Zip's Been Sick

It's taken awhile to get back on the blog - mainly because I returned to work and have been putting in long hours trying to get ready for the State monitors who will be coming in August. My energy levels are still about 85% of normal. I'm really tired and have slept most of the weekend. But enough about me...

Poor little Zip has had a terrible time with diarrhea all week long. It got so bad that I took him back to the vet on Tuesday. He tested for all kinds of parasites and all came back negative, so he opted to just treat the symptoms. We stopped the KMR and over-the-counter canned food and kibble immediately to give him special Rx canned food (expensive!) all to no avail. By Friday he had gone from extremely loose mucous-laden stools to absolute brown liquid squirting out. And his poor little anus was incredibly irritated and red. He also had to endure daily baths and Gina had a horrible mess to clean up in the bathroom each evening when she got home from work. Ugh.....

I was concerned that he might have been dehydrated. He hadn't gained any weight while Code has put on a half-pound over the last week. So I took him back to the vet on Friday and he tested him for all kinds of bacterial infections. Again, all tests came back negative. But he gave him some antibiotics and meds to treat for bacteria. This seems to have helped. Yesterday and today Zip is back to extremely loose stools. Hopefully he'll start putting on weight soon.

Here's some more videos of him & Code before the diarrhea commenced.

First Vet Visit and Bath Time

Zip is a boy & Code is a girl. Dr. May said they were both very healthy and although the fecal flotation test didn't show any worms he de-wormed them anyway. He said it's virtually impossible that they don't have roundworms. Also gave them first round of vaccinations - next ones in a month. They both have earmites and we got meds for that. He also treated both with Revolution for fleas.

They were pretty good until the tech stuck Zip in the butt for the fecal sample. He was furious and let them know it! He told us to go ahead and start feeding them kibble and gave us some Science Diet kitty to get started. He said that we could continue with the KMR and canned for a couple weeks. They should do fine on 3 feedings a day now. He said they were probably 5-6 weeks old and Zip weighs 1.1 pounds while Code is 1.3 pounds. All in all, a glowing report.

Here's what happens during bath time.

And now drying off...

Feeding Time with Zip & Code

Wathcing the kittens eat is hilarious! They make funny little noises. Well, hear for yourself...


Zip says, "Thanks Jeraine. That was delicious!"

Then proceeds to try and nurse my belly :=)

When they finish eating their little bellies are totally bloated. Thankfully they've learned very quickly to use the litter box.

Meet Zip & Code - Two New Additions to Our Family

My friend Debbie Chapman is a champion of homeless animals, as is her friend Kay, who goes to the Greenbriar Post Office daily to feed a colony of feral cats. Kay tries to capture them and get them neutered/spayed but some still are able to stay fertile. Recently she found 3 kittens and was able to rescue 2 of them. Debbie knew that Timitu, our 20 year old cat, had recently died so she asked if we might be interested in adopting one of the kittens. We decided to take both.

When we arrived at the Post Office to meet them, and Kay, we were both shocked at how tiny they are. The kittens that is. Kay is normal sized :-) Kay thinks they're only a month old. I have never adopted such young animals. Montesquieu was 10 weeks old when I got him and was about 5 times bigger than these guys. Or girls. We have no idea what gender they are.

Kay called them 'Uno' and 'Dos' but she also mentioned that she thought of calling Uno 'Zip' because s/he was always running around like crazy. Gina and I had considered several possible names. Cheech & Chong, Peanut Butter & Jelly, Venus & Serena, Donny & Marie... but not knowing their genders makes some of those not quite fit. Once we sat in the bathroom with them for 20 minutes (their realm for the time being) it became clear that 'Zip' was the perfect name for 'Uno' and Dos naturally became 'Code' since we did get them from the Post Office!



Here's Code along with the toy that Kay sent along with them. Kay also gave us food, litter, and KMR - a substitute for milk.

Now, don't you agree that these are the cutest little things in the whole wide world???????


Zip looks a bit concerned in this one!

This little space under the cabinet in Gina's bathroom will be all they need until they get a bit bigger. Expect a ton of photos to be posted in the near future :-)

China Town & Washington Square

Our final day in San Francisco and I wanted to see China Town. It was within walking distance of the hotel, but that walk was straight up a very, very steep hill. There was no denying where we were once we entered.




We walked several blocks and things started looking a little less Asian and a bit more European. Gina wanted me to take a shot of this street sign. She kept asking me to google it, but I never did. I'll let her comment on this post to explain what it's all about.

Eventually we emerged onto this lovely little park called Washington Square.
Dogs played, homeless folks slept, and old Asian ladies did Tai Chi or other group exercises.


There were really interesting looking trees in this park
and a church called the Cathedral of St. Peter & Paul.
I'm not sure which was Peter and which was Paul.

On the way back to the hotel we found some other sites of San Francisco... including Coit Tower
which reminds me of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The Stinking Rose restaurant, where they season their garlic with food :--)

And right around Jack Kerouac corner, the famous bookstore City Lights Bookseller, where Jack and his beatnik buddies hung out.


We dropped inside to see the books and I bought Annie a San Francisco cookbook as a thank you for taking care of my fish, BlueBonnet and PaintBrush, while we were gone.

Right across the street from the bookstore, was the first topless bar ever opened. And a few others that joined in rather quickly.

There were also several very intricate wall murals.


We were lucky enough to see one in the process of being made.

Gina took one last rest on bench with a couple of friends and then we were back to the hotel and on our way back home.

GLBTQ Film Festival

The Conference was finally over and I was ready to see as much as I could of San Francisco before we had to depart the next day. We decided to have dinner in the Castro and see a movie at the Castro theater. There were several theaters hosting the GLBTQ film festival.

First we went to the Gay & Lesbian historical museum. A cute little place with some interesting exhibits. Next we had dinner at Harvey's which has an interesting history. Fred Rogers (no, not the one I adore from Mr. Rogers Neighborhood) and David Manducca opened the Elephant Walk bar/restaurant in the space formerly occupied by Anderson's Pharmacy at 500 Castro St . During that time, Castro neighborhood merchant, Harvey Milk owned and operated a camera shop up the street from The Elephant Walk. He praised the bar and hailed it as a place where the gay community could meet, feel safe and secure while at the same time be visible to the whole world. Milk soon became known for his passion and was dubbed the "Mayor of the Castro" --a title that suited him well and permitted him to be a voice and heart for the community.

The Elephant Walk bar began to thrive as people within the community embraced their sexuality. The Elephant Walk brought the community together and in the 1970s became a venue for internationally renowned singer and performer Sylvester . As gay culture grew and the neighborhood took shape, Milk became increasingly inspired and motivated by his community's support. It wasn't long before he progressed from the Mayor of the Castro to becoming the first openly gay member elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Not only was this promotion a feat for Milk and his career, but for the gay community as well.

Harvey took office on January 8, 1978 and his new role on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors was not without controversy. Tragically, on November 27th, 1978, both Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone were shot and killed in their City Hall offices by fellow board member Supervisor Dan White. After Harvey Milk was murdered, his camera shop space was taken over by the Human Rights Campaign. They have a few of his ashes under the sidewalk outside.


The Elephant Walk continued to thrive until December 2, 1988 when a fire nearly destroyed the building. It took four years and a lot of work to complete its restoration, and in 1996 the owner of the building reopened the bar as "Harvey's", in memory of the Great Harvey Milk. He was known the community over as a fun-loving person who would have loved the thought of a place where gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people could thrive, raise gay consciousness and a sense of our history.

The Castro theater was quite elaborate inside, rather like the River Oaks theater, only it hasn't been divided up into 3 cinemas. The balcony still stands as it did originally. About 10 minutes before the movie started, this organ and man emerged from the stage. It was a hoot!

When he finished playing, the show began. It was about a country singer named Chely Wright who came out as a lesbian. She and her fiance made a surprise visit and were introduced at the end of the movie for a Q&A with the producers.

Not being a big fan of country music, I'd never heard of her. But her story of struggle coming to terms with her sexuality and living honestly were fairly universal.

After the show we dropped in on a cookie shop next door for some late night treats, then took a taxi back to the hotel.

Haight-Ashbury

During the last day of the Conference for me, Gina made friends with one of the wives of a fellow conference attendee and the two of them took out for the Haight. You can get there by trolley, which is much easier than walking those steep hills!


The Haight is quite retro, having hung onto the 60s season of love much longer than one would think humanly possible.



And there were several unique shops - to say the least!



And though these aren't the Painted Ladies, I think they're just as nice.

The Castro

Tuesday it was back to the Conference all day for me and Gina went exploring the city on her own. She spent most of the day in the Castro District -- Mecca for gays & lesbians. It was Gay Pride week so there was a lot of activity, but unfortunately the parade was going to happen on Saturday after we'd already gone back home.

Here's that humongous flag we saw way up Market Street on Sunday.

And the famous Castro Theater, built in 1920s for $300,000!



There are some rather funny business names...



Like most of San Francisco, it's got lots of hills...


and rainbow flags fly everywhere --even on tiny dogs.


Gina found these 2 cuties all dolled up for Pride Week.


About 6PM we met up with friends of ours who have a home here in Houston and one in SF. They have a business that requires them to split time between the two cities. They took us to a nice vegetarian restaurant, then went on the opera. Unfortunately we didn't have the camera with us. We did a little walking around Union Square afterwards and got dessert at Cheesecake Factory to go, eating it back in the hotel room. So ended day 3 of our San Francisco adventure.

Finally I Get Some Fun

When the conference broke for the day (at 5:30PM!) I took a taxi to the 39th Pier to meet up with Gina & the gang for dinner. They took a pedicab from where they docked to the 39th -- should have gotten a photo of that! Poor guy who had to pedal with the 4 of them in the back :-)

We met at a restaurant themed around a famous Tom Hanks movie. Here's a hint:

Did you guess it? Bubba Gump's Shrimp House! It was situated right on the water. Don't we look happy to be there?

Although the food was just so-so, Lori seemed to really enjoy the themed tall glass of beer. It was a two-hander!


Pier 39 is quite similar to the Kemah Boardwalk. Lots of restaurants, rides, and souvenir shops. And also a place where you can see the sea lions laze around. I'm not sure if that one is waving to us or is about to roll off the pier.