Mark Woods started his culinary training with his grandmother as a small child, and formally at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville as a private apprentice. As a chef, his travels took him from midtown Atlanta to south Florida and various places throughout the states, ending up with a catering, restaurant and manufacturing business in South Florida feeding spring training baseball players, stars and socialites in Palm Beach. He finds the art of food to be fun and adventurous.

"The Plight of a Feline Rejection"

Posted Thursday, June 29, 2017, at 2:09 AM

Photo from Savvy Housekeeping

I'm just guessing here but, it's starting to seem like the Horseshow Grounds must have a mouse problem! At the least there has to be a rumor floating around. Folks seem to think if you have a few spare cats hanging around, the best place to drop them off is over near the barns on Blue Ribbon Parkway! After all, most barns have cats running around, it seems logical! However, I can assure them I have never seen a mouse or mice for that matter invading our territory over here enough to warrant all the cats and kittens being dropped out of vehicles when no one is watching. Well, here's some news, we are watching and I've seen it happen!

A couple months back there was a tame black tom cat (I thought) that showed up meowing, all friendly and all, you know the type. Well a week later, she had 5 kittens on my back carport. I even went to the trouble of caring just a little after I was heckled by my friends saying "It wasn't a tom cat that's for sure". Anyhow, she stayed a couple weeks took her kittens one night and left. I have to say here, that I was kind of relieved, I really didn't need another pet!

We have our own population of feral cats running around here, there is no doubt about that! Just sit on my back carport for a few minutes and you can watch the on going feud between my mocking bird that sits defending our pear tree from the squirrels and the two stealthy stalkers thinking they are sneaking up on her! It's humorous, and close to watching a "Sylvester & Tweety" cartoon. She outsmarts them each and every time. The entertainment of such is ongoing around here enough to guarantee we do not need the extra critters.

Yesderday a neighbor knocked on my door with a kitten in hand that was found laying under the bushes up front. It had the most beautiful brown and black stripes, and looked about 8-10 weeks old. It had two front paws that were limp and looked a little dazed! My neighbor, being new to our little piece of heaven over here, was asking where to take it locally because her dogs seem to have a less then loving adoration towards cats, like some dogs do. Knowing she could not take on a cat, and was wanting to do the right thing, I told here where the city and the county shelters were. Apparently that was "not" the right direction to send her! Our "county shelter" passed the buck saying "they only take animals from the county", which was confusing to my neighbor because logically she lives in the county and pays taxes, both city and county! Well, a trip with the cat to the "city shelter" was the only recourse for this feline we thought. At the "city shelter" they were told "we don't have room for a cat, run and add in the paper maybe or on Facebook"! At that point realizing there was no remedy at the moment, they returned home with cat in box, frustrated, hot from the heat, and very aggravated!

So, I said all of the above, to say this!

If you pay city and county taxes that cover needed services in a metropolis (I'm being facetious here) like our little town, and someone has an issue and wants to do the right thing, shouldn't it just be dealt with at the first request with no red tape, passing the buck, or requesting they run adds and spend money to solve a simple problem like one little kitten? It just makes me wonder! There must be more then just a cat problem around here! Just saying, and I know this is not the first turndown of a stray animal, it's happened to me in earlier years! God knows every city and county has it's share of stray cats and dogs! But, shouldn't there be a procedure in place so our senior neighbors don't get the run-around in the heat of the summer? Not to mention property tax increases being talked about! Oh wait, I did mention them! If your given more money to handle city and county stuff can you handle one little ole kitten? Just asking here! Oh well, another blog post maybe!

To make this long story short, that kitten did not have to go to a shelter, nor was there any happy ending to a beautiful kitten! Apparently it's sibling was killed down by the 4-way stop and we guessed it's paws musta been broke when it was run over also causing its dazed and confused look shortly after being brought back to the house. About 30 minutes later the kitten died from its injuries!

Yesterday was a pretty somber day here after dealing with a kitten dilemma, but the worst part was my frustrated senior citizen neighbor, new to our community seeing first hand how far you get with local agencies that needed to have it down-pat by now. That problem should have been handled at first request from the get-go, it was just one kitten, not an "act of congress"! Of course I'm not in charge, I know this, but still! I am aware we have a plethora of unwanted animals around here! I am also sure they do what they can with what they have, including the stories I've read about sending them to other shelters that have room and even out of state. We all just need to be aware and understanding, but is it really so bad that one kitten could not find a room at the Inn! What a day!