Ichigo the Turtle

Understandably Upset

2011-05-31T14:22:00.000-07:00

Last year I was so busy I barely took Ichi outside. I hope to do better this year. She is understandably upset that her tank is dirty and she has had little time outside of it. New expensive filter on the way as I type but I figured the least I could do was bring her out. She is still very sneaky and tries to give me the slip every chance she gets. Here she is in the garden while I water the plants.

Japan in May

2010-05-19T12:03:00.000-07:00

Going to Japan for work is always really stressful for me. This time though I was lucky that friends Julian and Mercedes had an artist residency outside of Tokyo so I went to visit them on my day off. They were a part of Hayama Art Festival and had an installation inside someone's home (called Habitable) and gave little workshops during their stay.

We walked down to the beach and saw the sun set. I never get to be outside that much and relax when I am in Tokyo so it was a really nice break.
Another nice thing was that I got to see my half sister Maya who I haven't seen since she was in elementary school. She's all grown up now and works as a hospital nurse in the Intensive Care Unit. She is so cute and smart and mature. I hope she comes to visit me in the states sometime.

The pop up store which was one of the main reasons for this last trip turned out okay I guess but I got my artistic sense over ridden by the sales staff so it doesn't look the way it should. I really really hate that my name is used for the store because of these kinds of instances. When it looks shitty to me and I don't have control over it, it still looks like it was my decision. Sucks! Anyway, hopefully it will sell well during the next two weeks so that I can't complain too much.

So happy Jimmy lives with my mom. When I come home to her house and Jimmy is waiting it makes it so much easier. I can hardly remember what it was like before I found him in the elevator and brought him inside. He is spoiled rotten and he makes life at my mom's house nice and soft. He even sleeps with me on the couch most nights and hides under the covers with me.

Fancy & Beautiful Vegan Japanese Dinner!

2010-04-22T17:01:00.001-07:00

A family friend took us to Kajitsu to celebrate her daughter's acceptance to Cooper Union and to thank us for our help in raising her the past ten years. It was beautiful and yummy. And I got to reminisce about my tutoring days and going to parent teacher conferences.

We all need cutie eye masks

2010-04-18T13:24:00.001-07:00

I helped put together a new show in Tokyo at Lamp called (rough translation) "How to Enjoy the Five Minutes Before You Fall Asleep" by Chie Fukao. There are a few things she has been obsessed by over the years and sleep/bed is one of them. We are having workshops for participants to make these kitty eye masks with the artist. Wish I could teleport to Tokyo just for that afternoon.

Feels like summer

2010-04-08T16:48:00.000-07:00

Crazy warmth huh? We are enjoying it but wondering what it means for the coming gardening season. Is it going to continue to be a warm year or will it end up like last year where we had a cold and wet summer. (Hope not!)

Today I harvested over-wintered collard greens. Just enough to have a few mouths full of them sautéd with garlic. Yum.

Introducing TEEN!

2010-04-03T13:03:00.000-07:00

This is Teen our new foster cat. She is about 5 and a half months old and so far a healthy little one. Her blood work & fecal came back negative so next is getting her shots and getting her spayed! Then she will be ready for adoption - so keep her in mind!

She is irresistibly adorable. Looks like a little squirrel, tiny head and big bushy tail.

She currently resides in our turtle room and I have been letting her out of her crate many times a day to run around but I have to keep an eye on her or she jumps up on to the ledge of Ichigo's tank. I don't want her to fall in or take a swipe at Ichi. Little rascal.
We are currently accepting small donations to pay for her vet care. (Paypal button on the top right.) If you are in any position to donate we would be grateful. If not, send her your good vibes so she gets adopted quickly!

A trip to Utah for me and Camo

2010-03-27T11:40:00.000-07:00

Camo has been one of my project dogs at AFF since this past summer so when I was asked if I would consider a crazy last minute trip to Best Friends in Utah for a meeting with a possible adopter, I couldn't say no. We were driven down to JFK and although Camcam pooped while we were waiting in line to get checked in, he was overall an amazingly well behaved traveler. Once we landed in Las Vegas we rented a big SUV (with tinted windows!) that could hold both me & Camo and the huge plastic carrier he flew in. We were already getting comments about the fact that I am so small/short and the fact that Camo is so tall/big, I bet anyone seeing me climb out of the SUV (yes I had to CLIMB) would have had a good laugh. It took us four hours to drive to Kanab and we arrived at 3am.
We quickly settled in to our hotel room at the Holiday Inn and went to sleep.

In the morning we took a walk around town and stopped in a place called Laid Back Larry's for breakfast. It was perfect. They had a tofu "egg salad" sandwich so I got that and some coffee. The woman behind the counter as well as the other patrons all fussed over Camo and gave him lots of treats. There were pictures of animals all over the walls and I saw that they had lots of fake meats and vegan "dairy" products in their fridge. Awesome! We ate outside on the deck in the sun and it was a nice way to start the day.

Around noon, we made our way to Dogtown HQ at Best Friends and met Sherry, Lisa, and Whitney who were all in on Cam's adoption. Whitney, one of the trainers at BF, had fostered Camo for about 6 months previously so when he saw her he went nuts with excitement. She told me that he was originally supposed to be named "Camel" but that she thought it was weird and changed it to Camo. While we waited for the potential adopters to arrive, I got to follow a dog caregiver named Skip around for a few hours. John, a volunteer from Brooklyn, and I walked a few dogs, got to watch new dog introductions, helped put together the second daily feeding, and cleaned and washed lots of food and water bowls.

When I was done, the adopters had arrived and had already started to hang out with Camo in one of the office rooms. I showed them some of the tricks we had worked on like "spin" and weaving through my legs and I talked to them about the ins and outs of Camo-life; what he likes doing, what he doesn't like, how to get his attention, etc. I really hoped that they would connect with him. We went out to the parking lot and the family took Cam to their car and off they went for a sleep over. I got teary-eyed knowing that I would probably never see him again but was happy that he was getting a really good shot at a new home and that if it didn't work out, I had met all the people that would take care of him again at BF and they all adored him and had missed him since he had come out east a year and a half ago.

When I finally got home after more driving and more flying, I was told that the family had fallen in love over two sleep overs and that Sherry was driving him to do the dog introductions to their current two female dogs. So as I type this entry, he is out west somewhere most likely getting to know his new siblings. Good luck Camo!

The other end to this story is that I came home to MORE animals than when I had left. Our neighbor's cockatiel who Dave agreed to watch was in the turtle room whistling away and the next day we found a very skinny kitten up the driveway screaming and wailing. She is now also housed in the turtle room in a big dog crate for the time being. Dave decided to name her Teen. More news on her very soon.

Tyson & Pigeons

2010-03-15T18:38:00.000-07:00

I just read that there is going to be a new show on Animal Planet starting next year about Mike Tyson and flying/racing pigeons. I'm excited that people are going to get to see a side of pigeons that they probably never saw before but since I've rescued (and many others have rescued) banded homers that owners didn't care to have back because they never made it home by themselves, my excitement is tinged with a little apprehension. I know that Mike Tyson has been known for a long time to be a big pigeon fancier as I read in Andrew Blechman's "Pigeons :The Fascinating Saga of the World's Most Revered and Reviled Bird" but I wonder what the show will really be like. I wonder if they are doing homers or tipplers or flights....... I always miss seeing pigeons now that we live out in the country. Here are some pictures of my past pigeon friends....

Manuel - my first pigeon love RIP

Falafel - (banded NY Flight) who I fostered and got into a home with a rich florist

Mr Midtown - (banded Homer) who I gave to a woman who keeps pigeons on her balcony in Tribeca

Sprite, Stumpy, and Sonny - a family of pigeons I fed every morning in my backyard on 6th street

Mind games with Coleman!

2010-03-12T14:22:00.000-08:00

I meant to post a video of Coleman playing with his Nina Ottosson puzzle a long time ago and never got around to it so here it is now.

Spring is coming?

2010-03-07T09:53:00.000-08:00

Today is warm enough that we ate lunch outside. I made a teriyaki tofu burger which Coleman wanted for himself. I wanted to spread compost in the garden but both compost piles are still mostly frozen so I'll have to wait on that a little while longer. I started my onion seeds so the gardening season is off to its 2010 start.

Dreary Dayz

2010-02-27T12:24:00.000-08:00

Snowing and raining for the past five days. The soil is mushy and it looks like I'll be wearing rain/snow boots for the next few weeks.

One of our outdoor cats Henry has fallen sick, probably because of the weather. He has been curled up in his insulated cat house since yesterday. I got him to eat a kitty vitamin today but he doesn't have his usual voracious appetite. If he doesn't perk up in the next day or two maybe we'll have to take him to the vet. But it's probably just a cold.....hopefully.
Looking forward to the sun.

X.O.Triangle.Square

2010-02-13T14:10:00.000-08:00

Pictures from the show I curated "X.O.Triangle.Square" - Korakrit Arunanodchai at hpgrp Gallery.

Women I Admire - Part 1

2010-02-08T07:49:00.000-08:00

I figured I would start posting women that I admire as part of a series. First is HM Queen Rania of Jordan.

Love-Lies-Green

2010-02-06T12:35:00.000-08:00

Pictures from the show I curated at Mountain Fold with artists Cristina Toro and Rebeca Raney.

Dave's 40th Birthday

2010-02-05T12:18:00.000-08:00

Dave turned 40 on Tuesday. We spent the day transporting our buddy Benson from Animal Farm Foundation to Saddleback Pet Services in New Hampshire. It took about 4 1/2 hours one way but we stopped in Greenfield, MA on the way there for a pit-stop. Dave wanted to stop there because that is where his Vipassana meditation center is and he likes to feel the vibes.....

Benny was a good passenger and slept most of the time. When we got to NH he made himself at home and jumped on the couch and tore up a stuffy toy. I hope he gets adopted out soon and that in the summer they take him swimming. Benson has a great cannon ball.
On our way home we had a birthday dinner in Brattleboro, VT at Shin-La, a Korean/Japanese food restaurant that somehow I make it to every 4-5 years. We had vegetable mandoo and jap chae. Yum! Wish there was a place like that closer to us.
Happy Birthday!

Did you know where watermelons come from?

2010-02-05T09:58:00.001-08:00

This is a simple but beautiful documentary shot in 1955 about people living in the Kalahari Desert.

2010 garden seeds

2010-01-23T11:45:00.000-08:00

My 2010 seeds have started to arrive. So far I've gotten my J.L. Hudson, Seedsman and Bakercreek Heirloom seeds and I'm waiting for my Fedco order. I didn't order too many because I still have a lot from last year that I never even got in the ground. I'll start doing some old seed germination tests next month to see what I can still use from last year.

I've decided this year I am going to grow more cucurbits, less nightshades, and lots of poppies.

A new favorite artist?

2010-01-12T18:53:00.000-08:00

I found out about this artist Allison Schulnik today and I think she might be my new favorite artist. Her paintings remind me of this one strange painting that used hang in the waiting room at my pediatrician's office. It had clowns in it and it was supposed to be a happy piece of artwork for the children but instead it was very creepy and kind of dusty.
She also does amazing animation. This is a piece she made for the band Grizzly Bear. I love that it's totally analog.

Can you tell how old I am?

2009-12-27T13:58:00.000-08:00

Things I remember from my childhood. How about you?

And well this one is not the original Sesame Street version but from an episode of Family Guy. You can ask me why Seth MaFarlane's production company is called Fuzzy Door. I think Seth is probably the most famous (and wealthy) man from my RISD class of '95.....

Merry New Decade

2009-12-26T15:57:00.000-08:00

This is a photo my friend and artist Julian Gatto sent me with a note "Merry New Decade". I thought it was pretty and wanted to share.

My hero

2009-12-24T06:13:00.000-08:00

Pedigree Dogs Exposed - BBC

2009-12-18T07:52:00.000-08:00

Documentary - BBC - Pedigree Dogs Exposed

bordercollie19 | MySpace Video
I don't know if you guys have seen this BBC documentary yet but it's here in its entirety.

The new cat diet revealed

2009-12-07T09:06:00.000-08:00

As you know I'm vegan but I do not feed my animals a vegan diet. I want them to have appropriate diets that are not based on my beliefs but that are based on what they need and what is good for them individually.
Cats are carnivores. I know that there are a few vegan cat food products that have Taurine and vitamin D that come from vegan sources but until I can find someone that can really show me that cats can thrive on a plant based diet, it seems way too risky to me. Plus as anyone with cats knows.... how picky they can be to the point of enormous aggravation on the part of their humans. How the hell do you get a cat to eat a plant based diet anyway? Since my last post on trying to figure out a raw meat based diet for the cats, I read a book called "Your Cat" by Elizabeth Hodgkins DVM which is a really good book if you are interested in cat nutrition. She suggests a product called Platinum Performance to be mixed with meat and bone to round out all the vitamins and minerals that they need and we have been trying this for the past few months and I believe it has been going very well. The cats don't mind the mix and they all seem to be doing well on it so far and it is economical, especially now that we bought the big bucket. Our main cat meal consists of the Platinum Performance added to Oma's Pride ground chicken necks with some Oma's Pride ground beef organ mix mixed in. It is the most economical and well liked meal for all the cats. (Some are more picky than the others) We also give them whole chicken necks cut in half or thirds about once a week to chew on for their teeth and gums. It's pretty gross that I have all these animal parts in the fridge, probably even more than meat eating humans with no pets to feed, but I do believe it is best for them. The fact that everything is basically bi-product from animals slaughtered for their more desirable parts like chicken breasts is a small consolation. (for me, not for the animals slaughtered of course....) We also go all the way in to Massachusetts about once a month to buy Hare-Today products that have little packages of ground meats and organs all mixed into one. Their products contain more variety of organs in their mixes (brains, kidney, and tripe anyone?) and since it's all mixed with the meat and bone, much easier for me. Plus the grounds are very fine so the cats ingest all the bone they are supposed to eat without eating around the small bone shards in the Oma's. The cats that had a little bit of "chub" have thinned out and they are not as "addicted" to the food as they were when were were giving them a larger portion of canned food. We still use canned food to put medication in and as a back up for when we forget to defrost a pack of meat but we use it sparingly.
What do you feed your cat?

Grandpa's medals

2009-11-27T11:49:00.000-08:00

On the left "Zuihoushou" - Order of the Sacred Treasure medal. On the right "Kunshou" medal of honor.

Star of Pakistan medal

I was at my grandmother's house in Tokyo a few weeks ago and she had these on the table in front of my grandfather's shrine so I took pictures of them. The Star of Pakistan medal is the one I wrote about in an earlier post. The others were given to my grandfather by the Emperor of Japan. The smaller one I think was given to him in the 50's and the larger one in the late 80's or early 90's.

I don't know if you can see in the photo but there are offerings in front of my grandfather's picture of a persimmon, a Japanese pear, and a small "omanju-" Japanese sweet. He had a sweet tooth and loved to eat. I remember one day when I was in elementary school, I was visiting their house and we heard the "yaki imo" charcoal roasted sweet potato truck out on the street, the recorded singing coming out of the megaphone on top of the truck sort of like the annoying songs that replay over and over again on ice cream trucks. My grandpa shot up and grabbed his wallet and ran out the door in his slippers to try to catch it, then came back with a smoking hot sweet potato wrapped in aluminum foil. I always thought it was funny because to the general public he was always a very high class kind of guy but things like this made him normal and real and just a funny grandpa.

It's a doggie Christmas here

2009-11-22T11:06:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to buy one of these Nina Ottoson dog puzzles for a while now but never could justify spending the money on one as they are not cheap. But the planets have aligned and we've bought our first puzzle! My mother gave me some money to specifically buy something fun for myself so this is what I spent it on.
We bought our "Dog Trubble" at Hooked on Dogs today and have already tried it out. Coleman has to move the hollow wooden pegs to one end of the puzzle for the pegs to be able to be overturned and the treats to be revealed. Coleman got the hang of it quickly, pawing at the pegs and pushing them with his nose but doesn't really understand yet that they will ONLY come loose at one end. Right now it's sort of more like by accident that they end up in the right place. Our only problem right now is that he plays so enthusiastically that sometimes the pegs go flying across the room when he gets them to the right spot and then the treats go flying too and then we have to try to find them. (another level to the game?) Also the puzzle wants to slide all over the place on our hard wood floors so I have to figure something out. I put them on his blanket but that moves around too.
So yeah, it's sort of like Christmas over here with such a nice present that I've wanted for so long!

Yes, I like Star Trek

2009-11-21T09:11:00.001-08:00

Only those who know me very very well know that I like Star Trek. Not just the original series or Next Generation but Deep Space Nine and Voyager as well. The only one I didn't watch was the newest Enterprise series mostly because I couldn't believe they would cast Scott Bakula as the Captain. Too sacrilegious for me. How can I believe in his new character when in my mind he is Sam Beckett all the way??? (Quantum Leap) Sort of a similar reason as to why I refuse to watch Memoirs of a Geisha - main actresses are not even Japanese! What the heck, I'm not stupid.
Anyway, I was too poor to watch the newest Star Trek movie in the theater so Dave and I have been waiting to see it on DVD and we were not disappointed. Normally I can find some flaw in the the story line that makes it unbelievable but I've watched it twice so far and I am still enjoying it.
I will spare you the rest of my nerdy analysis but I will just put this out there. This is the first movie in a long time that I wish I owned the DVD of...... Maybe for Christmas someone?

And still more puppy pics

2009-11-04T12:15:00.000-08:00

You can never have too many puppy pictures.

More puppy pics!

2009-11-02T11:49:00.000-08:00

Ah! Puppies!

2009-10-31T14:58:00.001-07:00

We're fostering 5 week old puppies for a bit before I leave for Japan. One boy and one girl. The girl is much much bolder and the boy is a mama's boy who whines a lot. I have a new found respect for mothers who have to constantly care for newborns. They need so much of your time! At least these fuzzies are super cute. Coleman is somewhat of a control freak so he doesn't see what all the fuss is about puppy mania. He is bewildered by their chaos and likes them much better when they are sleeping.

Coleman Fushihara CGC!

2009-10-21T17:47:00.000-07:00

Here in the photo I'm just holding up our class graduation certificate but... Coleman passed his Canine Good Citizen test tonight! I am very happy and Coleman doesn't know the difference. We have had a long journey, Coleman and me. He's been my only constant companion for more than a decade and I've learned so much about forgiveness, patience, and love from him. I am positively sure that without him, I would not have the self confidence or the compassion that I know I've gained in these past ten or more years that I lacked to varying degrees before. He is my love.

My Grandfather and Pakistan

2009-10-12T09:25:00.000-07:00

My grandfather was the President of the Japan-Pakistan Association when he was alive. I think it's called something different now but the Japanese trading company that he was President and Chairman of had a lot of business in Pakistan and I remember my grandmother telling me often that he was away in Islamabad or Karachi. I honestly have no idea if the business he was conducting there was good for the people, exploitative, or a little bit of both. I have wished on many occasions while reading or watching the news that he was around to tell me about his experiences in other countries but most likely he would have brushed it off because I am a girl. He was very traditional that way. When I was growing up in the late 70's to the early 90's he was flying around the globe to Moscow while it was still the USSR, Johannesburg while it was still under apartheid, and I'm pretty sure I remember him going to Iran, Bangladesh, India, Brazil, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zeland... the list could go on.
Anyway, back to Pakistan. I was watching two videos up on the NY Times website today about a family in the Swat Valley. The father had been running a school for girls for fourteen years and his young daughter was a smart girl that wanted to become a doctor. They had to leave their home though because of the Taliban. The Taliban had ordered the school closed and the rights of women to even just go out shopping had disappeared. It made me so sad to watch these little girls that didn't want to leave their homes and their school and how much they just wanted to learn. Of course Three Cups of Tea is one of my favorite books and Greg Mortenson is one of my heroes. The author is an American that has been building schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan for over ten years. The strange thing I learned today was that both my grandfather and Greg Mortenson had received the Sitara-i-Pakistan "Star of Pakistan" award. It is one of the highest honors given to civilians by the country for service to Pakistan.
I find it odd that I was given a first rate private education my whole life, partially paid for at some points by my grandfather whose money was partially made in Pakistan, where still today, girls are struggling to go to elementary school. To me it's bizarre and I find that I grieve for these girls there more than I do for other unfortunate people in other countries, probably because I feel some familial connection. I'm not exactly sure what I wanted to say with this post but take a look at the NY Times videos if you have the time.

From feral to affection hog - Henry

2009-10-08T10:04:00.000-07:00

Henry is now such an attention hog that it is hard to walk without tripping over him. His default favorite place to be is between my legs as I'm walking. A far cry from when we first met. He lets us massage him all over and Dave is "practicing" picking him up for short periods of time. I am happy that he's made this turn around but it's almost too much. He is obsessed with us.

Gosh darn it

2009-10-07T08:15:00.000-07:00

There is a free Pete Seeger concert on Saturday at Vassar. I can't go because Dave's parents are coming up for the Farm festival at Hawthorne Valley the same day. Would have loved to have gone. I grew up going to super liberal elementary schools in NYC where all the songs we sang were basically.... Pete Seeger songs, Peter Paul and Mary, Joan Baez etc. I still remember all the words.

Julius is released

2009-10-06T12:04:00.000-07:00

I wasn't able to get a picture of Julius being released because he was just too fast but we were able to release him back to the wild on Friday. He was totally weaned and ate a lot before he was ready. He got big and fat, just in time for the cooler weather. It was a small victory for me in a week of what seems like defeat on other fronts in my life. GO JULIUS! Don't get eaten!

Hawthorne Valley Farm Store

2009-10-03T12:57:00.001-07:00

I can't remember if I already posted about Dave's new part time job at Hawthorne Valley Farm Store. He is working in the produce department 3 days a week. He said that it's really fun to see the local farmers come in with their vegetables and fruits and getting to know who grows what and he makes sure that all the produce looks beautiful and abundant in the store. Next year I hope to be able to sell just one or two vegetables to them as they take small batches as long as it is good quality product grown with no chemicals. The great part for me is that Dave gets to take home day old bread and soup, damaged produce, and odds and ends. Right now we are drinking Vermont Soy soy milk that we got for free and it is SOOOO good. Much better than any of the regular brands. Tastes fresh and light just like the kind you can get in chinatown although I think this kind is organic. We also got South River miso but it's not up to my own personal standards. Maybe it's good if you are not Japanese but I think it needs to ferment more and also be a little sweeter. I had to add mirin and some konbu dashi soy sauce to make it taste better....just my humble opinion. And we always have bread made at Hawthorne Valley, right now we have a nice sour dough. We also get 20% off in the store. Even though he has to drive 35 minutes to work, I think we end up saving money because of the discount and free goodies.

Orange Julius the baby vole

2009-09-25T11:36:00.000-07:00

This is Orange Julius. Dave found him in Tink's mouth yesterday but Tink let him go so Dave put him in a box in his studio till I got home from the city. We bought some baby formula and have been trying to feed him from the tip of a paint brush but sometimes I can't tell if he's eating or not. He's under a heat lamp to keep him warm and he has lots of cozy blankets and a cardboard tunnel to hide if he wants. I spoke to a rehabber this morning and this is about the best I can do for now. His chances of survival aren't very good but that has never stopped me from trying. Even before Ichigo there was Manuel, a young pigeon that had a broken back that I tried to save. The rehabbers said 10% chance he'll make it and we tried but ultimately he never fully recovered. I loved him soooo much.
Anyway, this little guy is still alive so far so we're gonna keep trying to do what we can. He is super cute and really teany tiny.

Coleman goes to class

2009-09-19T12:30:00.000-07:00

I don't have a picture to post with this but Coleman and I started going to group classes last week. We're taking the Canine Good Citizen class at Animal Farm Foundation where I volunteer. I've dreamed of getting him his CGC (it's sort of a title you earn after you pass the Canine Good Citizen test) ever since he was young but we never found the right place to go for training in the city that I could afford and he needs to brush up on some of his behaviors. He has had trouble with being reactive to dogs when he is on leash so that has always been the main hurdle. In our first class though, he had no outbursts and stayed focused the whole time even with dogs on both sides of us that really wanted to come check him out. I am grateful that Bernice and Ashley made sure to set him up for success, even asking me at the door if he would do better entering the classroom last or before the room filled up. We might not pass our first time around (or maybe we will) but we'll be working hard for the next 6 weeks so we'll be as ready as we can.

Boredoms in Troy

2009-09-13T18:08:00.000-07:00

(photos by Bryan Thomas - you can check out better resolution pics and lots more from the show click here)

Dave and I drove up to Troy Friday night with our friend Kelly to see this year's Boadrum. Dave was able to play in the last two 77 and 88 Boadrums and had the time of his life so we couldn't miss this year's incarnation. Even though there were fewer drummers (only 9 this time), there was more precision because of it so that was an interesting change. Since I didn't fly out to LA with Dave for last year's 88 I can only compare it to the first one, 77 in Brooklyn. As much as I loved how crisp the sound was at the EMPAC center which is SO amazingly beautiful, I admit that I missed the insane energy that can only be created and looped back and forth by a very large audience of sweaty people and a very large group of sweaty musicians. But, it's sort of like comparing apples to oranges I guess.
Kelly, who came with us, wrote his senior thesis on the evolution of Japanese noise music and most specifically the Boredoms so it was nice to introduce him to his idols Eye and Yoshimi. I was happy to see Hisham since we hardly get to see him anymore and Dave Nuss who, for those of you who were at our wedding, married us.
I never go out anymore so it was a nice treat.

New Fall Clothes

2009-09-10T15:18:00.000-07:00

My friends Tom & Barbara drove in from Michigan this week and brought me clothes and knits they made for my store. I don't have pictures of Tom's crazy knitted headbands, scarves, and hoods, but Barbara took some pictures of her clothes before she gave them to me so here are a few looks. I especially like the jumper dress that has the beetles on them. I wish I could afford to buy it! (It always is strange to me that I cannot afford most of what I buy for the store.) BUT I am very lucky because some of my friends/designers take pity on me and give me pieces for free every once in a while and Barbara gave me a different version of the hot pink bag featured above. I LOVE it.

The dilema with feeding the carnivores in the house

2009-09-05T14:14:00.000-07:00

So over the last few years, I've been trying to find the cats a good raw diet that is easy for me to prepare, isn't overly gross to me, and is easy to find and buy. Most of the easy to find ones have a little too much vegetable matter in them than I think they should be eating or have something else "wrong" with them so that I haven't kept using any variety for very long. Recently I noticed that the cats were getting overly addicted to their canned food so I looked online to see if I could find any new products or something I haven't seen before. I stumbled upon the Feline Future website and decided to give it a try. Their ingredient list is pretty simple (total of ten) and all you do is mix it with any kind of raw meat. It arrived today and the cats gave it a try. They all ate it up. So far thumbs up. Now the next thing will be to find a place to buy relatively inexpensive ground meat that is hormone free. I used to be able to go to Whole Foods in the city for that kind of thing but not sure where to go now. I don't trust the supermarket very much.

Ichigo update & harvest

2009-08-30T12:57:00.001-07:00

I haven't written about Ichigo in a while. She's doing well but in the last few weeks she has realized that she can make short mad dashes and try to give me the slip while we are outside. She can only really run for short 5 to 6 ft increments so it's still hard to lose her but one day a few weeks ago I lost track of her and she ended up in the brush and I only found her because she makes noise when she walks, stomping around on twigs and leaves and things. I feel pretty guilty that we didn't have the time or money this year to figure out her outdoor summer enclosure..... Anyway I have been keeping a closer eye on her when we are outside and giving her extra time to walk around in the "turtle room". It's been interesting though getting to know reptile intelligence. I wouldn't have thought that turtles could try to deceive but I'm quite sure that is exactly what she is doing when she tries to run away. She acts normal until she thinks I'm not looking and then rushes into some tall grass to try to lose me. She will also walk back to me in the "turtle room" if I pick up her turtle pellet bag even though I only ever feed her in her tank. She obviously knows what the bag looks like or sounds like.

Our summer harvest is coming to a close. Today I picked collards, kale, peppers, cabbage, lots of basil, some tomatoes, and a few beets. The celeriac looks like it's almost done and I should have waaaay too many very shortly. I'm not going to bother doing a fall planting except for some garlic because the garden is just so darn weedy, it's going to be a chore just to try to clear it up and put the garden to rest before it gets too cold. We didn't do a very good job of keeping the weeds at bay this year. Next year next year........

Onion harvest

2009-08-25T15:20:00.000-07:00

Well, we had a crappy tomato harvest but the onions were easy and a no-brainer. Look at all the onions! I probably should have pulled them late last week but hopefully they will dry alright. There are two varieties in these flats, Alisa Craig and Yellow of Parma. They are from seeds started in February!

Summer Camp Ends

2009-08-23T11:57:00.000-07:00

Today is the last full day that both Pinot and Princess are with us so I tried taking a group photo but none of them came out that great by themselves so I put them together and I think it's kinda cute.

Beans

2009-08-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

Arent't the Jacob's Cattle Beans pretty?

Porch Crew & Harvest

2009-08-16T13:08:00.000-07:00

Henry no longer lurks under the porch all day. He now hangs out in the sun with the other cats and also follows me around when the dogs aren't with me. The coolest part is that he lets me pet him now. I never thought that would happen. He purrs and nuzzles my hand and will let me pet him once or twice on the head. No full body massages yet but maybe one day.
The weather is now hot and dry which is great but a little too late to save my poor tomatoes. I did get enough to can some sauce and eat some sliced up in sandwiches.

This morning I tried to harvest some things and got a crookneck squash, some overgrown turnips, hot and sweet peppers, and some Jacob's Cattle beans that I'll break open later. I think I probably only got a handful but they're pretty and fun. I also got a nice big cabbage but I already used that to make some dumplings. It's pretty easy to make. Just cabbage, tvp, ginger, garlic, and scallions all mixed up inside some pre-made wrappers.

More friends & sad tomatoes

2009-08-11T07:23:00.000-07:00

Princess is here so now we have three dogs. It took the last few days to get into a good routine with everyone but I think I figured out how to make everything go smoothly now. They are getting along very well with supervision.

I spent part of the day yesterday trying to finish pulling out my blighted tomato plants but I still have a ways to go. I have been putting fruit that is ripe and not diseased and green unblemished tomatoes in trays on the porch hoping that some of them will ripen and be okay but every day I have been checking on them and throwing any away that start showing blight. Look at all my trays!! And there is still more to go.

Coleman's girlfriend is here

2009-08-06T14:58:00.001-07:00

Coleman's girlfriend Pinot is visiting for a few weeks. We took her to get groomed today and boy does she look expensive now!

Little Friend Big Friend

2009-07-31T14:57:00.000-07:00

Coleman's getting old although most people won't notice it. But I know. He is eleven. I took this picture of Coleman and his friend Gertie a few weeks ago for posterity. Not that either of them is going to die any day now but I realized that I didn't have a recent photo of them and thought I should get one before I forget considering the last one I took was maybe five years ago.

Then, digging through old photos I found this one of Coleman and his friend Buddy. Buddy passed away almost three years ago. Buddy was the dog Coleman looked up to like an older brother. I think we both miss him.

Tomato season bummer

2009-07-31T14:40:00.001-07:00

What could have been!!! If only we hadn't had so much freakin' rain. I am looking at a raised garden that is sitting in two inches of water. It's horrible. Most of the tomatoes have or will get blossom end rot or the plant will end up with blight or some other fungal infection if it hasn't already. The plants are FILLED with green toms and I cannot look forward to them all getting ripe and juicy. So sad....so sad.
Above is a picture of one miracle Nyagous tomato that ripened this past weekend. The only heirloom that I planted that looks like I might get a handful of ripe fruit. The other two that are still doing their best to survive are the Sungold and Baby Beefsteak.

Next year I'll plant my toms in containers so I can move them to higher ground if need be.........

Animal Farm Foundation Internship

2009-07-28T10:25:00.000-07:00

Last week I had the good fortune to participate in a one week internship at Animal Farm Foundation. There were nine of us in this session; women from Massachusetts, New York City, and Albany. We heard lectures ranging from kennel enrichment to nutrition to adoptions and marketing and everything in between. We had hands on clicker training workshops and dog play groups. Each intern was also assigned a project dog to work with everyday. I got to work with Camo who is an advanced trick learner and we worked on "Spin" and walking under and through my legs. I wanted to eventually work up to "Zig Zag" which is where you have the dog walk through your legs back and forth while you walk so I might take some time on Thursdays after training class to do that. We also worked on his "Stay" while I circled him. Dogs don't normally like to stay in place when they can't see you. He did well and by the end of the week I could have him "Down Stay" while I walked all the way around him four times. What a good boy.

A highlight of the week for me was the Frisbee/disc demo that Nadja and Thelma did for us. What a treat. They did it in the horse riding arena so the ground was a lot softer than what Thelma is used to working on but she did great anyway. Take a look.

One of the hotly discussed subjects during the week was what and how to call what we normally refer to as Pit Bulls. Most dogs called Pit Bulls aren't even genetically of the breeds regularly known as Pit Bulls like the American Staffordshire Terrier or Staffordshire Bull Terrier so even with the best of intentions are we doing the dogs a disservice by labeling them by their looks? Or should we be promoting exceptional dogs as Breed Ambassadors to promote a better picture of what the public think of Pit Bulls? Should we call dogs of unknown ancestry "American Shelter Dogs"? It's something that I'm still trying to get my head around since I have been a "Pit Bull Aficionado" for so long. One of the studies we discussed is partially online. "Visual vs. DNA Identification of Dogs"
You can also scroll down and look at "Can you find the Pit Bull"

For a few days after the internship I seriously thought about immediately changing careers but I am now thinking that I should take the opportunity while I have the influence, to use my job to promote as widely as possible, things I learned during the week as well as general animal welfare issues. I decided it would be a shame to squander the audience I have already, especially in Japan where it is so incredibly backwards. Did anyone else see the CBS Sunday Morning clip about pets in Japan and the rent a doggie store??? So messed up.... Anyone with $25 can rent a dog for an hour.
There is lots of work to do.

Flowers

2009-07-19T07:16:00.000-07:00

My grandfather really loved flowers. I remember he had orchids inside the house and lots of flowering plants on the patio. Once when I was about 5 years old we went for a walk and we picked different colored morning glories along the way and he showed me how to make watercolor paint with the petals. He was also very good at painting. We have some dark colored morning glories at our house that are blooming now. They are kind of a weed in how prolific they are but I can't pull them all out because of the memories of my grandfather.

The bees are going nutz over the opium poppies. They buzz like crazy when they are on them. The poppies are also so pretty and unbothered by bad bugs; I will make sure to plant more next year.

Turtle crossings

2009-07-16T18:47:00.000-07:00

Since we've moved, we've been trying our best to save turtles that are crossing roads. They've mostly been Eastern Painted turtles but today I was able to help a Wood Turtle cross a busy road. In a weird way, because they are slow moving, it's easier for cars to avoid them I think but there are big trucks that might not see them and mean people so it's best to move them in the direction they were going to safety. I love turtles! They are so cool.
(picture above was not something I took. stolen off the web.)

Pretty Spidey

2009-07-13T16:53:00.000-07:00

Featuring Tink

2009-07-08T16:43:00.000-07:00

I meant to post this short video of our outdoor cat Tink a while ago, but then he got sick last week, right before Coleman, and I got sidetracked. Tink was orignially called Tinkerbell until our neighbor told us she was a he. I just call him Tink now or Tinko. (We like names and nicknames that end in O.) Tink had an abscess on his hip last week that had to get drained. So much puss came out it was gross. He was on antibiotics too but is better now. Coleman is better too for those of you who emailed to ask.

Oh and did you notice his extra toes in the video??? He even has them on his back paws.

SUN

2009-07-05T17:37:00.000-07:00

No more rain please. This weekend was so nice and mild and sunny. Could we please have some more of that?

We were invited to a 4th of July party at the home of Jane Berkey, who owns the shelter I volunteer at. I had never been up the hill far enough to see the other areas where she keeps her horses and the back of her house. It is so gorgeous! My favorite part of her house was her pool surrounded by huge white Hydrangeas and flowing ferns. Jane had hidden ping pong balls all around her back yard and pool area and if you found any, you got a prize. Prizes ranged from $1 to $100! I got one of the bigger prizes which was a funny dog saying t-shirt and a $25 gift certificate. We had lots of food, played croquet, and hung out with smoe nice folks and some cutie dogs that were busy socializing. (a few of the shelter dogs)

Today we cleared out the peas to make room to plant something else and harvested some broccoli, small onions, purple kohlrabi, and of course a HUGE haul of snap peas which I froze in ten ziplock bags. The rain made the tomatoes a little fungus-y so we cut away the infected areas and I am hoping they will make it. NO MORE RAIN PLEASE.

Coleman not feeling well

2009-07-01T08:58:00.000-07:00

Poor Coledog has a urinary infection. First one he's ever had. He peed on the floor in the middle of the night and had blood in his pee. He's on Clavamox now..... should be better shortly. While we were at the vet's office this morning the vet also checked his hind legs and gave us lots of new supplements for his arthritis. His morning regimen is going to be intense.

Ichigo video

2009-06-27T15:29:00.000-07:00

I am an old fart. I only just figured out how to take video on my new camera and upload it...... Here is Ichi taking her daily walk.

What the heck

2009-06-25T14:24:00.000-07:00

Shaq is being traded to the Cavs. I am not happy about this. I like Lebron. I hate Shaq. How can I root for a team with both? I am not happy. I am not happy.

One more photo from Japan

2009-06-24T13:54:00.000-07:00

Wanted to post one more photo from my trip that Rebeca sent me.
All the girls that work at Lamp, where we had the Tokyo show, and us for a commemorative group photo.

Spending time with the dogs

2009-06-22T09:44:00.000-07:00

Since moving up here I've been volunteering at Animal Farm Foundation every week. I go every Friday to walk my four "project dogs" and I try to go to as many training classes as I can on Thursdays. Volunteers get project dogs assigned to them to spend time with and walk until they are adopted so you get to know your dogs really well.... unless of course they get adopted right away. I have had the pleasure of having Jasmine as a project dog for a while now. She originally came in with her puppies but they all got scooped up right away. Why people favor puppies over adult dogs, I will never understand. Sure they are rolly poly and have fat little cute tummies and stumble around and chew on you (wait is that fun?), but they take up soooo much more time and they get into all sorts of trouble, chewing on dangerous wires etc, pee and poo everywhere....... I personally will take an adult dog over a puppy any day. If I had more money I would adopt Momma Jaz in a second.She is so sweet and she lets me hug her, even though you aren't really supposed to hug dogs since they don't really like it, and she likes to sniff at my face which I like, and the way she hops instead of runs after toys is so funny. I love her. I wish someone would hurry up and come take her home. She's been waiting her turn.

Ichi is cute

2009-06-22T07:50:00.000-07:00

I finally got a shot of Ichigo climbing on Dave's lap. Whenever she would do it to me the camera was nowhere near me so I am glad I was outside the turtle room when it happened yesterday. She is so cute.

Japanese people are really good at merchandising

2009-06-19T15:04:00.000-07:00

I am so out of touch with cool stuff. I only just found out about the new theatrical release of Evangelion 2.0 that comes out in a few days in Japan. They REALLY know how to milk just one story. This will be the same overall story as both the television series and End of Evangelion but it will be tricked out and have extra scenes. This one is part 2 of 4 new movies. I haven't seen part one Evangelion 1.11 - it just came out on DVD last month in Japan.

And they have SO many things to buy! T-shirts, watches, sneakers, soccer balls, i-pod covers, jewelry..... I am tempted to ask my dad to buy me some gear but I am trying very hard to contain myself. This is what I want.

Stolen fruit

2009-06-18T14:31:00.000-07:00

Ack! I had one lousy strawberry ripening and it was stolen! It was ready this morning and I waited till this afternoon to pick it and by then it was gone. What a bummer.

What I did in Japan

2009-06-18T08:19:00.000-07:00

So I got a few pictures from one of the shows we installed in Japan on this trip. Here are pics from Rebeca Raney's show Gertrude House & Garden.

Harvested in the garden

2009-06-16T09:27:00.000-07:00

Recent harvests -
Garlic Scapes
Lettuce - Cos Romaine & Red Salad Bowl(LOVE the red salad bowl! so pretty)
Scallions
Tom Thumb Snap Peas
Georgia Southern Collards
Beets - Chioggia

Almost ready - Vienna Kohlrabi & Sugar Snap Peas & Lacinto Kale

Done and gone - radish & spinach - not sure if I will grow them again....
Still kickin'- Mache
Not ready - two kinds of broccoli, twelve kinds of tomatoes, about ten kinds of peppers (sweet & hot), two kinds of summer squash, cucumbers, eggplant, celeriac, cabbage (if the slugs don't destroy them), yellow beets, turnips, onions, garlic, beans.....

Sugar snap pea flowers

Self sown volunteer Red Russian Kale with Dwarf French marigolds in the back

Yard sculptures etc

2009-06-16T08:42:00.000-07:00

Dave likes to decorate. He makes sculptures in the front yard and arranges things inside the house to look pretty. It's a good thing because if it were just me here I wouldn't bother and it wouldn't look as nice. Sometimes he wonders if people passing by in their cars are thinking "Damn hippies! Art freaks!" but I like to think that most people enjoy it.

The animals "enjoy" it all in their own way. Coleman pees on the outdoor sculptures sometimes, Ichigo uses one of them as a bridge sometimes, and Muncho takes pleasure in destroying the indoor arrangements every chance he gets.

Back home

2009-06-15T09:46:00.001-07:00

So happy to be home. The air smells so sweet here and the garden is bursting at the seams. I have so much work to do in there. It hasn't seen me in ten days.....
Above is our third outdoor cat. (They keep coming!) I originally named him Tinkerbell thinking he was a she but now we just call him Tink. He is Macy's son and has extra toes just like her.

The pansies waited for me and haven't wilted yet. Next year I have to start them in late January or something so I can enjoy them longer.
I'll try to post some pictures of the shows we installed in Japan next.

Thelma has a home!

2009-06-09T04:14:00.001-07:00

I`m in Japan right now but I got news that Thelma was adopted by her foster moms at Hooked on Dogs and I am soooooo excited! I have been a big fan of Wallace for a long time but now there will be an all girl team to be rooting for. Whoot whoot!
This video of her is making me smile and tear up at the same time. I love you Thelma!

Click To Play

The woods

2009-06-03T14:45:00.000-07:00

Nature walks with Coleman are my favorite.

Things learned in the garden so far....

2009-06-03T09:58:00.000-07:00

1) I thought I liked radishes, I think they are pretty for sure, but I don't like them enough to grow them myself.
2) I thought I liked spinach, but not enough to grow it myself.
3) Do not use coconut coir by itself as seedling growing medium. I already knew this but someone at the fancy gardening store swore you could do it - she is wrong.
4) I like growing lettuce and I eat enough of it to keep growing. Good to have for the turtles.
5) I love growing tomatoes.
6) Do not try to grow anything after a cover crop of winter rye for at least 2 months.
7) Start pansy seeds even earlier than the packet says to.
8) Garlic grows well here...(so far)
9) Snakes love to hang out under the black plastic mulch.
10) Winter sow as many varieties as possible instead of under lights.

Trading/bartering is so cool

2009-06-02T19:24:00.000-07:00

I drove some more extra seedlings to our friends at the store Hooked on Dogs in Red Hook today and was surprised to get what I was going to buy as a trade! I would have given them the plants for free but it was so nice to get something in return! I got cat food, some raw food for both the cats and Coleman, and a new Kong and some bones for Coleman.
We are super lucky that Kara and Nadja opened Hooked on Dogs just as we got to town. It is the coolest dog store ever. I actually don't know what we would be doing without them. Right now they are fostering a dog named Thelma who used to be one of my project dogs at Animal Farm Foundation where I volunteer. She is an amazing dog. If you know anyone who wants the perfect frisbee dog............Just take a look at her in her video!

Click To Play

My web feature is up

2009-06-01T12:51:00.001-07:00

The company I work for has a web feature about me up. It's all in Japanese but you can at least take a look at the photos........ click on the photo above.

Henry

2009-05-30T19:16:00.000-07:00

We have a handsome feral cat named Henry that lives under our porch. He was a new addition to the landscape in the winter and I guess we had good food and a dry place for him to hang out so he stayed. I like to call him the troll under the bridge because he doesn't like us looking at him unless he is under the porch. Today I caught him sunning himself on the table on the patio but I was looking out the window so he didn't notice me.
I trapped him and got him neutered a while ago. He wasn't happy about his two days in the trap but it was all for the best. The other outdoor cats on the property are all fixed but you never know how far they might roam in search of a cat in heat.... There has been a noticeable drop in the cat fight sounds we used to hear out in the field at night. I assume it is partially because we got Henry fixed. Not sure who he was fighting with out there. I wonder if it was this orange tabby Dave had named Buckingham. He hung out here for a few weeks and then left.

Anyway, Henry is a part of the family now. We'll make him an insulated shelter before the end of the year.

First non-turtle post

2009-05-28T14:39:00.000-07:00

Hey! So our first non-turtle post. Ichi will make guest appearances but since she is all better now, and I was trying to think of a new blog name for a regular ole' blog, I just decided to change the nature of this one. Anyway, so if you haven't already heard, I am head over heels about growing things, even more so than when I only had a small shady community garden plot in the city. I over did it with my seed starting earlier this year and ended up with way too may to plants. I've given away some to friends and also exchanged them for things. Above are about twenty tomato, eggplant, and pepper plants I traded someone for some eggs from her chickens. I don't eat eggs but I figured my dog likes them and that is what she had extra of so it was a good trade. Here is Muncho checking them out. He thinks he wants them till they are in his bowl , then he doesn't want them anymore so he won't get any.

We also traded tomato plants with our friend Colleen and we got candied popcorn and no-knead bread. They were both so delicious that we didn't get a chance to photograph them before we devoured them. She seriously needs to go commercial with her baked goods.....

Out in the sun again

2009-05-10T19:49:00.000-07:00

Ichigo says it's been great getting out in the sun again...........

Finally eats pellets

2009-04-11T06:37:00.000-07:00

For whatever reason Ichigo knew exactly when winter began and ended even though her tank water temperature and lights were the same before, during, and after. Now she's back better than ever and finally eating her pellets which means I don't have to make home made food for her any more which is really a pain in the butt. Looking good Ichi!

Now we have to plan upgrading her tank.............

Punky's "Titanic" pose

2008-12-18T14:07:00.001-08:00

Remember the scene in Titanic with Kate Winslet inside a steamy carriage????

Almost frozen

2008-12-18T14:00:00.000-08:00

We had a five day power outage from an ice storm that swept through last week. It was really rough. We obviously should have had a generator but we plan on making that purchase next time we have extra cash. We tried to keep the turtles warm by boiling water and putting hot water bottles in their tanks every 45 minutes or so but after 2 whole days of that we were exhausted and running low on propane. A neighbor lent us a kerosene heater which heated the turtle room up real nice but it smelled so awful, we had to discontinue use after a day. One day went by after that with us having exhausted our resources and I hoped that the turtles would go into hibernation and make it through okay. The final day we found the last propane camping heater available at a store across the river and got that to heat the turtle room.
Luckily, the turts made it through and are back to normal but it was so stressful not knowing if they cold handle the sudden temperature changes.
Here is a picture of Ichigo enjoying her reheated tub.

What a forlorn look.........

2008-11-02T08:02:00.000-08:00

This is Pan-kun on his basking dock, looking out his window at the rest of the world. Looking pretty forlorn wouldn't you say? Ichigo comes out of her tank almost everyday even in cold weather to at least walk around the room a bit. If I take Pan-kun out of his tank, he hides in his shell most of the time now so I haven't taken him out recently. I wonder if he looks out his window to watch Ichi in the next tank over or if he looks through the glass door to the kitchen to see what we are doing or if he just dreams of a different life. Even though his tank is mighty big I dream of making a more natural and "fun" living area for him one day. I figure if I take good care of both of these turtles, I'll have lots of time to upgrade in the years to come. (We're talking decades here)
Ichigo and I had a break through today of sorts. While on her rounds outside her tank, she decided to find me sitting on the ground and climb into my lap. She turned herself around to look at me, tried to climb my up my stomach a bit, then back down and just hung out on my lap for a while. She did this twice today. Although I would like to think that she enjoys my company, I have a feeling she just found the warmest spot on the ground to heat up on before taking off on her wanderings again. At least she trusts me enough .........

The Ichi Trail

2008-10-10T16:47:00.000-07:00

The path that Ichigo likes to take is what I call the "Ichi Trail". She will almost always take the same route every time I take her outside no matter where I place her on the ground in the front yard.

She has been doing so much better and eating well.... She will eat from my hand now! She is also finally shedding the big scutes on the top of her shell. The scutes underneath are so much prettier. I am happy for her.

Pictures finally

2008-09-27T16:57:00.000-07:00

Ichigo is doing a little bit better. Yesterday especially, she was opening both eyes and walking around a lot and ate some shrimp. Today her eyes were bothering her again. The tank has almost fully cycled and her ammonia and nitrite levels are about zero. Nitrate levels are lowering so we are almost there. I noticed today that her water pH level went down a wee bit too much after topping her tank off with spring water so I put in some tap water today to try to level it again to about 7. She is so sensitive..... compared to Pan-kun!

It's the water

2008-09-18T17:35:00.000-07:00

So we've basically figured out what happened to Ichigo's eyes.
The water where we now live that comes out of the tap is Alkaline and reads about 8.8 so we got a bunch of spring water and switched to that. The pH now reads around 7.5. Then we realized that we neglected to read more about filters and had no idea that the tank takes weeks to cycle and the newly added water had Nitrite spikes up the wazoo. We are trying to deal with that by adding Stress Zyme beneficial bacteria but also found a refrigerated product that claims to help the cycling even faster which we ordered and should be here via Fed Ex tomorrow.
We went to see a new vet who also thought it was the water last week and he gave us a different antibiotic eye drop but now that we are trying to build the beneficial bacteria in the tank, I am stopping the use of that which could kill some of the bacteria we need.
She is very active all day long but was having trouble with her appetite so I've started feeding her tuna in a separate small tank. Our old vet had suggested we get her to eat ANYTHING that she will put in her mouth just to get her digestive system going again so I've gone to her favorite stinky food.
She isn't getting any worse and I think is slowly, very slowly getting better, opening her eyes for longer periods of time each day.
I know she had a slightly red right eye even before we moved so there may have been something going on before we moved and the water changes made whatever she had blow up.

A few of you had mentioned it might be the UV light, but I am using the same one I have been using since we got her in May so it can't be that. I measured how far it is from her dock and it is not too close. I wish it were as simple as just being the light.

Ichi is sick!!!!

2008-09-08T18:37:00.001-07:00

Now Ichi's eyes are all puffy and closed shut! The vet that we had been seeing in NYC has given Dave who happened to be in the city today new eye drop medication but I am so worried! She looks so miserable and in pain. Please pray for her.
The last few days we have been trying to figure out what was causing it and haven't been able to pinpoint anything. I wish she could tell us what is wrong.

Our new house!

2008-09-05T18:08:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't updated in weeks but we have been trying to move..... and finally made it upstate! This is our new house and we were able to go to the Agway and buy Ichigo a big stock tank and set her up. She seemed really happy but now she has swollen red eyes and it's horrible! I can't find her eye medication in all our moving boxes so I gave her drops of cod liver oil hoping that it will help. I will post pictures of both her, and Pan-kun next week. Please send good thoughts to Ichi........

What will be Pan-kun's new tank!

2008-08-17T17:33:00.001-07:00

This is the new tank set up we are buying for Pan-kun. We will pick it up right before or right after we move to the country in two weeks. The current owners are moving to LA and don't want to ship it so we are taking it over. They were happy that it was going to another turtle owner. Much of it is custom built.

This is the basking area.

This is the custom filter.

Wooooorm

2008-08-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

Pan-kun found a dried worm today outside and was walking around with it in his mouth just like the fake mouse. It was cute but just in case the worm had some sort of badness... I took it away.

Ichigo is still doing well. I've found that she likes new foods, watermelon and green peppers. She is shedding an average of one scute a day and soon enough her shell will look much healthier.

Wish I had my camera

2008-08-02T17:55:00.000-07:00

While cleaning Pan-kun's tank this morning, I had him walking around the kitchen. He sniffed at a fake mouse that one of my cats had been playing with, picked it up in his mouth and started walking around with it. I really wish I had had my camera.

More progress

2008-07-31T17:27:00.001-07:00

Here is Ichigo in her tangle of plastic plants and chewed up lettuce. This week she has surprised me by eating pellets and cuttlebone, both of which float on the surface. She also has been consistently ripping up the lettuce that I have in a veggie clip although I'm not sure how much of it she actually ingests. She is shedding scutes and overall, is still making progress. She still isn't basking in the tub so I make sure she gets a good 45 minutes or so outside in the late morning so she fully dries out and gets her UV light. I keep saying I have to or I am "walking the turtles" which is pretty funny.

Right now my main concern with Pan-kun is that his small tank tends to heat up too much during the day so I am letting a bottle of cold water float in his tank during the afternoon to cool it down. Also, it looks like his shell is going to start to shed any second but I'm not sure if the little parts flaking off are from normal shedding or previous shell rot. I am putting Silver Sulfadine on the parts that look "off" just in case it is fungal.

"Turtle Club" photos

2008-07-29T18:06:00.000-07:00

I sold vegan cookies and cupcakes at the NADA County Affair this past weekend. It was fun until a family coincidentally came through carrying two baby hatchling sliders that they had just bought in Chinatown that they actually didn't really want. (What is wrong with people!!) I was wracking my brain trying to figure out if I could handle fostering two more or where they could take them besides the city shelter which I was pretty sure would be too far away for it to be "convenient" enough for them. I called my friend who I thought might take them but there was no answer to the phone. They eventually disappeared and I am haunted by not knowing what will happen to the two cuties. I cried in the cab home and again when I got home. The awful thing is that my friend who I had tried to call would have taken them....... heartbreak.

Lettuce!

2008-07-22T18:50:00.000-07:00

Oh my gawd, Ichigo ate lettuce. I am speechless and utterly overjoyed.

Overweight

2008-07-21T20:26:00.000-07:00

So I was so busy worrying about Ichigo not eating and pooping properly that it looks like I over fed her! She has a bit of bulge coming out where her back legs come out of her shell.
Now on a diet......... ack!

I will have to be careful about over feeding Pan-kun. He will eat and eat and eat. Right now just making sure he has veggies most of the day to keep him busy but not a lot of calories and protein.

We are regulars at the vet....

2008-07-18T13:29:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a week. The dog I am dog sitting got Giardia and we had to get everyone in the house to the vet for check-ups and dewormer just in case they contracted it from her. Everyone at the vet's office kept laughing because they have seen me WAY too may times in the past few months with numerous different individuals. The tally including the dog that is staying with us - 2 dogs, 3 cats, 2 turtles.

Dave was nice enough to humor me and make Ichigo an elaborate, temporary basking dock but after a few days it was obvious that it freaked her out too much and that she was never ever going to use it so we went back to our old set up with rocks. I realize wood is not water tight but we were going to use a sealer if it looked like she liked it.Oh well. We took it out, cleaned and dried it and put a cat bed on it to see if one of the cats would use it but no takers. Dave is kind of bummed that no one likes it.

Pan-kun is hilarious as always. I wish we could give him a larger tank but he is just going to have to be okay with his tub for now, until we move. Luckily it is warm enough right now for him to go without a heater because it would really take up too much room in there.
I finally found a commercial turtle food that Ichigo will eat. It's called "Turtle Yummies". It's basically the same thing as the turtle pudding I have been making but it comes in small servings that you don't have to refrigerate till you open a packet. It doesn't provide as much leafy greens as the homemade kind but I am relieved to find this so that I don't have to make it ALL the time.
Here is a picture of the Yummies vs. the Homemade food.

Pan-kun's vet visit

2008-07-10T08:03:00.000-07:00

Pan-kun went to the vet this morning. He got a dewormer just in case and some Silvadene cream for two cuts on the underside of his shell. The vet said he is a little underweight so I can feed him a good amount everyday.

I was a bit worried about the fact that compared to Pan-kun, Ichigo doesn't poop as often but Dr. Luk said that as long as she is pooping every other day or every few days and not just once a week, that at this point she is happy with her progress. We also realized that she never got dewormed because she was initially being treated for Pneumonia so I'll take her back in a week or so just for that.

Someone asked me to post about how big Pan-kun is. His shell is about 4" long and he weighs .68 pounds.

Welcome Pan-kun

2008-07-09T14:33:00.000-07:00

So here is the new little bugger. Don't worry, this round plastic thing is not the tub he is living in, it's just for moving him, carrying him, when I need to clean his "tank" etc.
He's going to see the vet in the morning. I am mostly curious to find out if he is underweight at all and how much to feed him and if there is anything special she recommends for getting his shell back on track as it is really deformed. (You can see the severe curve in the previous picture)
He really will eat anything and everything and begs and begs while I am sitting on the toilet. It's hard to avoid looking at him in that cramped space.

Ichigo had a nice big poo last night so I am confident she is doing better. We will be able to raise the water level in her tub tomorrow finally so she will be able to swim. I think this weekend I'll ask Dave if we can work on both of the turtle's basking areas to improve and add more swimming area to both habitats.

Uh oh, I found a turtle on the sidewalk.

2008-07-07T10:08:00.001-07:00

While out walking Coleman this morning, I saw something along the sidewalk in some weeds moving. I thought it would be a baby bird but it turned out to be another Red Ear Slider turtle. Crazy. It was by a community garden so I walked over to the man on the other side of the fence and asked if the turtle lived in their pond and he said no. So I picked him up and brought him home. I got him a temporary plastic tub and I fed him and got him settled in. He is very "friendly" and will even let me hand feed him so I assume his former owners dumped him at the garden and he got out, looking for some food. He has a voracious appetite.
When Dave gets home from work, we'll figure out what to do etc, although he has already expressed interest in keep him. Good thing we are moving to the country soon because our bathroom is getting VERY crowded.

Too much energy

2008-07-06T16:22:00.000-07:00

Ichigo's feeding tube was taken out on Thursday and she has been eating well. We have to keep her water levels low till the incision in her throat heals but Ichigo has been doing her best to swim and climb in the tub and I can hear her clomping around a lot. I can't wait till I can give her a bigger enclosure so she can really get her exercise and her excess energy out.

The Tube is Coming Out

2008-07-02T19:30:00.001-07:00

Ichigo gets her tube taken out tomorrow!

Turtle Pudding!!!

2008-06-27T10:32:00.000-07:00

So I attempted to make "Turtle Pudding" which is sort of like meat and veggie jello shots. I had tried every other way of trying to get Ichigo to eat her vegetables and pellets but nothing was working so I made a fish based "pudding" last night and gave her a few cubes today and it worked! Hallelujah! I made it with more fish than I would have liked to have but I wanted to make it smell yucky enough to entice her and I figure I will lessen the amount over time and up the amount of vegetables. Hooray!
Next time I will make it with chicken so it doesn't smell so bad! And I will remember to take pictures.

Back outside for a walk

2008-06-24T10:48:00.001-07:00

Ichigo is doing very well. Her swollen eye looks to be healed and she has been eating on her own consistently. She still wont eat vegetables or pellets on her own and still is getting medication and veggies through her tube though. I am calling the vet tomorrow to see when her tube can come out. Today she went outside for a stroll in the backyard. She likes moving from one hiding spot to the next and although I would like her to do what she wants, she gets herself into places that she can't get out of on her own and also dangerous places for her tube so I have to watch her and take her out of the bushes and places she tries to climb into.

Eating on her own again

2008-06-21T15:08:00.001-07:00

Ichigo started to eat on her own again today. She had some perch.
I could swear she was smiling at me........