Giana Peranio-paz 82  

First of all I love animals, and I mean all of them, except maybe for a cockroach or two, fleas, ticks, gnats and mosquitoes. I have always owned cats and never had the pleasure of raising a dog. I have raised fish, parakeets, guinea pigs and even a lettuce worm... I was even bitten once by a mole I tried digging up - I couldn't identify head nor tail... Animals give me so much pleasure and contentment, I could never live without one. Now that I am into care2 in earnest, I find that other issues are also very important to me and cause me to react strongly. I also love the people I meet on this web. They are really fantastic and committed to their causes.

August 2012 - I am really becoming a nuisance with all this "stopped eating meat" hoorays for myself, but for me this is a great event and a great change. I am feeling much better physically and don't miss meat at all. Do fish and tuna salad count? I still have some of that occasionally... I hope I can continue this diet - it's only for the good!

End of August 2012 - I am still a vegetarian and have been tested several times, at barbecues, restaurants and weddings. I don't miss meat and find that there are enough tasty choices without it.

I did two good things: I participated in having a female cat, who I have named Polly, sterilized, as she was warn out from giving birth so many times. She lives outside my work building together with several other cats who are well fed from our kitchen. I donated cash in this case.

29 August, 2012 - Yesterday, I took a small black kitten, who I have named Sammy, to the shelter to go through an operation for taking out his left eye, it was completely out of its socket, some sort of accident, and he was also spayed and vaccinated and marked. (Here in Israel stray cats who are spayed or sterilized have the tip of one ear cut off as a sign that they have gone through this operation). I am waiting to get the o.k. from the vet that he is well and will go and get him this morning. I collected money from all my co-workers to cover the procedure and to donate money to the shelter! I feel very proud of myself.

Update - September 2012 - Sammy, the one eyed black kitten, is doing great, very happy, running around and playing with his friends, being fed and pampered by all the kitchen staff. I am very happy!

October 4th - Animals Day - just the day to go through such an ordeal! Last night some idiot let two terrible dogs free to wander in our neighborhood - an Amstaff and a mongrel - and they attacked a poor half paralyzed blind in one eye cat - such a sweetheart, who belongs to the vet who lives next door to me. The dogs had chips and the vet called the municipality to take them to be quarantined. We restrained them and tied them to a post next to my house and they stayed there for two hours, until they were picked up by the authorities. The poor cat was a mess and we don't know if it will live. I talked to the vet this morning and she wasn't sure what its actual condition was, or if there were any internal injuries. I am very depressed and angry at the irresponsible dog owner, who was just visiting his parents from a different city. Let's hope the cat recovers!

October 10th - The cat is a little better, still has to be hand fed, but the vet says he walks a little better, so there is still hope. He has no control over his bowels and urine because his nerves were severed by the dogs. Let's hope he heals completely.

October 12th - The precious cat heard my voice and came up to the bars of his cage and I rubbed his head and he purred! He hadn't eaten on his own till today and I quickly ran and got him "Fancy Feast" (my own cat's favorite treat) and he finished the whole bowl! I was so happy! He still has trouble walking and must be kept in the cage at the vet's but at least there is a great improvement. Cats know who really loves them! 

On October 11th I e-mailed my absentee ballot to Henderson County NC - Obama, Democrats, Women. Am so proud of myself. Every vote counts this time around. This is the second time in my life that I have voted in the USA, as an absentee, both for Obama.

November 2012 - well my vet's sweet cat is much better. He is let out during the day and is very affectionate. I was told that he even jumped on her car roof so this means that his muscles are healing. I am very worried, though, about jackals who have been coming to my front yard and howling during the night. Wild boars, too. I know that jackals have been known to eat cats and since we have invaded their natural habitat, they have no food and are getting closer and closer to humans. I just hope they don't start killing off all our street cats, I love them so. My daughter, who lives where the jackals are around every night, says that there are no more female cats or kittens around, just big males. Could it be that the jackals are killing them off?

November 24th - well, managed to survive the small war in Gaza and life has gone back to normal. My care2 were great, worrying about me and sending me warm encouraging words! They really made me feel better. I really don't know what to believe anymore. The reporting is so contrary and contradicting! I guess us simple folks will never really what is really going on, and maybe it's better that way. But, whenever I read anti Israeli posts, blaming Israel for everything, I really became upset. I guess I am a patriot at heart!

January 2013! Happy New Year! Not much to report only that the injured cat completely recovered and that all the cats at work are fine. Still working at becoming a better person, with several setbacks, which I am trying to overcome. It's important to be able to stay unaffected by the behavior of others although this is quite a difficult feat, to be sure! Sometimes I just turn against myself out of frustration, when I hit a brick wall. Hope I learn to stop this self-destructive Scorpio behavior!

February 3rd - I feel the need to write several lines in memory of my friend Mira, who passed away suddenly three days ago, after going through radiation and chemotherapy for a breast tumor. She was a wonderful woman and her passing was a real shock to me as the last time I talked with her she seemed to be feeling better and getting up and about with friends. So sad! She left three growing children (teenagers) and was 49 years old. This disease is spreading and I know many people suffering from it. It must be our polluted environment and wrong way of living, against nature and all that is good and right!

Because of my girlfriend's death I completely forgot to put down my thoughts on the last elections here in Israel on January 22nd! I was so depressed, to have to watch Bibi's face again and hear his voice! We have become very right winged and this scares the hell out of me. The voices we hear are frightening! I voted left and my party doubled its votes but still, the majority goes to the idiots who ruin our world and relish in wars, mostly men of course, because of a majority of idiots who vote for them with their stomach and not with their brains! We can only hope for the best!

March 21st, 2013 - Obama is in Israel and for some reason I am not overly excited. I thought I would be more happy but I guess I feel like it's all a big show and I have no faith in my government or its agenda. I will be in the US in North Carolina between May 6th and the 19th and feel like there are some close friends here on care2 I would like to actually speak to, but maybe this is requesting too much, as many people prefer to be in contact only virtually and not by phone.
All my cats are fine and things seem to be looking up. I feel like I am being called on by some force to do something for this poor earth, but I still don't know what it actually is. I guess that if I just continue doing what I have been doing I will know what it is eventually. I have been more in contact with the Native American in me (some time in past lives) and I feel that this calling originates from there. I will just have to be patient and wait and see.

May 12th, 2013 - I am now in North Carolina, visiting my mother, on Mother's Day (how appropriate) and I just helped her move and will be assisting her after an eye operation tomorrow. I am thrilled to be able to talk to several of my close friends on Care2 on the phone, and it was really a lot of fun. It seems I cannot stop the conversations, there is so much to say and to talk about. I love you dear friends, so warm, intelligent and worldly. The only problem is that my mother's cat, Alfie, just hates me and keeps hissing and spitting at me - me - such a cat lover! I am so insulted! It must be something in one of my past lives, I was probably a foe - my mother thinks it may be competition for her affection, who knows. Anyway, if I ever inherit him, I don't know what I would do, I won't be able to take him to Israel. He is 5 years old and my mother's 85 so who knows??? Things in Israel are pretty crazy now, the new government has changed it's financial policy and we are heading for very rough years. But I am one of the lucky ones so I am not worried.

May 28th - so much has happened during these three weeks that I can't even begin to write about it. After I moved with my mother and she had an operation in her eye, she suddenly had a stroke in the kitchen and passed away two days later. I mean, it was such a shock, me losing my mother like that, alone in the US. Of course, luckily I had many of my parents' friends to support me and Care2 were fantastic, trying to help me place my mother's cat Alfie in a good home. I would never sleep at night again if I had to put him in a shelter! Well, I found a wonderful family who took him and from what I hear he is doing well. My husband arrived from Israel to assist me emotionally and with all the arrangements. It is mind boggling. Today we will have a ceremony for scattering of the ashes in the same location we did this for my father five years ago. I am quite mixed up and miss my home and children but I know I have to stay one more week to take care of things. I am still quite anxious regarding what is waiting for me at work having been away for a month! But I guess everything will be o.k. - most of the time it is.