So we came home from Thanksgiving with the Barnes family and decided to get going on the Christmas tree. That's the fun news. The bad news came in the form of a very unwanted visitor.
We keep our Christmas decorations, tree and all other junk out in a backyard shed. Jeff went out there and brought all the stuff into the house. We got the tree set up just fine and then I looked out on the back porch and saw a huge black cat sleeping right up against our back door. We don't have pets at all so neighborhood pets are often lounging in our yard since they never have other animals to bother them. We kept spreading out the branches of our fake tree and I noticed the cat was still there. Jeff tapped on our glass door it was laying against. Nothing. Awesome, dead cat. The boys noticed the cat at this point and we of course said she was sleeping. They soon lost interest in trying to wake the cat by banging on the door.
In a moment when they were completely distracted by decorating the tree, Jeff opened the door and poked at the cat with our swiffer mop thing. Still dead, and now we have to throw away our mop. Pretty sure I don't want dead cat spread all over my tile.
While Jeff decorated with the boys, I got online and tried to find out if there was anyone who would come to our house and take away dead cat. The city apparently only picks up dead animals that are on the road, which I obv understand. Still disappointing.
After the boys were in bed we went outside to assess the situation and come up with a game plan for dead cat removal. Actually Jeff did that. I tried to come up with names for the whole thing. Operation Dead Cat. Operation Kit Kat. Operation Party Crasher. You get the idea.
Also, it smelled rancid. And there were maggots. Not sure how that translates to timeframe but we're thinking a few days. I find it hilarious that Jeff walked past dead cat several times bringing in the Christmas stuff without even seeing it. Dead cat was huge!
I'll spare you most of the details but fortunately/unfortunately the cat was laying on a long doormat so we were able to roll it up and put the rug and dead cat in a triple bagged garbage bag. Considering the smell and infestation going on, neither of us wanted to put it in our car to drive to a garbage can. (No way we would put it in ours since it would be a good 5 days before pickup.) Our house backs up to a grocery store and there's a little green retention area a few doors down that you can cut through. Jeff decided he'd just haul the bag through the retention area and toss it in the grocery store garbage.
He came back home 10 minutes later looking pissed. Aparently, the cat's out of the bag. Literally. Dead cat fell into the retention ditch. I'm guessing the rug tore through the bags. So gross. I said, "well, we tried. let's go to bed". Jeffrey, being the better person, disagreed. He grabbed a couple empty boxes and a shovel and walked back down the street looking like a cheesey horror movie character. I'm positive our neighbors love us. I'm not sure how the collection process went down, but he came back several minutes later and took a loooong shower.
I poured an entire bottle of bleach over the patio just in case.
The next morning, Connor went looking for the cat. He understoodwhen we told him that the cat must have just been visiting and was already home with her people by that time. Clearly, this is how we explain death. Looking back, this could have been a learning opportunity, but we wasted it.
As you can imagine, the whole thing really crapped on our festive moods. Here's hoping your Christmas decorating traditions were far less eventful.
First of all, I love my children. It has to be said though that there are things I couldn't even imagine before having children. Boys namely. Here's how my morning began today.
playing catch with Aidan
getting a talk from Coach Jeff
One of our fans made us this great sign!
chillaxin with crackers
bear bear
LOVE the concentration
the kids LOVE the parent tunnel at the end of the games!
the one requirement for Noah at games...carbs
the other team showing Noah how to hold the bat :)
Coach Jeff pitching to the kids during the game
bear wants to play so badly
Buzz Lightyear & Charlie Brown!
Addison, Kaden, Jacob, Connor, Madison and Noah
Madison throwing a fit when Noah stole her chair
completely unfazed and enjoying stolen chair
Buzz & Jessie (Connor & Bella) with Kaden
The Blums busted out the Halloween train again this year. It was a hit again!
this was the ONLY time Noah carried his pumpkin by the handle - he carried it like a hunny pot all night!
it only took Noah one house to learn the ropes. He was great and loved it. He'd just keep taking candy out of the bowl until someone stopped him!
Rapunzel
Connor's wings were constantly in the way and whacking kids in the face
some of the scary decoration
sometimes they even got drive thru service!
evaluating his loot!
