The pace of life has been revved up of late and I'm thinking at the moment how nice it would be to stay in bed late this morning, reading my book, watching the sun come up, and writing some in my much neglected blog. It was sad to put my oldest cat to sleep, but his time had come. It's always emotional staying with them while the doctor administers the first shot (anesthesia), then the last shot. Ralph's primary vet did such a good job of treating his early onset of kidney disease that I wanted him to be the one to euthanize Ralph. He's the only vet I've ever worked with who injects the second, fatal shot directly into the heart. The first time he did this, even though he warned me beforehand, was quite a shock--he kind of stabbed Adam in the heart with the syringe in his fist, then pushed the top of the syringe with his thumb to inject the lethal dosage. Actually, the image rather haunted me for quite some time. I just wasn't accustomed to seeing it done that way. With Ralph, even though he followed the same procedure, he did it more gently than with Adam, and it just didn't bother me like it did the first time. I know that with sick animals it can be quite an ordeal finding a vein, and if they are totally anesthetized, the driving of the needle directly into the heart is painless and death is instantaneous. Still, it strikes me as somewhat unorthodox, which is okay. We laid him out on the bed in the guest room for the other cats to see, and to prepare his grave in the backyard. In the meantime, we purchased a toolbox at Home Depot to serve as a casket, which we wrap repeatedly in wire to prevent animals from ever being able to dig up the body. We stopped at HEB and got our flu vaccinations. Then we buried Ralph. Dale and I openly cried. It had rained heavily the day before and the digging was easy. He is the fifth cat to be buried in our cat cemetery.
The next morning, I woke up with a very sick feeling in my stomach, which got worse throughout the day. No fever, no nausea, no diarrhea, just pain in the stomach and weakness, which lasted a couple of days. I repeatedly went over everything I had done and eaten and came up with nothing. Was I that stressed about Ralph? A couple of days later I attended a yoga class in Wimberley and the teacher said she had experienced the same stomach bug and so had many others. Why I'm always thinking I've done something "wrong" when I get sick is a testament to a lack of acceptance that things often just happen for no discernible reason. Why I felt compelled to throw out my homemade Kombucha, to wonder if I was suddenly allergic to flu shots, and on and on, is where I put too much of my energy. After a quick recovery, I took Pepe to his vet in Round Rock to see what we needed to do regarding his allergy shots, then I got a complete eye exam, ordered new glasses, picked them up a week later, had a 90 minutes massage with a trainee (thank you Brooke!), did a power yoga class and sweated profusely, then went to Peggy's Monday afternoon yoga class.
Our new cat, Greyson, is quite the character and spent the night with me for the first time last night--I put all the other cats in the sun room and was surprised at how well behaved he was on his first night alone in my section of the house. He's a born acrobat, and I need to take some video of him jumping way up off the ground and turning around completely in mid-air. I've never seen a cat do this. I've got to teach him that he cannot continue destroying roll after roll of toilet paper. He's so beautiful, with distinctly dark stripes contrasted with grey ones, exceptionally large paws, an extra long fluffy tail, and a gentle confidence that makes him appear to be smiling when he looks you directly in the eyes.
We downloaded our "docs" from Holland America and are all set to be gone for 26 days, except that the cat sitter who has taken care of our cats for years has moved on to another job, so I need to interview someone new and make a selection. We've rented an apartment in Barcelona, then on to Sitges, then to another rented apartment in Dubrovnik, then board the Nieuw Amsterdam in Barcelona for a seven day cruise around the Mediterranean--visiting places in Spain, Portugal, Madeira, then an Atlantic crossing to Fort Lauderdale.
I can feel the warmth of the sun coming through the window. I can still feel fall in the air. I think the burning ban has been temporarily lifted so we may burn more brush today. There is always so much to do outdoors. But for now, I'm just going to close my eyes and feel the sun.
The next morning, I woke up with a very sick feeling in my stomach, which got worse throughout the day. No fever, no nausea, no diarrhea, just pain in the stomach and weakness, which lasted a couple of days. I repeatedly went over everything I had done and eaten and came up with nothing. Was I that stressed about Ralph? A couple of days later I attended a yoga class in Wimberley and the teacher said she had experienced the same stomach bug and so had many others. Why I'm always thinking I've done something "wrong" when I get sick is a testament to a lack of acceptance that things often just happen for no discernible reason. Why I felt compelled to throw out my homemade Kombucha, to wonder if I was suddenly allergic to flu shots, and on and on, is where I put too much of my energy. After a quick recovery, I took Pepe to his vet in Round Rock to see what we needed to do regarding his allergy shots, then I got a complete eye exam, ordered new glasses, picked them up a week later, had a 90 minutes massage with a trainee (thank you Brooke!), did a power yoga class and sweated profusely, then went to Peggy's Monday afternoon yoga class.
Our new cat, Greyson, is quite the character and spent the night with me for the first time last night--I put all the other cats in the sun room and was surprised at how well behaved he was on his first night alone in my section of the house. He's a born acrobat, and I need to take some video of him jumping way up off the ground and turning around completely in mid-air. I've never seen a cat do this. I've got to teach him that he cannot continue destroying roll after roll of toilet paper. He's so beautiful, with distinctly dark stripes contrasted with grey ones, exceptionally large paws, an extra long fluffy tail, and a gentle confidence that makes him appear to be smiling when he looks you directly in the eyes.
We downloaded our "docs" from Holland America and are all set to be gone for 26 days, except that the cat sitter who has taken care of our cats for years has moved on to another job, so I need to interview someone new and make a selection. We've rented an apartment in Barcelona, then on to Sitges, then to another rented apartment in Dubrovnik, then board the Nieuw Amsterdam in Barcelona for a seven day cruise around the Mediterranean--visiting places in Spain, Portugal, Madeira, then an Atlantic crossing to Fort Lauderdale.
