Preparatory cat trauma
2007-10-21 - 2:28 p.m.

It's been a week now since our open house. We found out that 11 couples showed up to see the house (the realtor said that's a good amount) and no one has made any negative comments about the paneling in the den. The only comments were about two things that are not even part of our house/yard: An unfinished shed in the yard behind us and the big ham radio tower-thing in the driveway next door, both of which are unsightly.

You may remember that the ham radio tower belonged to the man next door who died last year. It would be nice if his widow would take that thing down, but I'm sure it would be a huge pain, so I'm not counting on that.

As for the shed business, that thing has been unfinished for probably the past year or so. The man who lives there told B that he ran out of money, so it's just been sitting there with a big, blue tarp over top of it and is now making us look bad. It irks me that people have commented on these things because they're out of our control.

We've had no offers on the house, from the open house or otherwise. There's only been one showing since the open house last Sunday and that was last Tuesday, I think. The realtor lady who came with them asked us about the radio tower in an accusatory tone, IMO, and it really pissed me off. She seemed a little more relaxed when we told her it wasn't used anymore, though. Apparently the guy in this couple she brought over was a ham radio user himself and was worried this tower would interfere with his stuff.

We got harnesses, leashes and cat carriers last week in preparation for traveling with the cats. We've put the harnesses on them a couple times and left them on for a bit to let them get a feel for them, and we've also had the carriers out on the living room floor. Spice has gotten into them several times and laid down inside, and Miki got in one of them once. Soon we'll start taking them for short rides in the car inside their carriers with their harnesses on. Everything that I've read says you should keep your cat in their carrier the whole time, so I won't be letting them run around loose in the car, like I was originally thinking. Apparently they feel safer and more secure in their carrier, and it'll be easier for everyone just to keep them in there anyway. I hope they won't be too traumatized by the trip. I hope I won't be too traumatized by the trip!

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