Fare Thee Well My Shadow

It is with a heavy heart that I write this post. Ellie, my beloved Siamese cat, has passed over the Rainbow Bridge.

Ellie had been struggling with kidney and urinary tract issues since June 2014. She has been poked, prodded, x-rayed, ultra-sounded, and put on a very specific diet. On Sunday, she was lethargic and did not eat or drink. She stayed curled up on the chair the entire day.

I took her to the vet first thing Monday morning. Unfortunately her kidneys had shut down. This was a very fast progression. In 5 weeks she went from 5.6 pounds to a mere 4.3 pounds. Her kidney function numbers were off the charts.

I was not prepared to say goodbye. So the vet pumped her full of fluids and I took her home for one last night of love and cuddles. My daughter was able to stop by to also say goodbye. The other kitties knew she was sick. Sunni groomed her in front of the fireplace.

I put her warming disk in bed with me and we cuddled all night. Finally she gave me little purr.

At one point during the night, she crawled under the bed and wouldn’t come out. Miko kept watch over her until she came back to bed.

She was calm going to the vet. Although as I took her out of the car, she gave me a hefty Siamese yowl. I think she was saying goodbye. Her passing was gentle as I held her and purred to her.

Ellie was my shadow for 3 years and 1 month. She was always by my side or on my lap. Miko will also miss her intensely.

Ellie’s first mom, Alyssa, and I will miss this special petite chat.

Caturday – Knock Knock

Knock knock
Who’s there?
Miko
Miko who?
Me konna getcha!

Conspiracy Theory?

Today was a weird day. I had things to do. I think there was a conspiracy to stop me from doing those things. Here’s what happened.

The cats woke me up early by closing the bedroom door. And then they proceed to yell at me to let them out. So I have to get out of bed at 5:13 a.m. to open the darn door. Conspiracy event #1. This was my fault to begin with because I forgot to use the door stopper to prevent such a situation.

Isn’t that the cutest door stopper! Cat with mouse. Notice that the mouse has cat fur all over it. Thank you Miko, who tries to play with the cast iron mousie.

Saturday is my sleep-in day so already things were not going well. I went back to bed. I guess I must have been tired, because I didn’t get up until 11:00. Conspiracy event #2. Double-darn, the day is half over.

I got up and ate a bowl of cereal while making my grocery list. The plan was to make chicken parmigiana in the crockpot. Just as I finished eating, my friend S texts me wanting to meet for lunch. Conspiracy event #3. I just finished eating. But I had a quick errand to run and we agreed to meet for a snack.

I quickly got ready and left the house. I stopped at the mailbox to see if my new credit card was there. It was!! So I drove back home so I could activate it from my home phone. Guess the three-character security code on the back. Yup, 666. Conspiracy event #4.

I am now at the pet store to get Ellie’s prescription food. I didn’t see any on the shelf. Hunkered down, I spotted some way way at the back. Twisting, squirming, rearranging the other products, I pulled out the case. Rats – wrong flavor! I peered into the netherworld of the shelf and spotted a few loose cans. Performing various stretching exercises, I was able to pull out 10 cans of the correct flavor (chicken with vegetables, my favorite too).

Ten cans is only going to feed Ellie for three days. Fortunately, I flagged down an employee who checked to see if they had more. Maybe the conspiracy tide is turning because he brought out another 48 cans. Someone’s gonna be eating good tonight – and for a couple of weeks!

I tried out my new credit card — thank goodness it worked. Paid for food and hauled it out to the car. It was raining of course. Called my friend and we met at a cute store right next to the lunch place.

A bit of shopping and then lunch. It was a Mexican place, so I just had chips and guacamole. After we left there, we walked to a cupcake shop. Yummmm, they had all my favs. Left to right, top to bottom, they are; lemon blueberry, German chocolate, tiger tail, chocolate decadence.

Now I am jumping in the car to make the quick stop at the grocery store. I get a phone call from the sewing store. My embroidery machine has been serviced and is ready for me to pick up. Fantastic! I just dropped it off Tuesday. Yup, the conspiracy to ruin my day is getting some resistance.

I drove over to the sewing store and picked up my machine. Then I stopped at the grocery store and headed home. It is now 3:30. Too late to start the crockpot meal. But that is OK because I am not hungry anyway.

I check out my machine, wondering if I have the serial-to-USB cable that will allow me to hook up my laptop to the embroidery machine. OMG I found it!! Things are looking so much better. BAM – conspiracy theory debunked!!

Tomorrow I will make chicken parmigiana. Tomorrow I will finish cutting out the fabric for a quilt. In reality, something else will probably come up tomorrow and I won’t get anything done.

But I will have a tasty meal (and enough for several days) and my embroidery machine is fixed. And for now, two of the three cats are just snoozing on my lap.

Life is good.