Curiosity Killed the Cat, but Satisfaction Brought Him Back

Tigger's great adventure:

Tiggy had a great adventure today, and the only one who knew about it other than him was his sister Daisy.  I locked Goofy and Squirt in the back yard this morning and then took Nala and Miko up front to help me clean up the branches I cut off of the azalea bushes yesterday, and then I went through the box of outdoor extension cords and untangled each of them and made sure all of them still worked.

Apparently I did not completely latch the breakfast room door when I went outside.  It was shut, but the latch did not catch.  Tiggy is an expert at opening unlatched doors.  The breakfast room door is his favorite door, too.  He thinks he's a dog, so that makes sense - it's the door the rest of the dogs use to go into the back yard.

About an hour later I came in through the front door with Nala and Miko in tow, intending to take the puppies for a quick walk before I had to get ready for work.  Daisy immediately ran up to me, rubbing and saying, "MEW!  Mew, mew, mew, mew - MEW!"  Silly me, I assumed she was hungry and walked back to the breakfast room to feed her.  Then I saw the door wide open and had an "Oh S@*t!" moment.  Of course, Bill insisted that Tiggy was still in the house, but Daisy and I knew better.  I went outside and called his name all around the house for about five minutes to no avail.  I thought maybe he had hidden under the back deck, so I made Squirt and Goofy come inside just in case Goofy was bothering Tiggy and that is why he went into hiding.  Bill made a quick search of the house, but no Tigger in sight.

I spent about another ten frantic minutes calling for Tiggy outside.  All I could think was that, thanks to Goofy, Tiggy no longer wears a collar (Goofy grabs onto it and drags Tiggy around the house when Tiggy refuses to 'play').  He does have a microchip, but you don't know that if you don't see his collar!  Also, he is a brown tabby who blends in quite nicely outdoors right now.  How the heck was I gonna find him?

Well, it seems the spirit of dear old Ginger (God rest her furry paws) lives on in Tiggy.  Ginger always responded to my imitation of her very different 'meow' that sounded more like a very loud, semi-hoarse 'MUHH.'  So, that's what I decided to do.  My neighbors must have thought I was nuts walking around my property yelling alternately "Tiggy!" and "MUHH!  MUHH!"  But it worked.

Less than a minute later I heard a response from my neighbor's yard - "MUHH!"  Thank goodness their rottweiler, Stroker, is terrified of cats.  She always wants to eat Goofy, but show her a kitty cat and she runs and hides.

The sight of a 14lb cat with a stub tail 'running' across a bayou and through the woods to get to the safety of home was actually quite funny.  He ran right up to me on the porch, but when I turned to go in through the nearest door (the front), he mewed at me again and ran right along our wrap around porch to the breakfast room door and mewed to get inside.  Apparently the only door we could go in was the breakfast room door.  Go figure.

Five minutes later Tiggy was sleeping on his perch in the living room and dreaming about all of the insects and birds he saw on his great adventure.

Recession Smession

We can't really complain too much about this recession.  Having a government job really helps.  And $1.50 gas, too.

We have been trying to refinance the mortgage on our main home since March.  We were unable to do it then because the appraisal came back "low."  We owe a little less than $220k on the house and it appraised at $240k.  Apparently the closing costs were going to put us over the 95% ltv ratio.  So, we decided to wait six months and try again.  Then the housing crisis became full-blown.  We decided to wait another month or two to see what would happen.  We reapplied with a different mortgage broker this time and it seems that our house is now worth $250k and we will be closing next Thursday.  Actually, this seems to have worked out better for us.  If we had refinanced earlier in the year our interest rate would have been close to 7%, but now it is at about 5.5%, and our closing costs will be less with this broker (around $1300).  However, because it is the end of the year and taxes are due, we will be required to pay our property taxes at closing.  I had hoped to roll the property taxes (about $5300) into the closing costs so that I could put that money into the 'just in case' fund for Y's adoption, but the FHA just changed their requirements from a maximum of 95% ltv to a maximum of 90% ltv.  The broker called me on Friday and told me the news.  He said he would do everything he could to allow us to bring as little as possible to closing, but to expect to bring between $5-6k just in case.  Maybe he can work out rolling the taxes into the loan and we could just bring the rest of the closing costs to the table.  We'll see.

At least we won't be paying interest on an additional $5k for 30 years.  That should save us at least $10k over the life of the loan.

Natalie

TX

Preparing to Host Again

Well, after lots of back and forth of can we - should we, we will be hosting Y again this holiday season.  There was a slim chance that we could've been given a Dec travel date, but that looks highly unlikely at this time.  Supposedly the last travel date to be issued in 2008 is Dec 19th.  The proposed hosting dates we were given are from Dec 20, 2008 - Jan 7, 2009.  We are really looking forward to bonding with Y again and sharing Christmas, New Year's and his b-day with him!

When I first heard that I could be issued a Dec date, I called the hosting agency to ask about canceling Y's visit.  They told me it could be done, but that I would be responsible for whatever fees they had already encountered.  However, a day or two later they called back to inform me that if they canceled Y's trip, they would have to cancel T's trip to visit the B's as well.  It seems there is a strict policy of a minimum of 2 kids from any given orphanage per trip.  Since we did not want to adversely affect anyone else's holidays and because Bill really wants to get to bond with Y again, we decided to go ahead with the planned hosting.

So, now I need to join my puppies outside and check to make sure all of the Christmas ornaments and decorations in the garage still work.  Wow, we haven't decorated for Christmas in about 10 years!  We plan on going to a local tree farm and picking up a re-plantable tree on Christmas Eve and then planting it in the hole that Ike so graciously left for us after he toppled over our beloved oak swing tree in the back yard. 

I also have to call the tree company to set up a date next week for them to come remove our oak and two other trees that it knocked down when it was blown over, as well as trim one large branch off of a pine tree that was struck by lightening during Ike, and they're gonna grind all of those stumps and three more in the front yard for $1100.  Not a bad deal.  Monday a plumber is coming out to give us a guesstimate on fixing all three toilets that either leak or rock back and forth and fixing the garbage disposal that makes nasty noises (it's almost brand new).  Maybe I can even get them to install the second Cat Genie that has been sitting up in the master bathroom for a year.  It is wonderful in that it automatically scoops the poop and then treats it with a solution that dissolves solids and cleans the litter box at least once a day.  Tiggy and Daisy love it.  Tiggy even sits there and watches the entire wash cycle.  Tiggy thinks he is a dog, until Goofy wants to chase him, then he somehow remembers that he is a cat.

Until next time.

Natalie, Bill

Tigger, Daisy Duck, Nala Bear, Miko, Squirt, & Goofy (the world's largest yellow lab at 105 lbs and he's not fat - he's three inches taller than the next tallest dog!)