What is going on here? Part II

Somehow this huge bird came back to the earth and coughed us up into the hands of some humans who make sounds a little different from what we are used to from our human animal companions Jim and Janet. We don't know where they are or who these strangers are, but the strangers have been good to us at least. Then, they grabbed our big boxes and helped another of those big birds swallow us up! Again! We spent a long time inside this one before, it, too, coughed us up into the hands of humans who sound stranger than those other ones! REALLY! What IS Going on here! We Hope Jim and Janet can clarify this!
The Z's apparently arrived safely in London and after a layover which was to include food and some exercise they were put on another flight to Mumbai. Pets can't come directly to Bangalore at present so they should be going through customs and inspections now in Mumbai. They should be on the plane again later to come to Bangalore. Meanwhile, our furniture shipment has been delayed in customs in Bangalore, but should be delivered tonight about 7PM. We have a mobile phone problem too, which we hope will be resolved soon. We await the Z's as top priority!

Hey! What is going on here!

This morning some stranger came an took us away in those big boxes we were enjoying so much! Now we don't like them very much- they are much too small! What is happening here? Now they put us inside of one of those birds that we would like to chase- only this one is huge! Have we been eaten by one of them? What is going on here? Our human companions can write some now.

We have been adjusting to the time difference and jet lag slowly. Janet's arm is starting to feel less painful too. This is progress. We have received our RP- Residency Permit and have been waiting a few days for our furniture to clear through customs so we can move to our apartment before the Z's arrive, which should be tomorrow. They have left home and are on their way to London as this is written. then they come to Mumbai and then Bangalore. Unfortunately, pets can no longer fly directly to Bangalore from anywhere outside of India. (Exception may be if they are accompanied by owners, but that is far from clear). Because our furniture is delayed in customs we have to stay another night in a Hotel and we have to change hotels because our present one is fully booked. A bit of a nuisance. We have good help here, though. More later.

Arrival Nov. 5, 2008

We don't know what happened to our human companions! They haven't come home and they haven't told us much but we are not happy about all of this turmoil! They can tell you what has been going on.
The flight to Frankfurt on Lufthansa was quite satisfactory and Janet's arm was not bothering her too much. There was a short layover in Germany before the flight to Bangalore. The second flight was less comfortable for both of us- with Janet's arm bothering her more. She put ice on it as much as possible. We arrived safely in Bangalore about 1:30AM and cleared through immigration and customs with no problems. We were met by a representative of the the Taj Hotels and we told him of Janet's problem, so he called the hotel and they said they would have a doctor meet us at the hotel. The ride to the hotel was tame at this hour of the night and we could see they had made some progress in the repairs of the airport road in the past 6 weeks. We arrived at the hotel and were greeted by lots of staff who took Janet to our room while Jim signed in. The Doctor did not think the injury would require surgery and mainly needed rest. We went to sleep around 4AM after trying to get a feeling for how the US elections were going, but it was really too early as the polls were just closing in some places. Later, we awoke to a phone call asking when we would be ready to do our Police Registration We said Thursday morning.
We got up slowly and had lunch and then went to HOSMAT- a hospital in Bangalore that has a large Orthopedic group, so it was recommended and close by. The hotel driver took us there along with a staff member who helped guide us through the system. We went to the emergency room and while Janet was there, Jim went to register. There was a fee to register. They then did x-rays and put a sling on Janet's arm. The doctor told us that they see no breaks in the bones and she should just rest the arm and shoulder. The sling itself was a help. The hospital bill came to about $30. We commented that the sling by itself would cost $30 at home.
We went back to the hotel and went out for a walk to look for furniture stores. We didn't find one, but found some nice crafts. On our way back to the hotel we passed the Oberoi Hotel and decided to go in and have a look around. It looks very nice and we will try their Thai Restaurant sometime. The Taj Residency staff have been extremely helpful.
We looked at Janet's xrays and could see cracks in ribs near the shoulder and wondered if the other people saw that. They might have been old injuries from here horseback riding days. We mentioned this to the hotel staff and one of the people knew a good orthopedist at Manipal Hospital, so we made an appointment to go out there for late afternoon because we had to deal with "FRRO" first. The Experience of going through this process is too painful to suggest that it be left to amateurs! We used a professional service who lead us through a procedure that we could not begin to understand. We saw some young chinese going through it and it was clear that they were baffled. We went outside and admired the birds in the trees when a man came over and explained that one of the birds was a "cuckoo". He pointed out HUGE bats and eagles too. Eventually, our professional guide told use to move to another place and then to sign in this place and then that place and in the end he handed in a stack of papers about 1cm thick. Then he said he would come back in about 36 hours to pick up our registration papers. We said ok, but we needed our passport to get our furniture from customs. This turned out to be a bit of an error because we also needed the FRRO completed!
At the end of the day we made the trip to Manipal Hospital and saw the Orthopedist there. The registration plus consultation cost about $8. The guy was very comforting and he explained the injury and treatment reasonably well. We went back to the hotel feeling that the injury will work itself out over the coming weeks. So, we then went to look at furniture.... what will look good with white cat fur on it?
Back to Ziggy and Zoe.
Something is NOT right here. We are not sure what it is, but something is brewing. They sound like they may not be coming back soon afterall!

Departure - Nov. 3

CRASH! BANG! BOOM! ...YEOOOOOOW!.....D@#$%!......That's what we heard! It was an awful day for us, but maybe it was worse for our human companions. They can write now and we'll put more later.
It was a stressful day of trying to wrap up dozens of details before departing for India. We did a huge number of things over the preceding days, weeks and months, but there are always more things to do! On this day we canceled a phone line, did laundry, washed dishes, cleaned house, sorted through countless items to pack up, received more items to take in the afternoon mail, arranged some details with a neighbor who will forward our mail, had a plumber fix a small leak in a pipe, took Ziggy and Zoe to the Vet again for their international health certificates, mailed a last minute return to a store, took showers and finished packing and turned off electronics in the house. The driver to the airport arrived 20 minutes early to apply more pressure - he was annoyed at having to wait. Just minutes before leaving Janet climbed up on a step stool to retrieve something from a high shelf and Crash! Bang! Boom! Yeooow!... she fell down on her right arm. After a few minutes she thought the arm was broken and "D@#$%!" is what was said. After awhile longer the driver came in and we all pondered what to do. Janet 's pain was subsiding, so she decided we should proceed to JFK airport- About 2 hours away. We took an ice pack and this helped the arm. Janet felt there were no other serious injuries except the arm, so we took our Flight on Lufthansa and left the USA about 10PM.
Ziggy and Zoe back again. They made us go into little boxes and took us away in the morning to the Veterinarian (they said the name enough times over the past weeks that we know its not "Vegetarian" now.) They didn't do anything too mean to us this time. They just got some papers. When we got back home there were all these suitcases around full of stuff- without us! And without our consent! There are also 2 big boxes in the living room that they keep trying to get us to go into. The boxes are a lot like the little ones used for the vet, but much bigger- they seem very nice! We wonder why they are here -they are nice to go in, but who needs them? Those loud noises late in the day were scary! We don't like loud noises! They left us and said something about seeing us soon, so we assume they will be back soon- even with all that luggage.

Halloween

There is an awful lot of activity around here! All sorts of animals similar to our companion humans keep coming around our home and making a lot of noise. We find this very disturbing! We like it to be quiet and calm and nothing changing! They can write now.
Yesterday we took some time to have dinner with and old friend and then go to see "blaze" at Van Cortlandt Manor near the Hudson River in the Hudson Valley of New York. The property is own by "Historic Hudson Valley" which manages and maintains a number of historic properties in the Hudson Valley. "Blaze" is the name they have given to a Halloween Display of amazing proportions. There are thousands of carved pumpkins arranged in hundreds of imaginative displays. Some are individual images while others are combined to make large displays. A few pictures are here to illustrate.
There are Bats galore, a few cats, other animals of all sorts and sizes.
Pirates and ghosts and zombies all over the place. There was a large section of animals of, sometimes large sizes, that were truly remarkable.
Here are a few more pictures.
It was a great place to visit with just a few days left in the USA.
Otherwise we have have remained extremely busy doing all sorts of things. Many of the things we have been doing are some of those little chores or repairs that one often puts off to deal with more important matters, but when they may not be done for a year or two, then they take on a higher priority. Ziggy and Zoe don't really know what is in store for them, but we have been arranging their transportation by the best means we can find. They don't like all the strangers in the house who are doing various tasks for us. Back to Ziggy and Zoe now.

They may not like to know it, but we do know what is going on. We really like that kitty carved out of a pumpkin- real talent there! Time to sleep some more now.

Preparations for departure

Our human animal companions have not been so nice to us lately! First they made us go away with them to a place called Cape Cod where it was windy and cold and then they brought us back home to go see a vegetarian or something like that. We don't like vegetarians because they are always handling us and taking samples and poking us! However, we are home and comfortable now, but it is cold outside! They can write some now.
As Zoe and Ziggy say, we took them to Cape Cod for a couple days while we took care of some personal business there in preparation for departure for India. They are not happy travelers! We hoped the couple days would be somewhat relaxing, but it wasn't. There are so many details to be worked out. We did spend a few hours in Wellfleet to go to the exceedingly popular "Oysterfest". There were cars parked everywhere and thousands of people. The picture shows it is not so different from Commercial Street in Bangalore! We did get a few pictures of some nice old houses.
We had to be sure to get to the beach while on the Cape, but there was a strong storm out at sea that brought strong winds and very heavy surf. The cool air seemed downright cold with the strong winds.
After we returned from the Cape we had to attend to lots more of the business of getting ourselves to India. Settling the departure date and trying to arrange with the movers to ship our furniture so it arrives about the time we do and then arranging for the transportation of Zoe and Ziggy are all major items. Toward the end of getting Ziggy and Zoe to India we had to drag them to the veterinarian to get some certifications and microchipping. The regulations in India seem quite clear until you read another source or two to find out that it isn't so clear. We are going to rely on professionals and hope that this precious cargo arrives safely. We are also trying to get the timing right so we move to our apartment and then the cats will arrive to their new home.
Zoe and Ziggy here again... those people can be pretty boring! Time to sleep again.

Movers arrive

Today we had some strange people come and start moving things all around our house. We don't like this! Then they started to take our things away! We hate this! Our human companions tried to make us feel more relaxed by putting us outside, but we know what is going on! We'll let them write some now.
As the Z's say, we have movers here today packing up some things we feel are most critical to take to Bangalore. We didn't like the beds we saw during the survey trip, so we decided to ship beds. Those are the only large items other than a comfortable chair. The apartment will be rather bare for awhile! The remaining items are a few kitchen items, a few towels, sheets and bed and bath items. The supporting items for the Z's will go too- some of those are a bit heavy. A few home office items will go too. We don't doubt that we've missed some things.
We are surprised to learn that things like pet food and our own vitamins should not be shipped with houshold stuff. We will carry what we can, but we are looking into having packages periodically sent to us with cat food and vitamins.
Our Visas and work permit arrived very quickly. It took only 7 days from our mailing to our receiving the completed passports with visas. We were told to expect it to take more than 2 weeks because of Indian Holidays, but they were fast.
With the movers taking things away, the move to India takes on a higher level of reality! We are aiming to leave at the end of October. If all goes well, this shipment of furniture will arrive about the time we do. Next hurdle is to arrange the shipping of the Z's. Back to Zoe and Ziggy now.
Boy! Did you see those big kitties in India! They look almost as big as us! And, we're HUGE at more than 10 pounds apiece! We're pretty sure we could whip those guys in a fight, but we're not really fighters. We much prefer to sleep like they do and not bother anything... except maybe birds and mice and bugs and squirrels. Time to sleep now!