"I really have got to learn to do the damage and get out of town. It's the stay and gloat that gets me, every time."

In a perfect world I would love to have her back. She's my first kitty of my very own and I love her very much. But I don't know how long it's going to take me to get my own place and I don't think it's fair to let someone else fall in love with her and then make them give her up.

Some years ago, a friend of mine agreed to foster a lovely gentleman cat for some friends who were going to spend a year abroad. While those friends were abroad, my friend got the urge to do something similar, and got them to agree to foster her cat (the two cats had gotten along reasonably well) upon their return so she could go teach English in S. Korea for a year. She had some trepidation that old lady cat might not stick around for her return. But upon her return from Korea, she took both cats again, as the friends once again wished to venture far afield. She was able to be there for the last months of her old girl, and kept the big guy cat for several years before he, too went to the Rainbow Bridge. And that just beautifully cleared the way for her to be able to take in a cat who had belonged to her aged aunt who was to move into a nursing home.

I can also speak for my own experience of living with my mom when she fostered a dog, a German Shepherd mix, for a woman and her daughter, as they were moving from a house with a yard to an apartment with a weight/size limit on the pets allowed. The daughter was 18, and had planned to get her own place, hoping that she would be able to take her dog back. For a couple of years, as they kept in touch, and came to visit, sometimes sneaking him to their appartment for an overnight visit, we did get to love the dog, and yet it was the kind of love that would have rejoiced in a permanent reunion with the dog's original girl. But after a while, they quit coming around, and so the dog became a permanent member of my mom's menagerie.

Aww. Those stories give me hope. Thanks, WindSparrow.

Laga, insent with possible kitty home.

And at home, the boxes were next to the driveway, so you couldn't really park in front of them anyway (or the complaint would be the driveway, not the mailbox)

The postal workers need at least 10 feet on either side of the mailbox in order to get the postal truck up to it. Even more room is even better. Saves them from having to park the vehicle and get out at each house.

ETA: The space needn't be clear around the clock, but it's best to wait until the mail has been delivered before parking close to a mail box. Naturally, when visiting someone else, one should happily accept cues on when it is ok to park near a mail box.

Thanks Pix! Backflung.

Kitty update: Mom & Dad agreed to take her for a week. Mom says she hopes Dad will fall in love and want to keep her.

Laga, long ago my brother got me a cat when we were living in a no pet apartment. Manager found out and I begged my mom to take the cat, she agreed but my dad flipped the heck out (he said he wasn't a cat person). Mom won, mostly because I told them it would only be a few weeks. After 2 weeks, when I asked for the cat back, my dad said "nope, she's mine now". They had her for 10 years, and the day after she passed away, he was at the shelter adopting a kitten... so much for him not being a cat person! So there's hope!

I love that story!

He loved that cat and she knew it. He even built an elaborate cat tree/ledge thing in the living room because that was where the best windows were so she could see the whole neighborhood.