People keep asking me if we know when we're moving. Valid question. And since a bunch of my friends read this, I thought I'd post the details here. (Don't worry, this is not a laundry list.)
June 7th, a/k/a today. Hold Open House. Leave house at 11 am. Imagine hordes tramping through. Feel weird.
June 8th & 9th. Field offers. Counter offers. Hold breath. Go into escrow. Exhale. Eat sushi. (Well, why not?)
June 20th. Board plane to New York. Bring cats. Stow them in the overhead compartments. Get chewed out by flight attendant when the fuzzballs pop their heads out to ask for kitty treats before takeoff. Grudgingly agree to check them as luggage.
June 21st to July 2nd. Look for house or apartment to rent. Squeeze in a few school tours. Take breaks to go down to the Jersey shore with relatives. Pet cats a lot and scratch behind their ears.
July 3rd. Fly back to LA. Cats stay in New York with grandma and grandpa. Bye, cats. Bye, grandma and grandpa.
July 4th. Try to find some fireworks.
July 5th to July 31st. Pack and toss, pack and toss. A household to move, mountains of never-used belongings to discard. Freak out. Take break to go to Legoland and Sea World because we promised we would. Say goodbye to Shamu.
August 1st (date approximate). Climb into minivan. Drive east. Through deserts, over mountains, hello Continental Divide, hello herds of bison, hello huge president heads, hello great brown Mississippi River, hello and what a huge country. Thank the gods of travel several times for an air conditioned car and cell phones.
August 16th (date approximate). Arrive. Hello cats. Hello new life.
The cats are ready for their great adventure.
Posted by Tamar at June 7, 2005 03:44 PM | TrackBackRe the cats -- why not use airline-approved shoulder bags? We did that when we flew Nikko and Scout across the country 5 years sgo, and with kitty valium they slept through most of it (though there was one nervous moment when Scout, all of 6 months old and deserving of her name, unzipped from the inside and had to be held tight in Rachel's arms for the duration of the ascent).
Posted by: Chris at June 8, 2005 09:48 AMI was impressed when a woman brought on a bag, put it underneath the seat in front of her and it wasn't until after we'd landed and she picked it up and opened it and started giving the dog water that I even realized there was a pet on board. Seems doable (unless there's going to be lots of carry-ons for Damian which would preclude you having two more for the cats).
I was told that the cats have to weigh no more than ten pounds each if we wanted to bring them onto the cabin with us, and they'd need to be in bags small enough to fit under the seats in front of us. I think they'd be cramped and uncomfortable, plus I think Dante weighs closer to 12 lbs. And yes, Toni, we'll be bringing stuff for Damian to do (and eat and drink), plus two laptops and a camera bag. So it'd be incredibly awkward to also carry on complaining cats.
I bought the cats their own "live animal" tickets; they'll ride in cargo in the relative luxury of their roomy carriers, where they can stand, turn around, and stretch out. Continental has a temperature-controlled luggage compartment, so they'll be fine even if it's hot out. I wish they could be with us so we could make sure they're doing okay, but I'm also sure they will in fact do okay. Dante flew this way when he was a kitten. So did Mithril when he joined us in LA.
BTW, the veterinary association now councils against giving animals tranquilizers before a flight. Apparently it can have some bad effects.
Posted by: Tamar at June 9, 2005 05:57 PM