I know all of you are waiting on tenterhooks to hear how the move went….

First… let me say… if you can avoid moving in July… avoid it! I’m pretty sure we ended up with the most humid day of the year on Saturday. They say it was only 23 C, (73 F) but it was so humid, it felt absolutely disgusting.

The crew for the day was myself and Dave (of course), my brother and sister-in-law Jenn, neice Rowan, my brother’s best friend Shawn, and Dad (Mom stayed home – I’ll explain why tomorrow). I neglected to take any pictures… but boy were they a fantastic crew.

Due to a last minute change from U-Haul, we had to pick up the truck from three towns over, instead of 15 minutes away. It added an extra hour and a half to a very early morning (I’m not very happy with U-Haul’s service, let me tell you), but we had the truck loaded and were on the road by noon.

As you know, it’s a two-hour drive to the new house, so we started unloading around 2. But by 4:30, the truck was empty, and the house was full.

My best friend Samantha texted me that evening to see how everything was going… this was the picture I sent her.

I was hoping to be able to put a good dent in all those boxes on Sunday, but unfortunately, I didn’t rent a big enough truck.

So…. Sunday it was back to the townhouse. Dad met us there with his truck and trailer, and between that and my little Dory, we managed to get almost all of the rest.

There are a few small things left, as well as our fish tank (the fish are at the new house, in another tank, don’t worry). As you read this, Dave and I will be back there, grabbing the last of our stuff and giving the place a good clean.

I did take yesterday off from driving though – I needed a break from those two hour runs!

Instead I focused on unpacking. The kitchen is basically in order. I’ll probably rearrange some stuff in the cupboards as we get settled – but can I just say…. HOLY CUPBOARD SPACE! The kitchen in the townhouse a tiny little corner kitchen – Maybe 80 sq. feet at most… this one is around 200!

In addition to the kitchen, we have a temporary sitting/tv area set up in the upper part of the livingroom (I still have mudding to do on the drywall in the lower part), and the bedroom is mostly together (though some of my clothes are still in boxes.) I expect by the end of the weekend we’ll be 90% unpacked.

But I know what you REALLY want to know….

HOW DID THE CATS MAKE OUT????

The short answers… as good as cats can be expected to do during a big move.

Before anyone came in the house and started opening doors, I put all three in Dave’s old studio (which was already empty) with their food, water, litter box and some blankets. The door was shut and no one was allowed to open it, so we didn’t have to worry about anyone getting spooked and bolting.

When it was time to go, I loaded them into their carriers. Burton is a sweetie and he just sauntered right in. Rupert freezes when I put him in the carrier, and then has a little scardey cat spaz as soon as the door is shut. It’s impossible to get Relic in a carrier without first covering his head (I usually wrap him in a towel or pillow case.)

The drive wasn’t too bad. There was a lot of crying from all three when I first loaded them in, but they settled down pretty quick. Burton and Relic would start up again whenever the truck slowed, but then they’d quiet after a few minutes.

When I got to the house, I took all the carriers into the upstairs bathroom and shut the door. I made sure they had more food, water, and litter, opened the carriers, and then left to help unload the moving truck.

I had to go drop off the moving truck with my brother, so it was Dave who let them free from the bathroom when we were done. He said Rupert and Burton came right out and were cautiously exploring the upstairs (only my office, the bathroom and the main bedroom are currently open to them). For all Relic hated being put in the carrier, he decided there was no way he was coming out now!

When I got home, Burton was lounging on the floor mat in the bathroom, and the other two…

I’m pretty sure Rupert was in there trying to comfort Relic, because he came out several times on his own over the next hour. Relic still refused. Eventually, I took the top half off the carrier. Relic gave me a dirty look and ran down and cowered at the end of the hallway.

I got the bedroom set up, covered the bed in familiar smelling blankets, and brought him to it. Aaaaaand that’s pretty much where he’s stayed since Saturday night.

Oh… he just looks soooo sad! And really – I spent all that money and time so HE would have a safe outdoor space (the other two are fine with being indoor only) and now he won’t even come down the stairs!!!!!

What a guy!

Rupert has done some exploring on the main floor – just not when we can see him. He’s doing it at night when we are sleeping. I wake up and his dusty little paw prints are all over the dark fabric of the futon (we’re on subfloors at the moment so everything is dusty).

As I was typing this, he did poke his head down the stairs and watch me for a bit.

But he ran back up when Dave got up to get something from the kitchen.

Now Burton… he’s handled it best of all of them. He’s still spending most of his time upstairs, but Sunday night he came down, explored a little and the reclaimed his favourite spot on the back of the couch.

His favourite things so far though…

Is the upstairs bathroom sink. Nine times out of 10, that’s where I’ll find him if I go looking. I’m not sure why. It’s not because it’s cool… we have an a/c unit in the bedroom window, and it’s WAY frostier in there than the bathroom.

The only reason I can see…

Is that it’s a room with a view.

I mentioned that our big tank is still at the townhouse. Eventually, it will be set up in the lower part of the living room. But since that’s not done yet, we don’t want to set it up somewhere then have to move it. So a week before we moved, Dave set up this temporary tank on the counter in the upstairs bathroom (we have two bathrooms, so it won’t be in our way here).

Burton has always enjoyed watching the fish when they were in the big tank, but he’s never been able to get this close! He’s going to be so upset when we move them!

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But for now he’s pretty darn happy.

We are supposed to get some cooler weather this weekend, so I’ll introduce them all to the catio then.