You could've asked for a better week-end.
This week-end was the week-end that the family got conscripted to go back to my home town and help my Mom get things ready for winter.
This meant moving 5 yards of soil, edging flower beds, tilling, checking eaves (that luckily didn't need to be cleaned), and various other bits of clean-up. There's a bit of annoying family politic in that we're not really asked to help clean as much as told, and then a bit of guilt about why we don't come out more. I know that my Dad did everything that needed to be done and that I really don't mind doing the work... but I think it is more of the not being asked. Especially when spouses are also expected to do the work.
Either way, we arrived late Friday (where my brother-in-law and sister had done a lot of the work) after dropping off the cats at viridis_ama's parents, did the work most of Saturday, and headed back to the city this morning.
That was until we were about 45 minutes into our trip back when we got a call from Viridis_ama's mom. They had taken the cats to the cabin (as was the plan) and they believed that while they were doing winter clean-up work Darcy had gotten out. They had searched the cabin high-and-low and there was no sign of the hairy critter.
At that point we were about 1.75 hours south-west of Winnipeg and were going to make a detour to the cabin, another 1.5 hours north-east of Winnipeg. All the way there we were hoping to get a call from viridis_ama's parents, hoping that they'd found Darcy... but nothing; no calls.
Last night there was frost in Cartwright and the clouds definitely looked like rain. Darcy is a complete indoor cat. Though he still he has his claws, we're not certain how able he would be able to handle the outdoors, especially in the forest.
Finally making it to the cabin, we met viridis_ama's dad in the drive-way; they still hadn't found Darcy, even though they ran the risk of attracting bears by putting some bacon out on the front step. We made another close circle of the cabin calling for the cat.
Viridis_ama's mom had been out since 9am checking under all the neighbouring cabins, culverts, nooks, and crannies should could think of, but no Darcy-cat.
Viridis_ama went upstairs to start looking, and before I had even taken my boots off she had found him. Despite the family turning all the rooms inside out, stripping the bedding, and everything else they could think of, the cat had evaded them. He was hiding in the very back of a bedroom behind a bed skirt... only a single wave of the fabric revealed him. And he wasn't coming out. We ended up having to move the bed to actually get at Darcy. The mother-in-law rushed in with the cat kennel and we got Darcy nicely put away. We then packaged up Henry, and with a huge sigh of relief made our way back to the city.
Needless to say we're pretty tired out, but at least we've gotten 2 kittens and a faithful hound... or family unit is complete once again.
This meant moving 5 yards of soil, edging flower beds, tilling, checking eaves (that luckily didn't need to be cleaned), and various other bits of clean-up. There's a bit of annoying family politic in that we're not really asked to help clean as much as told, and then a bit of guilt about why we don't come out more. I know that my Dad did everything that needed to be done and that I really don't mind doing the work... but I think it is more of the not being asked. Especially when spouses are also expected to do the work.
Either way, we arrived late Friday (where my brother-in-law and sister had done a lot of the work) after dropping off the cats at viridis_ama's parents, did the work most of Saturday, and headed back to the city this morning.
That was until we were about 45 minutes into our trip back when we got a call from Viridis_ama's mom. They had taken the cats to the cabin (as was the plan) and they believed that while they were doing winter clean-up work Darcy had gotten out. They had searched the cabin high-and-low and there was no sign of the hairy critter.
At that point we were about 1.75 hours south-west of Winnipeg and were going to make a detour to the cabin, another 1.5 hours north-east of Winnipeg. All the way there we were hoping to get a call from viridis_ama's parents, hoping that they'd found Darcy... but nothing; no calls.
Last night there was frost in Cartwright and the clouds definitely looked like rain. Darcy is a complete indoor cat. Though he still he has his claws, we're not certain how able he would be able to handle the outdoors, especially in the forest.
Finally making it to the cabin, we met viridis_ama's dad in the drive-way; they still hadn't found Darcy, even though they ran the risk of attracting bears by putting some bacon out on the front step. We made another close circle of the cabin calling for the cat.
Viridis_ama's mom had been out since 9am checking under all the neighbouring cabins, culverts, nooks, and crannies should could think of, but no Darcy-cat.
Viridis_ama went upstairs to start looking, and before I had even taken my boots off she had found him. Despite the family turning all the rooms inside out, stripping the bedding, and everything else they could think of, the cat had evaded them. He was hiding in the very back of a bedroom behind a bed skirt... only a single wave of the fabric revealed him. And he wasn't coming out. We ended up having to move the bed to actually get at Darcy. The mother-in-law rushed in with the cat kennel and we got Darcy nicely put away. We then packaged up Henry, and with a huge sigh of relief made our way back to the city.
Needless to say we're pretty tired out, but at least we've gotten 2 kittens and a faithful hound... or family unit is complete once again.