I’m going to try and keep this post as short as possible, but it will be difficult. Also, I am going to try my hardest not to make it depressing because let’s face it, this can be a sad time of the year for people anyway. Another year over, another year older, dreams dashed or wasted, but…there’s the promise of tomorrow for most of us and there ought to be a feeling of accomplishment for making it through another year on crazy planet Earth.
But some of us didn’t quite make it.
THE GOOD: my sweet and beloved cat, Chloe, who was all good, part Siamese (and for some reason part French) and who was smart, loyal, and absolutely devoted to me as I was to her. I’ve had her since she was a few weeks old and loved her for 19 years before having the unenviable task of having to put her to sleep (what a peaceful euphemism) two days before Christmas. I just picked up her ashes today in a beautiful black urn, with little silver paw prints carved into it. Her birthday would have been tomorrow.
Here she is as I think of her, looking bright-eyed and healthy. She is waiting her turn to eat behind her best buddy, Leo, who predeceased her by a year, and she’s keeping her back turned to the younger cats who knew better than to mess with my sleek panther:
She was my only lap kitty; actually, she was my shoulder kitty, and I’ve had many claw marks on my right shoulder over the decades to prove it as she hung on when I tried to remove her. Here she is, looking up at me one day from one of her favorite spots, my lap:
Farewell, dearest friend, my good little girl.
Now for THE BAD: my naughty newest family member, Perry. While I was busy on Christmas Day, my dog decided to get into the Christmas chocolate, managing to eat an entire Lindt Santa that he pilfered from a Christmas stocking and an entire Terry’s chocolate orange ball that he took off a shelf, got out of the cardboard, and then unwrapped from its foil. (I hadn’t had one in years and still haven’t!)
As I found out after a frantic call to the emergency vet hospital, this is too much chocolate for a 30-lb. dog. I ran around in a panic getting the supplies the vet said I needed: hydrogen peroxide and a turkey baster. Perry had started to throw up on his own, but then stopped and we could see it wasn’t nearly enough.
With the dog being held by my son and husband, I blew hydrogen peroxide down his throat using the baster. Yes, blew, because of course, the bulb section had been missing for a year or so. (Apparently, I don’t baste a lot.) “Oh, my eyes,” said my husband as I may have been overly enthusiastic with my blowing, but it did the trick. The dog lay down for a minute, looking shell-shocked, and then wanted to go out. On the deck and down the stairs to the back yard, he managed to unleash what I can only describe as a river of chocolate. Thank God!
Did he learn his lesson? Of course not! He was hunting outside the next morning for the frozen chocolate that I had shoveled away. Without further ado, Perry, both dry and wet (he loves to swim), and Perry with Chloe because she let him sit near her. The other young, foolish cats only run and hide::
Lastly, and I’ll be brief, THE UGLY: Coco Puff, or Skat-brain, as my father called her. She is “the ugly,” despite being cute becuase she pees where she shouldn’t, especially in gym bags and on clean laundry. She is a nightmare! I am not even going to look for a cute photo of her. Here she is (on the right) with Chloe.
So that was my Christmas holiday week. No new year’s resolutions for me, only goals and more dreams. My main goal is to ride my new exercise bike often and with great results, if it ever arrives. And as for dreams … well, I’ll just let you know at the end of next year if they came true.
Wishing you and yours a healthy, happy, and prosperous 2014!!
Sydney