I am alive. I have survived the transition to the new Lair of Doom. It was a harrowing experience and things are still raw and new, but with time everyone will adjust and things will become as normal and routine as they were in the previous lair.
Upheaval takes a lot of effort, and the only way the chaos is going to get sorted is if I work on it every day as I did in preparation for relocation.
I am still living for September. Though the new lair is much quieter, there are still neighbors with shrieklings about, and they have yet to learn their place when it comes to interacting with my household. Apparently the people who lived in this house before us were permissive when it came to certain things (such as the shrieklings showing up at the door whenever they feel like it to “play with your cat/dog” – they have not yet grasped that my animals do not “play” or interact with small humans, and actually prefer to inflict harm, much like their caretaker) and have yet to grasp that We Are Not Them.
They will learn.
Soon it will be September, and they will all have better things to do than annoy me. I realize they are immature humans and it is summer and They Are Bored and there’s Something New And Shiny for them to investigate, but the sooner they learn that Some Things Are Best Left Alone, the better. (Don’t get me started on Where Is Your Parent? in all of this. It’s a long story with that household that I have gathered from other neighbors and the community in bits and pieces. I still think it’s odd that the Parents don’t seem to care if their child goes to a random stranger’s house and asks to be let in. This is not going to end well someday for those children.) Shriekling Neighbors also let their animals run amok and it drives Pup insane. It’s a process that is slowly improving. The Male Parent has already made attempts to keep his menagerie out of our presence. Soon the Shrieklings will come to understand that Dina’s House is Not A Place To Play. (AKA “Don’t Bother That Lady She’s Mean,” and “You Kids Stay Off My Lawn.”)
It’s been nearly a month now since the Upheaval, and Little Broken Cat is the lone holdout when it comes to exploring the new digs. She is slow and tentative about it, but she’s progressing. I think the New And Big is a bit too much for her, being small and broken. She’ll get there.
Speaking of Little Broken Cat, she’s come into the office just now and is sitting beside my chair as I write this. While not up in my lap like normal*, this is still major progress, people. Now all we have to do is get her to cross the living room and come into the kitchen to eat with everyone else.
How many weeks left until September? Six? THAT’S SO MANY!
*ETA: We have Little Broken Cat in the lap, confirmed. Repeat, we have Little Broken Cat in the lap.