goodbye, the tiny little love of mine.

We said goodbye to Ginger, our tiny little Siamese mix last Monday the 18th.


Ginger was really small as a kitten.

How small was she?


Really small!


She was really small as a full-grown cat, too.

I will miss her dearly, but I was glad she was not in pain when we let her go.


I will miss having her sitting by me when I surf online late at night.


I will think back at the time when she liked the bread I made.


She really liked the bread I made.


I will also remember how, the day before she said goodbye to us, she came out in the front room and enjoyed the bright sun coming through the window.

ginger sighting

Ginger has been shy about coming out to play with the others since Torsion came to stay with us. I was a little sad about it, but at least she still comes when I call for her if she knows Torsion is not near.

I usually stay up Saturday night and watch some silly Japanese shows on my computer in the kitchen. Ginger would always come by and stay up with me. Since Torsion came she hasn't done it for a while... she doesn't like to "show herself" at all.

This past Saturday before heading to bed John put up a baby gate at the bedroom door so Torsion couldn't roam around the house (and the other dogs and cats can jump over.) I went to the kitchen, made some tea, and pulled out my laptop.

After a short while Ginger came!


She sat at her usual spot and watched me.


Making sure everything was OK on the table.


I *heart* Ginger.


Fuzzy and cute.


She was cautious and very aware of her surroundings for a while.


Then she felt more comfortable and just relaxed next to me for a long time.

I really hope she comes out of her shyness and realizes Torsion didn't mean her harm when he chased her that few times.


As a result of her hiding so much is that she doesn't eat as much. I think she actually lost some weight!

Ginger was chubby, and she still sort of is, but losing a little bit of weight is probably not a bad thing.

I hope she comes out more often.

bread in a clay pot

I had read about baking in a clay pot, but never tried it until now.

I let the artisan bread dough rise for a few hours to ensure the better texture inside the bread. About 15 minutes before baking, I placed a Japanese clay pot (nabe... it was all I have in hand) inside the oven, and preheat it to about 450 F.

When the oven and clay pot were heated, I floured and placed the dough onto a sheet of parchment paper, and carefully removed the lid of the pot (with an oven mitt, of course), drop the parchment paper and dough into the pot, and re-placed the lid. I baked the bread on convection for about 15 minutes, and then removed the lid of the pot and continue baking for another 5 minutes or so.

**The clay pot was super hot. Oven mitts must be present the whole time when handling the heated pot.**


My first clay-pot baked artisan bread.


Since I let the dough rise for hours, it almost had some sourdough characteristics.


Interesting enough, Ginger wanted some.


"Gimme da bread."

The crust was light and delicious, and the inside of the bread (the crumb) was soft and slightly chewy. I liked it. I'm going to bake another loaf in the clay pot soon.

my tiny little guard

During the Christmas holiday I'd stay up late and just surf online, talk to friends, or work on projects. Everyone would be sleeping, but there was one little guy who'd stay up with me and keep me company through the late hours. She actually does it every late night (usually only on weekends) that I stay up.


It's Ginger!

She'd usually sit on one of the chairs by the dining room table (where I usually use my laptop), facing away, and keeping an eye on everyone that's coming into the kitchen. She'd stand up as soon as someone comes in. It's really cute.


Once in a while she'd sneak onto the table.


She'd also come and sniff(?) me if I pet her.


And a lot of times she'd just come and sit by my laptop to monitor(?)/check out what I'm reading online!

She's my tiny little guard late at night!

ginger is ok

After Ginger's Scary Plastic Bag Moment Sunday, I checked all the areas the animals can get their paws on in the house and removed most of the items that were potentially hazardous. I realize almost everything can be "potentially hazardous" to the animals, and that anything can still happen (like someone chewed up the an unopened bag of cookies or a piece of furniture... it could happen....), but I'd like to minimize the possibilities of the scary moments ever happen again to our pets.



Ginger seems to have been over the incident, and is following and chillin' with me around the house again.

ginger and the plastic bag

I was in the bathroom getting ready to go out this morning, and I heard someone running super fast with a plastic bag down the hallway and into the bedroom. I then heard the same someone running back to the big TV room.

I figured it was Ginger, so I said, "Hey Ginger!" Then I heard the same plastic noise back into the bedroom. I followed her into the bedroom, and saw the plastic bag that had a small bag of chips was at one of the legs of the bed frame.

I almost passed out! Apparently Ginger got caught in a plastic bag from the big TV room and she panicked and started running and trying to get rid of it. The plastic bag was torn, and she was nowhere to be seen.

After a while I still didn't see her, so I asked John for help. We looked for her for a while, and we heard her run upstairs. We eventually saw her under a side table, and Jasper was sitting on the chair next to it and looking at us.

John got down and saw that a piece of plastic was still around Ginger!

He carefully petted her and calmed her down, and slowly got the plastic off her. She stayed under the side table for quite a while and still seemed a little shocked.

Later in the afternoon she was fine and was hanging out with the dogs up the stairs. I'm relieved.



We all know that we don't leave plastic bags around kids, and apparently not around animals either. We had some unopened bags of treats downstairs, which were in an open plastic grocery bag. We really shouldn't have left it there.

I'm glad Ginger is not hurt and seems to be happy and OK now, but I know I really have to be more careful around the house. I never leave anything laying out that's potentially hazardous to the animals, but apparently I was not careful enough this time. Both John and I will be super careful from now on.

cell phone pics

I'm starting to sense that my pink RAZR is about to die. After all I've had it for almost 2 years. It's about time I get a new phone.

I've taken some fun pics with my phone, and from what I understand there's not a device where you can connect your old phone to a new one and transfer all the photos (unless you have an SD memory chip... but I don't have one in my phone), so the best way taht I know to "preserve" the pictures is to send them to my email account... one at a time that is.

So this is what I've been doing. I think it's going to take a while, because I have somewhere around 200 pictures in my phone. I think I'll save most of them because they are usually of one of my dogs or cats being all quiet (usually when I see them being still and try to get my camera, the'd already move to another spot), and/or where there's fun or interesting things/people that I see when I forget my regular camera. Gotta save them all because they are all special!

I also found Yama and Ginger's pictures are what I took the most of our pets with my phone... I guess they are the only two that wouldn't move too much when I say "stay."


Ginger staring at me in the bathroom.


Yama on the fuzzy Lovesac.

hanging out

Jasper, Naicha, and Ginger like to hang out and enjoy the sunshine together in the front room.

peeping ginger

I was organizing some of my photos and noticed that many of the dog pictures that were taken inside the house would also show a tiny pair of sparkly eyes...


like this one...
It's Ginger peeping on top of the stairs and behind the dogs!


She likes to check out Naicha as well.
She's kind of silly, though, because when I try to take her picture, she'll run and try to be shy. Hmm...

kitty by the lappy

Every time I'm browsing online in my bed a kitty or two would happily join me and bump their heads on the screen. Cute, annoying sometimes, but cute.