Another step forward

First, just a reminder that The Raffle ends on Sunday evening. I mention this first and foremost here because I suspect that this is the last post you'll read before The Raffle ends, for most of you. (Y'know, what with it being Friday and all.) [Cat Updates are below the lines, scroll down.]

Goooo toooo the Raffle! Buuuuuy tickets!! In one of my more odd moments (read: hours), I drew the first page of Hamlet in case you wanted a taste of what Stick Figure Theatre was like before you put tickets on a Stick Figure Theatre Shakespeare Play of Your Choice (#18). Click the picture to see it bigger... In retrospect, I'm not sure that by posting this I'm doing anything to further anyone wanting my 'art', although I'm pleased by the skull in 'Hamlet'... :)

My silly stick figure doodlings aside, don't forget that there's real art to be won on the raffle. Beautiful photography (#5 & #34), a kitty print (#23), framed origami (#24), incredible jewelry. Heck, I don't even wear jewelry 99% of the time, but I drool over the work of Kythryne at Wyrding Studios. How could you possibly *not* want a $50 Gift Certificate for custom jewelry?!?! (#6) It's just inconceivable to me. If fine wire art jewelry isn't quite your thing, consider the copper and bead bracelet (#32) by Medusa's Mirror, or the custom collage pendant by Shadesong.

For those of you with little girls in your lives, don't forget the fabulous prizes for them: #27 is any one item from Carlykins Boutique! And #16 the gently worn Hanna Andersson long-sleeved playdress.

If you haven't read Shayara, you should. If you haven't read the fiction in Shadesong's journal, you should (I recommend the non-fiction, too.) Now's your chance to have this accomplished writer create a custom story or poem just for you. How incredibly awesome is that? #10.

Arts and Crafts people should also remember to check out the duckie stitch markers (so! cute! #8) and the bag of scrap-booking materials (#14). 4 33 36

And, of course, there are those odd assortment of stickers (#4, #33, #36)... quite frankly, who doesn't want wandering womb stickers??

Check out ALL the prizes on The Raffle. And remember to tell me when you buy tickets, or via email, which prizes you want your tickets to go to. There are still some people who haven't told me, and I don't know what to do about that. And tell everyone else to buy tickets, too! If you have an online journal, post about this site! And/or link to the specific Raffle Page!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While out walking this afternoon I came across one of the apartment manger-types, and she recognized me and was very nice and asked after the cats. I really have become that cat-lady. Wheee. I also put up notes on many of the neighbors' doors asking them not to feed the cats during the 48 hours before we trap, and gave this website, and I do believe that a neighbor has already visited (she left a comment on an earlier post.) So this was all good.

Oh! I usually feed the kitties between floors 2 and 3 of my building, but I've also started feeding them down on the 1st floor where the neighbor-lady fed them. Even so, when I first left my flat this morning Gremlin was up on the third floor, lying down, watching my door as if to say, 'So, the food's coming when?' It was very cute, and the first time I've seen a cat up here on the 3rd floor. :)

I saw a number of kitties today, as well. When I first went out the sprinklers were on, watering the lawn in the area where the drainage tunnels are. A number of cats (including LGG, Bozo, Bessie, Gremlin and #4) seemed to be irritated by this, lurking around the edges of the grass. Almost as soon as the watering stopped, they all dashed into the tunnels. Better yet, at one point LGG got spooked and dashed across the grass, even though the sprinklers were going. She ran int his odd zig-zag pattern that suggested she was avoiding at least the worst of the spray and that she had done this before. One of the Oranges (Gandolf?) didn't fare so well when some school-kids walked past his bush and scared him. I'm not sure I've ever seen a cat run so fast-- but he ran right through the sprinklers to get into the *farthest* tunnel. (I saw him later on in the evening, though, so he's none the worse for wear!)

The AzCATs volunteer whom I'd mentioned before also stopped by tonight. (Drat, I should have asked if I could use his name here. Oh well, we'll just call him The Volunteer.) I showed him a bunch of the cats (he got here around 7, which is when they tend to just congregate on the grass.) He showed me how to use the traps, the covers, etc. and went over everything for Sunday night's trapping extravaganza. He also showed me pictures of the kittens he's currently raising-- 4 widdle fwuffy orange kitty-babies!! Okay, so I melt when faced with that much cuteness.

I met a new cat tonight, but while I *am* worried about him, he doesn't actually fall under the category of Project-Cat, methinks. He's quite clearly tame-- he let me pet him all over and I'm pretty sure I could have picked him up had I wanted to. He's hanging around one specific building (not mine), so that while he followed me for a while, he wouldn't go too far. I think, I *hope* he belongs to someone in that building and that by now he's back inside where he should be and that his owners start by getting him a collar and some identification, and an id chip and don't let him outside again! ::grumph:: When someone on the second floor opened a door, he ran up there, but it was apparently not his people. If he's around tomorrow I guess I'll be starting another project: finding his people. (I need another project like I need a hole in the head, but what can you do.)

Right. Well, that's that, methinks. The Flickr Set is updated (or, really, about to be, but it's midnight AZtime, so you're probably reading this sometime Friday morning, which means by the time you read this, the set is updated.) Pictures today are a mainly of Little Orange, Little Grey Girl, and various Moo-Cow kitties. I actually saw a lot more cats today than I could photograph, especially as I saw many of them once it got too dark to get any sort of usable photos.

Total list of cats seen today, I think: Gremlin, Mysterious Mister Mestophilis, Dilute Tortie, Daisy, Bessie, Mustache, Cyrano, #4 and #5 (so that's all 5 moo-cows seen), Bozo, Gandolf, Another Orange, Little Orange, Crooked-Kitteh*, Little Grey Girl and Pigpen. That might actually be a new record for number of cats seen in one day. And I think I'm missing some... I haven't seen the other Calico around in a few days, I wonder why. Haven't seen Splotch in a long while, either. ::worries::

Right. Well then. More when ... well, when there's more. :) Go buy Raffle Tickets.
------
*Crooked-Kitteh now has a sponsor!! Hurrah! Thank you Emily!
Bozo does now, too. My mom had claimed him a while ago, but it's all official now. Yay sponsors!