Oh migosh! What a welcome! Thanks everyone for taking time to say hello.

Hi Laura! Yes, it's me and I made it here altho I can see that this can be an addictive place to hang out. Thanks so much for forwarding the Neuterthon info to anyone who may be interested. The only vet we will be using is Dodge City Vet Hosp (Dr. Scott Smith and his crew - his Dad Jimmy retired a few years back). The locations I gave you for this weekend are just to register and pay their $25. The actual Neuterthon is on Sunday, Feb 13.

For everyone else's info this is a Neuterthon for male cats only (they're small and the surgery is quick). We have a couple of sponsors that are picking up the tab for the difference of the $25 and the cost of the surgery. This is all done through Pet Aid, Inc., a nonprofit spay/neuter organization created because our parish (county) has no Animal Control. The two fair sized cities of Walker and Denham Springs have small shelters (and are also Animal Control facilities) but the rest of our parish has no where to bring strays, etc. Many people will take in a stray but do not have the means to spay/neuter. Our parish is growing by leaps and bounds but the infrastructure can't keep up (roads, drainage, animal control, etc.). Pet Aid also pays for the cost of every spay/neuter for the shelter animals of Denham Springs and Walker. The advantage to a 501c3 (nonprofit) is the ability to apply for grants (there are not many and competition is fierce) and many businesses may donate to a 501c3 for the charitable contribution tax break. Right now Pet Aid is broke (so what else is new) and we are only able to help the Animal Shelters. When money is available we help the public spay/neuter their pets as well. Anyone that can afford to contribute to the cost of the surgery does so.

So there it is in a nutshell for anyone curious as to what Laura was talking about!

I'll be checking out digital cameras this week. I just want a simple point and shoot. Nothing fancy, nothing expensive. I started doing research on them before the holidays and the more I read the more confusing it got. Then I realized I was putting way too much effort into it and I kind of just gave up. Like I said tho, I of course want to show off my crew, so I'll finally get my Christmas present this week. I'm always a little behind on these sort of things!

I am going to go do a thing or two (scrub cat boxes and give meds, etc) then I'll be back later to tell y'all a little something about my pets.

Once again, thank you so much for such a warm welcome and I look forward to getting to know you and all of the fur kids!
Val