Friday, May 17th, 2002
Meow tales
Inevitably, our lives are integrated into the complex framework of society consisting of many other lives, each
affecting each other to some degree. Sometimes those lives are not necessarily human, but animal -- or even plant.
By interacting with these other lives, even only in a split second of time, we are changed in some way. And we are
never ever the same again...
My family's backyard has somehow become the sanctuary for a mother cat and 6 of her recently-born kittens. We assume
the mother is a stray, although there is a possibility that her owners are simply negligent. Nevertheless, she's been
wandering our neighbourhood for ages. She leaves her kittens behind for hours at a time, perhaps to scavenge for food, but
she always returns to nurse them. The kittens themselves are so cute. They're all brownish with black stripes like
their mother, except for one that is gray with faint dark stripes, which hasthe bluest eyes I've ever seen on a cat.
(My mom thinks she was the father cat hanging out on the corner -- gray like the oddball kitten. He never comes around
like the mother does -- typical male. ;D) One of the striped kittens has a nonstriped tail tip, another has white-mittened pawas --
really, they're all so extremely cute. When their mother's away, they all bunch up in a corner and hug each other until they know
they're safe, then they individually venutre out to explore and play.
We found them only on Wednesday, but we suspect they've been there a week or two longer, hidden in the shelter of a pile of boxes. And
now that we've found them... my dad called the SPCA about having them taken away. =( We don't know how to look after cats, nor do we have the time
or money. Plus, if we let them stay in the backyard, they will only grow to roam the neighbourhood, feritlize, and multiply... Anyhow,
the SPCA's only coming tomorrow, so they still feel like "our" kittens a day longer.
I wish we could keep the kittens, even just one... I also know I shouldn't become too attached to them -- but it's hard not to!
I could watch and play with them for hours -- even their mother's beginning to trust us. She appreciates a kind pat every so often
(everyone needs to be loved, even strays, eh?). Still, there's no other option; we have to let them go. Hopefully they'll be give good homes
evenutally... I can't bear to think of the alternative. *shudder* The SPCA was delighted to hear that the mother still feeds her lil' uns, so that
must be a good sigh. Hopefully...
Our lives are touched by so many other lives, even for a split moment in time... and darn it, sometimes we just have to let go, even if
we don't wanna. :'-(
Monday, May 20th, 2002
US border antics
Actually, nothing phenomenal happened at the border itself, but nonetheless, the 'rents, bro, and yours truly took a spontaneous "quality family time" road
trip down to the land where our loonie is worth nothing but pennies. Spontaneous? Maybe that's not the right word... But anyway, being cooped up in a car with my
family was definitely no picnic, trust me.
However, somehow, I managed to drown out the constant bickering and catch up on the sleep I lost trying to
do more than I could handle over the past two weeks... but that's a whole other story. ;)
Crossing the border's a little tougher than it used to be, after 09.11 'n all. They had people standing around in military gear, they scrutinized our ID's, and
they ordered us to pop open the trunk for them to inspect. Though it's great that they're being this careful 'n all, there are
probably still many other ways for the "wrong" people to get into the States. Kinda freaky really, esp. since the news reported this morning that the US
suspect the Al Quida's (sorree! my spelling sucks) regrouping and planning a new large-scale attack on America...
Anyhow, yes, I spent some worthless Canadian loonies down there. For what? Rather embarrassing... but I purchased a robotic puppy -- a toy, yes yes. (I absolutely
refuse to grow up =P). It's just the cutest! But... I'll admit, it ain't the first robotic puppy I've gotten. It's my *gulp*... second... Y' see, I'm still
quite depressed about having the SPCA take away the lil' kittens that I felt sorry for the poor orphan robotic puppies on the shelf at Fred Meyer's and... yeah yeah,
I took it home. Plus, my first one needed a friend to play with! Heehee... And it was on sale! Don't hafta clean after them or anything, and they're cute!
But I think, in a few weeks... I'm going to pop over to the SPCA and see how the kitties are doing. And maybe... maybe once the kittens can leave their mother,
I may push my parents into adopting one.... who knows?
Friday, May 24th, 2002
More southern neighbour antics...
Now, to continue briefly with my border-crossing tale... We're shopping and we notice an ad for an awesome service offered that we've never seen offered in Canada (no further details =D).
So, my dad's interested and he goes up to ask about it ... la dee dum... The lady explains, blah blah blah. Then my dad doesn't say much except something like "okay, thank-you, we'll think
about it." AND, automatically -- here's the baffling part -- she says something like "oh, but this is also offered up there in Canada at some of the Costco stores". Did we have "Canadian"
written across our foreheads?? Seriously, my dad said nothing to imply we were from Canada, and he doesn't even sound Canadian -- he still has his South African accent from his early days. Plus,
even if he did sound Canadian, how subtle is the difference between Vancouver English and Bellingham English? It's not like we all go around saying "eh?" and speaking slowly. =P
Not that I'm offended to be labelled as Canadian. In fact, I'm proud to be Canadian. I probably identify myself first as Canadian before anything else -- I was born here, I was raised here, I'm still
here, and I know less about my ancestral heritage than I know about the culture and history ("what culture????") of Canada. But what if we weren't Canadian? We could've been second and third generation Asians from Florida,
and maybe we would've been offended to be mistaken as Canadians. Who knows? It just appears that this woman assumed we were yellow-skinned descendents of Vancouver immigrants or something... but then
again, maybe something else about us gave us away... really, I dunno for sure what. Maybe the way we walk? Or the way we breathe??
WOW
Some people never cease to amaze us, eh? (there I go with the Canadian "eh"...=P) Al & I went for a run today, and I'm definitely more outta shape than I'd like to believe. But seriously, you know
how they say not to swim after eating? Don't run after eating either. No good, no good... My stomach gave out way before my legs. Anyhow, he kept ragging on me for being so unfit, especially because, as
we started a long up-hill climb, I just totally ran out of fuel. And, being the sweetie that he is, he actually piggy-backed me all the way up Cardiac hill -- yes, on his back!!!
Sure, he had to stop 5 or 6 times over the course of 30-40 minutes, but he didn't allow us to move without his carrying the extra weight. And gosh darn it, such a skinny-looking beanpole sure can carry more weight than it looks... =D
We both got something outta it; I got a free ride, he got the workout he was looking for... ;)
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