Archive for the ‘Animals’ Category

The Wheels on the Truck…

Sunday, April 6th, 2008

Tomorrow morning, bright and early, the movers arrive to pack up our stuff and take it to Austin. We had planned to leave tomorrow as well, but because the movers aren’t leaving until 5:00 PM, we felt it was too late to start a 5.5+ hour drive. Especially considering it’s a work day and everyone will be on the freeways at exactly that moment (ugh).

So, the new plan is we’re leaving at 10:00 AM on Tuesday morning, right after rush hour traffic. Also, even though each day will take us about 5.5 – 6.5 hours closer to our new home, that isn’t including pit stops, so we spaced out the drive three nights, instead of two.

After the movers leave tomorrow evening, we’ll be staying in our own place for the night. We had considered staying in a hotel for the night (since all the furniture will be on a truck heading towards Texas), but felt we could “rough it” for one night on an air mattress. 😆

Noni and Kanji are taking all the commotion considerably well. Even so, I took all necessary precautions and cleared out our walk-in closet. Inside, I created a little sanctuary for them to hide out while the movers stomp all over the place tomorrow. I put in their soft-sided carriers that they will be staying in during the drive, so they can get used to them, and their food/water and litter box will be in there, as well.

I’m not really worried about the drive for us, only them. So, we made sure to get anything and everything we could to make them as comfortable as possible. Cats don’t really enjoy rapid change, so we’re going to make every effort to keep their food times consistent, as well as any other familiar routines we can think of. 🙂

Hopefully, it’s enough to keep them from being too traumatized! Though, these two are pretty cool customers, so I’m not fretting too much.

What’s Been Going On?

Friday, March 28th, 2008

Okay, here’s where I come clean about why blogging has been the last thing on my mind this past month. When we returned from our trip to Austin, Celeste’s illness came on so suddenly and progressed so quickly that I didn’t really feel like talking about much else. Now that I’ve had some time to process that she is really gone (I can still barely say that out loud), I think it’s about time to update what the heck has been going on!

Basically, we fell in love with Austin when we flew out there the beginning of this month (March)! 😀 Both Kevin and I felt like it was “home” the instant we stepped out into the airport – no kidding. It was then that we knew he should accept that job he was offered and start seriously looking for a house that weekend.

Thankfully, we found a house in Austin! It took a few days of looking around with our realtor, but we found a home that we are going to love. Actually, we fell in love with a house similar to the floorplan we loved. Haha! So, technically, we’re having a new house built in a growing community, which is close to great schools. The new home is close enough to “town” that we won’t feel isolated, but far enough away that we will have some room to breathe.

The only unfortunate condition about having a house built is that it won’t be ready by the time we have to be in Austin for Kevin’s start date for his job. So, the only solution we found was to move into an apartment for 3 months, or until the end of July, and wait for our house to finish being built. :-/

It’s not the ideal situation, but it will do and, thankfully, we had some help finding a great apartment that is located almost smack middle between Kevin’s job location and our home site.

When we started narrowing dates down, I gave my two weeks notice at my job, and my last day was this past Wednesday. Now, it’s my job to pack most of our unbreakable stuff! I have about two weeks to do it, so I’m feeling the time pressure crunch already.

Our plan is to leave So Cal on April 7 and caravan over (we each have our own cars) with the cats and all my houseplants (no, I’m not leaving the plants behind! Why do people keep insisting I do that!?). The trip from here to Austin should take 3 nights, and we plan on staying at pet-friendly hotels along the way.

That part of the move is my least favorite, but I’m going to try and see it as an adventure and not a huge hassle! 😆 Speaking of, anyone know of a really good way to transport two cats in a car, long distance? I’m thinking two big dog crates arranged with anything that will make them comfortable, like we did when we transported cats out of New Orleans. We’re going to a pet superstore this weekend to look at our options, and hopefully, be able to come home with something they’ll at least put up with. 😉

Pools of Sorrow, Waves of Joy

Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

So, it’s been a while since I could bring myself to write here again.. Actually, it’s been 2 weeks to the day since Celeste crossed Rainbow Bridge. While I’ve been mostly okay, there are times when I realise that she is really gone forever and then I just break down all over again. Thankfully, those times are growing father and father apart.

I’ve been through this before, as some of you know. The summer before I adopted Celeste, my cat Sophie had to be euthanized because she had an inoperable throat tumor and couldn’t eat or drink. So, unfortunately, I know from experience that the hurt never really goes away, but it does lessen with time… and lots of it.

Don’t give up on me, yet, as I will have good news to report in the next day or two. I just needed to let everyone know that I am amazed by the support you’ve shown me and am touched by your kindness. I am truly blessed to have friends like you. Your words of support and empathy got me through those really rough spots.

Thank you. Really, truly. 🙂

Celeste Luna – A Memorial

Friday, March 7th, 2008