EIGHT SEVEN-CAT NIGHTS

No Heat November

On the Sunday before last Dad Tom discovered that the boiler was leaking water…never a good omen of things to come. A call to our plumber brought him to the house on Monday. He determined we needed a new boiler and drained the radiators. We weren’t jumping for joy at having to buy a new boiler, but we moved into this house 28 years ago and the boiler wasn’t new then.

Four cats (a tortoise shell, a tuxie and two grey cats) huddled together asleep on the floor.

Cat Pile: Astrid, Mauricio, Giulietta and Fiona decided the heated kitchen floor needed reinforcements…friends with which to cuddle.

What made us even less joyful was the fact we were without heat. We weren’t suffering like those who were struck by Hurricane Sandy, but the temperature in the house continued to drop as a cold snap hit on Monday. We tried to keep the kitties in the house until the outside temp hit 40 degrees. And even though it was darn cold inside, they faired better than we did. They had the heated kitchen floor for napping, playing and snuggling.

Bedtime

At night the cats occupied most of the king-sized bed where they’d pile on top of us and each other for warmth. The only one not cuddling with us was Giulietta. With her built-in fur coat she was able to stay on either the kitchen rug or upper hallway rug and keep herself warm. Usually she and sis Fiona spoon all night, but short-haired Fiona curled up behind Dad Tom’s knees each night. On some nights Lily Olivia ousted Misty May from my pillow. Misty May moved to a pillow at the end of the bed. The remainder, Mauricio, Lisbeth, Astrid and Calista Jo, crammed themselves between the humans and sucked off our body heat while providing us with very few CTUs*

A dilute tortoise shell cat and a tuxedo cat sleeping together on the floor.

Lisbeth and Calista Josette select a different location on the heated floor. (This would never happen today. These two DO NOT like each other!)

Even with all this sharing of body heat, Tom and I had to overdress for sleep…he in flannel jammie pants and a long-sleeved t-shirt and me in tights, socks, sweatpants and sweatshirt.

New Boiler Doesn’t Work

The plumber was here on Friday and installed the new boiler with the hope of having us warmed-up by the end of the day, but alas, he left at 6:15 p.m. with the job incomplete. So another night of cats and humans huddling together ensued.

Saturday came and went with no heat. The plumber arrived at 10 a.m. and left at about 1:30 p.m. with the new boiler, for some undeterminable reason, still not working.

Fortunately the Saturday and Sunday temperatures reached about 70 degrees. And since it was warmer outside than inside we were able to leave the backdoor open for some added warmth in the house.

Cats & Humans Rejoice

As of Monday the boiler was finally functional. Cats and humans are rejoicing at having heat again. With any luck our bed will have fewer occupants tonight. Lisbeth has already retired to her downstairs kitty bed so that’s at least one less cat tonight. Lily is in her dough bowl on the kitchen counter and Mauricio is on a kitchen stool. I suspect they will join us later. But no matter the number of kitties sharing our bed, I know they will take up more than their fair share of the space, and we will need to to turn ourselves into pretzels as usual.

*Cat Thermal Units

Update 3/14/2023: As I reread this post, the title was a total mystery to me. I suspect you might find it strange as well. So here’s the explanation: The title refers to being without heat for eight nights with seven of the eight Kitties Blue joining us in bed.