I Blame the White Cat
Imagine, if you will, pulling into your driveway and discovering that your garage door is open. It's been ten hours since you left. It's possible that you forgot to close it as you pulled out this morning, but really unlikely. As you cautiously enter the house, you hear a sound. It sounds a whole lot like an alarm. It sounds far from where you are standing, so you leave the Toddler in the basement to venture upstairs. You worry that the Toddler may mistake a cat litter box as a sandbox, but that loud, shrill sound sounds distinctly like a fire alarm. Even at this distance, the Toddler is covering her ears and yelling, "Stop," so you know she's better off playing in kitty-kitty-doo-dooland than she would be in any smoke-filled domain.
You reach the first floor of your home and the alarm sound is deafening. You momentarily think it would be best to just leave and wait in the car until your husband arrives. Then you realize that he won't be any more helpful than the dog sleeping on the couch, so you need to investigate. You notice that the voicemail light on the phone is blinking - blinking - blinking. Is there a message that would exlain the noise? Has someone been in the house? Where's the fire? Good grief, the noise does sound exactly like the fire alarm. But it seems to be coming from the front of the house. There are no fire alarms there.
You wander into the kitchen, trying to find the source of the noise while fearing that your eardrums may rupture. You reach the far end and the sound is deafening. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. There doesn't seem to be a fire anywhere, but there is a peculiar odor. You look at the microwave. It proudly displays the time. You open the door. Clearly it's not the source. You turn around and try the fridge. You wonder what the heck it would take for a fridge to make that kind of noise. Complete mechanical failure? But it's only a few years old. You realize it's not the fridge. You turn around again. The coffee pot? No. Then you look down and see it. The water bowl.
As fast as you can, you rip the cord out of the wall.
Silence.
At last.
The fancy shmancy water bowl that you bought to satisfy the cat who will most certainly fall over dead if he is ever forced to drink water that has been sitting in a bowl for even a millisecond is bone dry. And clearly not happy about it.
Crisis averted. Let's play!
(A leaf also shares the blame for my ridiculously bizarre return home. It was responsible for triggering the garage door sensor and making it go back up after I had closed it.)
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Reader Comments (18)
A leaf?! It's that sensitive? Wow, what chaos to come home to. That's crazy.
Sounds like quite the journey! I think I would have gotten back in the car and just driven far, far away. I run from bugs though so I am probably not the bravest mommy out there! Oh, and some cat poo over a screaming toddler - you made the right call! (of course, then you have to deal with 'allowing' her to play in cat litter! ha ha ha)
Yeah, a freakin' leaf. That leaf suffered a painful demise when I finally spotted it right smack in front of the sensor that prevents kids from getting smushed.
I was sitting on the edge of my seat reading this! You're a brave, brave woman. I would have taken one look at the open door, and kept driving....to find an army of people to come help me!
Good grief! A water dish was making that noise?
I love the monkey pajamas! Where did you get those?
You had me going. I thought there was an intruder - nope the kitty bowl. Hee~larious. I wonder if the cat is deaf from listening to that all day? :)
=^..^=
I am totally loving the sock monkey jammies!!
Think I can find a big girl pair? :)
Your cat is probably never going to go near that water bowl again. I have a vision of it licking the last few drops of water out of the bowl, the sensor going off and a shot of fur in the opposite direction. And oh, is it making me laugh :-)
Oh my goodness, what a story!
A leaf? Very very strange. Stupid water bowl.
The sock monkey jammies are a Target exclusive. Oh, yes, they come in big girl sizes, too. Alexis and I wear our matching jammies on occassion because we are that cool.
That particular print is from last year, but there are similiar ones again this year:
http://www.target.com/Nick-Nora-Flannel-Pajama-Set/dp/B000QH34XC/sr=1-12/qid=1196859463/ref=sr_1_12/601-9400249-1394564?ie=UTF8&index=target&rh=k%3Apajamas%20nora%20and%20nick&page=1
I'm so glad that story had a happy ending! I was worried for a while. (I've become paranoid and untrusting since our house was broken into). That picture is Awesome! It should definately be bigger, and hanging on a wall.
P.S. I finally did your meme.
You are a brave one. But you're right, waiting for the husband doesn't always make it better.
You story reminds me of when our fire alarm batteries run out. We silently walk around the house until we hear the obnoxious shrill noise and then look on the ceiling for it to make the noise again.
I'm glad you found the leaf. I would have cost you a pretty penny for the garage repair dude to come out and find it!
Hey, you won the Miffy. I sent you an email but I put a generic "You Won" in the subject line, so I hope you didn't delete it thinking it was spam. If you seriously don't want her let me know and I'll repick. :)
I love the jammies!
Jayna--I really hope that is exactly what happened. There would be nothing more satisfying than knowing that Powder had to run for his life. Damn "I'm too good for stagnant water" cat.
I guess we should be happy they are that sensitive, cause a squashed toddler is far worse, me thinks.
And, get a hammer and put that cat bowl out of its misery.
Peoples, the Husband is trying to fix the bowl. We already purchased a new one, but he refuses to throw out the dead one. Aaaaarrrgghhh!
Must. find. hammer. now.
Hey! Looky. It's me again. I think I'm about done as I'm recommenting on posts I've already commented on....