deliverance

A few weeks back, we noticed that we were about to run low on the most popular and enthusiastically demanded staple in the house: cat food.

Though Maia's food is easily found in pet stores, Tybalt eats a rarer variety harder to find. So B. ordered both from Chewy, an online pet store. While we were at it, she ordered cat litter which we were low on too.

In a couple days, the package arrived at the local FedEx distributing facility. Then came the weird part. For two weeks, each day the tracking info said the package was on the truck to be delivered to us. Then each day it wouldn't be delivered. The next day it was back on the truck. When B. phoned FedEx, they assured us it would come the next day, really this time. It didn't.

B's theory was that they'd lost the package and were ashamed to admit it.

She called Chewy. They promised to replace and resend the package at no charge. Then that one was delayed.

In the meantime, we were really running out of food. I tried Petco, the biggest local retailer. They have an online ordering site like Safeway's, except it works better. When I set it to our local store and chose Tybalt-food, when I went to the cart it said that store was out of that. (No surprise, since it's not easily found.) I could order it, which would take several days, or I could try another store. I tried other stores. Only took about 5 before I found one which had it in stock. I ordered for pickup, waited for the confirmatory e-mail to arrive (less than an hour), and then drove there and picked it up, with mask and a minimum of contact.

Cats clambered at the closed bathroom door at the sound of my refilling the canisters, even though it wasn't mealtime. Puzzled and disappointed were they when the door opened and there was no visible sign of cat food.

A couple days later the second package finally arrived. (By this time the first one was marked on the tracking info as indefinitely delayed.) 26 pounds of cat food and 30 pounds of cat litter in one large cardboard box, it was already falling apart. Maybe that's what happened to the other one. FedEx didn't like carting it and left it way down the front walk. I had to roll the box into the house, let it fall apart there, and take the contents out while curious Tybalt sniffed at it.

At least now we're set for a while, cat input and output-wise.