Bucketfull of Relations

Bucket has not adjusted well to all of the other animals around. She had an infamous stress poop episode and likes to hide to avoid Loki and noise. She tolerates Max and likes people, but she wants to be an only pet in a quiet place (which Shane and Loki are not).

A lot of it is self-inflicted. Bucket growls at Happy. Happy will growl back some times, but Bucket is normally the initiator. I've seen her try to sneak up on Happy to attack, but Happy is the more dominant cat. She turns around and send Bucket running.

So then Bucket hides in her normal haunts and avoids coming out when other cats and dogs are around.

It worked, but it wasn't ideal.

It turned for the worse a couple weeks ago. Bucket started hiding in an open shelf when we closed off her cabinet (She was really noisy at night). Carrie had stashed some plates there that Bucket used: to make a poo-poo platter.

Day 1 - Poop plate went in the sink.

Day 2 -  Poop plate #2 went in the sink.

Day 3 - Yellow pool in plate #3 sloshed as we took it outside.

So Bucket went into quarantine. She had her own litter box in the guest bedroom and bathroom. There were no other cats or dogs and she got to chill out. The 'accidents' stopped, but Bucket would still beg for some attention.

Carrie talked Grandma into letting Bucket visit. Then they both spent the next week talking Grandpa into it! When Grandpa's resolved weakened, it was time for a trip before he changed his mind.

Which was the perfect timing to deliver a grandchild, too. Carrie was a little worried about letting Shane spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa' after they had people over for dinner earlier in the week. I was more pragmatic. "They won't be contagious yet. Stuff needs time to incubate. It'll be good for Shane and we'll get some time off!"

Shane tried to 'help' Bucket calm down by humming and poking at her the whole trip. After a certain point, I gave up telling him to knock it off.

Bucket mewed the whole way. We might have made it a little quicker, but Carrie forgot to clip Bucket's nails before we left (a clear condition from Grandpa and Grandma!).

Carrie skipped breakfast, so the stop gave us a chance to hit a drive through (I had a $10 and a $0.15 gift card!).

There wasn't a ton of pee when we got to Grandma's, but I swear I smelled something.

Carrie gave Bucket a quick trim and then set her loose.

She saw her litter bin and then cautiously started to look around. This wasn't her first time at Grandma's.

She acclimated quickly and wanted attention. The plan is to leave her locked up in the office for a few days before she has the run of the house.

Why wasn't Shane in any of the pictures? He was busy talking to his cousin, Noah!

Noah was spending some time with Grandma and Grandpa to give his parents a break (from one kid, at least). Shane was going to be grandkid #2 and make a party of it.

Carrie and I came out to say hi once Bucket was situation. Noah was ready to play!

I could see the question in Carrie's eyes as I took the shot. "Are you really taking a picture of this?"

What Carrie couldn't see was what was coming up in the next few shots!

No Carries were harmed while the boys had fun.

Grandma cooked grilled cheeses for lunch. I got one with pastrami! Noah wanted to eat his sandwich by the layer which offended Grandma's sensibilities, but he eventually finished and the boys were off again.

"Feel free to use the TV when you need Shane to calm down and zone out," I said. "He loves Mythbusters." I suggested that one based on Grandma and Grandpa's tastes. They said they'd been watching Top Shot (and there was an archery episode!).

We left as Grandma tried to organize a game of cards and Grandpa left to buy cat food (Carrie handed our bag to Shane to carry while she had Bucket. He promptly put it down and got in the car without it!).

A storm hit on the way home, but we made it. It was a lot quieter at the house and I got to catch up on some posts Friday morning.

I met Grandma and Grandpa around 2:45 PM at Zion's crossroads to reclaim the child. They were about to turn north to take Noah back to Chris and Rachel.

There was a big hug goodbye! Shane said he had a lot of fun playing with Noah.

"We had a plan to set our alarm clock for midnight," Shane told me. "Then we were going to go downstairs get a snack and talk at night!"

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah, but the alarm clock didn't go off."

Ha! A fun kid plot if I ever heard one. Probably wasn't the smartest thing for Shane to tell me about it, but I let him bask in the limelight for the moment.

Hopefully, Bucket will be happy with her grandparents and we'll get another chance to visit all of them before school starts. Bucket drifted to the background for the last half of the post, but that's how she likes it: Quiet.