We had a visit from my sister and niece earlier this week.  I enjoyed taking a couple more days away from the drudgery.  It also afforded me enough time that we had a significant breakthrough with "C" and Saffy.  Saffy is now chill, enough so that I have a picture of "C" sleeping in her bed in my office whilst she slept beside it today.  Ok so the cat and the dog can get along... the last thing to get through is adjusting me to a cat.

Leaps and strides have been made for everyone's bonding... but I know I still have a long road to haul if he is going to stay.  I'm happy that Avery is happy and super excited that the dog and cat are peaceful at this point.  This means the cat is now out and wandering about.

This also means that I have plastic bags lining the kitchen counters and table to convince him that these are not suitable places to jump up. I have stuffed plastic bags around the dirt on plants to keep him from digging in the pots.  I just discovered carpet snagged up under the door to the spare room where he's been staying at night -- so not pleased about that.  I am trying to wear him out and feed him amply for bed time in the hopes he will crash, but dude, you are going to land in a giant dog crate if you don't cut that quick.  I know, I know, I should give him the same treatment dogs get and he should get to sleep in my room, right?  But you and I both know that the cat isn't going to sleep through and I am going to want to strangle him, right?

The good news is that when the kid rolls over after being awakened she smiles when she realizes it is the kittie standing there and not just me.

This morning I sat in the office working w/ Saffy on leash and allowed "C" to wander.  He eventually came into the office and we had successful very close encounters.  Saffy and I followed "C" into the living room for a bit more sniffing and eyeballing one another which went well.  Once again Saffy started to get a little too excited, especially when a little kitty-spazing occurred and we ended the interaction.

The other nice thing about "C"'s time downstairs is that he was content down low.  I know it won't last.

"C" visited the vet yesterday for a sore at the corner of his mouth.  I just gave him day 2 of the medicine.  Color me surprised that putting the pill in his mouth and blowing on his nose, like I do for dogs, worked and he swallowed them.

We have had a few 'meetings' with Saffy on a leash.  She starts out pretty chill but then gets excited as "C" moves around more and more.  At that point I end the interaction.  Saffy did get to sniff her rear and "C" sniffed at Saffy's side.  No lunging on Saffy's part, which bolsters my hope, but I am still too nervous.

Saffy managed to make a mess with a ("treat"-free) litter box that I got to vacuum up.  Here's hoping that intrigue dissipates.  "C" goes to the vet later today for the little bump at the corner of his mouth.  He is starting to get bolder about trying to get into things and jumping up on items I would prefer he wouldn't.  I know he's a cat, but I am going to try and keep some things out of bounds.  I'm hoping early and consistent persistence pays off.

What an awesome birthday surprise!  Someone posted in a spooky FB group I am in that Cracker Barrel had some of the ghost statues available online... I managed to get one ordered for me AND one for my niece before they were out.

I also used my free starbucks treat to try a secret menu item.  They had to modify due to shortages (they didn't have the pumps of raspberry) but the 'strawberry cold brew' I had this morning was delightful (and not crazy sweet).  I also indulged in chinese for lunch.  I need to settle back down on the intake next week - we've been working on the ice cream cake I asked for the past two days.

Also, a beautiful bouquet of flowers just came from one of my sisters.  Yay.  It is a good day :)

Today's progress:  I brought Church to my office and closed the doors.  Saffy tried to gently paw at the door a couple of times and there was one hiss, but it went reasonably well.

This has also been a great start of telling kittie "no" with regard to getting up on my desks.  I know I won't be able to keep him off of everything, but I will be working to keep some things out of bounds, especially my kitchen counters.  It does of course mean I need to provide some high things for him in lieu of the no no areas.

This morning I heard meowing at 8 am.  I can't believe the kid slept long enough for the kittie to wake me.  We have been doing the play/visit/nap cycle.  Today I gave a bit of moist food to both the cat and the dog on opposite sides of the door.  While I was outside the door and didn't see it first hand, I'm told the cat hissed at first.  Yep, slow and steady is going to be necessary.

A bit later Saffy went outside for a while and I allowed "C" to explore a bit.  First thing in my bedroom he was making biscuits on Saffy's bed.  First thing in Avery's room he climbed under the bed.  We came downstairs and he wandered a bit here as well, even spotted Saffy standing on the deck.  No hissing this time, but the body language was obvious including a flicking tail.  He didn't freak though, so we'll keep doing the same and see how things progress.

Even headed out for a little while today - late lunch to grab my free birthday burger from Red Robin!

After much frustration and as insane as it is... we have a cat at our house today!  After our last swimming lesson for this session we headed north to pick him up.  Aside:  We do have 5 private swim lessons scheduled at this point.

His name from foster is Carter.  He is black, but you can see dark brown-red banding in sunlight.  He has a few white hairs on his chest and one white whisker.  He talked to us the whole way home and came right out of his carrier when we opened it up.  He will spend a couple of days in the workout room, which Avery and I prepared yesterday.  After he and Saffy have absorbed each other's scent a bit we'll take a step towards introducing them.

While we were upstairs with him "C" explored the covered bed, litter box, toys, and cat tower.  He found a cozy spot in the hidey house on the tower and got comfy.  He was playing with me and leaning in for head scratches and butt scratches.  I think the humans and "C" will get along well.  I am looking forward to him being ready to snuggle with me as he did with his foster Mom.

I am leaning towards the name Church in honor of Pet Sematary.  It has always been my 'vision' for a black cat name, but we'll see how things proceed.

I did take a kids claritin this morning as I was already stuffy from vacuuming and kicking up dust last night.  I figure it didn't hurt to be preventative so I could focus on giving attention and not worrying if I would have any issue resulting from the extra petting.

The weekend to cap off the week off... Saturday had us at swimming lessons and doing some running.  We came home to eat and then went to the pool for a quick visit (the water was pretty cold).  Sunday we went to a humane society event, Woofstock, at Mingo Park.  Killer hot and sticky, some decent vendors and food trucks, not as busy as I would have expected.  We also went to a egg-side family picnic.

I got my approval from the rescue on Thursday.  They then changed up who was communicating with me to someone who wanted me to call instead of emailing.  Ok.  One voicemail and 4 attempted additional calls (voice mailbox) full with follow up emails, including one at a time that individual requested, and I haven't talked to that person yet.  This is it.  If this doesn't pan out I need to be done with it.  I am tired of applying places and being set up for disappointment. I see places posting how desperate they are for adopters and I am ready to call bs.

Day five of my week off... today we shopped a bit trying to spot some Halloween goodies in the wild.  Didn't buy much, but I did manage to sneak in purchasing two items for Avery's birthday.  I would have maybe pressed to get back and to the pool if it weren't for the spotty showers and grumbling skies.  We did get some successful time out back, Avery on her swing set and I in the hot tub.

I'm so glad I still have a weekend to enjoy before returning to my desk.  I really needed this step away.  It has been delightful.  I feel like I had a successful staycation.

Day four of my week off... we had an appointment to submit for Avery's passport today, so we drove to the general area of the post office and hit a few shops there as well.  Other than that we've been home.  It was pretty rainy, but it cleared up - I thought we might go out to the swingset, but instead we opted for some popcorn and a movie.  Yay for couch cuddles.

I am being kept in the loop from another rescue on my application progress.  If/when approved I am hoping to meet a few other kitties in the near term.

I also hopped online long enough to complete a status document, accept meeting requests, and clean out my inbox, but that's it.  I'm proud of me.

Day three of my week off... Avery and I met her Aunt Susanne at Idlewild!  We spent some time in Soakzone too, which I have never been in before.  The day went fast and we didn't hit everything, but we had a blast.  It was pretty darn hot, so the sweat rolled, despite the ample shade.

I also have to give Saffy some kudos.  Being gone for a looong day I expected a mess to clean up when I got home, but she is a trooper and the house was accident free.

Day two of my week off... Avery didn't make me get out of bed until 9am, and I even put her down on time (9pm) last night.  We headed to return one item and to get some lunch before we headed to the pool for the afternoon.  We bumped into another of Avery's classmates which means she had a crazy good time and didn't want to leave.

We did however depart in order to hit the farmer's market.  We've been heading there every Tuesday to grab some veggies and some dinner from the food carts.  I ate, she was part way through hers, we had not yet gotten veggies and a nosebleed set in so I rushed us out of there and home, no fresh veggies in hand for the week.

I am on day 4 or 5 of a headache too.  I am sure I am dehydrated right now, which doesn't help.  I would swear someone is slipping me decaf, but I made my own batch of cold brew and it is not decaf so I don't know what the problem is.  I did check my blood pressure after getting home given the headache combined with the nose bleed.  It is up a little, but not much.

Day one of my week off... I wanted to go to Triple B farms, but changed plans at the last minute to go to Simmons Farm.  Triple B's fun stuff is weekend only and it was a long drive for berry picking.  Instead at Simmons we picked flowers and make a quick visit in the animal petting area.  We also made a quick grocery run into Aldi and stopped for a water check on the hot tub.

A very infrequent opening of Netflix allowed me to see that season 17 of Grey's Anatomy is available, so I am probably going to power through that this week rather than watching YouTube or Little House on the Prairie.

We met kitties today!  The longer story that goes with this is below.  We did not come home with a cat.  I'll leave it at saying that Avery didn't like the one we met and she was ready to leave.  So odd for her and she wasn't falling asleep on the drive to or from there, so it wasn't a sleepy issue.

This was an individual who runs a rescue from their home.  This particular group had a female black cat that had come back as a double-check mark match on Petfinder, but I hadn't previously contacted them because I was more focused on males.  This group did not have an application or checks, so we were "in" pretty quick and were offered to come visit, but immediately the focus was shifted to two other cats that they thought would be good matches for us. Despite being there, we didn't even get to see the first/original cat, which kind of sits odd with me, especially since we didn't have an amazing connection with the two cats we were introduced to.  The black male was friendly, etc, but the kicker is Avery was ready to go.  On the drive home she told me that cat was mean.  Note that he did nothing negative while we were there.  Ok, I guess.  I am kind of hoping we have a moment where she says "can we take this one home with us"?

The good news is the garage door opener works even when the power is out! The bad news is the power is out. Not a great start to a work day the week before a deadline.

In other news, I filled out the foster application for my local shelter. They already rented indicating that they presently have no need but that my application looks good.   Perhaps if they get a Sibe I would have the first opportunity to be a failed foster if it the right dog - or cat...I indicated willingness on a cat too.