Here's Wampi on June 4, 2006 exactly one year after someone threw him off the roof of a 6-story apartment building.

He's doing great!

Remember how he looked after the surgery? His hair was shaved on his legs and he looked so skinny ... well, he's really fluffed out now. I call Wampi "fluffers" sometimes and he actually responds! =)

Way to go, Fluffers, er, I mean, Wampi!

Wampi is doing awesome. He gained weight, fluffed out, and really mellowed a lot ... he's not as scared of things as he was right after the accident. I'm hoping some of those bad memories have started to fade a bit.

As far as his leg goes he seems to be great. He never got the second surgery on his second leg and they said that leg would probably be lame. It's not. It healed and he can walk really well on it. When he tries to run, his back legs sort of "splay out" which is noticible from behind, but not from the front. If he goes to fast (which he likes to do) his back legs will slip out from under him and he'll fall over but nothing serious. Also, he's adapted to his handicapp and can climb over baby gates by pulling his body up by his front two legs. It is amazing! As he's gained weight, it's harder on him and sometimes he hangs on the gate and meows until I come by and let him in the room he is trying to enter.

Well, I'll be posting more pics over the summer since I'm not working two jobs right now, going to school and taking care of a baby full-time. My jobs are on hold until school starts at the end of August; ditto with school; and Avalon is at day care during the bulk of the week days freeing me up to write my dissertation! I am planning to finish and defend my thesis this coming spring. I can't wait to graduate after so many years.

Anyway, stay tuned for more pics. I can't promise them every day, but I'll do them much more often than before and probably on writing breaks. =)

Have a great summer everyone!

Yesterday was the day and it was crazy. I still had $204.94 owed on the loan and as of a few days ago, I didn't know what to do. I know I could have posted here and asked for one last final push for help but since I hadn't been posting regularly, it didn't feel right.

So here's what happened: Since late August, I started working an extra part-time job in addition to being a student, my regular part-time job with my school, being a mom and a grad student. It was too much. That, on top of the moving and a ton of problems with the new apartment including no hot water (we still don't have hot water most of the time as of today!) ... I got sick. Too much stress, not enough sleep, constant running around, things suffer. I didn't give up. I kept doing everything but I was in a daze most of the time. And I didn't get a paycheck from that extra part-time job until December (end of the semester). I thought to myself, that's ok ... as long as it's here by Dec. 14, no problem. I can pay the loan off.

Well, last week I went to check on the status of the check and there was a mishap. The check request had not gone in! I panicked. But I was able to get the paperwork fixed last Friday and I was told I would probably get the check before Christmas. My heart sank. I didn't know what I was going to do. Again, I knew I could have come here and told everyone what was going on, but I felt bad about that. I made extra money myself to pay off the loan ... I just needed to get paid.

So, I thought I'd take out a cash advance on a credit card (man, I've juggled credit cards this semester like crazy) and then pay it back with interest when the check came in.

But some sort of miracle happened.

The woman at the business office where I was to get paid took my check request in early Monday morning (Dec. 12) and a weird series of events occurred that caused the people in the office to process the check that very day! I got an email close to 5 pm saying it was ready for me.

I almost fainted.

Things had worked out! It was there! I just...I just couldn't believe it. It was as if someone was looking out for me and knew all that had gone wrong the last 6 months and decided to make things right.

I picked up the check Wednesday morning (Dec. 14), cashed it and put it in my bank. Then I called the place and had the loan balance paid out of my checking account.

It was done.

I still get emotional when I think about all this...all the things that have happened in the last 6 months. But it all worked out...Wampi is alive and doing great...I met so many amazing people from this blog...even though a horrible person threw Wampi off the roof, I realized that many good things still happen. Most people are good and want to help others and the world around them. It makes me wonder if my actions someday will be able to help someone as profoundly as everyone here has helped me.

Thank you again, all of you. You have reaffirmed my belief to "never give up." Even when people were calling me stupid and telling me to "put Wampi down, you can't afford his surgery". I know I did the only thing I could do -- the right thing -- to save his life.

p.s. - I finish with school and work tomorrow (Friday, Dec. 16) so my life will quiet back to normal for the holiday break. I'll be a mom writing my dissertation at home and hopefully putting up lots of photos of Wampi that are still on the camera. I didn't even have time to download them. One thing at a time. One thing at a time. =)

Well, I'm back. I've had a rough time lately and during the past few days I decided that I really needed to start writing again. I've felt guilty for not posting but I've had so many things piled onto me (health, home, & money problems) in the last few months that I think I just snapped and withdrew. I am so touched that people have emailed me and and asked how I'm doing. I'm going to write back to everyone, but I'll have to do it day by day ... I can only do so much each day ... it's not enough really by my old standards, but it will have to do.

And I saw there were some more donations ... I just about cried when I saw that. Here I am with all these problems overwhelming me, I stop posting and updating about Wampi, and yet, still some people care enough to donate to help me pay off the last bit of the loan. I'm in awe. It's part of what made me realize that in this hard time of mine I should come back and write here ... it comforted me so much during the summer after Wampi's "accident" ... and it can comfort me now when I feel like the world is crushing me.

Wampi is doing so great. His fur is super fluffy and he's really built upper body strength. He can pull himself up onto everything using his front paws. He still can't jump but it doesn't stop him. Total mice caught since mid-September: 5.

More tomorrow. And thanks again to all of you for being so supportive. It means so much to me during this difficult time.

Hi everyone,
Well looks like Wampi is really exploring the whole apartment and he is determined tot take a nap in every nook and corner. =)

Now that he likes to sleep in this plastic "junk" drawer, my husband doesn't have the heart to close it all the way. He leavs it cracked just in case Wampi wants to crawl in and take a snooze. And funny, but just a little crack is all he needs to put his paw in, pull as hard as he can and pull the drawer out, then he crawls in to take a nap.

I know I'm biased, but he's so cute when he's all cuddled up!



note: you can see his reflection in the plastic!


He's soooooo used to me taking pictures ... he's not even fazed.


Happy kitty.


Wampi looks like he's smiling!

Wampi is really adapting to the new place. Here you can see he is hard at work! lol.


Wampi likes to curl up in a ball on our couch. He still can't jump up there yet, but he gets up there all by himself now by "climbing up" with his front claws.


Cute position #1.


Cute position #2.



Reaching up toward the camera.


Streeeeeeeeetching.


I think he got tired of the photo session!

Here's one of the mice Wampi caught! Can you believe it? I love all types of animals but face it, it' not healthy to live with rodents and this building has got a serious -- SERIOUS -- mouse problem. I am all for Wampi catching mice ... gets him exercise and makes him feel useful and at the same time we get rid of the mice without using any type of traps or pesticides. Earlier today an exterminator hired by the building manager came by and asked if we needed our apartment baited for mice (lots of people have been complaining) and we were able to say, nope, we got our own in-residence exterminator! Wampi is a super mouser!

He caught 3 mice total and I haven't seen or heard any in awhile. He patrols the apartment and except for a little limp he has now from the "accident", you'd never guess he was near death early this summer. Go Wamp!

More Wampi in a box. =)

It is such a mystery to me! Well, as you can see Wampi is doing great and is finding lots of "comfy" places in the new apartment. And yes, I have found my USB cable! Wahoo! I have tons of pics and things to write but it is so late and I need sleep. I had to put this up though, I couldn't wait until tomorrow to let everyone know.

Tomorrow more pics!

=)

I miss posting pictures of Wampi!

He's so adorable and curious all the time ... I love taking pics of him but now I want to share them with everyone and I seriously can't find the USB cable. I found a few other USB cables but they don't work with the camera which is a pretty old one but still works great. OK, hopefully it will turn up soon.

Wampi ate a bunch of catnip and is snoozing in the bottom drawer of my husband's desk. Super duper cute. He is really happy.

Still no more mice in the apartment. I think they all packed their bags and left. =)

Yep, he's such a sweety. No more mice lately but every chance he gets he curls up in my lap and purrs. I think he approves of the move. Still no USB cable! But we are down to less than a dozen boxes and my husband says he saw the cable recently so I'm hopeful that tomorrow will be the day that I get pics back here.

Thanks everyone for sticking around through my lean posting times. Ya'll are so awesome.

Hey everyone,

My life is settling down now. My family is ok and their houses escaped Hurricane Rita even though some were caught in a nightmare 24-hour evacuation on I-45 (they have some real horror stories of people who ran out of gas and just wandered lost on the road, not to mention gangs roaming the highways...freaky). My dad didn't have to evacuate since he lives south of Houston and it didn't go that way anyway.

Today is my b-day! I didn't do much today except relax and play with the baby. Rich cooked dinner tonight. Yummy. Wampi seemed to know and curled up in my lap a lot today. His birthday was a few weeks ago and we celebrated with catnip and kitty toys even though that was only a few days after our move and we didn't have electricity. He seems to love the new apartment and has been earning his keep by catching mice! He's caught 3 to date and I haven't seen any more at all ... I think he scared them all away. Good kitty.

I'm sorry (again) for not posting regularly lately ... it's just been a really hard month. A lot of people have said to me "how do you do all that you do?" and the answer is, lately I haven't been able to do it all. I just couldn't keep up with everything and that's why my posting lagged off. Moving is hard and harder yet when you have a family and the apartment isn't ready! Geez. At least it is all coming together now and I can really start to appreciate our move. I love the new apartment and our new neighborhood is nice too. Very residential. Where we lived before was full of businesses and bars ... 24-hour bodegas on the corner and now we live in this very residential Brooklyn neighborhood. I like the change. =)

For all of you who have missed Wampi's pictures, I just wanna say that I have taken tons of photos lately but I can't find my USB cable to upload them! I looked all day yesterday (while unpacking boxes and cleaning) and today I just kind of took a break from unpacking. I still have to unpack the boxes for my desk and I'm sure it's in there but unpacking takes so long! And Wampi likes to help ... well, he likes to get inside every box I unpack and sniff at everything. LOL. He's such a cutey! He has been such a sweetheart lately. I think it's because he has some room to move around, places to hide, mice to catch. I can't wait to post a pic of him with his prize from the other day. I got a pic of him after one of his mouse hunts!

Well, that's all for now folks. I think I'm now back to blogging. It feels good to write again and share all this. I'll be back again tomorrow ... hopefully with some new photos!

=^..^=