"Clearing the Shelters" . . .

All of the dogs available for adoption at the beginning of the day on Saturday.

August 15th was "Clearing the Shelters" day here in New York.  Adoption fees were waived for the day.  I'm not sure if it was throughout the U.S.  Hopefully it was because it was a beautiful event!!!  I was asked if I could donate my time to photograph the day's activities and jumped at the chance.  What an absolutely WONDERFUL day it was!!!  Our local animal shelter chose a carnival theme for the day complete with a kissing booth, dunk tank and face painting. 

This is Ice.  She was doing the kissing at the Kissing Booth.  How could you resist that face??  : )

Ice is available for adoption and I honestly would've taken her home if we weren't already at maximum capacity here with two dogs and three cats.  All she wants to do is kiss people and have her belly rubbed!!

A tortoise shell kitten available for adoption. 

One of our young volunteers braving the dunk tank.  It was a hot day so thankfully there were lots of volunteers for this!!

 This lucky little guy was one of the first babies to get adopted on Saturday.  He was just the sweetest boy and I know his new mama is going to spoil him rotten!!  : )

Heading home with his favorite toy in his mouth.  Probably my favorite photo of the day!!  : )

It was an absolutely amazing day with 10 dogs getting new homes.  Numerous cats, kittens and rabbits found their special families as well.  Now we're off to sign the contracts for the sale of the house.  It looks like we'll be able to make an offer on the house we've been looking at in Cornwall-on-Hudson.  Things are moving so quickly but it's all good stuff!!  : )


Happy Wednesday to you ~ Wendy

Where a Cat's Home Truly is His Castle . . .

A couple of weeks ago, I started to volunteer for our local animal shelter at one of their locations that is used to foster and take care of cats that are either too young for the shelter or that don't do well in a shelter setting.  They are living in the most wonderful house that was once the home of a plastic surgeon/philanthropist whose name was Dr. Martha MacGuffie. The house is known as MacGuffie's Castle and truly does look like a small castle.

Dr. MacGuffie traveled to Africa frequently to assist people that needed her services to give them a better quality of life.  She was also a tremendous animal lover and I'm sure she's looking down with a smile to see all of the good that is going on in her home now.

A stained glass window in the castle.

I took some photos of a few of the beautiful babies that are looking for their "furever" families.

This is Hope.  She is so very soft and sweet.  She also happens to be the Mama of our new kitten that we're adopting.  Someone threw this beautiful girl and her seven newborn kittens into a box and then into a dumpster.  By the grace of God, the box was discovered and they were all brought to the shelter and then to MacGuffie's Castle.  So far, two of her babies are adopted (our kitten and another one that will be going to a friend of mine.)  Hope and the remaining babies are looking for homes but will be safe at the castle and being well taken care of and loved by the volunteers in the mean time.  : )

This is our new baby, Finnegan.  We have to wait another couple of weeks before we can take him home.  He's only five weeks old and he and his siblings are still nursing.  Needless to say, we can't wait!!!!!!

Each of them are so sweet and beautiful with very distinct personalities and so very lucky to be in a safe and loving environment until they're in a permanent home.  There are so many other cats that I didn't get to take photos of but hope to do so soon.  I've been so upset with what is going in this world.  It's so nice to volunteer and feel like you're making a difference.  If sitting on the floor with seven kittens climbing all over you isn't enough to make you happy then I don't know what will!!  : )


Many blessings for a happy Thursday ~ Wendy

Introducing the Newest Member of Our Family . . .

This is Mr. Bigglesworth. We adopted him from our local animal shelter. He is a year and a half old and was brought to the shelter by someone who kept him as a pet in his dorm room but was unable to keep him when college ended. He was at Hi -Tor (the name of the shelter) for three months before we adopted him.

I first fell in love with Biggles (he came with his name so we shortened it instead of changing it) when I took my cat Rollie to be neutered by the mobile spay and neuter clinic that had come to Hi -Tor. They go by the name of TARA and are an incredibly wonderful and loving group of people who travel around to help control the pet population. When I had gone into the office to write a check for their services and to make a donation there were several cages in there due to the over abundance of cats and kittens that are surrendered this time of the year. I had seen Biggles on Hi - Tor's Facebook page and couldn't wait to see him in person. He was laid back and took everything in as he watched people coming and going. When I bent over to write the check, Mr. Bigglesworth reached his paw thru his cage and touched my butt. LOL!!! Of course, I instantly fell in love with him and wanted to take him home then and there!!

Biggles meeting Rollie for the first time. They're still working on getting along but I know they'll be best of friends in no time.

It wasn't until a month later that I was able to see Biggles again. I kept track of him thru Facebook and saw that he hadn't yet been adopted. It was also during that time that my cat Rosie had passed away. We went back to Hi - Tor to make a donation of towels and pillow cases that they were in need of and there was Biggles still in his cage. I asked one of the shelter volunteers about him and she told me his background story. She also told me that they were starting to worry about him because he was going stir crazy being in the cage a lot. They took him outside on a leash to walk around but he was starting to lose his spunk. Needless to say, my heart hurt for him. My husband told me that he wasn't ready to have another cat again. The rest of the day all I could do was think about Biggles and literally cried when I thought about this beautiful creature being in a cage.

The next morning, my husband woke up and told me he was going to take my son and his friend to drive some golf balls at our local golf course. They were back in less than an hour. Unbeknownst to me, they went back up to the shelter and adopted Biggles and surprised me with him.

He is so loved and is living the high life here with us!! He has a fresh side to him but we're working on that. We call it his "cattitude." : ) He has found his forever home and is being spoiled rotten. Oh, how I wish every animal looking for a home could have a happy ending!! Please adopt a shelter animal and save a life!!


Many blessings ~ Wendy