RV post-Eddie

All's well that ends well. I took Eddie to my cousin Sabrina's house on Monday evening after work to live with her, her daughter and their two cats. Sabrina is disabled and is generally home most of the day. Her daughter Heidi is also disabled, mentally retarded and non-verbal, but is the sweetest, smilingest kid you'll ever meet. Whenever you see her, she runs up to you to give you a hug and a smile. Monday evening, though, she didn't even notice me. All she saw was Eddie. She was so excited she couldn't stand still and she couldn't take her eyes off him. She wanted to introduce him to the other cats and Sabrina told her, no, just wait and let him get adjusted to the new surroundings and then we'll let him meet the other cats, slowly. Eddie, in his true form, was busy snooping around the apartment. As I was leaving, he was already climbing into one of the existing litter boxes to check things out there.

My first cat-less night in the RV was heaven. Nobody woke me up, nobody climbed around the RV and pulled on draperies all night long. I slept like a baby. And waking up Tuesday morning was just as nice. No hairballs to clean up, no litter box to empty. Yeah, I'm diggin' it.

I spent some time in the morning cleaning and vacuuming and then went out and bought new rugs and bedding. I figured that was the best way to get rid of most of the leftover cat hair. Here's some pics of my new things.

So Far, So Good

I've now been fulltiming in my Class B for one month and it's going very well. This past week we've had a record stretch of below-normal temperatures here in Florida and I've actually been quite comfortable. I use my little electric space-heater when I'm home in the rig. When I leave, I unplug the space heater and turn on the LP coach furnace (with the thermostat set at 70 degrees). I was having a bit of a problem with condensation in the storage bins above my bed, but a friend suggested I leave the doors of the bins open when I'm stationary and that has solved the problem. These past two days, when the overnight temperatures have dipped below freezing for several hours, the water from the campground has frozen, so I've been without running water in the rig until the weather warms up, but beside that I haven't had any problems related to the weather.

I use the campground bathhouse for my baths and believe it or not, I've been enjoying some fabulous baths. I put on my long, zip-front robe, grab my towel and washcloth, take my little plastic basket of toiletries and scamper over to the bathhouse right next door to my rig. Oh, I also slip on my shower shoes, which I keep right outside the door of my rig. Each shower room is private, with a toilet, sink, shower and bench to stow your stuff. The shower is worked by pushing one of those buttons right in the middle of the wall in front of the shower head. It's on or off - no regulating the temperature or flow. Push the button and the water runs for 60-90 seconds and then you need to push the button again. Sounds awful, right? I was concerned at first, too, but boy does that shower work great. The water warms up quickly and it's almost too hot until it settles out to a perfect temperature. The whole room steams up and I take a nice, long, hot shower every night. I enjoy them even more knowing I'm not paying for the water or the water heater.

Eddie is slowly getting used to fulltiming in such a small space. I am, however, open to finding him another home. He's a good boy, but he's still a cat and he likes to prowl around in the middle of the night and he likes to snoop around and climb up on things. In such a small space this means he can wake me up when I really need to be sleeping and he can potentially get into places he shouldn't be. My mother is asking around her church for someone who may want to give him a good home and I'm going to check out some local vets. I'll miss him, but I'll feel better if I know he's in a loving home with some room to be the cat he is. I know there are a lot of cats out there who need homes, but Eddie's de-clawed (front only) and I know some people prefer a de-clawed cat. It will all work out.