It was a good Christmas overall, I can’t complain. I got a
So, we got a kitten for Christmas from my sister. She’s been doing foster pet sitting for a shelter in
So everything has been great. It’s been one of the better Christmases I’ve had in the past few years, and for that I am thankful!
That’s all for now, I’ll post more soon!
So, getting used to a house without my rather large cat running around has been weird. She was close to 30lbs, so it’s odd things that I notice are gone.
I don’t hear the THUMP on the floor when she jumps down from the bed to greet me when I come home. I don’t hear her running up and down the stairs when she hears the food bag rustle or the treat drawer get opened.
I miss her getting under my feet all the time. Jen can tell you that she tripped me up on more than one occasion.
Moose is starting to miss her at this point. He doesn’t particularly care to be alone. He’s been wanting a lot of attention, which is somewhat strange for him. He’s been very vocal.
I spent most of Monday night cleaning half of the basement. Towards the end she had really done a number on the concrete floor, so it’s going to take me a bit longer to get it all right. I rearranged a few things last night as well. I hope to have most things done by Friday, but we’ll see.
Jen and I are going to get Moose a companion most likely before she leaves again on January 8th. Jen being home right now is a really good thing for Moose, because he doesn’t have to be alone.
The vet I went to in order to have her euthanized sent me a nice card in the mail yesterday that made me cry a little. It’s hard losing a friend you’ve had for 13 years, even if that friend can’t really talk in words. It was tough to bury her. I buried her the way that she normally slept, half on her side half on her back, with one paw covering part of her face. I buried her deep, and when spring comes around, I’ll plant a rose bush on top of her to mark the place properly.
The rose is a wonderful allegory for most friendships. They are a pain to take care of, they have thorns that can draw blood quickly and cut deeply, but they produce the sweetest smelling and most beautiful flowers around. I find it assuredly appropriate that I plant one where Ojos rests now. And considering that she liked to hide in my existing roses, I’m sure she would too.
Yesterday was one of the longer days I’ve had in a while.
Jen got home around 8PM on Friday. I made a broccoli/cauliflower/carrot stirfry for her (well, actually had it mostly ready by the time she got here), and we had a nice night together.
We woke up somewhat early Saturday. We went through a lot of clothes and drawers and filled 8 bags full of things to take to Goodwill.
Now, while we were doing this, Ojos, the sick one, has been acting very strangely. Very furtive, very distressed (you know, her tail is puffed out). I figure it’s just the plastic bags making noise bother her, but it’s enough that I notice it’s odd. We continue to get things ready to go, and I notice a smell coming from the spare bathroom. I figure no big deal, I had thought Jen might have used it earlier or something. Well that theory was wrong. Ojos had used floor mat while we were standing 2 feet away and the door open. Cats just don’t do that when they are well.
There’s just no time to really deal with it at the moment, because we have to get going to drop off Jen’s rental car, and then I had a test for my Green Belt in Kung Fu. So, we close the spare bathroom door and turn on the fan so we can get out the door. We drop off Jen’s car and head over to the dojo. My parents got there right after we did, so good timing there.
The test went ok. I hadn’t eaten beforehand because of the cat, and I ended up being a whole lot more nervous than I was expecting. I got through my material, but it wasn’t pretty. Regardless, I passed and I got my green belt!
So we come home from that, and Ojos has also used the carpet in our bedroom. We clean up both areas. Ojos knows she has done something bad, as she normally does. However, she is too sick at this point to do anything about it. So, after dealing with this off and on over the past 4 years, I make the tough choice and call the vet to have her put down. She was 13, and she was really starting to have a lot of difficulty. And she was absolutely destroying my house slowly.
It’s one of the toughest choices I’ve ever really made. She was a good friend, and a good companion. I felt like this was best for her, no more pain and suffering. So Jen went with me, and we had her euthanized at around 4:30 yesterday. They gave her back to us, and I’m going to bury her in the yard today.
After getting through that, Jen and I went to the Coyote Grill in West Chester to celebrate my dad’s 69th birthday. Good food, nice place. Then we attended a party on Jen’s side of the family. A general good time was had.
Jen was extremely supportive yesterday, and I am thankful. I’ll honestly admit that I cried a lot over Ojos. I missed her horribly this morning when she wasn’t in her normal place in front of the bathroom door or on the foot of the bed. She’s been part of my life since she was two weeks old, so it will take a while to get used to her not being around.
Jen and I are going to clean the house thoroughly, and then we will pick out a kitten to keep Moose company. It hasn’t hit him yet, but he will start missing Ojos soon.
Some thoughts for today:
How many of us, when thinking of the future, look no further than ourselves? What are we doing tonight, tomorrow, next week? Are we planning on children, are we saving for retirement?
I’d say 98% of us see the future in this way.
What does that mean for humanity in general? Especially in this country, we are taught to worry about ourselves and make sure that we as individuals plan for our own futures. However, what if Isaac Newton thought this way? Einstein? Let’s go back further…… what about various religious figures? Do you think Jesus thought only of himself? Buddha? Mohammed?
What are you doing to foster humanity’s growth rather than your own?
So, we went to
I took Friday off, so we left around 9AM and got up there. It was COLD!!!! The northern parts of town, where we were, still had as much as 6 or 7 inches of snow in spots, but nothing to really impede travel. We got up there around 2PM local time, and Jen went into the office for a few hours while I read. We went to a local brewery for dinner, which was awesome, then came back to the hotel to sit in the hot tub for a while.
Saturday we got up and went to a little café for breakfast. Being conscious of money at the moment, we decided to take it easy during the day, and just spent the time together lounging around the hotel napping and generally just being a cute couple. ;) Then we got dressed up and went to her party. It was very nicely done, at a country club up there. The food was fantastic, and Jen works with a genuinely nice set of people. I was honestly impressed with how much they really seemed to care for one another outside of work. So, it was a great night overall.
We woke up and got out of
A few thoughts for today:
Perhaps I am over sensitive, but it seems to me that the closer that Christmas gets, the ruder people get. Everyone feels like they are entitled to something or other, and they don’t hesitate to let you know that. It’s simple things, like other drivers behaving badly, people running to get through the door to a store or restaurant before you do (you know, they might run out or something), for even just everyday language. In the season of giving and kindness, I find those things get shorter in supply the closer the 25th gets.
I think that’s about it right now. I had some other things to say, but I can’t think of how to put what I want to say.
