Cats in an RV

by

A Feline Homecoming

I just moved Tabitha and Neelix back into the rig. They have been living in the garage since the middle of June!

It’s hard to believe we have only been separated for about 10 weeks. It feels like a lot longer than that.

This was the first time since I adopted Tabitha in late 2000 that I have not had cats in my home. I missed my boos so much, but I did appreciate how much easier it was to keep the rig clean and sweet smelling.

After coming in, my gang wandered around. Bitha mewed until I was back into the rig and then she went to her favourite lounging spot, right by me in the study:

As for Nee, he didn’t seem too sure about where to settle for a wash, so I plopped him on the arm chair in the living room and he happily staked his claim:

(There is something notable in one of these two photos; would anyone care to guess what?)

by

Another Moving Day Circus

I am partially moving back into Miranda today, just to sleep and cook most meals. I hadn’t moved back in right away for a number of reasons, the main one being that we were going through record highs here and it didn’t make sense to move back into a space where I couldn’t run the AC continuously being on 15A power. Finally, the strong cat odour in the rig kept coming back. I wound up doing a full sweep of the rig with a black light and an enzymatic cleaner and finally got  to the source of the issue and resolved it.

Now, why am I only moving back in partially? My mother came into the motorhome at one point and said, why don’t we do this, this, this, and this, all of which was on my to-do list for the summer. So we’re going to take advantage of the rig not being fully inhabited and the cats still being in the garage to do some final mods. The cloth dresser’s days are numbered!!!

It’ll be sooooo nice to sleep in my bed tonight!

by

I Think I Owe Ford an Apology

I had a coffee date with an uncle this morning in St-Hubert only 3KM from the dealership in Brossard that might have been able to handle Miranda. Slight problem: they’re under renovation! Amusingly enough, there was a canteen truck parked out from with ads for a number of businesses and the first one was a frame straightening specialist located only about 1KM away. I went but they only do cars and had no idea where to send me.

So I came home and called Ford Canada. I got through the main and then sub-menus to reach a live person. I said something along the lines of, “I need help finding a place to have service done on my motorhome that’s on a Ford chassis” and was told, “You called the right place. I can help you with that.”

The technician asked me for a bunch of info about Miranda and was vexed that he couldn’t locate her by her VIN number but moved on to the details of my needs. He put me on hold for about a minute and came back to say that he would be unable to find me a place to take Miranda but that if I was willing to hold for about five minutes or so he would be able to find me a place that would know where to take her.

I held the line and he came back on to tell me that the Ford dealership in Richelieu, Ostiguy, would be calling me shortly. We hung up and less than two minutes later, the phone rang. It was Ostiguy Ford! The very sympathetic person I spoke to said that he was angry for me that Aviva wasn’t doing this research for me, but I explained that there is a language barrier. That out of the way, he asked me what I needed done. He replied that Boisvert Ford in Boucherville could do the entire insurance-covered repair! He gave me their number.

Next, I called Boisvert Ford and spoke to a few people until I was transferred to the right person, the head of the body work department. He said that, yes, he could get the frame straightened, replace the hitch, and do the fiberglass, but that the technician was going on holidays next Wednesday. He suggested I come right over. If it was a three-day job, he’d start immediately, if not I’d have to wait till the guy came back. I had a bit of work to make Miranda road ready, so I told him I’d have her there by about two.

Boucherville is an area I don’t know very well and there is a lot of construction along the 20. My mother gave me really good directions, but I wound up taking one wrong turn, so getting there was a little frustrating and nerve wracking. Boisvert Ford has a sprawling complex and I was very intimidated since I had no idea where to go. No problem, there was someone waiting at the gate to direct me!!!

This angel in overalls guided me around the building, told me where to park so that I could easily leave, and indicated which door to go into. The service manager was waiting for me and I was able to immediately speak with him!

He came out, confirmed that the work to be done matches what the idiots said needed to be done, but he couldn’t give me an exact price because he is going to have custom parts made, though it should be in the ballpark of $2,500. He said that he doesn’t want me to even think about the insurance at this point beyond having them call him. Skipping ahead a little, Aviva Vancouver now has a French person on staff, so he was put in charge of dealing with Boisvert Ford and I shouldn’t have to speak to Aviva about this claim again. *knocks on wood*

So good news. I found a place that can do the job properly and in one piece and my insurance company can deal with it. They can also replace my windshield. Hiccup: it’s a five-day job. No time to do it before the tech goes on holidays. I decided then that I would wait and I booked an appointment for August 20th. That will be more than enough time to make it worth my while to move back home while not so late as to not leave room for contingencies. Since I know how long the rig will be in the shop, I can plan for that week to be my holidays from transcription so I don’t have to dismantle my office again.

The service manager suggested I drop off the rig on August 17th, a Friday, late in the day. This way, I will be able to pull directly into the bay and they can start at 7AM Monday. Great!

As for the repairs on the house, I am postponing them. I am going to make sure my corner is well sealed and I will have the work done in the States this winter where I am going to pay less. I’ll take my time and look for a shop where they would be okay with the cats remaining in the rig while I sleep in the yard in my truck, or something along those lines.

I asked the guy if he could do the tow set up on my Ranger. He said no and that there’s a place in St-Jean that could do it, but he wouldn’t recommend going there and that I should got a little further afield to a place he knows in Ville Lemoyne. Yes, the place he wouldn’t recommend is They Who Shall Not Be Named. I should have really done my research back in June. 🙁 I am going to look into ordering my parts and having them shipped to New York or Vermont and then just have the installation done here.

I’ll be moving back in over the weekend, but my cats are probably going to stay in the garage. It’ll be way too hot for them in the rig these days and they are very happy where they are.

Needless to say, all is much better with my world tonight!

by

Projects of the Feline Variety

There has been a lot of concern in comments and emails about my cats living in my mother’s garage while Miranda is in the shop. I don’t know if I should be happy about the amount of concern my readers have for my babies or be insulted that anyone would think I am capable of putting them in any sort of danger.

In the last 37 years, my mother has had cats for all but at most a month. She loves cats and understands them. She has an outdoor cat to reduce the amount of dander in the house because her partner is severely allergic. Moreover, they have nice furniture and Tabitha has claws. So two cats living full time in the house is simply out of the question.

The garage is very cool and there is a window that has been left open. We set up a perch by it. So the cats can look out and see the birds and other critters in the yard while getting fresh air.

To make sure that they have plenty of light and a day/night cycle, my mother installed a lamp on a timer. She also made toys for them and set up plenty of cubbies for hiding at different heights.

With all three of us making a concerted effort to go into the garage at least six times total per day, they have had plenty of human interaction for the last two weeks and would have been fine for another one. But now that we know that the repairs could take longer and that we would be working on my truck, my mother hatched a plan to give the cats and I more together time while opening up their world a tad.

So before starting on the truck projects this morning, my mother and I completed a project that she had been meaning to do for the last 10 years. It’ll benefit the cats and then she will still be able to use the item when she works in the garage. We made a giant screen for the garage door:

So now, they can watch people pass by on the street, get even more fresh air, and I can chat with them when I’m working on the truck. Hanging out in the garage with them is going to be so much more pleasant now, too.

Next up, progress on the truck!

by

Entering a Dreary Stretch

The heat wave didn’t last long. It’s been a little cooler every day. I awoke to a very damp world yesterday but the daytime rain held off till tonight. Blech. But it’s not like I could be out enjoying the sun anyway; I have way too much work to do!

I did make a brief escape tonight to grab some more sushi from Hiro. Parking there, I discovered that Moya has a burnt out headlight! I hope that putting in a new one is easy and that I can find one here in town. I don’t want to drive anywhere but a place that sells automotive lights next time I get in the truck, and I am going to have to wait for full sun to do so. I’m just lucky I didn’t get pulled over this evening.

As for dinner, I decided to be lazy and cheap and order a special where the chef makes the choices. I did ask them for no tempura, no cream cheese, and no avocado and was told that was fine.

Behold dinner:

This was a pretty good selection! That said, I’m ordering à la carte again next time. For one thing, I would rather have had octopus than shrimp and the dark red fish.

I have no idea what that dark red fish is. By process of elimination on the menu, it is izumidai, which is tilapia and not red, but the translation the restaurant gives is rouget, which is goatfish or red mullet, which makes more sense. So colour me confused except for the fact that I didn’t like it; it just didn’t taste as fresh as the lovely salmon next to it.

There is also kappa maki, which are cucumber rolls. Nice and crunchy! Finally, the big rolls or futomaki, don’t appear on the menu and were absurdly delicious in that they featured lettuce and red pepper! Very nice, I’ll admit, but they seem like a slippery slope to eating cream cheese with my rice and nori! 🙂

For $13, this was an impressive spread and Hiro has lived up to its first impression.

I’m off to spend some time in the garage with my cats.