Category: Blog

September was hard.

We lived with the quiet for a little while, until catching a dark shadow out of the corner of our eye and finding it to be .. just a shadow became intolerable.

We reached out to the rescue society who brought us Shamus and Bongo so many years ago.  They had two kittens we chose and got (extremely rapidly), Atlas and Ophelia.

They had a rough start as well, with stomach issues that persisted for .. longer than we wanted.  We managed to work through them just in time for their spay/neuter appointments, so really, it was sometime in november before things stopped being completely insane.

Bundles of joy, that’s what they are.  Atlas is a gentle giant, and at 8 months old is bigger than Shamus was at full growth, and I suspect he has some more growing to do.  His sister Ophelia is much smaller, she was the runt.  She makes up for it with a very dominant personality.

Her favorite position is ‘tree branch’, where she’s draped across one of my arms as I pack her around.  I’ve somehow managed to become her favorite (I’m not complaining), just as Atlas has chosen Christina.

We also had a number of tasks pop up in rapid succession this winter.

Our washer started acting up, so we replaced both washer and dryer.  (The dryer ended up needing service as it was installed off center and was knocking, but that ended up working out)

We replaced our hot water tank.  The old one was showing some rust in places that made us uncomfortable.  The new one installed relatively easily.  It’s much bigger.  We haven’t run out of hot water since.  The installation job was ugly however, and we received no satisfaction from even the CEO of the company who did the work… we won’t be using them again.

We had the tree in our front yard trimmed.  Big heavy branches, and it was getting uncomfortably close to the power lines.  The tree trimmers did what they could, but it’s still a bit funky looking.  Not their fault.  Our timing was great as there have been several large windstorms since.

We finally got tired of our kitchen sink, with the rotting out countertop which made the faucet wiggle and impossible to tighten.  We had the countertop and sink replaced, the counter with quartz , and the double basin sink with a single (huge) basin.  That hit a little snag as well, some of the trim pieces didn’t ship out of Quebec in time for our install, so next week the work completes.  No complaints however, as the company doing this was amazingly responsive and the installers were the most professional I’ve seen.

We still have bathroom renovations pending.  A complete replacement downstairs, a new sink and shower in the main bath, and a new sink in the ensuite.  Crazy money, but I keep reminding myself we’ll only do this once more, so we may as well make it count.

After this we’ll only have a garage door to replace, a retaining wall to get rebuilt, and an ensuite bathtub to replace.  Those’ll be in the next 5 years or so.  Everything else is just maintenance – repairing a tap, getting the house professionally washed, etc.

I’m keeping ahead of some of the worst bits of winter.  I don’t think I’ll ever deal with it well, even with regular doses of vitamin d (which are helping).  How many years did I not realize this?  A lot of hard years that could’ve been easier.  They’re in the rear view now, can’t change them.

A year ago I noticed an old black cat was hanging around. It looked thin. Starved. I suspected it’d been abandoned.

I gave it a bowl of food, and the desperation with which it ate struck a chord with me. It took three full cereal bowls before it finally walked away. I resolved to feed it. One additional cat would hardly break the bank.

It took months before it stopped forcing down absolutely every scrap it was offered. Months before it started looking a bit less gaunt. It did improve though, and the frequency with which we saw it convinced me it really didn’t have a home.

We set up a few insulated pet houses outside, to keep the wind and rain off. Old black was joined by old grey, and the two of them would spend hours sleeping on the furniture outside, or wandering the yard.
Old black would come over anytime I came outside and loudly demand attention, usually in the form of scratches. Needle sharp claws presented if he was ignored for too long.

A few days ago I noticed old black wasn’t coming by for food. He was spending a lot of time sleeping, but I didn’t see him eating anything. Yesterday I didn’t see him at all — and that was weird, since this was essentially home base.

This morning I found him. Half out of one of the houses, and face down. Gone.

It’s obviously been a few hours, he’s cold. I’ve wrapped him in a soft towel, and again in plastic, and in a few hours I’ll take him to the vet for cremation.

It’s not the least I could do, but it is all I can offer. One final bit of dignity.

I haven’t said it in a while.

I appreciate the chance I’ve had to be a part of your lives. To peer in from the outside, to occasionally be invited in. To bear witness to your great moments.. and the ones that weren’t really so great after all.

I’m bad at socializing, and even worse at keeping in touch. That said, I value the moments we’ve shared, as friends, as acquaintances, as colleagues, and sometimes as opponents.

I firmly believe you’re all worth knowing (or you wouldn’t still be on my friends list). I believe I’m lucky to have met you. I hope the next time our paths cross, you’ll remember me fondly, or even just a little.

Thank you.

Now, that said, I had a friend ask if I had a terminal illness (or was otherwise abandoning facebook).  I realized at that point that yeah, it looks like that, as people don’t tend to say the things they feel most strongly until they’re almost out of time.

That’s not the case here, and I feel better for saying it now instead of waiting until that moment.