Our New Home

I'm very sorry I disappeared as of late. Last Friday, the 28th, was Move In Day, and it wasn't until yesterday that the Internet guy was able to come out and hook everything up. I'm relieved to write that Nimbus transitioned perfectly into our new home. I wasn't sure how he was going to react, but I think he's quite excited about the whole thing.

In fact, both pets are doing great. Sparta is in love with the place, running up and down the stairs, rolling around on the balcony, prancing along the loft wall bannister... he's having a blast! Nimbus, too, is enjoying all the extra space. There's so much room for him to run around, both upstairs and downstairs (although upstairs will soon no longer be an option), and he loves bounding on the staircase.

Looking down at the living room from the upstairs loft

Sadly, Nimbus will have to say good bye to running around upstairs. He's chewing everything! My books, shoes, keepsake boxes... I can't handle it anymore. And, following him up and down the stairs every 5 minutes got old really quick! Hopefully, the apartment management has a tape measure lying around somewhere that I can borrow to see how wide of a baby gate I need. Nimbus will still have the staircase to play on, but the upstairs rooms will be blocked. It's just too exhausting. Last night, I dragged this giant... well, I'm not sure what to call it, but it's this heavy piece of furniture that sort of reminds me of an entertainment center... an ugly one at that. It has a very fake, plastic-y surface with busted wooden cabinets as its base. I dragged it in between the loft wall and the bathroom door, so now I have to slide across the top of this thing to get through the stairs to the rest of the upstairs, but it was worth it!! No more chasing after Nimbus. If he's upstairs, I know he's just on the landing, and I don't have to follow him and try to coax him out from under my bed anymore. It's also better this way because there are just some rooms that don't need to be decorated with chin droppings, am I right?! My bedroom is one of those places! The entertainment center will be gone (hooray!!) next week because the new neighbor wants it, though I'm not sure why. So, I''ll definitely need that baby gate... plus, jumping over that thing makes me feel ridiculous!

I, on the other hand, am still adjusting. I'm very homesick, in fact. I miss the river out back. Well, I miss having any type of yard at all, and I'm not used to the noises of an apartment complex. The neighbors can be quite noisy, especially in the afternoon hours when the kids come back from school. I'm also not used to living on my own anymore. I was living alone from April to October last year, and I was miserable. Then, Chris moved in, which was an awesome experience, but now, he's had to stay behind to finish his degree at Western Carolina University. I miss him terribly. We did everything together. I do get to see him, starting tomorrow!! And, he'll be staying the next week because it's Spring Break. Yes... Spring Break... in the middle of March... when it's an average of 60 degrees F outside... In fact, we're under a winter weather advisory tonight for freezing rain... Yay, "Spring" Break!

Sparta checking out the loft wall!

During the move, I was worried that Nimbus would pose the problem. Hoping that someone could ride with me and watch over Nimbus, it turned out that Chris and I were on our own with moving out. While he packed the U-Haul, I worked inside the house, cleaning and making sure everything was packed. After five hours, everything was finally moved out and cleaned to perfection, even though the power had been cut off over halfway through the process. Nimbus was put into the cat carrier with his stuffed bunny, and Sparta was allowed to roam free while wearing his harness. ...Honestly, with the way Sparta acted, I should have let Nimbus run around and put Sparta in the carrier.

The car was packed, but I made sure to create a special spot for Sparta to sleep during the trip. I had a stack of pillows and blankets heaved right beside the window, but he didn't stay there more than a minute. For the entire two-hour trip, Sparta yowled every minute, if not more so, as we drove down the road. He crawled everywhere and specifically wanted to get under my feet near the gas and brake pedals, of course! I had forgotten that Sparta's desired car seat during a road trip is on the floor. Well because of all the stuff crammed in my little Honda Accord, the only floorspace was under my feet! Before we were two minutes away from the old place, Sparta was under my feet. I had to come to a dead halt in the middle of the road, fish him out, throw some stuff in the backseat and plop him in the passenger seat floor. Finally, he laid there, although continuing to yowl his discontent. The entire two hours, I fought him and fought him and fought him as he refused to completely settle down in any one place. Sparta even stepped on Nimbus more than once during his reign of terror in the car. I can't believe I didn't get pulled over.

Nimbus, meanwhile, gave himself a quick bath, then curled up next to his bunny and went straight to sleep... well, as asleep as you can get with a cat screaming in your ear. I have never seen cuter pictures than this. He actually snuggled up next to Napoleon and held onto him!!

There is nothing more adorable!!! Except maybe this video where Nimbus gets to come out of his cage into the new apartment for the first time. He was so sleepy from being awake most of the day, but he still hopped around for a good bit. This was before the furniture was moved in the next morning. I love his fascination with the carpet!

We're Moving!!

Holy goodness!!! Boxes everywhere!!! 

I prayed that it'd happen, but I never thought it actually would. After graduating from Western Carolina in December, I never thought I'd get a job. It was a long two months of unemployment, and I got really lucky securing this one. In fact, I got the initial call from the employer because his wife is best friends with my former professor --- who I had listed as a reference on my application! It's a frighteningly small world, especially in Western North Carolina.

Yesterday, I took Chris along for house hunting, and I found a beautiful little apartment in the heart of a glade of tall trees. There's a laundromat, pool and fitness center on site. The management is quite friendly, and after I showed them pictures of what a chinchilla actually looks like, they melted over the adorable face of Nimbus! It's a beautiful apartment with a walk-through closet, small kitchen, two bathrooms, closet space, utility room, balcony and a curved staircase to a loft second floor (I've never had a second floor before!) So, I'm very excited.

Let's move out!

There are a few things I wish I could change, but the same applies here, too, of course. I wish the new place had more windows for both Sparta's and my benefit. I'm a huge lover of natural light. Right now, the weather is fantastic. All the doors are open; the windows are open!! It's beautiful! Also, the balcony overlooks the parking lot, but why am I complaining?! Seriously, I'm 22-years-old, and this is my first job --- my first place where my full-time job isn't being a student. There will be other homes, and if I really hate it, well then, the lease expires in a year. I can tolerate a year. As long as my pets are happy, so am I.

Sparta (back) and Sansa (front)

What I hate the most is leaving Sansa and Chris behind. Sansa cannot come. I've written on several occasions about how much she tortures Nimbus. It's her natural predatory instinct to go after Nimbus. I'm very lucky with Sparta that he couldn't care less about the fuzzy rabbit-squirrel jumping around the living  room. Sansa will always see him as dinner. But, I've come to love Sansa. She's an absolute pain and gets into everything, but she's just the sweetest little kitten. I hate saying goodbye to her when I just did the same thing to my cat Binx back in July. I was heartbroken. However, Sparta and Binx didn't get along. In this case, Sparta adores Sansa. He calls for her in the morning, waking the dead in order to play with his best mate. They give each other baths, they chase each other across the entire house, and they nap together in the sun. How can you communicate with your pet that they won't be able to see their best friend anymore? How do I tell Sparta that he won't see Sansa again after the 28th? It brings me to tears. I just keep asking myself "What have I done?" I don't know why I let her into the house in the first place when I knew this was how it would end. But, thankfully, Sansa has found a home. If we were just packing up the house and pulling away with her watching us from the driveway, I'd really be losing it right now. The very image of that sentence in my head makes me want to run to the bathroom and vomit. I don't understand how people can do that to animals or what the animals must be thinking. But, Sansa has found a good home, and she'll be very loved there.

Chris can't come either. He has to stay and finish his bachelor's degree at Western Carolina for another 10 months. If we end up in the same town after his graduation, well, that'll be an interesting journey. There are two positives to this move concerning Chris: 1) It's only 2 hours away. I never made it to Kentucky because of the snow before I was offered this job. So, I'll still in the neighborhood. 2) It's Chris's hometown. The majority of his family lives within a 15-mile radius from my new apartment, and so he won't be spending all his gas money to come see me. When I'm at work, he'll have something to do. He can visit his mom and dad and his high school friends. He won't just be sitting at my apartment staring at the television waiting for me to come. I played that game once... I was in a long distance relationship for nearly a year. It was torture. I was a student. He had a full-time job. Every time I visited, I sat in his apartment waiting for him to come home from work. Every time he visited, he sat in my apartment and waited for me to come home from class --- or I skipped class, which is just as bad. Our relationship was made up of how to say goodbye as quickly and painlessly as possible (For skeptics who believe long distance doesn't work, I will say that we made it through our long distance relationship. Hilariously enough, it was moving in together that ultimately led to our very nasty, painful split.). In this case, it will be different because Chris won't be relying on me as his sole source for making the trip. Still, our nightly routine of making dinner, caring  for Nimbus as he hops around the house and watching "Storm Chasers" or "White Collar" will be at an end. I will miss his company more than anything else. He is my best friend. Whether or not we'll ever be officially more than that (again) is still up for debate. It goes back and forth. But, that will never change the fact that I love Chris, and him not being around to share my day makes life look a little dimmer. The thought that it will just be me, Sparta and Nimbus again breaks my heart.

So now, I have exactly one week left before we head to our new home!!! Any ideas on how to make this as stress-less on Nimbus as possible?!?!? He'll be riding in the cat carrier for two hours, but I'll be in the car alone. If he gets it in his head to rip through the rubber mesh, ...we're in trouble! There will only be so much I can do to stop him besides pulling the car over. Let's hope he behaves! Right now, the plan is to have the chinchilla cage be the first item unpacked from the U-Haul and moved into the new apartment. But... yep, that's as far as I've gotten!

Can we go now?

Follow Us on Twitter

This may seem silly, but I've created a Twitter account for Come Chill with the Chinchilla. You can now follow us by searching for Nimbus Menz or @ChillWithNimbus.

I'll tweet links for the new blog posts, photos, tips, random happening throughout the day with Nimbus as well as retweet tweets from other organizations like Oxbow Animal Health, Petfinder, Pet Emergency Guide, Humane Society and PetSmart (Is it Pet Smart, Pets Mart or Pet's Mart?? Does anyone know?).

You can also follow my personal Twitter - although I'm on it intermittently - by searching for Lex Menz or @StarStruckHotel. I tweet the photos used on this blog and the new posts. That makes up the most of my tweets these days, but I try to throw in a personal sentence or two for my aunt, who reads my Twitter. She's not a social media person, so she doesn't have a Twitter and isn't on Facebook. In order to keep up with my day-to-day life, she checks out my Twitter and reads this blog since we can't be on the phone every day.

So, if you'd like, follow us and send us a line. I know it's easier to follow someone on Twitter than Blogger, especially if you don't have a Gmail account. After several tries, I finally added the ChillWithNimbus account onto my Twitter app for my phone. That was hilariously difficult. The end result was changing my password.

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If you're interested in learning a bit more about me, I was raised in a small town outside of Charlotte, North Carolina. Our house was always filled with animals. We've owned several cats, a turtle, a lizard, a snake, a hermit crab, hamsters, dogs, a guinea pig, a miniature goat, and salt and freshwater fish. Aside from our domestic pets, my mother has rescued injured wildlife and raised monarch butterflies to release for the Mexico migration. I might as well have "animal lover" in my DNA as my mom instilled in me such a passion for nature at a young age. While kids my age were watching "Doug" and "Hey Arnold," I was watching "The Crocodile Hunter" along with its various spin-offs and "The Jeff Corwin Experience."

By the time I was 7, I had created my own zoo on paper. Sadly, I never followed my dream of becoming a zookeeper or owning a zoo (at least not yet), but I still tap into my passion for animals every day. There are my beloved pets, of course. There's this blog, which has really created a deeper bond and fascination with Nimbus. Then, there's my local "business" Fins & Fur Pet Sitting. One day, I'll write a memoir about my pet sitting experiences. There's never been a dull job! 

Volunteering at a cat rescue

In tenth grade, I started going by Lex after leaving a private school I attended for nine years. It was at my new high school that I fell in love with journalism - the career choice I'm pursuing now that I've graduated from Western Carolina University. I enjoy the behind-the-scenes view you are allowed to get through immersion in reporting, and I don't feel that print journalism is a dying field, especially not in smaller towns like the one I currently live in.

One of my favorite newspaper issues

With my free time, I enjoy writing what I hope will be published novels one day (as cliche as that sounds), painting pottery, boogie boarding at the Outer Banks, visiting zoos across the United States, reading (some favorites are "The Time Traveler's Wife," "Vulpes the Red Fox," "The Great Gatsby," "Three Weeks with my Brother" ...you can find me on GoodReads), participating in community theatre, volunteering at the animal shelter and watching as many movies as possible! 

The promo poster for the musical "Brigadoon." I played Jane.

That's a small picture of me and my life outside of Nimbus and Sparta. Right now, we live a quiet existence in the Appalachian Mountains beside a bubbling stream. Hopefully, we'll be moving soon to start the next phase of "The First Adult Job."

Hope you enjoy the Twitter feed, and keep checking in here. I appreciate all of your advice about Nimbus's injury. He has boundless energy, and he's actually taking his new medication quite well. I still worry, but he looks like he's on the right track to full recovery. 

The sign for my zoo!