of our cats is our own rescue. None of them came from a shelter. They all just wandered into our lives somehow.
My first cat was Wendy, and she arrived in my life via my old roommate who found her at her old apartment complex. (actually to be completely accurate, my first cat was Misty, but she bonded with my dad almost instantly and she quickly became his cat and not mine.) I wasn't a cat person until I got Wendy. I didn't dislike cats, but I really never gave much thought to them until I suddenly had a very sick stay cat on my hands. By nursing Wendy back to good health I started to realize that cats are actually very affectionate animals and very loyal to their owners. I always imagined them being snobby and aloof and while thats true to a point, they are also very, very loving pets.
After Wendy, I got Patches. She is actually Thomas' cat, and we found her living at a beer brewery in San Antonio, Texas. She was walking from table to table begging for food and when we asked the waitress if she had a home, we found out that she was a stray being fed by the brewery and the staff there would be thrilled if we took her and gave her a good home. So Thomas "claimed" her and took her home.
Shorty after that, Cledus arrived in our lives. He was a very tiny, very sick abandoned kitten. He lived for only 8 months :-(. He came into our lives with a horrible upper respiratory infection but we managed to get him healthy from that. Then right after Christmas in 2007, Cledus suddenly got very sick, very quickly. I was home in New Jersey at the time and we rushed him to an emergency vet, where he tested positive for leukemia (he had tested negative months earlier). Leukemia is possibly the most traumatic of all cat diseases in the sense that a cat can carry it for years and be fine, but when it hits, it hits hard and fast. By the time we found out that he was sick, it was too late to save him and we opted to have him euthanized that day. We were both so upset and I cried for days.
Since that day I have heard from many other people that while cats can die from a variety of different illnesses, leukemia is by far the worst, simply because of the way it comes on so suddenly and so unexpectedly. Our vet here on Whidbey, who has been a vet for many, many years, even told us that he's had cats with leukemia and its possibly the worst disease to go through, and he wouldn't wish it on anyone. Cledus' death from leukemia is what brings me to the point of this post.
Until this point I hadn't become a crazy cat lady yet. However, I was so upset and traumatized by his death so I set out to research feline leukemia. While researching it I came across a lot of information for something called "Trap, Neuter, Return (TNR)" It was something I had never heard about before, but something that I now fully support. I'm sure almost everyone has seen stray cats wandering around at some point in their lives, and I'm sure people have heard of animal control coming out to collect and kill these strays. Well, recent research has proven that trapping and killing is a completely ineffective way at managing the feral cat population. I didn't know that. I never liked the idea of killing cats, but at the same time it made sense to me that if there were too many strays wandering around, then trapping and killing them was a way to lower the population. I was wrong and so were they.
If you google "Trap, Neuter, Return" you'll find lots of articles and information about how this has been proven to be the only humane, effective way at managing feral cat colonies. The ASPCA and the Humane Society of the United States support TNR. Shelters all over the entire world support and promote TNR and if you read the information, it will actually make sense as to why this is the most effective thing. I could launch into a discussion hours long about why I also support and participate in TNR, but if you google it, the info on the first page you find will speak for itself.
After Cledus died we went back to Jacksonville where we had some feral cats living around our apartment complex. By this point I had decided to set out on a mission to save the cats of the world from feline leukemia. I can't save every cat in the entire world and I know that, but I can at least help some. A spayed/neutered feral cat has less of a chance at contracting feline leukemia because it isn't a cancer in cats, its a virus spread by the saliva in bite wounds and blood. Sterilized cats are less likely to fight and therefore less likely to spread this disease around. We found out that Jacksonville has a city wide program that helps people with TNR. At this point we found out that lots of cities all over the whole country fund TNR programs. So we trapped 2 feral cats, had them spayed, and then decided to socialize them. Most feral cats are too wild to be socialized but if they are caught young enough, they are more likely to become friendly cats. It took us a while, but we succeeded. We kept one of the cats and found a great home for the other one. We also trapped a 3rd cat, who was friendly from the start, and she was also pregnant. She only had 1 kitten and we still have that kitten (who is 2 years old today!) We found her a good home, but Thomas was pretty attached to the kitten and wouldn't part with him :-). And finally before leaving Jacksonville we trapped a 4th cat who was very battered and beat up, but also VERY friendly and loving, so we kept him too. The point of TNR is to release these cats back outside, but at the same time, we didn't feel it was ok to release friendly cats back outside when they had the potential to be good housecats.
Then we moved to Washington where we helped another lady trap and neuter some cats living under her house. Then somehow along the way more ferals and strays found us and we ended up with 10 cats of our own. Then finally we ended up with 6 feral cats living in our backyard. Its like we have a sign on our heads that says "All cats are welcome here!" The cats in our backyard were young, but already completely feral. We trapped 2 of them and had them spayed, and we were planning to do the same with the rest, until they suddenly disappeared about 2 months ago.
Yesterday (March 28th) we received the sad news that the cats were found dead in our neighbors backyard, where they had also been living. The neighbor suspects that they were poisoned and she is pretty sure she knows who did it. This was so heartbreaking to me, especially since I've become such an advocate of TNR. I'm not stupid. I know not everyone likes cats. But at the same time, there are animals that I don't really like (small yappy dogs and ferrets are what I can think of at the moment) but it would NEVER cross my mind to kill them! One of our neighbors has a little yappy dog that drives me insane, but the thought of poisoning it would simply never cross my mind. In fact, as much as that dog annoys me, if it was hurt or injured or sick, I wouldn't even hesitate to take it to a vet, because thats just simply the RIGHT thing to do! I don't feel like you have to be a crazy animal rights activist (ahem...PETA) to even see how wrong and how heartbreaking this is. My own mother hates cats, and will admit that, but even she can't believe that someone would poison them on purpose.
I can't do anything to save these cats, even though I originally tried to, but I CAN promote TNR a little more and at least make people aware that it exists. There are also deterrents to keep cats out of your yard if they are really driving you crazy. Heck, when I was growing up there was a groundhog that lived underneath our shed that drove my dad crazy because it ate all of our flowers, but did he ever think to kill it? No! Because thats just not what you do! Alley Cat Allies is one of the main supporters of TNR and you can find lots of information, including local programs to help through their website.
I just want people to know that you don't have to love cats. But there ARE ways to deal with them and maybe if more people understand the benefits of TNR then they will be more likely to support it. TNR IS effective and if more people know that then maybe less people will be inclined to kill innocent animals. Several states, including Washington have made animal cruelty a felony. If the person we suspect is found guilty of having killed these cats, he can go to jail. Thats not some crazy animal rights group making that law. Its state lawmakers. The fact that its even a law shows that its not just groups like PETA that support legislation against animal cruelty. Alley Cat Allies has been very effective in getting local lawmakers to understand the benefits of TNR and they have started education programs around the country to encourage the use of TNR. TNR is also something practiced world wide and in the case of an organization called Save a Gato is even supported by the National Park Service. If you check out the website for Save a Gato they have links to other TNR sites around the world. The numbers speak for themselves. I've always been an animal lover, but even I didn't understand until recently just HOW effective TNR really is. I feel like if more people were aware of it, and more people understand how great the benefits are, then maybe people like my neighbor won't find it necessary to kill innocent animals :-(.
I've always silently supported TNR, but after finding out that our own feral colony was killed by some horrible person, I think I'm going to make more of an effort to make people aware of it now. Hopefully some of you reading this will actually check out the links to Alley Cat Allies, Save a Gato and simply google "Trap, Neuter, Return" for more information.
The really sad thing is that Mr. V and I reported the cat killings to the police (on behalf of the neighbors too), and they promised to help us and reassured us that it was in fact a crime to kill animals intentionally in Washington state. He passed the case on to animal control and an officer contacted us this past Monday. Let's just say that we found out very quickly that neither the police nor animal control cares at all about what happened. In fact, they tried to turn it around onto us and accused us of breaking the law by having too many pets, who weren't registered with the city, in our backyard. The animal control officer also told us that TNR is illegal here (which we researched and it isn't true) and he came up with excuses as to why it was ok to kill the cats. My personal favorite was "Old people don't like when cats poop in their yard." Really??? Its nice to know that no one here cares enough about animals to do anything about this. I wouldn't care so much, except that Washington law states that killing domestic animals (and feral cats are considered domestic animals) is illegal, but apparently the law enforcement here doesn't care about that.
I contacted Alley Cat Allies and they will be sending me information to give to people about TNR. I know it may not fix this situation, but maybe it can help change someone's mind. I used to think that killing cats was the only way to control the feral population. I didn't like it, but I thought that it was what worked. All it took was me reading Alley Cat Allies website one day and doing a little research of my own for my mind to be changed. So even if one person changes their mind, to me that will be worth it.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
I'm in love...
Well maybe not in love. Its more like a new obsession. After being fortunate enough to go to the Olympics I am now obsessed (i.e. fascinated and impressed) with ice dancing and specifically Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, the Canadian ice dancing pair who won the gold medal in the Vancouver Olympics.
I have always loved watching ice skating, but until this year, I never paid much attention to ice dancing. In fact, I was actually upset that I had to get tickets to the ice dancing because I really wanted to go see the normal pairs skating. However, I was in New Jersey when that was going on, so I settled for ice dancing tickets instead. I wanted to see some type of Olympic event. The ice dancing tickets were affordable, plus I like "normal" figure skating, so it was a good compromise.
The result is my new love of ice dancing. My friend and I had an AMAZING time at the Olympics. Just being there, being able to say we were there, seeing all the Canadians decked out in maple leaf hats, flags, Canada tattoos, etc was exciting in itself. But then we got to the actual event. It was a lot of fun, but I can honestly tell you that I had almost no idea who was skating. The only ice dancers I had ever heard of were the Russian couple (and I can't even tell you their names offhand) who won the bronze medal. They were pretty controversial in the weeks leading up to the Olympics so since I didn't know anything else about the sport, I was simply excited to see them. (If you have no idea who I'm talking about, just google "Russian Aboriginal Ice Dance" and you will find out exactly who they are!)
The very last couple to skate in the event were Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and the crowds went CRAZY for them. Canada has a lot of national pride which was very obvious, and there were a few other Canadian ice dancing pairs, but Virtue and Moir got the most insane, enthusiastic reception of them all. The stadium literally erupted into screams and cheers and all you could see was a sea of red as all of the Canadians in the place waved their flags for them. As soon as the insane cheers broke out, my friend and I just looked at each other and said "Wow...these guys must really be good." And they were. They finished second in the compulsory dance (right behind the first place controversial Russians), which was the event we were at, and after 2 more events on 2 other days, they finished with the gold medal (the Russians took the bronze).
So fast forward to a few days later. I was home. I was bored. So I googled these guys and looked them up on YouTube and spent a few hours watching their old performances. They are absolutely captivating on the ice and they have a chemistry that I've never seen another ice skating pair have. I'm not imagining that either. Just google them and you'll find pages and pages of fans obsessing over whether or not they are dating (they're not), if they should get married or if they should just remain friends. I mean there are full blown discussions about this topic all over the internet. The consensus seems to be that they have a chemistry together that no other couple has ever had, so aside from their amazing skating, that chemistry adds to their performance. They have also been skating together for 13 years, which is apparently unusual in the ice skating world. They were paired up when they were 7 and 9 (they are 20 and 22 now) and have never skated with another partner and have no intentions of ever skating with another partner. I'm sure that adds to their amazing chemistry and talent too.
So after watching hours of their videos, I declared myself a full blown fan and decided to see if they would be performing anywhere where I can see them again. It turns out they are doing a tour across Canada - Sears Stars on Ice - and I have every intention of going to see them when the show comes to Vancouver in May.
If you haven't seen their Olympic performances, you really should! The videos keep getting pulled from YouTube, but you can see them here.
In the meantime, enjoy their pictures. The pictures don't do their performances any justice, but I still think they are amazing to look at. And check out the videos on YouTube. The Olympics videos keep getting pulled, but there are pages and pages of their older performances. I can't figure out how to get a video on here, but I'm capable of posting a link. So here you go - this is my favorite non-Vancouver 2010 performance. Its just fun, and you don't really see a lot of that in figure skating. Granted its not a competition, its for a gala, but still, they're just different from what I am used to seeing. So trust me, its a fun, amazing performance :-).
Jack and Diane - World Expo 2009
I have to admit that now "normal" pairs skating is pretty boring in comparison to what these 2 can pull off in the ice dancing world.
And yes I am aware that I should be all for Team USA, but honestly, I'm thrilled that the Canadians won the gold medal because they are just THAT good. In my defense, the Americans took the silver medal and both the gold medal Canadian team and the silver medal American team actually train together in Michigan and they have the exact same coach. So based on the medals, their coach obviously knows what she is doing! But if they train together, in the United States, then that's kind of like cheering for the USA right? :-)
I have always loved watching ice skating, but until this year, I never paid much attention to ice dancing. In fact, I was actually upset that I had to get tickets to the ice dancing because I really wanted to go see the normal pairs skating. However, I was in New Jersey when that was going on, so I settled for ice dancing tickets instead. I wanted to see some type of Olympic event. The ice dancing tickets were affordable, plus I like "normal" figure skating, so it was a good compromise.
The result is my new love of ice dancing. My friend and I had an AMAZING time at the Olympics. Just being there, being able to say we were there, seeing all the Canadians decked out in maple leaf hats, flags, Canada tattoos, etc was exciting in itself. But then we got to the actual event. It was a lot of fun, but I can honestly tell you that I had almost no idea who was skating. The only ice dancers I had ever heard of were the Russian couple (and I can't even tell you their names offhand) who won the bronze medal. They were pretty controversial in the weeks leading up to the Olympics so since I didn't know anything else about the sport, I was simply excited to see them. (If you have no idea who I'm talking about, just google "Russian Aboriginal Ice Dance" and you will find out exactly who they are!)
The very last couple to skate in the event were Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir and the crowds went CRAZY for them. Canada has a lot of national pride which was very obvious, and there were a few other Canadian ice dancing pairs, but Virtue and Moir got the most insane, enthusiastic reception of them all. The stadium literally erupted into screams and cheers and all you could see was a sea of red as all of the Canadians in the place waved their flags for them. As soon as the insane cheers broke out, my friend and I just looked at each other and said "Wow...these guys must really be good." And they were. They finished second in the compulsory dance (right behind the first place controversial Russians), which was the event we were at, and after 2 more events on 2 other days, they finished with the gold medal (the Russians took the bronze).
So fast forward to a few days later. I was home. I was bored. So I googled these guys and looked them up on YouTube and spent a few hours watching their old performances. They are absolutely captivating on the ice and they have a chemistry that I've never seen another ice skating pair have. I'm not imagining that either. Just google them and you'll find pages and pages of fans obsessing over whether or not they are dating (they're not), if they should get married or if they should just remain friends. I mean there are full blown discussions about this topic all over the internet. The consensus seems to be that they have a chemistry together that no other couple has ever had, so aside from their amazing skating, that chemistry adds to their performance. They have also been skating together for 13 years, which is apparently unusual in the ice skating world. They were paired up when they were 7 and 9 (they are 20 and 22 now) and have never skated with another partner and have no intentions of ever skating with another partner. I'm sure that adds to their amazing chemistry and talent too.
So after watching hours of their videos, I declared myself a full blown fan and decided to see if they would be performing anywhere where I can see them again. It turns out they are doing a tour across Canada - Sears Stars on Ice - and I have every intention of going to see them when the show comes to Vancouver in May.
If you haven't seen their Olympic performances, you really should! The videos keep getting pulled from YouTube, but you can see them here.
In the meantime, enjoy their pictures. The pictures don't do their performances any justice, but I still think they are amazing to look at. And check out the videos on YouTube. The Olympics videos keep getting pulled, but there are pages and pages of their older performances. I can't figure out how to get a video on here, but I'm capable of posting a link. So here you go - this is my favorite non-Vancouver 2010 performance. Its just fun, and you don't really see a lot of that in figure skating. Granted its not a competition, its for a gala, but still, they're just different from what I am used to seeing. So trust me, its a fun, amazing performance :-).
Jack and Diane - World Expo 2009
I have to admit that now "normal" pairs skating is pretty boring in comparison to what these 2 can pull off in the ice dancing world.
And yes I am aware that I should be all for Team USA, but honestly, I'm thrilled that the Canadians won the gold medal because they are just THAT good. In my defense, the Americans took the silver medal and both the gold medal Canadian team and the silver medal American team actually train together in Michigan and they have the exact same coach. So based on the medals, their coach obviously knows what she is doing! But if they train together, in the United States, then that's kind of like cheering for the USA right? :-)
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Vancouver 2010
There are SOME perks to living in Washington state! I always loved watching the Olympics when I was a kid. For the summer Olympics I was fascinated with gymnastics and for the winter games I loved watching ice skating. Something about the fact that I will never in my life be able to do anything remotely close to what these athletes do seems to catch my attention. I can barely ice skate in a straight line and I've never been able to master a cartwheel, so I get my joy from watching others do the things I only wish I could do!
Since Vancouver is practically in my backyard (I live closer to Vancouver than I do to Seattle), I decided that when the Olympics arrived here I would have to find a way to go see them.
I managed to get tickets to the first round of ice dancing and I was thrilled! I wanted to go to the Olympics and I would have taken any tickets that I could get, but since ice skating was always my favorite thing to watch I was thrilled to end up with tickets to see this event live!
So on Friday, February 19, I headed off to Vancouver. Mr. V had to work, and while I know he wanted to check out the Olympics in general, I don't think he was too upset to miss ice dancing. Since he had to work, he passed his ticket along to a friend of mine and the 2 of us went off to have some fun. After a fairly easy border crossing (the easiest one I have experienced, which was odd since I would think that during the Olympics security would be tighter), we stopped at the British Columbia visitor's center to get some maps and information. This was probably the smartest move we made because Vancouver wasn't letting people drive and park downtown. We had to park in the town of Surrey and take the Skytrain into Vancouver. Since I didn't even know that the town of Surrey existed, the visitor's center was definitely a smart move.
The first thing we did was head off to the waterfront to see the Olympic torch (which is being called a cauldron for some reason). Amazingly, Vancouver has this entire thing under control. The crowds in the city were insane, but I am completely amazed at how well they have the crowds managed. I never felt like I was in a huge unruly crowd, and volunteers in blue jackets were set up everywhere to direct people around to keep traffic moving. I guess I was expecting pure bedlam, but we got the exact opposite.
After the torch, we had to head to the Pacific Coliseum to see the ice dancing. We had an amazing time! We got to meet some of the ice dancers and get their autographs and we got a big kick out of the excitement that the Canadians were radiating off of them. At one point I had to say "Wow I've never seen so many Canadians!" I know, I know. We were in Canada, so obviously there were Canadians everywhere, but what I meant was that everywhere we looked we saw red. It seemed like every single person was dressed in something red, something that had a maple leaf on it, or something that said Canada. The fact that it was all red is what I think stood out the most. We could look down a street and just see a sea of red everywhere and when the Canadian ice dancers preformed, the crowds watching went insane!
By the time the event was over we had to head back to Washington. However, we realized that there was still a lot of stuff in the city that we had wanted to see, so we made plans to come back on Sunday. So on the 21st, my friend and I collected our husbands and the 4 of us went back to check out more of the sights. We definitely had fun and for once I'm happy to be living out here because I'm not sure that I would have ever experienced this if I was living anywhere else!
I posted my pictures from the weekend on Facebook, and I'm going to try to post them here. I've never tried to use the public link to pictures on Facebook before, so I'm not completely sure this will work, but instead of creating a whole new album for the sake of this blog, I'm going to try it. If you find yourself clicking on the link and its not working, please let me know!
I just have a simple point and click camera, but my friend has an amazing professional type camera so her pictures turned out much better than mine. I didn't even bother trying to take pictures of the ice dancers because I knew they would come out small and blurry with my camera. She took tons of pictures though so I'm going to try to get the public link to her Facebook album (which she has to give me access to - I can't just get it myself) and then I'll post her pictures too. For now though, here are my pictures.
Olympics - Vancouver 2010
Since Vancouver is practically in my backyard (I live closer to Vancouver than I do to Seattle), I decided that when the Olympics arrived here I would have to find a way to go see them.
I managed to get tickets to the first round of ice dancing and I was thrilled! I wanted to go to the Olympics and I would have taken any tickets that I could get, but since ice skating was always my favorite thing to watch I was thrilled to end up with tickets to see this event live!
So on Friday, February 19, I headed off to Vancouver. Mr. V had to work, and while I know he wanted to check out the Olympics in general, I don't think he was too upset to miss ice dancing. Since he had to work, he passed his ticket along to a friend of mine and the 2 of us went off to have some fun. After a fairly easy border crossing (the easiest one I have experienced, which was odd since I would think that during the Olympics security would be tighter), we stopped at the British Columbia visitor's center to get some maps and information. This was probably the smartest move we made because Vancouver wasn't letting people drive and park downtown. We had to park in the town of Surrey and take the Skytrain into Vancouver. Since I didn't even know that the town of Surrey existed, the visitor's center was definitely a smart move.
The first thing we did was head off to the waterfront to see the Olympic torch (which is being called a cauldron for some reason). Amazingly, Vancouver has this entire thing under control. The crowds in the city were insane, but I am completely amazed at how well they have the crowds managed. I never felt like I was in a huge unruly crowd, and volunteers in blue jackets were set up everywhere to direct people around to keep traffic moving. I guess I was expecting pure bedlam, but we got the exact opposite.
After the torch, we had to head to the Pacific Coliseum to see the ice dancing. We had an amazing time! We got to meet some of the ice dancers and get their autographs and we got a big kick out of the excitement that the Canadians were radiating off of them. At one point I had to say "Wow I've never seen so many Canadians!" I know, I know. We were in Canada, so obviously there were Canadians everywhere, but what I meant was that everywhere we looked we saw red. It seemed like every single person was dressed in something red, something that had a maple leaf on it, or something that said Canada. The fact that it was all red is what I think stood out the most. We could look down a street and just see a sea of red everywhere and when the Canadian ice dancers preformed, the crowds watching went insane!
By the time the event was over we had to head back to Washington. However, we realized that there was still a lot of stuff in the city that we had wanted to see, so we made plans to come back on Sunday. So on the 21st, my friend and I collected our husbands and the 4 of us went back to check out more of the sights. We definitely had fun and for once I'm happy to be living out here because I'm not sure that I would have ever experienced this if I was living anywhere else!
I posted my pictures from the weekend on Facebook, and I'm going to try to post them here. I've never tried to use the public link to pictures on Facebook before, so I'm not completely sure this will work, but instead of creating a whole new album for the sake of this blog, I'm going to try it. If you find yourself clicking on the link and its not working, please let me know!
I just have a simple point and click camera, but my friend has an amazing professional type camera so her pictures turned out much better than mine. I didn't even bother trying to take pictures of the ice dancers because I knew they would come out small and blurry with my camera. She took tons of pictures though so I'm going to try to get the public link to her Facebook album (which she has to give me access to - I can't just get it myself) and then I'll post her pictures too. For now though, here are my pictures.
Olympics - Vancouver 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Goodbye Again
My bags are packed and ready to go, but I still have a few more hours before I need to leave for the airport. I always hate leaving my home. As much as I would love to live by the motto "Home is where the Navy sends us", I really can't. In many ways, that is true. Where Mr. V goes, I follow and it will always be that way as long as he is in the Navy. We're a family and we will make a home together wherever we go. However, at the same time, I don't know if I can ever call any of these places "home". So far the Navy has put me in Texas, Florida and Washington, yet when people ask me where I'm from, I still say "New Jersey". This will always be my home, while those other places will be a temporary home.
I've never been a person who has dealt well with change, so marrying someone in the military probably wasn't the smartest thing in the world, but I guess we can't help who we fall in love with! It took me 3 years to get used to North Carolina when I was in college there. I spent many school breaks at home in NJ claiming that I wasn't going back to NC and that I hated it there. It wasn't until my senior year when something finally clicked, and suddenly, I loved it there! That's why, when I did move out of NJ permanently, NC is where I went. But it took 3 years! 3 years for me to fully adapt to a place and 3 years to fully love a place. Unfortunately, 3 years is the standard amount of time that we will live anywhere, so sometimes its really depressing to me because I feel like I'll never have time to settle down and really feel like I am home.
I feel like I'm kind of rambling here. This isn't to say that I hate the experiences the Navy has given me. If anything, I love these experiences. I have been to places I never would have been to. I've seen things I never thought I would see. I've gotten "vacations" on the Navy's dollar. I am not sure if I ever would have seen Washington state if it wasn't for the Navy. I have always wanted to visit all 50 states at some point, but Washington was never on the top of my list, so who knows if I would have ever made it there. So while I am thankful for these experiences, it still makes me sad that I don't quite feel at home anywhere but at my childhood home.
I realize that this is pointless whining. If I want to be married to Mr. V then I have to deal with this life, and I'm willing to do that. But sometimes I feel like I need to have a good cry about it all. Most of the time I feel like having that good cry when it comes to leaving a place I am familiar with.
I think the hardest thing about leaving NJ this time is my grandparents. I came out here to celebrate their 80th birthday. I am their only grandchild and I admit that I have always been spoiled rotten by them. They mean so much to me, and in the past few years, they have been very depressed (especially my grandpa). They miss me and they make that very clear. I used to go to their house all the time, but now at the end of their lives, I barely see them. I wish I could see them more because it upsets me to see them crying when I say goodbye to them. I know that they won't be around forever. My grandpa has been pretty sick recently so I know that his time here is limited. I can handle saying goodbye to my friends. I can handle saying goodbye to my other family that is still left here. But I can't handle saying goodbye to them. Its hard enough that I have a hard time dealing with change as it is!
I'm not really sure what the point of this post is. I'm just sitting here, waiting to leave, and thinking a lot about my time spent in this house. There is a large part of me that wishes that I could still be here and that this was still my house to live in. There is so much that I miss about this place in general, and so many good memories, yet in a few hours, I'll be gone for who knows how long.
I guess I need to just suck it up, but I've never been good at doing that. I do miss Mr. V. I miss the cats. I miss my friends in Washington, but life would be ideal if I could just combine everything and everyone that I miss and put them all in the exact same place! I've always wanted a life of stability, but I chose a life of anything but that. Maybe one day I'll be able to handle change better. Maybe one day I'll be able to say goodbye to people without hurting and without crying.
So I guess this is goodbye to New Jersey for a while again. I don't know when I'll be out here again, but I do know that I want and need to see my grandparents again soon. Hopefully I'll plan another trip in a few months, and then I'll just go through this whole sad process again! To end this on a somewhat happy note, the best thing about this life is the freedom its given me. I guess that sounds weird as I sit here complaining about wanting stability, yet being happy about my freedom, but it does make sense. Mr. V has a great job that provides for us and allows me not to work full time. At one point this was a huge downer for me. I always wanted a career and I was upset when I realized we would be living in places that simply wouldn't allow for me to have that career. So I have worked temp jobs and I've worked as a nanny. I work part time and pretty much chose my own hours. His job allows for me to travel and do the things I want to and need to do and for that I am thankful :-).
Well...I guess its time to go pack up the car and head on out of here. I'll be back soon....I promise! :-)
I've never been a person who has dealt well with change, so marrying someone in the military probably wasn't the smartest thing in the world, but I guess we can't help who we fall in love with! It took me 3 years to get used to North Carolina when I was in college there. I spent many school breaks at home in NJ claiming that I wasn't going back to NC and that I hated it there. It wasn't until my senior year when something finally clicked, and suddenly, I loved it there! That's why, when I did move out of NJ permanently, NC is where I went. But it took 3 years! 3 years for me to fully adapt to a place and 3 years to fully love a place. Unfortunately, 3 years is the standard amount of time that we will live anywhere, so sometimes its really depressing to me because I feel like I'll never have time to settle down and really feel like I am home.
I feel like I'm kind of rambling here. This isn't to say that I hate the experiences the Navy has given me. If anything, I love these experiences. I have been to places I never would have been to. I've seen things I never thought I would see. I've gotten "vacations" on the Navy's dollar. I am not sure if I ever would have seen Washington state if it wasn't for the Navy. I have always wanted to visit all 50 states at some point, but Washington was never on the top of my list, so who knows if I would have ever made it there. So while I am thankful for these experiences, it still makes me sad that I don't quite feel at home anywhere but at my childhood home.
I realize that this is pointless whining. If I want to be married to Mr. V then I have to deal with this life, and I'm willing to do that. But sometimes I feel like I need to have a good cry about it all. Most of the time I feel like having that good cry when it comes to leaving a place I am familiar with.
I think the hardest thing about leaving NJ this time is my grandparents. I came out here to celebrate their 80th birthday. I am their only grandchild and I admit that I have always been spoiled rotten by them. They mean so much to me, and in the past few years, they have been very depressed (especially my grandpa). They miss me and they make that very clear. I used to go to their house all the time, but now at the end of their lives, I barely see them. I wish I could see them more because it upsets me to see them crying when I say goodbye to them. I know that they won't be around forever. My grandpa has been pretty sick recently so I know that his time here is limited. I can handle saying goodbye to my friends. I can handle saying goodbye to my other family that is still left here. But I can't handle saying goodbye to them. Its hard enough that I have a hard time dealing with change as it is!
I'm not really sure what the point of this post is. I'm just sitting here, waiting to leave, and thinking a lot about my time spent in this house. There is a large part of me that wishes that I could still be here and that this was still my house to live in. There is so much that I miss about this place in general, and so many good memories, yet in a few hours, I'll be gone for who knows how long.
I guess I need to just suck it up, but I've never been good at doing that. I do miss Mr. V. I miss the cats. I miss my friends in Washington, but life would be ideal if I could just combine everything and everyone that I miss and put them all in the exact same place! I've always wanted a life of stability, but I chose a life of anything but that. Maybe one day I'll be able to handle change better. Maybe one day I'll be able to say goodbye to people without hurting and without crying.
So I guess this is goodbye to New Jersey for a while again. I don't know when I'll be out here again, but I do know that I want and need to see my grandparents again soon. Hopefully I'll plan another trip in a few months, and then I'll just go through this whole sad process again! To end this on a somewhat happy note, the best thing about this life is the freedom its given me. I guess that sounds weird as I sit here complaining about wanting stability, yet being happy about my freedom, but it does make sense. Mr. V has a great job that provides for us and allows me not to work full time. At one point this was a huge downer for me. I always wanted a career and I was upset when I realized we would be living in places that simply wouldn't allow for me to have that career. So I have worked temp jobs and I've worked as a nanny. I work part time and pretty much chose my own hours. His job allows for me to travel and do the things I want to and need to do and for that I am thankful :-).
Well...I guess its time to go pack up the car and head on out of here. I'll be back soon....I promise! :-)
Monday, February 15, 2010
My Trip Home - With Some Whidbey Weirdness
I've been back home in New Jersey since the 12th and it was an interesting trip.
It all started with the Whidbey Sea-Tac shuttle. Mr. V had to work and couldn't drive me to the airport so I had to hop on the shuttle to get there since leaving my car at the airport would have been much more expensive. The shuttle is great, but slightly annoying in the fact that they won't allow you to book a shuttle that will get you to the airport less than 2 hours before your flight. I understand why they have this policy, but it would also be nice to just say "Hey I claim responsibility if I miss my own flight." So with this policy in place, I had to take a shuttle that left Oak Harbor at 8:15 and arrived at Sea-Tac at 10:30..for a 1:30 flight.
I was already pretty cranky, because if you know me, I'm not a morning person. I planned on attempting to take a nap on the way down to Seattle. But this is where I ran into some fun Whidbey Weirdness. When I got on the shuttle in Oak Harbor, about 5 other people also got on. One lady was saying goodbye to her son and another lady was alone. As soon as we got on, the lady who was alone started talking to the lady with the son:
Alone Lady: "Oh hi! It looks like you were saying goodbye to family. Were you just out here visiting?"
Lady with son: "Yes, my son just had heart surgery, so I came out here to help him through the surgery and recovery."
So far a pretty normal conversation, but this is where the lady, who was by herself, got really weird. She proceeds to start asking the lady with the son tons of questions:
Alone Lady: "Why is your son out here?"
Lady with Son: "He's in the Navy."
Alone Lady: "Oh can he stay in the Navy with a heart condition?"
Lady with Son: "Well he's not sure. He has to go to some follow up appointments before they decide if he needs to be medically discharged."
Still a normal conversation right? But it was at this point that the Alone Lady proceeds to burst into tears. And not just small tears. I mean full blown crying, gasping for breath tears. In between sobs and gasps she manages to get out something along the lines of:
"Oh your son is soooooo wonderful! *sob* It is SUCH a huge sacrifice to serve your country. *gasp* I thank God every single day for the people in our military *sob*." She proceeds to ramble on for at least 15 minutes crying and saying these exact same things over and over.
Now don't get me wrong. I am grateful for our military too and I understand the sacrifices made. Heck, I'm married to a guy in the Navy. But I have NEVER seen someone react like this to the military. I've seen people get choked up. I've seen people who are very grateful. But I have never once seen a person so hysterical that she can barely breathe as she thanks someone for their service. It was actually a little weird, and she sort of seemed a little unstable.
By this time the shuttle had reached Coupeville, where it made its next stop to pick up more people. At this point the crying lady desperately asked the shuttle driver if he can go into the convenience store at the gas station where the shuttle pickup was, to buy her some tissues. He looks at her like she's crazy and tells her that she can get out and buy tissues herself (he was nice about it), but eventually he gave in and got her the tissues.
After blowing her nose loudly, several times, the woman proceeded to cry some more and then launch into an explanation about her entire life. In betwen sobbing and gasping I learned that her husband had been in the Navy, but he got out after only a few years because she "just couldn't bear the separation". However, this apparently led to them not having a steady income and now they have no insurance...and her husband has back problems and her medical bills are $1000 a month...so if the heart guy is able to stay in the Navy then he should...in case his wife has large medical bills in the future...oh and to serve the country too. She was still crying hysterically at this point.
By this point the woman in the seat across the aisle from me was rolling her finger around her head making the crazy symbol and rolling her eyes. Then the lady behind me yelled at the top of her lungs (this lady had to be at least 70, if not older) "Excuse me sir?? What's the policy about cell phones on the shuttle?" He replied "You're welcome to use them, just please be considerate of other passengers." However, apparently she didn't want to use a cell phone, she just thought that the crying lady was on a cell phone. She proceeded to tell the driver that someone had been on a cell phone for the entire trip, and she was loud, and needed to quiet down. When the crying lady didn't quiet down, the old lady spent the rest of the ride sighing as loudly as possible.
We hadn't even reached the ferry yet and I was ready to shoot myself.
By the time we finally got to the airport I was thrilled to be out of that van. My plane boarded on time and I thought the annoyances of the day were over. But apparently these particular Delta employees missed kindergarten because they can't count. There were several people trying to fly stand-by and they let 5 of them onto this flight. But....there were only 4 empty seats. The flight attendent must have walked up and down the aisle 10 times, if not more, counting empty seats because she had one person who had nowhere to sit. I didn't realize that it was that hard to realize that there wasn't a single empty seat on the plane.
My luck continued though, because a guy, probably in his mid 30s, sat down next to me. He was a stand-by passenger and apparently he thought that he deserved to sit in first class First he called his wife while the flight attendents were trying to figure things out and ranted to her about how unfair it was that he couldn't sit in first class. I guess he missed the memo about the fact that stand-by means you take whatever seat you can get. When he hung up with his wife, he then proceeded to rant to me. Awesome. Thankfully, a flight attendent managed to switch him to first class, because she was cleary sick of his complaining, and a very nice, very quiet man, with a book and headphones, sat down next to me. He had been a stand-by passenger sitting in first class who thankfully agreed to move to any seat if it meant this other guy would stop complaining.
So FINALLY they figured out that this one woman just simply wouldn't fit on the plane so they had to take her off and tell her to wait for another available flight. By the time we took off, we were 20 minutes late! I was a little annoyed because I had a layover to make in Salt Lake City, and someone's inability to count or recognize that there are no empty seats almost made me miss my connecting flight.
Needless to say, my day wasn't off to a good start!
I'm happy to say though, that at this point, everything started going right and the rest of my trip was uneventful. I'll bore you all with info about it at a later time :-).
For now, I'm enjoying one last dinner with my grandparents before heading back to the Pacific Northwest tomorrow. (Do I really have to go back?? :-().
It all started with the Whidbey Sea-Tac shuttle. Mr. V had to work and couldn't drive me to the airport so I had to hop on the shuttle to get there since leaving my car at the airport would have been much more expensive. The shuttle is great, but slightly annoying in the fact that they won't allow you to book a shuttle that will get you to the airport less than 2 hours before your flight. I understand why they have this policy, but it would also be nice to just say "Hey I claim responsibility if I miss my own flight." So with this policy in place, I had to take a shuttle that left Oak Harbor at 8:15 and arrived at Sea-Tac at 10:30..for a 1:30 flight.
I was already pretty cranky, because if you know me, I'm not a morning person. I planned on attempting to take a nap on the way down to Seattle. But this is where I ran into some fun Whidbey Weirdness. When I got on the shuttle in Oak Harbor, about 5 other people also got on. One lady was saying goodbye to her son and another lady was alone. As soon as we got on, the lady who was alone started talking to the lady with the son:
Alone Lady: "Oh hi! It looks like you were saying goodbye to family. Were you just out here visiting?"
Lady with son: "Yes, my son just had heart surgery, so I came out here to help him through the surgery and recovery."
So far a pretty normal conversation, but this is where the lady, who was by herself, got really weird. She proceeds to start asking the lady with the son tons of questions:
Alone Lady: "Why is your son out here?"
Lady with Son: "He's in the Navy."
Alone Lady: "Oh can he stay in the Navy with a heart condition?"
Lady with Son: "Well he's not sure. He has to go to some follow up appointments before they decide if he needs to be medically discharged."
Still a normal conversation right? But it was at this point that the Alone Lady proceeds to burst into tears. And not just small tears. I mean full blown crying, gasping for breath tears. In between sobs and gasps she manages to get out something along the lines of:
"Oh your son is soooooo wonderful! *sob* It is SUCH a huge sacrifice to serve your country. *gasp* I thank God every single day for the people in our military *sob*." She proceeds to ramble on for at least 15 minutes crying and saying these exact same things over and over.
Now don't get me wrong. I am grateful for our military too and I understand the sacrifices made. Heck, I'm married to a guy in the Navy. But I have NEVER seen someone react like this to the military. I've seen people get choked up. I've seen people who are very grateful. But I have never once seen a person so hysterical that she can barely breathe as she thanks someone for their service. It was actually a little weird, and she sort of seemed a little unstable.
By this time the shuttle had reached Coupeville, where it made its next stop to pick up more people. At this point the crying lady desperately asked the shuttle driver if he can go into the convenience store at the gas station where the shuttle pickup was, to buy her some tissues. He looks at her like she's crazy and tells her that she can get out and buy tissues herself (he was nice about it), but eventually he gave in and got her the tissues.
After blowing her nose loudly, several times, the woman proceeded to cry some more and then launch into an explanation about her entire life. In betwen sobbing and gasping I learned that her husband had been in the Navy, but he got out after only a few years because she "just couldn't bear the separation". However, this apparently led to them not having a steady income and now they have no insurance...and her husband has back problems and her medical bills are $1000 a month...so if the heart guy is able to stay in the Navy then he should...in case his wife has large medical bills in the future...oh and to serve the country too. She was still crying hysterically at this point.
By this point the woman in the seat across the aisle from me was rolling her finger around her head making the crazy symbol and rolling her eyes. Then the lady behind me yelled at the top of her lungs (this lady had to be at least 70, if not older) "Excuse me sir?? What's the policy about cell phones on the shuttle?" He replied "You're welcome to use them, just please be considerate of other passengers." However, apparently she didn't want to use a cell phone, she just thought that the crying lady was on a cell phone. She proceeded to tell the driver that someone had been on a cell phone for the entire trip, and she was loud, and needed to quiet down. When the crying lady didn't quiet down, the old lady spent the rest of the ride sighing as loudly as possible.
We hadn't even reached the ferry yet and I was ready to shoot myself.
By the time we finally got to the airport I was thrilled to be out of that van. My plane boarded on time and I thought the annoyances of the day were over. But apparently these particular Delta employees missed kindergarten because they can't count. There were several people trying to fly stand-by and they let 5 of them onto this flight. But....there were only 4 empty seats. The flight attendent must have walked up and down the aisle 10 times, if not more, counting empty seats because she had one person who had nowhere to sit. I didn't realize that it was that hard to realize that there wasn't a single empty seat on the plane.
My luck continued though, because a guy, probably in his mid 30s, sat down next to me. He was a stand-by passenger and apparently he thought that he deserved to sit in first class First he called his wife while the flight attendents were trying to figure things out and ranted to her about how unfair it was that he couldn't sit in first class. I guess he missed the memo about the fact that stand-by means you take whatever seat you can get. When he hung up with his wife, he then proceeded to rant to me. Awesome. Thankfully, a flight attendent managed to switch him to first class, because she was cleary sick of his complaining, and a very nice, very quiet man, with a book and headphones, sat down next to me. He had been a stand-by passenger sitting in first class who thankfully agreed to move to any seat if it meant this other guy would stop complaining.
So FINALLY they figured out that this one woman just simply wouldn't fit on the plane so they had to take her off and tell her to wait for another available flight. By the time we took off, we were 20 minutes late! I was a little annoyed because I had a layover to make in Salt Lake City, and someone's inability to count or recognize that there are no empty seats almost made me miss my connecting flight.
Needless to say, my day wasn't off to a good start!
I'm happy to say though, that at this point, everything started going right and the rest of my trip was uneventful. I'll bore you all with info about it at a later time :-).
For now, I'm enjoying one last dinner with my grandparents before heading back to the Pacific Northwest tomorrow. (Do I really have to go back?? :-().
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Grizzlys and Eagles and Hawks...oh my!
First things first. If anyone reading this knows how to scare away a hawk, to make it never come back, PLEASE let me know how. And please let me know soon.
Not only has my life as a Navy wife moved me out of my comfort zone and ALL the way across the country to the Pacific Northwest, but it has also introduced me to things that I have never had to deal with before (although I guess that could also be filed under "out of my comfort zone").
First, as soon as we moved here Mr. V wanted to check out the Cascades National Park. Please see one of my very first blog posts for a recap of that adventure. The short version of that event is that I learned what "real" camping is. Apparently, there are places where you have to get a permit to go camping. I believe its called a back country permit. When I questioned Mr. V as to why you would need one of these, his answer was something along the lines of "Well that way, if a grizzly bear kills you and you don't come back, the park rangers know where to look for you." I'm sorry....GRIZZLY BEARS??? What happened to the somewhat cute and not quite as terrifying black bears of the Appalachian Mountains?? The horrifying thing about that comment was that he was dead serious.
Second, one of the first things we discovered when we moved here was that there are bald eagles EVERYWHERE. At first, I liked this. I thought it was pretty cool to see bald eagles everywhere. I had seen them in zoos before and we saw one once behind out apartment in Jacksonville, but I had never truly witnessed these giant birds in their natural habitat. As a kid I always learned that bald eagles were "beautiful" and "majestic" and that is the description that I also carried with me. What people fail to mention is that these "beautiful and majestic" creatures are actually vicious, violent, cold blooded killers. I guess in the back of my mind I knew this, but I try very hard not to watch National Geographic shows that involve animals killing animals. That's not really my cup of tea. So needless to say, when I witnessed the way these creatures kill, live and in person - NOT on TV, my view of the bald eagle population around here drastically changed. I no longer think they are pretty and majestic. It now creeps me out when I see them flying around and sitting in trees around here. As far as I'm concerned, if all the bald eagles in the world disappeared tomorrow, they wouldn't be missed by me.
To illustrate what I am talking about, here's a picture of the bald eagle killing an innocent, cute creature. Last April a group of friends and I were at another friend's house for a barbeque. We were all sitting on his porch, enjoying the cool air and the scenic view of the water in front of his house. A small cluster of ducks were floating around carelessly. Everything was beautiful and serene...until a "beautiful and majestic" bald eagle appeared out of nowhere. In a split second it killed the serenity of the moment by swooping down into the water and grabbing a duck out of the water. To make matters even worse, he then proceeded to fly around a few times as if he was showing off his catch!! Of course, all the guys around thought this was the coolest thing ever. I wanted to cry. It seriously disturbed me and any time someone mentions how great it is that there are bald eagles everywhere I think of that moment. I know its the food chain. I know how nature works. But I really had no interest in seeing that nature demonstrated right in front of me. Since Mr. V was one of the ones who was excited to see the eagle with the duck, he grabbed his camera and as the eagle made one of his passes in front of us (this was probably the 2nd or 3rd time he flew past us showing off) he snapped a picture. The picture is small, but if you click on it and zoom in, you can clearly see that the eagle is holding a poor little duck in his talons :-(. Maybe I shouldn't post the picture, but I promise, it was much more disturbing in person!
Now finally, what brings me to this post in the first place. If you've read my recent posts, you'll know that I have a family of cats living in my backyard. They are completely feral, and we have set out on a mission to trap them all to get them spayed/neutered, so they don't reproduce in our backyard. However, feral or not, they are cats. I'm a cat lady. I have 10 cats of my own. So while the cats in my backyard my never be cuddly or sweet, they still look like the cats in my house, and they are fun to watch in the backyard when we sit and watch TV at night (ever see a cat climb trees, jump from tree to tree and then on the roof of a house?) I would never want anything bad to happen to these guys. I realize I can't protect them from everything, but I'd like to make my backyard as safe as possible for them.
Once we realized we had feral cats out there Mr. V and I had a conversation that went something like this:
Brooklet: "You know, my friend, who works at a local vet, said that they frequently get cats that have been dropped by eagles."
Mr. V: "Yeah a friend of mine was driving to work and saw a cat fall out of the sky - it was dropped by an eagle."
Brooklet: *horrified* "What if an eagle swoops down into our backyard and kills the cats?"
***It should be noted that cats being caught and killed and/or dropped by eagles is apparently something that happens often around here. Another lady told us a few nights ago that her friend had an eagle nest fall out of tree and there were 20 collars inside of it.****
Mr. V: " No there's no way that can happen. Our backyard is small, fenced in and has trees. Its too small and cluttered for an eagle or a bird of prey to swoop down into."
Brooklet: "Are you sure?"
Mr. V: "Yes, absolutely."
Fast forward to yesterday. I was in another room when I heard Mr. V yell "Brooklet come quickly!" I ran into the living room to see what he was yelling about and he says to me "Remember when I said our backyard was too small for a bird of prey to swoop down into? Well....I think I was wrong."
It turns out that a hawk had swooped down into our yard and was sitting calmly on our fence. Granted, a hawk isn't an eagle. But its still a bird of prey and it can still easily kill small animals. Needless to say, we haven't actually seen any of the backyard cats in 3 days. I seriously doubt that one hawk would have been able to kill all 6 of them that quickly, but where did they go??
I did some research today and learned that cats may be scared away by hawks, so I am hoping that is what happened and that they will come back. In the meantime, I also learned that once a hawk appears somewhere, it will come back, especially if there is a food source for them.
Fantastic!! Now I have a hawk living in my backyard and I'm worried about the cats out there. So back to my original question, does anyone know how to make a hawk go away and stay away?
At this point, I really don't think I will ever be completely comfortable in Washington. I've had enough of the "beautiful" nature out here! I miss my back yard in New Jersey. There were woods behind my house, but the only creatures we ever saw were deer, squirrels, chipmunks, an occasional wild turkey, and a groundhog that lived under our shed. That is much more peaceful and much more preferred by me!
Not only has my life as a Navy wife moved me out of my comfort zone and ALL the way across the country to the Pacific Northwest, but it has also introduced me to things that I have never had to deal with before (although I guess that could also be filed under "out of my comfort zone").
First, as soon as we moved here Mr. V wanted to check out the Cascades National Park. Please see one of my very first blog posts for a recap of that adventure. The short version of that event is that I learned what "real" camping is. Apparently, there are places where you have to get a permit to go camping. I believe its called a back country permit. When I questioned Mr. V as to why you would need one of these, his answer was something along the lines of "Well that way, if a grizzly bear kills you and you don't come back, the park rangers know where to look for you." I'm sorry....GRIZZLY BEARS??? What happened to the somewhat cute and not quite as terrifying black bears of the Appalachian Mountains?? The horrifying thing about that comment was that he was dead serious.
Second, one of the first things we discovered when we moved here was that there are bald eagles EVERYWHERE. At first, I liked this. I thought it was pretty cool to see bald eagles everywhere. I had seen them in zoos before and we saw one once behind out apartment in Jacksonville, but I had never truly witnessed these giant birds in their natural habitat. As a kid I always learned that bald eagles were "beautiful" and "majestic" and that is the description that I also carried with me. What people fail to mention is that these "beautiful and majestic" creatures are actually vicious, violent, cold blooded killers. I guess in the back of my mind I knew this, but I try very hard not to watch National Geographic shows that involve animals killing animals. That's not really my cup of tea. So needless to say, when I witnessed the way these creatures kill, live and in person - NOT on TV, my view of the bald eagle population around here drastically changed. I no longer think they are pretty and majestic. It now creeps me out when I see them flying around and sitting in trees around here. As far as I'm concerned, if all the bald eagles in the world disappeared tomorrow, they wouldn't be missed by me.
To illustrate what I am talking about, here's a picture of the bald eagle killing an innocent, cute creature. Last April a group of friends and I were at another friend's house for a barbeque. We were all sitting on his porch, enjoying the cool air and the scenic view of the water in front of his house. A small cluster of ducks were floating around carelessly. Everything was beautiful and serene...until a "beautiful and majestic" bald eagle appeared out of nowhere. In a split second it killed the serenity of the moment by swooping down into the water and grabbing a duck out of the water. To make matters even worse, he then proceeded to fly around a few times as if he was showing off his catch!! Of course, all the guys around thought this was the coolest thing ever. I wanted to cry. It seriously disturbed me and any time someone mentions how great it is that there are bald eagles everywhere I think of that moment. I know its the food chain. I know how nature works. But I really had no interest in seeing that nature demonstrated right in front of me. Since Mr. V was one of the ones who was excited to see the eagle with the duck, he grabbed his camera and as the eagle made one of his passes in front of us (this was probably the 2nd or 3rd time he flew past us showing off) he snapped a picture. The picture is small, but if you click on it and zoom in, you can clearly see that the eagle is holding a poor little duck in his talons :-(. Maybe I shouldn't post the picture, but I promise, it was much more disturbing in person!
Now finally, what brings me to this post in the first place. If you've read my recent posts, you'll know that I have a family of cats living in my backyard. They are completely feral, and we have set out on a mission to trap them all to get them spayed/neutered, so they don't reproduce in our backyard. However, feral or not, they are cats. I'm a cat lady. I have 10 cats of my own. So while the cats in my backyard my never be cuddly or sweet, they still look like the cats in my house, and they are fun to watch in the backyard when we sit and watch TV at night (ever see a cat climb trees, jump from tree to tree and then on the roof of a house?) I would never want anything bad to happen to these guys. I realize I can't protect them from everything, but I'd like to make my backyard as safe as possible for them.
Once we realized we had feral cats out there Mr. V and I had a conversation that went something like this:
Brooklet: "You know, my friend, who works at a local vet, said that they frequently get cats that have been dropped by eagles."
Mr. V: "Yeah a friend of mine was driving to work and saw a cat fall out of the sky - it was dropped by an eagle."
Brooklet: *horrified* "What if an eagle swoops down into our backyard and kills the cats?"
***It should be noted that cats being caught and killed and/or dropped by eagles is apparently something that happens often around here. Another lady told us a few nights ago that her friend had an eagle nest fall out of tree and there were 20 collars inside of it.****
Mr. V: " No there's no way that can happen. Our backyard is small, fenced in and has trees. Its too small and cluttered for an eagle or a bird of prey to swoop down into."
Brooklet: "Are you sure?"
Mr. V: "Yes, absolutely."
Fast forward to yesterday. I was in another room when I heard Mr. V yell "Brooklet come quickly!" I ran into the living room to see what he was yelling about and he says to me "Remember when I said our backyard was too small for a bird of prey to swoop down into? Well....I think I was wrong."
It turns out that a hawk had swooped down into our yard and was sitting calmly on our fence. Granted, a hawk isn't an eagle. But its still a bird of prey and it can still easily kill small animals. Needless to say, we haven't actually seen any of the backyard cats in 3 days. I seriously doubt that one hawk would have been able to kill all 6 of them that quickly, but where did they go??
I did some research today and learned that cats may be scared away by hawks, so I am hoping that is what happened and that they will come back. In the meantime, I also learned that once a hawk appears somewhere, it will come back, especially if there is a food source for them.
Fantastic!! Now I have a hawk living in my backyard and I'm worried about the cats out there. So back to my original question, does anyone know how to make a hawk go away and stay away?
At this point, I really don't think I will ever be completely comfortable in Washington. I've had enough of the "beautiful" nature out here! I miss my back yard in New Jersey. There were woods behind my house, but the only creatures we ever saw were deer, squirrels, chipmunks, an occasional wild turkey, and a groundhog that lived under our shed. That is much more peaceful and much more preferred by me!
Dear New Jersey
Dear New Jersey,
Hi its Brooklet. Remember me? I spent the majority of my life living with you.
It has come to my attention that its been snowing quite a lot there recently. When the first large blizzard hit a few days ago I have to admit that I was a little jealous. Washington hasn't had a winter this year and I would have preferred a full blown blizzard instead of 50 degrees, gray and rainy every day.
But then a second blizzard hit, and it occurred to me that your recent weather pattern may severely affect my ability to get home tomorrow. Its been a long time since I've seen you and I really don't want that to happen.
As of this morning, it appears that the weather is going to warm up so I'm writing this letter to make sure that the weather stays that way. Hindering my trip home is going to make for one very unhappy Brooklet.
However, I would also like to mention that the 10 day weather forecast also predicts small snow showers in the early days of next week. This type of weather would be wonderful. If anything hinders my trip back to Washington, I would be 100% okay with that!
So please, please keep your runways clear of snow and ice and if you do, then I will see you tomorrow!
Sincerely,
Brooklet
Hi its Brooklet. Remember me? I spent the majority of my life living with you.
It has come to my attention that its been snowing quite a lot there recently. When the first large blizzard hit a few days ago I have to admit that I was a little jealous. Washington hasn't had a winter this year and I would have preferred a full blown blizzard instead of 50 degrees, gray and rainy every day.
But then a second blizzard hit, and it occurred to me that your recent weather pattern may severely affect my ability to get home tomorrow. Its been a long time since I've seen you and I really don't want that to happen.
As of this morning, it appears that the weather is going to warm up so I'm writing this letter to make sure that the weather stays that way. Hindering my trip home is going to make for one very unhappy Brooklet.
However, I would also like to mention that the 10 day weather forecast also predicts small snow showers in the early days of next week. This type of weather would be wonderful. If anything hinders my trip back to Washington, I would be 100% okay with that!
So please, please keep your runways clear of snow and ice and if you do, then I will see you tomorrow!
Sincerely,
Brooklet
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