No good deed . . .

. . . goes unpunished.

Lat year I was alone on Christmas Day- what with Heather moving to Seattle and Mark dumping me. So I decided to volunteer at one of our nursing homes to help the Activities Department pass out Christmas presents to 150+ residents. A couple of people called off and it was me and one aide until someone else came in - at the end of the day, the back hurt and I could hardly move. Scrap that idea for 2005.

I would spend Christmas morning at the SPCA, cleaning cat cages. I have a lot of experience with kitty krap - so no biggie. And I did very well - did almost twenty cages (unfortunately there are a lot of homeless animals - many of them cats). I got to the next to the last cage with two cuties. Er. . .uh . . one cutie and one Siberian freakin' tiger masquerading as a black and white cat. As I reached in to take him out (to clean cage, give him fresh bedding, fresh food and water, and a new litter box) I suddenly found myself attached to him - his teeth to my forearm. Five little puncture wounds that we immediately cleaned out with disinfectant, swiped with neosporin and bandaged. After more than two hours, I was finished with my Christmas Day at the SPCA.

Of course everyone there was wonderful to me and very concerned. I'm watching my arm for signs of any infection - and cleaning the area and changing the bandage. My arm is a little achy - but so is my other arm and my back - from going down on the floor to go into cages, corralling kitties, digging in huge garbage cans of litter and cat food.

Would I do it again? You betcha - they need people to care for them now, because there were others who didn't. But I'm staying away from the black and white one in the last cat room in Building Q2 - he's had a taste of Mitzi and I'm afraid I was juicy.

BTW: Adopt a homeless pet at your local shelter. Save a life and gain a family. For animals, everyday is Christmas Day.

Merry Christmas