A bit of Osoji

Hhmmmm. . . .to be honest we didn't really do any Osoji this year (or any past year that I recall. . . ). Osoji is "big cleaning" that is usually done on New Year's Eve. Saw some of the neighbors hard at work doing Osoji. Husbands in the genkans scrubbing the windows which is quite a job here in Akita where most houses have a mostly glass genkan in front of their actual genkan (with a dividing door in between that they can lock)! Our neighbor's across the road have a genkan with a glass roof, glass walls, all glass! It is for the heavy winters here so that delivery people can enter a dry space to make their deliveries and neighbors stopping by can come in in snow boots and snow gear out of the snow and wind and yet not far enough into the house to make a big puddle! Our house however, just has a regular genkan, with a wooden door and walls, a few windows but not like the neighbors! It goes directly into our main room downstairs and the dividing door has no lock so I think the delivery people are often quite put out when they go to open the front door and find it is locked!

Back to topic. So while we haven't done any "big cleaning" I did decide that it was time to tackle the kitty litter boxes. We have two kitties so we have two litter boxes. There is nothing more disgusting than cleaning out litter boxes! Except. . . having a cheering section narrate the action out loud to you: "Poop!" "Poop!" "There's more POOP!" Then when the cheering section spots a fresh hair ball that has been chucked up in the corner next to the litter box, "BARF!" and climbs up on your back so that they can get a better look at the wet little pile of stomach bile and hair. . . "BARF!" My cheering section this afternoon was my four year old daughter, who inspired by the sight of the upchucked hairball decided to do her best puss-n-boots (via Shrek II) hacking up a hair ball imitation and actually triggered her own gag reflex so well that she nearly lost her lunch all over me!

Finally got both boxes cleaned out, the hair ball removed and the cats have fresh boxes which they have both eagerly jumped in and re-christianed. I think the hair ball was revenge for being a day late in cleaning out the boxes.

The cheering section is just my karma coming back at me.