My cats were the heroes of my Christmas!

Who would have thought that my cats would have saved my Christmas for me? Let me explain.

Jim and I drove up to my parents empty cottage on two acres of land nestled above a lake in the wonderful Laurentian Mountains on Christmas Eve with my two cats.

Leaving Toronto we had pouring rain - this right after receiving a mighty 25 cms of snow - so driving conditions were messy. On the major highway we drove thru torrential rain and large fog patches, which made the drive long and slow. Once leaving the major highway about five hours later, we drove along secondary highway routes where weather conditions were changing - the winds were gusting and the temperature was reaching freezing and so there were large puddles of water on the road when there were dips in the road and black ice on the hills. We passed two cars who skidded into the snowbanks so we drove even slower. Slow and steady is best under these conditions, but with every passing minute the temperature and road conditions were degrading. I was starting to wonder whether we would make it up the big hills which would lead us into the mountains.

My mind was turning to where we could stay if we couldn't make it - the two of us, the two cats and a carful of groceries, including the uncooked Christmas turkey. But luckily we made it up the hills - very carefully - without slipping off the road. We did slip, but thanks to Jim's careful driving we made it past the tiny town of Lost River to the 1km dirt road that leads to the house.

It was just before midnight when we got to this road. The first part of the road was "crunchy" so there was no problem because the "crunch" provided lots of traction, but as we passed some fields where the winds were whipping all the water away - it was sheer ice! We had to drive down the first steep hill towards the little bridge that went over the fast currents of Lost River (the same river that runs through the town of the same name). We drove with two wheels along the side of the road in the snowbank to get traction - but woops we slipped - but thankfully ended up right in the middle of the bridge and were that much closer to the cold, empty house awaiting our arrival. Further along, we had to make a sharp right corner and go up a slight incline. Woops, we couldn't make it up on our first attempt. We were so close about .25 km from the house. Second attempt to no avail. I got out of the car and slipped right away. There was absolutely no traction under my winter boots. ... Oh no, how could we abandon the car and get all our bags, food and cats into the house along a road with no traction in the pitch black darkness??? I brought my shovel in case of emergency, but no sand. I was wracking my brain as to how we could get up this incline when Jim blurted out that we had kitty litter! Kitty Litter provides perfect traction - so he got out of the car (the stuff was on the floor behind his seat) and laid the stuff on the road. Voila! On the third attempt we made it and were on our way. After a dicy trip down the steep hill to the cottage - again with one side of the car in the snowbank - we made it.

If it weren't for the cats and their necessary supplies - our Christmas arrival would have been much different! So that's why I say that my cats, Leo and Rory, were the heroes of my Christmas!