cat bibs (blog action blog)

I will warn you this blog is going to be a bit silly, but also serious...if you get queasy look in the seat in front of you and you will find a bag in which you may eject your vomit, please hold on to that bag and a stewardess will be there shortly to collect it, she will listen for your hacking and know when you are done.

uh..yah. Well, this blog should in no way evoke those kinds of feelings, it should evoke some sort of feelings though. I know by now that some people are born, or made into animal people, and others really do not seem to care about animals or what happens to them a whole lot. I am no doubt an animal lover, I mostly like to own the furry kinds, but perhaps someday some feathered or scaled as well. This is a side-note, so try to follow...last night I was driving home from Eugene and it was so foggy that I (and all other intelligent, non-invinsible vehicles...) was driving 40mph on I-5, let's just say I usually go faster. I pulled off of the freeway and was heading towards Lebanon when I saw a little bunny (I know...wild rabbit...but whatever!) just sitting exactly in the middle of the off-ramp. I had no time to react other than to try to not run directly over it with my tires, so less than a second later there was a bonk, or a thump, or whatever. You cannot understand the feeling I felt, unless you yourself are an animal lover... I felt like an assassin. What if this little creature was still suffering and I couldn't go back down as it was a one way ramp, plus it was night and I get scared at night. What if it had babies to take care of?? What if...AHHHHHHHHHHH! So, I don't need to tell you that I cried as this was MY FIRST encounter with road kill. I have not even been in a vehicle that has hit an animal, ever! So, for all you animal people out there I just had to let you know that I do feel horrible, and I wish that it could have been avoided.

So, that had little, or nothing to do with my action blog except that it was about animals.

Here begins my real blog:

Our cat spider is in the habit of catching, and therefore torturing and eventually slowly killing birds. At first it actually impressed me, but as she has continually honed her skills it is now possibly too overwhelming for me to even talk about. She is a KILLER! She brings home at least one a day, and also she has brought in dead bats, many dead moles (of all sizes) and many mice as well. Let's just say she is really good at hunting. This was actually not really bothering me until recently, before she would just kill them and leave it at that, now in the last week she has left three bird heads on my porch. Yes, she completely removed the head, and the rest of the limbs were scattered about...just so we would know that she was an incredible huntress...well, more like a complete SAVAGE!
This is really getting disgusting to me, and I know it can't be good for the bird population either. Or does it even matter?? (I will answer this question in a little bit) She goes over to our neighbors house, since they love birds and have several bird feeders and other wonderful bird accessories...she lurks and then snatches them. The next door neighbor lady (who is also our pastor's wife) tells me she has come to spray Spider with a hose, but that "the cat" does not care. Our pastor's wife several times has refered to the approaching Spider, as SATAN or the ENEMY. I am really beginning to agree with her after the recent three be headings in one week.

Well, so my solution...or the solution I am VERY seriously considering is a cat bib. My mail carrier informed me of these one day as a half dead bird lay in front of me and I was trying to keep the kids inside the house, the yowling cat away so she would not completely destroy this bird, and she was trying to hand me my junk mail. I looked them up online, and although weird, I think that a cat bib is the solution for us. It's been scientifically proven to stop cats from catching birds! How much better can it get than that!?
The FAQ page answers many questions you may have. But if you question is why does it really matter, here is a quote from the site:

Your cat may be killing more birds than you think. Five, or even ten, birds
a year doesn't sound like much, but consider that there are 60 million cats in
America - many of which are hunting every day. Conservatively, it is estimated
4.4 million birds are killed by cats in America every day. That's less than one
bird for every 12 cats! If your cat is a hunter, then your cat is part of the
problem.

So, anyway...check it out...it may sound silly, I KNOW they look silly...but HEY, this blog is about how to do something good for ourselves and the wildlife, right?

On an environmental note, I have learned that if something gets to me, if something affects me either emotionally or literally does affect me than I am much more likely to care enough to change my habits in order to satisfy the "greater good". If this blog does not apply, weather you think the bibs are silly, you don't own a cat or you really like to see birds killed...that is fine! But I challenge you to find something beneficial to the environment, that you have been even-sorta-thinking about changing and CHANGE IT! It helps me if I research online and see just how much damage my slight convenience is bringing others, and even myself. There you have it, go be a move and a shaker! Find your own thing that you think is important and JUST DO IT! (after all today is blog action day right!?!?).