california

Foreclosures lead to abandoned animals

Another sad aspect of the current real-estate crisis: abandoned pets. From AP:

Pets “are getting dumped all over,” said Traci Jennings, president of the Humane Society of Stanislaus County in northern California. “Farmers are finding dogs dumped on their grazing grounds, while house cats are showing up in wild cat colonies.”…In one such colony in Modesto, two obviously tame cats watched alone from a distance as a group of feral cats devoured a pile of dry food Jennings offered.

“These are obviously abandoned cats,” Jennings said. “They're not afraid of people, and they stay away from the feral cats because they're ostracized by them.”

Stanislaus County, which contains the town of Modesto, is in the Central Valley of California, a region hit hard by foreclosures.

I think about how much effort went into moving Luna to our new home, making sure that she was safe and cared for, and helping her adjust. To just leave a loved pet behind is unthinkable. While a lot of ire about the current real-estate problems is rightly aimed at speculators and financial institutions, the homeowners are responsible for abandoning their pets. And thus they are not getting a lot of sympathy in some corners:

Bloggers are furious with the “foreclosure pet” phenomenon, especially after seeing photos of emaciated animals on the Internet. Some critics say the pet owners have already proved they are irresponsible by buying houses they could not afford or mortgages they did not bother to understand.

“They see a pet as property, no different than a worn sofa tossed into the alley when the springs pop,” says a posting about foreclosure pets on About.com.

I also contrast these people abandoning their pets in foreclosures to those who lost their homes, and their pets, in hurricane Katrina. Many of them wanted to evacuate their pets but were prevented from doing so; some stayed behind to protect their animal companions. Those facing foreclosure have advanced notice, and no government force preventing them from seeing that their animals are cared for. And simply did nothing.

Their best shot is for the owners to plan ahead some,” Jennings said. “But they didn't plan when they bought their house. I don't see that happening anytime soon.”

We at CatSynth think pets are family, you don't just abandon them. We don't excuse violence or abuse because of financial hardship (even though some others out there do), so why should we see abandonment differently? Even in the situation where one cannot bring pets, such as when moving in with family or a strict rental, at least make an effort to find them new homes.

As a last resort, at least bring them to a shelter, where they may be adopted. Luna was adopted from the animal shelter in Santa Cruz, perhaps after her previous humans moved but couldn't bring her along. We hope that at least some of the animals caught in this crisis, there is a happy ending.

Weekend Cat Blogging and more: The Storm

California was hit by a nasty set of winter storms this weekend, and our soon-to-be-former home in
Santa Cruz was certainly in the middle of that:

Spectacular white-capped waves, heavy rains and high-powered winds battered Santa Cruz County on Friday causing clogged roads, sending trees and power lines into houses and buildings and flooding area roads..

Even from our window, it was obvious this wasn't an ordinary winter storm:

Even more than the rain, the real problem was the wind, well over 60MPH at times. And with wind comes power outages:

There were 46,010 PG&E customers without electricity in Santa Cruz County as of Friday afternoon, said company spokesman Jeff Smith.

We were among those customers, with power out until well into the evening. No lights, no heat, no internet or radio, and only a small amount of phone service. Perfect time for some extra long afternoon naps:

Luna has recently found this black pillow and made it her own.

At some point in the afternoon, I decided to try going out, maybe find a cafe with some electricity, warm drinks, and internet service. But it seemed that the entire town was without power, and most businesses were shuttered. This is what a hurricane must feel like as the storm approaches. A bit disappointed, I returned to the cold, dark house, for at least the warmth of a blanket and “kitty love.”

As afternoon turns to evening, the lack of light becomes more of a problem for humans. But for cats, who have excellent night vision, activities can continue largely uninterrupted:

Indeed, Luna was quite active in the early evening as darkness settled in.

Fortunately for us humans, power was restored to some parts of town by early evening, and I was finally able to go find a cafe for warm drinks and internet service (and to recharge the all important cell phone). The chatter of others and bustle of activity was quite welcome, indeed. But still no power at our house; our block was frustratingly dark even as others started to light up. I was able to spend some time and enjoy a warm meal at a the home of a friend whose power had returned, and by around 9 or 10PM our power was finally back on. As I returned to the house, I could see Luna's face peering out the window, with light in the background…

Weekend Cat Blogging #135 is being hosted by Katie and Puddy of A Byootaful Life. It seems that they are experiencing a rainy weekend as well, and they're inviting everyone to come inside.

The Carnival of the Cats has a new home at The Cat Blogosphere, and they will be celebrating the inaugural edition this Sunday.

The Bad Kitty Cat Festival of Chaos will be hosted by Ammie & Menagerie at Sleeping Mommy. The option theme is “Gotcha Day Stories.” You can read about Luna's Gotcha Day from this anniversary post back in June.

And of course Friday Ark #172 is at the modulator.

Earthquake

It's just one of those things when you live in California. You know an earthquake when you feel it, and we at CatSynth definitely felt it tonight. From Associated Press:

The quake had a preliminary magnitude of 5.6 and struck shortly after 8 p.m., about 9 miles northeast of San Jose, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The earthquake was in full force here at CatSynth HQ, with the nasty side-to-side motion and our many glass items shaking quite intensely. But we're fine, no damage, and it sounds like there was little or no damage elsewhere. Luna was a little shaken, though.

Seabright cats, a warm day, and remembering those in harms way

This was an amazingly warm and clear day here on the California coast.

The early part of the day was in the Seabright neighborhood of Santa Cruz, mostly reading and working, but also enjoying wandering the streets and the area by the beach. I got a glimpse of this cat in one of the apartment complexes near the beach.

This photo is actually from a previous encounter with the “Seabright Kitty”, he/she wasn't in the mood to be photographed today…

Someone else, on the other hand, was quite photogenic:

This is Bella, who resides with my friend and colleague Synthia Payne, whom readers may remember from the UCSC DANM exhibition and Ninjam performances.

Luna of course continues to enjoy her favorite indoor activites:

I actually did take Luna outside briefly yesterday on her harness, and all she wanted to do was head back to the door and go inside. I'm not going to argue.

Like I said, it was exceptionally warm today:

Great for us here in Santa Cruz, but it part of the same warm, dry weather in which the fires in Southern California continue to burn out of control. This years fires in San Diego and the areas in and around Los Angeles might be even worse than the devastiing fires in 2003, with so many people and animals evacuating (over half a million so far) and so many more in harms way.

We at CatSynth want to take a few minutes on this Tuesday to send out thoughts to all the humans, cats, and other animals threatened by this disaster, and hope they make it through safely.

Fun with Highways: Drive Twenty-Five

So this is a drive I have had on my list for a while. Why, you ask? I don't know really. I guess it's just that it seemed to go nowhere. Actually, it's a country highway that runs approximately along the San Andreas fault in San Benito County, in between mountain ranges. And a quiet fun drive into uncharted territory is exactly what I was looking for.

This scenic yet off-the-beaten-path route runs by Pinnacles National Monument in Northern California. It includes a wide variety of corners, from slow hairpins to fast sweepers, a smooth road surface and scarce traffic. [Forbes]

Highway 25 splits off from 101 just south of Gilroy. Gilroy is famous as the “garlic capital of the world”, but it has also become an exurb of San Jose overrun with subdivisions. Our friend Burbed did Gilroy Week back in March.

Upon landing on highway 25, I was greeted by the “scarce traffic”:

Oh yeah, I forgot. This coming weekend is that big motorcycle thing in Hollister, or more formally the Hollister Motorcycle Rally. The other sleepy farm-town-turned-commuter-town fills up with motorcycles, as well as the people who sit upon them, which of course explained the heavy traffic and the detours around the main party in downtown Hollister:

But it's worth a stop, how often do I find myself surrounded by handsome machines such as these?

Not to mention an interesting breed of people I don't usually encounter. It seems one needs a minimum body-mass index (BMI) to ride Harleys or other large bikes. I even picked up motorcycle-rally T-shirt for $5, figuring it would be very ironic at my next avant-guard electronic music show.

South of Hollister, highway 25 becomes a more bucolic two-lane highway, with only the occasional vehicle (or motorcycle).

Most the land along the highway is scrub ranch land, and rather dry. Really dry, actually. Hopefully no one lights a match. Here are some winter photos of the same area from Wandering Lizard, when things are a lot greener. There is barely any green left in summer, just hills covered in brown grass. One passes the occasional herd of cows and delapidated farm equipment. I can't imagine living out here, far away from any sort of town but without the “abstract emptiness” that makes the desert so attractive.

One industry that does seem to be growing in rural San Benito county is wine growing. Indeed, it is now listed as an official winegrowing region. Certainly, the character and prestige is nothing like the Napa Wine Country, but one does see a lot vines in neat rows amongst the brown hills:

A little further south, one comes to the turnoff for highway 146 and the eastern entrance to Pinnacles National Monument. I had never been to “East Pinncales”, so I took the opportunity to visit and even do a little hiking despite the 105F heat. Actually, it was a good opportunity to see the park without a lot of other people around, and to walk off some that “biker cuisine.” I will be writing about Pinnacles in a separate article.

Highway 25 continues south towards, well, towards nowhere in particular. The farming towns of King City and Coalinga are the main places to note, even though the highway never intersects either of them:

Looks like some has been taking target practice on the distance marker?

Actually, this stretch of the road provided some amazing moments of nothingness, such as these images all from one spot:



Not only is it visually stark and minimal, there was almost no sound. Silence like this is a rare occurence for those of us in more developed metropolitan areas, and when one does find silence, it is always worth stopping to listen. The silence and the landscape together were an amazing experience. I stayed for maybe ten minutes until it was interrupted by…of course, a Harley roaring by.

Highway 25 eventually ends at a very modest junction with Highway 198 somewhere in rural Monterey County.

It seems appropriate to end on such a minimal note. Heading west (right), one eventually reaches highway 101 for the return trip home.

Weekend Cat Blogging #99: May Flowers

First time WCB hosts Spot, Mel, Shishi and Sirius have decided upon a floral theme for Weekend Cat Blogging #99. We at CatSynth are of course happy to oblige with this lovely photo of Luna posing with a California poppy:

As we saw last October, the color orange really brings out something in Luna. I thought this living-room photo of orange with black and grays was quite striking:

While the California poppy is aesthetically and geographically “purrfect” for Luna, it is not safe for cats. These photos were taken under very close supervision and the flower was immediately removed from the house afterwards. We at CatSynth want to remind our feline friends to enjoy May flowers responsibly. The Cat Fanciers Association has a list of plants considered non toxic for cats. Another list of resources on plant safety can be found here.



Beckett enters California politics

Few political articles reference Samuel Beckett's masterpiece Waiting for Godot, but that's exactly what we find at SayNoToPombo as they cover the recent wave of newspaper endorsements against Richard Pombo.

We at CatSynth dubbed Mr. Pombo California's Worst Representative in an earlier post.

It is nice to see literary references that add a bit of sophistication to what is otherwise an ugly campaign season.