Help us Make it in 2007! (if not in 2006)

Could you guide our way to PUSS? Thanks, Rudolph!

The 12 Days of Christmas

I'll not want a partridge, two turtle doves, three French hens, four calling birds, five gold rings, six geese, seven swans, eight maids, nine ladies dancing, ten lords, eleven pipers or twelve drummers.

PUSS is the best gift my true love can give to me...and the best gift I can give to him.

Let's pray.

All I Want for CHRISTMAS

Everybody tries hard
in helping me
My dear PUSS BLACK is
gone as you can see
I don't know just who
to blame for this catastrophe!
But my one wish on Christmas Eve
is as plain as it can be!

All I want for Christmas is
a bit of LUCK
a bit of luck
just a little bit of luck
All I want for Christmas is
a bit of luck
get PUSS back
and have a Merry Christmas!

Rain and Tears

Will he recognize me when he returns? I'm slowly growing older and shabbier.

How long has Puss gone? I've been waiting here for a few seasons, which should have been a very long time.

No, it's the rain; it isn't my tears. I am a chair, and a chair won't cry.

The Day We Don't Want to Rememeber

05182006

18 May 2006

May Eighteen, Two Thousand Six

2006/05/18

May 18th 2006

18052006

Two Thousand Six, May, Eighteen

2006 May 18th

5/18/2006

2006.5.18

18th day of May, 2006

18/05/2006

2006.05.18

18/5/2006

2006 May 18

The Eighteenth Day of May, Two Thousand and Six

18.05.2006

18th May 2006

2006/5/18

18.5.2006

May 18, 2006

05/18/2006

20060518

Who Was Missing on the Night of Halloween?

Do You Hear Me?

Roaring wind, torrential rain, fallen branches, crashing trees, power outages, serious floods, heavy mud slides...Inside the house, with heat and power, sitting on a couch, sipping my coffee, I felt so safe.

Heavy mud slides, serious floods, power outages, crashing trees, fallen branches, torrential rain, roaring wind...Out in the storm, so cold and dark, without a home, hiding in the bushes, drinking muddy waters, life is so hard for our stray friends outdoors.

Will The Petals Tell?

PUSS is alive

Puss is not...

The Light in the Darkness

There is an email from Salt Spring SPCA.

I'm told that a lady thinks PUSS is in her yard. The lady has now set up a live trap to get the cat.

Once she gets it, she'll take it to SPCA where the staff can check if there's an ear tattoo. Since PUSS has got a microchip, they can bring it to the vet for further confirmation.

Though everything is unconfirmed, I'm glad that there is a streak of light in the darkness...

(DD had also got several phone calls, though the cat spotted doesn't seem to be PUSS. The islanders, the only people whom we can count on, are really wonderful.)

Thinking of the Homeless

I stared at the thermometer. Finally, at around 9am this morning, the temperature climbed from below freezing point to the still chilly 1°c.

It is at this time of the year we couldn't help thinking of the homeless. People who used to have their cozy and loving homes, for some reasons, are now shivering in the cold without a proper shelter.

And there are these homeless stray pets, for reasons they can't understand, drifted farther and farther from the warmth and affection that they could remember.

Every day is a colder day.

We know how we can help the homeless people, but how can we help the homeless pets?

Five-Day Forecast

October 25 (Wed)

Partly cloudy skies, 4°c - 11°c.
161st day of Puss' disappearance.
Not a single phone call or email received.


October 26 (Thu)

Rain, 6°c - 12°c.
162nd day of Puss' disappearance.
No sighting tips.




October 27 (Fri)

Cloudy with showers, 7°c - 14°c.
163rd day of Puss' disappearance.
Puss is still on the loose.


October 28 (Sat)

Cloudy with drizzle, 7°c - 14°c.
164th day of Puss' disappearance.
No information on Puss' whereabouts.

October 29 (Sun)

Cloudy skies, 4°c - 12°c.
165th day of Puss' disappearance.
Slim chance of finding Puss.

Too Many "NO" - Canada Post

Monday afternoon, September 18, DD's mom knocked at our door.

"Some breakthrough?" I thought.

It wasn't.

She said the friend who helped them looking for Puss and whose number we put in our last flyer in June, received a call from Canada Post.

The staff of Canada Post says postering on the mailboxes is illegal.

The friend was also unhappy about his number being put on the flyer again without his prior approval.

The fact is, the new flyers didn't have his number.

???

In order not to disappoint the friend or cause him any trouble, we went to tear off all the flyers we put up in the morning and Sunday afternoon.

Now this helpful friend is leaving BC, there will no longer be someone on the island to respond immediately to the sighting tips.

On the new flyers is a (604) prefixed number, which means the people intending to relay any tips to us have to pay for long distance calls.

There is an email address on the flyer, which means the people need to have access to a PC.

The chance of finding Puss, are getting slimmer and slimmer.

Only if the person behind Canada Post could have noticed this and spared us the chance.

Friday 13!

It's said to be the scariest day of the month, if not the whole year.

Friday

13th

2+0+0+6+1+0+1+3 = 13

So when the clock strikes 13:00 hours or when the temperature hits 13°C, will these become the scariest moments?

Unlike others, the very first thing I want to see this morning is the BLACK CAT I love. (PUSS IS HIS NAME)

And I'd love to see him the whole day, every Friday 13, every 13th day of the month, every day and every year.

Finally, he's there!

God knows how happy I was to learn that DD finally went to the island to look for PUSS himself in the past Thanksgiving weekend. It's over 4-1/2 months from the day PUSS disappeared, it's late, but never too late.

He came back without PUSS on Monday, but at least I know he cares, he still wants PUSS back.

Now I have a reason to continue with what I've been doing. Hang in there PUSS, we'll soon come again and look for you!

A Time for Reunion - Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival

Putting aside the many legends of the Mid-Autumn Festival, today, the 15th day of the eighth lunar month of the lunar calendar, is a day when the families feast under the full moon, celebrating the abundance of the fall harvest, and the joy of being together. Kind of a Chinese version of the Thanksgiving Day.

Under the radiant moon, may I say a little prayer, that all stray pets will reunite with their owners the soonest?

"WHEN THE MOON IS AT ITS BRIGHTEST, WE SHALL BE TOGETHER"

Too Many "NO" - The Humane Trap

NO NO NO NO No No No NO no no no no no no NO No no no No NO No Noooooooooo

Since the reported sightings had been of dispersed locations, we were advised to put the live trap in the place of Puss' disappearance, meaning at least a chance for Puss and us.

The day before our arrival on the island we had spoken to DD's parents about the live trap, so the second thing we did when we got there was to meet them, bringing with us the trap. (DD is Puss' owner)

What welcomed us was bad news.

The neighbour living next door to DD's parents, whom they depend a lot on taking care of their property in their absence, strongly objected to placing the live trap. Reason: He has a cat himself and is pretty much against the possibility of trapping his cat instead of Puss. Then there were other doubts of catching a raccoon or other animals (we were taught how to deal with these situations), plus the consideration of other cats living around.

Without the approval of the neighbour(s), we just couldn't put the trap there.

Though, looking around at the vast green, the deep woods and the waters, we inclined to believe that Puss isn't around, but must have travelled someplace afar.

Puss, where are you? Can you hear us?

The Disappearance Scene

A left turn on Layard Road takes you to a secluded stretch of land; surrounded by woods and waters.

PUSS was last seen here, then mysteriously disappeared, on May 18, 2006, the first day of his vacation on Salt Spring Island.

Place of APPEARANCE

KANAKA ROAD...COULD PUSS BE POSSIBLY HERE IN THE BUSHES?

(1) Location Investigator Fridayah saw the black cat on Sep 18 evening; Skateboard Park & Salt Spring Middle School.

(2) Cats' Trail & Human Walking Trail into the bushes.


(3) The Cats' Trail.


(4) Another view of the bushes & nearby area.

Could it Be PUSS?

Below are what investigators Fridayah and Saturda gathered from the recent search trip.

(The area map isn't drawn to scale)

* Locations of reported black cat sightings are scattered but with one area having most repeated sightings being recorded: Kanaka Road, which is right behind Gulf Island Secondary School.

* Black cat sightings in the area can be traced back to June: (1) area close to Salt Spring Middle School; (2) Park Drive.

* On Sep 18 evening, Investigator Fridayah saw a black cat on Kanaka Road! Under the dim light and at the great distance, the black object unmoved, Fridayah then mistook it as a black hole between the road divider, having forgotten that there was no road divider there.

* When Fridayah moved closer, about 30 feet from the "black hole", the black hole moved and swiftly ran across the road, disappeared into the ditch which is overgrown with long grass and adjoins the front yards of the Kanaka Road residents.

* Investigator Fridayah could then confirm his first sight: the black hole was indeed an adult size black cat.

* A resident living at Kanaka Road told the investigators he had seen a few strays in the nearby bushes, including an all black cat without a collar. The first time he saw this black cat, was about a month ago, i.e. mid August. The strays appear in both sides of the bushes, on Kanaka Road and Park Drive.

* As far as he knows, his neighbours at Kanaka Road don't keep a black cat. (The investigators are sure that at least a charcoal cat and a white cat live at the farthest dead end of the road).

* This gentleman further added that these strays usually come out at dusk, late night or early morning. He had seen them, including the black cat, holding their necks out and eating dumped food in the ditch left by the school kids (that's how he could see the black cat wasn't wearing a collar).

* His last sighting of the black cat was on Sep 19 night, his two daughters saw it too. In the same night, investigators Fridayah and Saturda had only met a black kitten and a Siamese cat.

* From Kanaka Road, there is a walking trail leading into the bushes. Further inside is a place which is said to be a hiding place for the school kids; further down the trail you can see a pond through the branches, and the trail is indeed a short cut leading to Park Drive.

* The bushes looks like a perfect haven for strays. It offers shelter (area unreachable from the walking trail), food (fishes in the pond, quail, mice? and dumped food) and entertainment (bird and quail catching).

* It seems logical to believe this black cat the gentleman has seen to be a stray. A domestic cat with a owner won't even eat stale food, but this black cat was seen eating "dumped leftovers".

* If nobody in the immediate or close neighbourhood keeps a black cat, and if this black cat is really a stray, could it be Puss then?

..... To be continued.