Recently I received a call from a gal named Kyle. She and her husband live in the mountains of Santa Cruz. She heard about my nonprofit feral rescue and wanted rodent control on her 5-acre property. Kyle tried calling organizations closer to her but never heard back. Hum, I wonder why? Sometimes groups are busy and ignore calls. Now don’t get me wrong; we aren’t that group. So I answered her call.

Since Santa Cruz is a couple hours away, it’s not easy to hop over for a look at the property. So I asked Kyle to take photos and did a phone interview about their needs and whether the cats would have safe zones from possible predators. (They will.)

Loretta, my trusty volunteer, even took the day off work to help me relocate the 4 ferals. Something must be wrong with her. She loves doing relocations, no matter how far away. She accompanied me when we went to Fresno recently and trapped 6 stranded cats. That was a long day and night but she loved every minute. Like I said, something must be wrong with her.

Since Loretta is camera shy and absolutely, steadfastly refuses to have her photo taken, I’m driven to think she must be in the Witness Protection Program. It’s almost a phobia for her. And no, she doesn’t look like a female version of The Elephant Man. Quite the contrary. But because I can’t show you her picture (which I’d normally insert after this sentence) please enjoy the following totally unrelated photos.

Cute, huh? Let’s continue…so Kyle met us at the bottom of the mountain since it’s impossible to find their home without being an expert at navigation. No way am I one of those people. In fact, if I didn’t rely on my Waze app to get me where I’m going, I’d frequently be listed as missing on the 5 o’clock news. Anyway, we followed Kyle up the bumpy dirt road to her home AT THE FLIPPIN’ TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN. Crater-like holes littered our path. I weaved around them, hoping not to fall into oblivion over the cliff. That’s when I had my aha! moment as it dawned on me why nobody called Kyle back.

Here we were in the enormous van from Marin Humane, not a four wheel drive and not exactly meant for mountain climbing.

Then, at one particularly steep grade we began rolling backward. And here’s the thing: I WAS IN DRIVE, NOT REVERSE. Loretta yelled, “Floor it, Janet!” Little did she know I was doing just that. Yet we continued to roll backward.

Right about then I figured we’d probably roll off the cliff to our demise. While I waited for my life to flash before my eyes, Loretta had other ideas. She noticed a miraculous patch of cement on the dirt road behind us and suggested we stop on it for traction. I did as told, then floored it again. Lo and behold, we continued our ascent into the heavens, also known as Kyle’s place of residence.

Lovely people, she and her husband had named the cats by the time we left and recently sent videos and photos of them in their holding cages where they’ll reside while acclimating to their new property. Then, to top off the day, heading down the mountain we discovered and rescued a tiny black kitten that we’ll foster and will be adopted through Marin Humane.

So in the end, we offered 5 felines an opportunity at a new life and in the process, we didn’t lose ours. All in all, a very good day.

Previously posted in 2018