Sweetpea Manor Musings

Thanksgiving is almost here. People talk about the holiday, commercials are full of turkeys. I'm actually not that fond of turkey but enjoy all the trimmings. For the last 14 years, we enjoyed doing the turkey thing because Reggie loved turkey. We'd start off by showing him the bird when it was out the wrapper. He'd get all excited and snif, snif, snif all of it. As the smell would start to waft out of the kitchen as it cooked, he'd come lay in on the kitchen floor and avidly watch the goings on, chirping frequently. After awhile, the waiting would be too much and he'd have to go out or lay down.

When the plates were divvied up, he was always served first and he would actually get a serving larger than any of the humans. Purring, he'd settle down with such enjoyment to his meal. Stuffed, he'd go pass out on one of the beds, only to surface for seconds about 4 hours later.

Well, there's no Reggie this year. I've been sad and thinking a lot about him of late. Monday morning I felt the bed shake like it would when he'd jump on it. Scooter was laying on the bed but he's so light, the bed doesn't actually react to him jumping on it so I thought, hmmm...maybe?

This morning I heard the nasalness of a kitty's heavy breathing while they are deep asleep. I looked over and Scooter was there, but he was breathing at much faster rate. I wondered whether Brindle had decided to sleep under the bed or something. I decided to read my book some before I got up. Mom came to the back of the house so I called her in to ask about where Brindle was. Turns out he was outside. She lay on the bed and I told her what I'd heard and we chatted about Reg and how wonderful he was. After a few minutes the heavy breathing started up again, and she heard it too.

So, I think he is still hanging around. It's been over six months now and I still feel devastated about not being there for him when he was euthanized. It seemed nearly unforgivable to fail him at that last moment of his life. I know; 14 years of loving devotion to him--could failing him in that one instance negate all the rest? I felt it did. And I felt he left this world feeling that, too. But now, to feel the bed shake, to hear the breathing of a deep asleep cat where there is none, I feel better.

I'm hoping the other two cats can get into the spirit of things on Thursday.

I'm back and I had lots of fun.

( Read more... )

Yeah, that sums it up for today. Sniffling, reminiscing, listening for the click of his claws on the floor. I went through my photo files and put all the cat photos in their own folder to keep them safe (and backed up.)

I went to local fannish meeting to pick up a check from K to pay for what she ordered at MWC and to see if there was any news about a ill member of the group. I bought a Get Well card and had everyone sign it and felt anxious about her condition. I'm one of those people that gets an upset stomach if I'm stressed and it's been churning for days now (I've been dreading that vet visit all week.) I dread going to work tonight but maybe if I don't mention Reg I can keep from tearing up. I'll be in the NICU and it's a small closed unit so maybe it won't be so bad.

A florist came by today and delivered a large plant. It's from the vets and the card said it was from the staff and that they would all miss him. Reg was well known there. The plant was very nice of them.

Since I work tomorrow, I took Mom to her favorite restaurant, Hometown Buffet for Mother's Day, but even that was bittersweet. In the past, we'd take an empty zip lock bag and slip an assortment of meats in there to smuggle home for Reggie. He was a bit of a chow hound and whenever we were out shopping or whatnot, he'd demand to sniff the bags coming into the house to see if we'd brought him anything good. How do I love thee, let me count the ways: 1)I scratch your ears, 2) I rub your back, 3) I smuggle food out of restaurants for you just to see the delight in your eyes....

It seems self indulgent to wallow in my sadness. While this is a lj of a fan, but it is also my journal and if I felt it was important to me to record how this day went. It's not an excuse, just a statement.

Again, I want to thank all of you that attempted to comfort me with kind words of sympathy. They were all deeply appreciated. You are good folks. :)

This one is because *some* people have a hard time believing that Reggie has lost weight!
( Read more... )

First off, this is a cute vid snippet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsDvmQROMHQ&NR=1
It's Sea Lion Irish Dance Contest.

And you did go look at the vid that had the dog weightless in the airplane?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SN77b9DqEbc

Brindle is back in the washroom sink. Perky and alert, we see his curious orange eyes enticing us to come visit him each time we walk by. He has the squeeky purr thing goin on. :)

Reg had a glucose curve done yesterday at the vets. He came back with the scent of rather expensive perfume in his fur, and the young tech that brought him out gushed over what a sweet cat he is. Don't we know it. Apparently his blood sugar is still on the high side so now we will give him 2 units of insulin in the morning and just the one unit at night, and recheck him in a couple of weeks. What we see is a cat that is grooming himself again and he's more active. He's snoring louder though. Odd.

On the news, Sunshine Mills is recalling dog biscuits for the melamine poisoning. They sell under their own name and under Walmart and Kmart brands. And Menu foods is pushing back their recall to products canned in Novemeber of 2006.

Okay, I bounced to Yosemite last week, bounced home. Today, I'm bouncing up to Vancouver for a week for a Stargate con. Now, I KNOW I'm gonna get some cold and rain up there! (We've skipped winter here in Southern California this year, so I can get excited about wet stuff falling from the sky.)

On the home front, we took Sweet Reg to the vets when we got home from Yosemite for subtle things don't seem quite right (you know, the hospital biz we actually have a diagnosis of a FLK, or Funny Looking Kid. You know something's off, but you just can't figure out what it is as yet.)

ANYWAY, Sweet Reg IS sweet. Too sweet. He's diabetic now. His blood sugar was 434 (should be under 170.) Yesterday, he had a glucose curve done and now Reg gets 1 unit of insulin twice a day. And now, he is much more lively, demanding, purry, loving. Poor thing must have been feeling quite icky.

Lastly, because I can't miss stuff, I sort of watched the last ep of SG1 last night. Since my friends are all big Daniel fans (me, too) I felt I needed to know what the D/V stuff was like, so I ff just to those scenes. *g* Yeah, yeah, I'm a horrible fan! But I can live with this compromise.

Okay, okay! The dryer went off! And I need to pack and leave in an hour!

See you next week!