Kalakoa absolutely loves kneading in the sheepskin that I put on the footstool of my mango wood rocker. She gets the silliest look on her face as she kneads away, and she won’t be distracted for anything!
Well, I guess it was inevitable. Nolemana was so lonely without Hinahina, and today we drove up to Vancouver to donate Hina’s cat food there. And Nolemana said he’d like to look at kitties. First we checked out one sweet girl named Bristol… a lovely calico girl. Hers was a sad story: her former owners had to give her up because their new home required, gasp!, a $1300. pet deposit! The volunteer told us that the lady just cried and cried when she left her there….
Bristol was very shy, very stressed, and though Nolemana liked her, he wanted to see more kitties. We walked outside the get acquainted room (I LOVE how they clean the rooms after each kitty goes in) and another staff person pointed us to “Roxie”, who happened to be on Nolemana’s list.
We spent quite a bit of time in another room with her. The staff person said that Roxie had been abandoned at the vet’s where she’d been boarded. She was microchipped, but after weeks and weeks of trying to contact the owners (their phone was disconnected), they gave up and gave her to the shelter, who also tried to contact the owners, also with no luck.
The good thing about it all was that Roxie had been thoroughly vetted and pronounced to be in excellent health. She gained weight at the shelter so has to lose some, but other than that she’s doing great. She’s eight years old (I love giving a middle-aged kitty a new home) and is extremely plush. She’s very friendly and didn’t try to hide, and when she jumped down onto the floor and we tapped the bench, she hopped right up again, demanding to be petted. That just did it for Nolemana, and he said he wanted her.
I’d told Nolemana that he would just know if a kitty was right for him, that he kitty would choose him, but he didn’t understand how that worked and I couldn’t really explain it. Gotta experience it , ya know? Now he got it.
So just like that, he has a new downstairs kitty . We’re definitely going to change her name (suggestions welcome)… we’ve thought of “Honey”, or “Moonshine” so far. Since it’s his kitty , it won’t be Hawaiian…. haole boy dat guy!
I think she’s going to be the perfect kitty for him. She’s already crawled up next to him as he’s working, and is very affectionate. She looks very happy to be here. Her official coloring is called Patched Mackerel Tabby. Interesting, yeah?
Last night I was given her dream name, and Nolemana likes it!
I’ve been sick for the past several days, but decided to see if I couldn’t get my spinning fiber stash photographed and organized. It’s a lot of work hardly any work at all since I really have any fiber stashed. Kalakoa decided that she would supervise me as I worked outside where the light is better. She looked so cute that she became my photo of the day.
Oh, by the way… I have a bridge in the Mojave Desert that I’d like to sell. Wanna buy it?
Ummm…. somebody named Kalakoa decided to get into my yarn. I followed it to the entryway all the way from the dining room. Can you see the ball underneath the typing table? So kolohe dis pōpoki!
I love how Noelani and Keola sleep together!
I stay writing dis post wit plenny wai maka, cuz today we wen tell Hinahina, “Aloha ʻoe”. Was hard cuz she no like get sleepy foa long time, so we jass wen talk to her, tell her how spesho she stay, telling her mahalo foa being one shaka hoaloa foa Papa-san, foa coming to us so we could rescue her all dem years ago.
She wen have one good day today; kinda playful, eating good, purring, and feeling moa betta den yestaday. Dat wen make one good memory foa us. And foa her, I tink.
We going miss u like crazy, u sweet pōpoki… try tell ʻUkulele “aloha” from me, k? And Kukui, too.
Kʻden. Pau. Too much wai maka foa see da monitor anymoa. Here she is, looking playful today.
Hinahina is still eating tuna, but that’s about it. And because of her renal failure, she can’t stay on it forever. But for now, she is still pretty alert, though she sleeps a lot. Well, who wouldn’t, at her age? She still wants cuddles and pets, and doesn’t look too bad for a sick kitty.
Tomorrow we should be getting the results of her urine culture back. Until then, we wait, and enjoy the time with our girl.
In order to fully understand the photo of the day, and my sadness, please go here and read my 2008 post about our kitty, Hinahina.
Hinahina is now about fourteen years old, and has been Nolemana’s faithful companion in his office for all these years. About four months ago she developed the beginnings of renal failure, and she’s been doing really well on her special diet, so well in fact, that the vet said last month that she didn’t need to see Hinahina for another six months.
But last week Hinahina stopped eating, and for the past five days we have had more tests run, X-rays taken, and three more exams. Our vets, working together, think that she has developed several issues that are complicating the renal issues, including the possibility of diabetes or something worse. We’re now awaiting the results of Hina’s last culture, but things are not looking good. She’s eating a little bit of tuna, but she can’t stay on that very long, and given the circumstances, it looks like we’ve got a difficult decision to make. That will be on Monday, when the culture results come back.
Our poor girl isn’t feeling well, and one of our vets gently said, “Not all wars are meant to be fought.” He and our other vet are a wonderful team helping our pöpoki.
This is a photo of Hinahina at the vet’s. I hope that there is something that we can do medically when her test results come back… but right now… I just don’t know. The thought of going through this again so soon after losing ‘Ukulele and Kukui is really hard…..
Well, how kewt is this! Noelani jumped up into the chair where Keola was, and he began to lick her head. But check out the way he’s holding her, like he never wants to let go. I love this!! The two of them are best buddies; you’d think they’d been littermates.
We used to only have one kitty bed underneath my desk. And it ended up being musical cat bed all the time. The kitties weren’t happy with just one because obviously, there wasn’t room for both of them in one.
So I found another one, on sale, at PetCo. It took a couple of days for it to pass the kitty inspection test, which consisted of seeing how it worked for sharpening claws and multiple tests for softness. But finally, they decided that it would do.
Notice that larger Noelani took the smaller bed. And Kalakoa the larger one.
There’s only one problem.
We have three kitties.
My beloved ‘Ukulele kitty, who I lost a year and a half ago, was my soul mate. I still grieve her loss and my heart hurts without her. But I am convinced that she sent Kalakoa to me, because Kalakoa brings me yarn just the way ‘Ukulele used to do.
The latest treasure that she brought me was a 4-oz bag of spinning fiber; how she managed to drag it all the way down the hallway from the dining room I don’t know. But drag it she did, and as I praised her for bringing it to me, tears of sadness and thankfulness mixed together rolling down my cheeks. Sadness because I miss my ‘Ukulele girl, and thankfulness because I know she sent Kalakoa to comfort me.
Well, it’s been awhile, but remember how I had to leave Kalakoa, the kitten I adopted, at the shelter because she had a feline respiratory illness? Well, it was almost time for her to come home the last time I visited her. (more…)
Well, there was no question about it. Keola wasn’t going to hiss or growl at Noelani, and she wasn’t going to do the same thing to him. There was no raised fur, only friendliness. I was in awe. (more…)
He walked all around the carrier. There was not a single hiss or growl from either kitty!
Then there was some mutual sniffing.
Then Keola walked around the carrier again. Still not one hiss or growl. It was amazing.
Then he tried to shake hands with Noelani.
And he tried again.
In our next installment, Noelani gets to come out of the carrier. What will happen then? Stay tuned!
Okay, I have a third chapter to this story, and I hope you all will enjoy reading it.
I had a real hard morning on August 23rd, two days after I’d brought Keola home; I had to have an MRI which was pretty stressful, even though it was only on my foot. I am incredibly claustrophobic. (more…)
Today’s post is about the kitten that I had to leave at the shelter so she could get spayed. And there is kind of a wonderful story to tell about her, aside from the fact that I got her. (more…)
Remember the song “Goin’ to the Chapel and I’m Gonna Get Married”? Well…
♪ Went to the shelter and I got me a kitty♫ ♪
♪ Went to the shelter and I got me a kitty♫ ♪.
♪ Gee, I really love him and he’s my new kitty …♪
♫ Went to the shelter of love…♪ ♫
The other day a good friend of mine said she hadn’t seen any new posts lately; I didn’t even know she read my blog. I knew I hadn’t posted recently; my heart hasn’t really been in it since ʻUkulele died. I’ve been having little glimmerings of wanting to update my blog again, and my friend’s words gave me the impetus to begin again.
(more…)
Here is a photo of my girl with one of the skeins of yarn that she brought me.
I combined it with a photo of a mokihana lei for my Ravelry ravatar. I thought it would kinda be like the two of us always together.
I miss my girl….
This is a post long time coming. I just haven’t been able to write it because my grief has been too sharp, too deep, too wide, too painful. But now I think I’m ready to do this one. In it, I tell of the presents ʻUkie brought to me during the last weeks of her life. She was so pleased with herself, and every single evening, she’d bring me another prize. It was as if she was saying, “Look, Mom, I have slayed the terrible yarn giants!” She’d meow so proudly and even though she kept getting into my yarn basket, it gave me a smile. Every single time. I put all the yarns she brought me together, knowing that one day I would want a record of it. (more…)