Hoo-boy, am I in a fix. To make a long story short, on Sunday, I rescued a mother cat and 4 3-week-old babies. The mother was starving so she was very amenable to being scooped up by the resident cat whisperer and is quite contentedly living in our spare room/office.

For now.

I am taking care of 9 cats. It’s exhausting. And expensive.

These lovely creatures need homes. They are the sweetest most exquisite little beings. I’ve spent the last several days hand-feeding the babies while mama got her strength back. What a handful! Last night, we learned how to lap from a dish! It was all very exciting. Everyone is getting strong, healthy and adventurous and so playful.

Here are some factoids:

1. Four babies and 1 mama, all very adoptable. The mama is less than a year old, sweet as anything and I’ve never met a cat who wanted to be loved so much. I get a lump in my throat thinking about what she went through, being uncared for.

2. Two boys, two girls. Currently named after Texas Rangers. KittenFace Gentry (don’t tell the others that he’s my favorite), Hamilton, Nelly and Holly (after Holland).

3. I will get them all fixed if I have to. I just can’t keep them. NINE CATS. DID YOU HEAR ME? NINE.

Please, pretty please, email me (thisfish at gmail dot com) if you live in the area and would like to meet them. Even if you can only foster! The no-kill shelters in the area are currently full but that won’t always be the case.

Please pass this on to anyone else you may know who has a big heart with room for a little fuzzball. The idea that they might not go to loving homes keeps me up at night with worry. They are so very sweet and helpless.

We are going out of state on the 25th – I’m desperate to get them caring parents by that time.

It’s impossible to get stills of these little guys right now – they wiggle! So here’s some video I captured a couple days ago.

Nelly Time

Holly Learns to Play

I’m still here. I have no intention of shutting down my blog completely, which is why I haven’t posted the official sign-off some of you are asking for. I might not have much to talk about right now, but that doesn’t mean it will always be that way.

In fact, last week, my nephew Andrew was born, which is among the most meaningful things I have ever participated in. His dad got very ill and I stepped in as birth partner to my sister. Extraordinarily moving. And I was going to post about it, but then I got back to my email and lo and behold, there were quite a few about the blog. And among the friendly how-are-you emails were a handful of why-haven’t-you-posted? and don’t-you-owe-your-readers-better? emails and it started to feel burdensome, right out of the gate.

Doing something out of obligation sucks all of the joy right out of it and all I want is to love it again, to actually need it again. Which may or may not make sense to you.

I’m living Ground Hog Day. Wherein Ground Hog Day is actually Pay the Bills Day. We’re living and working and sleeping and eating all with the goal of paying off our debt so we can start a family. We meet financial goals by maintaining a strict budget and we maintain a strict budget by not doing jack shit. That’s just the way it be. It is boring and repetitive and stifling sometimes. And it certainly isn’t anything to write about.

Since December of 2010, we have paid off roughly forty thousand dollars of credit card and student loan debt. We have about half of that left to pay and even typing that sentence makes me want to retreat back into the quiet of my spreadsheet. See?

It’s just the way things are and it won’t always be. So while I’m sorry to those I have offended by not making a proper exit, it’s just not something I’m ready to do.

Andrew Michael Christensen. Hours old and minutes away from puking down my shirt.

… but no one actually said they were sorry.

Thanks for the follow up Heather.

Upon review, the mention of Elizabeth Smart was used a punch line. A feeble, and tasteless attempt at a joke. It wasn’t mean to be mean spirited, but still–it was over the line

I regularly meet with the morning show, and all the on air staff here. It is their job to entertain in the “Ticket style” and sometimes in those attempts to be funny, they cross the line. When they do, it is my job to point out when they do cross the line, why, and how.  I discussed this with the guys, and they had received email about it too. And they also told me when the segment was over, they immediately felt they could’ve gone to far and felt bad about it.

Generally speaking, some topics (rape being one of them) just aren’t funny–no matter what.

Jeff

I haven’t heard an apology on air, and there wasn’t one in that letter. I don’t know about you, but to me, that’s not quite good enough.

Jeff,

Will they be making an on-air apology?

Heather

And we wait.

No they won’t.

Here is why, in part. Having done this for the past 18 years or so, its been my experience that an on air apology only causes further attention to a mistake that is already out there–and shouldn’t be revisited. I don’t want them to explain the joke, then the mystery created when they don’t explain it, causes a stir among the audience and makes it a greater issue due to runaway imaginations.

They made a mistake. I pointed it out to them, they already felt bad about it. It was addressed in a meeting and now they have to be allowed to correct it moving forward.

This is not unlike dealing with kids in many ways!

Jeff

I think I’m going to outsource all of my apologizing from now on. Who wants the job?

While not unexpected, I find your answer — particularly the last statement — to be so intriguing. One, I probably wouldn’t let kids run my radio station, but that’s beside the point. And two, from my 18 or so years of experience *being* a kid, I can tell you that were I in the wrong, I’d have been marched right over to whomever I wronged and been made to apologize (there’s this whole stealing gum incident that’s etched pretty clearly in my memory). My parents certainly didn’t do the apologizing for me, either. A “they felt bad” is not nearly the same thing as the culpable person saying, “I’m sorry.” Obviously this must be the industry standard, protecting the talent, but it seems very… unmanly.

But like you said, Kids.

So, while acknowledging it directly is clearly out of the question, I’m sure we all (your advertisers included) can look forward to the Musers’ eventual Public Service Announcement. Perhaps it can be a Limbaugh/Ticket joint production.

Have a good one, Jeff.

Well, this was not a boat I intended on rocking.

And honestly, I don’t look forward to the conversation in which I tell the Dork Lord that I’ve been boat-rockin’ his favorite radio station (I think he gets a wee bit weary of my ‘the world should be a better place’ on an endless loop). After reading some of your comments, however, I decided that it might be more effective to take my complaint to the source (and perhaps change something) than let it loose in the ethers to bounce around aimlessly.

Here’s my email to the program director:

Good afternoon Jeff,

I’ve debated with myself about sending this – whether or not there’s a point; what kind of outcome it could have. But I think it’s important, if only to say that I spoke up.

Here is what I know:

Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped when she was 14 years old. Taken as a “wife” by an insane man, she was raped and abused in ways that most would consider torture. Nine months later, she was found. Elizabeth Smart grew up, went to college and became a victims’ advocate for child abductions.

Smart married over the weekend.

Yesterday morning, I was listening as someone on your show referred to the event as her “second marriage.”

I was stunned. One, at the reference to her teenage ordeal as a “marriage,” and two, that no one on the show stopped to say, “Hey, man, that’s not cool.”

The comment doesn’t just show a lack of taste, but a disturbing lack of humanity and compassion for the victim of a brutal crime. Look, I get that it’s a bit. My husband reminds me about that almost every morning when I wrinkle my nose at some eye-roll inducing comment by Gordo, et al.  But this isn’t Kim Kardashian we’re having a big old laugh about. It’s a child rape victim. And whatever lines a person should or should not cross on the airwaves, I think mocking a child rape victim is one of them.

Morality is such a fuzzy thing, especially in the entertainment business. What’s right, what’s wrong, what makes a buck, what doesn’t. Believe me, I know. I think, though, that in this instance, it’s pretty clear that what was said wasn’t just wrong, it was gross.

Further, the segment went on to touch on “Lizzie Smart” and the emotional “baggage” she must have brought to that marriage. I will venture to guess that your hosts are unaware that statistically speaking, one in four women will have survived a rape or attempted rape by the time they are 14 years old. Your hosts are likely the husbands, brothers, uncles or fathers of a sexual assault victim. And yet.

Showing sensitivity to subjects like rape might not be entertaining, but it’s the right thing to do. It also makes marketing sense. Why?

Women are listening to your show. I’m listening to your show and I’m a pretty fair representation of the fastest growing demographic of sports fan. I’m a 30-something-year-old female sports fan, in charge of the household finances (and on top of it, a blogger with decent following). I’m one of three women in my department alone who stream the Ticket at work. Or women who did. After yesterday, I am not certain I will continue to listen. It seems like while sexism is simply an unfortunate part of the sports radio bit, yesterday crossed a line that made me realize I had a decision to make. Stand up or shut up.

I have chosen to stand up.

Thank you for your time, Jeff. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Heather Hunter

Here is his response:

Thanks Heather- I saw your blog. I have not had a chance to go back and review the segment and the comments myself. I did not hear them live yesterday.

Before I respond to your email, or address this with the guys, I need to hear it.

I appreciate where you are coming from–
thanks for the note
Jeff Catlin

What’s next, I suppose, is that he listens to the show and decides for himself whether the comment merits any discussion. Look, I’m not asking for heads on platters; I just want some respect for those who deserve it and for someone to acknowledge that rape is not ‘bit’ material.

I don’t know who these people are, but this is their wedding video and it is amazing.

Myra and Kenneth from Romantic Wedding Videos on Vimeo.