the trials of mr. moogs

As Jessie mentioned in the last post, this move has been hardest on Moogs, our cat.  The ride over here was miserable for him, he meowed almost every 2 seconds for the first half of our 14 hour drive.  But he eventually broke and calmed down quite a bit.  We thought we had won.  But little did we know what the next week … nay, month! … would have in store for us.

The 1st week.

The first week in the new house Moogs was confused by the new space and spent most of his first day shivering away in the hall closet.  Then he started this new adorable behavior where he’d spend 14 hours a day burrowed under the covers.  It was a Cute Overload moment that could break the heart of Stalin himself…

Then came the nights.  Being completely nocturnal due to his 14 hours of mid-day slumber, Moogs was left to wander around the empty house alone at night meowing in fear, and then being scared by the echo of his own meow, only to run out of a room meowing, to find the same result in the next room.

He would try to use his cat instincts to stare out of the window, only to find the interested neighbor cats lazing in our yard looking back at him.  Causing him to meow… and freak out… and meow… and freak out… and … etc…

This kept Jessie and I awake all night as if we had a newborn.  Only, this newborn would resist cuddling & comfort.  And if held would spaz out and scratch the [cuss word] out of you with his razor-like claws -the killer extension to his advanced muscular system- which I assume most newborns lack.

The 2nd week.

Once it became “clear” that we were actually going to own the house (that’s another story!), we started demo’ing the kitchen because we had big plans to put new floors in our house.  We knocked out the 1960s era breakfast bar (sorry, Craig) as well as the noggin-offending cabinet above it leaving an knocked out portion of drywall where the cabinets were previously attached.

When Moogs first found this hideout, it was a blessing.  We had plans for workers coming in and out of the house over the next few days, and him being out of sight not running through glue was a great idea.

But what was first perceived as a blessing was really a curse.  His hideout enabled him to continue his 14hour+ sleeping schedule, and his incessant nocturnal bitching and moaning.

The 3rd week.

At the end of the 2nd week after the floors were finished being installed we had to go to Houston for a family emergency (another much sadder story). This put us out of the house for 10 days.  I can only assume it was filled with long hours spent above the cabinets, and meowing nights.

The 4th week.

We came home from Houston and just spent a few breaths in the house.  Moogs’ nocturnal nights turned into our nocturnal nights and we enacted an Anti-Hideout Family Policy.  We tried our darnedest to discourage his attempts by stuffing various articles in the hole, but to no avail.  He always broke through our defenses.

Before we left for our Burbank/Palm Spings/San Diego trip (that’s another story!) that Friday, we stuck a snare drum into the hole which prevented his attempts fairly well.

The 5th week.

I dunno.  I was in San Diego learning to boogie board.  (That’s another story!)

The 6th week.

We got back from San Diego only to find the snare drum on the ground.  On it’s 8ft plummet it gathered enough speed to put a sizable divot into the new hardwood floors.  Absolutely terrible and bothersome, but as we quickly learned, it’s the nature of hardwood floors to be scratched up and stuff.

The nights have been tedious, but we’ve chucked him in the garage a couple times.  We’ve tried various objects to sway Moogs away from the hideout, more boxes, old pieces of sheet rock, etc.  With only 1 break-in, we’re doing pretty good.  We’ve got a bucket and a box with one of those balance balls in it.

Moogs spent the first night yet outside last night, but has yet to return.  He’s either hiding somewhere and afraid to come in because of the neighbor dogs (likely) or he’s on his way back to California (hopefully not).  Hopefully we’ll hear a meow from him soon.  Otherwise we’ll have to canvas the neighborhood and bother our dear neighbors (that’s another story!) with a daily “Have you seen our cat?”  Hopefully he’s not getting himself into too much trouble.

PS

A special thanks to all our friends, The Rodens & Sean who took care of the hidden Moogs while we were out of town.