How Was Your Summer, Part 6

I might have had a lot on my mind at the end of June, beginning of July. But helping Becky find a forever home for the waif in the bathroom was never far away. I posted and reposted the photos. I sent inquiries to no-kill shelters in the east and southeast Virginia area. All were full of kittens. They empathized, but no one was willing to take a kitten. Then a co-worker of Becky's came forward.

She would provide the kitten with a home. Her son had seen the photos and was in love. They would come get the girl the week before I was slated to come to Virginia on vacation. I was thrilled. Then it all fell apart.

I'm not privy to why it fell apart; it just did. We were back to square one. Becky was devastated. "I don't know what to do. It can't live in my bathroom. At some point, Zia (one of her dogs), is going to figure out how to get the door open and I fear Zia will kill her. And there's the whole allergy thing." I looked around my house. I have two girls I adore. Was my house and my heart and life big enough for a kitten? I decided it was and I offered to take the kitten if no one came forward.

Becky pushed everyone at the hospital where she worked. She showed countless people the photos. No one wanted her. So, the day after I arrived, she and Jon came to Carole and Larry's to play games and to bring this little gal, who I was taking home with me. I couldn't come up with a girl's name. I struggled and struggled. I always told myself that if I ever got to name a female cat again, she would be called "Rosalind", after the main character in Shakespeare's As You Like It, one of my favorite plays. But, as I drove east, it just didn't sit right. I finally settled on "Esme", for "Esme Weatherwax", a character in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. I don't really like Esme, but nothing seemed quite right.

"The naming of cats is a difficult matter. It isn't just one of your holiday games." --T.S. Eliot; Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. 

We put the kitten in my bedroom with food, water and her litter box. The bedroom was about twice the size of the bathroom, plus, there were windows she could look out. She warmed up to me almost instantly and spent half of the night sleeping either on or next to me. We let her come out of the room, supervised, the next day. Carole's cats were unimpressed, except for Jacen and Jaina. Jaina was upset and hissed, growled and spit at the kitten when it came out of the room. Jacen, on the other hand, was really excited to meet Esme and the two of them chased each other, tumbling around on the carpet under the bed. Becky had done a very good job of socialization. There was one problem. This was not a girl. This was a boy.

We had a huge laugh. In Becky's defense, she'd never cared for kittens so had no idea what to look for, shall we say. Well, that changes the naming convention, doesn't it. Esme Weatherwax went right out the window. Immediately, I knew what his name would be, "Hamlet". I don't know why; I just knew. My first cat had been named "Shakespeare". This felt right.

On Monday, July 18th, I left Virginia at 5 in the morning with a kitten under the passenger seat of the car. That's where he stayed the entire trip home, coming out only to use the litter box and to have food and water. When I stopped for food myself, I would check on him. He was quite the trooper. The next day, he went to the vet.

Becky had mentioned she supplemented the wet and dry food with milk supplement for kittens for the first couple of weeks he lived with her. My vet was impressed. He seemed healthy. She felt he was around 4 months old which would be consistent with his size and needing milk supplement when Becky found him. We drew blood to check for feline leukemia. He had ear mites, which was to be expected and he also had fleas. I wound up having to treat everyone for fleas from July through last month. But other than those issues, he's a healthy kitten.

He spent the rest of July and most of August living in the office. I would go in and play with him but contact with the girls was minimal. I would put him in my bedroom and leave the door open so the girls could go into that room and smell his scent. After being in the office for a month, I let him out when I was home. Over Labor Day, I let him out at night, too. No one was allowed into the basement through the month of September, something Pilchard was not pleased with. My rationale was that he needed to learn his name and to come when I called. There are so many hiding places in the basement. One step at a time. He was spayed in September, getting the rest of his shots at that time, too.

There was a lot of hissing, yowling and growling. I opened the basement up in mid-October and allowed Hamlet to go outside during the end of October, when we had some wonderfully warm afternoons and weekends.

But have I made the right decision? Mija and Pilchard are not happy.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

How Was Your Summer, Part 5

This story begins in May. My friend, Becky, who lives in Richmond, Virginia, came home one night during a rain storm. She parked and started to run into her house, but was stopped in her tracks by the most pitiful meow she's ever heard. Investigating, she found a kitten in the culvert near her house, trying to stay up out of the water. Angry that someone would dump a kitten in the first place and then double angry they would do that during heavy rains, she fished it out of the culvert and took it to her neighbor next door. This lady is, unfortunately, a cat hoarder. The woman was very dismissive and told Becky to leave the kitten, with food, in a cat carrier on her font porch. "Momma cat will come looking for it."

Becky checked in but it was clear that, after 2 days a) momma cat wasn't coming and b) the woman wasn't feeding the kitten. Outraged, Becky took it and the carrier into her spare bathroom. She gave it a warm towel and immediately ran to the pet store for food and litter.

When she got her settled in the bathroom, she posted the above photo on her Facebook page.

The poor thing was terrified.

It wouldn't eat and it clearly didn't want to have anything to do with Becky. She is allergic to cats, as is her husband, Jon. They have 3 rescue dogs and the dogs were going nuts over the smell of a cat in the house. She knew she needed to get this kitten socialized to have any chance of finding it a home.

It finally ate the day after it was brought into the bathroom. She came home and checked on it and the food was gone. She had used the litter box, too. But this whole idea of a human was not something she was excited about, particularly, as this human smelled like a dog. Becky persevered and, by day 6, she was coming out of the carrier when Becky was around, to eat.

There was initial interest in the kitten. People who know Becky know she is going to do right by an animal. She kept the carrier clean and she made sure there was fresh food and water daily. The big thing was socializing the kitten to humans. One of the dogs barged into the room and the kitten fled under a shelf unit.

It took 30 minutes to get her out.

Eventually, the kitten warmed up to Becky and to Jon, but he's much more allergic to cats than Becky is and he could only be with the kitten to play for 30 minutes once a day.

She was an inquisitive ball of fluff, friendly and active and clearly fond of exploring and of Becky. The first home fell through. A second one came forward, but it, too, fell through. Becky started calling humane societies and shelters in the Richmond area. There are no-kill shelters but they were at capacity with kittens and a friend told her not to take the kitten to the Richmond Animal Shelter. They may advertise as no-kill, but they will probably put the kitten down because they have no space. How could anyone resist such a face?

I thought about it. I did what I could from Illinois; reposting and offering to bring the kitten back to Illinois if someone was interested. Finally, a colleague of Becky's saw the post, showed her son who fell in love with this gal. She was going to have a "furr-ever" home.

Or so we thought.

Beverage:  Belhaven Oatmeal Stout

Deb

How Was Your Summer, Part 4

So, I'm home, going on 6 months now, with a new-to-me car. Yes, it's 5 years old, but it was not driven very much and was well-maintained. These two things made the price more, but also contributed to the attractiveness of the vehicle.

I got asked, quite a bit, that first week, what was the difference between the Jeep and the Malibu.

1. The Malibu runs. I did have to put new tires on it because it sat on the lot for some months and the tires exhibited dry rot. I could see that. But, my mechanic gave it a 100% and said I'd done very well. 
2. Air conditioning. Gone are the days of taking off the windows and driving 65 just for a breeze. 
3. Cruise control. The first big thing I did was to drive to Virginia to see Larry and Carole. I will have issues on these long trips with my calves tightening. With cruise control, I could stretch out my legs and not lose travel time. 
   
4. Gas mileage. On a good day; open road driving; I could get 16, maybe 17 miles per gallon in the Jeep. My last trip to Virginia gave me an average of 38 mpg. When you are trying to make every penny count, not needing to fill up the tank as often is a blessing. 
5. Comfort. The seats are cloth and are very comfortable. I can move them forward and backward and up and down. 
6. A radio and CD player that work all the time. I was having issues with the CD player portion of the Jeep's radio. The Malibu has the ability to get Sirius XM radio. Thanks to my insurance, I can get 3 years of basic On*Star services free. When I called to sign up, I was given the full package free for 3 months to try it. That comes with a free 3 month subscription to Sirius XM. I may renew On*Star but I won't be renewing Sirius. The have exactly 4 jazz stations; something called "breakfast jazz", which is what I call "smooth jazz" and which I would never listen to; 1940's radio; All Sinatra; and a "miscellaneous" channel which is just awful. Sirius is for sports and current music lovers. It is not for me. 
7. Defrosters which work incredibly well. At our first frost in November, I didn't scrape. I came out early, started the car and cranked on the defrosters to see how fast they would work. 5 minutes and I could drive out the drive with adequate view. 8 minutes and 90% of the windshield was clear. The rear window defrosters get it clear in 3 minutes. 
   
8. Windshield wipers which work reliably. 
9. Adjustable side mirrors, door locks and the ability to roll down windows, all from the driver's side. 
10. An instrument console with so much information at my fingertips. I see air temperature; here 100 degrees. I see tire pressure and oil life. I see gas mileage and average speed for the current tank of gas. And I have an extremely reliable gas distance meter. I know how far I can go with what's in the tank. This was good on the trips to Virginia. Oh, I should get gas now because there aren't stations between here and when I'd be running on fumes. 
    
11. Multi-faceted interior lights that work, front and back. 
12. Cup holders everywhere. I keep bottled water in the car and there are several places to actually put a bottle of water so it's not rolling around. 
13. A trunk. This is the biggest thing I've had to get used to. I do not have to stick the groceries in the front seat. I can put them in the trunk. 
    

I lost one of my bumper stickers.

This had been on the Jeep for a very, very long time. I removed it and it just crumbled. One of the problems of the Malibu is that the bumpers are heavy gauge plastic. I don't want to adhere stickers to the bumper and not be able to change my sentiments. My bumper stickers were on these magnetized strips which I would remove and replace, sticking the old ones on the side of the fridge. On the way to Virginia, the only sticker I had was an Iowa Hawkeyes sticker on a magnet, stuck to the trunk.

I had been given a minion decal a couple years ago but really didn't want to put it on the Jeep. It was perfect on the Malibu.

Then, probably when I stopped for a potty break in Indiana, someone peeled off the minion decal and swiped the Hawkeye bumper sticker. I didn't notice until the day after Thanksgiving when I was outside at Carole's helping with Christmas lights.

Seriously. Who does stuff like this? I was really angry. Nothing I can do about it, however. Ironically, I put the bumper sticker on the car at the beginning of football season. It had lasted through a number of trips into Chicago where you'd think sticky fingers would abound. It took a rest stop in Indiana to have it stolen. I replaced the minion decal with a decal supporting Ocearch a non-profit which does research into sharks off the east coast.

I also added, in the rear window, a Cubs decal.

That will be its own post. Unfortunately, it popped off with the first snow so I have to figure out how to attach it to the window so it stays. The sticky side is on the back side of the decal. If I stick it to the inside of the window, the decal will be backwards. Right now, it's stuck to the side of the fridge where I won't lose it.

Carole and Larry gave me new floor mats.

They are doing their job because the back yard, thanks to an abundance of rain, is a swamp and extremely muddy. I will need to hose these off once the air temperature gets and stays, above 60.

Larry also helped me put Jack Skellington back on the car. The Malibu does not have an antenna. What's there is compact and the antenna topper I bought in 2015, was not going to work. I hit upon the idea of attaching the topper to one of those 3M easy hang picture hangers. They had one with a metal hook, just the right size for the topper. But the adhesive on the hanger would not stick to the plastic of the dash where I wanted to put it.

I tried Elmer's glue, but, when it got hot inside the car, the glue melted and popped off. Larry had a tube of brand new super glue. If I feel I'm going to be anywhere the topper could attract unwanted attention, I can pop it off the hanger and stick it in the center storage well.

It took until mid-September to get the license plates all squared away. It took a bit for the DMV to understand I wanted to transfer the title and get completely new plates, but with my personalization. It was expensive, another cost I had not factored in when I bought the car.

I was so excited when they finally came.

So, it's all mine. Everything has sorted itself out. I've gone to Virginia twice in it and the trips have been comfortable. I see Jeeps on the road and it's hard to remember what it was like to drive the Jeep, although I loved that car. It was time to move on.

Beverage:  Belhaven Oatmeal Stout

Deb

How Was Your Summer, Part 3

It was a, mercifully, quiet July 4th. I was terrified of driving anywhere in the rental car so I think I drove to the grocery and a couple other errands and drove home. The insurance company of the truck driver had called to make sure I was okay and to go over the steps to getting the car fixed.

"We're going to make this right," the gal said. I asked her to put things in an email, so, if my insurance company asked about anything, since the sheriff had taken my information, I would have it all in writing. That was done. All that was left was to wait on the inspection of the Jeep.

On July 6th, Wehr's called. The appraiser had totaled the car. He said there was engine damage, something I wouldn't have been able to determine since I don't know cars. They would give the dealer the full value of the car as it had been on the lot, or they would pay him the scrap value for him to fix it. He told me, when a car is "scrapped", even fixed, I would have a tough time convincing the bank there wasn't something dreadfully wrong with it.

I was heartbroken. I had pinned my hopes on that car. It was so perfect. Now, I felt real rage at that kid. My mind echoed the words of the roller guy. "How the hell do you not know who is following you?" Your driver's license should be shredded and your momma should drive you around for 6 YEARS, yes, YEARS, so you learn how to drive, you sniveling piece of humanity. I was crushed. There was more to come. His insurance emailed, not called, the news that because I didn't own the car, they would not pay for the rental. I would have needed to get a rental because my original car had died. Because the dealer owned the car, he would be reimbursed. I sent them a copy of the email where they had agreed to pay the rental. I was told that was not official and was pending review. My insurance told me a claim for rental would increase my rates (which is probably not true and was their way of getting out of the claim) because I would be seen as having caused the accident even though I could get proof it was not me.

That night, I cried for a couple hours. I've always felt a little snake bit, if you will, by life. This was yet another example of kicking me while I was down. It hurt so much. I would have to find a car. I stumbled into the office the next day, keeping my personal issues silent. Mike asked if I was okay. I simply said, "They totaled the car. I have to find another." He said, "Take all the time you need."

About mid-morning, Wehr's called the office and said the paperwork to scrap the Jeep had arrived. They knew that was heartbreaking for me. They did have, on the lot, two other cars I'd maybe like to consider. They were cars, not SUVs, so they didn't know if I had my heart set on another SUV. I called Carole and apprised her of the situation and she pounced on car research. She looked at both of the cars Wehr's suggested and looked at cars within a 50 mile radius of me. She found some, but one of the big issues was, what to do with the Jeep. I'd have to find someone to tow it back here to be scrapped or find someone out there willing to pay me $150 for it. Wehr's was still willing to take the Jeep.

I talked to the bank. They approved me for a higher amount if I wanted to buy either of the cars Wehr's had. I thought about it; really thought about it; and talked it over with Carole. I decided to test drive a 2011 Chevy Malibu Wehr's had on the lot. It was low mileage and nothing wrong with it. It was $3,000 more than the Compass, but the low mileage was attractive to me. I drove to Bangor on the day I was to do the final inspection to give it a test drive.

I loved it. Carole said the other car they suggested, a 2013 Chevy Impala, might be better because it was bigger. It was the same price, but it had double the mileage of the Malibu. I called my bank and they talked with Wehr's and we agreed to do the same thing as before. I signed everything I could there. They faxed everything to my bank. The next day, I would come in, finish the paperwork and they would next day everything back to Wehr's. We joked about how I probably needed to stay 4 or 5 car lengths behind "kids" pulling trailers. I dropped off the rental car and came back for the keys to my new-to-me car.

I finished the inspection, which had been rescheduled, and headed home. It was weird, sort of. I've been renting cars so much that I'm kind of used to a car, but there was a difference. This was mine.

All the way home, I let that sink in. This was mine.

Beverage:  Belhaven Oatmeal Stout

Deb