Tayden convinced me that our indoor (did I say indoor…why, yes I said indoor) cats needed rabies shots. I had taken the cats for shots years ago, around the time of the curious incident of the bats in the house, because at that time, it seemed a little more pertinent. Each cat had recently gotten out of the house, so Tayden determined that they needed rabies shots. In fact, when they got out, we didn’t even know that a cat was missing, until they were at the front door, waiting to get back IN. We are just that observant. Travis was making an argument to re-home the cats because there was clearly a secret exit on the new house that we didn’t know about. I call that exit, Travis the Non-observant Who Doesn’t Know He is the Problem.

So, I made an appointment for Friday after work. Seems reasonable. A couple co-workers were going out after work. I told them maybe I would join them after the cats visited the vet. Getting to the vet was a problem because we only have one cat carrier…and two cats that don’t really like each other. I tried to convince Trent and Tayden that we could put a cardboard divider in the carrier and both cats could fit. That didn’t work at all! One cat was being more aggressive at trying to get out and that cat had all the space. We ended up with one cat on a leash with a harness in Tayden’s lap, and the other in the carrier. The one on Tayden’s lap REALLY didn’t want to be in the car and was rather insistent on it, meowing loudly and squirming around. It was a GREAT drive to the vet. After an uneventful time at the vet (and my wallet $175 lighter), I decided that both cats were indeed going into the carrier, and I jammed them in and immediately walked to the car. Honestly, they liked that better. They were both quiet on the ride home. Or maybe they sensed that the drive was a little dangerous, since an inch of show had come down while we were in the vet office. 

Did I mention that I was driving the front-wheel-drive Acura with 210,000 miles on it? I gave Trent my car because he had an interview in Michigan and I didn’t want him to get stuck somewhere in our zip-code car (definition: Zip Code Car – a car that has become unreliable, so it remains in one zip code). Now, Trent was already home, but he said he was going to a friend’s place, so I wanted him to have Bert’s superior traction, as snow was coming. Of course, he didn’t go th the friend’s because snow was coming.

When I got home to our ski-hill of a front drive, I couldn’t get up. I couldn’t slam the accelerator on the turn into the drive without risking sliding into our fine driveway’s side wall, so I really couldn’t get a running start. Well, I could, by backing into our neighbor’s drive (which also had an inch of snow and curves). It wasn’t great because we live on a busy road and people were coming home from work. It was like real-life Frogger. Our neighbor came home from work while I was backed into his driveway, waiting for an opening in the traffic for my fifth attempt. He got a front row seat to my failure. I called the kids (on the phone, I wasn’t trying that drive on my feet) to come out with shovels and salt. While we were attempting our tenth try, our neighbor came over in his enclosed four-wheeler and plowed our drive. At some point, Taryn had brought the poor, terrified, forgotten cats in the house. The neighbor saved us (we sent him some wine…actually we had already done that because this wasn’t the first time he saved us). He also told us that we could park in the two spots he has at the bottom of his driveway if we needed to…but then I would have to walk all the way up my ski-hill drive. Yikes! 

After we finally made it up, I texted my co-workers telling them that I was not leaving my house again all weekend. While we were rejoicing in our hard-fought victory, Taryn casually mentioned that she noticed that one cat was covered in vomit when she let them out of the carrier. Since the cats bolted out of the carrier, vomit-covered cat was loose in the house. Our victory lap was cut short, since we had to find and bathe one, and possibly two, fully clawed, car-traumatized cats. I guess all that swerving and sliding on the driveway didn’t agree with the cats. Luckily, after we chased down, cornered, and captured each cat, we discovered that the vomiter didn’t need a bath. Only the one receiving the vomit. So, Apollo had the worst night. He got stuck outside the carrier for one ride of terror in the car; received a shot at the vet; got vomited on on the ride of terror home; and closed his night with a bath. He did manage to scratch ALL of my helpers: Trent, Taryn, and Tayden. How many Haldemans does it take to bathe a cat? Three to bathe and one to record it. I came out scratch-free somehow, but we were all traumatized. 

After that, I went to bed early in an attempt to stop any more excitement from coming my way. Have a great humpday everyone! And be thankful for your flat driveways. I am thankful for my AWD and FWD vehicles.