Herman's Diary of #BlogPaws 2014: Day One

May 6, 2014

Deer Diary, My pawrents jerked me out of a sound sleep at 3 in the fweakin' morning. I thought we were driving in the car up to Michigan, like we always do. But this time, they stuffed me inside a pet carrier. Oh no, I thought. I'm going to the vet! I like my vet plenty, but not at 3 in the fweakin' morning!

But my pawrents had a surprise. Instead of driving, we were flying in a plane to Las Vegas for the 2014 BlogPaws convention. Yay! I had a special reservation because I'm...well, special. And Delta gave my mom special treatment saying she didn't have to take off her shoes to walk through security. Me either! But I did have to leave my Petmate carrier when Mom carried me through the x-ray machine. Boy, I would have loved to have seen that x-ray. Then we had to have our hands and paws swabbed for suspicious stuff...like chocolate and catnip. Hey, I wasn't holding! It was...some other kitteh.

 We brought my Gen7Pet stroller on the trip, wrapped in bubble wrap and tucked inside a plastic bag. When we checked onto the plane, we had my stroller put aside for the flight since it wouldn't fit in the overhead box. 

I had my own ticket and it cost Dad plenty. I had to ride in my carrier, on the floor under the seat, like I was Mom's purse. But it was an early flight and no peoples sat next to Mom, so she snuck me onto the seat for the flight. Naturally, I behaved.

It was a three hour, non-stop flight. I napped a lot. The nice flight attendants said I was a good boy and wouldn't mind taking me home. I get that a lot.

Delta didn't have kitty refreshments on board. Just peanuts, dry cookies, and pretzels. Mom gave me water, but I wasn't thirsty. I slept a lot.

I hadn't been feeling well for awhile. My fire pee was raging again and I'd been taking a couple different medicines to make it go away. One of the medicines made me feel reeeeely good. Like I was flying without a plane! I climbed stuff, and jumped from the window sill in Mom's office to her desk, three feet away. That doesn't sound far for a cat, but I'm 13 and have arthur-ritis. I haven't jumped much in a couple of years.

Anyway, Mom keeps good notes on stuff, cuz she's a riter...and she noticed I hadn't pooped in a couple of days.

 

That's Dori, my sassy little sisfur. She stayed behind to soopervize Michelle, the kitty sitter. My point in mentioning my lack of pooping is, my mom was already on high-alert that something might be up with me, and was worried. Especially since it would take so long for me to use the kitty box once we landed in Vegas.

 We had to take a bus from the airport to get our rental car, and then we had to drive to the nearest Target store to buy me a covered litter box and litter...and Dad wanted snacks. While Dad shopped, Mom bought my stuff, and then rushed back to the rental car where I waited. She was gone maybe 10 minutes, she shops that fast. Trouble was, she didn't have a knife to cut apart the plastic band holding the top of the litter box to the bottom of the litter box. She gave a really good show to peoples sitting in the next car, but didn't care. She finally got the two halves apart, filled my box, and then set it up in the back seat. Of course, I wasn't about to pee in a rental car. I do have some dignity, you know?

Then we drove away from "Sin City" into the desert. Our hotel was about thirty minutes away, The Westin Lake Las Vegas Resort & Spa.

We were able to check in right away and get me settled. This hotel welcomes pets, so there was no need to sneak me in under Dad's coat...especially since he wouldn't be wearing one in the desert on a hot day. We got a lovely room on the 8th floor over looking the entrance courtyard and the mountains in the distance.

But I didn't care about the view right then. Mom got me settled in our room, set up my water bowl and food noms, and my litter box. 

I noticed right away that I had a different water bowl than the white one I use at home. My Vegas bowl was silver and sat in a spill tray. Hmmmm. Raise your paw if you no like sudden changes to your things?

Thank you, Wiley. Knew I could count on you for support. 

So after I ate and used the litter box, I skipped drinking water and called it a night, even though the sun was still shining. Tomorrow would be a big day for me.

As I lay my widdle head down and drifted into dreamland, I had no idea just how big...

Stop by tomorrow to read my diary about #BlogPaws 2014: Day Two.