Mycanid said:
The poor woman sounds like she is also in need of help ... possibly even a very lonely lady. I feel sorry for the cats to be sure, but the poor people who live like that is also a very sad thing to see.
Some new info I just found out today. Remember how ticked I said I was for the Craping last night? Well, today we went out to go to the store. The stench was so horrible my wife nearly vomited. I had to pull the car to the front of the house. I took the offending fecal matter and threw it over the fence into her yard. She's been feeding them the really cheap dry cat food. The type every source I have ever read has said to never, ever, ever, feed cats.
1. It makes their poop stink to high heaven
2. It's full of fillers their body can't digest, so they eat more & poop even more.
3. It's not well-balanced and can cause all sorts of health problems over time.
I realize people from all over the world read this forum, so I've tried to be polite. I live in the Boothill of Missouri, probably the northern extent of the Deep South.
I do not want to use terms Rednecks, White Trash, Trailer Trash, etc due to the connotations that belongs to them, but I will do my best.
The house behind us is run down and owned by a land-lord who really doesn't care about it. Do to the oreintation of the roads and nieghborhoods, it isn't even considered part of our block.
This lady and her husband (partner?, brother?) moved in around 6 months ago. The previous tenant ran out before the bill collectors could show up.
I've lived my entire life in small farming communties. I went to high school there. I've seen her type many, many, many times before.
The phrase "Trailler Trash" or "Jerry Springer Guest" is often the exact phrase used. But it's a lot more complicated than that.
Both she & the guy she lives work seem to have to work a lot of hours. They have run-down cars that barely work. The have low-skill, low-pay jobs someplace. She appears to be in her 50's but I'd be surprised if she's over 40. Chain smoking does nasty things to your body. And your teeth (the 8-9 she actually still has).
She's not the sharpest tack in the drawer. She's dumb as a rock actually. I've tried to explain a few things (like say Rabies), but she just refuses to listen to some "guy who thinks he's so smart cause he's got a cushy job"
I wish to stress. She, is, indeed uneducated. That's not what I'm holding against her. My Grandfather was a high school drop-out, Dave Thomas (founder of Wendy's was a Drop-Out). Educated is not the same at stupid. Some of the most intelligent people I know lack the formal education the our current society uses. Her lack of basic education is self-inflicted (can't say about higher ed). I went to school with people with her exact mind-set. They could have gotten something out of high-school. They choose to cut class & slip Vodka in Hair-Spray Bottles (true story). If I found out I went to high school with her, I would not be surprised. I've seen this over. and over. and over. and over.
There is a particular strain of stupidity and stuborness that seems to arise from certain people living below the mason-dixon line. Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy, the other Blue-Collar, Southern Comedians have made a fortune off of it.
Jeff has a story about how two guys ran over a beaver with their truck. They stopped the truck & got out to see what sort of shape the beaver was in (they wanted to stuff it). When the one guy lifted the beaver up & shock it to get the dust off the dead beaver, they found out the beaver, was, in fact, not dead, but merely stunned. The beaver won initiative & crit'd by biting the guy's nipple off. I repeat, this guy managed to get his nipple bitten off by a beaver.
In high school, a jock & his buddy nearly got themselves killed. They were driving along in his new pick-up truck, enjoying their beers. They saw a cat cross the road & though it would be a hoot to run it over. Well, the cat was nearly across the road, but the truck had 4-wheel drive, so they chased it into the grass along the side of the road. The problem was the lack of the side of the road. The high grass was just covering the irrigation ditch that really formed the side of the road. The truck flipped 3 times. Multiple broken bones due to lack of seat belts. Beer over everything. Oh, yeah, the guy riding shot-gun got shot in the thigh. The fully-loaded rifle (safety off) fell out of the gun rack & went off.
Friend had his Uncle shoot a 6 point buck. From his Toilet. He was taking a crap and saw a 6 point buck through the bathroom window. So he took the rifle that he kept next to the toilet (I don't know why, but they guy kept a fully loaded rifle next to the plunger). From a seated position, he fired through the window of his double-wide and dropped the deer. The bullet went through the deer and on into his truck, severing the AC Coolant hose. But, he was so thrilled to get the deer, he ran outside au natural (neglecting to even do TP duty) to begin dressing the deer so he could get the head mounted.
Or the local guy who smelled rotten-egg smell coming from his basement, so he lit his lighter to go see if something died by his NATURAL GAS water heater or Furnace. He, amazingly, survived.
This lady is of that school. A combination of brains of a chicken with the will of a camel, that leads to people around here spray painting C-O-W in bright orange letters on their cattle every year. They've begun to have to paint G-O-A-T on their goats.
This woman is not lonely. She has a human partner living with her. 2 Dogs, 1 Cat (with Tags) and 3-4 without. She's just too darn stubborn to take the advice Animal Control gave her (namely, if you don't want to get the shots/tags for these animals that the local laws spell out, you need to find a home for them that will. Because, right now, you are in conflict with some people around and the laws are pretty specific. Cats without tags are Vermin and Vermin are taken away. Cats without proof of shots can harbor all sorts of diseases, including the potentially fatal Rabies (we do have raccoons, known Rabies carriers, around).
Animal Control was very polite. They tried to tell her the correct way of doing things & potential consequences of refusal, from Rabies and other Diseases and capture and disposal of her cats.
She basically didn't even have to remove the cigarette from her lips to tell Animal Control to shove it. (AC said she was "Less than Cooperative").
She's made her bed. Now her cats are being forced to lay in it.
I would love to give her the benefit of the doubt. That she has some undiagnosed mental disorder for which she needs treatment. Some reason why. I'd love to think that people who are like her, just have not found the "Right Thing" That, somehow they's see the light and realize that they've really managed to do a number with their life and really need to try to get it on the right track. I'd like to think that is what she's doing right now.
Then again. Sometimes a Jerk is just a Jerk beacuse they LIKE being a Jerk.
Experience has taught me which one is the safe bet.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
