Did you notice that?

There’s been a very subtle change to the name of this weblog which corresponds to a very large change in our life.  The furball is no longer travelling with us. 

It wasn’t an easy decision and it was a long time coming.  Without going into extensive detail it needs to be said that, loveable though he is, George II has some toilet habits that were troublesome.  I had heard that there were cats who were less than fastidious about their bathroom routines but had never experienced it until G-II came along.  Marilyn’s only cat experience was George the first and he was the most incredibly clean cat you could ever hope to meet.  I can’t recall him ever having a litter box incident even when he was really sick at the end of his life.  G-II not so much.

Last weekend we attended my Agro Class Reunion at Lac Pelletier south of Swift Current.  There’s a group of us from the Class of ‘79 who have been getting together more or less ever since graduation.  I can’t remember the exact details but I think we got together for our 5 year and 10 year anniversaries and then just got in the habit of meeting every summer on the 3rd weekend in July.  Over the years there’s been a more or less regular crew of about 10 couples who attend plus another 3 or 4 couples who occasionally attend. 

One of my classmates was there with her husband for the first evening.  They had something else on that weekend so they came for a visit but weren’t staying for the whole weekend.  Kate needed to change or use the washroom or for some other reason was alone in the bus.  Marilyn walked in on her after she had been missing for a while and found her playing with George.  We had already agreed that if someone expressed an interest in adopting the furball then we would (reluctantly) let him go.  We had both individually come to that point several times over the previous two years but we had never been simultaneously in agreement that he needed to find a new home.  This time – for a combination of unpleasant reasons – we were both ready to see him move on so when Kate said she’d like to adopt him that was all it took.  George moved to Elbow that night.

We both miss him a lot.  Particularly when we come back to the bus and he isn’t there to greet us it is hard.  And early in the morning when he doesn’t come to wake us up we notice his absence.  Right now Marilyn is in town & I’m missing him because despite all his many faults, he was good company when one of us was away from the bus or the boat. 

At the same time we are relieved not to have him here.  Our lifestyle isn’t well suited to having a pet of any description.  A cat was a better choice than a dog but cats don’t like change and there is a lot of change in our lives.  There’s a lot more space for a cat on the boat and it seemed like he enjoyed the additional freedom but that was also where some of his more disturbing toilet behaviour appeared.  Now that he’s gone we can notice the smell of cat piss occasionally when we enter the bus so that tells us that our guests have been smelling that for the past 7 years. 

Marilyn has received a couple of emails from George’s new mom which indicate that he’s doing just fine – probably better than we are.  He’s living on a farm but he is a house cat with a couple of other house cat buddies and evidently he has made new friends quickly.  That’s not a big surprise – he lived with Marilyn’s girlfriend for about a month last winter and quickly made friends with her kitten.  We’re going to let a decent amount of time pass and then go visit him, probably sometime in the next couple of weeks.