July 01 thru 04, 2015

Current:
Happy Birthday to Chibi! Today we celebrate Chibi being 9 years old. We don't know her exact birthdate, but when we took her to the vet the first year he estimated she was born in March. We chose the Ides of March as her birthday to make it more memorable. We first noticed her sleeping under the asparagus fronds in our yard for a few weeks. Then she showed up with a large chunk of skin and flesh missing from her tail. A couple days later it started to fester, so I started to feed her. Within 3 days I could pet her so I caught her & took her to the vet. She tested as FIV+ but we decided to keep her anyway since we didn't know if she was vaccinated against FIV before she became a stray (thus testing positive for FIV) or if she was infected later. In the beginning, we would only allow her to have supervised play times with the other cats. But after about 5 years of testing all the cats annually, we decided that was no longer necessary. All the other cats are still FIV-free and Chibi is still very healthy. It is quite serendipitous that the previous posts for today are about Chibi's move to Hawai'i.

Chibi, September 2007

Happy Birthday to Lisa!

On Friday I saw my friend Cheryl and her husband Dan while I was in the radiation oncology lobby waiting for Vivian. Dan was being treated there for a brain tumor. Sadly, Dan passed away on Sunday. My deepest condolences to Cheryl, Elizabeth, and Sarah.

Previous:
07/01/15 Day 0 Unsuspecting Kitty
Here’s Chibi earlier this evening, lounging in the soft carrier that she will spend about 8 hours in tomorrow. Little does she realize that tomorrow will be the first day of the rest of her life. She will be reunited with her friend Xander in a reliably warm place with a self-cleaning litterbox and an endless source of food!

What does it take to get a cat to Hawai’i?
Two rabies shots: $112
Blood draw: $257
Health certificate: $64
Flea & tick treatment: $28
Pheromone calming collar: $16
Airline fee: $100
Cat/dog import fee (aka kitty ransom): $165
Happy Kitty: Priceless

Unsuspecting kitty

07/02/15 Day 1 Chibi in Paradise
It is just about 8:30 pm HST (Hawai’i Standard Time, no crazy Daylight Savings Time here!) but I am on my way to bed. I have been up since around 2 am HST. According to the pilot, Seattle temperature was a little higher than Honolulu temperature when we landed; my phone said it was 86F in Seattle. It's supposed to be 89 here tomorrow. And unfortunately the trade winds have been very, very light the past few days; I am sleeping on top of the covers tonight. They say the trades are returning on Saturday which is good since they also say it supposed to be 90F! (I took a shower and am now using my head as a swamp cooler.)

Here’s Chibi in a corner to the enclosure I built last April when Xander first arrived; its about 5’ wide, about 25’ long, and extends up to the eaves so no one can jump in or out. She did very well on the plane, not a noise out of her (and no other emissions either, thank goodness!). There were a lot of other people at the ag inspection office this time (with Xander I was the only one). On my flight alone, including Chibi there were 2 cats and 2 dogs. While waiting there for my brother to pick us up another 8 dogs came through. I learned that Alaska is the best airlines to fly dogs and cats on.

Chibi in cat run

Point of clarification for everyone who asked (and those of you who just wondered what was going on but were too shy to ask): No I have not retired from the County … yet. I am on the 2nd of my 3 annual trips home to help Mom and Dad deal with getting older. Mom has dementia and Dad has been taking care of her but there are just some things she won’t let him do but she will let me do, like fixing broken things or calling people to fix broken things. But I can see that it is becoming more of a strain on Dad so I will be leaving the County. I talked with HR last week and the best time seems to be early January 2016. Last year there was a retirement related case that upheld the use of an early retirement clause that will allow me to be able to draw from my retirement at 100% even though I am not 65 because I will meet both the requirement for age (minimum 62) and number of years of service (minimum 30) when I leave next year. Yay! I thought I was going to have to dip in to some other funds in order to do this but now I won’t have to. After I leave the County I will prepare to sell my house (if that hasn’t already happened), then I will pack up and move to Hawai'i.

07/03/15 Day 2 Cat Genie
For those of you wondering about the self-cleaning litter box, it is a product known as Cat Genie. It is a truly self-cleaning litter box, unlike others which just scoop the poop then hold it for you to take out later. With 4 cats that type of box does not work for us. Cat Genie actually scoops and disposes of the kitty output. I installed one here since Mom is now forgetting to clean the litter box. Check out this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8MOmmtTCTs. Here's what it looks like set up in the laundry room. The yellow duct tape is securing the incoming water line, outgoing waste line, and power cord; there was no space on the water side of the room to set it up there. Once Xander gets comfortable using the Cat Genie I will set it to cat-activated mode; with multiple cats I have found that setting it to start 30 minutes after a kitty has left a deposit allows all of them to use it before it begins the cleaning cycle (which is about 40 minutes long).

Cat Genie in laundry room

I have included a couple photos from yesterday. The first is of Chibi in line at Sea-Tac. The second is of my friend Ty who works for Alaska Airlines. She was recognized in their in-flight magazine for her volunteer work. Way to go, Ty!

Chibi in line at Sea-Tac

Ty showing her volunteer spirit

Temps are still high but the trades are getting stronger. Maybe tomorrow night I will be able to sleep under the covers.

07/04/15 Day 3 Holiday Fun!
Happy Independence Day! 

Two of the vertical blinds tried to make a break for independence, their freedom was put to an end by duct tape. There actually were 3 that were broken but apparently 1 was thrown out before I arrived.  We had to use the original duct tape because we did not have off white to match the blinds. But the repair will be hidden by the valance so no one will see the repair … unless they are up there repairing another broken blind.

Duct tape to the rescue!

Mom also decided the plastic sunflowers I brought for her from my friend Cheryl would look great in repurposing a broken lamp.  (I was unable to fix the lamp, although I could easily get my hand into the base, I was unable to get the nut to screw on. I even had trouble screwing it on when I was able to see it while trying to thread it.)  Mom says she has been seeing in ads and things that orange is the ‘in’ color now and loves how the flowers look in it. (Thanks, Cheryl!) Mom also recalled a painting by a famous artist of flowers in a ginger jar vase but could not recall the artist’s name.  I googled “painting of flowers in ginger jar” and got 484,000 hits … (The variety of things I am asked to “fix” while I am here is amazing!)

Sunflowers in ginger jar

Chibi is getting more comfortable with her new location. But she insists on sleeping under the pet tent rather than in it. Right now she is in the house exploring everything. (Meanwhile Xander is asleep in the TV room with Mom.)

Chibi under pet tent

We had a barbecue at my brother’s house along with his neighbors.  We ended the evening with too much dessert and karaoke.  The boys are doing their rendition of “Rose”; they were pretty good, I think its because they are all in to music.  Gavin is the neighbor’s son & Brent's best friend, Brent and DT are my brother’s sons. Brent & Gavin are at the University of Hawai’i, DT just finished his masters in music from University of Michigan.

Gavin, Brent, & DT

On the way home, we got to see the finale of one of the fireworks shows. Hope your 4th was also fun and safe as well!