The Duchess of Little Delving

May 08, 2008 11:37 AM Filed in: Day To Day
Josie001

I moved into the new Little Delving hobbit hole around the end of January of this year, but I actually bought the place way back in October of last year. I had a lot of things to wrap up in Chicago, and so the whole transition down south took me a handful of months. It made for a very interesting holiday season, let me tell you. But in the end with a little luck and a little help from family and a neighbor it all worked out pretty well.
Josie002
Josie, the Duchess of Little Delving, is the proof in the pudding. She's been living here all of her life, about 7 years now. The previous owners of my house had three dogs, two of which lived inside, and Josie was an outdoor kitty for them, a mouser and general roust about. Well, after they sold the house to me, they asked if I would like to keep her. They weren't planning to take her with them because they were afraid she'd likely just leave and try to work her way back to the only home she'd ever known, and with the interstates between here and there, well, it wouldn't be an easy journey. So they decided they would put her in an animal shelter if I didn't want to keep her around.

I'm an animal lover, and the thought of poor Josie ending up in a shelter just broke my heart, so of course I said yes, but to make it work I was going to need some help because I knew the place was going to be empty for a few months. Well, as it turns out, I have a great new neighbor next door, Barry, who actually is one of Josie's buds. She likes to sleep on the seat of his tractor when he leaves his barn door open. Barry agreed to feed her until I could get moved down. Plus my sister lives just down the road from me, and she and my brother-in-law were making periodic visits to empty out the mailbox and check things out while I was away, and so with their help the sketchy transition period passed, and Josie was no worse for the wear. It was a Very Good thing.
Josie003
But once I did get moved in I had to win her over and see if Josie & I were gonna be happy sharing this place! Well, as it turns out, Josie was secretly an indoor cat at heart all along. In a matter of just a few evenings she was spending her nights sleeping inside, and now after 3 months together she is truly an indoor kitty, going out only when she gets so curious about what's going on out there that she can't help it. But even then she still comes in to use her catbox. Now that is pretty funny!

Anyways, in the early going we made three trips to the vet for shots, some judicious shaving of huge clumps of hair that had matted and taken on a life of their own, and also to remedy a really nasty ear mite infestation that was making poor Josie mentally deranged with all the scratching and pain and frustration. But through it all she was a real trooper and a real sweetheart, and now she really seems
Josie005
to be happy and settled into her new lifestyle. And now she has me to boss around, in and out, and in and feed me, "Raise the window shade, please, so I can sit on the sill and survey my land holdings." Yes, on paper I may be listed as the owner of Little Delving, but in reality I am a serf, and I live to serve the needs of The Duchess. But she's a sweetheart, and Life is Good. Really we have no complaints at all.