Naturally Optimistic

 Beavis - May 1995 - December 11, 2011 Beavis - taken about a week before his death. My heart is heavy this week as I had to say good bye to one of my long-time friends and constant companions. Beavis (Bociefus, aka "Tan Man") ended his journey with us on Sunday afternoon. After going downhill quickly in the past few months, there was nothing we could do for him. It was excruciating. He started really deteriorating quickly on Friday (he was already down to about 5lbs from his normal 12) and we were pretty sure the end was near...but he hung on. He wanted to be with us, he seemed to still like being petted, but by Saturday afternoon he pretty much stopped doing too much. It became hard for him to walk, his eyes began to look glazed, his spunk was definitely gone. Early December 2011 Saturday night he could no longer walk. He tried. In fact he went into the back room on his own power & we were sure that was it. But it wasn't. It was heartbreaking. We didn...

I'm so behind on all this blogging. Ay yi yi - I have completely neglected to mention that our new family member has arrived! Meet Juno! I have yet to get a decent photo of her. She's a spaz and is always running all over the place. She's a Siamese and she's about 9 weeks old. We got her from a crazy farm far away in the boondocks. Sheesh! She is super playful and sweet and much nicer to hold now that we clipped her nails (by 'we' I mean Steve). Dahlia loves to play with her which is awesome. Give the girl a cat toy and she can entertain the kitten for quite some time. They chase after balls together which is funny. Juno likes to jump on the pages of magazines that Dahlia is looking through. Dahlia doesn't like that too much. Beavis is warming up to the idea of her. She always wants to play with him and he is mostly like, "whatever" but I think soon they'll be tearing around. One night he was trying to get her to chase him (he likes to be the p...

Jason's cat Bob is very sick. He was lethargic yesterday; Jason couldn't get him out from under his bed (Jason had a friend stay visiting whom Bob DOES NOT LIKE - so it's not unusual for him to hide) and when he did poor Bob peed all over the floor. Jason was up with him all night - said his breath was "hitching" and he would just lay on the floor looking sad. Wouldn't eat. Wouldn't drink. Wouldn't sleep. Jason took him to the vet this morning and the prognosis is not good. Initially the vet thought maybe a sudden onset of asthma but after several tests, they find out it's his heart. Poor Bob. This kitty is HUGE and so friendly and so vocal and just a great cat. I am very sad for Jason because if it is a heart condition or disease, well, there's really nothing that can be done. Please send any extra good vibes your way to Bob & Jason today. :( (ps- Bob is only 6 years old!) UPDATE - Wednesday, 8am It's not Bob's heart, possibly pneu...

Our beautiful & sweet furry friend Iko passed away at 12:50am on Tuesday, July 10th. It was very very heartbreaking. Both Steve & I knew that his passing was imminent on Monday night. Iko's breathing had become labored, he was more lethargic than he had been and he just didn't look "right." We sat with him for hours in the kitchen - us on the floor, he on his little blanket which had become his "spot" as of late. We told him how sweet of a kitty he is and how much we loved him and we petted him and tried to make him comfortable when it seemed he was not. I went to bed shortly after midnight and Steve remained in the kitchen with Iko. At 12:50 Steve yelled up to me that Iko had died. I hurried downstairs to be with them both...Iko was still moving (reflexes?) when I got there. We covered him up and after crying and hugging and talking about him for a while we made him a bed in a box and put him inside. Yesterday we drove to Restlawn Pet Cemetary where...

Relatively speaking, today is going better than the past few days have gone. We again didn't get up as early as we were going to to go for a hike, but we did go for a hike w/Steve's Mom & her SO Roger. We hiked from Beck's Road in Duluth (waaaaaaay west) to the Magney-Snively Ski Area parking lot. 4.3 miles according to the map, 4.8 according to my pedometer. It was HOT and steep but we made it. I think I lost all the water weight I could've possibly had. It took WAY longer than anticipated, however, and I was late in picking up Miss M to go see a play this afternoon. I called her Mom from the trail (yay! when technology works!) and she agreed to bring her up to UMD for me since I was running behind. I got there AFTER the show started (timewise) but Miss M wasn't there yet to I guess that worked out okay. We hurriedly bought tickets and were ushered into the heavenly cold a/c theater. The show was A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF FROG AND TOAD (or w/Frog & Toad...somet...

Today is not good. A day of utter despair and crying-jag-littered emotional messiness. Iko gets worse and worse. We thought he was doing better but now? No eating, very very little water. Mostly sleeping/resting on our bed. It's like waiting for a clock to stop ticking. I am sad for that and other reasons...reasons that I wont' go into but are probably mostly constructed in my head and of things including (but not limited to) family, family visits, business, business partners, house/home, price of gas, NO ONE to talk to during the day amongst other things. *sigh* I'm ready to hit "start over" on today. (but only if the results were much, much different).

Even though Michelle moved to "the cities" a while back, her kitties remain in Duluth with her folks. Her folks are currently in New Jersey so she asked if I could look after them. Meet Minerva: and Albus: I think they are generally appreciative when I stop over and give them some love & attention, refill their food and water and of course scoop the poop (they poop A LOT!). I discovered the other day that they love to play, particularly with Beavis's laser pointer. We've been having fun. :)

A couple of updates.... Iko had pepped up to a degree a few days after my post about him. We could get him to eat his medicine if it was mixed in a tasty soft food (!). He was more vocal, wandered around the house more and seemed to be sleeping less. He went outside, greeted Steve at the door when he came home, etc. However, last night he didn't finish his food/medicine and this morning Steve couldn't get him to eat at all (I was out of town at a wedding). I tried to get him to eat when I got home (for some reason I sometimes have better luck) but no go. I did give him some water from the shower (his preferred "drinking fountain") but he just isn't interested AT ALL in the food. I'm very scared. My sister had a doctor's appointment on Friday and the contractions haven't stopped. She is not on STRICT bedrest and can only get up to use the bathroom and to shower (in 7 minutes or less). I've talked to her a few times and so far she's not too bored...

Firstly - I heard from my folks last night that my sister and the babies had a little scare yesterday. While in for her regular check-up (25 1/2 weeks, for those of you who are counting), they put her on the contraction monitoring device to find that she was having contractions - every six minutes! They sent her to the hospital, called my brother-in-law (who got the message "Your wife's in the hospital having contractions every 6 minutes, come quickly" - no I'm sure he didn't FREAK OUT) and finally was able to stop the contractions with use of drugs. Needless to say this incident has now put my entire family on pins and needles. I can't imagine what Kathy & Jay are feeling. 32 weeks is the goal, 36 weeks would be ideal. These babies aren't done baking yet!! Hopefully they will settle down now for a little longer. They went home last night and everything was okay. Please keep them in your thoughts & prayers. Secondly - Iko. Iko has lost over a pou...

Beavis enjoying the nice sunshine through the kitchen window. Steve's Easter basket filled with coffee & chocolates. Our Easter hike - FULL of snow! The quiet woods (once the snowmobiles left).