Well, it is about time I make a journal entry. I know it has been a long time. I wish I could say exactly why, except a lot of enthusiasm left me when Hamlet died. There was a visible drop after Itchy left, but it really struck when Hamlet left. I guess over the 2 ½ years since Itchy, I have been putting more and more energy into selling on the internet and raising money to donate to shelters around the country (I guess one could claim world since I have donated to charities in Canada and the United Kingdom).

I have a nice following of repeat customers now and not I am trying to get my costs down to lower prices more for my buyers. Back in the 80’s when I owned a business I used to do the purchasing for us. I liked doing it and feel I was good at building relationships with sellers and getting prices lowered. I wish I had the time to devote daytime to doing this, but alas I work full time and sell on the side in the evenings. But I have managed to build several good relationships and get some prices lowered, allowing me to drop some prices for customers and allowing me to undercut some other sellers online. Good. Most of the others selling on eBay, Amazon and the internet cannot make the claim of doing this to raise money for animals. I can.

If you are unfamiliar with what and why I sell, it is pretty simple. I ONLY sell items that I have bought, tested, like, trust and feel are a good value. This means I KNOW all my products and can actuallysit and talk about them, the good and pad points too. Not many other sellers can make that claim. I try to carry mostly cat related items, but there are a few exceptions to this: Devil Duckies products, Spy Pens, Ecopads, Melitta Padfilters, Pod coffee and Displex. I carry them because I found myself buying them for myself, and decided if I like them enough to use, why not sell them as well since they are items I use, tested, trust…. Unlike most power sellers on eBay, Merchants on Amazon and eStore owners, I do not offer thousands of items, as I do not have the time to personally test them. But this means what I do carry for cats are products that will likely work well for you and your pets. If I think the are good enough to sell, you KNOW I use them, like them and believe you will too.

I am now on the flight to NJ from Chicago, after delivering Willow to Diana. Since more people may read this entry long after this day, you may have no idea what I am talking about, so here is the quick on it…. It the time of this I live in Montana. Someone at work was moving to Hawaii and was unable to take their cat with, Willow, a lovely orange longhair 3 year old cat who had been adopted and returned to the local shelter 2 times, and during her brief stint with one of the families, lost about ½ or ¼ of her tail to something. My co-worker tried to find a new home for Willow that would love and care for her, not declaw her and keep her as an indoor cat. After his possibilities dried up, he came to me, being a big cat person who tries to help cats and animal charities, to see if I could help. Returning her to the shelter was not a really good option. The local shelter is a KILL shelter, and being Willow is 3 and missing a bit of tail, her re-adoption offs were fairly low, and that would mean her death in the months to follow. I was unable to adopt Willow, though I wanted too, but having 6 cats now, it would have been too hard to manage 7 and besides not all our cats always gets along perfectly. A new one would only stir an already volatile brew, so I checked with a few local friends who have cats. Either they did not want another or would allow Willow to be indoor/outdoor. Then Diana, my old neighbor from Palatine, IL agreed to take Willow. As it turned out I was leaving the next Saturday on a trip to NJ to visit my mother, so worked fast to try and get my flights changed to route me through Chicago on the way, having Diana meet me to get Willow. Several days of nail biting checking, losing fares and lots of airline calls fruited. I was able to get the flight changes, with Willows owner, Tim, covering the ticket change costs (close to $1000). I left on Nov. 3rd 2006 from Helena, MT about 1pm with Willow and went to Chicago via Salt Lake City, arriving in Chicago O’Hare about 9:30pm local time.

I must say, Willow is a wonderful cat, and it killed me to not adopt her. She was sweet, friendly and a joy to be around. It is odd how attached you can get to a cat after only JUST meeting her, flying for 9 hours with her and then having to say a sad good-bye to her. My loss was Diana’s gain and I truly hope that Willow has a wonderful new life in Illinios. I am sure Diana will do what she can to allow this, my trust in her is what allowed this adoption to take place.

Anyway I was greeted in the airport by Diana and Peggy (also a regular on my site). It was my first time meeting Peggy and it was a pleasure to meet her. I hope that she regularly visits with Willow as well, for she also thought Willow was sweet. So we all went to a corner of the baggage pick-up area and we let Willow out of the carrier, to run free among the airport. Just kidding, Willow had on Hamlets old harness and Diana took her our and held her for a bit, then put a blanket on the floor for Willow to stand or lay on. Peggy used the box (small clothes) I had and litter I brought to make a small makeshift litter box and allow Willow to use it if she wished, which she did not. But Willow was calm, friendly and curious, and all just loved her after meeting her. She really is beautiful.