Still at the Beggining

Everything always takes longer than expected, and even the best-planned project usually takes at least twice as long as one thinks it will. In short, the sheltered area under the eaves that was supposed to be paved weeks ago is not finished yet; first the bad weather and then the holidays caused a delay in accomplishing the goal. Until this new sheltered place is completely fixed, everything else will have to wait. There's so much more to be done and time is passing by way too fast!

Renovating the only cat room in the front yard will be a big challenge, as all of the furniture needs to be moved into the sheltered area under the eaves that the workers are currently working on, and all of the kitties are supposed to move there as well. It will probably turn out to be much harder than we now imagine, in light of the fact that cats are not easily organized and most of them certainly won’t be delighted with the idea. However, despite all of the inconveniences, what needs to be done will be done.

Raising funds for shelter repairs never goes smoothly. I am well aware that only heartbreaking images of starving and mangled animals attract attention and that the rule “the worse, the better” is crucial to successful fundraising, but in a very old-fashioned way, I don’t want to make things more dramatic than they really are. I won’t tell stories that Felix cats are dying of hunger, as they are not. I won’t tell stories that I finance them out of my retirement pension only, as I don’t. I would never ever talk about giving up on them as I consider it utterly irresponsible and unthinkable. Telling the truth may not always be clever in a world full of sharks, but there’s no such thing as a half-truth, or a white lie or a justified lie, a lie is a lie is a lie.

Shelter repairs may seem boring and unexciting, there are no heroic actions or saving lives in a literal sense, Felix kitties are chubby and relaxed, so the conclusion drawn is that there’s no emergency here. But there is! Just a small part of the roof was renovated last year. The ceiling of the cat room mentioned above is sagging, the outdoor fence posts are crumbling, the entire chain link fence is barely holding up and almost all of the walls on the property, which were originally made of bricks and rammed earth, are soaking wet inside. Damp patches are forming both on ceilings and walls in the house and pretty much everything is falling apart. If the building starts to collapse in on us, no one here will be happy and relaxed anymore and we'll be in serious trouble.

Please, take a look at our project! We have accomplished a lot already, but more needs to be done; it's not only risky, but it’s dangerous to stop halfway through. Once we're over these hurdles and everything's been repaired, the shelter will just need to be maintained in the years to come and the Felix kitties will be safe forever and we can continue saving lives.

Worth supporting, don’t you think­­

I triggered a (partial)payout for these needs:

Dear friends and donors, I've just requested my eight payout of 365 euros today, on April 9th, 2013. Spring hasn't sprung yet and the real work cannot begin until the weather gets nice, and then we'll have a hard time deciding what to do first. There's so much to be done...

Thank you so much for all your help and support! You never cease to amaze us with your kindness and generosity. We are immensely, boundlessly grateful to each and every one of you! 

A New Round of Repairs Is Already in High Gear

This winter has been entirely too long, spring should’ve been here weeks ago but we’re still having cold, wet and demoralizing weather that makes everyone tired and reluctant to go outside. However, what must be done, must be done and now that winter seems to be finally giving up, this year’s round of shelter repairs has begun. With the dismal, overcast, windy and rainy days we’ve been having lately, it’s not possible to work outdoors , but the sheltered area under the eaves needed to be paved in order to become more durable, less slippery and easier to maintain, so we’re currently working on it.  The paving tiles had been bought months ago, so we just needed to purchase the glue and paving is now in full swing. It may not seem like very much, but when it comes to repairing the shelter with not enough money raised, every little bit counts!

The next step, and a big one too, will be fixing the only cat room in the front yard. As all of you probably know by now, that cat room is in the worst shape of all, with a huge bulge caused by moisture that has formed in the ceiling and countless cracks in all of the walls. The roof over the room hasn’t been repaired in time and like the rest of the house's roof, (except for the section that was fixed last year), it’s totally worn out, with partially cracked roof beams, rotten rafters and sagging tiles. If enough of the ceiling gets waterlogged, it will become too heavy to support itself and the entire structure will be on the verge of collapse! We can't allow the ceiling to crash down on my cats, so it’s imperative that the room is renovated as soon as possible.

The concrete path that leads from the side entrance into the yard to the cat’s indoor facility wasn’t even touched last year as we didn’t have enough money to make a new path, but we’ll have to do it this spring. The biggest problem with the old path is that heavy rains always leave it covered with standing water, so the existing deteriorated concrete will have to be removed, and the top layer of the ground stripped away to get the path leveled. After that, steel frames will be set in place to provide a welded framework that's ready to receive the poured concrete; that’s exactly what was done last year with the path between the house and the main entrance gate.

We can only hope that the outdoor perimeter fence holds on a little longer, although I fear that the coming sun and heat will cause additional damage to the already crumbled fence posts and then the whole fence will be at serious risk of falling down. If these rotten posts fall apart, there’ll be nothing left to hold the iron fence up and fixing it is becoming an emergency as chunks of mortar are already falling off…

Not until these urgent repairs are done can we proceed with replacing the roof and repairing the auxiliary rooms in the backyard, both of which must be finished before the cold weather sets in again.  The roof of the auxiliary rooms has already begun to leak and it’s crystal clear that it can’t possibly endure another winter. We’ve been lucky so far, as this last winter wasn’t a very severe and snowy one (even though it had its moments), but we can't count on luck forever.  We must find a way to prepare the shelter for the next cold season at any cost!

As soon as real spring comes, winter's ordeals will be forgotten by many, but if we’ve learnt anything from our own mistakes, then we know there’s no time to waste. Day by day, step by step we are getting closer to the goal, which is to make the shelter a safer, more secure and more comfortable place for the Felix kitties to live in. Will you help us?