So like many folks in California, we've had our power preemptively turned off by our power company since it was windy (I won't get into a rant about why the grid equipment hasn't been updated to handle this normal occurance at this point). It just came on after being off for almost two days.
On top of this, it's been amazingly cold for October in Acton, dipping below freezing (cold for here I mean, no comparisons to North Dakota or other cold climes please).
With the power out, we resorted to wood fires to try to keep ourselves and the kittens warm through the long night.
Our vaccination stores were iced but on edge of being out of storage temp recommendations (we buy in bulk to reduce the cost, so having 100+ kitty vaccinations at risk due to power outage is not fun). The power turned back on just before my next ice down of the vaccinations. Thanks to those who were offering to take the vaccinations to powered locations for storage, luckily we just avoided that.
On top of all this fun, we were closely watching the nearby fires and spot fires popping up to see if we had to start trapping our resident semi-ferals, and keeping (the very disappointed) free-range kitties in their triple high condos so we could move them out to the Acton Up Kitten Rescue van if we had to evacuate.
I'm a paranoid preparation kind of guy, so I decided to practice taking one of our rolling triple high kitten homes up the portable ramp into the van, to make sure it was workable (I had measured the inside of the van and the triple highs, what could go wrong).
Roll, roll roll (no kittens in the triple high for the dry-run test) up the ramp, easy-peasy and then THUNK, the door entry to the van was too short for the triple high, even though it would fit inside with room to spare. Having a moment with myself, thinking what it would have been like if I was actually evacuating the kitties under time pressure and this happened. I took a deep breath, and realized I needed to take the wheels off to make it fit. I did that, slid it with much more effort up the ramp, and yes it just barely moved in and was snug in the van.
Whew, even after measuring, I missed the door gap difference, so yes, I recommend dry-running your evac procedures (Cynthia wants to do it every year to be safe).
We have our power back, the heaters are keeping the kitties warm (and us), it's still windy outside, the van is ready and backed up to accept wheel-less triple highs and supplies if needed.
I'm looking into getting house backup Generac natural gas generator since I hear this may be a yearly thing for the next 10 years(?!)
We're thankful to all those that reached out to offer their help if we needed to evacuate, and we're thinking about all those impacted by the fires around California.
We have been lucky so far, but prepare for the worst and hope for the best as I've said before.
And here are pics of one of our latest little orphans to come our way. We're not sure exactly what kind of kitty she is. Alone, starving in a yard out in Lancaster, she was picked up and brought to us. I've been bottle feeding her (or rather 10cc syringes with miracle nipples attached feeding her) for the last week, and she's doing much better, tripled her weight and is VERY demanding to let me know when she's hungry again.
This is why we do what we do. To make some difference to these little ones.