What About Larry?

Picture by Maryanne Hogarth

Friends, family, neighbors keep asking us "what about Larry, is he going with you?"  That would be a big NO.

Larry is our one remaining cat.  Reba died a couple of years back at the age of 26!  Yes, our old cat lived 26 human years.  Larry was a walk up 10 years ago, adopting us.  He is a pretty kewl cat.  He doesn't act like your typical cat.  He acts more like a dog.  Friends that don't even really dig cats like Larry.  As his V-E-T  Dr G says "Larry is a really great guy!"

However he is a bit clumsy.  He doesn't have his front claws.  His previous owners did that (who are unknown to us- remember walk up).  He is also a bit of a sensitive boy.  He doesn't like loud noises and runs when someone rings the doorbell.  We are pretty sure he would NOT like living aboard a boat.

AND.....I think the worst smell on this planet is cat pee.  NOTHING smells worse.  So.....in response to the title question what about Larry, we reply Larry must find a new home.  We have been saying this for a several months now hoping someone would take him in.  Our first choice was the neighbor that takes care of him when we are gone (and his second family).  He spends a ton of time down in their yard, just hanging out.  However they have a family member that is allergic to cats.  Doesn't everyone?  Hum?  The next choice is another neighbor (and his third family) that feeds Larry breakfast every morning outside her door.  Yes, Larry has two breakfasts most mornings.  However she has a huge, active dog that barks he head off at Larry. KSU Brenda really wants Larry but she also has two very active dogs.  We didn't think he would do well with other dogs.

But never fear, friends have been rallying to help find Larry a new home.  One friend has secured a cat loving person to take him but she can't until August and we are leaving soon......eeek.  Now what?  Aunt Helen to the rescue.  The same friend has convinced her Aunt Helen to take Larry in until August.  Yay Aunt Helen!  We SO appreciate you giving Larry a temporary home.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!    

Rear View Mirror - Purge

3-16-13

Staging area in the basement

Tom = "Where was all this stuff?"
Me ="Around the house."
Tom - "But WHERE?  How is it possible that ALL this stuff fit somewhere in our house?!"

Donations going to Dress For Success - good cause

We are purging BIG time.  Major, major, major.  The entire basement area has become a staging area:  some for garage sale, some for Dress for Success donation, general donation, and yet to be determined.  It looks like a flea market -UGH!

Business clothes going to Dress For Success

The really scary thing is this isn't the first purge.  I did a BIG purge last year - filling the Murano to the roof - the entire car except where I sit to drive.  We have also given away quite a bit to friends and family....Our policy since  early fall 2012 - no one leaves our house without taking something home with them.  Most friends are completely avoiding us at this point because of our new policy.

Special load of K-State items going to our Wildcat friends

While previous purges have left me feeling terrific (and I sure this one will once it's over), at first I felt a bit overwhelmed - so much to sort through, tabulate, tag, etc...then I felt depressed and sick.....So much stuff and why?  YUCK!  And remember, we have a very small house - less than 1500 sq ft.  Imagine if we had an average size house.  Eeek.
We did discuss at dinner the fact that most of the stuff has been used.  We found very few items that had not been used at all.  Some of this stuff had not been used in a while - like camping gear but it was still very heavily used in the past and we hung onto it in case we decided to go camping again.
But no more!  As Steely Dan says "we're going out of business, everything must go."

How can 2 people have SO many t-shirts!

4-17-13 Update
Garage sale stuff is gone.  Whew!  We continue to purge stuff like crazy.  To date we have missed nothing.  Let me say that again.....NOTHING.  It's just stuff.  I did pull two scarves out of the donation pile a few weeks ago but that was only because of a cold snap and I wanted to wear them again for business.  Both have since been donated.  I also pulled out one metal mixing bowl w/handle to take on s/v Honey Ryder but other than that, we have not missed a thing.  We are storing a few items like photo albums and such but not much.

Closet used to be stuffed with business clothes

 

Purge

Through the years sailing porn aka sailing magazines helped us survive the winters (non-sailing season), gave us good project ideas, informed us about various kewl products and boats (although editors of the sailing mags - enough already with the Top 10 Boats of the Year that only 1% of sailors or LESS can afford) and most of all feed our dreams of cruising.  However, we have slowly weened ourselves off the 8 subscriptions we had.

That helped the with the inflow but not the stacks of sailing porn around the house.  So we decide to donate them to a good cause.  We have bundled them up in bundles of 5 and plan to sell them for the first ever Leukemia Cup  (here after know on this blog as L-Cup because Leukemia is too hard to spell each time) hosted by Lake Perry Yacht Club.