We bought a house! First time for everything, and yes, we are late bloomers. For the longest time, two PhD diplomas were the stand-ins for a house. But now we bought a house! I’m super excited to get into it and start making it a home. I feel like we’re putting down roots and becoming real Texans. Until we finalized everything, I hadn’t realized how transient I felt, even though we lived in the same place for almost twenty years in Philadelphia (and I mean the same apartment, not just the same city). The house is very nice and the former owners made a number of small, but thoughtful additions and changes – there are misters in the pergola for example. Hell, there’s a pergola!
Continue reading “Friday Thoughts: New Adventures”Friday Thoughts: A Random Collection
I’m starting this post not quite knowing where it’s going. I have a number of random thoughts roaming through my brain right now. I’m on my third cup of coffee, this one iced, and normally, that would help with the brain organization. But for whatever reason, it’s not. What is helping is that I made a sort of generic calendar/to-do list for each day of the week (Mondays is for prompt responses, Tuesdays for blog post, like that). Today’s generic to-do list said “Blog post, Friday Thoughts.” So, here you have it. My thoughts on this Friday, July 21, 2023.
Continue reading “Friday Thoughts: A Random Collection”Week 46 of Odd Prompts
I have missed the last couple of weeks of Odd Prompts. Partly related to overall stress, partly to losing track of days. This response was due last week. I actually remembered to send in a prompt and received this one in turn from Fiona Grey: The cat and the tree were the best of friends, if an odd pair. And then, one day, the other lemon dropped. Once again, I couldn’t figure out a way to work it into Cursebreaker, so here it is in it’s solo career. On the topic of Cursebreaker, I will be working that into a full-length novel soon (as soon as I get book 2 out to beta readers…). For now though, enjoy the cat and its tree.
Continue reading “Week 46 of Odd Prompts”Death and pets
I am waiting for my cat to die. He arrived in our house about a month ago. Prior to that he lived with the father of one of my best friends. Her father died last fall and Elroy (the cat) stayed in the house with one of her sisters until February when the house sold. Then he came to us. On Friday this week, he started to look even thinner (he’d been thin before, but now he was getting positively skeletal). He was not as energetic as he had been, and was not eating as much. I noticed he was breathing more rapidly and heavily as well. We made it through the weekend and this morning I took him to the vet. About five minutes after I dropped him off and left, the vet called me. Apparently his breathing had gotten worse and he was on the edge of dying. She’d brought him back and ran her tests. He has fluid in his chest cavity; the possible result of congestive heart failure or cancer. Later she called to tell me she’d taken 250 ml of fluid out of his chest. Before I picked him up this afternoon, she’d taken another 60 ml. That’s a hella lot of fluid for one small cat.
So, now we’re home. He’s crashed on the sofa and I’m watching him breathe. He’s in the same shape as the late, great Little Bit who died of cancer a couple of years age. I don’t know if he’ll make it through the night. If he does, I will take him back to the vet and my friend and I will make the last decision for him. If he doesn’t, I’ll bury him in the backyard beside the other two who died too young.
Expected or not, long-term family member, or recent arrival, it’s always so difficult to let a pet go. As I sit here watching him, I’d like to think that he’s comfortable (one of my other cats is sleeping next to him; every now and then her paw reaches out to touch him) and not stressed. I want to let him go on his own terms. I am not going to try to forestall the inevitable simply so I can have him around longer. Although he’s only been her for a month, he will be missed.
Here’s to you, Elroy. May you meet up with Henry as soon as you cross the Rainbow Bridge. All of us, human and feline, will miss you.