House Sitting

The past 6 days we were house sitting for my boss. The last few times I house sat for him, his (2) dogs were there, not this time though. We had it pretty easy, all we had to do was make sure the flowers and plants were watered and keep the pool clean. We even took our cat, Buddy with us. I guess it was kinda like a family vacation, except I had to work all week. It was like our own resort house with pool, hot tub and mini golf course (offroad cart included). Even though it rained a few days, we still were able to have a couple of BBQ's with John, Shirley and their kids. It was nice to be able to host a party for once, being that our apartment is way too small. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Everyone that is except for Buddy. Buddy spent most of the time locked in the bedroom upstairs when we had company or when we slept. We were worried he would knock something over or eat the plants. On the second day our fears came true. It was Sunday evening after everyone left, Kara and I were sitting on the couch relaxing, watching TV. Buddy was roaming around free. We watched him pretty closely for a little while, he basicly just walked around and sniffed everything, then finally settled on the window sill staring at the birds and chipmunks. Our attention slowly drifted back to the TV... then it happened. We seen him move out of the corner of our eyes, by the time we turned our heads he was leaping off the window sill into the air towards the floor lamp with the full length paper lamp shade. His left paw made a medium size hole in the shade, which quickly turned in to a large hole, then it ripped completely off. With 3/4 of the shade lying on the floor Buddy had limped off in pain. It seemed he hurt the paw he's been holding up since he got declawed. The paw that the vet said nothing is wrong with, but yet he continues to favor it. So the lamp is broke and Buddy is hurt. He hisses and cries if we touch his paw. Now Kara is crying histarically because Buddy is crippled forever, at least that's what she thinks. Of course the next morning he is fine. So that's the story of our little vacation from home.