Some adventures are best observed from a distance, as is most of this one. (the first is a bit of history, so skip down toward the end for the "meat" of the story). We read about the stupid stuff our TSA Agents do in searching people at airports, it turns out Mexico isn't any different, they just do it in Spanish.

You'll remember the 3 Christmas kittens and how they were taken (after being mothered to near death by my neighbor) to the shelter for adoption and it was tough, but I got the call and did the job. So, it turned out in the months since both the boys were adopted into good homes, but for some reason Toe, the girl was not and she really is a beautiful cat. My neighbor was going in to the shelter regularly to volunteer to pet and familiarize the kittens with people, and of course to see Toe, or Jessica, as they named her.

April came and the annual "pack up and head North" time came and as usual she packed most of her things and puts them in her car which I then cover for the Summer. This year things had a new kink as we were to find out.

The owners are coming home for 7 weeks around June 8th and asked if the casita was open as they were bringing friends, of course I said no problem. I had already covered everything with plastic and shut down the water heater, frig etc. The owners of this house also have a new house just completed last year and the young builder and his new wife live there as caretakers. The plan was for them to come over here to the casita while the owners are here, again, no problem, although they have a dog, but I figured the cats can handle it, he's small.

In the mean time I had cleared out most of the kitchen things that were hers, but she was determined to come down anyway and I've learned not to argue with an Irish Grandmother!

After living here 3 years she's become somewhat "entrenched". Of course I had dutifully been going to the shelter checking on Toe and somewhere along the line Margaret (she doesn't like me to use her name, but whatever?) decides as long as she's here, she's going to take Toe back to Canada. Well, that changed things, but hey, if that's what you want to do, and I knew how attached and responsible she felt about Toe, so, come on down we'll make it happen.

I made the arrangements with the shelter for international travel, to confirm she had been spayed etc. Margaret brought carrier(s) yes, multiple, and arrived last week. Of course we had to go the next morning to the shelter and I was telling her "she probably won't even remember you, it's been 3 months" - but of course she did remember and immediately came to her and that sealed the deal - she was Canada bound. We brought her home and almost immediately we began to notice she acted exactly like her mother when I was around, totally different than to Margaret. I'm trying to write a story about Midnight and her, but it's hard because I really miss Midnight, she was such a sweet little cat and a great mother.

Things were moving along and somewhere in the middle of last week I get an email from Taiwan (the owner) saying Joel (the builder) wasn't going to stay in the casita afterall? - his wife is having a baby July 1st and her mother wants her closer in the village so they rented a house - OK?

Again, that changed several things, the owners were going to reduce my overall rent while Joel was there, but I said no, buy me a Dell PC and bring it down and we'll be even, so the PC is sitting in Washington State waiting to come down which is no problem, but now I owe them. That also made Margaret's trip mostly without purpose even though it had now taken on the primary purpose of retrieving Toe. Me? - well, I wasn't all that disappointed, having a new baby in the compound and gosh knows how many relatives and fiestas etc. really isn't my thing - and the Mexican's do know how to celebrate.

Over the past few days Margaret had totally over planned the whole thing worrying about toe and trying to cover every eventuality from food, to getting sick etc. and I've kept telling her "you're over-thinking this whole thing, it will be fine". Toe has turned out to be an amazing cat, totally easy to handle, she doesn't fight having a travel harness put on, or being put in a carrier etc, she has been exceptional and again, so much like her mother Margaret slipped every once-in-a-while and called her Midnight.

Now comes the real "rest of the story". Margaret flies Mexicana from Guad to Mexico City and they don't allow pets in the cabin, so she brought a small hard carrier for that part of the trip, dragged it all the way down here from the great frozen N. On the MX City to Toronto/Sudbury it's Air Canada and they allow pets in the cabin and so a soft carrier that slides under the seat is acceptable, so she brought one of those.

Now, you have to realize Margaret travels "heavy", normally a hard shell carry on, a purse the size of a shopping bag and two large suitcases that are the size of small steamer trunks. She packs them full (49.9999lbs) both ways, bringing stuff down and hauling Mexican treasures N. This time she only brought one huge one and so the set of blue rimmed Mexican blown glass goblets and two large glass salad bowls and the soft carrier plus essentials were packed and slid by the weigh in counter - once again. She borrows my digital scale and it must be accurate because she's never been over limit.

Tues morning at 6:15 we're ready for the great journey, the cat is in it's harness and in the hard carrier, bags are packed and he head for the aeropuerto. Toe only meowed a couple of times softly, she's totally trusting. Margaret was still fidgeting about forgetting something, which she ultimately did, she left the book she was reading on the console of the Jeep at the airport.

We had decided to give Toe a tranquilizer before "checking her in" because the first part of the flight was in the hold of the plane. So, I got the duty and managed to get the pill down her before we left the car - are you crazy? - of course I thought this through, can you see pulling a cat (totally stressed already) out of it's container, in an airport full of thousands of people? - then stuffing a pill down her throat etc. and telling her "it's ok baby, just swallow it, trust me it's a good thing" and the cat suddenly deciding to bolt in any direction to get anywhere under something?

We got checked in, got all the tickets etc and it's sometimes a bit of a task as Margaret is retired Air Canada so flies standby and special fare on Mexicana etc. and today with the extra baggage - anyway, it worked out great.

I came home, later in the morning started closing down the casita again and put fuel stabilizer in her car etc. and at one point I was in the house and the phone rang and it was Margaret in a bit of a hushed tone which made me a bit nervous. She was in Mexico City and said "have I got a story to tell you". Now, that's not unusual, last year getting through MX City after loosing her passport was a major event, so why should this be different?

When she got to MX City she retrieved the cat and the poor thing was completely wasted by the tranq I gave her, their eyes are goofy and the poor things are totally uncoordinated etc. and it's really sad. So, she took her out of the hard carrier and held her for a time making sure she was ok and the cat is like "shuuur - I'mmm oahay - whahever" - so she wasn't a handling problem at all and was transferred to the soft carrier for the next leg of the flight.

When she went to go back through security the "adventure" really kicked in. They said the cat would have to go through the Xray machine and of course Margaret said "no she isn't (inferred end of subject)".

Now, you have to get the vision, Margaret is a silver haired grandmother, immaculately dressed in slacks, a blouse and dress jacket (basically totally overdressed in today's air travel world) and a small cat in a soft carrier and they're looking at her as a security risk? - and she can't take the cat through security.

So begins the explanation of why and where she's going etc. and by this time people are starting to backup behind her at the security checkpoint. The agent said he'd have to check with supervision etc. and she offered to step aside so the other folks could pass - - - "oh no senora, no problema, I'll be right back" - and he disappears for a typical "Mexican minute" which can last for as long as it takes.

Eventually he returns and she can take the zonked cat out of the carrier and carry her through the arch of inquisition, but then they have to search the cat, yes, I said "SEARCH THE CAT" and he gives the cat a complete pat down like it's packing some kind of explosive device? - the cat was stoned, but not explosive or even close to dangerous in her condition. Fortunately there was nothing resembling a fuse sticking out of her harness. And, as I said, Margaret is dressed to kill (hmm, maybe that was the problem?) and they're worried about a 6lb cat and a gray haired grandmother? Well, after a good laugh (telling me the story, not at the security checkpoint) she hung up.

This morning I got an email saying she traveled on to Toronto just fine where they spent the night with Margaret's daughter who has two dogs and a cat. Of course Toe hissed at the dogs having never before seen such a strange animal, that confused the dogs and the other cat is totally puzzled by the whole thing. So, today they'll continue on to Sudbury and then another 150 miles into the wilderness by pack mule to Toe's new home - and Margaret assures me that IS her permanent home, dragging a cat through international travel is far too hectic and stressful on the animal not to mention what it does to the grandmother.

Oh, one more thing, of course when they got to Canada they had to find the guy to approve Toe's entry into Canada and all her paperwork etc. and, the hard carrier never showed up in Canada, they probably freaked when it arrived empty and are still searching the plane trying to find the former occupant. International travel is not for the faint of heart, so the next time you see a grandmother with her cat, smile and say something kind.