Journey through Faerieland

Day 25 – A first
This summer was my first time having birds overnight, let alone for months -- cockatiels and finches. It was nice getting to socialize with them and give them head scratches. It was nice to hear them sing. However, they were a lot of work and could be awfully loud, so I have learned I am not a bird person (at least for pets that I personally have to care for). I do love them, though! Genny is so sweet!

( 30 Day Meme List )

Today while on our way to do errands Michael and I found a timid, scared looking cat sitting right by the busy road. We stopped and picked her up and went to the nearby animal clinic to see if she was microchipped. She wasn't. They took down the cat's information in case someone called. The other clinics are closed now and Monday we will call them all (and Animal Control) to alert them to the found lost cat. She is tan and brown stripes with white patches and blue eyes. She is very docile, purrs, likes to be held, etc. She looks well-fed and well-groomed. She is clearly a pet and not a stray. Michael is putting up pictures of the cat with his phone number around the area we found the cat. My mother won't let us keep her at her house:( Mrs. Bates already hates other cats (and misbehaves because of it). We can't take in another cat. Our house is too small, smells like cat, our current cats don't behave, and we don't have the money. It's hard enough affording three cats. I'm hoping the owner shows up; otherwise we may have to take her to the no-kill shelter near where Michael used to live:( Though I do think she'd be adopted quickly because of her looks and gentle demeanor.

Today I took my cat, Joey, to the nearby groomer to get his claws trimmed. He was very scared of the dogs and was much more well-behaved than with the vet. The groomer said he was a Maine Coon! Nobody ever told me that before. From what I've read his behavior is very Maine Coon-like (a lap cat, very tolerant of being picked up in all different ways, purrs loudly and like a chirp, very affectionate, etc.) I have to try to brush my cats daily to prevent them from matting or shedding as much. Mrs. Bates is very matted. I may take her to a veterinarian to get groomed. I don't know yet.

I was a bit on-edge earlier and was making Michael anxious with my anxiety, so I took a Klonopin. I feel better now. I've been reading a lot of today. I might do a tarot reading soon and hopefully tonight we will be going to the Japanese Marketplace. I want to get a sandwich there:-) Maybe even two and I will bring one home... I still have extra cash left from our trip to San Francisco.

Tonight Michael and I will watch the anime version of "The Tales of Earthsea." I read the books and liked them well enough. The writing style wasn't the most interesting to me, but I liked the ideas and themes actually in the book, though.

Today was a pretty good day, though right now I'm quite depressed, partly because I didn't buy more water for my cats and partly because Mrs. Bates still doesn't seem to be feeling well. She seemed to feel fine yesterday, but we think she's constipated again... And she only wants to eat the dry food, not the wet, which makes her more constipated.

Today Michael and I woke up early (after going to bed very early) and we took the bus to Japantown. There were performers all throughout the day for Japan relief and we donated some money. Also there was a garage sale nearby for Japan relief and I bought a used copy of Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame on dvd. Michael bought a J-pop cd. Japantown was much cleaner than Chinatown, but things were also much more expensive. There were lots of neat stores, though! I had chicken teriyaki and rice for lunch. It only came with chopsticks, which I don't know how to use, so I think I used them upside-down and sometimes I just resorted to my hands:P In an anime store Michael bought us a not too expensive stuffed Totoro. He also bought me a little zodiac dog figurine (my Chinese zodiac animal is a dog) and a little print thing that has Japanese characters and the English translation under it -- it says "Dreams come true." There were a variety of sayings or words to choose from.

We also ate chocolate-filled tai yaki (a fish-shaped pastry) from a stand. It tasted like chocolate chip pancakes and was pretty good. Later while exploring the outskirts of Japantown we shared chocolate frozen yogurt (there was no vanilla and I wasn't sure I'd like the "original" flavor, though we should have tried it).

The bus ride back to Fisherman's Wharf was quite crowded. Afterwards we bought Michael and his mother sweatshirts similar to the one I just bought yesterday. Then we went back to the room for a little bit. Then we went to Fisherman's Wharf again and walked down the streets, ate dinner at In n' Out Burger (which we don't have where we live), and we walked further down the wharf where you could see Alcatraz well. We forgot the camera, though, after returning from Japantown (where there are cherry blossoms in bloom!), so we'll go by the wharf another day and take pictures there. Michael and I walked through some of the surrounding streets, browsing, and we bought sliced pineapple and watermelon from Safeway (a grocery store). The staff of the hotel just brought us up a refrigerator free of charge so we're keeping the fruit there. Michael was going to buy me Ghiridelli dark chocolate filled with mint or raspberry filling (we also passed the Ghiridelli building/restaurant on the wharf), but I decided I would rather have fruit instead. I'm still quite full, but will eat more of the fruit for breakfast. Tomorrow we plan on going to San Francisco Zoo. I think I'm going to get ready for bed now.

1. Browsing Target (tempted to buy a dress and Jenga)
2. Michael buying me a maple cream chocolate (yummy!)
3. Watching Care Bears
4. Reading Vampire Diaries The Return: Midnight and A Field Guide to Otherkin
5. Making it back safely and seeing my cats

Note: Mrs. Bates seems to be constipated. She's the one pooping everywhere. I'm going to just give them wet food and water and see if that helps, otherwise we will take her to Michael's vet after his car is fixed.

My mother says I wouldn't like Texas -- or at least not the parts they went to (including Houston). But the area they were at had been hit by a hurricane a couple years ago, so that could be part of why there were so many stray, wild animals everywhere. There was a black labrador with two puppies that were going into the remains of a house and the full-grown dog/mother was snarling and barking at my mother and her boyfriend even when they weren't at all close and were walking away. My mother said if she could have she would have taken in the puppies, even if the mother, if the mother wasn't acting so "nutty."

Seeing all the street dogs and cats reminded her of Mrs. Bates, who was also a stray we rescued while traveling. Mrs. Bates was very good with humans, though. She had obviously been a cat with a home as she was spayed and declawed when we found her. She would meow a lot and we first found her begging two men for ice cream at Dairy Queen. She was very friendly and just wanted food. We thought she was a kitten because she had a very short, small build and was severely underweight (she weighed about 4lbs at the time). I convinced my mother to let me take her and she went crazy for my ice cream. She dove for it. She had PTSD, though, and was severely afraid of feet (she would attack them) and would hide from men for years. It seems likely that a man used to kick her. She's over all that now, though.

I slept a super-long time again. Now I'm waiting for Michael and his friend Dan to arrive so we can go to Chicago today. Then I will spend the night at Michael's house and tomorrow after his dentist appointment we will come back to my house and I will go to volunteering orientation with April for the no-kill cat shelter. Hopefully I arrive back home before April gets here, but she could at least get my mother to let her in my house if I have to come home later than when she will be able to be dropped off. Michael has a bunch of library books for me to read and I want to read more of my Borges Collected Fictions book. I haven't read it in a long time. It's not so hot here today. I'm babysitting my mother's dog because she's gardening and the dog was getting neurotic. Bunny is scared of him and is spending most of her time high up where the dog can't get her (though the dog just wants to be friends). So far my mood is fine today and I'm looking forward to spending time with people.

Today Michael and I went to a cat show and it was nice to see all the cute cats. I picked up a volunteer form for a nearby no-kill shelter. My allergies to animals are so much better now (possibly due to Singulair) and I had no reaction to the cat show even though a few years back stepping into such a place gave me bad asthma and hives all over. I'm most interested in interacting with the cats. They had a cat there that recently lived to be 23 years old! I also bought a couple cans of wet cat food that is made with human-grade meat and no fillers. I will see if my cats like it and, if they do, look into buying more. I plan on buying Evo dry food soon and it would be good to have a nice wet food, too. My mother thinks that some wet food is good for the cats and I think they were doing better when they had both dry and wet food, so contrary to what my vet said, I've started giving them some wet food again. I wish I had enough room to foster a cat, but my house is very tiny. The cat show was fun, though:-) I learned about Munchkin cats. I always just thought they were fat with stubby legs, but the one I saw today was tiny and looked like a kitten. I have to start brushing my cats' fur daily. Mrs. Bates, though short-haired, is getting lots of mats. I tend to overlook brushing them because Joey, my long-haired cat, has such thin, silky fur that it rarely mats.