When filling out the lease they were going over the pet fee. I thought it was a $250 Deposit. It turned out to be a $250 PER PET Fee. $500 for the dog and cat. $100 per day if they catch you with a pet you didn’t tell them about.
I had told them about the dog, not the cat. I decided they might see the cat during move in stuff so I had better say something.
“We have a cat. But I would rather get rid of it than pay $250. So we’ll have a cat for like a week while I find a home for it.” Not telling them that the home would be ours.
The secretary says “oh! I’m looking for a cat!”
oh…
Yeah, it’s a fat cat. A real brat.
“I love fat cats!”
Declawed. (Some people are violently against that.) Calico.
“Oh I had a calico cat growing up!”
*calls her husband and 5 year old to say she’s bringing home a cat*
fuck

Oldest cries. I’m the worst Mom ever. Later in the car I cry. I miss my cat. I want it back.

Finally have the house but they don’t give you the keys until you have electric and water in your name. They’re not on at the house.

I can’t get electric on until Wed. They have time to come out Today or Tomorrow but won’t unless I give them $100. Spend the next hour calling around places to see if anyone can do it sooner. Some say not till Dec 1st, some say they’ll do it for $200. Lots of attitude for me not liking the extortion fee. Back to the first company, fine turn it on Wed.
$350 deposit. 2 more days at the hotel.

Water can’t be turned on over the phone. I have to drive 20 miles out to the water company. Got out, there’s a sign on the door that said they moved to a new address. Not too far away, we walk to the new address. They’re closed for lunch. Walk back to the first address. Get the car, drive to the second address. Sit and wait. He gets back, and wants $75 to turn on the water.
He won’t take card. He won’t take check. He only takes cash. k this town has like 4,000 people where’s the nearest ATM?
We walk to the liquor store.
I pay money to get money to pay him money.

Drive the 20 miles back to the office. We have to pass the hotel on the way there so we picked up the cat. There was more crying. I couldn’t sleep that night because the cat wasn’t there.

Internet went down at the hotel for 2 days. Can’t get any work done. The brilliant night person called the internet company and had them shut it off because someone was using it in the parking lot.

Have to meet the locksmith at the house the next morning so he can change the locks. Step in my neighbor’s dog poo because they don’t pick it up. The water had been turned on but some brilliant person left the kitchen faucet on with the sink plugged. Luckily the water guy noticed the meter started running (therefore water was on somewhere in the house) and turned it back off. It did overflow but not as bad as it could have been.

When the locksmith was done we left for San Angelo because if we have to spend 1 more night in a hotel, it might as well be one there so we can pick up some of our stuff from the storage unit.
Only big dog and all the crap little girls need for 1 night away take up so much space we’re really not hauling much back. I couldn’t reach my microwave or my pots and pans so I can’t even nuke a Hungry Man dinner for Thanksgiving.
On the 4 hour car ride Youngest overflowed her diaper and soaked herself. oh, great, Mom gets to do laundry tonight.
When we were getting out of the car PeeWee decided to jump up front and on top of a full thing of Root Beer. It exploded and went EVERYWHERE! I now get to do 4 loads of laundry. It’s all over Youngest’s books. And the sheets and pillows we have to supply to spend a night in the KOA. I have to take Oldest’s car seat in the shower. When dumping it over to dry I stuck it right in someone’s dog poop.
While cleaning this up, Youngest poops her panties. Have to throw those away. Have to toss her in the shower. Someone wiped their booger on the bench and I sit right in it while drying her off. I get to wash my clothes now too.
Oldest’s 1 job was to wipe Youngest’s books off while I cleaned everything else. She didn’t so they stuck together and dried. Books Youngest got as a little baby had to be tossed out.

PeeWee’s barking and being an idiot because I’m taking care of all this other shit I wasn’t supposed to have to do instead of paying attention to him. I get him a dog chew from the KOA store and when walking back from giving it to him I trip over one of the decorative boulders that isn’t lit up. Down into the gravel, bleeding, my 1 set of jammies not in the storage unit now filthy dirty.

When we got there, there was a cat laying in the parking lot. oh, nice. They have a mouser.
Go inside and buy friends some touristy crap.
Come back out, go over to check out Carhenge and there’s this girl swinging the cat around.
She puts it down, we ask if it’s her cat, she says no and runs off.
We go check out the cat. It’s laying down like it was in the parking lot and has it’s eyes half closed. I let it sniff me and the thing starts purring and wants to be rubbed. There was what I thought was a splinter on it’s shoulder, it was covered in blood, and it wouldn’t get up. I thought the poor thing was diseased and near death and I started to get the kids away from it. We started walking away and the kitty stood up and followed.
I couldn’t leave the poor thing out there so I took the chance and she let me pick her up. She’s declawed in the front so she was someone’s pet at some point.

Now I’d like to give people the benefit of the doubt and say maybe someone was traveling with this cat, it got out of the car when they stopped at Carhenge, either they couldn’t find it or they didn’t know it got out and he got left behind.
But if someone left a declawed in the country with no hope of catching anything or fending for itself just because they didn’t want it anymore… I wish very bad things on that person.

Picked up the cat and took it into the gift shop. Asked if anybody owned it and she said no. It had been out there for a while and was friendly but nobody ever claimed it. Asked if she cared if I took it and she said she’d be so happy. We bought some beef jerkey for the cat and it inhaled it. That was the only time it wanted out of my arms because it wanted at that food!

Put kitty in the jeep. Not so thrilled, but she finished the bag of beef jerkey in the 4 miles to the vet’s.
Took kitty inside. There was a dog in the waiting room. Kitty did not freak out for which I am grateful since I was holding it.
Told them the story. Asked them to take care of the “thorn” and check kitty over. If it was healthy, I wanted it. If it was diseased, well at least we could put it down instead of it starving to death.
Kitty needed a name on the paperwork so I wrote Carhenge. Carhenge the Cat seemed appropriate.
Then we went for ice cream! And shopping for cat things. Got a “cat starter kit” of a litter box, scooper, bags, food & water bowls. A collar with a bell. Some food & litter.
The vet called and said the thorn was an abscess with dead skin in the middle. (ewwww) And they had drained the puss and given kitty a shot of antibiotic and she was ready to go home. Hurray!

Vet was kind enough to give me a “kitten pack” with a book & a “how do I cat?” DVD and some kitten food. I haven’t had a cat in like a decade and have no idea what I’m doing. Kitty traveled in a carrier this time, but still wasn’t thrilled.

Oldest is pleased as a peach and very excited to have a cat. She swears up and down she’ll clean the cat box everyday.

Came inside and put her down for PeeWee to check out.
Kitty does not approve
Locked up PeeWee and let Carhenge check out the place.

Carhenge was well cared for at some point. She knows canned cat food when she sees it. She’s so funny and uses her paws to grab things.

Little brat is already stealing my computer chair.

Now I don’t like cats. Cats are assholes. But I have to say this is about the sweetest cat I’ve ever not liked. She follows me from room to room and keeps jumping in my lap like she thinks I like her.