Adopting a kitten

There's a lot of 'wildlife' in my neighbourhood and its surroundings -- birds, snakes, rats, monkeys, iguanas, feral dogs and cats. Those are the ones that I've come across so far.  This is partly because our housing development is nearby some forests and undeveloped land. I will talk about cats because they happen to be the most annoying to me at this point in time.

Birds fly away after stealing Rusty's food pellets, while the monkeys, iguanas and dogs are outside the perimeter fencing of our 'taman'. But the cats, they have invaded our roads and back alleys. They defecate in your garden, and reproduce. They also create a ruckus with their loud fights and mating calls which lead to all the dogs in the neighbourhood barking non-stop. They continue to populate the neighbourhood and back alleys of our homes because some neighbours like to feed them. They may think they are being kind but they don't realise that they are making the situation worse. They also say that it is good to have them around so that the snakes and rats can be controlled. I think that there other more effective ways to control snakes and rats.

Some neighbours have adopted the cats as their pets. Some know how to care for them responsibly by spaying or neutering them, providing them proper living arrangements, healthcare, food and litter boxes. Some, however, do not know or care so much. They leave them roaming outside to defecate in neighbours' compounds leaving a foul stench, and don't spay or neuter them, which then leads to these pets mating among themselves and with the ferals/strays.

Recently two cats gave birth and the kittens have been roaming around my back alley with their mamas. Over the past two months, some of the kittens have disappeared. They either died, moved away or have been taken by people I believe.

C is an animal lover and in the past year, she has developed a strong interest in cats. When she goes out cycling on some evenings, her main purpose is to look for cats, observe and try to play with them. So of course when she discovered two kittens hanging around behind our house, she went on a mission to 'rescue' them. For two weeks, she was always on the lookout for them but never succeeded in catching any.

Last Thursday, one kitten was deep in slumber and she managed to creep up behind it and caught it with her bare hands. The mama cat was not around. She has the intention of keeping it as her pet but she knows we've always 'forbidden' it, so she made up the excuse that she's rescuing it so that we can put it up for adoption to give it a better home. We are concerned because she has allergies. She once got into a sneezing fit and had teary eyes and some welts after playing with a cat outside on the road, came home with fur all over her clothes.... Furthermore, we have Rusty and that's enough of pets at home. We can't afford to feed another mouth and even if C takes full responsibility in caring for the cat, I'd still have to be the 'assistant' while she's at school,  help shop for supplies or drive it to the vet if it's sick!

According to this website, feral cats are hard to tame and if we need to control their population, the Trap, Neuter and Release (TNR) method should be employed. "TNR helps the community by stabilizing the population of the feral colony and, over time, reducing it. At the same time, nuisance behaviors such as spraying, excessive noisemaking and fighting are largely eliminated, and no more kittens are born." However, I think it will be difficult to employ this TNR method here unless it becomes a serious problem. I also wonder if the local authorities or SPCA or other animal welfare group will have the resources to do it....

The female kitten is about two months old and is able to eat solid food. However, the mama cat hangs around our backyard every morning and evening and a mewing 'conversation' between mother and offspring ensues.... I don't like the idea of separating the poor kitty from the mama but of course, letting it loose back out there is also not an option since C has already got it, and also it would then grow up to be another reproducing cat. I've got some word out to get it adopted but so far these few days there are no takers. I'm hoping that it can get adopted soon by a loving and responsible person who will care for it and spay it. It would be good too if we can get the mama cat and also spay it and let it out in the 'wild' like TNR but it's very hard to 'catch'  a feral cat without the proper tools/trap.

So for now, we're doing what's necessary to shelter and feed the cat and keep it within a small confined space at the back of the house so that it doesn't run loose and mess up our home, or cross path with Rusty....

I'm still undecided if I should spay it. A check in several websites give different information about how old the cat has to be before it can go under the knife. Some say two months, others six months.....and I'm unwilling to spend too much money on what is currently a temporary arrangement. However, C is of course secretly hoping that she gets to keep it....

Anyone out there can provide advice, suggestions for solutions or interested to adopt this little kitty? Check it out here.

Bugs

I've been stricken by several bugs lately. That's the main reason why this blog has not been updated as frequently as it used to be. Don't worry, I'm still healthy physically but the bugs are pretty stubborn. I'm talking about the Lazy Bug, Procrastinator Bug, Lethargy Bug and Moody Bug. I wonder if there are any other bugs I have that have yet to be diagnosed.

It's hard to get my fat bottom off the chair and away from the computer, surfing the net and reading online stuff and being a nosey-poke on Facebook. In this day and age of advance technology, it's so easy to get drawn and lost in the the computer and internet world without realising the time passing.

Last week, I got busy putting old (and I mean, really old) photographs into proper photo albums. There was a bag of these small albums of photos lying around, those that you get from the photo processing shops when you send your films to be developed. If you're from my generation or before, you'll know what I'm talking about. Those were the days when cameras used film and once the 12, 24 or 36 exposures are used up, you send the roll to the shop. Then, when they're ready, you collect them and eagerly pore over every single photo to see how your pictures turned out. And you hold up the negatives to the light (most of us amateurs would not own lightboxes) to check the number and jot them down if you want to make extra copies of the photos.

People in this new generation like Caitlin only know of digital cameras. Right after taking a picture, they are instantly gratified. They get to check if the picture is great and if otherwise, they can just delete it on the spot, select modes like close-up, portrait, landscape, night or day, flash or without flash, reduce red-eye effect etc. Unlike those days when a picture is taken, no matter how badly, they will be there on the film/negative forever, unless you throw the negative away.

So back to the old photos I was talking about. I bought proper new albums and tried my best to sort and group them according to the 'era' to create a semblance of chronology. Then I ran out of albums. I've yet to get more to complete the job -- the Procrastinator and Lazy Bugs at work here.

I've a stack of books I so greedily bought during book sales and at BookAxcess that I've yet to read. They are books I like, I want to own, I think I should read....but I've YET to read - again, the Procrastinator Bug attack. Also the Moody Bug I think. There are some activities I need to have the 'mood' for in order for me to indulge in them. Reading and cooking are among them.

This week, I've selected two books to read. I've covered one-third of Money Doesn't Grow on Trees by Neale S. Godfrey so far, while Nurture Shock by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman is still patiently waiting for me to pick it up.

As for my 'Cooking Thursdays' projects, I actually did try out some recipes two Thursdays ago. I revisited Banana Bread since I had too many bananas lying around. Then I also made some milk buns. The earlier batch of dried yeast I had were 'dead' so I bought a new batch. It turned out that they were not any more alive than the earlier one although slightly better. The dough rose but not super-actively I guess. So the buns turned out not as fluffy as I hoped they would. Ate the buns with mushroom soup, dipping and spooning with slightly aching wrists and fingers from all the kneading!

I also baked some chicken thighs in satay marinade for dinner two Thursdays ago.  The marinade powder had been sitting in my larder for a long time. I once had lofty dreams of grilling my own satay but never got around to buying skewers and the thought of having to thread the chicken fillet bit by bit onto those sticks just put me off -- there you go, Lethargy Bug.

Last Friday, I made lasagna. It was my own version. I cheated by using bottled spaghetti gravy, mixed it with a concoction of pureed brinjals, tomatoes and frozen corn, carrot, peas (great way to hide the vege from the kid) before cooking it with minced pork (didn't have enough beef in the freezer). I layered the lasagna sheets with this gravy and lots of shredded cheddar and tossed it into the oven.  The end result was yummy luckily, and the kid gobbled up more than her usual dinner portion.

I had grand plans to make roti jala over the weekend but the stars were not aligned for me to do so. Yes, I'm blaming the cosmic powers and the Lethargy Bug. On Friday morning, Rusty chanced upon an escape for the big wide wonderful world beyond our gates. This time, he ran harder and faster as soon as  I caught up with him. He also broke the record of going past our neighbourhood security post, out yonder into the 'wild' but luckily low-traffic main road. Thankfully, the guard got onto his bicycle and gave chase, blocked his galloping advance using the bike while I trailed behind panting and jogging in my flip flops, leash in hand. Gosh, I must have looked comical.

Having felt cornered, Rusty finally decided it was better to run towards me than face off with the two-wheeled stranger. With a 'smiley' look and pink tongue sticking out, he simply thought it was great fun until I admonished and smacked him for giving me a 1km jog I didn't plan for. He certainly forced the Lethargy Bug out of me then, but because of my poor fitness level, I felt the effects later that day with some aching knees and calves. This brings to the Great Procrastinator Bug problem I've been facing when it comes to training Rusty to 'stay' when my auto-gate beeps open....

Finally, there's always stuff to clear up and organise around the house. And this is the part that all the aforementioned bugs have ganged up on me. Can someone please invent some sort of vaccine to immunise me from these bugs?

Gardening

My attempts at creating a lovely flourishing 8 ft X 12 ft 'green lung' at the front portion of my house has been a start-stop affair for the past one year. I was all enthusiastic at first to have my very own garden after moving in, dreaming of how my garden would look like with lush green bushes and flowering plants.

A beautiful, or at least satisfactory-looking garden with mature plants takes lots of hard work, TLC, patience and time for the plants to grow and flourish. Nowadays, you can also have a beautiful, artistically landscaped garden with mature plants in about 24 hours too - instant gardens! All you need to do is get a landscaper or go to a plant/flower nursery and get them to plan your garden, supply and plant the trees, bushes etc for you. You can have rocks, water features like fountains, mini waterfalls, ponds. Anything is possible. Where there is demand, and of course money, there will be supply.

While these instant gardens are nice, they seem to look too artificial and sterile for my liking, especially if it's an outdoor garden. I guess it also depends on the choice of plants, shrubs or trees one chooses. Those that I see around my neighbourhood tend to look too 'clean' somehow.

Anyway, back to my garden. It certainly does not have the 'clean' look. The grass is uneven and unkempt. We've trimmed it a few times only so far. There are some plants in the ground and the grass around those plants are overgrown. After mowing the open sections, we didn't complete the job by trimming by hand around the plants...

Rusty is also a regular contributor to the 'crazy garden' look. He's made a row of flowering bushes his play pen (just like how kids love tumbling and rolling about in a pen filled with colourful plastic balls). He's chewed off the tips of some plants. He's 'plucked' some flowers and decorated himself with them. He's uprooted small flowering plants too. Sigh. We tried fencing up the plants, only to make them look 'imprisoned' but they are still not safe from Rusty lifting his leg and watering them with urea-based 'fertiliser'. Sigh...

A garden planted by your own hands, with your own sweat and toil is more satisfying and rewarding in the long run in my opinion. It is a labour of love, a hobby, a pastime that teaches you new things. These past few days, I've started to work on the garden again. I guess if I'm hardworking and patient enough, the garden should look the way I want it to someday.

Training Rusty

Found the info below in this site.

Teaching Your Miniature Schnauzer to Stay

Put your dog in a sit or down position, then step in front of him, holding a flattened palm to his face. Look him in the eye and say “Stay” in a firm voice.

After a second of motionlessness, lean down and mark “Yes!” and treat him. Then say “Okay,” which will be the release command from “Stay.”

Eventually work up to more time in the stay, then vary the time you ask for, so that your schnauzer doesn’t learn to stay only for a set amount of time.

The crucial thing is to treat while your mini schnauzer is in the stay, not after, or he’ll think that you’re rewarding the release.

Rusty loves plants

Rusty has been a naughty boy this week. While he had chewed some plants before, they were bearable misdeeds but a few days ago, he decided to trample (and probably roll around) my flourishing flower bushes. So they're now all broken and that bush patch is a flattened area of broken and bent branches, wilted flowers. And all (previously only a few) of the succulent tips of my mother-in-law's tongue plants are all now jagged and chewed up. I'm amazed he didn't get sick from the poisonous sap he ingested (I discovered this plant's sap is poisonous to kids and pets only after planting them). And he's also dug up some holes in the grass, unearthing little stones which he plays with and leaves lying around on the floor.

It's obvious that he's discovered how to jump over the low fence barricading the plants. When I caught him behind the fence and yelled at him, he merely looked up with that innocent, adorable, quizzical look, fur ruffled and bits of tiny purple flowers adorning his ear....How angry can one get when presented with that picture? He was just being himself I guess, having fun bonding with nature and entertaining himself since his human playmates preferred to stay indoors and watch TV.

I gotta get a higher wire fencing now and see how I can save those poor plants. And this has been my first real attempt at gardening in my entire four decades of life...maybe I should just plant cacti all over. That'll surely teach him not to play with plants!

Another week, another post

It sure looks like my posts in this blog has been reduced from daily to weekly until such time when I get a line at home (when???? I truly wonder). In the meantime, this computer is still living its lonely existence in this yet-to-be refurbished-for-rental unoccupied apartment which I escape to when I need my weekly Internet fix and to write my fortnightly column for theSun newspaper.

We have been very slowly getting the new place into the look and feel I envision it to have. This can't be helped as we're busy with daily life on weekdays -- work, school, extra curricular activities, while the past few weekends, we've just been occupied with family events, leaving us hardly any time to do any DIY stuff around the house. Eugene however managed to put up some blinds at our pergola adjoining the car porch last Saturday.

This coming weekend is a long weekend with Friday (1st May, Labour Day) a public holiday. I hope we can get some things done in between me attending a wedding dinner on Friday and Caitlin a birthday party on Saturday.

I planted some plants a few weeks ago as I was tired of waiting for the grass to grow (look at the grass in the picture to get what I mean).


Apart from it being a newfound 'interest' for Rusty, they seem to be still 'hanging-in-there' with my daily watering. Some of them got bitten at the tips of their leaves while others got slightly trampled on by our curious four-legged boy despite me putting up those decorative fencing in the hope to deter him.... Poor Rusty who spends most of his time outdoors these days is probably bored without being literally at my feet and decides to entertain himself 'admiring' the plants. The past few days, he's taken to chewing the door mat, leaving it with loose,'sprouting' fibres....Have plans to get more plants and also start planting vegetables in future...

Caitlin has been using the phrase "thanks to..." very frequently these few days. she loves blaming other people and even things when things don't go her way. She's gotten her longtime wish to join an art class so now every Tuesday evening, she goes to one in the nearby hypermart mall. I still think she should resume her Mandarin lessons which I stopped last December but going back to the same centre means a fair bit of additional travel thrice a week (the Mandarin lessons require three lessons a week...), on top of her art, Yamaha and drum lessons. I need to find one nearer home or get a personal tutor (but that's pretty expensive). While Mandarin is not an exam subject at school, I still feel it'd be good for her to at least know it even if she does not master it. I always wonder how some parents and kids manage to squeeze in so many extra curricular activities throughout the week. Some kids have so many activities I wonder if it's really necessary, if it's what they themselve want or what their parents believe they need.

With Caitlin, it's only Mandarin so far that we think she needs while music and art are her own requests. With just these few activities (compared to lots more other kids have), I already find it difficult to juggle helping her with schoolwork, music practice, chauffering her around and attending to household matters, writing, plus caring for our 'son' Rusty.

While chatting with her schoolmate's mum yesterday as we waited for our kids at drum lesson, this mum told me an inspiring story of her nephew. He was an easy-going, happy-go-lucky kid during his schooldays but turned out well later. He was determined to further his studies in the US despite his parents inability to afford and their insistence that he did engineering. He requested his parents to only pay for his airfare there and an aunt over there to support him for the first six months. He worked and studied and paid his own way through university, studying engineering at first to please his parents. He later switched to chemistry and is now pursuing a Masters in pharmacy.

My takeaway from this story: Never ever force your child to do something he is not interested in. Allow the child space to explore and once he discovers his passion, support him as much as you can. Passion, determination and hard work can reap rewards. Kids whose parents can afford to send them overseas to study ought to appreciate their parents' sacrifices. Those who fool around, take things for granted ought to be kicked in the butt.

If we have raised our kids right, they will not disappoint us. "Raising them right" -- that's the challenge for parents. It's a rugged and long journey I believe, and I have only just begun!

Still no Internet...and update

Obviously, you can tell from the title of this post that this has been my main grouse these few weeks. I'm back again here at the apartment to visit my lonely computer to catch up on email and other stuff, including overdue bills that I usually pay online.

And because I have other things to take care of at the new place plus going through the motions of daily life, time spent here is limited so less time to share long stories about ACE.

The one-week school break came and went middle of last month. We didn't go anywhere except Petrosains and their feature exhibition of Dinotrek which Caitlin enjoyed very much. Petrosains however is a larger area with lots of science-related exhibits which Caitlin did not have the attention span to stay on at any particular one to read their explanations.

Rusty was stressed out from the move to the new place and protested with his new living arrangements. The first two weeks there we kept him outside in the shelter of our covered backyard most times. We couldn't handle having him inside with all our clutter and half-opened boxes with stuff which he'd very likely chew on when we were not looking. I also wanted to train him to use the toilet at the back and not inside the house. That did not go well with him. He was reluctant to eat unlike before when he'd rush to his bowl when he knew I was coming with food, and gobble up everything within seconds. He took a sniff and walked away this time, finishing his food in instalments over a couple of hours. And during the times we leave him alone at home to go out, he'd protest by going to toilet at spots other than his usual designated ones....

He's happier now because I allow him in during the day when I'm at home. When we're out, he's tethered via two leashes joined end to end, to a pillar at the front car porch. Left him loose one day to frolic unsupervised and he chewed up Eugene's slipper, dug a hole in the garden and had a taste of some 'serai' (citronella) plant that my MIL planted for me.

Caitlin is enjoying the new place as she gets to cycle around every evening and yesterday, she visited the small playground nearby for the first time. Our neighbours opposite have schoolgoing kids too so she's making new friends too. I'm getting my share of exercise too, having to go up and downstairs many times a day, walk briskly to catch up with the rebel cyclist or rein in the curious puppy when he goes out for walks.

There's still lots to do for the house. Some things can't get moving because in order to do B, A needs to be in place first and is not....

Gotta end here now and start going into my banking sites to pay bills.

Grooming Rusty

We bought an electric rechargeable fur/hair trimmer to groom Rusty over the weekend. Yesterday, Eugene started the job but I ended up taking over and finishing up. If you think cutting a kid's hair is hard, try a hyperactive four-month-old puppy. He was wriggly and couldn't stay put. Fur was all over the place. Our attempt to lay the floor beneath him with newspaper to collect the cut fur was futile.

Next was giving him a bath, blowing him dry with the hairdryer and trimming his nails. Lots of struggle with Rusty who enjoyed the attention but couldn't keep still and enjoyed wrestling with our tools and hands using his mouth and teeth.

It was literally a back breaking afternoon grooming Rusty unlike what you see here in this video. Nevertheless, I still gave him a treat after that.

Learning from a dog

It has been raining a lot everyday this week, either in the mornings or afternoons/evenings or both. And usually they are heavy with loud thunder and strong, howling winds. Going out without an umbrella is risky. On one hand I'm glad it's raining so much. That means I don't need to go to the new house everyday to water the grass we've planted. They almost dried up two weeks ago when we forgot to water it for just one day after planting them when the weather was still scorching hot.

On the other hand, it's troublesome sending and fetching Caitlin to and from school when it rains, and my balcony gets soaking wet which translates to Rusty stomping around with wet paws if he goes out to the balcony for meals or toilet break. Mopping the floor is a daily affair now with Rusty around. I hope to re-train him to be more independent outside the house when we move to the new place. I wonder if that's possible as he is a very clingy dog, must always have someone within sight or feel. He's been like this ever since we brought him home the very first day. We had tried to keep him outside the first few nights but he was crying most times and would only stop if he saw us. So Eugene and I took turns to babysit him and slept out in the living room where he could see us. Then we gave up and let him in. Now he sleeps outside our bedroom doors and sometimes under my bed.

During the day, he'd follow me around the house most times, even when I make a short 30-second trip between the toilet and the bedroom, he has to get up and follow. He's now lying down across the corridor watching me blog. Sometimes, he'd sit under my chair. When I'm in the kitchen, he wedges himself between my legs and the stove, making me stand and cook in a very weird position.

He will be four months old in a few days time. He's grown very rapidly given his good appetite, happy and playful nature and contented life. His visit last month to the vet for vaccination recorded his weight of 3.2kg and one month later a few days ago, he weighed 5.4 kg. He needs a haircut soon. We're thinking of getting a trimmer and groom him ourselves as it is cheaper in the long run. Otherwise, visits to the dog groomer at least bi-monthly would set us back between RM60 to RM80 per visit if I'm not mistaken. Caring for a dog is not cheap, if you love the dog enough to keep him healthy - proper dog food, paraphernalia for his personal hygiene like brush/comb, nail clipper, shampoo/conditioner, fur trimmer, vaccinations, deworming, vet visits if he gets sick, grooming fees if he needs it, vitamins or other tablets (e.g. for heartworm), chewing toys if he's a puppy, ......and replacing or repairing stuff he's bitten or broken (I hope we don't get into situations ala Marley & Me)

The battery operated fur trimmer the vet recommended costs between RM180 and RM230 depending on which model we take. I think a guy's electric shaver doesn't even cost that much!

A few evenings ago, we left Rusty alone at home when we went out for dinner. He had kept himself busy and had fun while we were out by the looks of it when we got home. He had dragged several floor mats and probably tussled with them, leaving them in heaps on the floor. His food bowl was inside the house, upside down (I always thought those bowls were designed such that they couldn't grip and carry it around...) He had ransacked a lower open shelf in the kitchen on which I didn't realise I had stored some of his treats. An empty, obviously bitten and torn open packet of chewy, chicken-flavoured milk bone treats was evidence of the crime. He had eaten up the whole packet but was smart enough not to eat the wrapper and the keep-fresh preservation sachet. His abdomen looked full and fat. Naughty boy.


Isn't the life a dog like Rusty's great? When he's not following me around, sleeping, eating or pooping, he's running around like a mad dog chasing his rolly toys, jumping at you excitedly asking to play catch...what a life.

I'm reminded that we humans should sometimes live more simply like dogs - as long as our basic needs are met and we are reasonably comfortable, we should just be happy and contented, enjoy the company of people you love, play and have fun more, sleep when we feel like it without worrying that there's still work to be done.


Life is just too short to waste it on keeping the house as clean as a hospital and nagging over small stuff, finding more money to buy things we don't really need or to keep up with the Joneses. It is not a must to give our child everything she asks for, it is not necessary to send her to every child enrichment class available in town, it is not necessary to spend thousands of dollars on a branded handbag. We and our children need to be self-confident and balanced in a competitive world where you are judged by your looks and first impressions, where everyone shouts to be heard and shows off to impress and feed their egos. We forget that we are all made the same, and as ashes and dust we shall return to our Maker.

Wednesday was Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent leading towards Good Friday and Easter.

Stories of ACER?

Now that we've an addition to our family, it suddenly crossed my mind if I should include Rusty's initial in my blog title and change 'ACE' to 'ACER'. After a quick consideration, I decided not to because ACE sounds nicer and what if we have more dogs or pets in future?

And since Caitlin's five goldfish by the name of Mickey, Minnie, Flippy and... I forget the other two (shows how long Caitlin has ignored them and stopped feeding and talking to them!) have not been included, I shall stick with ACE. Ha ha!

More Rusty rebellion

We think Rusty shows his rebellious side everytime we ignore him when we leave him alone. That's how he gets to our stuff and chews them. But that's quite normal of a 3+ months old puppy actually. It's when he leaves puddles and clumpsat places that are out of the usual spots in the house that gets to me when I return from outside. Other times when we're home, he is a good boy, relieving himself outside on or near the newspaper spot. But somehow, when we're not home, he will sometimes decide to do it anywhere he pleases.....

When he hears me unlocking the door, he rushes to the door and greets me enthusiastically, wagging his stumpy tail, jumping up and down, beckoning me to play catch. But when I see what he had done, he gets a scolding. Somehow he knows he's being scolded. He retreats and pouts. Dogs are such intelligent creatures.

This is a picture taken of him just after I scolded him. See what I mean about his pouting?

Rusty's favourite pastime

These pictures are proof that Rusty knows how to keep himself occupied when we're all asleep at night or when we leave him alone at home.







This is the naughty boy looking innocent

No end

There seems no end to things I need to do. Got the lights and fans fixed in the new place on Friday but the guy couldn't complete it in one day so it dragged on to yesterday with some hitches. Some light fixtures we got were faulty while one fan point did not have power supply to it and two bedroom doors could not close and lock...So another round of rushing to the light shop to get them exchanged in time for the guy to install them before I pay him and he leaves. If he were to return another day, it would mean extra cost.

The next opportunity I have, I'll have to submit a fresh 'defects' form to the developer to get the newly-discovered defects fixed, in addition to chasing the guy to replace the faulty water pump and touch up a crack and some stains on the ceiling.

Then we'll need to install air-conds and water heaters, clean up the place further, get the curtain man to install our curtains, put in some blinds and mosquito netting, get a plumber to install a sink, (I'm sure there's more...), pack more things and move. Our moving date has been 'moving' a few times so much so that we're not setting dates anymore. We'll just move in when we're ready.

And there's also no end to my futile attempt to meet some self-imposed deadlines.

Caitlin and I attended a birthday party this afternoon. Eugene was not able to join us as he had just returned on the first flight (7am) after a sleepless night in Johor Baru for work. So he slept. It was the first birthday of a good friend's son. I've known this friend since we were five, living two doors away from each other in Melaka and we were classmates from Standard 1 to Form 5. Also met up with another friend we were classmates with between Std 2 and Form 5. It's amazing how some friendships last! We all turned 40 last year and it felt like only yesterday we were playing 'hantu galah', talking about boys and getting together at each other's house.

Upon returning home, I gave Rusty a good bath. Caitlin agreed to help when we were on the way home in the car but as soon as she got home, her toys were more important... and we're talking about "her" dog! So Rusty's fur inside his ears got tweezed out (poor thing...) before I could clean out the wax from inside. Then came the water and shampoo. Just after I decided in my mind that he'd got a good rinse, he slipped out of my clutches and ran out of the bathroom, shaking off all the water and 'flooding' the corridor! Eugene came to the rescue with the towel and wiped him off. We chained him to a door while Eugene vacuumed and mopped the corridor, living and dining area while I combed his fur and trimmed a little of his furry brows and muzzle. Meanwhile, Caitlin continued in her merry imaginary world with her My Little Pony community.

In an hour's time, we'll be out again, for what is probably our last Chinese New Year dinner for the year with some of Eugene's cousins, aunts, uncles, siblings, nephews, nieces and parents. There goes the weekend.

Tomorrow is the last day (15th day) of Chinese New Year. It happens to be a holiday, a replacement for today's public holiday of Thaipusam, a Hindu festival. There'll be more errands to run for sure.

Girl and 'lovingly tortured' dog

"I'm outta here before I get tortured some more"


"No, I don't wanna wave...."


"No, I don't wanna smile..."


"Hey, I can keep my head up myself"


"Aargh, gimme a break will ya?"

Info on Puppy Teeth

Puppies are born without teeth and get their puppy teeth between the 6th and 8th week of life and grow 28 teeth (called deciduous or baby teeth). The first teeth to emerge are the incisors at 2 to 3 weeks followed by the canines and the premolars. Puppies do not have molars. The upper and lower canines are at the back of the mouth and are larger teeth, with the upper and lower incisors in the middle.

Puppy teething continues on and off for several months just like in humans. Unfortunately like humans it can be painful or uncomfortable for your dog. You can tell when your dog is teething from her increased chewing and biting on everything imaginable.

Rusty! Stop chewing on the wires! Stop grabbing and running off playfully with Caitlin's slippers! Stop wrestling with the rag! Stop nibbling on my toes! Stop chewing your leash!

Rusty the Rascal

As the days go by, Rusty is showing his true Schnauzer colours - playful, intelligent, loves companionship, enjoys attention. He's cute and fun but still a handful as he's curious, greedy (he's a growing boy, no doubt about it!), hates being left alone and can't clean up after himself!

Right now, he's lying beside me as I'm typing this post, contentedly snoozing away, oblivious to the mess he created while Caitlin and I were out for dinner, resulting in the major cleanup I had to do. He's been good at doing his jobs on the designated 3x3 feet newspaper area which is his pen. Sometimes he misses when he decides to choose a spot at the edge of the paper.

But when he's all excited, desperate and clawing around when he thinks he's been left alone for too long, the papers shift, exposing the floor and most times, I'm unlucky enough that he chooses the exposed spot....it's worse when in his excitement he also overturns his water bowl... so give him a bath, pick up the poo, wipe and mop the floor, spray it with disinfectant, re-lay a fresh set of newspaper...Cleaning up after a pup feels harder than cleaning up a baby!

So with Rusty, Caitlin, household chores, new house matters, and occasional work, there's no wondering why I haven't been blogging these few days.

Okay, no time to waste rambling on here. Got to think about getting Caitlin to school tomorrow. It's the second Saturday she's to attend school to replace the coming extra Chinese New Year holidays most schools are declaring.

Caitlin's brother

We have pitter patter of tiny feet around our home again. I refer Caitlin to him as his "cheh cheh" (Chinese for 'big sister'). Cleaning up after him when he poos and pees has not been too much trouble so far. I'm talking about Rusty, our miniature Schnauzer pup.

We brought Rusty home yesterday. Since then, he's added some work to my portfolio. He's been pretty good and manageable since arriving home and behaving as a normal 10-week-old boy, curious, playful and in need of attention and company. He whined, barked, whimpered when he saw us turning off some lights (left a nighlight on) and walking away from his pen, and saying 'good night'. He wasn't bawling but he made his unhappiness known. Twenty minutes later, he layed down and slept. At 2am, he started again, this time more determined to make his unhappiness known. And since I didn't want the neighbours to complain, I switched on one light at the opposite end of the room and layed down on the sofa where he could see me. I pretended to sleep. Ten minutes later he slept again and I crept back to bed.

At 6am, he called out again, barking rather loudly, so I woke, cleaned his pen and gave him breakfast. His docked tail wagged hard and he was barking happily, asking to be let out.

He is Caitlin's dog as she so frequently reminds us when we try to make Rusty-related decisions or scold him for trying to bite stuff (being the protective 'cheh cheh'). But so far, although she's agreed from aeons ago when pleading for a pet dog that she'd do everything in caring for him, including picking up his poo, she's yet to do anything other than play with him and attempt to 'train' him.

I've got one more 'kid' to talk to and train now! It's been about 20 years since I was hands-on in caring for a pet dog. Hope I remember the ropes. He's so tiny that at times, when he follows me around I almost kick or step on him... :)

Rusty, aka Malibu Dreams (registered name), looking deceptively innocent in his playpen.

Additions to our family

We'll be having additions to our family soon. It will happen next year after we move to our new home (which currently is giving us headaches with some snags with the defects...sigh, I foresee a battle with the developers).

We had been planning for just one but it looks like we may end up with two. One is female and the other male. They are named Jenna and Rusty. Jenna is a mongrel my dad found with her other four brothers and sisters. We adopted Jenna and her brother Chestnut while dad's neighbours took in the other three pups.

At the same time, Eugene's friend's miniature schnauzer gave birth and we've booked one male pup. Caitlin has been dreaming of having a schnauzer for the longest time so it's her dream come true. She had decided last year that she would name her schnauzer Rusty if she ever got one.

Since we now can't care for the pups at our apartment, my dad is looking after Jenna with his own pup Chestnut at his house. Meanwhile, Rusty has yet to grow old enough (only 2-3 weeks old now) for us to collect him.

Caitlin with Jenna

Rusty

Dogs are smart

Someone emailed me a video clip which appears to have been broadcast by Animal Planet and featured by Ellen Degeneres on her show. It just goes to show how smart dogs are. I found it on YouTube (I thought we're not supposed to post copyrighted videos there(?!) but there seems to be millions of them in YouTube!)

Caitlin's pets

Most children love animals. Caitlin is no different. She enjoys the Animal Planet channel on TV, loves reading and learning about animals, and playing with them, the real ones and the toy ones. One of her ambitions is to be a veterinarian when she grows up. She has already established the notion that she will indeed have two dogs when we move to a house; a male Schnauzer named Rusty and a female Dachsund named Mermaid Girl.

So far, she has had fish (goldfish, guppies, gourami, swordtail). Then she moved on to four terrapins which she named The Little Einsteins (June, Leo, Quincy and Annie). They now all have either returned to my dad's fish tanks or animal heaven. Then she also has countless toy pets like her Little Ponies, My Littlest Pet Shop animals, stuffed toys, rubber or plastic moulded animals. Her favourites are the Little Ponies and two white fluffy ones named PooPoo (because it's a poodle...and it's not smelly luckily!) and Daffodil the rabbit.

We have been pet-free (I mean live pets) for almost a year until today when we ended up bringing home four goldfish from my dad's place in a feeble attempt to pacify her insistence on going to the fish shop to get five angel fish.

Needless to say, the attempt failed and I had to endure 1 1/2 hours of continuous determined and sometimes angry and tearful demands to go to the shop to get her five angel fish. In the 45-minute drive from dad's home to ours, my 'radio' played "I want five angel fish" and "Mummy, mummy, mummy!" when I did not respond to the first 'song'.

Upon reaching home and settling the goldfish down, she proceeded to lie stubbornly in bed to continue her two 'songs'. My attempt to get her off the bed, and into the car half an hour later to go for her drum lessons was obviously a struggle.

Only after venting her emotions on her teacher's drum set did she become a little more reasonable. When we got home, she fed her fish, spent some time talking to them while snacking on a cookie.

It's been a long day for me having returned from Singapore at 3.00 am to catch some sleep before driving to my dad's home down south to take her home, patiently dealing with her angel fish tantrum and tending to the routine household needs.

I hope to have an earlier night tonight.