Thankful Thursday

Thankful that The POM still loves me after I
was away for a long weekend!

I've joined Brian's Home Thankful Thursday Blog Hop!

Tiny Lions Cat Lounge & Adoption Center

Ann Arbor, Michigan, is home to the famous University of Michigan, and has been a hippie mecca for a very long time.  Embracing an alternative lifestyle, the area is full of quirky bookstores, vegan restaurants, and both upscale and moderately priced shopping, real estate, and everything in between. 

Additionally, Ann Arbor has Tiny Lions Lounge and Adoption Center!  The Humane Society of Huron Valley places adoptable cats and kittens in this setting, to allow potential furrever humans (or cat-loving visitors, like me!) to interact with them.  There are sofas, chairs, cat beds and cat climbs everywhere, plus plenty of room for board games, computer work, or the occasional yoga class.

Ren needed his beauty sleep

Rose was chillaxin'

Millicent likes to roughhouse

Playful Widget

Gregorio, wondering where his snack is

Rachel discusses politics with a visitor

The staff puts color coded tags on the cats's collars, to indicate their comfort level of human interaction.  If they were adopted, they also got a special tag to let visitors know that they are already spoken for! 

In addition, visitation time is limited to a maximum of one hour, and once you've paid the entrance fee of $7.00, you are handed a beeper that goes off once time is up.  Goes by much too fast, as you can imagine.

One more thing: The Humane Society of Huron Valley will NOT adopt out a cat to an adopter looking to declaw!  It's written into their adoption contract.  I did a happy dance when I heard this information.  It's the only way that I roll, so it's wonderful to know there is a growing tide of anti-onychectomy folks out there.

A Vacation With No Cats

My weekend trip was wonderful!  But...I saw NO CATS!  Lots of dogs, and they were everywhere.

However, I managed to find some art cats; the sachets were in the gift shop at the The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point, Michigan, and the spoon caddy was from Mackinaw Bakery in Mackinaw City, Michigan.

Cat Spoon Caddy

Lavender Drawer Sachets

Close up of caption

Close up of caption

Also, this cat-face coat on the passenger next to me on our horse-drawn taxi ride.

Girl's coat on Mackinac Island

I took many, many photos; the autumn colors are amazing, and the weather was both beautifully calm, and blowing and wet.  Here are a few:

Had a lovely time; a fantastic trip to enjoy Mother Nature in all of her splendor.

And look what greeted me when I stepped in the front door!

Angel and Chuck, sharing the double-wide scratcher together!

The Hubby said that Angel and Chuck began sitting side-by-side over the weekend, and I had to snap a photo even though it was too dark.  Gosh, I go away for a couple-three days, and the world turns on it's head!  Jiminy Crickets! 

Making Copies...

This morning, I spent a few hours at All About Animals Rescue, volunteering with about 20 co-workers.  Half of us cleaned kennels and attached tags to feral cat traps, while the rest created trap covers cut from donated bed sheets.  We used a template (about 57" by 32"), and churned out copy after copy of covers.

On Sunday, October 15, All About Animals is having $10 Community Cat Spay & Neuter Blitz, so they will use all of the trap covers they can get!  Cats need to be covered up to remain calm.  We made a huge stack of covers.  

They expect 120 cats, all from TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) situations.

An example of the cat trap covers that we made

This was the final cover, made by yours truly!

All About Animals, in Warren Michigan

The TruCatch traps are roughly 30" by 10" by 8", with a quiet trap door that is activated when the cat steps on the lever plate.  Made from coated-wire; the cat NEVER touches metal.  The fabric cover blocks the view of all of the hubbub going on.  All About Animals loans out dozens and dozens of traps, plus offers low cost spay and neuter operations during the week.  Sweetie and Patty O'Malley were both 'fixed' there, as well as Angels Sammy and Hobo.

All About Animals does important work; I am glad to donate a little bit of time to a great cause...and my office co-workers are too!

Bag Inspector

Gorgeous Laurel Burch bag!

And now properly under Mango inspection!

My dear friend was gifted with this lovely Laurel Burch bag.

Mango, resident bag inspector, immediately got to work!

He apparently approves...😺

Thankful Thursday

This week, our company is having a volunteer week, with every location across the globe working with different groups, be they women's shelters, food service for elderly or disadvantaged, emergency preparation, or simple coat and canned food drives.  We each may not have a lot, but together we can give effort and caring attitudes, to those around us.  I am thankful for this opportunity.  Tomorrow, I volunteer for 1/2 a day at All About Animals: No More Homeless Pets in Warren, Michigan.  Then, I leave for a long weekend Up North, so I'll be absent for a few days, and then I'll post about my experiences.

And I have a lot more posts to come:

 Tiny Lions Cat Lounge & Adoption Center

BK, the foster kitten

Maestro's Dog Haus

The Continuing Saga of The Stairway To Heaven

More Neighborhood Cats!

The Cat Clowder at BG's House

and more...