Living with my cat in a 101-year-old cottage by the sea is like something from a fairy tale. Sometimes I miss my spacious condo in the canyon that I shared with many of my feline family members, but for the past almost six years, this tiny vintage abode has been, and still is, enchanting.
But some days, the wear and tear of its parts can dispel the magic. Thank goodness for Samantha Jo’s enchanting power of discernment.
Samantha typically spends her evenings sitting on the large bedroom window sill spying on the neighbors or playing our games of “tickle-tickle you’re a pickle” and “tag-you’re-it” after which she dozes off in my plush executive office chair.
A few weeks ago, Samantha spent several evenings going back and forth between the the toilet enclave of the bathroom, which faces the water heater closet, and the kitchen cupboards located opposite the water heater closet. Samantha would sit and stare at the door of the water heater closet then after a spell she’d go into the kitchen and paw at the baseboard underneath the cupboards.
Her back is to the cupboards under which the water leaked.
I thought she was chasing bugs—that is until a week after this behavior a slight musty odor started wafting from the toilet area, and about the same time I noticed the paint on a wall beam close to the baseboard by the water heater closet was bubbled. I touched it to feel dampness. Oh no… what was leaking? I opened the closet door but nothing seemed amiss, yet the musty smell was stronger and the water heater was making dripping sounds. During this investigation, Samantha was crouched by the kitchen cupboard baseboard again. I knelt down beside her and felt the hardwood floor underneath the cupboard. The narrow space where the floor met the baseboard was damp the length of the cupboard. I suspected a water heater leak.
Plumber’s Assistant
The plumber came out the next day to replace the old water heater that developed a leak. I didn’t see origin of the leak the day before, but by the time Randy the plumber arrived, the leak had become obvious as it percolated from a pipe at the top of the water heater. Randy said that if the leak went on much longer, the water damage would have been really bad and the situation would have been dangerous. If only I’d taken heed to Samantha’s obsessions with the water heater closet door and kitchen cupboard sooner.
Note to self: when a cat changes their routine, something’s up.
Within a couple days of the water heater replacement, I managed to dry out the waterlogged areas with a space heater and mini-sized dehumidifiers, and breathed a sigh of relief.
Enchantment ensues once again. Samantha is back to spying on the neighbors and chasing me around, whacking my ankles—a feline version of tag-you’re-it!
“Come on, Topper,” I motioned for him to get out. He just looked at me with a deadpan stare and folded his front legs under his chest. He was either settling in or being defiant—which were probably one and the same. I let him hang out in the car.
Twenty minutes later I went to collect the cat from the Kia and found him cozied-up on the floorboard of the back seat. It reminded me of the time I caught both cats red-pawed as they were scheming to take the car for a spin around the neighborhood, those stinkers.
When I used to walk Topper and Lexington around the cul-de-sac of my neighborhood they insisted on stopping and sniffing a hubcap or the bumper of each car they encountered. It’s the 
We decorated our tree on Wednesday, navigating through rain then wrapping it with tarp to protect it until opening day on Friday.
A big thank you to all who read and support my blog and to all who’ve purchased Two Cats, a Mermaid and the Disappearing Moon. It means the world to me!
