August 13, 2014

My Rescue Story

This morning felt like fall--it was SO nice outside! When I woke up, it was 57 degrees. I hadn't planned on running today, but with weather like this in August, I couldn't pass it up. I decided to take full advantage and go to the State Park to run a five-mile loop there.

When I got there, there were already several fishermen set up. I turned on my Garmin, and then these two guys came up to me (about 18ish years old) and asked if I could do them a favor. I said sure, and then one of them said, "We were wondering if you would smell our bait, and see which one smells better..." I thought he had to be joking, but he was serious. That was the first time anyone's ever asked me to smell their bait! hahaha

They had a couple of buckets, and I was fully expecting the bait to be bugs or fish guts or something nasty. It looked like sawdust with corn in it, and when they squeezed it, it formed into a ball. They were trying to decide which one to use based on smell. The first one smelled like cake batter to me, so of course I liked that! The second one smelled really good, too, but more fruity. I told them that I will always pick cake over fruit, so I'd go with the one that smelled like cake.

The water was like glass, because there was barely any wind. It was sunny, but not hot, and it just felt great! I had set my Garmin to show only the distance, so that I wouldn't worry about my pace or anything. I just wanted to enjoy the run. The first mile flew by, and then I started feeling really nauseous during the end of the second mile. I hadn't eaten anything, so I wasn't really worried about throwing up, but my stomach was definitely not happy. I stopped to take a couple of pictures on a bridge, and hopefully force the nausea to go away.


When I started running again, I felt much better. There were a lot of people out on the trail today, which wasn't surprising with this weather. At mile 3.5, there was a sign saying the trail was closed.


I have no idea why it was closed, but thankfully, it was at a point in the trail where I was 1.5 miles from the car whether I kept going forward or whether I turned around and took the short path. So I just turned around and ran straight back to the car, getting in just over five miles.


I asked the boys who were using the cake bait if they had any luck, and they said they did catch one with it. They said they like to make their own bait and it has to smell good, because they won't fish with anything that they wouldn't enjoy themselves.

On the way home, I stopped at Kroger to get the ingredients to make a copycat-Panera's Broccoli Cheddar Soup recipe for dinner. I've been craving their soup, but rather than driving 25 minutes and spending $6 on it whenever I want it, I figured I should probably try to make it at home. I'd always avoided making this recipe, because it's not very points-friendly on Weight Watchers. It turned out SO good! I made a loaf of homemade bread to eat with it, too.


I made this recipe, but I followed a few suggestions in the comments. Instead of using nutmeg, I used paprika (the comments suggested 1/2 tsp, but I accidentally put in a whole teaspoon); I added a little salt, a couple drops of hot sauce, and a little mustard. I used a little more broccoli than the recipe called for, because I just chopped up what I had (two crowns). When making it again (and I will be!) I'm going to make it exactly how I did today.


Purina recently asked for cat owners to share their cat's rescue story on social media, using the hashtag #myrescuestory. They announced that if there are 1,500 stories shared before September 2nd, they will donate $50,000 to The Petfinder Foundation to support future cat adoption fees. All three of my cats are rescues (and Paolo was, too), so I shared their stories on Instagram.

#myrescuestory We adopted Chandler from the local animal
shelter nearly 11 years ago. He had been dropped off there
as a kitten. Jerry and I had just gotten married and
bought a house, and Chandler made our new house
feel like a home!

#myrescuestory Someone found Phoebe as a stray when
she was approximately two years old, and was looking
for a home for her. She was pregnant, but the person who
found her had her spayed, and she lost her kittens :(
She was missing half her tail, and she still has a BB
(from a BB gun) under the skin on her chest. We took
her in, and I'm so glad we did! She's used up at least 8 of
her 9 lives by now, but she has come a long way since
we adopted her. She used to be very skittish and afraid
of people, but now she really trusts our family. She's
very loving, and any time one of us is crying or sick,
she loves to cuddle to make us feel better. 

#myrescuestory Estelle was a stray cat that my friend Andrea
(who is allergic to cats) had been feeding. Andrea knew I was
a sucker for homeless kitties, so she called me to come over
and just check her out. We brought Estelle home that day, and
she is, hands-down, the funniest and most entertaining cat
I've ever owned. She is extremely nosy and curious, and any time
you bring something into the house, she's there in a heartbeat
to check it out. Her favorite place to sleep is on top of my shins
while I sit with my legs up. She keeps our house lively and so fun!

I loved reading through all the other rescue stories, too. My cats have all been healthy when I've taken them in, but there are a lot of people who take in cats with some serious physical issues--diabetes, FIV, physical disabilities from being abused or hit by cars, etc. I think it's awesome that these cats still find homes!

Funny story: AS I was typing this about the cats, I could hear a very faint meowing. Chandler was next to me, so I called Estelle and Phoebe. Estelle came to me, but I couldn't find Phoebe. I started thinking about that time she was missing for four days, and so I started walking around and listening for the meowing. I kept calling her, and she kept meowing, but it was SO quiet and far away sounding. I started to think maybe she was stuck underneath the house.

I went outside, and started looking around out there. I could still hear the meowing, but again--very far away. I even looked in the trash bins outside, because it sounded like it was coming from there. When I walked past our porch, the meowing was much clearer, and when I looked on the porch, I saw her--she was trapped between the storm door and the exterior door to the house! I have NO idea how she got in there. She always tries to sneak outside, so maybe when I took out the trash, I closed the door on her, trapping her in between the two doors? Poor cat! Phoebe's been rescued more times than I can count ;)

7 comments:

  1. Wow! 57 degrees sounds like heaven. It got down to 83 this evening here in Florida and I felt a little fall in the breeze.

    Your kitties are all so beautiful, love the Friends themed names.

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  2. Love the cat stories! I am going to post one on my blog as well about my own little kitty.

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  3. My cat was found by a neighbor in her driveway. Her adult daughters were there at the time. The cat had a broken leg and her daughters insisted on taking him to a vet. The vet told them that the cat was very clean, had no ear mites and no fleas so she suspected that he was a house cat that somehow got away. They asked everyone around and nobody claimed him. My neighbor will not have an animal in the house but her daughters wouldn't let her leave him outside so she brought him to my house. I did end up keeping him. I've had him three years now and he's approximately four years old. I had to take him back to the vet a week after I took him in because his leg didn't heal right and the bone came through his skin. I took him back to the same vet the neighbor had taken him to but I was not comfortable with her at all; she didn't fix him the first time and she didn't seem to be very concerned with this bone sticking through his skin so I took him to the MSU vet hospital emergency and they grabbed him and ran with him to get going on fixing the broken bone. They even gave me a discount on the charges when I told them how I ended up with him and about the other vet.

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  4. Beautiful run pictures! And I love your rescue stories. :)

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  5. Great pictures :) loved your kitty story!

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  6. You have the best stories! Your rescues are so cute!

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  7. The same thing that happened to Phoebe, happened to my cat Cooper! He was just a kitten and got in between the doors when my Mom locked them for the night. I felt so bad because he was stuck in there all night and then when he got out I had to take him straight to the vet.

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