And back to work

What a stressful, hectic couple of weeks it’s been! After our good news we’d love to pull up the anchor and get going again, but we need to spot Jack some recovery time before we get into high gear. After his prior surgery he had some complications and we want to be sure he’s ok before we leave. He’s doing really well so far and we both thank you for all the encouraging comments, emails, texts, calls and Facebook posts. Knowing there were so many people pulling for a good outcome helped more than you can know.

Nancy and Dave left us on Wednesday and we miss them. They originally meant to be here six days but changed their plans to stay through the follow up doctor’s appointment, thank goodness. We’d’ve been crazy people without them.

Now that we’re coming out of our medical fog we’re compiling the to-do list. There’s the usual provisioning, maintenance, and cleaning; there’s one last installation, the new AIS unit; but top on the list is to get Isabella Katzenbaum to Pittsburgh. Yes, sadly — and I mean very sadly — our Adventure Kitty will be leaving us.

We thought long and hard about this and explored all the options. We eventually made the decision based on three things. First, too many countries have draconian rules about arriving with pets, some even requiring long quarantines that we don’t want to put Izzy through. Second, we want to be able to travel off the boat now and again, and we can’t assume there will always be a nearby cruiser or local who could check in on her while we’re away. Finally, and most important, after nearly eleven months aboard we have to accept that Izzy is not a boat cat. Oh, she’s perfectly happy when we’re at anchor, but underway this is an unhappy animal. She cries and cries and it breaks our hearts to see her so miserable.

Izzy is endlessly entertaining. She’s the most sociable, snugly, playful cat we’ve ever had. In her previous life on land she loved being outside all day watching birds and skulking from shrub to shrub. She loves to run, especially chasing the laser pointer dot. We just don’t have the space for her to really stretch her legs and we know that after a period of adjustment she’ll be much happier being land-based and having more room to move. She’s being welcomed into the cat-friendly home of our son and daughter-in-law, with a spacious house and a big yard to play in. We hope the existing cats will also welcome her, but we know she’ll be loved and well cared for, at least by the humans. Now we just have to figure out how to get her there.

Hug your loved ones, folks. Life is short.