Back from the dead!

We were originally supposed to be looking after two cats at our house sit. But when we arrived here, we were told that one of them, named Enke, had disappeared over a week ago. The homeowners were devastated, but by the time we got here, they had pretty much come to terms with the fact that Enke was gone and was probably no longer alive. He was an older cat and there are coyotes and foxes in this area.

They had put up "lost cat" posters on the community mailbox, but nobody had seen Enke.

We had just got up yesterday morning, and Ruth was about to sit down by the window with a cup of tea when she exclaimed "I think I just saw their cat!"

But it was only for a flash as it rounded the corner of the house. We jumped up and went out the front door, and sure enough there was a cat sitting at the front corner of the house. Ruth got some cat treats and tried to coax it towards us, but he wouldn't budge. And we didn't want to approach to close in case we scared him off.

And of course at this point, we weren't even sure it was their cat/ It could have been a neighbours cat. I went and grabbed the camera and snapped a photo...

Is this the lost cat??

There was a photo of the lost cat in the living room, and I went and compared this photo. Yes, they definitely matched up. This was their lost cat Enke!

But we didn't know how to get him inside. We both went back in and by the time we made it to the living room, Enke was at the back door. Ruth opened the door and he waltzed in as if he owned the place!

Enke the cat.

His fur was all matted and had a few burs in it. He definitely looked a little scruffy. Who knows where he's been for the last ten days! Hard to tell if he's lost weight because he has so much thick fur.

So I immediately fired off an email to the homeowners and of course they are overjoyed. They had given him up for dead! But apparently Enke was only using up another one of his nine lives.

Hopefully he has learned his lesson, but we aren't going to be letting him outside to give him a chance to repeat his disappearing act on our watch.

So, with that good news out of the way, we carried on with the day.

Our son Alex and his girlfriend CJ came over for breakfast. 

Me, Alex, and CJ.

Ruth made bacon and eggs and pancakes and maple syrup. Delicious!

And then we went and dropped off our $50 a day rental car. We had it for ten days and put 650 kms (400 miles) on it. It cost $46.50 CAD($37 USD) to fill up the gas tank so that was an expensive car. But, we needed a car so had no choice.

Now, we have the use of a 2014 Mazda 3 as part of our house sit. It's got low mileage and is fully loaded with all the toys just as our rental was. We're feeling kind of spoiled here!

And then it was time to drive up to Arnprior Cemetery for the graveside service for Ruth's dad. When he passed away last November, we were in Turkey and of course the whole Covid thing meant you couldn't really get together for a service anyhow. So we put it off until now, and we were able to get all of Ruth's brother and sister's families there as well. That doesn't happen very often!

Ruth's dad made a lot of wine, and he had a few bottles that had been around for many years. Some of them had actually gone bad and we had dumped them last year. But one bottle of peach wine (with a date sticker on the bottom of 1978) still looked like it was good. A little sediment, which is normal, but no mould that we could see. He always said he was saving it for a special occasion, so this was a good time to drink it.

But, was it any good??

We popped the cork that had been sealing the bottle for 43 years! I poured a little taste and it smelled okay. I tasted it, and it was pretty powerful stuff... tasted more like hard liquor than it did wine! So we poured out a small glass to everybody in attendance and had a toast to Ruth's dad.

Ruth's side of the family.

Our daughter Lindsey with her husband Justin and our grandkids Sadie (8) and Cameron (10).

They're a crazy bunch!

Us with our kids and their families.

So, a few tears and a few laughs shared at the graveside service but it was short and sweet and that was that. Nice to see everybody again, and hopefully the next time we are all together isn't because someone died!

Back at the house in the evening, I did something I haven't done in years. Sat down and watched a Blue Jays baseball game on the big screen TV. When we had a house and a normal life we were Blue Jays fans and would watch games regularly. I don't miss much about our old lifestyle but Blue Jays games and NASCAR are two things I wish I could watch more often. I will take advantage of our situation to get my fill while we are here!

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