Got to sit down for a bit

So I am washing a full load of dishes. There are maybe three things that couldn't go into the dishwasher because they're plastic, but otherwise they'll be done soon. I cleaned the toilet, screwed the seat back on with a penny (nickels work best, but pennies will do in a pinch), and then sprayed down the tub and shower with Kaboom! cleaner with Oxi-Clean. I prefer natural cleaners, but my tub is really bad with soap scum and mildew if I don't use something strong. If you know of a good alternative, let me know. I've scrubbed it down as best as I can (the whole thing needs resurfacing and recaulking, really). I've inhaled a bit too much cleaner and I'm breathing kind of hard, so I'm going to sit for awhile.

While going through pictures for the Throwback Thursday post the other day, I came across the following pictures of my dearly-departed animals: I miss them so much. Somehow, the goldfish and betta just don't give the same love and loyalty.  In addition, there is a video on YouTube posted by my ex-husband in memory of his cat, who was the sister of my Spock, and many of the pictures and videos show Spock as a young cat.  I'll go ahead and link to it, here, if you're interested.  It may make my ex a little unhappy, as we don't have anything to do with one another, but frankly, I shot some of that video and took some of the pictures, so I feel justified in linking to it.  I have to admit, watching Spock (and his sister) chase the flash light (he loved that) made me cry when I watched it.  When we divorced, I was forced to find a cat for Spock, who was inconsolable without his sister and rode around on my shoulder when I was home and howled constantly when I wasn't, according to my friend, who lived upstairs. Enter Buns, who was about six months old.  They became pretty chummy.

Buns was a male with a rare agouti coat; normally that's a female thing.  Cerys came to me via the Lexington Humane Society when she was eight months old.  She was a most loving and wonderful dog; I'm not sure I could have been more blessed.  She isn't a puppy in this picture--she was full grown, 35 lbs of Black Lab mix. If I could have cloned her I could have made millions.  Darius came up to me when he was about a year old, and I let him in. We realised later that he was my friend's cat's litter mate who had gotten out as a kitten.  Like his brother, who loved 'his' dog, mine adored Cerys and took every opportunity to lie next to her, or on her, whenever possible.  He was a ghost cat, otherwise, and disappeared when people were over.  But the last couple of years of his life he became more friendly and even a sort of lap cat.  Still, I'm glad he went before Cerys, as she was long-suffering on the point, but he would have been devastated.

Buns died first, at age 13. I had to put him down after a cancer caused horrible sores that would bleed and never heal.  My old vet kept telling me it was allergies, but I'm pretty sure that it was not.  Nothing we tried helped, and he was suffering, so I put him down.  Spock died in my arms of congestive heart failure at 17, naturally, one night after being pretty healthy up to that point. As he'd gotten older, his spot that looked like the Star Trek symbol, which had inspired his name (pointed ears, get it?) had faded to nothing.  He had one green eye and one blue one, was dumb as a rock, and the sweetest cat I ever seen.  Darius had intestinal issues that finally led me to have to put him down at age 15.  Cerys...oh, sweet Cerys.  She was 16 and had been having some possible dementia and other issues, and I came home one night and found her in the bathroom unable to get up, lying in her own excrement and confused.  I cleaned her up, carried her throughout the rest of the weekend, took her to my friends' and she lay in a little hole in the ground dug by one of their dogs.  The other dogs would not go near her, not ever her little friend.  First thing Monday I took her in and had her put down.  The vet agreed with me that she'd had a stroke, and perhaps had been having a series of them.  She could barely walk, if at all.  It was time.   But it's so hard.  I love animals, and loved having mine, but they are a lot of work as they age, and I'm just not ready for anything beyond the fish, even with all the benefits. Sometimes I think of getting a kitten, and then think better of it.  In the meantime, I am an auntie to other animals, and that works pretty well.  But I still miss these guys.

Buns (1991-2004)

Cerys (1991-2007)

Darius (1991-2006)

Spock (1988-2005)

Buns and Spock together

There was one more animal I'd had as an adult, other than the hamsters we raised before we got the cats.  He was a beagle or beagle/basset cross named Basil, whom I found while walking Cerys one day, and whom I finally found a home for a couple of years later.  He never really fit into the family, was really bad about housebreaking accidents, and neither YKWIA or Cerys liked him.  I finally found a family to take him who probably still curse me for it, but I hope he had a happy rest of his life.

Okay, enough nostalgia.  My posts have mostly been about sad things today, even though I haven't been particularly sad.  Funny how that goes sometimes.