OakMonster's Den

Athena has stirred up a lot of emotions for a lot of folks.

The neighbor downstairs apparently gathered a petition to send to the landlady to get Athena back after hearing that she was released to CSULB campus. She said she has almost 80 people on the petition. (But, shouldn’t the petition came from the people who actually live in the complex?)

Another lady who spotted Athena’s listing on Craiglist warned me about a local guy who’d go around “adopting” cats to torture them. Then she continued to help Athena find a home. If I can go get Athena from the campus, the lady and her friend would keep her overnight and take her to a shelter they volunteer at.

Pat O. at the office believes that if Athena loves us enough, and the campus is about 3 miles away, this weekend we might just see her on our doorstep. If that is the case, we can actually get her to a proper shelter.

I have been doing mad research to see campus policy on stray cats. I found an article a few years back that looks promising.

Trappings of the campus cats are conducted weekly during the spring and summer months, and monthly during the fall and winter months.

Trapped cats are taken to a licensed veterinarian, who provides a general physical examination, performs spaying/neutering and provides all vaccines and deworming.

Cats who are gentle (and were previous house or dorm pets) are kept and adopted out…

This article may be old, but that there makes me feel a LOT better about her situation. I am hoping to confirm this fact with someone at CSULB though.

*

With all of the madness going on, I still have time to enjoy myself a bit.

I baked like a mad pastry chef on Monday night to prepare for yesterday’s potluck. The theme was “Spring Buzz” with tinge of leftover Cinco de Mayo as the featured entree I had catered are fajitas. Nonetheless, I stuck with the theme and made lemon cupcakes with blackberry bumble bees on top. See?

And last night, Brandon took me to sushi and sake. Well, he had teriyaki chicken and green tea. *I* had the sushi and sake.

A big. Honking. Glass. Of REALLY good cold sake. (Mu is the brand. Thanks Brenda for introducing me to that.) That was soooo needed!

Nice and buzzed, we then went to browse video games, then booze at BevMo, and then we topped off the evening with frozen yogurt and 2 more hours of television.

I may not have a community cat to play with, but through Athena, Brandon and I seem to have found each other again.

ETA #2: The girls couldn’t place Athena in a shelter so they dumped her at Cal State Long Beach.  Apparently there is a ground where people feed all the strays and feral cats.

Thanks everyone for the help to try to place Athena in a good home even from the shelter.

ETA: The manager came back on Saturday afternoon, and once again lost her shit about the cat. The girls had to take Athena to a shelter straight away.

We have all SUNDAY to get her to a home. The girls are going to take her to a shelter on Monday.

However, I have her shelter information if you STILL want to adopt this little girl. Email me.

**

Athena wandered in to our apartment complex over a month ago. I didn’t start writing about her until the end of March. Slowly but surely, she stole everyone’s heart. She is an outdoor cat as far as we know, claws and all, but she has a very good potential to adapt to being inside.

I mean, she stays put in the courtyard and never really wander too far off during the day. You can always find her napping on the wicker chairs, or under one of the bushes in the courtyard. As to her potty-training, we have spotted her going to the bathroom only on the dirt patches and not on the grass. I don’t know if that means anything though. Hahah!

Athena may be an outdoor kitty, and a little skittish around sudden movement still. But she is all LOVE. And fur. Once she’s used to you, you cannot possibly get her off your lap. Or your bag. Like our “perhaps this is the last time” goodbye this morning.

Athena in pictures and 2 video clips

Athena in my own words

Seriously. Help me find a home for this little girl. Pretty please!

I KNEW it was too good to be true when Athena started to hang out with us, when she comes running to me when she hears the jangles of the keys, when she sits purring on our floor begging us to rub her belly and every elsewhere on her fluffy black coat with a twinge of orange tabby pattern.

I don’t think it wouldn’t have been a big deal if the manager lady found Athena napping on the wicker chair, but the food and water bowls set the woman off.

According to the girls, the lady lost her shit and threatened eviction if the girls don’t get rid of the cat in 24 hours, traumatized the hell out of one of the housemates.  Mind you, the cat is not even inside the house.

At the prospect of sending her to a local shelter, we have a mental picture of this roaming garden kitty sitting miserable in a pen, possibly waiting to be put down.  We panicked.

I contacted my fellow cat lovers and did a quick research, and managed to find the girls some contact info for cat rescues and no-kill shelters in the area.   But I am hoping to find someone who would want to take her home right away.  (Anyone?  Anyone?)

Before I left to go to dinner tonight, I stopped over at the fence.  Athena came trotting over, meowing.  Not a second after she “marked” me, she was purring.  I damn near cried.  I rubbed her all over and even hugged her goodbye.

Just in case tomorrow never comes.

Only if we have our own backyard to keep her.  The timing is soooo off for this clandestine meeting.  She is perfect.  Well, a little nutty but understandable for a cat who has been outside on her own.  But we love her for that too.

I already miss the damned cat.  She’s not even mine, really.  I think Brandon is dealing with this loss in his own way too.

I hope that I get to see her one last time before she leaves permanently.

I witnessed a first up close and personal cat fight this afternoon, right in front of our door.

A REAL cat fight. Not the human kind.

It was Athena v.s. “Muffins” the Other Stray/Outdoor cat. (The girls downstairs called it a him and named him that.)

I picked Athena up from downstairs instead of having her trail me when I came home. She didn’t protest any and made herself at home the moment she came through the door. She was eating in our doorway as usual, but then I spotted Muffins outside the door.

Athena looked up from her bowl and slowly walked out. They were face to face. Muffins backed up ever so slowly as Athena approached him.

And then…

“Mmrrrawww!!”

“Whoa! WHOA!” I yelled out and opened the screen door. Both of them looked at me, and then Athena ran downstairs. Muffins stayed put on the steps, and looked at me for a second.

“Oh, no. You’re not sitting here.” I shooed him down the stairs.

I didn’t like that. I didn’t like that at all.

Brandon said to leave the door open just in case Athena would come back up. I had a bad feeling about this so I went downstairs to investigate.

Sure enough, Muffins took a post the bottom of our stairs. Athena retreated to her wicker chair. I shooed Muffins off some more but Athena wouldn’t even left the porch. I had to go sit on the planter/wall in the courtyard, where we first made acquaintance for her to come say hi again.

I pet her and picked her up. Muffins was still by the stairs, and I shooed him off. All the while telling my Athena that it’s okay. I brought her back upstairs but she only stayed for just a little while and promptly ran off.

This Muffins cat is wrecking the new found comfort zone for Athena and our brand new relationship. I mean, it took Brandon a week to build the trust with Athena. And this cat waltzed in and changed the game altogether.

I really don’t like this guy.

Brandon and I went down to feed Athena instead. We sat at the planter and she came up to eat. I started to brush her and she didn’t mind that at all.

Oh yes. We just bought a 3-lbs. bag of dry food, a pair of catnip toys, a brush and a flea treatment for the Cat That Is Not Ours. But I digress.

All the while, Muffins was eying the food and stalked toward us. I got up and shooed him away a few times. He ended up in the bush just 10 feet away from me and Athena.

We felt bad not feeding him.

So Brandon, the Cat Whisperer, grabbed a handful of food and stepped to the side, far enough away from me and Athena. He started tossing the nuggets to Muffins. He definitely more feral-ish than Athena. Either that, or he’s some unfriendly outdoor cat.

I got to observed the damn cat. He’s not only looking healthy and fluffy. He has a belly going on, that cat! And he’s here bullying my little girl?

I now have a spray bottle ready for the next time he shows his face around here. Seriously, he’s ruining the dynamics we have with the community cat. We can’t have that.

Suddenly, Athena took off toward the parking lot. Kara, one of the girls downstairs, came home and she went to greet her. This is when we discussed the Community Cat situation as well as our mutual feelings for Muffins. Kara says he likes to stare at her when she sees him. He does that to us too. It is a little creepy.

“That cat looks like he has no soul and he’s ready to steal yours,” she said.

He does look scary. But he’s not scary enough for me. I’m still going to spray his tabby little ass next time I see him. Trying to scare my little Athena away? That kid got something else coming.

Did I mention that Athena is technically not our cat? Hahah. And we are all so protective of her right now.

I mean, look at this little video here and tell me if you can say no to her purring at your door.

I believe we are now officially properties of Athena the Cat That Is Not Ours.

Then again, I think she knows she has us since the day I started to bring her treats.

Also, television still owns my life. I have been looking forward to the return of LOST all day.

Seriously.

Friday was a combination of hard work and fun. Nhien and I managed not to hurt ourselves while moving all sorts of boxes of our printed matter around the office and worked up a pretty good appetite. We grabbed Celeste and Pat and headed to Sushi Go 55 and the rest is over there.

We came back just in time for me to throw the office birthday party. With yummy stuff from Delilah Bakery, everyone had a happy afternoon, all hopped up on sugar! I mean, all 6′ 5″ of Canadian Greg scooted over to us on this thing that another coworker used during his recovery from a knee surgery.

Saturday was spectacular! My Adobe Acrobat class is still going at the pace of molasses, but at least there was something new to be learned. However, while I waited for the instructor to explain to the old lady in the front why she had restart her machine or something else, I managed to join the cult of Twitter, did the food blog entry, AND played a few games of Bejeweled on my iGoogle.

Hey, at least I managed my time well. If I’m going to get stuck there, not learning anything while the old folks catch up, I might as well do something productive, right?

Later on that afternoon, we FINALLY got to take Olaina to Las Brisas in Redondo Beach. Back in their high school days, Brandon and Justin would ditch school and drive around for adventures Brandon’s Jeep. It was destiny when the Jeep ran out of gas a few pushes away from Las Brisas. The boys have been eating here whenever they are in the area ever since.

Justin and Olaina were up in the area to hunt for their new place to live. And they found one today in Redondo Beach. Signed, sealed, and delivered! Woohoo!

And for dinner, I made a spectacular dinner without actually having to leave the house for the store: bacon-wrapped cod with caper-shallot sauce with a side of peas and carrots. Oh yes, I am good.

And on Sunday, she rests.

Like, until 10 a.m.

And then it was on like Donkey Kong for the rest of the afternoon, starting with a trip to Fry’s and a pit stop at Fresh & Easy. Then I helped Brandon patched my windshield seals back onto the car. Folks who replaced my windshield in September did a horrific job. A few months after the replacement, the seals around it started to separate. Finally this past week, the one around the top actually popped off in parts. I would be driving down the freeway with this thing flapping about, banging on my roof. The lack of seal also brought on a nasty howling/whistling, depending on literally which way the wind blows. If the homemade cure doesn’t hold, Brandon’s going to take the car back to the folks by his work.

Then again, with the gas price the way it is, he is going to start driving my car to work anyway. Sheesh! $35 for 8 gallon? I damn near cried at the pump! But I digress.

I then started the laundry, including my bedroom curtains which had been pinning them double thickness…which I intended to wash then sew together after dinner…which I pulled out of the dryer and found a tag that said “Dry Clean Only”…and which are now slightly less green and when folded in half and sewn aren’t exactly the same length.

I am an everyday fuckin’ Martha Stewart, I tell ya!

At some point while waiting for the laundry, Brandon went to take a nap. Athena followed me up hung out in our apartment for a good half hour, a new record for her. I couldn’t do anything around the house while she visit because a) sudden movement still scares her and, b) I don’t trust her alone in a room just yet. After all she IS an outdoor cat that wondered in off the street. Who knew what kind of bad habit she had picked up.

But the half hour crawling around the floor after Athena (because getting up suddenly would freak her out a little bit), following this purring, paw-pawing, cute-as-hell black fluff ball of a cat was well worth it.

Pretty much just about anything “busy” I did this weekend is well worth it.

Athena popped in for a bite. She spent a good 15 minutes after that getting some love from me and Brandon and exploring our place.

Keep in mind, this is NOT really our cat. Can you imagine what this blog would turn into when we have our own kittens? LOL.

And for the host…

Nutella + Strawberry = Awesome. Wish I could add red wine to these fantastic flavors, but I didn’t think my other dinner guest would agree.

That other guest is the antibiotics…which I was instructed to take with food.

Yes, my darlings. I am back on yet another 10-day course of antibiotics.

The Alien In My Nostril needs to die, you know.

I went to work in the morning with my swollen red nose–now swollen all to the way to the bridge of my nose and I feel pain all the way down my left cheekbone, the redness however stays just over the infected area–just enough time to get a lot of stuff done and to let my colleagues marvel over the redness, the swelling and how ridiculously painful this thing is.

I drove another hour back to see my doctor at 1 p.m., with the parts of the seal around my windshield flapping in the wind, no less; definitely a bad installation job of my replacement windshield in September.  This was earliest I could get in on a Monday which I happily took.  I didn’t even think I could get in on Monday at all.  Someone’s watching out for me a little bit there, I have to say.

Anyways, she said it doesn’t look like staph infection, thank god. Just a nasty, garden variety skin infection. After having had enough of me going “Ow. OW! Ow. OW!” every time she touched the general area around my left nostril, she sent me home with a bottle of antibiotics.  (Freebies, hooray!)  As for the pain, a hot compress for the outside of the nose and continue with Ibuprofen.

No industrial strength pain meds, you asked? Well, my big mouth had to go and tell her I held up okay with Ibuprofen so far. Yeah. DUH! Pain does make you do funny things, like being honest.

Ibuprofen does work for me, but for just for 3 hours. At 15 minutes past that 3 hour mark, I’d start to feel the nose. At 30 past, the pain returns to 80% and if I haven’t taken the pills 15 minutes ago, it’ll be another 15 minutes of 100% pain before it kicks in again. With constant pain in the nose I cannot just ignore like this, it really amazes me how punctual the drug works.

Speaking of 3 hours, mine is coming up. I’m just going to take a couple of Tylenol PM and forget about it for the day.

Today was just like any other day. I parked my car in the parking lot behind my building. My spot is the closest one to the gate to the apartment, and I usually would be the 2nd or 3rd car in the lot when I get home. I got out, got my stuff out of the back seat, and walked around the car.

Athena was sitting in front of the gate. In the parking lot.

And no, she wasn’t there when I parked my car.

The cat has apparently learned to recognize the jingle jangle of my car keys. The same thing would happen in the morning. My key jangled, she would show up to say hi and walked me to my car. But this was the first time she crossed out of the gate.

Of course, as per the usual afternoon routine I have established with Athena this past week, I would run upstairs, kiss Brandon hello, grab a bag of kitty treats and head back down for some borrow kitty time. I’d spend a good 5-10 minutes down there talking to a “talkative” cat and feeding her a bit of treats.

Sometime Brandon would join me. Athena hasn’t quite warm up to him the way she does with me, but then again, I AM the one with the food.

This time, Brandon came armed with the camera. And with a bit of culinary persuasion, Athena finally got friendly with him, and actually found his legs to be the source of extra warmth she needs on these cold evenings.

Oh, only if that cat learns to come up our stairs. It would all be over for us. She would probably spend her night outside our door because the second floor is a LOT warmer than downstairs.

In any case, I am truly happy that Athena decides to keep us. I already see the calming effect she has on Brandon. We get the benefits of having a cat without actually having one. Athena gets the food and the love. We get to have a borrow cat.

Sweet deal for all.

Behold, the cuteness of the Cat That Is Not Ours But We Wish She Is.

Oh, and on that note, I started a new set on my Flickr called “Not our Cat(s)”.  Check it out. 

It goes something like this.

An eager kitten entangling your feet as you walk across the courtyard…to get her some treats no less. (I’m thinking, “If I trip and hit my head on the pavement and bleed to death, you will NOT get your treat, cat.)

El Pollo Loco Caesar Bowl for dinner. Surprisingly filling. No clean up. (I did order a flan but I haven’t eaten it…yet.)

A fuzzy robe. (Who needs pants anyway!)

A glass of pinot noir.

A quiet apartment.

A brand new subscription to Napster. Oh dear god. Music I WANT. At my command! It is surprising how fast time flies when you build your playlist. Much like the same time warp I enter when adding movies onto my Netflix Queue. (By the way, I heart Amy Winehouse!) Seriously. I can be on this thing all. damn. day. Music = Awesomeness.

And to top it all off, I have Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential waiting for me. At this rate, I think the warm bed with Brandon in it would distract me too much to get to Tony’s fine writing.

Meet Athena. AKA the community cat I have been calling “Parker”.

I came downstairs to find one of the girls in the rental house holding the cat. Yes, the girls have adopted the cat and named her Athena. Since they couldn’t have her in the house, she has become the outdoor kitty. And yes, we can all feel free to hang with Athena.

Y’all, I have a semi-permanent borrow kitten that I get to play with when I come home everyday. It’s a wonderful feeling to have a purring fluffy being who gives you unconditional affection.

Well, actually, there is no such thing as unconditional love from a cat. She KNOWS when she owns YOU. She’ll give you that extra love you seek because she KNOWS at some point you’re going to feed her. And when she’s not hungry or not in the mood, good luck getting that love. Oh yes, I have walked by expecting some lovin’ before and she kind of looked at me and went back to cleaning herself. No, you are not as important today. Keep on walking, human.

That is why I love cats.

Oh, while we’re talking about cats, here is my second installment of original lol cats.

Happy Sunday Morning to ya!