A somewhat traumatic day

Everything started out well today. I woke up just before the alarm went off and got up to begin preparing to depart for Salt Lake City.

I fed everyone and took Tag for a walk... then Noah and I had breakfast. La Quinta is awesome by the way. SO pet friendly and free continental breakfast all for less than $100 a night!

When packing up the cats, Bangs was more grouchy than he has been the past couple days. He growled at NNK a lot and was pulling on the crate door trying to get out. I was hoping that wouldn't be a sign of things to come.

We got on the road a little past 7. Today we drove around 8 and a half hours to get from Reno to Salt Lake. Until further notice, our in-drive entertainment will be "The Silmarillion" complete and unabridged, written by J.R.R. Tolkein and read by Martin Shaw. Tag chose to sleep through it all.



Bangs and NNK received their tranquilizers as planned. I don't think the 1/4 tab has any effect on NNK, by the way... so we may not use it at all tomorrow and see how that goes... although we may use it anyhow.

About 2 hours into the trip, we were coming along a broad valley in Nevada. It was rainy off and on all morning. We could see a storm coming up a few miles away. Noah saw lightning a couple times. I was looking back at animals in the car both times and missed it. Oh well.

A few minutes passed and it started raining VERY hard. Noah turned on the wipers and we continued on. Just as we were passing a big rig cab that was hauling 3 other big rig cabs, things took a turn for the worse. The rain became hail that was piling up like snow on the road and we began to hydroplane. My life flashed before my eyes. The cats lives flashed before my eyes... Noah handled the whole thing very expertly and thank god we didn't slide off the road or careen into the big rig cab driving next to us. A minute after we regained control we drove out of the weather and the roads cleared up. Needless to say, we were a little shaken up by the whole event.

Around 4 hours I took over driving and Noah took some pictures.







I'd been driving about an hour when Bangs started rattling his cage and getting testy. We pulled over and I re-administered tranquilizers. Before we reached the next exit, Bangs had pooed all over himself and NNK. She did NOT appreciate this.

(side note: last time we moved across country we had the exact same issue with Bangs on the first day of driving)

We pulled off at the next exit and cleaned up on the side of the road.

Finally we were back in business. Bangs's tranquilizer kicked in and he slept the rest of the way there. And there was hardly a peep from NNK, who was not too keen on getting shoved back into the crate with Mr. Poopy.

The Great Salt Lake Desert is pretty interesting. It was pretty intensely dusty and my allergies kicked in even with medicine!







It's hot here in Salt Lake. And hazy. And dry. I don't really like it. But we're getting the hotel living routine down now... and we found a park to take Tag out to run around in.

We had greek food for dinner. And we're all relaxing.









It's another long day tomorrow... hopefully we're done with drama for this trip!

Over the mountains: UPDATED w/photos

Today did not entirely go as planned... but we made it to Reno!

The majority of our plans played out perfectly. The movers arrived early and loaded quickly... Noah swept out the house and played with the dog while I slipped drugs to the cats for our first day of driving.

While waiting for the tranquilizers to take effect, I noticed a traffic alert for the eastbound 80 (which we're taking pretty much the entire way across the country). It was closed before Truckee... a diesel truck turned over and was leaking all over the freeway. Bummer... Plus, it was snowing!!

We loaded up the car and headed out,





deciding to go across on 50 to Lake Tahoe and then cut up to Truckee and over to Reno...









Bangs took his tranquilizers quietly and slept most of the 4 hours it took us to get to Reno (we had some construction traffic, too). NNK (no name kitty) protested loudly every 20 minutes or so... but I think she was better for the tranquilizers than she was without. No one threw up on anyone. Jack and Gill quietly waited for us to let them out again and Tag... well Tag is the best ever.



The room here in Reno is gigantic and we love it.... We got in around 4:30 and room service just got here, so I'm going to go eat now :)

I'm tranquilizing the cats again tomorrow. I'm hopeful that it will make the traveling easier... our longest day of driving yet!

Hopefully pictures tomorrow, too!

Some sadness and anticipation

Today was the day of packing. Moving commences tomorrow! Noah and I spent the morning wrangling details. But first, breakfast!



I packed the food for all the cats and Tag in a plastic bin:





The movers arrived at around 9:30. They spent ALL DAY packing... well... one of them did. The other one spent a lot of time talking and answering his cell phone. Almost dropped dead of boredom and stress more than once... and the animals were REALLY confused about the new guys and how noisy they were and why there were more and more boxes appearing in their home. Little did they realize...



We loaded up almost as soon as the door closed on the movers backs this evening. Jack and Gill went in fairly quietly, having no experience with this type of thing and so nothing to dread. But Bangs and the no name kitty protested LOUDLY at being shoved into the same crate.

We left immediately and NNK cried the whole way there... she crowned the adventure by throwing up on Bangs's back. Poor Bangs!

We arrived at La Quinta in Davis for our first night of hotel living... a good break in for the animals. I'm hoping the stress will abate soon, for all our sakes.

Tag is a champ. He was only a bit confused about why there were cats on his car ride. He'll get used to it.

Fed, watered, and littered, we took a little time to hang out with Leslie one last time. We discussed the finale of Lost (cue deep disappointed sigh here) and shed some tears about being parted from one another. How will we live without Leslie?



Tomorrow we drive away! So tonight we're trying to get used to hotel living. Tag and Noah and I are pros at this, but the cats... well... they are going to need some time to adjust. And by the time they adjust, I think we'll be there :) Misery loves company, so I'm fairly certain the cats will bond over this common trauma. They're already doing better about sharing space with Tag!



One thing I am wondering is how well I am going to be able to sleep with so many animals on my bed...

It's late

It's late. I should be in bed... I have an early start in the morning. But I can't bring myself to break the magic that is my living room at the moment.

In one corner, the squirrely orange kitty twirs and darts up and down his cat condo, lost in his own frenzied imagination. His sister crouches under the fish tank, watching the orange kitten antics and waiting for her moment to pounce.

The more civilized elder kitties have taken up their respective posts. Gray nameless kitty is cozied up on the red chair cleaning herself and occasionally glancing up to see what nonsense the young ones are up to. Now she's staring at me and wheezing a little bit (probably from eating too much fuzz earlier today).

On the back of the couch next to my right shoulder, my lovely tuxedoed companion is curled and squeezing his eyes shut. He's pretending he isn't interested in the kitten antics either, but we all know he is paying very close attention. He's been with me the longest of all of the furry critters in this house. He's my sweet Bangs.

To my left lies the best dog you will ever meet... my Tag. He's been crashed out on the couch with his head hanging off the side for about an hour and a half now... Noah went to bed a while ago, but Tag sticks by me. I love this dog. He's so cozy and affectionate. He checks in every now and again, flipping his head up and grunting lazily.

In a moment I'll go to bed, too, and break this magic moment, but here I am surrounded by all my animals... and I am content.

One of those Mondays

It's 5:30 a.m. and I can already tell what kind of day it's going to be. I've been up for half an hour mopping up a leaky fish tank... Sigh... problem is, I still can't figure where most of the water went. I hate that at normal hours of the day... but 5 a.m. the day after daylight savings switched is just cruel. I'm trying NOT to think about the fact that it's really 4:30 a.m. to my body and just focus on the fact that I'm definitely up in time to go to work... grumble grumble... oh, and I have some time to write on my blog.



And here's Jack, working on his seafood breakfast. As far as I know he hasn't caught anything, but then, I have had a fish literally disappear from the tank this time around.



I finished up a paper for my Women's Studies course last week; the last paper for Asian-American Novel... a challenging class for me this quarter. I enjoyed learning new things, but I'm happy to put that class behind me, honestly. I forgot how intense a novel based class is and I don't feel like I really got into any of the texts we studied... or sampled, I should say, because a novel a week with 2 discussion periods on each is hardly studying.

So in other news, I'm working on preparing for a horse show at WC in May, I think. I somehow feel that, even with a couple months to work on the effort I'm going to be completely unprepared. No fault of Debbie's... I just don't feel show quality. Perhaps that's not the point... the point is the experience, I suppose.

I can't figure how, though, when we don't even get any notes from a judge, so I won't know if she just didn't like my nose or if my riding sucks or if whatever issue she finds can be fixed... But the point is the experience.

On Saturday, Leslie and I worked on some suppleness exercises with our horses. Watson is so stiff in his shoulders and neck. I could feel him clenching almost the entire time we were doing the exercises. The last time through he felt a little different, a little more supple I think... but we have a lot to work on.

Also, my equitation sucks. It's just dreadful... hands wrong, leaning too far, elbows wrong... leg moves too much. I'm a mess! And I wonder why I can't seem to get out of my head when I ride. Ha! Well, I have a ride tonight and w/daylight savings, maybe I can be outside and enjoy it? But I still have a lot to work on.

It's kitten feeding time and the cats are crying. Apparently they believe they are starved and abused.



Sigh... Monday...

A naked dog and other happenings of the weekend

Tag had a slumber party this weekend. It went well, though perhaps not as fun as we had hoped it would be. Tag's sleep over buddy was Pixel, a Chinese Crested. Yup, folks... he's naked. And he was super watchful of Tag.


After a little sniffing and some "PLAY WITH ME!!!" barking, Tag lost interest and left him alone, but the kittens! The kittens tracked Pixel from the moment he entered the house. They worked as a team! Jack would tail the strange naked creature and Gill would lay in wait, leaping out when Pixel would least expect it and causing him to screech and race for cover. It was hilarious!


In other news, I rearranged a few things in the house today. Spring cleaning if you will. I got sick of the back room (dubbed office) being so gross and unusable. We keep the litter boxes back there and a baby gate up to limit the access to the room to animals that will NOT snack on cat poo... (no names, no names)...

So I moved the desk out... and the red chair... and the shelf of medicines and whatnots... basically it's an empty room except for a couple book shelves and some cat furniture. So happy with it now! Whew! Here are Bangs and the nameless kitty enjoying the new set-up and some early March sunshine.


I'll leave you with a couple pictures that may or may not prove that my animals secretly despise me. :)

Jack and Gill

I should introduce the newest 4 legged members of my family. Captain Jack and GillyFlower came to live with us in late July. They have been growing and enriching our lives ever since!

Jack is a master of disaster, a mischievous little impling like you have never imagined (unless your name is Emi, and then you have Benjamin, who takes the cake). He's always into something. If it's not shredding bagels and hunting out food stashes (we can't keep the treats in anything that is not air sealed anymore), it's stealing refrigerator magnets and my jewelry (we found his stash under the Christmas tree).

Gill (pronounced "Jill") is the reason people keep cats. She is demonstrative and affectionate, will sit on your shoulder and give your head a bath or come up and stand with her front paws on your leg looking up at you with the most adorable little face.
Best thing about these little bundles of fluff is that they get along swimmingly with the most amazing pup on the planet. In the photo below you can see Jack comforting Tag, who had to wear a cone because of an eye infection.

This brings our head-count to 4 cats, 1 dog, and some fish... but I wouldn't trade it.

Stay tuned for more adventures of Jack and Gill!