Practicing what you Preach

[Ruth B]

One of the common questions on here seems to be how to stop a cat meowing at the bedroom door during the night, and I am normally quick enough to say that you have to ignore it. Unfortunately I am now the one trying to follow my own advice and ignore my lad, Saturn, serenading us from dawn until we get up, and desperately wishing we had an ensuite so I didn't have to go out of the bedroom.

As some may remember from other threads we have a problem with asbestos contamination in the garden and the liability for the clean up costs has been going through the courts for over 10 years. Well, end of last year we were told it had been settled and work would start early this year, estimated date for our garden was February.

Things obviously haven't gone quite according to plan and it was June when someone finally knocked on the door to say they were here to empty the garden. That was a Thursday, the one just as the heat wave started. They didn't turn up on Friday for the last few bits and pieces, but I thought Monday they would so over the weekend decided that I had better start keeping the cats in. Of course with all the hot weather the cats were insisting on staying outside, and by Sunday afternoon I realised I hadn't seen Saturn since the early hours of Saturday morning. He finally showed up about tea time, just as I was starting to look through photos of him thinking I would be putting up posters. With him and Tiggy inside I set the catflap to in only as only Freyja was still out, she instantly realised that something was up and refused to come in. In the end I had to open it for over night and just hope Saturn was about next morning.

Monday morning, Saturn and Tiggy were in, Freyja would come in but would dash back outside if we made any move towards the back door, and refused to use the catflap when it was set to in only, it was like she knew she would be trapped.

The workmen work from 8.00 to 4.00 so as to create as little disturbance as possible. On Monday by 3.00 Freyja was still out at the bottom of the garden refusing to come in, the house was up to about 30 degrees as I couldn't open any windows more than a crack, and there was still no sign of the workmen carrying on. I decided that there was no way i could carry on in that heat with everything shut up so opened up until they actually returned, which ended up being Monday, the start of this week

I had already decided that I would make another attempted to get them all inside as the heat wave had broken and fortunately Freyja and Tiggy were in on the Monday morning with only Saturn AWOL as normal. They did come to empty the garden and start at the front. However about lunch time, when the workmen had disappeared for a bit I heard a lot of rattling of the cat flap. When I get downstairs, Saturn is trying to get in, while Tiggy is trying to hold the cat flap up so she can escape. After a little intervention and deployment of the Dreamies bag, I end up with all three cats on the right side of the cat flap.

It is now fully locked, has about three boards propped up in front of it and a heavy toolbox to hold them in place. Three cats are going slightly stir crazy (as is one human) and Saturn has started to sing the song of his people from about 4.30 in the morning right outside the bedroom door. Unfortunately I am also one of those that needs to visit the bathroom a couple of times in the night, so no matter what I tell other people, he keeps getting a fuss when he I know shouldn't be.

On the other hand it isn't forever, once he can get outside again I think it will all revert to normal, and seeing the digger and dumper truck around the garden and the industrial skip on the drive makes me realise it is the worth a few sleepless nights, it would only take an unwary kitty and the digger to reverse a bit and there would be a very flat cat under the tracks.

[bobbys girl]

We don't have your problem with asbestos, but everything else is horribly familiar! My OH is up 3-4 times a night and gets the same thing with the cats every time. I was up at 4.30 this morning (shoulder again ) and was immediately surrounded by kitties all wanting an early breakfast! I say all, Bob had pushed open the kitchen window and was out somewhere. I don't know about your area, but it's flippin' cold here today and the kitchen positively icy!

So pleased you are getting the asbestos shifted - bet you are too!

[Ruth B]

I'm really glad it's finally started, I'll be even happier when it is finished. The house is crammed with things from the garden, while they put a lot of it in storage there was a lot they viewed as rubbish that I wanted to keep, old bricks, the breeze blocks that were used as a shed base and things like that are now cluttering up the house, I have had to put in a holding tank for my pond fish, and of cause there are extra litter trays and water bowls about. In among all that, I started doing some leather working to fill in my time after being made redundant last year and trying to sell it at craft fairs and online so I have all the tools for that and rolls of leather scattered about. The house is a mess, but it will have a good clean up once everything can go back where it belongs.

Weather wise, I'm in Wolverhampton and it isn't too bad here today. We had the house insulated a few years ago when British Gas was offering to do it for free, so it means it stays nice and warm when it's cold, but there is no where for the heat to escape in the hot weather unless the windows are open, so in hot weather we cook and I don't cope well with heat. Fortunately, not long after I bought the house about 20 years ago, i insisted on an Air Con unit for the bedroom. They weren't common at the time and I took a lot of stick for it until we had a heat wave and I and my OH were the only ones where we worked to be getting a good night's sleep. It's noisy, there's no way i could sleep with it running but a few hours in the evening can make the room almost chilly when we go to bed.

[bobbys girl]

I'm decorating at the moment so I know just what you mean. Trying to find space for the contents of one room spread throughout the (very small) house is a nightmare! Cats certainly are NOT helping. Up a ladder, painting a tricky bit (tongue sticking out of side of mouth, holding breath as I paint) and Purdy's at the back door scratching to come in. I let her in, she's rattling the bowl to tell me she wants feeding. Feed her, back up ladder, Purdy goes into bedroom and throws up in window! She's not happy about the upheaval, but then who is???

Being a 'lady of a certain age', I suffer my own personal heatwaves. Darling OH has bought me an electric fan. We were both enjoying it's benefits a few weeks back. But the weather here is weird at the moment, warm and sultry one minute, bloomin' freezing the next. Something else the cats don't like!