I have my hands in a lot of different websites, most of them relating to animals of course and many times, so it goes without saying I get e-mails like this from time to time:

 Hello,   I work at a Humane Society in Indiana. We currently have a 2 1/2 month old calico kitteouenn that our vet diagnosed with a heart murmur. Do you know of any rescues that will take a kitten like this? Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

As it happens, I was going from Michigan to Wisconsin and it also happenes that these folks were willing to drive the cat up to Gary, Indiana from Lafayette, Indiana. It's also a fact that I have some GREAT Veterinarians at the Banfield Pet Hospital I take my cats to for treatment. I was also pretty sure that if I could get her taken care of, vetted at the appropriate time with regard to the heart murmur and on the Internet, I was sure I could get her the kind of home she deserved.

That was until I met her and she decided that her search for an owner had gone on long enough. My other cats are all highly socialized and pretty accepting of new faces, provided they aren't too dominant. This is why I pay particular attention to every cat I allow in my space. Since this one was just a baby, I was sure that once the other cats established their spot in the "pecking order", she would learn her position and things would sort themselves out.

Now, anyone who knows me can tell you that any cat I begin to "foster" usually stays around for a lot longer and I have a sneaking suspicion that "Stormy" will be no different. Do we have enough cats in Hampton Roads? Sure do. Did I need another cat? Probably not. Am I "that wierd guy with all those cats"? Yep.

But I have given up caring what others think-with any luck I'll be getting out of trucking soon enough and start living what some would call a "normal" life.

I should like to find a job working with animals in a shelter, perhaps a part-time job at a pet store because I do enjoy talking to people about these wonderful creatures that add so much to our lives and helping them choose the right products without wasting their money is rewarding in and of itself.

I've always had a weakness for calico and tortishell cats anyway.

You Think Gas is Expensive?

Here's something to consider-I only have two 100-gallon fuel tanks and I have to buy this much fuel about every other day. I'd be happy to trade paying to fill up your SUV if you'll pay to fill up my semi.

This is a lot of the reason everything you buy at the grocery store is getting so expensive-thanks to the environmentalists, these trucks that use to get 7+ mpg only get about 5mpg now. When you drive as much as I do, that extra 2mpg could make a huge difference.

So the next time you're at the grocery store looking at the prices and wondering how you're going to feed your family, thank the environmentalists-sure, you might go hungry but at least you'll still have a tree to hug.

We're all hurting with these fuel prices and I'll tell you what, it's not a matter of "if" things get out of hand, only when.

The system can only stand so much strain and people are getting a little more than angry at these fuel prices-true, we have done it to ourselves, but something is going to give at some point and then it's going to get ugly.