This morning the weather is beautiful. There is a bit of a haze, the sun is drying the dewdrops on the trees.
I continue to take it easy, but am beginning to add activities to my days. The medications are making me slightly tired, slightly nauseous, but only slightly. My appetite is back, a good sign.
Today I discovered a pool of fluid on the floor in the downstairs bedroom. It hasn’t rained for a week, so it can’t be a leak, and besides, there would be telltale signs of leakage, on the wall, or ceiling, or along the floor. This pool was near the middle of the room, and nowhere near any plumbing or walls. This is the third time I have found mysterious small puddles in the middle of a room, with no evidence of the cause. I am pretty sure it is Mist, who is not at all happy with the clean house, or the strangers who come through at inconvenient times… when she is sleeping, which is almost always. 🙂
After I found the first mysterious puddle, I broached the theory, that Mist was responsible, with Attila. He would not entertain any such idea. He thought of at least four other possibilities, all of them highly improbable.
This morning I decided that enough is enough with the mysterious puddles (and the bad smell). I cleaned up the latest puddle, then moved all of Mists belongings into the mudroom on the main floor of the house. The mud room opens onto the screened in porch, where we spend a lot of time in the summer, so she will get lots of companionship there. She has a brand new, comfy cat bed, her food, plenty of water, her cat litter, and a nice window sill on which to sit and watch the great outdoors whenever she pleases. The door to the mudroom will remain closed at all times.
If the mysterious puddles stop appearing then I will believe it was Mist who was sending us messages. If the mysterious puddles still appear, I will know for certain that Mist had nothing to do with them.
In the meantime, my big activity for today is to wash the floors downstairs, in the rooms where I found puddles.
Attila spent yesterday, Sunday, his day of rest, removing high branches from the trees outside the kitchen window, and building a screen for the downstairs bathroom window. That took most of the day. At my urging he scheduled no other projects for the rest of the day, so that we could “sit” quietly together and enjoy the lovely weather, and the evening. We sit out in the screened in porch, where Mist likes to join us. Attila lifts her gently onto the big pine wood box that is tipped on its side and used as a table of sorts. From her perch she can watch the wildlife.
It has been a week since any potential buyers viewed the house, a predictable slow down. Nothing in our price point seems to be selling, or any price point below ours for that matter. We will be touching base with our realtor again in August, and at that time I will ask him for details about what has actually sold in our area, our price point, and our type of rural property.
We are proceeding with preparations to implement Plan XXX, in case the house does not sell this summer. This serves to remove the stress of the “what ifs”, and doesn’t cost anything but a bit of our time and effort.
Worldly Distractions
Weather
20°C
Date: 9:00 AM EDT Monday 6 July 2015
Condition: Sunny
Pressure: 101.9 kPa
Visibility: 16 km
Temperature: 19.7°C
Dewpoint: 17.2°C
Humidity: 86%
Wind: SE 9 km/h
Quote
“Each failure to sell will increase your chances for success at your next attempt.”
Og Mandino
1923 – 1996
[It isn’t that I necessarily believe the above quote, it is that I desperately want to believe it! :)]
My question, concerning the mysterious puddles, is why not just do the “sniff test” on it?
It it’s Mist, wouldn’t it smell of urine? Easily identifiable?
(((hugs)))
That which you wish to have, believe it is given to you already. Or some such Biblical quote. In this case the something would be a house sale.
Good question Bex, sometimes the puddles are tinted brown and smell, and sometimes they are clear and I cannot detect a smell. I found a bit of info on cat pee that doesn’t smell here:
http://www.justanswer.com/pet-cat/1h5hh-problem-cat-s-urine-doesn-t-smell-ammonia.html#re.v/185/
If it is Mist, it could be that she is drinking copious amounts and the regurgitating it onto the floor, at least the times when the fluid is clear. She may be urinating when it is tinted and smelly. It is hard to know. I certainly haven’t caught her doing anything untoward, but then I wouldn’t as she spends a lot of time in the family room downstairs where I do not spend much time.
Terra just went through expensive and fruitless sessions with the vet , and after spending $$$$, it was down to behavioral issues, so that her cat now has his own room where he lives. The vet told her that when the environment is too stressful (too many other cats and dogs in Terra’s instance) a cat will begin to urinate everywhere to make a point. The other thing with Mist is that most of the puddles are near the former location of the litter box, which we had to move to show the house. Mist certainly has let us know that she does not like this house selling business one little bit, and it isn’t a stretch to consider that she would object by urinating where she should not.
I would like to eliminate the possibility that it is Mist. The downstairs is beginning to smell bad, so something has to be done now, as the house is up for sale and people are coming through it.
I hope things are improving at your house Bex, and that Paul is regaining his old self!
(((hugs)))
I’m clickin’ my ruby slippers here Steve-Paul! 🙂
Had to smile at Attila suggesting other ideas regarding your puddles, no matter how improbable. DH can be just as bad with that sort of thing when it comes to something he favors being ‘besmirched’. Makes you want to stamp your foot and say “Oh, come on!” 😉
DH also did some branch and root removal, yesterday. A low branch of the tree by the street kept hitting the car as we drive out, so he finally took it down. He won’t touch the dead branches over the sidewalk though, no matter how much I implore. He’s adamant that’s the city’s job, since it’s their tree.
Teri, it can be challenging when your partner prefers the “nah, it couldn’t be” approach to an issue. Attila did support my decision to confine Mist to the mudroom, particularly when he saw the items with “water damage”. Luckily she seems quite happy in the mudroom, and was quite happy to have us sitting in the screened in porch at lunch time, where she had a visit with us.
Trees grow so fast! We own all the trees near the house, which makes us responsible for all of them. When we first moved here we had some very large trees, with trunks almost leaning on the roof, professionally removed. Now it is just a matter of keeping the branches, of the many remaining trees, away from the roof, walls and windows. The trees by the road are the responsibility of the Township, but they just ignore them, so we do too.
Yes, cats do do “spiteful pee” activity when their world gets upset. If it stops now that she has her own little world, then you know for sure. Glad your recuperation is coming along. Don’t forget the pain medicine!
I won’t forget Lee Ann 🙂
Mist seems to be liking her own little world, and so far there are no new puddles to be found. This might have solved the problem, maybe!
I don’t have a whole lot to add to this except I’d be a tad pissed about the mysterious puddles… and am holding gigantic hopes your house sells. Love.
P.S. Glad you’re feeling better.
Reenie, the puddles are definitely a major disappointment, and the smell of them might have put some potential buyers off, if there were any real potential buyers. However, since there are no local sales near our price point, or in properties similar to ours, I don’t think we ever had a real potential buyer here, just tire kickers. Which is OK, gotta kick tires before you spend your money.
We are working away at small improvements constantly. If nothing else, the place will be very clean and ready for winter!
Hope you are enjoying your screened in porch these beautiful summer days!