Traumatic Kitty

Termite situation has been taken care of. Let's hope that they won't come back next year.

Now we can talk about Elsa again. The story I told in the first post is only the beginning of her story. It would have been nice if I could say she lived happily ever after. But unfortunately that wasn't the case.

She once had to be called traumatic kitty.

When I brought her to the house, Elsa stayed in a vacant room that had been Daisy's while she was recovering from respiratory infection. At the time, we already had two cats, my BJ and Jean's Rory. Jean wasn't sure whether we could take another kitty in. And we both thought of Daisy who was longing to have her own kitty. Daisy moved out and was now living with her friends. Daisy was more than happy to have Elsa and her roommates, a married couple, said they wouldn't mind a cat. I'll call them Mary and John for their privacies.

We thought it all worked out for the best. Well, we thought.

Then I started to hear about conflicts between Daisy and her roommates because of Elsa. It turned out that they were not crazy about cats. In fact, they very much minded a cat. They were telling Daisy that she should vacuum the house everyday since Elsa was making so much mess. And they got upset everytime Elsa went into their room. They told Daisy she should train Elsa so that she would not go into their room. Hello? Are you kidding? I'm sure they were. It is so much easier to let cats train you. For starter, train yourself to keep the door closed if you don't want a cat to go in. Also keep in mind that some cats like Jean's Rory know how to open a door and will open that closed door when you are not around.

We were trying to find a solution. And I got a phone call from Daisy one day at work. She was crying. She caught Mary chasing and hitting Elsa with a tennis racquet when she came back from school Oh! my God! That sent my blood to way over boiling point. How dare her to land her hands on Elsa! And who knows what has been going on when Daisy wasn't around. Mary defended herself by telling me that she did it to teach Elsa a lesson so she wouldn't go up on their bed. I warned her what she did was considered animal abuse and it's a crime that she could pay fine and even go to jail for it. She got upset at the word 'jail' and started yelling at me that she would do it again if that's what needs to be done. That made me very angry. "If you put your hand on her one more time, I'm calling the police!" Then she hang up.

That night, Daisy brought Elsa back to the house. It was sad for Daisy to give up Elsa but it was all for the better. Elsa seemed under lot of stress compare to when I first found her. She was more lively back then in despite of sickness and being left on the street. Now she lost her glow that you could see how difficult her life must have been. She was so traumatized that she spent first month hiding. It was heartbreaking to see her like that. No kitty should be treated the way she was treated.

We gave lots and lots of TLC. It still took several months for Elsa to recover from her past. Now she is being herself, sweet and loving Elsa. When I see her hops around like rabbit(She does!) and sleeps like an angel, I only hope that she doesn't even remember what had happened.

War against TERMITES

I'm afraid of bugs or insects. Anything with more than 4 legs and wings creeps me out. I think I'm paying for what I have done in my youth. When I was a kid, I loved bugs. I loved them so much I tortured lot of them. It was just a childish thing!! And one day;I think it was after puberty hit me, I couldn't enjoy them anymore.

Well, Those black dots you see in the picture are termites on our carpet. Winged termites showed up from nowhere yesterday. The picture you see is what I found today when I came home after running some errands. They were all over in the dinning room and in the kitchen. I have a close up picture on termites but I decided not to put it on. It is very gross. I don't want any of you to puke or loss appetite.

Winged termites are mainly crawling around the top window in the living room since they are attracted to the light. And some of them are dropping on the carpet like they are dying. Well that's what I hope. In fact, the reason they drop on the ground is to mate and to begin new colonies. How fascinating! No really. The good news is termites emerging indoors are incapable of eating wood and rarely survive. So the ones that fall on the carpet actually end up dying.

I went to the leasing office TWICE to file a complaint and was told each time that there is nothing they can do about it. Come on. Really? They told me that a termite control company is coming out on not today or Monday but Wednesday to INSPECT!!! Great. It won't be for a treatment. Are they going to look at the termites flying around and dropping dead and say "hmmm- That looks like termite. We have to schedule for a treatment. How about next week?"

The apartment manager said I could vacuum and use pesticide. So I sprayed and sprayed and sprayed Raid's flying insect killer and vacuumed, and vacuumed, and vacuumed. Oh! I was also told by the apartment manager that these disgusting termites should go away in 3 to 5 days. I guess I will be vacuuming and spraying for next 3 days or more. Ewww- I can't wait for the next round.

Ah! If you click the tittle above, you can get more information about termites.

Smart Cat B.J.

This is B.J.(Black Jack). He was my 24th birthday gift from my husband when we were dating. Yeah, the best birthday present ever! Here is his profile.
Name: B.J. However we often call him Busy Bee, Be Be Gun. I don't know where that came from.
Birthday: 8/8/2000
Sex: Does it matter? Male. Well neutered Male.
Breed: Despite his fancy look, he is domestic medium hair(aka DMH).
Weight: Last time I checked he was proud 18 pounder.
I.Q. & E.Q.:Super smart and very sensitive. I'll tell you how smart he is. It was about a year ago. I heard noise coming from kitchen when I was sleeping. I figured it was cats trying to get into a basket where I kept treats. Then I heard different sound from the hall way like dragging. It would stop and go, and stop and go. I looked at the door and there was B.J. holding a bag of treats in his mouth. I started laughing. He dropped the bag and looked at me.
"Stop laughing and Feed me"
I didn't feel like getting up. Then he picked up the bag once again with mouth and jumped up on me and dropped the bag on my chest.
"Now will you feed me?"
He got what he wanted. And I couldn't stop laughing. Until these days, it puts a smile on my face whenever I think of that night.

Now you want to know his sensitive side. Try to argue or fight front of him. He will start growling. He can't stand any disruption. Also, he knows if he does something wrong. Yeah, we are talking about a cat with a moral. He scratched my mom's toe when she was visiting.(He doesn't like visitors.) Next thing, I found him rubbing against her again and again.
"I'm so sorry."

Sweetest cat in the world

Sweet Elsa

She will be two this summer. Doesn't she look lovely? It isn't just her looks that is lovely but also her catsonality. She loves to cuddle and kisses. She rarely meows and when she does, it means "I need a hug" instead of "Feed me". Once you pick her up, she will stop meowing and find it home in your arm. Well that's how we met.

One gloomy afternoon in October 2003
Rain had finally stopped. But the sun was still shy to come out and show its face. Work has been slow all day but I was willing to hang around bit more calling customers and trying to set up appointments with them to talk about their not so bright financial future. Tactic is to scare them enough so they will do something about it;buying retirement plan and life insurance. You got to be careful if you scare them too much they run out the door before you even know it. My supervisors suggested I should start putting with them when I was going through my client list. I thought 'why not' and followed those two to a golf course near PCH & 110 free way. Ground was still wet and there were puddles on the parking lot. All of sudden I heard 'meow' as I walking towards the entrance. I looked down on my feet and there was this tiny kitty. It was rubbing against my ankle and throwing itself on the ground showing its belly. I was shocked that the kitty was showing its belly to me, a stranger, because it means "I trust you" in cat language. I lowered myself to take a close look at the kitty and noticed how sick the kitty was immediately. The kitty was skinny enough that her ribcage was visible. And it was sneezing and coughing. Her ear canal was covered with black wax and her eyes looked like she has been crying. Poor thing. I picked her up and we both felt right.
Some say I did good by saving a kitty from the street. But I think it is Elsa who saves my life every day by showing her love. And I'm greatfull.