NoMo and Dusty

NoMo is NoMore as of December 1, 2009. She died sometime over the Thanksgiving Day weekend of what they say were natural causes...she was 81 at the time. Her health was never really good, but she seemed to go on and on the same way over her last few years and looked perfectly fine when mother delivered her groceries before we left for Dallas. After we got back, and a couple of days later, the meals on wheels person contacted mother and said they knocked on NoMo's door and got no answer again just as the day before. Mother (NoKe) called the police and they broke in by climbing in a window and found her lifeless in her bed. Dusty was still in the house and had been the whole time. NoKe apparently inherited Dusty now and he began living at her house...as if he didn't already. The cops originally took Dusty to the dog pound and left him there and mother, with a tear in her eye, waved goodbye to him..."bye Dusty." Later that day, and feeling guilty, Mother went down to the animal shelter and got Dusty back and brought him home. Dusty didn't make it long as Mother killed him. He made her mad but that wasn't the reason...so we are led to believe. No really he had a terrible hernia and suffered from the same problem that Marley did in "Marley and Me". Both were Labradors and both had irreparably twisted intestinal ailments that made them both very sick and Dusty was certainly in great pain. So mother took him to the vet and the only cure was to put him down. At this time mother couldn't do it, which was good because Dusty came home and was his happy go lucky self again until a week later when he began moaning . That was it for Dusty...one month of bliss at mothers house and then to the final dog pound in the sky. There is more to this story of NoMo and Dusty's final years and I'll get to it when I'm good and ready.

Another thought that occurred to me was that had I taken the cat to a different shelter farther away, the owner would have never thought to look there. The humane society is the closest shelter to Leroy’s house and on his same road.

That tip was on the animal shelter website. And any moron should know that. But if you think it was an abandoned cat or stray (like you thought) I was suggesting the no-kill facility. Like I said they had one 23 years ago, and figured there were possibly more now.

I said it looked like it was taken care of in some way, but its roams into other area's that its not supposed to. Not all animals taken to the shelter are killed, ie Count and Ginger. Animal control is called for many of these critters that aren't tagged and are roaming free, and would have happened to this cat if not shot first. Sorry I didn't use some of mothers money to put up flyers and buy gas so I could search for days for the owner of this selfish bully.

Hmmmmm, “mothers money…..” It just occurred to me, you really should have shown more compassion for this cat because you and household pets share a lot of commonalities. You do nothing worthwhile with the time you have been given on this planet, you expect everything provided for free (food, clothing, shelter) and give nothing back, you will eat too much just because its there, sleeping is a hobby, (and keeping the same hours as the nocturnal cat), lack of exercise because ~ why bother??, no insurance, no money - Its uncanny really, the similarities!

Take some Midol.

If the shoe fits ………

What shoe?

…. word

Okay, this is an explanation of whats going on here. NoMo hasn't been a lot of fun lately and hasn't had much going on that is worth telling so I'm slightly veering off here onto a new tangent. The Tomcat thing is about some emails between myself and LaurieO about a tomcat found at Lero's house that was stealing all the food from the other two cats and causing them to either starve or move on. No one knows who the cat belonged to but it looked pretty healthy and Lero has been trying to get rid of it for a long time now. The other cats are somewhat wild and don't come near people much so feeding them isn't easy. Then with this tomcat, feeding them is impossible, he eats the food left out for them and then goes away till the next morning. Lero is kind of a softy and has been feeding these wild cats for a long time and doesn't need the tomcat screwing it all up for them. So the next few posts are about that...LaurieO is in the blue font and she is cat fixated. Read tomcat part 1 first and then part 2 even though they are posted out of order.

The place in Springdale that we used for this birddog that adopted us in 1983 was called Adopt-A-Pet. He was a sweet dog that wandered up and played with Bowsey and thought he would stay. We ran “Dog Found” ads for about a month. We probably would have done it longer except he found pooh-poohed-pampers in the trash can from the neighbors house and would shred them in the yard, daily!! We found Adopt-A-Pet and took him there. We would bring him Old Post Office leftovers every week and feed him through the fence at the shelter. Finally, someone adopted him. It turned out to be someone who lived behind the courthouse / old-movie-theater . Didn’t take long for that dog to high-tail it across 71 and get back over to our house (even after being at Adopt-a-pet a couple months). We then put an ad in the paper for a “free bird dog.” We found it a really nice home out by Hogeye at an older couple’s farm. They had a dog run and everything. We went out there too with left overs for a while. Anyway, I just could never take an animal to the pound turn around and go home. I’m talking about me here, I would have to try to make an effort even if it was a small effort.

And yes there are no-kill shelters here.

I got to capture a cat today after it failed to run under my car tires at Leroys house. I thought you might like to know about it.

With the Raccoon trap? Mother mentioned the humane society – but no one goes to the pound looking for a cat…. The owner just assumes its dead, which it will be if left at the humane society. You might want to check with the neighbors.

Most people up there just shoot the tomcats that get into their stuff...and the neighbors are hard to find among all the farms. If the owner doesn't care what happens to him then should I? He's been forcing the other two cats to starve.

Whatever ….. typical from you

What would you have done about a stingy cat that roams...asked the owner, after a long search, to make it an inside cat so it won't stray? What else was there to do?

Most farmers want and need a good mouser. Why do you think LeRoy has cats in his barn? If you made an ounce of effort you could have either, found the proper owner and warned him that the cat would end up in the pound the next time, or offered it to any farmer around there as a mouser. All that’s required is to put some dry food out time to time to keep it around, mousing. I guess what really amazes me is how you take a task and reduce it to the most minimal of efforts. That’s what gets me. Because I’m sure my suggestions make you roll your eyes because it requires doing something instead of just going the easiest route possible.

Door to door cat give away? What happens when it goes right back to Leroys house and eats all the cat food again leaving the other without any? They won't go near the food when he's there. I'm not going to use all day trying to find the owner. Obviously food and mice weren't enough to keep the cat home in the first place so how would it be different if I gave him to someone else?

Well, what I’m very sure about is that you did the research and drove the extra couple of miles to put it in to a facility that doesn’t euthanize. Oh right, I’m talking to you – which ever is closest, easiest, and doesn’t take away from your “oh-so-busy” day. No other thoughts are processed on the matter.

Well, after you bitched so much, I put the Tomcat on a bus to Dallas...you may pick it up at the Dallas bus station in the morning and take it to your house and give it its own room with a TV to keep it company. Just make sure your other cat doesn't die of starvation while the Tomcat eats all of its food. Does Dallas have a place that doesn't euthanize? Do they keep the cats till they die of old age? Do you have a grip on reality?

Are you in that much of a black hole you don’t even know what is in your community? 25 years ago we took a dog to a facility in Fayetteville/Springdale, that doesn’t euthanize. Does your incredible laziness control your every thought and movement (or lack therof)? What a stupid question.
This is the one I wanted to send, but didn’t


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What goes around comes around. Just remember the Tomcat. when you are needing to believe in the kindness of strangers or help from others, don’t be surprised when someone gathers you in only to hand you off to an organization that’s charter is to kill you or sell you to scientific research lab. When you don’t have the means or wherewithal to control your own destiny, well, good luck.

You seem to have a gross misconception of what the humane society does and the volume of unwanted stray animals roaming the streets. It would be nice if there was a place that could take care of a million cats without homes, but the reality is that they would be fighting among themselves for what available food sources there were, and some of the weaker older cats would starve to death. Cats are hunters and killers and don't like to share. I know thats not what you want to hear. So if you have a realistic plan for saving all the stray animals in the world lets hear it. I don't think there is a place with enough money to manage it all. Euthanizing is the most humane thing to do under the circumstances, and there is always the chance the owner will look at the humane society first for the lost pet, or if the owner doesn't come, someone may adopt...they aren't just warehoused and killed for no reason. You might look and try to find a place in Dallas that takes care of these animals, and if you don't find one there, then it definitely doesn't exist here. Ask Leroy about it...he's been trying to chase this cat away for quite awhile and would have had Wally shoot it at some point...so I did the best thing I could think of...I guess I'm sorry that I'm a heartless lazy bastard in your eyes...so come on Karma, bring it on!

I understand you want to change the topic to something bigger, and in your mind, a more worthwhile debate. Even though your comments were educationaI I was not particularly needing to re-examine the instinctual attributes of cats, or was I initiating a worldwide plan that provides shelter to all the strays in the world, nor was I needing to know the “mission statement” and “business rules” of the humane society. No, all these topics were a very informative “refresher” on crap I already know, but the obvious thing here is your attempt at deflecting the question which was in short; Did you make a single effort on behalf of this one particular cat to find its owner or put in a non-euthanizing shelter, and the answer is no, That’s all I was getting at.

I last wrote that NoMo was still in Generations being evaluated by the psychologist there and was believing in terrorists hijacking the phone system. Since then, she has been to court, which did nothing to her, and is back home. The hospital gave her some more medicine and she seems to be acting more normal than before. I don't think she has given up on the terrorist thing, but doesn't mention it so much anymore, and she is involved with selling some of her antiques at auction which seems to be her new focus. We all thought the judge was going to throw the book at her, but it seems that he took the psychologist's recommendations and let her do what the psychologist wants, which is more of the same...get ready for a repeat next summer. Mother did say that NoMo thought she was dying the other night. NoMo said that she took all her pills on an empty stomach, and because she wasn't wearing her glasses, didn't know what pills she took. After she had a sandwich, her symptoms lessened and the emergency was over. It doesn't seem to be hard to figure out why she felt bad, but its a mystery to her still. She called mother and wanted her to help her with the emergency and mother suggested that NoMo make a sandwich which miraculously cured her illness. Mother always knows what to do. So far NoMo seems to be acting somewhat normal so the updates might begin to be a little thin again, though if mother were to write this blog it might get more interesting.

On thursday, NoMo called mother around 10 a.m. from Generations and implored her to get over there right away because something important was happening. The nurse's aide, in the background, told NoMo that she couldn't have any visitors till after one in the afternoon. Mother heard this on the phone and then heard NoMo yelling at the aide. Anyway, mother went down there around one or so and found out NoMo had nothing important to say again. One thing that happened was that NoMo had a visit from some lady from the Episcopalian church. She was sent by someone from the hospital on a mercy mission, I guess. She was a very nice lady NoMo said. Mother was there for that, and later said that NoMo was telling the church lady all about how the terrorists were hijacking the phone system in Fayetteville. NoMo even thought the terrorists knew that she knew about it and were bugging her phone. Mother said that NoMo was trying to get the FBI in on the deal since George Bush's phone must be blocked too, according to NoMo's extensive investigation of the matter. Mother also said that Generations is allowing NoMo only two outgoing calls a day and that they're limited to around five minutes each. Mother is just loving that and wishes it could go on and on. Mother now has almost all day to spend with Dusty and is so happy.

This post is not from mother, she lies right to my face when she says she will write the latest happenings with NoMo. So now NoMo is back in Generations, the mental health facility for Northwest Arkansas, and how this happened was kind of interesting. NoMo was home and her leg hurt so she called the EMS to come and get her. They were taking her to Washington Regional but she didn't want to go there, she had worn out her welcome. She wanted to go to Springdale Memorial but the paramedics refused, so she wound up at WRMC. She was not happy about this at all, nor was the hospital, but they checked her in and helped her with her leg. They were also trying to talk her into going back to Generations since in her manic stage she was a major pain in the ass. She would order people around and yell at them for not doing what she wanted, and even went so far as to call George Bush to help her with the phone company, but thats another story. I think the thing that landed her in Generations this time, the hospital finally convinced her to go, was that she was talking about how the terrorists were taking over the phone lines in Fayetteville Arkansas and wouldn't let her calls through. Caller ID was what didn't let her calls go through, no one she had alienated wanted to answer the phone when they saw it was her...she used to know that, and was why she had three phone lines at her house for only her. Anyhow, now she says she has a court date and she is still in Generations. I can only imagine what the court date is for, diminished capacity. This time she may have finally done it, next week she may be a ward of the state, and then mothers diabolical plan to acquire dustys love and affection will be complete. Mother wouldn't write stuff like that if she was writing this.

Okay, so I’m still not keeping up with this, but it is getting closer to mother taking over for me. I’ll try to catch up since last time…let’s see, NoMo had just come home from Generations and was starting her manic phase again. NoMo went to Generations a time before this latest time because she was so depressed and unable to do anything and requested that they take her in. She stayed about a week, and when she came out she was still depressed, so they took her in again, about a week after they let her go that time. The next time she got out was when her manic stuff started up again. I don’t know what they did to her, but she was in there for two, or so, weeks this latest time. Mother says NoMo is back to her old self with the being on the phone constantly and wanting to sue everyone in sight again. NoMo finally fixed her IRS problem so that is a big burden off of her shoulders now, it was partially the reason for her latest depression. This is just some of the background info since I know that people don’t want any gaps in her timeline.
Now, since the last time I wrote, NoMo has done a few things to get on everyone’s nerves again. I may have to start with the latest and then back track as I remember things…mother should really be writing this thing. Mother returned from her trip to Port Aransas, Texas on Sunday night about 9 p.m. after traveling all day by car, then plane, then more car. She started all of this about 6:30 Sunday morning after, I’m sure, much drinking with KaMo, LaKe, and JaBu, on their last night of this latest vacation. NoKe was pretty tired, but that didn’t stop LeRo from coming over to tell her about the dead guy that he had to deal with…anyway, NoKe didn’t get to bed until quite late again, she said she had to take a sleeping pill around 1 a.m. because she was still pretty wired from all the traveling, around 1:30 she finally drifted off. Around 5:40 a.m. guess who called? Right, NoMo! She says she didn’t know mother was home yet and wanted to leave some terribly interesting message…like the toenail clipping shaped like Elvis she found on her bed, or something similar of value like that, on mothers answering machine. I think mother wasn’t very nice to her and they hung up fairly quickly, 30 minutes, mother said she couldn’t go back to sleep and got up and made coffee. I think NoMo called back at 6:30 a.m. and invited mother to come over and have her coffee on NoMo’s junk covered porch with her, Dusty, and his Frisbee. Needless to say, mother wasn’t in a good mood Monday, and I don’t think she went to drink coffee with NoMo, but they did talk on the phone for the obligatory half hour again. I think mother said NoMo called about 14 times Monday, but that may be an exaggeration, though not an unreasonable one. Fortunately NoMo has some new victims to call on when NoKe is out of town, but I’m not sure who they are…its just not LeRo or me. Slowly but surely NoMo is getting her house back in order and is getting some things done again. Saturday night she called the police twice because her motion detector lights came on. She was frightened. The first cop came over and looked all around the back yard and didn’t find anything, so he left telling her she should call again if something else happens. It didn’t, but she called anyway. This time another cop came over, one she really didn’t like for some reason, and she told him to leave and never come back. The next morning she called the chief of police to complain about that guy. So far, NoMo is back to her old tricks again but hasn’t spent any money yet, she now has some new checks though. Mother says everything is back to the way it was when I first started writing this blog, with the exception of the spending money, but how far away can that be? For now, NoMo is too busy bitching about everyone, and working on suing people, to throw away any real money yet, but just wait…we may start a pool on the day she is hauled off by sheriffs deputies again.