The year progresses

[caddyman]

Today is turning out to be another sunny, spring day, the sort of day you really don’t want to be cooped up in the office as opposed to the normal day when you don’t want to be cooped up in the office. The ‘really’ really does make a difference.

I think we have perhaps a fortnight of cat sitting left before he goes home – or rather he goes to his owner’s parents’ home: she is out of hospital, but too weak to look after herself for the time being. They are reportedly not looking forward to taking the cat, not least because they have an ageing Scotty Dog the cat likes to torment, but there is no real option. The year is still young enough for the sun to be comparatively low in the sky, but it is getting higher and the longer, sunnier days are warming the Gin Palace during the day. As yet, the conservatory, which is north-facing, is still in the shadow of the house and does not yet receive direct sunlight even early in the morning or last thing at night, but it will do so soon.

I noticed last week and again, yesterday, that the day time temperature is beginning to rise in there. Once the sun is high enough to peek over the roof, it will become an oven and that is no place to leave an animal for 10-12 hours without ventilation. There are no windows to open and even if there were, Jasper would just get out and that is not something he is equipped to deal with, particularly the main road out front.

Come Easter, when we have a week off, we shall want to paint the living room and stair well, even if we decorate nowhere else in the house. That will mean plenty of ventilation – open doors and windows everywhere. Something we cannot do while we have the cat.

I have to confess that I shall miss the little brute when he is gone, but I shall be glad too, to have the house back, without worrying that he has managed to get out, damaged any more than he already has, or smelt the place out as he is wont to do from time to time. I am looking forward to being able to sit in the conservatory with the door open and a breeze blowing through from the garden. I am looking forward to not having to text ahead to make sure the cat is secured when one of us comes home at a different time to the other. And I am looking forward to not being woken up at 4.00am by a cat who has decided that having slept for between 18 and 20 hours that it is now time for everyone to get up and do things.

If, in the fullness of time, we do get a cat of our own – Furtle has always wanted one, but frankly, I’m rather less keen – it will have to be a normal cat that can cope with the great outdoors. It will also have to get used to the possibility of being stuck outside for periods of time. I do not relish the thought of ruining our kitchen door with a cat flap, punching a hole through the brickwork, or cutting a hole in the double glazing in the conservatory to let the animal in and out according to its whims.

Tricky business, pets.

Comments

[w00hoo.livejournal.com]

We haven't had 'the discussion' but I think there's a fairly good chance that our current cat will be our last. He is a perfect example of catitude at the moment (in his prime, healthy, disdains litter trays completely in favour of the outside world, friendly but keeps to himself) and has just got better as he's gone from being one of four to on his own. We've no wish to make him share the house and I've no wish at all to going back to having to have cat litter in the house.

[littleonionz.livejournal.com]

*Chuckles* YOu just don't know the fun of decorating with pets around, even children add so much to the experience and can turn a drudge of a job into an extreme sport and quite often a bit of a 'whodunnit?' :)

[fractalgeek.livejournal.com]

Cutting a hole in a door or wall is a minor sacrifice to make it THEIR responsibility to find a way home, rather than yours.

[ladkyis.livejournal.com]

As animal lovers Mr M and I decided that we would not have pets, not in our house which is on a main road. We like to go away for a couple of days and cats and dogs need feeding. Dogs need walking. I do have chickens now but I have my grandson who will pop in to check for eggs and make sure they have water and also my son-in-law.
I would love to have a cat but I will have to move before I do, I have seen several cats hit by cars on the road outside - and found two that have been hit and run into the alley at the back of our house to die. I couldn't cope with finding my own cat.

[smokingboot.livejournal.com]

Our love of beasties is one of the reasons we have decided that when/if we go for another domicile, big garden and no main road will be among the deciding factors. I like to think that one day we'll have dogs and maybe a goat, or a couple of pet pigs. I dare say by then we'll be ready to move beyond the Big Smoke. A while away yet!