OT: Irma update

[geofflambert]

This is Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, otherwise known as Terra Irma.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

Anyone here from County Cork? You're next on the hit parade.

I think the last time something like this hit Ireland I was 4 years old, and I'm turning 60 in a month.

Won't it just float and bob around a bit?

Seriously, if Southern Ireland is anything like Newfoundland, they get storms with 100 MPH winds regularly (usually without the length of intensity of a hurricane) and have built their structures accordingly. Lots of stone and mortar and little wood frame there.

[Canoerebel]

South of Miami looked just like Tortola after Andrew in 1992. I grew up there. It was a jungle environment. When I went back a few months after the storm, you could see forever. It was disorienting and horrifying.

If you go back today it is again a jungle. The trees and other flora grow like crazy in the subtropical or tropical zones. Of course, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico aren't as wealthy as Miami. The people don't have the insurance. It will be tough on them. But knowing the human spirit and generosity and how others will rally to their cause, I bet in five or eight years, these places will be even more beautiful, the old ramshackle or poor housing replaced by something at least modestly nicer and in many cases considerably so.

[Apollo11]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

As some of you are aware, I lost one of my four legged children when I evacuated St. Petersburg in the face of what was at the time a category 4 storm.
Two weeks ago I went back up to the area with printed fliers I posted everywhere and stuffed in every mail box.

Last Sunday I got a report the a neighbor of my friend had spotted a cat resembling Jojo coming out from under his garage at 3:30 in the morning when he went out for a smoke.
I went back up there last Sunday but came up empty calling for her in the vicinity.
I left a bag of food with the neighbor and he set out a trap he uses to catch raccoons.
I also left my sweaty t-shirt draped over the trap in hopes my smell would be as attractive to her as the food in the trap.

This morning I received a text with a picture of my little girl in his trap.
I'm heading up there after work to bring her home.
She looks a little worse for wear with a spot of missing fur on her forehead and the rodent sore on her upper lip I was treating with colloidal silver has flared up again, but I couldn't be happier to see her picture.

God is good. He hears and answers our prayers.



p.s.

A FEMA inspector is coming Saturday to look at my roof. I saw a headline that $29 billion is being allocated for hurricane relief for Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico.
Maybe I can get a small piece of the pie for my roof.

Good news! [:)]


Leo "Apollo11"

[pws1225]

That's great news on Jojo. How far had she wandered?

[HansBolter]

Jojo was hanging around under a wooden garage built on sleepers on a property 5 lots south of my friend's property.

He lives in a 'housing' development of 5 acre lots carved out of the Florida wilderness just north of state road 44 between Inverness and Wildwood.

Where she was at was the last property on the southern edge of the neighborhood with about a mile of woods between there and state road 44.

Its where I go for a dark sky for stargazing. In fact, I'm headed up there Saturday and have invited the neighbors who recovered Jojo for me to come over and have a look through my telescope.

After having her refuse to respond to my call so many times in that neighborhood I had become convinced she must have set out for home.

I'm so blessed that she stayed close to the neighborhood where she could be recovered.

She went to the vet Saturday and except for picking up hook worms, which we treated, and a the minor abrasions on her nose and forehead she got a clean bill of health.

Her big sister, Skeeter, is glad to have her home. So is her adopted dad.

[HansBolter]

I walked the loop of this neighborhood about a dozen times over several weekends calling for her with no success.

Neighborhood where Jojo was lost:

[HansBolter]

Neighborhood where she was lost is 90 miles from home:

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: HansBolter
She went to the vet Saturday and except for picking up hook worms, which we treated, and a the minor abrasions on her nose and forehead she got a clean bill of health.

Her big sister, Skeeter, is glad to have her home. So is her adopted dad.

So glad to hear the happy ending, Hans. [8D]

[HansBolter]

Oh, and my brother says we have to rename her Jojo Baggins now since she had an adventure. [:D]

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

Oh, and my brother says we have to rename her Jojo Baggins now since she had an adventure. [:D]

[:D]

ETA: Stick around on the internet enough and she'll find trolls too.

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

Oh, and my brother says we have to rename her Jojo Baggins now since she had an adventure. [:D]

Did she return with "The ONE collar"? Might explain how she disappeared.

[pws1225]

Nice that she stayed in the vicinity. And using your shirt to provide a familiar scent was pure genius. Now just hope that she has decided that having one adventure is enough. [:)]

[HansBolter]

ORIGINAL: pws1225

Nice that she stayed in the vicinity. And using your shirt to provide a familiar scent was pure genius. Now just hope that she has decided that having one adventure is enough. [:)]

That was actually my friend's wife's idea.
Turns out Jojo pulled the shirt into the cage to curl up with it.

After 2+ weeks without regular meals I'm sure she would have been lured into the trap by the food alone, but having something with my scent hopefully helped to ease her stress at being caged for 18 hours.

[wdolson]

ORIGINAL: HansBolter

Oh, and my brother says we have to rename her Jojo Baggins now since she had an adventure. [:D]

ORIGINAL: BBfanboy
Did she return with "The ONE collar"? Might explain how she disappeared.

Though lets hope she doesn't get the need to throw the collar into a volcano. The nearest volcanoes are either a long swim or an even longer walk!

Hans, you should write up this story and send it to a magazine like Cat Fancy or something. It's quite a tale, and with a happy ending to boot!

Bill

[HansBolter]

Thanks Bill,

During the two days I was waiting to hear from the neighbors after setting the trap I grew apprehensive that the siting had actually bee her and started looking for other resources online for getting the word out about a missing cat.

I discovered an organization called Pawboost that distributes notices of lost pets through various social media.

They distributed word of Jojo having gone missing for me through Facebook and over the course of those two days I received messages of support from many people in the Lake Panasofkee area telling me they would keep a look out for her.

She was recovered a few days later so their distributed alerts didn't have an opportunity to have an effect, but I thanked them profusely for the effort.

One of their agents contacted me after Jojo was recovered asking if they could run a story on her even though it wasn't their efforts that led to her recovery.

I quickly penned a short recount for her.

I may just take you up on your advice and see if I can craft the tale into an interesting story for a cat magazine.

I want to thank all of you cat lovers who voiced your support through this wonderful forum I have met so many great people through.