Needy Cats

 Even though we have nine cats they aren't that vocal!

The only time they make a lot of noise is when they are fighting or when they think it is feeding time!

The past couple of weeks how ever they have be meowing almost all the time, especially if there is nobody with them!

Fred seems to be the worst. If he can't see one of us he will cry until one of us goes to him!!! He loves to be petted, usually this quietens him down, for a bit!

Fred yesterday shouting at something!

The other one who has become very noisy is Alan. His noisy time is bedtime. The cats get a last feed just before we go to bed, between 10 and 11pm. We then have to separate the cats, putting Alan. Steve and Frodo it the corridor, the other cats are in the living room, it's the only way to stop them fighting! Most of the other cats settle after that but Alan sits outside my door and meows. I don't let the cats in because they have a bad habit of peeing where they shouldn't. Most nights I have to go and sit in the corridor to keep Alan quiet. 

Alan

I asked about this on a Facebook group for cats, I was told that the cats might be picking up on the stress in the household. I'm really stressed, totally stressed. I'm feeling overwhelmed with all that needs to be done. I'm trying to figure out schedules, who is free to take things to the other house, who can help with cleaning and packing up here.  Also the mixed emotions I have about all the changes!

I'm at the point now where I just want this finished!

Maybe.....

 it is time to leave this house!

Over the last few months things have started to break or fall to pieces!

It all started in August when the light in the living room stopped working. We thought it was just the bulb so we bought a new one, but that didn't work. Thinking it might have been the wrong type we bought another but it still didn't work. It looks like the light fitting itself is broken. That makes three light fittings altogether that don't work!!

Then the door to the shoe box is coming off.  This house was built by a popular company, which means that it is well built, but things like hinges for doors or other fixtures have to be bought from the company, making them more expensive and difficult to obtain. This house is over 30 years old and the stock is not readily available!!

Yesterday I found out that the water heater or at least the control panel is broken. With the system we have here the hot water starts once you turn on the hot water tap. Unless you want to change the temperature of the water you don't need to touch the control panel.  When the hot water is running the control panel shows the temperature, once you have finished it goes off. Now the panel is on all the time, if you turn it off manually you get no hot water. I have to remind everybody to turn on the hot water before having a shower. It's not the season for cold showers!

Non of this is because of us, just a house getting old and not being maintained. If we were staying here I would have to fight with the real estate agent to get things fixed, then it would be shoddy, cheap workmanship.  So maybe it better that we are moving, even if I still feel sad about it!

For me the best would be having enough money to buy this land and build something nice here but that is really a dream!

On a different note, I went shopping this morning and almost had a heart attack at the price of rice.

5kgs of rice 3180 yen

The cheapest was almost 3000 yen (about 15 pounds), last year the most expensive brand was less than 3000 yen, most just over 2000 yen. But we got lucky, one of our students is a farmer and is bringing us 5kgs of rice for 2000 yen!!

I couldn't believe that just the few things I bought, no meat or fish, just vegetables, mikans, eggs and some honey came to just over 3000 yen. I got just enough for today and tomorrow!! I usually like shopping but not at these prices!!

 

Japanese Holidays

 Yesterday was a national holiday. Culture Day, Bunka No Hi.

In Japan if a national holiday falls on a Sunday the next day is also a holiday. I planned to go to the City Hall today but it's closed!

Culture Day was inaugurated  in 1948 to commemorate the new constitution that was announced on November 3rd 1946.  The day was already a holiday from 1868 to 1912 to celebrate the birthday of the Emperor Meji. After his death it stopped being a holiday until 1927 when it was changed to Meji-Setsu.

The idea of a culture day is to celebrate arts and scholars, some areas have art exhibits, or culture festivals. A lot of schools have there culture festivals at this time.

I've never done anything on this day!  For me national holidays are a chance to not do anything! When the kids were in school it was a chance to sleep in, not stress about getting breakfast and making obento.  

I read somewhere that the reason that Japan has so many national holidays was to make workers take a holiday.  The law in Japan states that workers should have holidays in summer and winter but a lot of people don't take them.  

Today was another round of shopping, cleaning, packing and sneezing, lots of sneezing. We are all down with seasonal allergies and with moving out furniture we are stirring up a lot of dust!

Almost done! Somebody came to today to see about moving air conditioners and the fridge, the only things we can't move ourselves!  That's going to cost a lot, never mind it has to be done!

This morning I called Mikey from the room I was in, I needed help moving something. He answered and said he couldn't help! I got rather upset until I saw why!

The cats piled on Mikey!

Am I Just Making Excuses?

Yesterdays plan was for David, Christopher and me to go to the other house.

But we woke up to typhoon like weather.  It had been stormy all night, heavy rain, thunder and strong winds. We even had a tornado advisory for this area!  I was hoping that the storm would pass by morning but at 7am it was really bad. I thought about going but decided against it.

I could of pushed to go but I really didn't want to. Maybe I was using the weather as an excuse, I don't know. I know when the weather is like that I ask my kids not to go to work, I don't feel it's worth risking your life for 900 yen an hour (about 5 pounds). 

This week is the big push to get most things over to the other house. I think we take almost everything in David's car. The large items like the fridge, copy machines and one very large heavy chest of drawers will have to go in a hired truck. I hope that doesn't cost too much.  Also I need to find somebody to remove the bee hive from under the house. The bees are still active. Where they are going in and out of the hive needs to be cut down but it's rather dangerous. I'm surprised that the bees are so active at this time of year!

This time next week Hannah will be in her apartment. I know it's good, it's the right thing for her but I'll miss her a lot. She's my baby! 

I'll still have the cats!  They are sensing something is going on, they aren't settled at all. Usually they have breakfast, spend time grooming, then sleep. But the past week I've noticed that they aren't sleeping in the morning but wondering around the house, especially where we have taken things away.  Getting them to the other house is going to be interesting!

Why?

They have so many places to sleep but both of these cats wanted the same place!!!