Random 5 for September 24 – Smells, reunions, pot luck, customer service, nostalgia

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Decomp – If you ever smell it, you never forget it. (If you saw any CSI show, you will remember they put a tissue over their nose. Seriously, that’s not enough to stop the stink!) Something stank outside the house. I couldn’t pinpoint the exact spot. Maybe it was in the garage or the shrubs around the house. Maybe a critter died in the pachysandra and was returning to the earth. It takes about a week for the worst to fade. It improved after the garbage went out. Makes me wonder what was in there to cause the awful smell. Hats off to those folks who work the garbage trucks. I don’t have the stomach for it.

She picked a perfect day! – Our family reunion was yesterday. My niece’s daughter hosted it. Because of conflicting schedules, it’s late this year. I was expecting cool weather but it wasn’t. We had a delightful mid-summer day. I can guarantee you if I had hosted it, there would have been rain, thunderstorms and cold weather. Maybe even the first snow.

Speaking of reunions – we always have way more food than we need. Enough to feed the 6th Fleet. It’s interesting what different hosts serve. Everyone brings a side or dessert. Gotta love pot luck. Something for everyone and a lot left over.

Still on reunions – (Yes, I am milking this one!) I always get nostalgic when we have one. Wish my mom could be there. My dad too. We took a picture to capture the moment. You never know which one will be the last or if someone will be missing next year. For me nostalgic comes with a touch of maudlin.

What? I can’t pick the color? – This week I bought some spare litter boxes. My little princesses only like two kinds. One is a very large container you get at a home store. It’s for mixing concrete. That’s for the basement. The other is a high sided one that contains (mostly) the occasionally errant urine sprays. That one goes in a spare bedroom for the elder cats or any lazy cat that doesn’t want to do steps. There were four colors but I couldn’t chose. Of course they sent me the color I didn’t want. Why does it come in colors? Does anyone have a litter box as the focal accent in a room? I like it to go unnoticed in a neutral tone that doesn’t yell, “Here I am, smell me!” Obviously the litter box manufacturers don’t share my decorating preferences.

So how was your week?

 

 

 

 

 

49 thoughts on “Random 5 for September 24 – Smells, reunions, pot luck, customer service, nostalgia”

  1. We have two litter boxes – one in each bathroom. I’m not sure what color they are (green and gray). I clean them out when necessary – on average about once a year. Our current cat doesn’t seem to know what their purpose is – and I’d like to keep it that way. As for family reunions, on the Austrian side we are also at about once a year and I’d like to keep it that way. On the American side it is about once every five to ten years. Here I would like to clean up the litter box more often.

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  2. I was waiting for you to list the reunion food options! I have some funny stories related to our family reunions and what gets brought by certain family members. You are so right on in taking that family photo. Last Thanksgiving was hosted at my house and I was so involved in the kitchen and a variety of hosting duties. When I found out that my brother’s family posed for a photo and didn’t include my dad in it I was so deeply disappointed. And then the next month, he died and we don’t have a “full” family photo. I have determined that no matter what, I’m going to be sure to take photos every time the family gathers.

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    • I’m like you even when I’m not hosting. We brought the camera and tripod but I delegated the duty of timing and herding to a grandniece and she did a great job. There are always those who don’t want there pictures taken but I made the dire announcement that we might not all be there next year. We got great cooperation.

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  5. Glad you had great weather for your family reunion! CH’ Mom’s family and Dad’s family is into reunions,,, us not so much. we have made it to a few. I used a gigantic litter box for the Z Cat and it was a bright neon blue. It was always replaced with the same box, same color. It was hidden in the laundry room so no worries with the color. I tried to change to a see through larger box which was an under the bed storage box and she wanted nothing to do with it! I guess she liked the BLUE box… Ha.

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    • For a long time I used under the bed boxes because they were large enough for multiple cats especially a large one who claimed his package didn’t fit in a standard box. However, they were expensive to replace. I’m really happy with the mixing container even though it’s black. It’s under $10 so replacing doesn’t break the bank. Aside from the fact that it’s very noticeable, I don’t like that I can’t see stuff on the sides. I work hard to keep the boxes (especially the upstairs one) clean. I used to use a bright blue one. It was kind of translucent so you could see urine streaks on the walls. My only problem with that one was that it was oblong and sometimes getting the pee balls out of the curved areas was hard. I ended up scratching it, then bacteria starts.

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      • Yep, the bright blue box drove me crazy with the dust on the sides. I used a paper towel to wipe the sides two or three times a day. Just a quirkiness of mine. I just had the Z Cat to worry about and I had three boxes on hand all the time. I could just pick up the box ready for cleaning and put down one that was fresh and ready to go. Third box was in case I couldn’t find the blue box! Now I know what box you are talking about that is black! The blue box was shiny and had a slick finish, I hardly had a thing stick to it. Z kept her butt low for peeing… 🙂 I wish I would have known about the concrete mix container…. I think she would have loved it!

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  6. When you have a big crowd of people gathering, good weather is a godsend. Last year we had our first family reunion that wasn’t a wedding or a funeral. My sister and I who were organizing it agonized over a Plan B if the weather was bad. Thankfully we didn’t need it.

    We are hoping to have one every 2 years and next year will be right on schedule with son #1 getting married 😉

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    • They are work and our group, even though small, doesn’t fit inside anyone’s house easily although we’ve had to do it. We have two young ones now age 5 and under so it’s also a challenge to keep them active. Reunions are worth it and a way to keep connected! Just pray for good weather.

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  9. We have one litter box like that–hot pink. Eventually I was able to retire it and replace it with burgundy (we have burgundy in the house so it doesn’t stick out). I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but after Felix parasite problem last winter I started putting Chux pads underneath their litter boxes to catch that errant pee/poo. I’m glad you enjoyed the reunion. I am getting that way (conflicted emotions) when I look at old photos and realize all who are now gone.

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  10. Haven’t been to a family reunion for must be close to 45 years and I only remember going to maybe three at the most when I was young. I probably wouldn’t recognize any of those relatives if they walked right past me. I guess we’re not a reunion type of family. Glad yours went well and you had nice weather. 🙂

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    • It’s small as far as reunions go. Just my siblings and their kids but we’ve made it a point to get together at least once a year for 25 years now. If we didn’t do that I wouldn’t get to see the kids (who are in the 40s at this point).

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      • Small is good.

        I guess I can count the once a year visit from my mom, brother, and his wife. Occasionally my sister comes with. It’s a Saturday visit and they leave Sunday morning. Everybody lives down in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Mn) and since I can’t travel anymore they’ve been driving up here for a visit to see me, my son and his family. Used to be just my mom and dad, but when Dad got worse with the driving my brother and SIL started driving them. (Hadn’t seen them for like 8 years, I think at the time). Since my dad died two years ago they still bring my mom up. Not sure if they will come anymore after she is gone (88 right now). Not the closest family–LOL!

        Love your blog, BTW. Cat lover also. Believe laughter can get you through just about anything. 😉

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  11. We put the litter box in my wife’s office (FULL DISCLOSURE: at my request). But since then we’ve had a kitty door installed on the French door to the screened-in porch (I mention that type of door to emphasize how expensive it was to have it done!). I’d like to now move the box to the porch, but my wife says the kitties are used to it being where it is. The subject is closed, though I am intrigued that you have more than one box in your home. Perhaps on an upcoming happy hour I can liquify her up enough to read this post. – Marty

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    • I have 4 cats. I always kept the litter boxes in the basement. When Jake got old, I put one in an upstairs bedroom so he wouldn’t have to do steps (and there wouldn’t be any accidents). Then he died and Mollie got older. She stays upstairs so I kept one litter box up there. However, the rest use it too if they are upstairs. It’s hard to get them to realize it’s only for the old cat. Liquor is good. I think you have a good plan. You can put one pan in the porch and keep one in her office during the transition. Your cats are young. It shouldn’t be that hard.

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  14. We went to a reunion of sorts, a golf tournament that my husband and his friend started 21 years ago. I call them my September family because except for a few, we won’t see these folks until next September. LOL about the litter box. I’m glad our cat goes outside!

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  15. Reunions have never been part of my life. Occasionally I’ve been invited to one, but we all live so far apart, and were raised so differently, that they don’t happen. I am, of course, fascinated by everyone else who goes to them– and eats well, from what I can tell. 😉

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    • When I was young, we always had reunions with cousins but that group is too big and widespread and many are gone. This is my brother and the kids (who are grandparents already) and their kids. Smaller group. More manageable. If you are not raised close, it’s not the same. It’s just a bunch of strangers.

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  16. I don’t remember having much of a color choice about litter boxes… off-white… maybe blue. I’m like you: who cares? If my cat had a preference, she never told me.

    Your reunion sounds like fun. I hope the younger generations in your family will continue the tradition. People are so scattered these days.

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  17. I’ve read so many mystery novels that one time when I went to the recycle center where there are big bins, and I smelled decomp, I didn’t think someone had thrown trash in with the paper. No, my first thought was, “Is it a male or a female victim?”

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  18. Hi, Kate – I agree that yesterday was a GORGEOUS day for a family reunion…even here on Vancouver Island (that is typically rainy this time of year). We celebrated Richard’s 70th birthday then (yes, it’s been a looooong time celebrating) with 50 family and friends. I was wondering how I was going to get them all inside my house. So glad that the weather gods smiled favorably on both of us! BTW – Where is your ‘reunion photo’?

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