Just a quick update today, and nothing about books. Between work, travel, and spending time with friends and family, I barely had time to myself, so I read almost nothing. I’ll talk about what little I read last week in next week’s sum-up.

This time around, I’ll talk about, let’s be honest, the only thing you’re really here for:

How did Mina do on her first big adventure to Grandma and Grampa’s house?

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Obligatory Mina Photo:

The initial rounds of harness training were. . . a time. Once Mina got used to having a harness on, she decided she just wasn’t going to do anything while wearing it. I would put it on her, and she’d take two steps, flop over, and pretend she had no bones and couldn’t do anything. It’s properly fitted and everything, she was just sulking about having to wear it.

This is her sulking face. She likes to pretend she’s so put upon.

The drive to my parents’ house is about 2.5 hours long. As long as the weather is good, it’s an easy drive, and the weather was excellent this week. So I put Mina into her carrier, buckled it into the front seat next to me, and off we went. She was much quieter during the first half of the trip than I thought, given that she usually meows her head off on the way to the vet. But after the first twenty minutes or so, she settled down and didn’t have much to say about the whole affair.

I stopped at a rest area at the midway to stretch my legs and give Mina some time out of the carrier. She promptly hopped onto the floor and tried to hide behind my camera bag (it was a small space), but after a few minutes, she decided to be brave and explore a little. After sniffing around for a bit, she settled on my lap and stretched her neck up to look out the window, but after another couple of minutes, a loud truck drove by and scared her, so after comforting her I put her back in the carrier and we set out again.

The second half of the trip was even quieter than the first, and before I knew it we were pulling into the driveway of my parents’ home in my little hometown. I brought her inside (still in her carrier), and of course, my parents’ dog– a friendly, fluffy mop of a dog who, at twenty pounds, is twice Mina’s size– came over to investigate this new creature. Mina responded by hissing, but was shaking when I got her out of the carrier to meet my mom. The two of them got along well, but because Mina was shaking (the dog was still hanging around me), I decided to get her set up in my old bedroom.

I set out Mina’s food, water, and litter box and offered her some treats. She refused all that and immediately hid under the bed, where she remained for the rest of the afternoon. It wasn’t until I came back in that night to get ready for bed and try to read for a bit that she decided she was a very brave cat who could go out and explore the bedroom. Which she did until I was almost asleep. Then she hopped onto the bed and laid down next to me like she usually does, and everything was fine.

Until about 5:30AM, when she was up and about again, hopping onto the furniture, sniffing around everything, and generally getting antsier and antsier, pawing at the door, and making a racket until she finally remembered that I had set up a litter box for her first thing and that it was okay to use it. Once she’d finished there and was done digging in the litter, she calmed down and we both went back to sleep.

Later, at a more reasonable hour, we both got up. But daylight brought the return of the dog, who started sniffing at the door and sent Mina back under the bed, where she remained at least until we left to visit extended family for Thanksgiving dinner.

As I had to return home to work on Friday, I bid my parents farewell just before sunset, got Mina back into her carrier, and we headed home. I figured we would stop at the midway point again, but Mina seemed to have curled up and fallen asleep in her carrier after I stopped to fuel the car, so we just drove through the night until we were safely home again.

Mina wasted no time in getting out of her carrier (and out of the harness) once I opened it for her. She spent about twenty minutes investigating to ensure that this was, in fact, home and that there was no dog present. Then she made a beeline for her food and water. She promptly overindulged and threw up on the carpet, but after that she was fine and stretched out on her favorite blanket for another nap.

Thus marks the end of Mina’s first adventure.

The verdict? Grandma and Grandpa are nice and give good scritches, and she is a Very Brave Cat who can endure care rides and will venture out from under the bed to explore new bedrooms provided I am with her.

But dogs? Dogs are right out.