After an Apartment

A major victory was accomplished last week.

The old Peerless wall heater that has been haunting my basement is out the door and on to a new life.

This heater ran on natural gas. I had it disconnected by professionals about a year ago.

Finally, my partner-in-crime and I wrenched it from its wall, used a Shop Vac to blow out years of dust, dog fur and dreadfulness, hauled it up to the garage, and listed it on Bis-Man online.

I didn’t know if it worked. I asked $25. And I sold it in a couple of days.

The man who wanted it was hot-to-trot. I could tell he was worried somebody else would get to it before him. He planned to use it in his garage. I really hope it worked for him.

The biggest reason I was so ready to finally get rid of it was because the kitties had learned how to escape their room through the hole below it.

I awoke one morning a couple months ago to a very scared and mournful screaming. Sweet Pea had gotten out and apparently couldn’t remember how to get back into the room with Basil. So, I reinforced the cardboard that had been keeping them in, and went about my life.

A couple weeks ago, two days before their surgeries, I went downstairs to check on them. Normally when I open the door to their room, they both come bursting out ready for food and pets.

This time, only Basil was there. I looked in the room, fearful that Sweet Pea had found the wire underneath the heater and had chewed her way to an electrocution.

No Sweet Pea.

I went into the laundry room, which was the room to which the hole would lead. The door was closed, which meant if Sweet Pea was in there, there was nowhere for her to go. My laundry, etc., was scattered everywhere. No Sweet Pea.

I looked to the ceiling. I had been hearing weird sounds in the furnace ducts. Did she somehow find her way there? No way.

I went out of the laundry room and back to their room. On the way, I found Sweet Pea.

I reinforced the cardboard, and went to the laundry room to see how long it would take her to escape once again.

Less than two minutes.

So I shoved an old rug in the hole and hoped for the best.

That worked, but I knew it wouldn’t work forever.

Now, the heater is gone, the entire hole is filled with impenetrable sheet rock, and the room is secured.