Category Archives: Meme

I’m linking this post to Sunday Post, Mailbox Monday, and It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

November flew by so fast. I was able to get some good reading in, which was nice. I just finished the Britney Spears book and I honestly had some trouble with it… and if I didn’t purchase the book, I would have put it down and stopped reading. I’m glad she was finally able to speak her mind and get your word heard, but I think it just was not very well executed and seemed to be a bit all over the place to me.

Aside from reading… I’ve been trying to lay low. Which was hard to do with Thanksgiving, a cat emergency, and the latest news that a cat I rescued was dumped this week by their foster. So the last couple of days I’ve gone out to the location he was last known to be at and have been searching for him. So yeah, not as relaxing as I would have liked it to be… but here’s hoping for a chill December.

 

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I’m linking this post to Sunday Post, Mailbox Monday, and It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

So, June was a little eventful. I rescued a kitten during the first week of June. I just went down the road to the local dollar store to pick up something. However, as I was in my car, waiting for the cross traffic to clear out so that I could get on the road and head home, I spotted this tiny kitten dodging the wheels of the moving vehicles. I immediately parked my car and got out to rescue it. The only problem was that it panicked and climbed up into the engine of a parked vehicle of a nearby housing complex. While I waited in the parking lot of the housing complex, a gentleman came up to probably tell me I wasn’t supposed to be hanging out there. However, once I explained that there was a kitten in the engine of one of the vehicles, and he heard it meowing, he understood why I was there and called the owner of the vehicle to see if they could come home to pop the hood. As I waited there for about an hour, seven people showed up to see what was going on, and stuck around until the kitten was rescued. Turns out that she was about 6 weeks old and, thankfully, healthy minus some fleas. After a week of having her in the house, I found her a loving forever home where she is the center of their world since they do not have other pets or children.

Other than rescuing the kitten, I haven’t really been up to much this week. It’s been the usual of catching up on reading, hanging out with friends on the beach, and just normal stuff around the house. Oh! I did start doing filming for my Youtube channel, though. I did a couple of videos about the kitten, and a few taste test videos. It’s been a lot of fun editing them. Every time I edit a new video, I try to learn a new technique to apply to them. Since it went from the rainy season straight into typhoon season, there hasn’t been a lot of opportunities to film fun things outside.

I’m hoping that July will offer more outdoor adventures and fun. However, we will see what the weather does this season. If there are a lot of tropical storms and typhoons, at least it will give me the chance to continue to catch up on my reading.

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I’m linking this post to Sunday Post, Mailbox Monday, and It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

It’s rainy season and the start of typhoon season here in Okinawa. So, I feel like I will have a lot more time to sit around and read with all the rainy weather in store for us.

After stepping down from the organization that was causing me a bunch of stress, and just spending time listening to my body and getting back on track, I feel rejuvenated. I also took the plunge and signed up for Kindle Unlimited. There are just so many books on there that I’ve wanted to read but were not available at my local library. So, I’ve been trying to get through as many books as I can before my trial month is up. So if you have any recommendations, let me know in the comments.

Another fun this I did was I decided to take the plunge and start a YouTube channel. I’ve been sharing my adventures with friends and family on my personal Facebook. However, Facebook only allows you to upload up to about 6 minutes or so. So, after much pushing from friends, I decided to make a YouTube channel so that I can share more of my adventures on a larger scale. Which also means that I now have a reason to get out there and explore. I’m trying to treat this as sort of a vlog on the fun things I do (not day to day life) so that years from now, I can look back and relive some of the fun things I did while I lived in Okinawa Japan. So, if you have any recommendations on cameras, editing software, and just how to navigate this new platform, I would greatly appreciate it. <3

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I’m linking this post to Sunday Post, Mailbox Monday, and It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

I did it! I pulled the plug and left the rescue organization that was causing me so much stress. I had teamed up with a local rescue group to help them start up a TNR department. However, it became apparent that the cat side of the organization was not a fan of me being part of the team. Right from the get go they took over doing TNR. From deciding on doing large TNR operations, to teaming up with a different TNR group to host TNR fundraising events, all with me finding out via a Facebook post. Let’s just say it was a lot of stress from the start with me trying to not only get my footing on starting a department from the ground up, but also trying to find a way to fit into a place where I was clearly not wanted. It took about 4 months of me trying to get funds, do grants, build up a TNR team, come up with the SOP’s and the job titles, only for the cat side of the organization to just do what they want. Finally, I decided enough was enough and threw in the towel. I’m now back to doing my own thing, and I couldn’t be happier.

Other good news, Sassy, the cat that I’ve been working with since January got her HEA. She was a TNR cat that showed up with what we thought was an infection near her eye. However, after a few months of antibiotics and steroids, it became clear that something else was going on. So, I took her to a different vet where they diagnosed her with a tumor that required not only surgery to remove the tumor, but the eye as well. Not wanting to just say “ok”, we got a second opinion and that vet said the same thing. So, after she healed from the surgery and got her stitches out, I listed her on a rehoming page and a wonderful woman reached out to me. She took Sassy in, renamed her Billie, and has sent me and my friend updates on how she’s doing.

Oh yeah, and I finished out the month by taking our first trip out here. We flew to Tokyo and let me tell you, it was both overwhelming and amazing. We went to some temples and shrines, spent a day in Chinatown and Koreantown, went to a bunch of arcades, and spent more time on the trains then I would even like to know. We got so many cool souvenirs, and a ton of amazing memories. Our favorites from the whole trip was the shrines and temples. I started a goshuincho this year and got a bunch of really cool seals from the temples and shrines that we went to. Seeing that piece of history and culture at each of the shrines/temples was just breathtaking.

 

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I’m linking this post to Sunday Post, Mailbox Monday, and It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

So this month has not gone the way that I planned. I was really looking to sitting down and getting reading done, but that didn’t happen. In fact, I’ve been trying to read the same book all month. I sat down at the beginning of the month to read it, and I don’t think I made it halfway through. I don’t know if I’ve ever gone a month without completing at least one book.

 

 

Let’s start with the good.
Kimiko (the cat that I rescued who was dumped before Christmas) found her forever home and is currently being spoiled. I also rescued a 3 month old kitten, while out doing TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release), who was clearly sick. I got Sriracha back to full health and worked on socializing him. He’s now with a foster through the island’s local rescue group.

Speaking of which, I am now the TNR director for that very same rescue. I’m helping them start up their own TNR program so that more cats can be helped. I’m really excited about this new chapter. My role will be more of an admin thing by organizing vet appointments and making sure things run smoothly. However, I’m hoping that word spreads and we are able to get more people involved with wanting to TNR the local cat population. With that being said, I do still plan to go out and do TNR myself. It’s great to help organize a department, but I also want to be out there actively helping as well.

It wasn’t all about cats this month, though. At the beginning of the month, we went to our first shrine and a temple. It was so beautiful and peaceful. I was able to start my goshuincho and get by first two stamps/seals in it. If you’re not familiar with a goshuincho is, it’s kind of like a passport book. When you visit a shrine or temple, you take your goshuincho to the office and they will stamp it with their seal and write the date you were there. Since we had gone during the new year celebration period, I was able to purchase a Hamaya which is considered a good luck charm for the new year. It has a lot of history and lore behind it, but today it is used as a good luck charm.

 

Now for the bad.
I tried to rescue a cat that my husband found near his work. The cat was in rough shape and I spent the entire day running her between two vets. The first vet said that she needed a blood transfusion but that I would need to produce the cat who would donate blood. They then gave me a bunch of medicine, sent me home, and told me to bring her back within a couple of days for a follow up. So, I brought Sakura home, only to literally sit there and watch this poor thing fade and struggle in pain an hour after getting back to the house. So, a friend and I rushed her an hour south to another vet where they had blood donors available for her. However, it was too late for Sakura. The poor thing died on the table while they were trying to help her. It was a huge blow for me and kind of set the stage for the month.

I had also teamed up with a couple of other ladies who go out to do TNR. We created a Facebook page to share our journey, opened up donation links for people to help us, as a group, with the cost of TNR, and everything was going great… until it wasn’t. This weekend the other two members got into a fight. One member kicked the other from the FB group, the person who was kicked then went into the Paypal/Venmo and yanked all the donation money. I was completely horrified by the lack of maturity and rashness I saw. Needless to say that I removed myself from that, and I will be going back to doing my own stuff when it comes to TNR and rescue work. I will assist when needed, but I think for now I will just stay in my own lane, work on building the TNR department with the rescue and doing my own TNR work alone.

If that wasn’t chaotic enough, I also found out that my family back home in the states has Covid. Thankfully, as I type this, my mother and father do not have it. However, my sister and niece do, and they live with my parents. I’m really nervous about that since my father is high risk. I’m just hoping that he doesn’t catch it.

So yeah… this month has been… well, I truly don’t have words if I’m being honest. It stated off SO GREAT. I felt like I was making a difference. I felt like I found my people on the island, and then it just imploded.

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I’m linking this post to Sunday Post, Mailbox Monday, and It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

Well, it’s the start of a new year. Looking back at 2021 I realized that I had my world flipped upside down. I quit my job right before the new year, found out we were moving to Okinawa in June. Got ready for said move. Said goodbye to all my friends and family before hopping on a plane to a foreign country. Then dealt with adjusting to the new country while covid raged on, shutting down locations upon our arrival. Not to mention finding my calling while out here by helping as many stray, feral, and dumped cats on the island. So, it’s no surprise that my reading and blogging took a nosedive. I kept beating myself up for my lack of reading and blogging, but at the end of the day, we are all human. Reflecting back on the last year really put into perspective why I haven’t been as active as I’ve wanted to be. And ya know what, that’s okay.

I won’t lie, my focus has shifted a lot from blogging and more into helping the cats here in Okinawa. There are just so many of them. It’s insane. Not only do I spend a lot of time doing TNR (trap, neuter, release), but I have rescued and taken in a handful of cats and got them either into a home or into a foster system with the local rescue on island. Unfortunately, I did lose a couple of the cats. My first being Kazu. He was a feral cat that was not only deaf but had a diaphragmatic hernia that needed emergency surgery. While he survived the surgery, the vet got back to the office the next morning to find that he has choked in the middle of the night and passed away. The other angel baby is Leeloo who was a tiny kitten that was battling upper respiratory infection and parasites. Sadly, my friend (who was holding her at her house), woke up to find that the kitten had passed away in the night. While it has been really difficult to get past these losses, it pushes me even more to continue to help as many babies as I can. This past month was especially hard because I came across 3 dumped cats. One I have a friend watching who is about to go into the foster system for the local rescue, I have a different friend who has taken on the other cat which has a upper respiratory infection and mange, and the third is one that I have in my custody. All three of these babies just randomly popped up in an area with no one looking for them. It’s heartbreaking to witness, and sadly this is a common occurrence since I am on an island with a heavy military population that rotates on and off the island. So a lot of animals get dumped when the military members move off island. While I try to focus more on doing TNR, I can not sit by and watch an animal suffer. Hence, my current house guest. If anyone would like to help me on my mission, I will leave my links below.

So, with all of that being said, what does 2022 hold in store for me? Hopefully a lot of success stories, a bit more reading, a lot of exploration of this beautiful area, and some much need rest and relaxation.

What are you hoping for with the new year?

 

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I’m linking this post to Sunday Post, Mailbox Monday, and It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

I hope everyone is enjoying the cooler weather. I know that I am.

This month was pretty successful as far as TNR goes. I caught 5 cats, got them fixed, and then returned to their colonies. I also got Nezuko into the rescue organization on the island. She’s currently getting loved on by her new foster mom and I’m sure she will be adopted out soon enough. While I was sad to see her go, and definitely shed a few tears, I am not equipped to find her a good home. My intentions would be in the right place, but the organization I got her into had a six page questionnaire for potential adopters, then once they find an adopter, they make them sign contracts, and continue to check up on the animal after adoption. So, I was very relieved that they had a foster home ready for her. I know that they have the capability to make sure she finds a forever home and not just simply an “Oki pet” for military members while stationed on the island.

I’d like to say that I killed it with my reading, but I didn’t. I suppose I read more than I have been lately, but still nowhere near as many books as I used to read pre-pandemic. I’m sure that’s going to decrease even more now that I have my Hiragana and Kana textbooks to help me learn Japanese. Figured it might be useful to know more than a few polite words if I’m going to be living here for a handful of years. So, I really want to buckle down on that now that my textbooks arrived.

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I’m linking this post to Sunday Post, Mailbox Monday, and It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

Oh my goodness, guys. I’m so sorry that I haven’t been active for the month. I have been super busy. While I haven’t done any TNR this month, I did end up rescuing a kitten. I went to a location where there are a lot of cats to see how many were not fixed. While looking around, I found this kitten walking down the road by itself. When I got close to her, I realized that she was in rough shape. She was emaciated and had goop coming out of her nose and eyes. I snatched her up, got her settled at the house and got her to the vet. Which is when I found out she was full of worms, anemic (because of the worms), behind on development because she has the body of a 2 month old but her teeth are that of a 6 month old. She has an upper respiratory infection, and a cataract on her eye. So she has a while until she’s back to full health, but every day she looks/sounds a little better. My goal is to get her healed up and then find her a forever home. If you’re wondering, I names her Nezuko. Mainly because when I grabbed her, I put her in a little box so that I could drive back to the house, and she just sat in the box like the anime character.

 

This upcoming month is going to be a little crazy. A couple of friends and I have tickets to do TNR for this month. So we plan to go back to the place where I got Nezuko to try to catch as many cats as we can. So cross your fingers for us. The problem won’t be catching cats, the problem is going to be catching cats that aren’t already fixed. So we are going to have our work cut out for us. The moment you get out of your vehicle, cats come out of everywhere looking for food. They even followed us down the street when we walked around to try to get a head count on how many still need to be fixed. It was insane and unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before.

As always, while I may not be overly active on the blog itself, I do try to update what’s going on via Instagram. So, it’s always best to reach me there. However, I’m going to really try hard this month to sit down and read, and do more blogging. But at this point, and I won’t lie, I am starting to feel like a broken record.

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I’m linking this post to Sunday Post, Mailbox Monday, and It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

So this month I fell behind on reading again. I decided to take up pet sitting to help with all the TNR costs. So I’ve been busy doing that, on top of actually doing TNR on the island. However, I’m happy to report that I’ve helped 3 cats this month. Technically four if you count Pip showing up to my house with his face swollen from a snake bite. Thankfully it wasn’t a habu viper, but I had to rush him to the vet and get him treated. He’s doing much better and I hope that he learned his lesson to not mess with the spicy noodles at night.

As for the other three cats, I got Pip’s brother, Cain, TNR’d. I also got two cats from a sister base TNR’d. Those ones were not easy to catch. Two allowed me to pick them up when they got close for the food. The third catch was not so easy. There were two young cats that were in the area and they were weary of the traps. However, after a while they would go in them… and then delicately stepped over the triggering device that activates the trap, and would eat the food. I wound up having to just by the trap quietly, and as one of the cats got comfortable with going in the trap with me nearby, I just slowly placed my finger on the trigger plate to activate the trap. While I caught three cats, unfortunately I realized that one of them was someone’s dumped house cat that was already neutered. So, I let him go, which was  not easy to do. It’s so sad that the military members out here dump their animals when they move off the island. I was going to re-catch him at a later date to see if he’s microchipped and try to get the owners for animal abandonment but I was informed that special forces don’t actually pursue those cases. They feel like it’s a waste of their time, so it wouldn’t end up going anywhere. So, I’m trying to just let it go, but it still makes me angry.

I’m trying to look on the positive side of things and tell myself that I TNR’d 3 cats this month. One of which was a female. So, I’m glad that she will no longer have to deal mating or bearing kittens when she’s just a baby herself. I’m hoping to go back out there either this month or next month and try to get more cats from that area. I also have a bunch of cats on my own base that still need to be TNR’d. It’s honestly a bit overwhelming at the amount of cats on this island. But, I’m trying to take it once step at a time and do the most that I can.

 

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I’m linking this post to Sunday Post, Mailbox Monday, and It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

I know that I have been really quiet on here, even though I said that I was ready to get back to blogging. There’s a reason behind it, and if you follow me on Instagram, you have probably already guessed it.

Upon moving to the island of Okinawa, I soon realized that the island is overrun with feral and stray cats. You can’t go outside your house without seeing at least one cat wandering around, and that’s a good day. On my first trip out of quarantine after we arrived, I went to a local convenient store and was greeted by not one but two cats. One looked like she’d just given birth and the other looked ready to pop. Both looked like kittens themselves. Since I didn’t even have a house yet (I was staying in temporary lodging), I couldn’t do anything about it other than love on them. It’s like that everywhere you go on the island, though. There’s even a location that’s along the beach that is known for being the dumping grounds of animals when military members leave the island and don’t take their pets with them. I haven’t been yet because I’m still focusing on my immediate area. However, I’ve seen photos of the colonies of cats scarfing down food that people toss them and it’s just so sad.

So, needless to say, I’ve decided that in the handful of years that I will be here, I’m going to make it my mission to help as many animals as I can. In the 3 months that I’ve been here, I have already helped seven cats. I take them in, get them medical attention, get them fixed (if old enough) and then either find a home for them, or release them back to their area if they are really feral. The Mr. and I even built a catio for the cats to hang out in while they get medical care and spayed/neutered. I wish I could bring them all inside, but I have two cats of my own that were not a fan of the few cats that came into the house while they recovered. They are much happier now that the catio is built and they no longer have unwanted guests staying in a room upstairs.

Kazu (white cat) was the first cat that I caught. He was in really rough shape when he showed up to our house. It looked like he’d gotten into a fight and lost poorly (swollen face, couldn’t open one of his eyes, and had a gash on his side). So I caught him (Pitbulls & Parolees style), brought him inside, got him to a vet, and a week later got him neutered. However, we soon learned that Kazu was not only deaf, but had a diaphragmatic hernia and couldn’t be released back outside. I had a home lined up for him and decided to take him to the vet before the adoption to get the hernia checked out. Turned out he needed emergency surgery. While he survived the surgery, sadly, he passed away in the night. That was a really hard loss for me, but his passing pushed me to help the babies out here before they get to that point. 😞

Jesse (black kitten) was actually brought to me the night I found out that Kazu had passed away at the vet’s office. Someone had found this kitten, but had a cat aggressive dog and couldn’t hold onto her. So they brought her to my house and I got her medical attention. Turned out she was covered in lice and had the flu, hence the shaved cat look. The person that was going to adopt Kazu, decided to give Jessie a home. She’s currently going by the name Lucy-fur and is being spoiled rotten.

Pipsqueak (orange & white) was actually the first cat that started showing up to the house when we got here. He has the squeakiest of meows and looks like he was the runt of the litter, hence the name. He seemed to be unsure of whether he was friendly or skittish. So, I took advantage of his friendly moment, put his breakfast in the catio and did the most easiest catch ever. He wound up being very friendly and a huge cuddle bug. I got him neutered and he’s back to living the life outside… on our back porch. Apparently, he has adopted us and has made our patio his safe space. It probably doesn’t hurt that he gets two big meals a day, a safe place to lay his head, and all the cuddles he could ask for.

Mama and babies (bottom photos) were the latest rescues. The location they were at, they were going to be captured and brought to a facility where they do gas chamber euthanasia. So, a friend and I went out and caught them. The mama was pretty easy. My friend was there before I got there and she caught the mom in a trap. However, the kittens were another story. They were hidden away in a storm drain system that had 4 different connections that the kittens could run to. It just so happened that they ran to the connection that a bush was growing into so it was heavily dense with roots and I couldn’t get to them. So… we waited a lot time for the babies to get curious and wander out. Let me tell you, kittens are cute and all, but those lil guys were ferocious. They ripped through my gloves and left marks on my hands with their teeth. Since I had Pip at the time, my friend took the mama and babies home and has been caring for them. She has a TNR appointment for the mama since she’s feral, but she’s trying to line up homes for the babies.

So yeah, when I say I have been busy, I have been busy. However, I am very fortunate to have a lot of people support me in my mission to do as much work with these cats as I can while  we are here. A friend of mine made me this image to share (because I’m awful with that kind of stuff). I’ve also had people donate supplies like bowls and litter boxes for the cats that I am fostering. So, I’m thankful that there are others out there who want to help these babies as much as I do. <3

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