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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