Not That We’re Eagerly Awaiting Winter

The shelter repairs are progressing, though there’s still quite a lot that needs to be done. Workers are now adding insulation to the interior walls of the indoor enclosures in order to make them warmer, as the upcoming winter is supposed to be a very cold one. I’m dreading the onset of cold weather, particularly after the experience of last year when we had freezing temperatures and brittle icy winds for weeks; the tremendous snow burden almost caused the roof to collapse! Spring and summer

have passed too quickly, and the next winter is on our doorstep again…

Not until we had started the repair work did we begin to realize the scope of the damage caused by this last, unusually harsh and freezing winter. And what matters most, only

when the workers had started opening things up did it turn out that a lot had been done improperly from the very beginning. Trust the professionals and let them do their jobs, everyone’s been telling me. Yeah, right.

First of all, the roof problems. When the roofing repairs began, it became obvious that the entire roof structure is worn out, some of the rafters were half rotten and there was a crack in the major support roof beam which carries the load. In the last few months,

the strengthening of the roof structure has been done by installing additional supports that I hope will be strong enough to endure another winter. However, supporting the existing roof is just a temporary solution and I hope to replace the entire roof next

year, thus fixing the problem once and for all.

Only then can we start fixing the wire mesh problem. I'm guessing that all of you remember that it barely held up under the extremely heavy snow load last winter; it even sagged in the

middle at one point! Frankly, it was too weak from the start as I haven’t had enough money to buy the stronger mesh back then and it got even looser after last winter's snow burden. It could be re-stretched, maybe, but the problem is that this wire mesh is

actually chain link fencing and the links are too large to prevent little kittens (and skinnier young cats as well) from escaping through the wire. The only solution is to enclose the whole yard and roof with some fence with a finer mesh. In the meantime, I’ll be

chasing little trouble-makers around the shelter every now and then…

It’s too late to lament over the past, it’s time to set a pace for the future. There’s still a lot of work ahead of us and we won’t be able to accomplish our goals without your

help. Please, take a look at our project and help us if you possibly can! Make a difference in the lives of all of the Felix kitties. They may look pampered now, but don’t forget that all of them were unwanted and neglected once…