I have had a lovely summer so far. Judi had asked me the other day how it was going and I just texted her a bunch of photos. So I decided to do something similar with this. Oh, BTW, the little kitty got a name. He’s Pippin, my little pipsqueak. Maybe I’ll post a couple of videos of him later. But now, on to the show!
This past Sunday, my Linus, my Old Man, my Hot Water Bottle, died. He leaves a little Linus-shaped hole in my life.
Several years ago, Linus was diagnosed with inflamed bowels (possibly cancerous – we never did surgery to check) and had been on prednisolone ever since. Most of the time he was happy and hungry and pooped a lot. But he’d have the occasional “bad belly day” as I would call them. Sometimes lasting a couple of days. But then he’d be back to his usual self.
At his last vet appointment, Linus had lost 2 pounds since his previous annual physical, so the vet gave him a blood test. Everything came back fine except his thyroid. It was overactive. Hence the weight loss. Linus was prescribed a new medication to take each morning and evening. (With 3 pills per day in his pill case, I would be no longer likely to mix up our pill cases when I take my Zyrtec in the morning… OK, so I only did it twice! Once when I was fighting the flu and the other time right after the time change, OK?)
Anyway, it seemed that the medication was helping. He had gained another 0.6lb from his appointment and seemed to be doing OK. But then Friday he was going back to his glum “bad belly day” mood. And Saturday he seemed even worse. Our vet isn’t available on the weekend, but I’d decided I’d call Monday to see if we should cut down the thyroid pill dose. He was due for the 1 month check in tomorrow (Wednesday).
Sunday morning, he seemed better and ate some breakfast. My sister was coming to Troy that day, so I spent the morning and early afternoon with the folks and her. We had a lovely day. Then Amy came to help me take some stuff out of the basement for an upcoming garage sale. Linus & Reesie were crashed out on the sofa. Once Amy left, I joined them for a bit. Reesie seemed as concerned as I was for Linus, who was feeling bonier than he’d ever felt.
Sunday was laundry day, and had been interrupted some by my family visit. So I got another load going and decided the three of us needed to cuddle in the comfy chair. We spent well over an hour together, first me and Linus, and soon the three of us. It was very fine cuddling indeed.
Sadly, I needed to get more laundry shifted, but my goal was to return to cuddling ASAP. But while I was downstairs swapping loads, Linus decided to hop out of the comfy chair and was laying down on the floor in front of it. I dumped the clean laundry on the bed and went in to the library check on him. He laid on his side, spasmed a cou ple of times, and then he was gone. Reesie left the room around that time too – I think she figured out what was going on. I found a shoe box for him (he needed a bigger one that Lucy) and then buried my grief in chores.
I’d texted the family about Linus and they were all lovely and supportive. But I decided I’d bury Linus on my own. (Amy had come over to help me with Lucy’s grave. And damn if I didn’t pick the rootiest place to dig! I picked a much less rooty place for Linus and was done a lot quicker than the pair of us had been. Sorry Amy!) And then I found even more chores to do.
Reesie and I finished up the evening on the sofa together streaming something – either the Eternals or Lovecraft Country – and I consoled myself with a pint of ice cream. Reesie was a wonderful comfort to me, so I thanked Corinne on Monday for bringing her into my life. (And to Linus’ life. I think he stayed around longer because of her.)
I had nearly 18 years with my good boy and most of that time with his sister, Lucy, too. I was very lucky to have found them (thanks Brandi!) and to have them in my life. Thank you for all the cuddles Linus! I’ll miss having you as my hot water bottle at night!
Pleasant Hill was in the path of totality for this year’s total solar eclipse. So I’ve been looking forward to this since the partial solar eclipse we had in 2017. The timing of that was was such that we were having Open House at my school for the start of the school year the next day. 7 years seemed like a long wait. Man, where did the time go?
Last year, I bought 50 eclipse glasses for my students and was able to give some out to the seniors I had in class before they graduated. Then a few months ago, I attended a Zoom meeting for science teachers about the eclipse. And thanks to that, I wound up ordering 50 eclipse cards (instead of glasses that you put on, it’s just a card you hold in front of your face when you want to look). So I was well stocked.
I’ve had them out on my demo table all week and kids and staff were taking some. And someone else (the ESC, I think) wound up donating enough glasses so every kid and their parents could have some. I still gave more away as kids wanted aunts & uncles and grand parents to be covered. However, I still had several left over, which I shared with anyone that I could.
My friends, Judi and Elsa, live up in Michigan and were in the 98% coverage area. I made sure they had glasses, too. And then Elsa had the bright idea to book a room in a hotel in Lima so that they could be in totality. I was thrilled for them, but didn’t want to join them to watch in Lima. I REALLY wanted to see the eclipse from my back yard. However, I drove up to Lima yesterday and met up with them for supper at The Met.
I found there was a park connected to a bike path that wasn’t too far from their hotel, so my plan was to go there, walk around the pond/lake/whatever and walk a bit of the bike path. The weather was lovely (a little chilly, but I had a jacket) and the park was nice. The bike path was fun since it dipped into underpasses to cross the roads. I was there not quite an hour before I returned to my car. About the time I had gotten to the park, the girls had gotten to the hotel. They told me their room number and I headed their way.
Before the trip, we’d looked at a couple of places to try eating and we settled on The Met, which is in downtown Lima. I had braced myself to call ahead and they said they weren’t taking reservations, but there were plenty of seats. So we had supper there. I had a Korean barbecue chicken sandwich and fries. And for dessert, I had crème brûlée. I was happy with my meal and really happy with my dessert. Oh, and they had a cider on tap from Marysville, OH. It was bright green and tasty.
My drives to and from Lima were fine. Mom had been worried about there being too much traffic due to the eclipse, but that was saved till today, apparently. I was only a little late getting Linus his evening pills, so all in all, a good day.
Today was the special day. Today was the day for the Eclipse. We had the day off school because of traffic concerns (probably wise in retrospect). I slept in, goofed off in my loungies, had a nice slow morning. I finally headed out around 11am to get a LabQuest and temperature probe from the school. Back in 2017, I graphed the change in temperature during the partial eclipse as part of a citizen science initiative. I decided to gather data again this year. I set it up on my recycle bin in the shade and started recording the temperature every 30 seconds.
I headed back to the school to check out the Total Eclipse at the Park. There weren’t a lot of folks, but I did get to fist bump the woman who came up with the theme and shirt. (The front had Total Eclipse at the Park and the back had Turn Around along with a silhouette of the monument. Brilliant. I wore it yesterday and today.)
I had a nice chat with her, Mary (Kinney) Vannus, and a few others. The time flew and soon I needed to think about getting back home in time for some lunch & an eclipse. Oh, but first, a walk by the Exchange to see what all was going on there. It was a lot busier than the park and they had some food trucks. But I didn’t want to wait in line so I headed on home.
While the eclipse started, I made my lunch and kept checking on the shrinking sun. Then I sat out on my glider and turned around to look at the sun and the progress of the eclipse. It’s amazing how light it is out even when so much of the sun is covered. But when totality hit, it was dark enough to see Venus. (Supposedly Jupiter was above the sun, but I didn’t see it myself). And the corona surrounding an empty space where the sun once was. Wow – so cool. The birds were a little quieter during the event. But I definitely understood what the astrophysicist in charge of the Zoom meeting meant when he said (his first words in the meeting) “A total solar eclipse is an emotional experience.” Damn straight.
Although I was alone in my backyard, I was in two group texts. Mom, Dad, Amy, and Madeleine (Troy & Yellow Springs) and Elsa & Judi (Lima). So I wasn’t really alone during the experience. That was pretty damned nifty. Also, my next door neighbors and their kids were out. The dad kept telling the littlest to be sure to look through the eclipse glasses. When the corona appeared, I called out to them that it was safe for the kids to look without the glasses. I think the little were pretty impressed. I know us adults were. 🙂
I left the LabQuest to record more temps (actually almost forgot about it) and the temp took a dive during the eclipse. Most of us thought it felt cooler as totality came and went. I’ve updated this post to now include the graph. The temperature changes were different – partial eclipse around 1.5°C versus the total eclipse at 3.2°C. Literal cool beans! 😉
tldr: Total Eclipse, absolutely amazing. It was an emotional experience. 🙂
After Lucy died in October, Linus and I spent a lot of together time. We became addicted to watching Star Trek spin-offs and Bewitched DVDs. But then one of my coworkers mentioned to me that there was a sweet little kitty who kept visiting her home. But the two outdoor cats didn’t like her, and her Grandma said there were already too many indoor cats (there were four between my coworker and her Grandma). So my friend was looking for someone who might be able to take care of Reesie. She thought of me.
We agreed to have Reesie and Linus meet up at her Grandma’s garage on Friday, November 3rd. I brought Linus in his harness, and just on the off-chance that they liked each other enough, I brought one of my cat crates.
As soon as Linus came into the garage, Reesie immediately ran over to him and wanted to meet him. It was love at first sight for Reesie. She thought he was the best cat EVER! (She’s not wrong, you know.) My friend coaxed Reesie into the crate and we took her home for a week’s trial.
As I said, Reesie LOVED Linus. But Linus was more or less indifferent to her. So I was a bit worried that her attention might be stressful to him. I made sure to have some alone time with Linus. We’ve taken to sleeping with just the two of us and he can have his Chunky Chicken Entree without her bothering him. (That does mean I feel sorry for Reesie out in the rest of the house alone. But she seems to be OK with it now. Especially as she gets to join me in bed when Linus wakes me up to leave the room in the middle of the night.)
Over Christmas Break, Reesie went in for her neutering. She came out with a Cone of Shame which amused Linus and did not amuse Reesie. However, during her two week recovery time, she and I bonded a lot. Reesie became my TV watching buddy (as Linus avoided her during this time because (a) Cone of Shame and (b) she was getting stinky not being able to groom her backside because of (a)).
Two weeks after the surgery, she was free of the cone and the klingons which had been stuck to her fluffy butt. She was THRILLED to be able to groom herself again. And Linus returned to his indifference. She still thought he was the BEST KITTY EVER and still enjoyed TV time with Trina. (She’s sitting on the desk to the left of me right now and watching me as I type this up.)
As the weeks have gone on, Reesie and Linus have become friends and not just UberFan and BestKittyEver. It’s now Big Brother and Annoying Little Sister. Linus still has patience issues with her and I’ve not been successful at getting everyone in the comfy chair together (though we had about an hour this morning when all three of us were kitten piled in the bed). But there are more times than not that I’ve found the pair curled up together in the window seat or the comfy chair or the bed.
So, welcome to our home, Reesie! I’m sorry I was late on this update, but I’ve not been in the mood to (a) look for photos and (b) write up a post about Reesie. Today the stars aligned such that I could do so!
My little girl kitty, aged 17, has died. She was the BEST kitty, as the title of this entry says. I miss her already. I think Linus (her brother, also 17) misses her some as well.
Last Tuesday, she seemed her normal self. Sure, she was old and she had kidney disease. But she was eating and drinking and cuddling like normal. But on Wednesday morning, I couldn’t find her in the morning. She didn’t come out for her crunchy food (which I had to feed to her away from Linus since he can’t eat crunchy food, but doesn’t KNOW he can’t) and wasn’t in her normal morning spots. But just before I left for work, she came out from hiding, but didn’t seem interested in her crunchies.
Wednesday after work, I looked around for her and finally found her hiding under the bed. We sat on the bed and she ate a couple of generic brand churus (the pureed meat in a tube that’s very popular with cats, mine included) and then drank some water. But she was walking funny, like her back legs weren’t working right, and she toppled over a few times. It was after the vet hours when I observed these symptons, so I sent an email to Miami Acres Animal Hospital to see if I could get her in on Friday (they close early on Thursdays).
Thursday morning, she wasn’t under the bed where I could get to her, so I went to work without seeing her. While I at work, I checked my personal email and found a response from Miami Acres – they actually had some openings for the morning. I checked with my principal and he said I could head out if I found someone to look after my physics class, which I did. It was 4th period and I had no students then, so I walked home get my car, and decided I’d also get Lucy. I found her easily and put her in a little basket she likes sitting in. And I put Linus’ harness & leash on her. I set her in the back of my classroom away from any kids who were allergic (good thing too, one of my physics students said he was). Lucy got up and left the basket once I started explaining to the kids what I wanted them to do once I left. The kids who wanted to pet Lucy were able to do so, then we headed off.
Dr Johnston gave her some subcutaneous fluid, a B-vitamin shot and a shot to help her appetite. He was a little more optimistic than I had been when I came, and I appreciated his positivity and how much he cares for our pets. I got Lucy back home and I returned to school. After school, I couldn’t find Lucy, and assumed she was deep in the bowels under the bed. But as I was working in the den, I kept hearing a rustling, like she was on the cot that’s currently folded up in its bag on the other side of the den. I’d look over and wouldn’t see her and I knew Linus was sleeping on the sofa in the living room. Finally, I heard more rustling and looked over to see Lucy coming out from behind the monitors I have at the other end of my room-length work table. So we cuddled while I worked on my PC. That evening Lucy and I did a lot more cuddling (but I also had some quality cuddling time with Linus, too.) But Lucy still wasn’t all that interested in food or drink. And her back legs seemed even more useless.
Friday was Fall Fair at school, so my plan was to drive to work, pop back home during the day to check on Lucy, and spend most of the evening at the school. But when I did return home, I found Lucy lying in a puddled of her own pee (she was, thankfully, lying on some crumpled up paper, which kept the puddle from spreading more). I got a towel and wrapped her in it and called the vet. Unfortunately, Dr. Johnston was still at lunch, but his attendant said she’d give him the message. Lucy’s back legs at this point were useless, but she managed to crawl to where she wanted to go.
After school, I set up the booth that our Drama Club was going to have for the Fall Fair (we had Disney’s Frozen scavenger hunt for kids to do) and once things were ready there, I called the vet back. Sadly, the next option was euthanasia. Once Tiffany, my co-director, arrived at the Fair, I headed back to check on Lucy. She had managed to get herself onto the comfy chair, so we sat together in the chair for awhile and I cried. I talked more with the vet attendant about the next step and scheduled an appointment for Monday.
I did feel guilty for leaving Tiffany alone to look after the booth, so I did return, visited all of the other booths and spent some money. Then with Tiffany’s blessing, I got my pork dinner and returned home. So then Lucy and I cuddled more, and eventually all three of us were on the sofa and binging Star Trek: Discovery.
Friday night, I placed Lucy on her side of the bed (Linus always sleeps curled up next to me, but Lucy would either sleep on her side of the bed, or in colder months, on top of me). But at some point in the night I heard her plop down on the floor and drag herself somewhere. I found her the next morning in the den in her box (toothly decorated by both kitties, but mostly Lucy), sleeping. I had breakfast and cleaned the kitchen and got everything ready for as much cuddling as we could do in the comfy chair in the library. Then I carefully got her from the box and we cuddled. I could tell this was going to be her last day with us.
After a couple of hours of cuddling and, for me, crying, the spark that was Lucy left her body. I probably held her for awhile after, but eventually I put her back in her box. I found Linus and showed her to him, but after a sniff and a look, he wasn’t interested and hopped away. (My morbid humor pictured him saying “She is dead to me!” as he hopped away.)
My parents, who are wonderful folks, had offered to get groceries for me on Saturday so I could spend as much time with Lucy as possible. But Lucy, who thankfully took the decision on whether to euthanize or not, died before they headed out. So I decided to get out of the house some, see the folks and get groceries. I transferred Lucy’s box to the garage and went to Troy. That night, Linus and I binged more Star Trek: Discovery.
My sister, who is also wonderful, had talked with me after Lucy died (after Linus and I did some cuddling), and had offered to help me dig a grave for Lucy in my garden. So on Sunday, she and I donned jackets, gloves, and grungy clothes to dig a hole for the shoe box that Lucy’s vessel that held her spark (as I described it on the box) was in. I managed to pick the worst spot in my garden to dig, apparently. But we cut down lots of roots (both pokeweed and cedar shrub) while we dug the hole and eventually we had the box buried. We said some words of hope for future plants and critters to get nourishment from the body and comments on how Lucy was a sweet kitty. Amy had brought a mini pie from Madeleine (her girlfriend, who is Salty Lark Pies) and I gave Amy some chili soup which I started that morning.
Linus and I spent most of the rest of the day together, either cuddling or sitting side-by-side on the sofa (binging, as you might guess, Star Trek: Discovery.)
Lucy, my beautiful, sweet, bundle of joy – you were loved, you will be remembered, and you gave me so much love. I will miss you!
My sister and I were able to take a hike at Glen Helen Nature Preserve on Thanksgiving afternoon.
