Traveling Cat

Piglet and I drove from South East Michigan to Asheville yesterday. The trip took us 11 hours including stops for lunch and gas. Piglet is a great traveler - she always has been.

It is hard to believe that we've had Piglet for over 11 years. When we got her we drove a Winnebago to Pennsylvania and back to Detroit and Piglet loved being in the car. She was only 13 weeks old then. Now, at nearly 12, she still loves to ride in the car.

In other Piglet news, I got a new device that has video capability!  That cat is going to regret it.

Piglet Goes to Mt. Mitchell

In 2004 we took Piglet on our very first trip to the Asheville area. We had heard a lot about it from friends in Atlanta and we wanted to drive up the Blue Ridge Parkway to see the fall leaves. So one chilly October day we put Piglet in a sweater and drove up to North Carolina.

It was slightly overcast, but that didn't stop us. We pulled off at several scenic overlooks along the way. Because it was Fall, the parkway was busy and several people stopped to ask us what kind of dog Piglet was.

Here are Matt and Piglet at one of the scenic overlooks.

Like a child, Piglet slept in the car for much of the drive.

She missed these fantastic fall colors.

Then we arrived at Mt. Mitchell, the highest peak in the Eastern United States. This trip took place just a year and a could months after we moved to Atlanta. It was long before we decided to build a tiny house in these very mountains. Also, at that time there was an old overlook at the top of Mt. Mitchel that has been constructed under Roosevelt's New Deal and the Public Works Administration. Since that time, a new overlook has been built. We really loved this old structure, though. 

Piglet "loved" it, too. 

Here is one of the views from the top of the overlook.

There was a little trail circumnavigating the peak of Mt. Mitchel. It is just a short hike so we took Piglet for a walk. Well, we took her for a "carry."

Here are Matt and Piglet enjoying the hike.

And after all that hiking, Piglet slept soundly on the way back.

We stayed in a hotel near the Asheville area that night. Because of Piglet we didn't really have a chance to explore the city, but we did drive through and knew instantly that we needed to be back there. And the rest is, as they say, history. This was the first of many trips to Asheville and then the dream of building our tiny house was born.

Piglet'll Have a Blue Christmas Without You...

Piglet is enjoying the view out the window as she sits beneath our tiny tinsel tree.

She just wishes it would snow.

The Adventures of Piglet the Mountain Sphynx So Far

So, when we last left our intrepid heroine, Piglet the Mountain Sphynx, she was...well, she was sleeping.

Looking back at Piglet's own adventures in the tiny house I can say one thing - small spaces make cats a little nutty. She loved the up and down of the ladder and her platforms, but she really wanted more room to run around. Occasionally I would put her on the leash and take her for a walk, but she always just wanted to go back into the tiny house. The funniest part was that she would act like a crazy cat in the evenings right before bed but as soon as Matt and I crawled under the covers she was there to burrow under as well and go right to sleep. She could have kept us up all night, but no one ever told Piglet that she is suppose to be nocturnal.

Here are Piglet's adventures in the tiny house so far - in pictures!

On her first trip up, before we move in, Piglet was curious about the "Outside."

Her first attempts mastering the ladder were less than graceful.

But Piglet really loved being up in the loft.

Finally she managed to figure out the ladder. It never gets old watching her climb the ladder. She just can't get back down that way.

Sometimes Piglet would help me work.

Most of the time she would sleep all day.

The current plan is to update this blog every CATURDAY with some adorable photos of Piglet. Stick around for more of this patchy little ball of skin's adventures in the Michigan, in the slightly larger city house and back in the Tiny House!