Cat Shipping, Homeward Bound!

Yesterday before sunrise I was in the car driving Thomas Evelyn Cat to the airport. Delta Air Cargo said he needed to be there a full 2 1/2 hours before his 8:20am flight. The airport here is tiny, 2 or 3 gates at most, and as I expected, when I got there a little before 6am there was not a soul in sight. After yo-hooing for a few minutes, I finally roused a somewhat irritated-looking woman from the back.  She proceeded to take me through a maze of paperwork and requirements, among which were:
1. I had brought a COPY of  Tom's medical certificate, and they were supposed to have the ORIGINAL. She reluctantly agreed to accept the copy, she hoped it wouldn't get "rejected".
2. The plastic nuts on the (metal) bolts holding the carrier together were officially unacceptable;  everything was supposed to be metal. I had read this on their website but couldn't find any carriers that came that way. Nevertheless I had come prepared, I thought, with replacement metal wingnuts in case they actually enforced this. However, two-thirds of them (all out of the same bin at Ace Hardware) did not fit the bolts. Again, she reluctantly agreed that they would probably be OK.
3. She had to go in the back somewhere to print out an hour-by-hour weather report of all the connecting airports, as the shipment was off if the temperature was predicted to be above 85F along the way. We squeaked by with 82 in Detroit. Believe me, this is not an issue in Seattle.
4. She couldn't process my credit card payment, some problem with computer passwords. She had to just write down my credit card number and process it later, but promised to call me (she did) and shred the evidence.

Stressful. I stopped for my morning latte on the way back to the house, then had breakfast, took a long nap, and spent most of the afternoon watching Gunsmoke and Bonanza with my dad. Promptly at 5pm,  I got a call from Delta Air Cargo in Seattle. Although I had filled out multiple pieces of paperwork stating that the Seattle Airpet Hotel would be the ones to pick up Tom, they were still confused as to whether it was them or me he would be going to.

Ah well, it all worked out and he is now safely ensconced at the Seattle Airpet Hotel, awaiting my rescue on Friday. I won't get home until about 11pm Thursday night (which will be, ugh, 2am Michigan time), and then will jump right up Friday morning and take the 1 1/2 hour trip back to Seatac to get him, hoping to get back to the island before the Friday afternoon ferry traffic backs up.... it's full on tourist season now and there will likely be a 2 hour line by late afternoon.

I always have such mixed feelings when it comes time to leave here, though. Last night I stayed up watching the fireflies and enjoying the feel of the soft, humid summer air here. And thinking about how lonely my dad must get; he's had all of 3 visitors in the month I've been here. I wish I could convince him to get out to the senior center and make some friends.

But I sure am looking forward to getting home!