Drawn from Life Page Refurbished

[Rutabaga]

@Alien Son is too modest to toot his horn, so I'll let folks know that the "Drawn from Life" page (one of the links across the top of the AwesomeDude home page) has been refurbished and looks much nicer than before.  I corrected a few links a few days ago so everything should be working.

R

[Altimexis]

Thanks R. It looks great.

I took the opportunity to update the two stories I have posted on that page. No major changes, but I've now been married not 25 years, but 38 years, or as I put it, close to four decades.

[Rutabaga]

I reread my first post and it was not clear:  @Alien Son did 100% of the refurbishment work on the page.  All I did was fix some broken links a week or so ago.  John deserves all the credit.

R

 

[Altimexis]

Oops, I should have noted that. Thanks very much, John aka  @Alien Son, for all that you've done!

[Cole Parker]

Both gentlemen are asesome dudes.

[Camy]

The new page is wonderful, and the introductory essay makes it even better.

Props to @Alien Son... and the youth holding the vegetable, too.

[Alien Son]

24 minutes ago, Camy said:

The new page is wonderful, and the introductory essay makes it even better.

Thank you, but the essay was always there. I just redesigned the page.

~ John

[Rutabaga]

I always assumed Mike wrote that intro.  

His inspiration was cats, not vegetables, from what I understand.

R

[Altimexis]

Feral cats, I’m afraid. Mike loved the cats in his neighborhood and named them. He also fed them and I dared not share my opinion of that. Don’t get me wrong - I love cats. My family adopted several when I was a kid, including a couple from the neighborhood. Unfortunately, feeding feral cats ends up doing them no favors and it decimates the bird population. Unless coupled with sterilization, feeding the cats results in an explosion in their numbers, leading to even more starvation and suffering.

Mike, God love him, saw things differently, so I didn’t ever bring it up. He alluded to hearing from some of his neighbors who didn’t approve. If I’d said anything, it would have only gotten me kicked off the site. Sorry to go off topic, but I can finally say that this is one aspect of Mike’s generosity that shouldn’t be emulated.

[Rutabaga]

Mike's son David somehow ended up with one of Mike's cats (presumably a domesticated one) and was not completely happy about that.

R

[Camy]

15 hours ago, Alien Son said:

Thank you, but the essay was always there.

I don't remember the essay being there. Weird. 🤯

[Rutabaga]

It was there but the page was blinding to try to read.

R

[Alien Son]

On 3/9/2024 at 7:07 PM, Altimexis said:

Feral cats, I’m afraid. Mike loved the cats in his neighborhood and named them. He also fed them and I dared not share my opinion of that. Don’t get me wrong - I love cats. My family adopted several when I was a kid, including a couple from the neighborhood. Unfortunately, feeding feral cats ends up doing them no favors and it decimates the bird population. Unless coupled with sterilization, feeding the cats results in an explosion in their numbers, leading to even more starvation and suffering.

Mike, God love him, saw things differently, so I didn’t ever bring it up. He alluded to hearing from some of his neighbors who didn’t approve. If I’d said anything, it would have only gotten me kicked off the site. Sorry to go off topic, but I can finally say that this is one aspect of Mike’s generosity that shouldn’t be emulated.

I'm not sure whether you're talking about some cats at Mike's home in Cathedral City, but if you are, you're quite wrong. Calling them feral cats is a bit of a stretch. Here's the history (quoted from a website Mike set up at the time):

Quote

Tierra Del Sol is a sprawling 76-unit affordable senior housing complex located in Cathedral City, California. It features covered parking, spacious indoor and outdoor public areas, well-kept desert and traditional landscaping and a swimming pool/spa area. A HUD-sponsored project, TDS is a desirable place for seniors living on Social Security or other fixed incomes. It is managed by Mercy Housing, which belongs to the Catholic Church
A bit of history

With the sudden move of an elderly TDS resident in April of 2015, eight young cats of at least three litters of her roaming female cat - found themselves homeless, hungry and frightened.

Kindly neighbors began feeding them but a resident services person reportedly told them not to do so and that the cats would be picked up by Riverside County Animal Services, presumably to be euthanized.

Mary Ewing, Outreach Coordinator of the well known animal welfare organization, Loving All Animals, was invited to speak to residents and it was finally decided to implement a more humane solution.

Trap – Neuter – Return or TNR is a process by which the cats were humanely trapped, neutered and returned to their place of origin, the grounds of Tierra Del Sol. Loving All Animals picked up the tab for the operations.

One of our residents took on the job of capturing the cats in traps provided by Loving All Animals. Another drove her and the cats to the Animal Samaritans clinic in the mornings for their surgery.

It was my job to pick up the groggy young cats in the afternoons and nurse them until they were ready to be released. This varied from two days for the males to 5-6 days for the females. The TDS maintenance manager also took in a few of the cats for the recovery period.

Since the first of May, 2015 I have been voluntarily feeding the cats every day at sunrise and sunset. A group of about half a dozen residents contributes to the monthly cost of canned and dry food which is ordered online from Chewy.com.

It has been gratifying to watch these young cats transform from scrawny, frightened kittens to healthy young cats. They are well socialized and get along well with residents and their dogs. Needless to say they earn their keep in controlling the rat population.

Any one of these cats would make a great pet and since the beginning of the project, two and a half years ago, the ultimate goal has been to have all of them adopted, ideally by Tierra Del Sol residents.

 

If I remember correctly they were unable to find homes for all of the cats, so presumably they were euthanised.

~ John

[Altimexis]

Oh no! I feel like crap for saying that. I don’t remember exactly what Mike posted but I was under the impression that he was feeding several neighborhood cats, against the will of others in the neighborhood. Obviously, I drew the wrong conclusion and feel awful for posting that.

Thanks, John, for clearing that up.

[Alien Son]

17 hours ago, Altimexis said:

Oh no! I feel like crap for saying that. I don’t remember exactly what Mike posted but I was under the impression that he was feeding several neighborhood cats, against the will of others in the neighborhood. Obviously, I drew the wrong conclusion and feel awful for posting that.

Thanks, John, for clearing that up.

Thanks, Steve.

I probably should have mentioned that they did, indeed, name the cats. The webpage included a photo of each one, together with a description, in the hope that people would be moved to adopt them. I think you're correct that some residents of the complex objected to the feeding.