Alonzy!

   First off I want to start out by apologizing for not posting as normally this week as I have been- I'm still here!  That being said I want to thank everyone for getting my blog to over 100 pageviews!  That's amazing!  While I don't have many(if any) regular subscribers, pageviews are what makes that happen.

     It's been a crazy-busy week.  As I have mentioned before, I had found a kitten and for a good chuck of the summer she has been a regular resident at my friend's apartment.  After a month of not having found the owner(we called our local animal shelter and they said just to let her go back outside, which we didn't want to do because after having her in our house for two nights we discovered she was deaf.  Also we only received twp calls by our posters, which were plastered all over town)) and another month in which Ahnna and I thought we were the owners, I took her to the vet this past Tuesday.  What we didn't expect to find was a microchip.  They scanned it and decided not to do any shots or regular check-up things because they had to see where the chip went to.  They did check her for ear mites, which they found and then showed me what they looked like under a microscope, and clipped her toe-nails- she has one thumb that is double clawed ^_^ - and placed a call for me as to what to do next.

   Later that afternoon I heard back and my vet told me I had two options, A) get an attorney to fight for my rights and see what my rights are, or B) to call the 24 hr Pet Watch that the chip was registered to and go about locating the original owners.  Now, after believing she was mine for over a month at this point, I was devastated.  Arya knew me as mum in my head and we had kept her safe with love.  Well, being a college student going in for round two, I wasn't about to ask for an attorney's help or advice.  So, I called the watch.  Ten minutes later- not an exaggeration- I was connected with a real person  They took my information, name and number, and said they would contact the chip's owner.  The first time they did, they said it rang and rang.  The second time, they left a voicemail.  Then I went home.

   The next day at work, I turned my phone on during my lunch break and realized I had a voicemail.  It was from "the owner"(or whom I thought was the owner at the time) and he had left a name and number which, the day before, they told me the person wanted to be anonymous , that and the chip was registered from a town an hour away.  One, I was miffed that my information had been given out- working in the public sphere, this is something you just don't do.  Two, I was shell-shocked that this had all happened in the span of a day and a half.  I contacted my mum and Ahnna to tell them the most recent news, then I made the call to the voicemail person.  He seemed grateful that we had kept her safe.  When i asked him how she got out, he said they had left the window cracked- without a screen- and she had escaped from their third floor window.  'That's my Arya,' I thought.   We set a time to meet, in between my work shifts, and see what happens.

   We met at my vet's place.  When the guy walked in, I recognized him from a class I had taken this previous spring.  That ruffled my feather, I was already nervous enough being the middle man.  He was shocked at how much "Misty" had grown.  I immediately felt myself getting emotional, I had grown so attached to her but my moral compass told me that if this was my cat I would want to get her back too.  As it turned out, the guy that came was the emergency contact and not the owner.  That made myself and the vet uncomfortable, leaving me with an unfinished feeling, and so, after crying a lot, I didn't give her back.  The vet told the guy she believed Arya wasn't really theirs anymore but that it was my call to make.  I asked him for his roommate's- the owner- number and told him we should both tell him to meet after his roommate and I got off work.  

   For the second time that day, I had to take Arya out of her pet taxi and then back in. She goes in cycles being in there, one minute cute and grooming herself and the next rambunctious and wanting out.  So, I sat in my car for forty minutes and waited outside of Ahnna's work- a neutral zone in which both of us could say goodbye.  I somehow pulled myself together.  My first thought was to scan this guy, his car, and gather details.  College age, smoker, but works.  What surprised me was that the owner seemed genuinely happy to see her even thought it had been over two months.  I explained how she was now deaf, the earmites the vet found had stunted her ear canal's growth.  I told him about her summer with us and how I had become attached.  He offered us money, but I said it was okay and that it wasn't about that; the only thing he  had to pay for for me was the initial vet visit.  I managed to make a parently joke, that he had to do me one favour and that was to get his landlord to get a screen on that window.  When I gave her back to him, he cuddled her and I felt she was safe.  In hindsight, I am still worried about her being neglected, that they won't be home with her enough, and I feel off that I was ready to tackle this responsibility in my new life and she was taken away.  I've lost a lot in this last year, but I have also gained a lot slash achieved some good karma.  Like I said before, if it was me, I'd want her returned and, the best bit, was that he was appreciative of what we did for her.  

     When I went home, I was still sad and processing, so I decided to make cupcakes.  Not just any cupcakes,  but Malibu coconut rum cupcakes.  I added blue gel colour dye, which ended up making the vanilla base a tropical green.  I frosted them with vanilla.  Making them in my folks kitchen was a great distraction because, as I've only cooked in it once prior, I was distracted by looking for the whisk, the bowls, ingredients, etc.  I felt better in the end and made so cool looking cupcakes.  (If I was to fix them I'd add one more oz. of Malibu and sprinkle on some coconut flakes to pull out the flavour.)  Baking rocks.  I need to bake more.  And crochet.

     In other news, I am catching up on Doctor Who.  I will be starting season 6 tonight, eventually getting caught up enough to view season 7 alongside my roommate.  And thanks toThinkGeek, I purchased a TARDIS beack towel, which I intend to put on my bedroom door to transform my room into a TARDIS. 
     In /film world, I am behind.  Last I knew there were some nifty things going on in page 2.  If I find anything this week, I will post the links here in a newer post. 
     Stay tuned.  Days til I'm going for my MLIS: 18.