Hi, guys! It's me, Raspberry . . . shelter manager at Cats Haven. Just thought I'd check in to make sure everyone is enjoying the new year so far, and also keeping warm. Wow, was last week something else or what!? I've never seen temperatures get so cold. Barb and I decided at one point to turn up the heat in the shelter house, and our furnace ran non-stop for days! And I gotta tell you that my red fuzzy suit didn't lend itself to that blast of cold air when I went out to shovel the walkway and sidewalk. Even with boots, gloves, and a scarf, it was really cold. But I didn't want Barb to have to get outside and get chilled, so I finally got the walkways shoveled off. I got the strangest looks from drivers going by the shelter house, tho. You'd think people had never seen a cat with a snow shovel! Silly humans . . .

We've had lots going on at the shelter house over the past couple of weeks with a lot of people coming in to help out. Dzana is still out of commission, so others have been pitching in to help with the daily cleaning. Thanks to everyone for stopping by. And over the weekend, Barb attended a Spring Fling meeting to get our annual Spring event set up. It's hard to believe, but Spring really is just around the corner. And this year, we're gonna have more artists and vendors than ever before. I'll let you guys know more about this as plans firm up. 

Speaking of Spring events, The Other Sue has now formed our Kitties for Ti**ies "Race for the Cure" team for 2009!!! The race is Saturday, April 18th, and I am personally inviting all of you guys to join us this year as we give back to our Indianapolis community and walk for a cure for breast cancer. If you'd like to join our team, just go to  www.komenindy.org, click Register Online Here, click the Join an Existing Team link, and just type in Kitties for Ti**ies in the Team Name box. It's only $23 to register, and we'll have some goodies and surprises for each person who joins our team. We all had so much fun last year . . . I can't wait to get out there again this Spring, altho I hope I my number bib is a little smaller this year. I kept tripping over it last year. (What? You didn't know I walked in the event? Well, I did. I left before everyone was up, and I was back before everyone else . . . so there.)

Don't forget about our super cool fund raiser hosted by Fountain Square's Luxor restaurant on February 6th!!! Lots of Middle Eastern foods, Gypsy Cat jewelry, belly dancing . . . who could ask for more! Check out the Calendar page for more info, but if you snooze, you lose! Make your reservations soon. 

And I know everyone is wondering how Lady Gwendolyn is doing in her first couple of weeks as my assistant. I gotta say that I really miss Miranda. I mean, we spent years together. BUT Gwendolyn is doing fabulously!!! She's helping me with lesson plans for the new crop of kittens we're expecting this year; she's coming up with all kinds of ways to reorganize all my paperwork; and her cooking is incredible!!! She can make a gourmet meal out of a grilled Fancy Feast sandwich! And I'm drooling just thinking of her Friskies Frittata with Chow Chow Chutney on the side. Oh, man . . . I'm getting hungry . . .

So that's all the news from Cats Haven! Stay warm, friends. Join the Kitties for Ti**ies team as soon as you can, and enjoy the 5K walk with us. And I hope to see everyone at the Luxor on February 6th! Oh, and if you're so inclined, stop by the shelter house and spend some time with us all. Nothing will warm you up quicker on a cold winter day that a pile of cats on your lap! - Raspberry

Hi, friends. Raspberry here, shelter manager at Cats Haven. I just have a couple of quick things to tell you, and then I have to get back to work. Yes, I know . . . it's nearly midnight on a Sunday night, but I have a "new employee" manual to go over before tomorrow morning. And I think Barb has gotten into the last of the holiday catnip. She's chasing something down the hall and I'll probably have to put her to bed before too long. As if it's not stressful enough taking care of all these kittens and cats . . . *sigh*

Anyway, the first thing I want to tell you about is how my $100 in 100 hours fund raiser turned out. I needed $100 to buy a big plastic cabinet with doors on it to hold all of our cleaning supplies and canned cat food, and I'd found one at Home Depot last week. Well, thanks to everyone who donated to my cabinet fund raiser, we were able to purchase THREE cabinets, a dozen paper towel holders, some new dustpans, and some new brooms!!!! And we even have enough left over to purchase a couple of other cabinets; one for the office/meeting room for all of our meds and medical supplies, and one for the upstairs kitchen!!! We'll have to shop around for those because they need to be specific sizes, but we've got the money when we find them. The Other Sue picked up the three big cabinets on Saturday and got one of them put together already. We've now got a nice, organized place for all kinds of things we use every day. She will be back one day this week to help me put the other two together and get them placed . . . one in the kitten room and one in the big room upstairs. We can put bedding and all kinds of stuff in these so everyone will have fresh and clean towels and blankets all the time!!! The Original Sue will put the paper towel holders around the shelter, so we'll have paper towels at our paw tips whenever we need them! Thank you so very much to everyone who chipped in to help us get organized. You guys are absolutely the best!!

The other thing I want to tell you is that I've made my decision about who to hire as my new assistant manager. After going through many interviews and checking references, I met with the Cat Council last night and made my recommendation (see the picture of the meeting on the home page of our website). After presenting all my findings, the Cat Council overwhelmingly approved my choice of LADY GWENDOLYN as our new assistant shelter manager!!! I was going to get a picture of her to post on the website, but she and her daughter were resting this afternoon, and she felt she didn't look her best today. But let me tell you about Lady Gwendolyn. She is a medium-haired light-colored calico with a great purrrrrr-sonality. She's a little shy at first, but she's been working hard on her social skills. Lady Gwendolyn (or LG, as I call her) came to Cats Haven last summer as a very young mother. (She's just barely a year old now.) She had been trapped by IndyFeral as part of their TNR program, but she wasn't feral. And she had her kittens in the trap!!! EEEEKKK!!!! So she and her kittens came to the shelter. One of her daughters, Adelaie, is still with her and is thrilled to see her mom get this job. LG was a wonderful mother, and still takes care of the little ones we've got. It's not unusual for her to spend  the night in the kitchen with some of the babies and special-needs kids, making sure they eat and taking very good care of them. Although she is still looking for a home, she is honored to take the job as my assistant, and will be a great help with the cooking and coming up with lesson plans for my kitten classes! So the next time you're at the shelter, be sure to meet Lady Gwendolyn. And I'll get a picture of her one day this week and will post it on the website. She's very pretty, and I'm excited that she can start her new job immediately! In fact, she's already planned breakfast for us for Monday morning . . . her own homemade cat grass biscuits with a side of chipmonk chutney! Mmm mmm mmm. What a great way to start the week!

So that's all for now, friends. Barb has finally stopped chasing whatever it was down the hallway, and is quietly nesting in the laundry room. I think this is a good time to tuck her into bed so she can get a good nights' sleep. We have a big week ahead of us! Happy New Year, everyone!!! I think 2009 is gonna be our best year ever!!! - Raspberry