A busy week..and a crazy wonderful heartbreaking life...

The last pictures of my sweet old baby boy...he has wasted away to nothing and got to where he could no longer hold himself up. He was only halfway okay if he was being held by one of us. We loved him until the bitter[sweet] end, and took him to the vet on Thursday to be euthanized.  The people at our vet's office are so sweet and compassionate and they let me hold him until the very last breath seeped out. And I cried all the way there, all the time I was there and all the way home. (And of course, I'm crying now...)  There's a big hole in our little family. He was here for over 7 years...maybe more.


 When I got home, I busied myself with housework and tried to not just sit around and cry.  I worked for several hours like a madwoman. At about 4 o'clock I walked down the drive to the mailbox and there was a young yellow kitten walking up the middle of the road crying. This road:

 I approached her and she didn't run off and so I picked her up. She was frail, starved and so happy to be picked up--she snuggled right into my neck.  I asked her if PoPo had sent her...but she wouldn't say. I brought her in the house and looked her over and fed her.  Something had gotten ahold of her, she had a chunk of meat out of her groin/belly area. I put some neosporin on it and she moved right in. She wasn't afraid of the dogs--more afraid of the cats, actually.  So, whoever dumped her out here must have had dogs. She settled right in and seemed to be fine.

The next morning I had to go back to the vet and pick up Paco, who had been neutered.  I asked them about some wormer for this kitten and they gave me a small syringe with .5 ml of wormer in it. I had seen the roundworms in her stool and am kind of an old hat at this stuff.  We gave her the stuff...and within about 6 hours she started acting strange and crying pitifully. She was of course having some diarrhea , but wasn't interested in food. She acted like she could barely walk.  She was crying piteously. It was horrible...and I wrapped her in a towel and put her in a cat carrier, thinking that maybe I needed to get her away from the other cats.  I started googling symptoms and trying to decide if I should take her to the emergency animal hospital...I called them and they said sometimes cats have reactions to the wormer. They said if I thought she couldn't wait to bring her in. If she could wait until morning, the emergency fee would drop by 50 dollars. (One of my friends offered to pay the vet bills if I would care for her. 2 other friends offered me $$ to help pay for the vet bill. How blessed am I ?)   The Irishman had been out of town for 2 days and was due back any minute. I tried to decide whether to wait for him or just go ?  I decided I would check on her again and just take her. I went to the back room where I had put the carrier...and she was dead.  I was shocked, to say the least. From the time she started showing the strange symptoms to death was only like 3 hours !  When the Irishman walked in the door, I fell in his arms crying. 

 It was like she just came here to be loved a little and die.

  I'm just getting too old for this.

So...we loved and we lost.  And isn't that just life ?  And our little homestead is back to 4 cats and 3 dogs, as Sir Paco has decided we aren't such a bad family and is going to stick around.  He's been sleeping in the house with the cooler weather and  I'm glad.


And for some good news....I have been sitting on this for a few weeks waiting for all the ducks to line up and the final decisions to be made...and as of yesterday I am officially a member of the Mother Earth News blogging family.  I got the official (lol) letter of acceptance after emails back and forth and filling out their application and bio/history, and submitting a sample post.  I am VERY excited to be doing this, as I have been an off and on subscriber to this magazine since it came out in the early 70's.   A woman sent him one of my posts from Dragon Woman's Kitchen, he loved it, and invited me to apply to be a blogger. I will write a blog post every 2 weeks. I don't really know all the details yet, but am honored to be a part of it all.  I feel like I died and went to old hippie heaven.  lol

 Our family has 2 new babies coming--brothers having babies--and I attended a baby shower last Sunday. It was fun and so good to see the happy mom and pop. It seems so strange that all my little babies are having babies...

  I got to meet up with a woman I am friends with on a homesteading site today...a lovely woman who cooked me a delectable Moroccan meal  and we talked and talked for hours.  She only lives about and hour or so from me. What fun !!!!    I already felt like we were friends, but now I REALLY feel like we are friends ! lol

  I am heading for bed because I have another early morning tomorrow...attending a Permaculture/Hegelkulter  workshop that starts at 8:30 AM.  After that I am picking up about 10 pounds (or is it 5 ??)  of spearmint and a butt load of pumpkin seeds.  My sister is in town from Florida and I thought we were getting together, but she only has a small space when she can pencil me in and that is not working with the workshop I'm attending. So...I probably won't be seeing her. Apparently the past couple of days she has been here and is about 12 miles from me. You all know this story....grrrrrr.... I knew she was coming, but didn't know details...she texted me this afternoon...I just keep repeating the Serenity Prayer...over and over...."God, Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I CAN, and the wisdom to know the difference."   People and their priorities...shaking my head...

 
  Sending love and light to all of you....




Namaste.