I love Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula.

I spent today in Long Beach, enjoying two fabulous birthday parties.  First, it was off to the South Pacific County Humane Society, for Luigi’s birthday:

Most visitors to the shelter know Luigi, our beloved shelter mascot. He came to the shelter over 10 years ago as a young tom cat, and just kept hanging around… Luigi supervised the building, and “helped” the workers with their lunches. It wasn’t long after the shelter opened, that we noticed that we seemed to be receiving an unusual number of little “Luigi look-a-likes” as strays from the area surrounding the shelter. It seemed our young tom cat with the great mustache was a big hit with the local kitty ladies. We weren’t sure if Luigi belonged to anyone, but we figured if we had him “tutored” he might get mad and go home…

Well, Luigi didn’t leave- he loved the shelter and has remained with us throughout the years. He still “helps” with staff lunches, and meets and greets our visitors. He is also an avid hunter, and often brings us “presents” from the wetlands.

These open houses are also to show our appreciation for our loyal supporters. Without you, our doors would not still be open, and we would not be able to provide good care for needy animals. Please join us so that we can say “thank-you” in person. And, oh, Luigi says you can bring him presents if you want…

I’ve got to say, the shelter volunteers did an outstanding job decorating the place.  Everywhere I turned there were photo boards with stories of Luigi.  Hot dogs were being served amongst a flurry of cat-print balloons.  Raffle tickets were being sold in a colorful display out front.  Happy people wandered beneath festive crepe paper streamers, meeting animals and remarking on recent remodeling projects.  And the food!  Geez Louise!  Those folks really outdid themselves with trays of goodies everywhere.  Throw them a bone if you have an extra lying around.  They are a completely community-funded no-kill shelter.