Almost a Homicide

There was almost a homicide last night at Town Point Club last night.

II'm sure the first thought to cross your mind was, "What on earth was Jimmy Frost doing at the Town Point Club?" and I often asked myself during the course of the evening, "What is Jimmy Frost doing at the Town Point Club?" Truth is, I was thereat the invitation of Randy Wright who is running for re-election to City Council and with camera in hand, I was photographing the event and there for the specific purpose of capturing on video Senator Mark Warner as he introduced Randy to his guests.

Now, photographing Mark Warner is a trick because he is such a tall man and photos taken by what seems to be a dwarf in comparison to him aren't much good-plus just when you think you have a great shot, he moves in a direction that is the absolute worst for your shot, so he's a tough subject to photograph.

In any event, I had a good angle set up, my camera on a tri-pod and was running video and as Senator Warner is winding it up, right at the very moment when he is introducing Randy, instead of capturing Randy walking up and receiving a warm handshake from the sitting United States Senator, my shot get's blocked by none other than another photographer there to cover the event.

If my camera and tri-pod weren't so costly, weren't so personally valauable to me (Miss Scarlett bought them for me, so there is that to consider) and the fact that Miss Scarlett would have been horrified to see me use this set up as a weapon, I might have snatched the whole set off the floor and beaten the man to death while wearing my new $300.00 suit.

To me, it was like some dolt blocking the now famous shot of the flag being raised on Iwo Jima just so he could get his own picture of it.

I took "dude" aside later and told him I didn't appreciate him jumping in front of my camera while I was fliming and he was like, "Ohh, I didn't realize you were running video". I said, "Still, you just got right in front of my camera like I wasn't even there-that wasn't cool."

He said, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know your camera was running". Upon reviewing the video this morning and slowing it down, you can see that he was looking right into the camera-there's no mistaking it. Makes me even madder. So I wonder if he knows what a red light on a camera actually actually means?

According to Miss Scarlett, I was livid and she was right-I'm still pretty ticked off about it. I mean, even the rudest of rude tourists will usually give complete strangers a little defference or at least get out of the camera's line-of-site when they see others taking a picture.

Otherwise, Miss Scarlett and I had a wonderful evening in the beautiful Town Point club and I have to tell you, I rather enjoyed myself and the creature comforts this place has to offer.

I could get use to going to places like that and I am certain that Miss Scarlett enjoyed it, too-I also didn't mess my new suit up.

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Be Careful of those who are in the biggest hurry

So Friday night I get a call from a young lady-we just got a beautiful 8-month old calico kitten in at the Pet Center that makes you want to pick her up and love on her the moment you see her, adn this young lady wanted her-NOW!! As it happened, I was at the Hilltop store working with another family and couldn't get down there, so I told her I'd hold it for her until tomorrow.

"Well, why can't I have her TONIGHT!?"

Because I'm not going to BE there tonight, but I will meet you tomorrow and you can adopt her then-I then asked her, "You are over 18, aren't you?" She became a bit indignate with the question but answereed in the affirmative and I assured her that all would be well, I'd be there at 1pm and we could release the animal to her-she huffed and puffed, but I had the keys to the cages and the store woldn't let her handle the cat while I wasn't there-which is something they usually do, so something must have been up.

The next day, I awaited my anxious adopter and the appointed hour came and went-we will place a 24hr "hold" on adoptions, but ONLY 24 hours-if you can't make up your mind, it's just not fair to hold the animal while you do when we could adopt it to someone else who IS ready.

I used the caller ID function on my phone and called the mobile number she had called me from and it would seem that she hadn't arrived at the appointed time because she needed to ask "permission" from her parents whom she still lived with-I said okay and lifted the hold a few hours early. I'm sure we'll adopt her out today to someone else. The kitten, not the kid.

Of course, I've had the experience of someone placing a hold on a cat, the 24 hours comes and goes, we don't hear from them for a week and then they finally show up and act shocked that we adopted it to someone else. I've tried calling them to find out what the deal was, gotten no response to voicemail, left message after message and when the cat is gone, they call me "unprofessional". We even have people ask us to hold animals for up to two weeks until they get paid again or my personal favorite, ask me if they can start some sort of payment plan-on a $45.00 adoption fee.

You're kidding, right?

What about when the cat needs a veterinarian, food, cat litter, vaccinations or God forbid, get's injured?

We're fond of saying, "If you can't afford the vet, you can't afford the pet" but if you can't afford what is probably the lowest adoption fee around for a cat, you certainly can't afford to own the cat at all.

Just another day at the office....

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At War with the City of Virginia Beach

I think I know when it all began-

Last May, I read the "riot act" to the Virginia Beach City Council over their removal of funding for the new animal shelter. I disarmed them with a little self-deprecating humor, set my shoulders and then leveled a metaphorical sawed-off shotgun in their direction, peppering all of them with extra strength rock salt.

At issue was the animal shelter of course and I explained in no uncertain terms that unless you are a developer, a motel owner or a Navy Official talking about closing Oceana, our government just isn't listening. The message I get is, 'well, just do as you're told, we'll tell you what to worry about and how much to pay in taxes and don't forget to pay them on time, unless of course there's a theater in Town Center named after your family. I'm on record as saying that the only way we're going to get a new animal shelter in this city is if we call it the Town Center Animal Care and Control Facility because that project has become the center of the known universe." I slapped them around a while longer, asking them why the council felt that they had no obligation to follow state law, why did the city manager say in a letter to the state Veterinarian that we were going to build a new shelter and then not do it-subjecting the TAXPAYERS to possible civil penalties of up to $1000.00 per day per violation?

Apparently our council does not like being held to account so publicly-better get use to it because I'm home a lot more often now.

Two days later, I received a notice in the mail from the Department of Neighborhood Preservation that I was in violation of local ordinance because I had gutters on the front of my house that were overflowing-this was pretty funny since I don't even have gutters on the front of my house. I called the inspector and asked him how I could be in violation for having clogged up gutters when I didn't even have them-he informed me that it was an error on his part and to ignore it.

It was and I did.

The following Tuesday, the Department of Waste Management didn't pick up my trash-no reason given.

In January, I had some boards on my fence cracked by the garbage truck-driver claims "I didn't do it", so I became more vigilant when my trash is picked up. During the first weekend in February, my neighbor's police truck (he's a K-9 Officer) was parked behind his house, so the driver came too far to the right, dropped the can and knocked down my fence-another complaint to waste management.

Last week, no police truck in the ally, but the trash still wasn't picked up. The cans STAY out there, so what's the problem? No problem, but they came the next day.

This morning, I watched (and filmed) as the truck pulled up, emptied one can (I have two) and moved on.

Apparently this time the excuse was that after 10 years of sitting in the same place and being emptied almost every week, now it's too close to the fence, so it's going to be left and gee, the driver put a sticker on your can the last time.

HORSEPUCKY! There was no sticker and now I'm informed that the cans have to be three feet away from the fence before he will grab it. So, this evening, I will go home, take a measuring tape and make a line at exactly three feet and I'll wait to see what his excuse will be next week.

Never mind the fact that when he bashed down my fence and left, that's usually called a hit-and-run which would cause a license to be suspended if convicted-but this is Virginia Beach. When the government doesn't obey the law as it relates to its responsibility towards the animal shelter, so too it also ignores traffic laws that apply to everyone else.

Anyone remember the city-vehicle red-light camera exemption?

I don't want to sound like one of these wacky conspiracy types, but a lot of strange things have been happening around the neighborhood of late since my address to the council-I hope they don't think I'll be intimidated, sit down and be quiet.

Remember, arguing with a trucker is like arguing with a pig in the mud-sooner or later you'll realize that they both like it.

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Momma wants.....

a Ford Mustang.

I was hoping this day would and would never come-Yesterday I dropped my "Grizwald family truckster" off at Kimnach Ford to have some recall work done on it, lo and behold there they were, lined up facing the building silent, poised and ready to run. A long line of brand new Ford Mustangs-and Miss Scarlett wanted one. It was a 2010 Mustang GT with the Kona-Blue paint job. It's a dark blue, almost purple-Scarlett's favorite color.

I himmed and hawwed because adding a car like that to my insurance policy would send the rates through the roof and to prove it, I got my insurance agent on the phone and waited for the quote with an air of satisfaction, knowing that the increase would be more than we could afford. I was shocked when I was told that because of our age and driving record, the increase would be affordable.

Of course, I don't think I'd finance a purchase like that and paying cash would put me in a much stronger postion to negotiate the cost-I just can't see paying interest on money you borrow on something that will lose value the moment you drive it off the lot. I realize that we would see a considerable depreaction the moment we took our new pony home-but since Miss Scarlett has never owned a brand new car in her life, I think the loss would be worth the smile on her face-she might even cook me a big batch of pork chops as a reward. I would just love to see her face when she fires that pony up, puts it in gear and eases it out onto Virginia Beach Blvd then applys the gas, hearing that deep, throaty growl of all that horsepower from under the hood. Sadly, I won't be able to see her face the first time she takes it up on the Interstate and feels the thrill of acceleration when she heads up the on-ramp towards the open road-I'll be somewhere behind her in the family truckster with a smile on my own face knowing I had finally been able to give her something she deserves.

Fella's, every good wife deserves a new car all her own at least once and if it's nicer than yours, well boys, let's just suck it up. Driving an ubber-nerd car won't kill you and if you're really nice, she might let you drive it sometime.

I'm not there yet, but there is something pretty exciting in the works that might make all of this possible-when it's time, I'll tell you about it but one things for sure-that new pony is getting closer and closer. Somewhere out there is a Ford salesman or saleswoman who's going to get a run for their money in the coming months-I'll give Miss Scarlett the car she wants but the sales rep is in for a good headache. It's not personal, its just business. Momma may want a Mustang, but Daddy wants a deal-and I just hope Miss Scarlett doesn't take sides with the salesman against me, I might not be able to afford it.

That's my goal-Momma get's a new Mustang and Daddy get's pork chops-what a deal!

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Dead Computer Opens a Door

For the second time, I have had to play "taps" for a laptop-it's always a sad occasion. You can see the end coming with little problems and issues that usually come up towards the end, but this one started as a power cord issue that morphed into computer death. Kind of like dying from getting a blood-pressure checkup.

So the one that replaced it is a fire-breathing monster that has more processing power and memory than five of my old laptops and I am enjoying the fact that my friend Ray got it for me at a GREAT price. So, I guess it comes as quite a surprise that I am also taking this opportunity to begin my own small business of designing and building Internet websites since I have seemed to happen upon a market for them that a lot of folks don't bother with. I'm not doing something foolish like quitting my job (that provides me with benefits), I'm not hiring a staff, renting an office or any of that. No, we'll be just a small, home-based business that provides us with extra income from something I have enjoyed doing and learning about for years. I am also looking at the Virginia Beach adult education program for extra help because they seem to have several classes that teach things I'm not entirely up-to-speed with and could probably stand some improvement.

Who knows where this will lead? Maybe one day I will have to hire an employee or two, maybe one day I will have to rent an office and maybe, just maybe I'll be "the boss".

I don't know all the in's and out's of owning or running a small business, my Father did years ago and like him, I'm sure that my customers will tell me exactly how to run my business and what I'm doing wrong. Of course, I could always stop in at the I-Spy store over on Independance Blvd, pick up some electronic monitoring gear to listen in on my employees as they talk among themselves and tell each other how many mistakes I'm making and what I should be doing. Of course, we'll have an office cat and be a pet-friendly company. If you're allergic to cats, sorry, but the cat was here first and as such, he would have seniority. We will recycle our paper and be socially responsible by doing jobs not for the money, but because it's the right thing to do.

If this small ventuire ever grows to the point where I would have to have a staff, here's how I'd treat my "peeps":

I'd be a good boss to work for, but a little on the persnickity side-I would insist that our customers are never addressed by their first name until they give us permission to do so. I'm a bit old fashion in that regard. I would like to be able to provide good benefits for the staff such as health and dental benefits that actually pay something towards getting the work you need done-not just tooth extractions. If you're a smoker, I won't hold that against you but unlike other companies, I'd try to accomodate you as long as you're respectful of others with it-sorry, but you just can't smoke in the workplace anymore. I wouldn't drug-test because what you do in your private life is none of my business, unless it starts affecting my business-then we need to have a talk.

I wouldn't bust employees chops over being a little late to work, but don't EVER be late to an appointment with a customer-that's not being respectful of the time of those who might give us money to do a job for them. If you land a job for the company, you'll be rewarded with perhaps a paid day off or a higher commission on that job. If you have a kid, of course you can go take them to the Doctor and you don't need a "mother may I" to go and see one for yourself. Just bring in a recipt from the Doctor with your name and the date and you're good-to-go, I don't want to know what you were treated for-it's none of my business.

I'd probably close early on the day before a holiday weekend unless there was a customer who needed something that particular day-you're not going to get much out of people who are chomping at the bit to start the holiday weekend, so why keep them there? They'll make you miserable and won't get much done anyway, so just go-I'll see you on Tuesday.

I wouldn't be like some of these companies and offer massages or fung-shway (however you spell it) but if your pet needs to go to the Vet or passes away, of course you can take the day off to deal with it. I'd have a cell-phone policy because I think some people use them to the point of being rude towards those around them-I don't care what he said, I don't care what she said and if it's your personal phone, use it on your personal time.

I won't care if you're a woman, a minority, Latino, gay, straight or you like to dress in drag during your time off-I'd be hiring you to do a job based on your talent, not so I can deal with your life issues or lifestyle choices. I'm going to hire people because of the talent they can bring to the table, not because of who they are, what they look like or to achieve "workforce diversity." I won't "blue screen" You-Tube and if you see something funny, don't be afraid to laugh out loud-unless there's a customer around and if it's that funny, please remember the Boss likes a good laugh, too.

I'll probably get sued.

But for right now, I think I'll stick to doing what I know how to do as best as I can-a big thanks to Archie Whitehill (Sparkling Diversity) for sending some business my way already-and to John Bell for giving me the opportunity to work on his website during his bid for Sheriff. It opened a lot of doors and Miss Scarlett is overjoyed that I'm making some money off of something I might have been able to charge for long ago but never really had the courage to start on my own. I really am starting to beleive that fortune favors the bold and taking this step forward took a long time-too long perhaps but we're starting it now and I feel like a new Father.

At least if this business takes off, Miss Scarlett won't really have to worry about finding a job anymore and can go shopping without having to worry about not being able to afford what we want to buy-I doubt I'll be driving a new Camero or a Dodge Charger as a "copmpany car", but the extra income will sure help-a LOT!

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Arrogance-and SOMEBODY has to go to jail.

Okay, so this topic is "off topic" for this blog, but you have to know-and protect yourself. But first, some background.

Recently, I was able to purchase a new, fire-breathing monster of a laptop. My old one finally died (I bought it used two or three years ago) and I no sooner got my fingers calibrated to that keyboard, it gave up the ghost. So I turned to my man Ray who knows exactly what I do with computers and what would work best for me. He picked a winner and it's great for the things I do since I recently was assigned a website project that paid me an obscene amount of money. I wanted to do my best and for that, I needed the best piece of technology I could get.

This laptop has a built-in web-cam and it's looking at my right now, but I am troubled by this story out of Pennsylvania. Apparently a well-to-do school district is able to provide laptops for their High School students-great, I'm happy for them. However, these computers are equipped with web-cams and it would also seem that the school district has been using these web-cams to snoop on the students that have these computers.

I doubt that the students or their family members were ever told that these computers had this capability and according to the story, one of the students was taken aside because someone at the school thought that the student was engaging in some inappropriate behavior-which is according to the story in no way related to the reason the camera were supposed to be activated.

You see, public High Schools are owned and operated by the government and that gives me some concern-there is this thing that they're supposed to understand that goes something like this:

AMENDMENT IV; The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

I am amazed that those running a government school seemed to think that this somehow did not apply to them which to my mind, speaks to unbelievable ignorance or, unimaginable arrogance on the part of school officials.It has always stunned me how public school officials seem to get it in their head that they're better equipped than the parent to make decisions and in this case, can throw the 4th amendment to the Constitution right out of the window because they know what's best. I guess the state simply wants you to hand your child over to them and while your child in in their custody, the school will make all the important decisions on your behalf as well as deciding which parts of the Constitution they will respect and which they can safely ignore because hey, they're doing what's best for the child-yea, right.

So it seems that things haven't gotten much better than when I was in High School and if this story is true, they've gotten much worse.

If the boy I knew looking back at me in the mirror some 30 years ago had found out that this was happening, I don't think he would have hesitated for a moment to send the offending laptop back at the offending school officials with all of his might and then told them in no uncertain terms what they could do with the surviving pieces. Of course, I'd have gotten in some serious trouble with the real authority figures in my life (the parents) but that storm would have passed-only to be recalled for the rest of my days as "One time when Jimmy was in school... story. I was a pretty hot-temperd kid and although that temper has been brought under control over the course of my life, the strong sense of right and wrong has only become clearer with life-experience.

In my opinion, not only does this nonsense need to stop, someone needs to go to jail. I don't care what the intention were, it doesn't matter how noble a program it was and I care about the offending parties excuses about as much as they cared about the rights and protections afforded these kids and their families under the Constitution. What the school district did was wrong-and somebody needs to do a "perp-walk" and go striaght to jail.

Handcuffs, please.

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That was my eardrum

Super big adoption event went by this weekend-and I got my butt kicked by my own wife! Well, you know how it is when you're dealing with the "fairer" sex-you all but have to give them a head-start five feet shy of the finish line and when they cross it first, they tease you about being the winner. Yea, right, whatever. She got one adoption and I got none, nada, zip, nothing.

Since we had a special promotion going on this weekend, we were going to have a drawing of all the adopters and give away a one-year wellness plan to a local pet hospital and since there was only one adoption, we only had one contestant and that eliminated the need for a drawing of any kind. So instead of having the drawing at the Hilltop Petsmart as we had planned, we just went to dinner and decided to call the weekends sole adopter, but let me tell you about the cat she adopted that we named "Chance".

Chance was found wandering by animal control officers and he was a Persian or a Himalayan, either way you usually don't see cats like this that fend for themselves. He was in pretty rough shape when we got him out of animal control and even still, I found him on one of my "why don't I have that one" walk-through. What I'll do is walk through the shelter and find all the cats I can that are fixed and ask, why can't I have that one at the pet center, why can't I have that one at the pet center, what's the deal with that one, why can't I have her at the pet center? So Chance was all but ready and we got him up to South Plaza Trail and he wasn't doing much better there, either. The day after he arrived he started getting sick and had to go right back for treatment-at the shelter.

Now, the volunteers I work with don't think too much of Beach Animal Control-they don't like the shelter and have volumes of horror stories to tell about the place. I have my own stories about the shelter but in all fairness, they've been trying in recent years especially since they appointed Juleen Ballance as their new director-I'll give her this much, she will at least listen. You might not get the response you were looking for, but she is getting cats to me for adoption and when they come to the pet centers, I can just about promise them a ticket to a new home.

So Chance was treated and once he got better, we brought him to the Hilltop store and he wasn't there a week before he got a new home. The lady who got him was, according to my wife (I'd never met the lady) a very nice person who lived in Portsmouth and just melted when she met Chance. So we called her while we were at dinner Sunday night and I addressed her formally, introduced myself and informed her that she had won the wellness plan for her cat.

That's when she busted my eardrum."AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God, I was praying I would get this and it's such a blessing!" I'm happy for her, although I was planning on using that ear for oh, the rest of my life, but that's okay.

After we worked out the details with the hospital administrator, we settled down to eat one of our favorite meals-FRANKIE'S PLACE FOR RIBS! I got an order of beef ribs, Miss Scarlett got a rack and a half of pork ribs and engorged herself-I didn't know she could eat that much. Actually, I knew that the beef ribs were going to be small by my standards and there was no way Miss Scarlett would eat an entire rack and then another half rack by herself, so since it was Valentines day, I would be gracious and help her finish the job-or else we'd take home leftovers and then welcome the Virginia Beach Police into our home to settle the domestic problem that would surely arise with one plate of leftovers and two people eyeballing it.  We shamelessly ate, drank, made merry and did shots of helium from the balloons at the table-well, I was doing the helium, enjoying the head-rush and Miss Scarlett was laughing at my voice.

Then we received a phone call about another adoption that someone wanted to complete-we headed back to Hilltop and adopted Butch, a gray and black tabby who had been adopted and then returned and finally, we adopted Zoe, a tortie that had been waiting her turn for such a long time. We headed home later than I had planned, had to stop at the supermarket to get a few items, danced in the aisle together-she forgot that she is still looking for work and I was able to forget that I hadn't gotten a single adoption all weekend at the South Plaza Trail store and had two teeth pulled out of my head on Thursday last-we simply enjoyed each others company and carried on like we hadn't a care in the world.

Just like you're supposed to on Valentines day.

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Don't bother the man with the "badge".

Badges? We ain't got no badges, We doan need to show you no 'stinking badges!

For some time, there are those who have been telling me I had to "go get (your) badge" from the Virginia Beach Police Department and I was like, "Yea, whatever". There are some things I'm just not in a hurry to even make time for and getting a volunteer "badge" was one of them. It's not really a badge of any kind, it's just an I.D. card but it does say VIRGINIA BEACH POLICE DEPARTMENT at the top and in really little letters below that it says "Volunteer" or rather mine says "oluenteer" because the V didn't come out right. Truth of the matter is, it wasn't until recently I even had the time to get the silly thing, but hey, it wasn't a real "need" at that point.

I even had one member of the animal welfare community who was pretty ticked off at me one afternoon ranting and raving like a  13 year-old brat , "Well why dont' you go and get YOUR badge, Jimmy-why haven't YOU gone to get a badge yet?!?!" I was like "Hey, maybe the powers that be don't really see it as a big issue?" What I wanted to say was, "Well maybe they know and trust me?" I think she was just mad because the City made her do something and hadn't made me do it yet. Of course, with this chick getting her to keep quiet long enough to listen is something of a challenge, so trying to even speculate is impossible because she wouldn't keep quiet long enough to get a word in edgewise.

I can foresee problems with an ID badge that looks pretty much like every other City I.D. Card, especially one that says POLICE DEPARTMENT on it when you're not a sworn police officer.

Had one just yesterday.

I stopped at a gas station to fill up the old Windstar and put a quart of oil in the engine, when I went to settle up the bill, the kid behind the counter with a REAL HEAVY Hispanic accent saw my ID card and said, "Oh, you wid de Police, lemme ask jew sumtin, I got arrested when I was 17 and now I'm a-teen I wanna know what I chuud do about dis 'cause I doan wanna haveta hire no lawyer, blah, blah, blah, blah. I said "Look, I can't advise you what you should do, I just adopt their cats to other people, that's it-I'm not a cop and even if I was, I couldn't tell you what you should do.

That should have ended it, I'm not a cop-I don't even play one on TV for God's sake. I once entertained the thought of being an animal control officer, but with my background and temper, it was best my application was overlooked because I'm sure I'd upset someone more than I probably should.

So he kept persisting about how it wasn't his fault, he didn't know they guy stole something, he thought he should just tell the judge he's innocent and doesn't know nothing about what the other guy did and "he'll belebe that, right?" I told him again, "Dude, didn't you just hear me, I'm not a cop, I'm not a lawyer and I don't have a clue what you should do except TALK TO A LAWYER.

He kept on, "But I doan wanna PAY a lawyer man, why can't I just tell the judge 'cause he'll belebe me, right?"

I think trying to explain why I had an ID Card that says VIRGINIA BEACH POLICE DEPARTMENT on it and trying to make this guy understand that I'm not actually a police officer was the hardest thing I did all day and even so, I still don't think he got the entire picture. Genreally when you see a big, mean-looking dude with a black leather jacket (the kind you could easily conceal several large weapons and spare magazines under) and an ID badge that says POLICE on it, people might get the idea that you really are a cop.

I don't know, maybe they should have a pawprint on the thing or something other than VIRGINIA BEACH POLICE DEPARTMENT on it because I'm not a cop, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not!

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Minus Two Teeth

So just before a big adoption event this weekend, I have to have not one, but TWO upper  teeth extracted-it's okay while the novicane is still working, but it's wearing off as I write this and I think tomorrow is going to be a tough day to get through-which happens to be the first day of our adoption event.

Man, talk about rotten timing! At least I was smart and took a half-day off of worktomorrow to start the ball rolling and we got some new, BEAUTIFUL cats in for this weekends event-the bad part is, (well, maybe it's not so bad!) is that the Portsmouth Shelter informed me they are out of cats that are able to make the trip to the store for the weekend and in fact, they are even running low of any kind of cats at the shelter. According to Sara the shelter manager, she doesn't remember a time when they had so few-which is quite happy news. This allows the time the staff needs to get to those "to do" tasks once they get all the animals cared for which when the number of cats in the shelter is high, seem to get passed over because afterall, there are only so many hours in a day.

Another piece of good news that came along this week was, Cameo got a new home-which is good because that cat seemed to be a little nutty to me. He was one of those who had body language that was difficult to read and getting a gauge on his present disposition from moment to moment was something of a challenge-but the right home finally came along for him after we made a few adjustments to his care and housing situation. It isn't rocket-science, but we do spend a lot of time talking among ourselves about what would be the best home.situation/care plan for each and every cat. The longer we keep them, the more attached we get to them and the better we are able to match up the right cat with the right home.

But Cameo's adoption left us with something of a problem.

As I looked over his intake sheet, I saw the reason he was turned in was one word-Destructive. Okay, for someone to give up a beautiful cat like this one, "destructive" wasn't all the story, so I might have stepped a little beyond protocol and called the previous owner to ask what exactly was going on. As it happens, Cameo was destructive in the sense that he would go tearing through the house knocking over lamps and other items when other cats were showing his owner attention-and she was in a living situation where the homeowners association had found out she had three cats where she was only supposed to have a limit of two. So this poor lady has worried herself sick over the prospects for Cameo and I was able to assure her that we would do everything within our power to find this boy the new home that was right for him. Cameo's former owner really cared about and wanted to do everything she could to help us do our jobs-but the truth of the matter is, most folks in the general public don't have to re-home animals as often as we do, so they don't know where to begin; Cameo's former owner provided us with two large bags of his special-diet food (about $80.00) and also paid for a one-year wellness plan to a major pet hospital for Cameo's new start-that cost $285.00! I felt sure that armed with the new, expanded information we had about what made Cameo tick as well as these added incentives, we would have a better chance of getting this boy a new home.

The first step in a successful adoption is, get to know as much as you can about your client-both two-legged and four-legged. You have to remember that sometimes, what is on the paperwork may or may not be the truth. Sometimes people who turn in animals will tell you something that isn't true in the hopes that this omission will help the pets chances of finding a new home-things such as behavior or house training. The truth is, you have a limited amount of time with the animal, so you have to spend as much as you can watching and observing what the animal responds favorably to and what they would rather do without. All we ever have is what's on the paperwork and what's passed down from the shelter staff-sometimes what the shelter staff has to tell us is helpful, other times it's off the mark because the animal is in a different environment and may act differently.

As for the two legged clients, I find it's best to engage them in conversation and listen to what they say. For example, trying to engage them about their past pets, you might be able to pick up on irresponsible pet ownership-if they had 5 cats and they all got hit by cars, perhaps this might not be the best person to adopt. If they talk about the difficult financial situation they are currently in, how can they be expected to provide the care that an animal may need should it become sick or injured?

Again, these are all things that you can pick up on and never even look at the application. Perhaps there might be a habit of moving from place to place to place-will they take the animal or not and if not, what becomes of it? Younger adopters are also pretty cavalier about their responsibilities-"well, I'm going to college in the fall but my mom will just take her/him." Maybe, maybe not-have we asked Mom yet? If not, let's get her on the phone and let me tell you, more than a few times I have watched younger adopters, particularly females (for some reason) who thought they (the parents) wouldn't mind get a rude awakening. Of course, I'm not the bad guy, the parents were just being parents.

Some of the most unlikely folks turn out to be the best adopters while the ones you thought were the homerun of all homeruns brought the animals back in a few days. The important thing is, we have to make sure that these people know sometimes things don't work out-we understand that and want to help find the right anima for their situationl. If it doesn't work out, just come back, tell us why and that will be that much more information we have the next time around. Some of these animals literally came off the street so what we know about them extends no farther than the day they arrived. Any more information we have might be a good thing to have and hey, we'll put the animal back on the adoption floor to try and find another home.

On the one hand, we have those who abandon the animals at the shelter as well as at the pet centers from time to time-but I can't help but wonder what makes people do that. For the case we just tried recently, the soon-to-be-convicted simply thought he could do whatever he wanted, no one would stop him and there would be no recourse. But for others, I have to wonder if they're somehow afraid of somehow facing the ire of the shelter staff? I've had to deal with "intakes" and there are some situations where you're actually glad to take the animal from folks while other times, you can sense that these folks really don't want to give up the animal and perhaps we can exploit other options. Perhaps giving them a bag of food, a few coupons to save $5.00 or $10.00 on pet food or, direct them to low-cost vaccination services. Other people have run into a wall and have no other option except to give up the pet-and I'm glad that they came to us-this gives me the opportunity to do what I do at the pet centers and beat the bushes in the hopes of finding these guys the home they deserve.

So back to Cameo-he was adopted by a wonderful couple last Sunday by "my man", Bill at the Hilltop store every Sunday-but the new owners didn't want the wellness plan, opting instead for their own Veterinarian. So here I am, stuck with this wellness plan. I called Cameo's former owner and explained the situation and go over options-we could send her check back to her but she insisted that she wanted the Portsmouth Humane Society to have the wellness plan-so how do we determine which cat get's it? I offered her another choice-since we do have this big adoption event coming up, perhaps she would agree to allow us to place the names of every pet adopter who adopts from the two stores this weekend into a hat and whomever's name was drawn, they would win the wellness plan for their new cat.

Cameo's former owner was thrilled to agree to allowing us to do exactly that. So this weekend, some lucky cat adopter will win a one-year wellness plan for their new pet. That's turning a negative into a positive. So this weekend is going to be busy and hey, we have according to the Groundhog six more weeks of ice and snow-if you need a new cat to help keep you warm, we have some great one's up for adoption at the Petsmart stores located at 3413 Virginia Beach Blvd and 501 Hilltop Plaza, stop by and say hello. We just got four more cats in from Portsmouth and let me tell you, these are some VERY BIG BOYS, the shelter manager was breathing hard when she got the first one in the store and after I grabbed hold of that carrier, I could see why-there was a LOT of kitty in that carrier!

Hopefully, we'll be able to adopt 10 this weekend-which ought to be quite an accomplishment since I don't have a kitten among them.

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for following agreed-upon rules of civility. Comments do not reflect the views of The Virginian-Pilot or its Web sites. Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the "Report Violation" link below the comment.

Those Problem Cats

Sometimes, we get cats at the shelter that just won't move-for some reason, people just don't adopt them and they sit in their cage, day after day, week after week with no positive resolution in sight. These cases are especially worrysome when spring or fall kitten season is approaching. You worry if these guys are going to be out of the shelter in time or, will they run out of time because so many mommas and kittens are arriving. It makes for some hard choices.

Then we get the cats that are the "special" cats, some with a deformed paw, others with special needs and some are just plain nutty cats that need a special kind of owner. It's these cats that need the extra help-kittens can be adopted all day long, thems are the easy ones. The cats I'm talking about require a different kind of adopter, one who knows and understands the commitment and is up to the challenge.

Such was the case last week when Viola, an older cat with a deformed paw found her special owner and they went home together-that lady came in to see me today with pictures of Viola, now called "Katie", she's happy, the cat is happy and it all worked out. Another problem cat was "Cameo" and this cat was nutty, to say the very least. Again, we had to find the right situation amd the right people who could understand that he was a cat with a different personality and required special care.

A lot of people tell me, "Oh, you're doing such a great thing" and I appreciate the praise-but the ones who really deserve the credit are the folks on our team who come in and do the evening and morning cleanings. It's those who are the ones at the shelter that are taking care of the cats, doing all the paperwork and making sure I have all the necessary information and forms each and every time so that every adoption goes smoothly. It's those at the pet store who make sure we have all the supplies we need and make sure it get's into our hands each and every day and finally, it's the people who choose to adopt a cat from us-without all of these people, I couldn't do very much at all.

But I will have to be honest with you, when someone at the shelter laments that they can't get them fixed as fast as we can get them adopted and laments that there are so many empty cages back there in the cat room now, it's a great feeling. Don't put my name on anything, don't need an award, don't need the accolades, just need all the healthy, adoptable cats I can get into our pet centers-we'll do our job and empty those cages out again as fast as we can.

The process repeats.

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for following agreed-upon rules of civility. Comments do not reflect the views of The Virginian-Pilot or its Web sites. Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the "Report Violation" link below the comment.