The Decision is In...

Sam and I sat down and talked about what to do. We don't have many answers to help us figure it out, but at this point we have to make a decision about going on this business trip.

Our Pet Sitter said she feels well enough to look after the cats. Jennifer, is still sick, too and has a lot on her plate. I hope she can still come over and stay here Friday night. It would really give me great comfort, but I also know that some times other things come up...hopefully that will be worked out.

My car. Yes, my “fancy” 11 year old BMW with 145,000 miles on it had a HUGE mouse nest in the enigine and the computer threw a code regarding the throttle, but that's all we know. The winter was very tough on us last year and I didn't drive much. My dear friend, Rich, who owned the car before I did, told me how to prevent the mice from setting up shop in the future-use Bounce dryer sheets under the hood if you don't expect to drive the car often! Thing is, is it too late? If the intake sucked up mouse nest (or worse), then what does that do to the engine and did my car just DIE, choking to death on nest material? I dunno. They're swamped at the car repair shop and I trust those guys-they are really great, but they are busy. I told them to just keep my car and we would deal with it over the rest of the week, to garage it this weekend and I'd hope to get it on Monday, JUST IN TIME FOR HURRICANE IRENE to hit.

Speaking of which, looks like Irene will effect our trip, but you know what? At this point, all I can say is Fu@k it. We're going to cut our trip down to the shortest trip possible-leave later on Thursday and come home sooner on Saturday. We were going to be gone all day Thursday and come back Sunday night. Hopefully, cutting back will be good for Bob and maybe the traffic won't be a complete nighmare.

We also realized it would be a big problem for Amberly and her kittens if we don't pick them up this weekend in VA. So if Maria's foster cat, Sammy isn't too sick, then she and Bobby can drive the cats to VA from GA and we'll be all set. If it doesn't work out, we'll figure something out another time.

©2011 Robin A.F. Olson. The Dood with his fancy new cat carrier, courtesy of our dear, Elke!

Since I don't know if we'll have extra cats on board, I'm going to leave “The Dood” in the big foster room and move him back into the sad little blue bathroom when we get back. I can do a quick cleanup and get Amberly's family settled at that time. Poor Dood. He is not happy being confined, but every time he gets out, he jumps on one of the cats. I can't wait for him to get NEUTERED (9/12) and retested for Feline Leukemia, so I can let him out and let him burn off all this stress from being confined!

I just took Dood to the vet to get his FVRCP (Distemper Combo) shot. He was a VERY GOOD BOY! Who was this kitten? He didn't attack anyone. He was all sweetness and purring. The little porker gained TWO POUNDS in the past MONTH. Oops. He's at 6 pounds 3 oz now!

Thanks to (almost) everyone for their supportive suggestions. Many of you said to stay home, but some said I should just go. One was rude and some of you stood up for me about that-which I appreciate a lot! I guess it's like this. No matter what I do, I will have regrets. I'll wish I did something differently, but I feel my regrets about not going would be too great. If it was a cosmic force telling me NOT to go, then I will find out why and hopefully learn from it.

I'm going to hope it was a cosmic force telling me that things are tough and sad, but that some times you have to stay strong, stick with it and do what you need to do to get the job done and be better able to provide for your family.

Plus, I found out there's a jacuzzi at the hotel and I may just take up residence in it and skip the Conference entirely.