Busy busy, preparing for and going to Tokyo. We took 8 kittens. Valerie and Melody were adopted by translator Alfred Birnbaum and his wife. These two kittens settled in immediately, and have done really well since! We had planned to take 6 kittens to PAWS, but a delay in getting there had us stopping by Andrew and his wife's place for a chat. Before any of us knew it they had fallen for one of the white kittens from Nara as well as little Coco of the breakfast boys. They are trying kitten life out for a bit and will get back to us after two weeks about permanent adoption. Also met with some new volunteers who were full of great ideas about improving our presence in Tokyo, not to mention in using Facebook. Thanks to Judy, who is Michael's, Sadie's, Muffin's, and Jessie's mom, we had a comfortable and convenient base. It was fun seeing the kitties having such a happy life in their home with Judy. We went out to PAWS to take the remaining 4 kittens--2 white kittens from the Nara project and the remaining Breakfast Boys--and hang out with the kitties there. They have some new really cool kitty furniture that is comfortable for the cats but can be easily disinfected. Had a great lunch from Taco Bell!! David stayed in Tokyo one night, during which volunteers helped out around the shelter, and then he went back while I stayed on. I managed to sneak in a haircut, and dinner out with Judy at TGIFridays! It was a successful trip, and David is going back again next weekend to take more kittens to new homes. Pictures from our Tokyo trip...

In earlier news...5 little kitties came for a visit. The 2 kittens Gina was fostering and her adult cat are here for 2 weeks while she's out of the country. Bubbles and Lisa's adult cat are also here for a week or so. David picked everyone up on Friday, and we spent most of Saturday helping everyone adjust. So far not too bad. The adults started out in two large 3 level cages, but have since been able to venture around the intake room, and perch on the window to do some kitten watching. The kittens have been spending some time upstairs with us. Gina's foster kittens, Josie and Alexandra like to burrow into a blanket, with only their little heads sticking up, and Bubbles has taken to playing her own version of "whack-a-mole." And by mole I mean cat. Somehow, no hard feelings, so the game goes on. Pictures of the guests...

 Sunday was the fiesta fund raiser. Unfortunately rainy, but there were tents, and things let up enough for some volleyball. The food was very good--Takako put a lot of time into the planning of everything--and people seemed to enjoy trying something new. I was tired, and feeling a little under the weather, so I found a chair and mostly watched the fun! I didn't realize that my cel phone battery wasn't charged, and wasn't able to get any pictures. Hopefully I'll get a few to post from somebody else.

 Monday was sorting out the Tokyo trip schedule, spending some time with our kitty guests, and catching up on work we missed from being out on Sunday. On Tuesday I got up early and went out to Nara to trap cats with a volunteer. There were 3 kittens needing to be picked up at the same time, that had been found in the TNR project area. And, we picked up a one-month old kitten from a guy out of work, who found it near a busy intersection. We try to reserve shelter space for people doing TNR, but we really wanted to help in this case, and posted the story on-line. Luckily (in more ways than one) 3 people responded with offers to help, so we met the guy and picked up the kitten named Lucky. He's a real cutie and had obviously blossomed under his week of care with this very kind man. On the trapping front, we could easily find 2 of the cats to be trapped/caught, but 1 eluded us. We decided to wait as long as possible, and I filled the time by calling people back who had requested information about TNR. Eventually we had to give up. The university student caring for the kittens had a difficult time parting with them. That part always breaks my heart a little, since I completely understand how hard it is. However, she's not really allowed to keep pets in her student housing, certainly not the 3 grown cats these will eventually become. So, she wants to do the best thing for the kittens, in letting them go on to find new homes. This group of 3 fluffy white kittens with blue eyes, will have no difficulty finding new homes at PAWS, where we'll be taking them tomorrow. The great news is that, as soon as we left, they were able to catch the remaining cat and get her to the vet along with the others. Now all have been spayed/neutered and returned! Pictures from our day...

Speaking of it being hard to give up a rescued kitten, we received a mail from someone David had helped regarding ideas for finding a new home for his rescued kitten. The person gave it a shot, but ended up deciding to keep the kitten, and wrote a song about his experience. It's called Ginger, and can be found here...