SouSou - Dec 2000 to Aug 2018

This teeny, tiny princess' life ended today.  This has been coming since she was ill in the Spring with urinary tract bleeding.  She recovered really well from that and up until a few weeks ago was doing okay, okay for an 18 year old "the whole world exists to cater to me" princess.  Over these past few weeks I've watched her decline a bit each day.  I did some online research to get info on how to know "when it is time".  Each day I've thought we are getting close, yesterday I almost took her to the emergency vet, but talked myself out of it.  This morning I made the decision and the vet affairmed I called it correctly.

She was failing, but in no distress or pain, but failing.  So we had a bittersweet parting.

This little girl, at her heaviest, weighed 5.5 lbs!  A very tiny bundle of fir. She looked much larger, 7 -8 lbs, but that was just her lush coat.  The last few summers she's had a lion cut and looked like an overgrown rat.  But, having no fir during those hot months keep her more comfortable and playful.

She was the darling of all the cats and lived for them to pay attention and tend to her. She seldom had to groom herself, she always got the others to do that for her.  KoKo washed and washed her every night.  Muffin would sleep next to her to keep her cozy.  JoJo would wrap his paws around her to hold her tight to keep her safe. And those nights when she wasn't surrounded by one, two, or all three, she snuggled up under my chin, with her paws and head resting on my arm.  

She was not a lap sitter, but she loved to cuddle.  She was very stingy with her kisses, which only made them all the more sweet when she would deign to bestow one on you.  She was the social hostess.  Came to meet guests and was more than a bit insistent that they admire and pet her.  She had a great fondness for repairmen and would sit with them watching as they did their work and ran their power tools.  She also liked watching Garfield and Animal Planet shows on TV.

My sweet little girl, who will control my life now?  Who will drag the upstairs water dish into the middle of the hall where I almost trip on it to let me know it needed refilling?  Who will stand on my chest at 4:00 AM squawking and demanding breakfast?   Who will sit outside the bathroom complaining when I have been so rude as to close the door?  Who will pull at my arm and demand her share of the daily yogurt?  I will so dearly miss your demands and your company.

I find myself for the first time in 19 years cat-less.  I won't miss the litter box duty, nor the surprises of who threw up where, nor the coating of cat hair on just about everything.  But I will so very much miss  the sweetness of affection, the clown-fulness of play, and the ever present companionship.

Things are looking up!

When I first put my condo on the market, my dear friend J asked if I had buried St. Joseph.  This was something I had heard about but was not overly familiar with.

Seems there is a belief and a tradition, if you are selling your home you bury a statue of St. Joseph and pray for a sale and doing so will help the process.

To this end, quite some time back I decided I would do it.  First step was to get the statue.  Turns out, just down the road from my favorite sewing/quilt shop is a lovely religious stuff store.  

I went in a bit hesitantly and started searching for a St. Joseph statue.  Imagine my surprise when I came upon on full show case filled with St. Joseph Home Seller Kits!!!!

The box has a very nice resin statue about 5" high and instructions for what and how to do things and " the prayer".

For condo owners, who may not have a yard in which to bury their statue, it is suggested he be placed in a potted plant, one that will be moving with you.

This is what I did.  And, as those of you who have been reading along know, things started off quite fast and furious, lots of action, showings.  Then, a potential sale fell through.  And it was really, really, quiet, for a while.

I can't recall the exact date but some where during the falling apart and lull, I decided that I needed to re-pot 2 of the house plants that I had put on my deck, they were in huge, unattractive, plastic pots.  I had two really nice ceramic pots that would work.  So, one morning I went out and quickly re-potted the 2 plants.  I took the plastic pots along with some other "stuff" and put it all in the dumpster.
 
A few days after the re-potting I realized, uh oh, I might have thrown away St. Joseph.   I wasn't home when the thought came to me, but, when I got home, I poked around the soil in the plant I had selected for him and, nope, he wasn't there.

I really can't recall when I did this, but there is a part of me that is wondering, was it before the potential sale fell apart and was I the cause? 

So, no St. Joseph in my plant, potential sale not happening, and not much interest in my home.  After considerable pondering and calculating on my part, my realtor and I discussed dropping the price a bit and adjusting how it would be presented.   A decision was reached and the listing was revised.  This was on a Friday, I think maybe two Friday's back.   

I am very fortunate that my daughters visit rather often.  And I am very deliberate, when I know one of them is coming by to collect all the trash and have it waiting for them to cart to the dumpster for me.  The Saturday after publishing the revised listing I decided I needed to get the trash to the dumpster and would be doing it myself.  It is not that this is hard or far away, I've just enjoyed being so lovingly spoiled by my girls.  On this day I put on my "big-girl" pants and took my own trash to the dumpster.  

After  I put it in I just happened to look down.  On the ground I saw a small pile of potting soil with gravel and rocks.  This looked like the remains from one of my plants.  I remembered that when I threw out the plastic pots one of them had fallen over.  I looked a bit closer at this soil and, well, there he was, St. Joseph!!!!  He never got into the dumpster!  All this time he has been patiently waiting for me to come find him!

Delightedly I picked him up, brushed him off a bit and apologized profusely.  We went back home and as a way to atone for my carelessness, St. Joseph got a nice, warm bubble bath in the kitchen sink.  I gently cleaned out all the folds and crevices.  Then I sat him on the deck rail in the sun to dry.  After a bit, I once again, and with great reverence buried him, this time in a different plant.  

To recap, the listing was amended on Friday.  St. Joseph was found and re-buried on Saturday.  There was an open house on Sunday.  

Since that open house there has pretty much been at least one showing every day.   For now that is all I will say, but there has been a lot of new interest and between the price adjustment and restoration of St. Joseph I think we are back on track and on our way.

JoJo - Dec 2000 to Aug 2018

JoJo hasn't come home. He went out early (4:00 AM) as is his habit, but did not return within 20 or so minutes as he usually does. It's now 4:00 PM so I am pretty certain something happened and he won't/can't come home. I've walked around and called for him, nothing. He is usually such a good fellow, when I call he is at the door walking in within 5 or 10 minutes. So, his not responding pretty much has me thinking he can't.

He had a major health issue in the Spring and hasn't been all that well since. These last few days he's been a coming to breakfast late or not at all, eating one or two bites at most. The litter box had showed he was still pooping and peeing, OMG, was he peeing. But aside from that all he's been doing is sleeping, not even wanting to snuggle with me or be petted or brushed.

So, I think his time was coming to an end and now it has ended.

Both of my remaining cats had health issues this Spring, I thought it would be better if JoJo passed first, he was far more dependent and interactive with SouSou than she with him. She pretty much has always wanted to be and acts like she was an only cat, the others (and me) are here simply to take care of her. So, at least JoJo won't be grieving and lonely.

I will really miss him. Not the huge amounts of black and brown hair he's been dropping in huge clumps this past week. Not the, "I really am trying, but just can't seem to get my whole butt into the litter box, at least I got half in" messes. Not the running through and rolling in the wet mulch outside and leaving a trail of it all through the house. Well, I might even miss those things a bit.

What I will miss, is him sitting on the table next to my TV chair so patiently, waiting and staring me down so I would put him on my lap and brush or pet him, endlessly. I will miss him walking back and forth on the desk every morning, sharing my cereal and milk even though not invited. I will miss him sitting on my hand when I am using the mouse to stop that motion and get me to scratch his chin and ears. I will miss his daily work routine, every morning carrying a feather teaser downstairs and bringing it up to bed each evening. And when each task was accomplished announcing it very loudly. I will miss his racing to beat me upstairs at bed time, beating me onto the bed, claiming his space and then looking at me like, well what is taking you so long?

Eighteen years, that is how long he has been with me. I think he was probably only about 5 weeks old when I got him. And living with me in this house has been his whole life. He loved to go out and patrol his estate. And he was so good, whenever I called him, within minutes he would be at the door coming in. So, if he is not back home, it is because he cannot be.

I hope wherever it is that cats go he is now with his long missed, best buddy, Muffin and and his other friend, Muffin's sister, KoKo. I like to think they are all together cleaning and sleeping and purring and being content and that they remember their time here as having been pretty good.

Well, JoJo, you didn't let me get to know you until Muffin passed and when KoKo was gone you really showed and shared all the sweetness and love you had. It was a long time waiting for, but I treasured every day and will cherish every memory, thank you my big, handsome, boy.

I hate living in this in-between state

My home is still on the market.  I reduced the price, that did make for a seemingly successful Open House, but not much activity since.  

I am given to understand that this time of the summer is slow, lots of folks vacationing.  So, that might be part of the reason.  The other factors are those two things which deem my place a "hard sell".  Owner maintenance responsibility is higher than most condos and my specific condo fee is also high.

So, how to get folks beyond that and buy.  My realtor has suggested adding cash back at closing.  I have heard of this, but did not understand what it was and why.  Well, it is a way for the buyer to get a mortgage for what they need, but walk away from the closing with some cash.  My concern was that, as the seller I would be paying a commission on the higher (but not to me) selling price.  Turns out that isn't so, commission is based on net, after cash back to buyer.  So this is just another way to lower the price and put some cash in the buyers hands at the same time.

So, we will try this.  

I think, when I first started this, hearing from so many folks that my place was so attractive and would sell in a minute set me up to not think it might take time.  The two financial issues (unit maintenance and condo fee) do make it a harder than most to sell and that seems to mean it will take more time to find the right buyer.  

So, for me I have to get comfortable with living in an in-between state and not be discouraged.

My realtor and I have agreed that I can make it a bit easier on myself physically by not having to "hide" my cats' litter boxes.  My two cats, like me, are senior citizens, and though everything is working, it isn't working like it used to.  

JoJo, my big, handsome boy makes every effort to use the litter box, but these past six months or so only gets his bum to the edge, not fully inside.  So that means some stuff is in the box, some on pads I have layered around it.  Not a big deal to keep clean and sanitary when I have this all set up in middle of the guest room; a real difficult task when things are "hidden" under the eaves.  

All the bending and lifting to keep up with this certainly exasperated my sciatica issues.  So, from now on, I will leave it all where I can reach it without harm to me and the realtor will help potential buyers to be kindly as to why the middle of the guest room looks like a nursing home for frail senior cats, which, in fact, it is.

Just having this chore off my "be ready for a showing" list has me relieved and less bothered by this taking more time than I would like.  

I'm also giving myself permission to leave my many "in progress" quilting, embroidery, design things up and around.  It won't really be a lot of clutter, will let me be able to go from "station-to-station" to work on each project a little bit regularly and all that might distract buyers in that I have a lot of "hobbies".

It feels much better to be reclaiming a bit of my space and it feels like, in doing so, I could wait this out.  I might even consider entertaining once this brutal heat is over!