Picasso Vanished!

Written by Michael LaRocca


PICASSO VANISHED! Copyright 2003, Michael LaRocca

After we moved, Picasso went AWOL!

Lemme start atrepparttar beginning.

Lunar New Year, 2003. Jan and I had finished our second semester of teaching. We'd lived in Hangzhou for just over a year, and our home was being destroyed to widenrepparttar 148328 road.

We had a paid holiday of perhaps a month. Right inrepparttar 148329 middle of it, we were moving. About 10 minutes uprepparttar 148330 road by bicycle, but of course we weren't moving on a bicycle.

At 12:30, we'd been told,repparttar 148331 movers would arrive to haul our stuff to our new home. So I'd guess at about 8, maybe earlier, we were packing stuff. Whenrepparttar 148332 doorbell rang at 11:30, we were ready.

Whenever we have a Chinese visitor who can't speak English, and no translator, it's always interesting. I'll just cut torepparttar 148333 chase and say that, once again, Jan figured out what he was talking about. He'd come to take away our air conditioners. We let him. Picasso supervised fromrepparttar 148334 cupboards overrepparttar 148335 bed. Jan called Harry (Huang Haijun, our fantastic Foreign Affairs Officer) so he could be sure they were taking them torepparttar 148336 right place, which was not our new apartment.

Harry arrived about 12:00 and thought he heardrepparttar 148337 movers downstairs. So I retrievedrepparttar 148338 hidden cat carrier, scooped up Miss Picasso, and loaded her gently intorepparttar 148339 box. But nope, it wasn'trepparttar 148340 movers. It wasrepparttar 148341 guy who was taking awayrepparttar 148342 water heater. While Picasso yowled and howled nonstop,repparttar 148343 guy efficiently took awayrepparttar 148344 water heater.

Harry rangrepparttar 148345 movers several times after 12:30, and I heard a side of him I rarely hear. He was chewing butt. Their other job had run long, he calmly explained to us. Then he rang them five minutes later to chew some more butt.

At 1:00,repparttar 148346 doorbell rang again. That silenced Picasso. She listened to allrepparttar 148347 Chinese being spoken. One guy came in and talked to Harry. Then another guy came in. Then another. Then another. Some saw Picasso inrepparttar 148348 kitchen and said "Meow!"

Inrepparttar 148349 end, we had five movers. Shorter than me, but stockier. Lifelong workers. I suppose that could've been me if I'd never left that first hog farm. Orrepparttar 148350 second. Orrepparttar 148351 third. Orrepparttar 148352 fourth.

Moving was a rather rapid whirlwind of activity. Picture a big box filled with books. It's so heavy that you can barely lift it without screwing up your back. Okay, now doublerepparttar 148353 weight because I'm stronger than you. Now, picture some dude throwing a strap around five of them, slinging them across his back, and walking downrepparttar 148354 stairs. Wow!

Inrepparttar 148355 midst of all this, Picasso's incessant protests led her to knockrepparttar 148356 water from her cage door and spill it all overrepparttar 148357 floor of her carrier. I was tempted to attempt openingrepparttar 148358 door, scooping her out with a towel, drying cat and cage, and returning her. Jan reminded me that was impossible, so I settled for shoving socks and underwear betweenrepparttar 148359 bars. Picasso helped by pulling them in. She dried her floor, settled onto them, and began bathing. Ah yes, 30 minutes of silence. Thenrepparttar 148360 howling resumed.

Soon after, I carried her outside. Dead silence. Obsessive curiosity. The three of us got in a taxi. Her first time ever riding with Jan. She had to look atrepparttar 148361 oncoming traffic wide-eyed, then duck her head as it blew pastrepparttar 148362 window. Yeah, they drive fast and crazy here. But, she knew she wasn't being abandoned again. That cage has always meant trouble before. But now, all three of us were riding together. Purr!

The taxi got us torepparttar 148363 right complex butrepparttar 148364 wrong building. Our language skills are limited, it's a big place, and we didn't even know our address yet. So, we walked alongrepparttar 148365 street. Picasso drank inrepparttar 148366 sights and sounds and smells and was quite thrilled. Jan's memory got us to our new home, where five guys were hauling boxes and desks and a sofa on their backs.

Stop Cat Urine Smell By Removing Cat Litter Box Waste

Written by Nancy E. Wigal


Cat urine smell is one ofrepparttar most powerful pet odors imaginable. If you don't scooprepparttar 148279 cat litter box and dispose of her waste, your kitty may deposit her waste all over your home.

This article gives you some advice on why you should quickly remove kitty deposits fromrepparttar 148280 cat litter box, and how it encourages her from making your home her giant litter box.

Cats are fussy, clean creatures and they usually have high cat litter box standards. You can help your cat maintain her good litter box habits by developing one of your own - scooping her deposits fromrepparttar 148281 cat litter box as quickly as you discover them. But, that's only halfrepparttar 148282 battle. If you keeprepparttar 148283 trash can too close torepparttar 148284 cat litter box,repparttar 148285 smell may overwhelm your cat and drive her away from her box.

Since cats have staff (us!), one of our jobs is to keep their litter boxes very clean. If you developrepparttar 148286 habit of checking her cat litter box every time you pass by, and scoop out her waste if you see it, this is a great partnership for maintaining a wonderful relationship between you and your cat. She deposits, you scoop,repparttar 148287 box is clean again, and everyone's happy.

Kitty sees a clean box every time she needs to relieve herself. The urine clumps and other solid waste don't lie inrepparttar 148288 box, permeating your home withrepparttar 148289 odor.

The other critical part of this partnership is making certainrepparttar 148290 scooped items aren't in close proximity torepparttar 148291 cat litter box. Why? The smell is overwhelming to both you and kitty. Since cats have a much keener sense of smell than you and I, she's going to get bowled over byrepparttar 148292 odor far earlier than you, and she'll find a fresher-smelling area to meet her litter box needs. If that area doesn't have a cat litter box handy, too bad for you!

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