Our new pet the dove, picking grapefruits in the garden and other adventures

This morning I found a baby dove hiding in between one of our dog’s legs.

It was so small that it’s feathers were not yet fully grown yet. It had probably fallen out of the nest in the Grapefruit tree in our garden and our dog, Laika, had decided to take care of it. She was so up for her task that she was growling at the white dog, Gemela. when se tried getting close to look at the bird. She also got angry with her puppies when they wanted her milk (probably cause they sat down on the bird) and that was my call to rescue the bird.

The dove hiding between the dog’s tits

We put her in a cage and gave her a tiny blanket and Luis asked his mom if he could keep the dove as a pet. When she said yes, I went out to search for a veterinary to figure out what to feed her. I got 250 grams of chicken food for 25cents and instructions on how to feed her. When I got home we mixed the food with water and gave it to her and to our luck she ate. She is big enough to eat by herself, which will mean she has a chance at survival. We served her food in a tiny lid and made sure she was good in her cage.

The dove in its box

While I was out walking and searching for the veterinary I passed by one of my best friend’s house and dropped by for a surprise visit. We haven’t seen each other since 2006/2007 when I was here for 3 months. Last time I came to visit Liberia, he was in out travelling and we didn’t get to meet – however we have kept in touch through skype and email. It was really nice to meet up again – we spent hours catching up and when I went home he gave me a huge bag of carambolas (star fruits) to bring home to Mami y Papi to make juice from them.

Starfruit – Carambolas

Mami was happy to get the Carambolas and I had bought a Papaya, so when I got home it was my job to peel and cut the Papaya and a Pineapple to keep in the fridge, wash the Carambolas and then I helped Mami to pick Grapefruit from the tree in the garden.

Mami and Luis catching Grapefruit

We picked a whole basket full,  but in the end we were both covered by ants that fell down during fruit picking. Thankfully we found most of them before they started biting…

A basket full of Grapefruit

About 7:pm I headed downtown again to meet my friend Ana. We had scheduled a dinner date so I met her at her work so that we could leave together. We brought with us a cute 10 year old friend of hers, Eidi Luisa, and headed for a seafood place called Marisqueria Tierra Mar where we ordered lovely pasta with seafood and Ceviche. Great food and a great place.

Ana’s husband, Jim, joined us later on and I told them about my adventures earlier in the day picking grapefruits. Both their mouths were watering as I told them about how juicy and sweet the grapefruits were and when they offered to drop me off at home I was happy to share from the bunch and give them a few. It was a lovely day and a lovely night. At home everyone were sound asleep and I went to sleep as well.

The Cookie Thief

Sometimes it happens that some of the stuff I eat is found far too tempting by my sweet loving cat. Today was one of those days.

So the sweet little creature stuffs his gigantic head into the cookie bag and get s a hold of one of them and drags it out before he starts devouring it…

Maybe he is a wee bit spoiled… But it’s fun to watch :D

Capturing the morning

Arriving late last night I was dead tired. Papi had already gone to bed and Mami made me dinner before going to bed. I stayed up talking with my sister Roxana before i decided it was time for me to go to bed as well.

This morning I woke up at 6 am to a street full of life (despite it being a sunday) and I got up and sat down in the kitchen to talk with mami while she made me breakfast. GALLO PINTO! and then we did dishes together.

After breakfast I spent some time in the garden taking pictures of the animals and the flowers.

Our garden. Lush and green :D

La gatita

Our Dogs playing.

The good thing about tropical flowers is that they are so bright colored and beautiful!

There was quite a lot of wind, but it was such a beautiful day!

The cat who came for Christmas

I got this book as a gift back in Febuary, 2011. The giver knows I am a sucker for cats and has himself read the book several times, but due to our friendship falling apart at the time – I struggled starting the book and when I first did. I struggled finding it captivating enough.

By all means, the story about Polar Bear the cat in itself is lovely. The cat is charming and special and I would love to meet a cat like PB.

What I am not convinced about is Cleveland Amorys writing style and some of his digressions in the story that seems to be there just to fill space.

Like f.ex when he is about to name his cat – he spends 20 pages talking about what to name the animal whereof 10 of these
were parts of old history of the egyptians and naming of kings and his confusions about giving the cat the right name.

When Cleveland writes about Polar Bear and the relationship they have – he is delightful, but however cute the story is, he never quite captures me as a reader and at no time do I feel compelled into reading the book until the last page in one go. Actually I don’t feel compelled into reading more than a few pages at the same time. It took me 6 months to finish reading this book and people that know me also knows that I rarely spend more than 3-4 days reading one book (even 400 pages ones).
Yes I know – I could have put it down and just left it there, but I wanted to give the book the benefit of the doubt and despite it not being the most interesting book in my life – It is still a cute book.

Synopsis
We first meet the aforementioned cat on a snowy Christmas Eve in New York.
Cleveland Amory, the founder of The Fund for Animals, helps rescue a poor feline from the streets of the city and takes him home – temporarily – to care for him until a suitable home is found. Amory is, by his own admission, a dog person, but he quickly falls in love with this poor young cat who has obviously suffered much in his young life: he is terribly thin, his body bears several wounds, his back is obviously injured, he is filthy, and he may well have never known the affection of another soul. Someone has reportedly thrown things at him and hit him in an effort to run him off, so his emergency rescue is a necessity.
Underneath all of the dirt, Amory finds a beautiful white cat with magical eyes
and a spirit that wins Amory over from the start. He is so beguiled by the
little guy that he talks a prospective new owner out of adopting him the very
next morning.

The book, as it unfolds, is the story of this special cat and the human he owns over the course of their first year together. Amory describes many of the conversations he has with his lovable but stubborn new friend, expounds greatly upon matters of cat psychology that all cat lovers will immediately recognize, and basically delivers a truly heart-warming story about two curmudgeons, one human and one feline, who magically find each other and develop a deep and lasting friendship. You’ll read about the cat’s behavior toward new people (including the likes of celebrities such as Walter Cronkite and Cary Grant), other animals, travel, veterinarians, and basically life in general.

I know the book has recieved lots of outstanding reviews, and I am happy that others enjoyed it more than I did.

Reunited with Kitty

These past 5 weeks during the refurbishing process kitty has not been living at home, but at Øyvind and Madelaines place to not be scared by all the construction workers running in and out of my apartment and being scared by all the activity.

Last night I went to pick him up and it has been absolutely delightful having him home again. It does absolutely seem that he is happy to be at home too!
Since I brought him home last night he has been laying right next to me purring and purring and cuddling up close to me and just enjoying being home again :D

Its delightful! Love having him back !

Weekend in the deep forests

I spent the weekend down south with my dad and my 2 smaller sisters of 3 and 10 years of age. I had plans to leave early saturday morning, but weather in Oslo was so bad (rain rain rain) that I didnt even want to leave my apartment until it stopped raining somewhat. Hence I grabbed the bus that left Oslo at 3 pm. However as soon as we got just an hour and half southwards, it was already not raining and sun was peeking out from behind the clouds.

When I arrived Daddy and my sisters were waiting for me at the bus stop and we all went back to Eikenes together :D

It was great to see the changes there. Daddy is building his house and finally the outside is finished.

The new house - outside - Looking good, doesn't it?

Its impressive how daddy, uncle and a group of other guys are building this house all by themselves. Its quite a nice house and the inside will be really good looking as well !

Saturday night we had a nice evening indoors watching films and talking and playing with the kids :D

As for sunday we were greeted with wonderful sunny weather again and it was so lovely that I went strawberry picking with my sisters, before we went to the beach.

Ellen eating the strawberries we picked

Ellen and Linda @ the beach:

Ellen and Linda at the beach

Throughout the day it also became clear that the little kitten in the house, that was only 10 days old was missing his mommy. Mommy cat didnt come home last night and the kitten was really hungry and lonely. We tried searching for mommy cat, we tried feeding the little baby and Ellen even read him stories.

Ellen reading stories for the kitten (in the box) - so he wont have to be lonely until mommy comes back

We spent Sunday tanning and enjoying the weather, before we again went for another search round looking for the mommy cat. We then went to Kragerø with Uncle Antonie to check up on a infected wound he had in his neck and I took the kids for ice-cream.

When we got back we warmed the kitten and tried feeding him again. Mommy cat was still gone. We fed him by giving him milk and water and he was soo cute. :D

Mommy didnt return for the night and the kitten had to sleep alone again.

When I left monday midday mommy cat had still not returned, but daddy said she returned later that day. Apparently the other famale cat at the farm had given birth the day before and greycats mommy had adopted the other cats kittens. The younger cat had not started producing any milk at all when my dad found them, so it was clear that the oldest of the two had followed the younger cat when she was about to give birth and taken the kittens from the younger cat. Once my dad separated the two cats and their litters greycats mommy went back to greycat.

This way the story about the kitten continues and we are all happy he will make it :D

Kattebading som kampsport

Noen sier at katter aldri behøver å bades. Katter skal etter sigende være utstyrt med et spesielt enzym i spyttet som fungerer som en ny forbedret variant av Omo Ultra. Katteeiere vet at ovennevnte ikke er tilfelle! Katter som har vært ute i nattens mulm og mørke har ofte en odør som minner om et spansk utedass en het sommerdag.

Når så dagen kommer, og du har bestemt deg for å bade dyret, kan det være greit å ha lest disse linjer og ta med disse rådene på veien. For det er ikke enkelt å bade en katt.

Tenk på at katten har fordelen av hurtighet og smidighet, mens du har fordelen av styrke. Utnytt denne fordelen og velg også rett sted for hvor badingen skal skje. Er baderommet for stort, risikerer du bare å jage katten rundt i rommet hele tiden. Velg derfor et forholdsvis lite baderom. Er rommet større enn 1 x 1 meter, anbefales det å stige ned i badekaret sammen med katta. Et dusjkabinettet anbefales ikke såfremt det ikke har skyvedører av plast. Et vanlig dusjforheng duger ikke. En katt som går berserk kan strimle opp et slikt forheng fortere enn en politiker skifter mening.

Husk alltid på at en katt har klør og at den ikke nøler et sekund med å skille huden fra kroppen din. Din fordel i denne sammenheng er at du er smart og vet således hvordan du bør kle deg. En overall tilvirket i seglduk burde gjøre nytten, likeså et par vadere, et par stålbrynjehansker, en arméhjelm, en ishockeymaske og en feltjakke.

Forbered alt i forveien. Det finnes absolutt ingen mulighet for å stige opp fra karet for å hente en håndduk når du sloss med en katt som er i ferd med å grave seg gjennom feltjakken. Legg derfor håndduken slik at den er innenfor rekkevidde selv om du skulle ligge kjempende på rygg i vannet.

Bruk overraskelsesmomentet. Løft opp katten nonchalant, som om du bare skulle ta den med ut på kjøkkenet for å gi den mat. Katter vil ikke bry seg med om hvorfor du er kledd slik som du er. De er i det hele tatt lite interesserte i mote. På eventuelle spørsmål, kan du f.eks. si at du deltar på en produkttest i regi av Helly Hansen.

Når du er vel inne på baderommet, er hurtighet helt avgjørende for ditt videre liv her på jorden. I en eneste bevegelse må du fylle vann i karet, stige ned i det og helle sjampo på dyret. Du har nå påbegynt de villeste 45 sekunder av ditt liv.

Katter er fra naturens side ikke utstyrt med håndtak. Innse det faktum at nå har katten såpeglatt pels, og dine utsikter for et heldig utfall har blitt forringet ytterligere. Forvent ikke å få holdt fast katten i mer enn 2-3 sekunder om gangen. Og i de sekundene du har dyret i din forvaring, husk å gni og vask som besatt. Etter det vil nemlig katten rive seg løs, sikkert falle ned i vannet og selv sørge for å skylde av seg sjampoen. Verdensrekorden for katter er 3 sjamponeringer, så ikke forvent for mye.

Så er vi kommet til tørkingen. Uvante kattebadere tror alltid at dette er den verste jobben, ettersom mennesket nå er fullstendig utkjørt mens dyret fremdeles er på hugget og veldig bestemt. Faktum er at tørkingen vil gå som en lek. Dette på grunn av at katten nå sitter nærmest fastspikret til ditt ene ben. Nå er det bare å ta håndduken og vente litt til du er sikker på at dyret har slått seg til ro på benet ditt. Så er det bare å tørke den.

(Det hender i blant at katten kan arbeide seg oppover benet ditt og raskt bli en del av arméhjelmen du har på hodet, men da er det bare å riste på hodet til den slipper taket).

Etter noen dager har katten slappet av så mye at du kan ta den løs fra benet ditt. I de påfølgende ukene før neste bading vil finne sted, vil katten sannsynligvis bruke det meste av sin tid på å sitte med ryggen vendt mot deg. Du formoder sikkert at dyret er fornærmet på deg, men det er ikke alltid tilfelle. Som regel holder den bare på med å utarbeide en plan for å trenge gjennom ditt forsvar og skade deg livstruende ved neste bading.

Men nå lukter i alle fall dyret mye bedre!

Cleaning time

Sometimes a cat’s gotta do what a cat’s gotta do.

Last week summary

Monday.
This week has been kind of hard for me. On monday I had to bring one of my cats to the vet and put him to sleep. It was a hard decicion for me and It took me almost 2,5 years to manage to do it. He was the sweetest cat ever (when he didnt pee on the floor 3 places in one day) and he was so wonderfully special in his personality (in the mornings he would hop up in my bed and rub his head on mine and walk on me to show it was time to get up – He would also have this really royal way of posing when he was resting putting one paw over the other and his head held high in this overly eminent way). But many tears have been shed in frustration about why he pees, how to avoid smell and how to not ruin this and this and being careful about where I leave stuff on my floor. It was too much in the end.

I even tried giving him a new home (the new owners were aware of his problem) before taking the final decicion to see wheter it was beause he didnt like my house, me, if he was lonely or if this was a problem with him. In the beginning all was ok in the new house but suddenly he started peing on the floor there too. And after he severalt times increased numbers of times on how often he peed on their floors, clothes and even bed we decided to put him to sleep. We went to the vets together too.

Sam was great. He cooked for me today as I felt really really crappy.

On Tuesday I felt even more crappy and really sad. I left work after 2 hours and went home to sleep the rest of the day.

By tuesday I had cought a flu and stayed home feeling sorry for myself but … on saturday I was finally better and back to Hvitsten at Bentes house to be with the CS group there. I went with Martin and Sam came after when he got off work. Ricard, Celine, Jon, and a couple of other OSLO CSers were already there. And many of the guys from last weekend !! LIke Cat, Jim and Shai. Some were new from the group last weekend like Susanne, James, Per, Barry and Erin. But, we had lots of fun no matter what. I did miss to have Flavio there though :D

And the snowstorm continues

Mariann had to go back to London today. I feel sad about that because who knows when well be able to meet up again.

It was 2 years since she last visited now and I went there once last year.
Well. Not much to do about that. Thank God for Internet and broadband and skype and etc… At least its easy to keep in touch that way despite the distance.

The snowstorm continued and Jorunn S stopped by with my other cat, Whitey (Lillegutt).

She was house cleaning and needed him to be out of the way. He stays there because he is way to sociable for what I can offer. He wants to have people around him 24/7 to be happy and I can’t offer anything near that. Jorunn has housband Tor and daughter Margaret to help out on the company side. And .. Whitey does not like changes… hehe. So whenever it is cleaning time I borrow him for some days :) I love borrowing him though.
But he punishes me for not being with him 100% of the time by peeing on the floor in my apartment and he does not pee at her place so obviously he likes it better there. He did seem happy to be back today though. Sniffing around. hehe.

I spent much of the day relaxing and I even watched a movie Gorillas in the mist with Sigourney Weaver, portraying the life of Dian Fossey, living with the Gorillas in Rwanda.

Synopsis:
A Kentucky woman, Dian Fossey, is inspired by an anthropologist Louis Leakey to devote her life to the study of primates. Travelling into deepest Africa, Fossey becomes fascinated with the lives and habits of the rare mountain gorillas of the Rwandan jungle. She has a romance with National Geographic photographer Bob Campbell.

Appalled by the poaching of the gorillas for their skins, hands and heads, Fossey complains to the Rwandan government, which dismisses her, claiming that poaching is the only means by which some of the Rwandan natives can themselves survive. She rejects this and dedicates herself to saving the African Mountain gorilla from illegal poaching and likely extinction. To this end, she forms and leads numerous anti-poaching patrols, burning down the poachers’ villages and even staging a mock execution of one of the offenders.

Fossey is mysteriously murdered on December 26, 1985, in the bedroom of her cabin, but her actions to help save the gorillas pay off greatly and the species is saved from extinction.

It was a great portrait of Dians life and a nice way to learn more about mountain Gorillas.