![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aI feel like we've been dwelling in limbo for the last two and a half weeks. We got back from our anniversary trip to Oahu and we almost immediately had an offer of a new home for Elmer. Kimberly has been taking care of almost all the logistics (with the support of a pet moving company who services Hawaii and regularly moves pets to Europe, so we know they should be able to get him to the East Coast.) And even that is mostly settled now other than a few details: an absorbent carpet for the bottom of Elmer's new dog-crate (with Amazon already having lost one! thanks, good timing, Amazon), some stickers and a document envelope for the outside of the crate (which we're waiting on from said pet movers), and of course Elmer's final vet appointment next Friday to get his certificate of health.
But we've been stuck between the decision to rehome Elmer (and it becoming a reality) and needing to wait because our adopter has a business trip this week I think and so couldn't take Elmer until the 8th. That's been somewhat agonizing, because it means we have to confront that decision every day, and at the same time we can't really move forward.
I haven't even felt the energy to get back to the house projects I'd just gotten started on, because it feels like all the energy is going toward the hurry-up-and-wait of Elmer's situation. (But I did get some primer down on some supports for the house in the back yard this morning, where the paint had gotten scraped away over the years and so these important pillars were open to our very corrosive elements. That was part of my normal Sunday working in the yard though.)
We got Elmer's itinerary on Thursday. We have to drop him off at 4.30 in the morning a week from tomorrow. That makes it all feel the more crazy. Meeting someone in the pitch dark, down by the airport, to hand off our beloved cat. And, I mean, hopefully they're there. The cargo company actually opens at 6am, but the pet movers say they've contacted them and someone will be there at 4.30. Hopefully, probably OK, but I hate having more stressors like that.
We had thought Elmer would have an overnight layover, but he's going straight from Kauai to Boston via Oahu. Unfortunately, with about 4 hours sitting around before his 8am flight to Oahu, then a similar wait on Oahu. It'll be about 22 hours door to door. That sounds like a long miserable time for Elmer, but the pet movers say they prefer not to overnight the pets if they don't have to, because it makes the trip longer and stresses them out more. So, we bow to their experience. Hopefully Elmer will just lounge around his crate not caring most of the time.
Elmer has been so much cuter and more cuddly in the last few weeks. He's hanging out more upstairs (which unfortunately means Megara gets locked in our bedroom), and is even cuddling against Kimberly as I write. We take this as a good sign, because he should get more attention as the only cat at his new home, and clearly he's been thriving on the more attention he's gotten since we made the decision to give him up.
And I feel increasingly confident about his new home. His new owner finished setting up most or all of his supplies a week or two ago. He's got a cat tree ready to go. He's not only been cutting up cardboard boxes to make his own scratch pads, but also 3-D printed a tool to make it easier to cut the boxes! He sounds like he'll be an attentive thoughtful cat owner.
But knowing we'll probably never see Elmer again after a clandestine handoff in the dark in eight days is still tough.
But we've been stuck between the decision to rehome Elmer (and it becoming a reality) and needing to wait because our adopter has a business trip this week I think and so couldn't take Elmer until the 8th. That's been somewhat agonizing, because it means we have to confront that decision every day, and at the same time we can't really move forward.
I haven't even felt the energy to get back to the house projects I'd just gotten started on, because it feels like all the energy is going toward the hurry-up-and-wait of Elmer's situation. (But I did get some primer down on some supports for the house in the back yard this morning, where the paint had gotten scraped away over the years and so these important pillars were open to our very corrosive elements. That was part of my normal Sunday working in the yard though.)
We got Elmer's itinerary on Thursday. We have to drop him off at 4.30 in the morning a week from tomorrow. That makes it all feel the more crazy. Meeting someone in the pitch dark, down by the airport, to hand off our beloved cat. And, I mean, hopefully they're there. The cargo company actually opens at 6am, but the pet movers say they've contacted them and someone will be there at 4.30. Hopefully, probably OK, but I hate having more stressors like that.
We had thought Elmer would have an overnight layover, but he's going straight from Kauai to Boston via Oahu. Unfortunately, with about 4 hours sitting around before his 8am flight to Oahu, then a similar wait on Oahu. It'll be about 22 hours door to door. That sounds like a long miserable time for Elmer, but the pet movers say they prefer not to overnight the pets if they don't have to, because it makes the trip longer and stresses them out more. So, we bow to their experience. Hopefully Elmer will just lounge around his crate not caring most of the time.
Elmer has been so much cuter and more cuddly in the last few weeks. He's hanging out more upstairs (which unfortunately means Megara gets locked in our bedroom), and is even cuddling against Kimberly as I write. We take this as a good sign, because he should get more attention as the only cat at his new home, and clearly he's been thriving on the more attention he's gotten since we made the decision to give him up.
And I feel increasingly confident about his new home. His new owner finished setting up most or all of his supplies a week or two ago. He's got a cat tree ready to go. He's not only been cutting up cardboard boxes to make his own scratch pads, but also 3-D printed a tool to make it easier to cut the boxes! He sounds like he'll be an attentive thoughtful cat owner.
But knowing we'll probably never see Elmer again after a clandestine handoff in the dark in eight days is still tough.