Alright, so I know it's been a while since my last post. Ok, a long while. But here it is! A lot has happened since we last updated this thing.
First thing's first, Daniel and I made a trip down to San Diego for the AERA conference. While he went from meeting to meeting learning about different education research being conducted, I explored the area and caught up with an old friend. Eli Kase was one of the first people I met out in Hawaii all those years ago and is still one of my favorites from the isle. He was amazing enough to let us stay at his place while in town and show us around. He took us to some of his favorite places (including a little thai place and out for sushi - we ate out more this trip than we have for the last year) and told me a few spots to explore when I had time. I went to Balboa Park, visited Old Town, went to several beaches (but didn't get to enjoy them until the last day - I'll get to that one in a minute), found some cute little places along the coast, etc. Our last day there we did one 'big' fun thing and went to the Bodies Exhibit. It was pretty fascinating. My favorites were the ones dealing with blood vessels or possibly the X . Dan's were the X and the exploded man. We had a great time and Dan enjoyed the conference even if it did make him question just what all the research is for if it doesn't make it down to the kids.
By Thursday I began to get frustrated - I had been in California for almost a week and had yet to get any sun. I was still glowing with the remnants of a year and half w/o sunlight. It had been a bit overcast and windy most of the week and on the one nice day Dan called me riiiiiight as I was walking onto the beach with my towel to say he'd been late to his meeting and he was done for the day. Hmmm...Kristin and a few others suggested I just go to a tanning salon since that's what they do and by that point, after trying one last time that morning only to find it terribly windy, I was ready to. So, I cheated and hit the booth. I haven't done that in years. Anyway, turns out, that afternoon it cleared up beautifully and Eli and I ended up going to the beach after all. It was great! The sun, the sand, the water. I miss the ocean. =) Later that afternoon I started to notice my leg was a bit tender. Hmmm...I'd made sure to use plenty of sun screen...but turns out I missed the entire back of my left leg. There was a clear line where the sun block stopped and the burn started. Oops. Worst burn I've ever had! It took two weeks to start to peel, probably because I was so careful to keep it moisturized and aloe-ed up the ying-yang, but even now it's clearly visible a month later.
On our trip we also stopped in Sacramento to visit my dear friend Hadassah (aka Ass, Nina, Dass, or Haddie). We stayed the night there both ways and it was great to see her and have her and Dan finally meet. Poor girl has been having a rough year after a rough breakup after a rough relationship. Ouch. But that's the extent of our Cali trip. We didn't get to do all the things we wanted to or see all the things we wanted to see (like drive through a tree) but it was a great time. Maybe later this summer we'll make it back down to no. Cal for a few days to explore again.
Now! The big news. We have a new kitten! Yaaaaaay! It was a bit of an impromptu thing. When we took Juneau to the vet a few weeks ago they tried getting us to adopt this cute little orange kitten that they'd just gotten a few days before. She was cute but it just wasn't something we'd thought about. Well, the idea kinda stuck with us for a few days until I was refilling the cat food. I was about to put out another tub of kitten food (we've been mixing it w/ the adult to get rid of it) when Dan suggested maybe we keep it just in case we did get another kitten sometime in the next few months. By that afternoon we started talking about maaaaybe getting another kitten soon. Afterall, it would be fun, Juneau could use a friend so he wasn't so bored all the time, and...I wanted my own little kitten. =) A few hours later we were looking on craigslist and petfinder. Then we went to check out a rescue group in Cottage Grove and we were goners.
We went to Wholly Cats which is a nonprofit rescue run by two women (mom and daughter) out of their home. They had a couple dozen young kittens and another dozen adults with many great ones to choose from. One little girl stole my heart from the beginning though. Her name was BonBon and she was this little black fuzz ball who instantly purred and would crawl all over us humans while the other kittens frolicked around the room. She was so cute! There were a few others we liked (Widetrack being #2) but we didn't make any decisions right then. We drove home and talked about the pros and cons of a new kitten - then on which kitten we wanted. Not long after we called to say we wanted BonBon.
We waited a week to pick her up since she was so small and not long after we'd left that first day a kitten had started throwing up. Nancy (the mom) had taken in a newborn kitten that was apparently exposed to distemper and it spread through the ranks of the kitties. BonBon (now Kenai) wasn't affected but all of her foster-littermates were and she was put on a preventive treatment just in case. After a week of no illness, we were free to take her home.
Needless to say, Juneau was not happy about getting a sister. For the first several hours he did nothing but hiss at her - this from a cat we'd heard hiss only once before. She didn't care at all and just explored all the whole house while purring contentedly. Soon enough, that afternoon Juneau decided that he was interested her and wouldn't stop following her around and attempting to play with her - with typical Juneau batting and biting. After that, she decided that she didn't like him. lol First he'd been mean, then he wouldn't leave her alone. So, she started hissing at him and batting at him when he got close. He got fed up with that and started trying to show his dominance by pinning her and biting her neck. She didn't like that one bit either! It only took a day or two but Juneau finally started to get used to her and began grooming her. Yay! He was still a bit cranky though. The two are quite the cute pair - ying and yang. One's all white, one's all black. One has a tail, the other doesn't. One hears, one doesn't. One is a purr box, the other only occasionally. One is claustrophobic and the other looooves small, tight spaces. It's so cute!
Unfortunately, on Tuesday I noticed that Kenai seemed a bit lethargic. That morning she ate and drank like she'd never had food or water in her life (she loooooves food) but by that night she didn't eat much at all. Well, lethargy and lack of thirst/appetite are signs of distemper so even though she hadn't vomited or had any bowel problems, we called Nancy. We rushed her back down to Cottage Grove so those ladies could help her. We hated to leave her but we knew she was in great hands. Nancy and her daughter were able to give her hydrating shots, distemper treatments and enemas every hour. If anybody could take care of her it was them. Even with all the years they'd been running the rescue they have yet to lose a cat to distemper (which typically has a 90% mortality rate for cats under 6 months and up to 50% for adults). Despite this, we were still worried and kept getting sad whenever we saw her little litter box or a blanket moving.
Yesterday though we got good news - they didn't think it was distemper. Other than the lethargy she didn't show any other signs of it and was running a fever so they thought she probably had a virus or bacterial infection of some kind. So, she was put on antibiotics and they kept her well hydrated but she refused to leave her favorite blanket in the corner for long. This afternoon we went to visit her and she was a completely different kitty from the one we loved. She just laid about and seemed depressed. She didn't purr for more than 30 seconds the entire time! Nancy gave us some antibiotics and we ended up being able to take her home this afternoon. As soon as we got her home she was like a whole new kitty again! She suddenly had energy and was running around purring again. She was so happy to be home! Juneau was even excited to see her and followed her with a smile on his face while trying to lick her clean of the other kitten smells. She fells asleep on the bed and after several hours of naps she is now running around like her old self. She even started whacking Juneau around in play. lol It's good to have her home and feeling better. =) Welcome back, Kenai!
I will post pictures of our adventures soon but for now I've already spent enough time on this thing. Hope you all enjoyed the update and keep watching for pictures!
