Incidentally, I forgot to mention that if anyone has any great need to
contact me by telephone, my telephone number is 830-334-3168.  There is an
answering machine connected to it.  I don't answer the telephone directly
anymore since mother passed on (May 21, 2003) and let the answering machine
do its work.  There aren't that many calls anyway since she went, except
bill collectors trying to resurrect her to get money out of her in the
hereafter.  I don't like them very much any more, especially since they've
been calling since May of last year all the way up to the present.  I think
the cats hate them too, heh.

As mother was going, some of my (ex)-relatives, went through town and
cancelled everything, credit cards, bank accounts, charge accounts, etc,
cleaned out safety deposit boxes, took all the jewelry, etc, including
cancelling our local veterinarian charge account, which my people have been
here for something like over 100 years or something using this vet facility
and that really surprised me that they would stop charging to us, even
before mother went, as I've spent a literal fortune there for various
operations on the dogs and cats, from leg amputation (I adopt animals on the
road that they're going to put away or shoot for target practice, I'm a
little older person, 55, you've probably figured that out by now) to ear
jobs, etc, to try to keep them alive and healthy (when they were closed, I
ran them up to the emergency pet clinics in San Antonio back in the days
when I could remember what currency looked like).

But the vet's, as well as the entire town, including probably the sheriff
which I graduated high school with, the butcher, the baker, and the
candlestick maker, knew that I went broke taking care of mother every night
(I begged for a Loan from *anybody* here in town, publicly in our local
paper, to keep me and the animals from going down, but even with that estate
as collateral, nobody would help us, all the way since May of last year,
you've guessed by now that there is just *not* a lot of compassion for
"needy animals" down here, a bit different attitude than some of the ones I
encountered while living in Manhattan and L.A. towards "them furry
critters", so everyone relatively knows our situation at this late date of
existence) but they cancelled our credit there at the vet's anyway, which no
matter how badly I feel about that situation there's not much I can do to
reverse it.

I guess they view "poor people with needy animals" as a bad credit risk,
whether you've paid your bills there for over 100 years or not.  Mother's
dog, Puppy Dog, died about a week before mother went as the vet refused to
charge me even a small bottle of antibiotics to treat her with to at least
*try* to keep her alive.  I didn't have the heart to tell mother.  I buried
her in the backyard in the pet cemetary daddy created so many years ago.

Again, mentioning the closest no-kill shelter that *I* know of, it's
somewhere in the country over near Seguin.  I've been there (maybe things
have changed, I dunno), they have a pretty nice set of open spaces fenced in
for the many many dogs they have rescued (not big enough imho), but I
insisted on viewing the cat's quarters and it was a regular trailer, and I
thought the cats were  very  overcrowded there, again, I wouldn't want to
put any of my cats there, it'd be like putting my children in prison (at
least to me, in *my* mind), so, ergo, we are a Team.  A Family.  All we need
is a fighting chance to survive.  Trying to "adopt them out" is the last
guts on the floor no other options god's comin to get me alternative, imho.
If you want to donate any $ to that no kill shelter, I'll rather bet they
can use it (unless things have changed when I was there so long ago),
they're called SARA I believe.  There, I've found their website address.
It's:
http://www.sarasanctuary.org/
If you didn't want to help keep my 25 cats and dogs alive in this world (I
counted them the other day, it's more like 30-35 cats, 3 dogs, lol) maybe
you could at least send that lady at SARA some $ to help with her no kill
place there.  My friend, who left me that estate, I adopted a pretty black
longhair dog named Dixie from that place for her, she's still here with us
after my friend passed on.  You wanna talk about "yelling" from a pet when I
put her in my pickup to take her here, lol... oh my, heh.  She wanted to
stay with the other 300 dogs in a wire pen there instead of having a real
home (we have half a block of land here, tho I've had to block part of it
off recently as the giant dog I saved from a gas station in Von Ormy so many
years ago, has suddenly decided he is the escape artist of the entire canine
world, lol).  She's adjusted great now and is one of the family.

Anyways, I ate one bowl of soup a day for 3 months after mother went, just
to be able to keep the animals alive and healthy and keep the water running
at both houses.  I've worked my way up to being able to buy one chicken a
week for myself, and feed the bones to the pets outside as a special treat
in addition to dry food.  Oh yeah, I forgot Grandma Chicken, lol.  There is
one female chicken that has flown into our yard, I guess she likes us, and
has trained *all* the dogs and cats to leave her alone, she reminds me of my
grandmother who used to have lots of chickens, so I call her Grandma
Chicken, she appears to know her name now, oddly enough.  I find it hard to
believe that she could train them all, but truth is often stranger than
fiction.  I'm trying to get her to lay eggs, a nice protein source, but I
can't feed her either, lol, so she don't.  She just eats bugs for now I
guess.

Anyway, the animals are alive and healthy, I lost 20 pounds to keep them
that way, gained a lovely ulcer, and sold just about everything I own.  Why,
one might ask?  I dunno.  They're my *Family* now.  All I have left.  Never
married, never had any kids, just me and the pets.  We seem to like each
other, and I find it easy to sacrifice for those I love.  Well, again, if
anyone needs to call me by telephone for any reason, there's my number at
the top (gee, same zip code as SARA, imagine that), or if you need me to lay
down and stop traffic in Pearsall or something to prove the worth of these
animal's lives and that I'm a *real person really with animals who really
needs help really badly*, not a problem, it's only about a mile long or so,
so that won't be that much traffic, lol.  Or, again, if you don't wish to
save us, send some $ to SARA the no kill shelter to help those animals.

Incidentally, my friend, who left me that estate I'm trying so hard to sell,
was what some referred to her here as "The Cat Lady".  She had about 100
cats, more if you count those who went through the decades, they were her
best friends, as for many decades she was rather a kind of "recluse" I might
say, not around a lot of humans it appears, and they just became her Family.
I guess that's why, besides that she was best friend's with my grandmother,
me and her got along so well.  Now they're my Family.  Well, still here,
still trying to exist.  Thanks for the well wishes in email some of you have
sent.  Kind words go a long way when one knows not which way to turn and
there are no friends in sight.

Thanks again for your kind attention and considerations.  I know that there
are many many, many, needy animals in this country (excluding the rest of
the world) that need assistance just as badly as we do.  In my situation I
can't do much right now, however, I sincerely hope you never stop caring for
them.  You are all they have.

Regards,

Pat the Cat man

.

Patrick, How about auctioning off some of the contents in the house, on
eBay? Any collectibles that would bring in some revenue? Also, why don't you
go post your original post on eBay's Animal Chat board?
http://forums.ebay.com/db1/forum.jsp?forum=2
I admire you, that you are a man of your word. Aren't too many people like
you around these days.