Chewy.com recently sent me a coupon for $20 off any order of $49 or more. That sounded like a pretty decent deal, and I was getting low on kitty litter …
So I went ahead and placed an order for three 35-pound bags of the stuff. Fresh Step uses seven pounds a week instead of ten, so this should last Lola for fifteen weeks. Not bad!
I don’t want to sound feeble, but ferrying three 35-pound bags up to a third-floor apartment is a task you really don’t want to take on very often; it definitely gets one’s heart beating faster.
Once I got it all upstairs (and my pulse returned to normal) it occurred to me that over the years, I’ve shuttled a significant amount of weight up and down those three flights of stairs – as I was now on my fourth cat-in-residence. I did the math:
Twenty-seven years* in the apartment @ 52 weeks/year = 1,404 weeks, and
1,040 weeks @ ten pounds/week = 14,040 pounds, or seven tons!
(I think ten pounds/week is lowballing things, as it all gets carried both up and down the stairs … and it definitely weighs more on the trip down.)
It gives one pause. But as we all know … our little friends are worth it, and thank goodness we don’t have to take them out for walks at odd hours in the depths of winter, as some other four-legged friends require.
*You may be thinking “twenty-seven years in the same apartment? Why not buy a house?” Well, it’s pretty simple … I’m a single guy – I really don’t need an entire house for a cat and myself. Renting leaves me with more to spend on synthesizers, guitars, computers, and software … and frankly, I can do without the hassle. Plus:
• I have the best landlords in the world (I’m not kidding) and rent has remained very reasonable;
• The location is gorgeous … two blocks from the scenic waters of Narragansett Bay, and adjacent to the East Bay Bike Path;
• I really hate moving. After I graduated from Brown University, I moved to an apartment off Hope Street in Providence, where I stayed for nineteen years; after that, I moved to Bristol, and the apartment where I’ve been ever since. I lucked into it, and it’s worked out very well.
2 responses to “Industrial Kitty Litter Maintenance”
I can’t blame you for not wanting to move. I moved three years ago, and I don’t ever want to do it again. It was such a hassle!
That’s a lot of kitty litter, but I have to agree with you. I would rather clean up litter and the occasional hairball than go outside in the rain and the snow.
Thanks, Jolene – you’re officially my first commenter!