The new tulips I planted last fall are coming up — big yellow, red/yellow and peachy-red tulips. I’ll have to wait and see if there were other colors in the mix, as I’ve forgotten what all I planted. Guildenstern was out rolling in the dirt, and wanted to be held, of course.
Blossoms, butterflies, droplets, flies and tiny, yellow-centered daffodils — pieces of April promising new life despite the dry conditions.
The “chemtrails” as some people call them, more commonly known as “contrails”, made quite interesting patterns crisscrossing under the sun this morning. As the temperatures continue to warm, I’m seeing a lot more bikers on the road. Laurie left the door open to the study so the cats could be in it with her the other night — Puck was very happy to lay in his favorite spots he missed since I put the door on the study.
A couple of old trucks and a pair of tulips dancing. Speaking of dance, tonight at 7:00 pm we are having our monthly salsa dance with classes at Central United Methodist Church, 201 University Blvd NE. The dance and classes are free and all ages are welcome.
This Porsche 911 was parked out in front of Cafe Giuseppe this morning with a terrier waiting expectantly in the front seat for its owner. The chopper was parked in front of a really ugly car, so I removed the car.
Macro photography in low light at a high ISO gives interesting results as in the photo of the spider on the fancy daffodil. I got a couple more street scenes in downtown. Things I see every day will suddenly catch my attention when the light is right.
A pigeon flew over me as I walked out the my car, and a couple of police officers were harassing a guy outside the Gold Street Cafe for who knows what. The sunset on April Fool’s was beautiful.
The Tenebrae service at Central United Methodist Church last night was beautiful and moving. Tonight is the “Great Getting’ Up Mournin’ celebration” with the Chancel Choir and a Baptist Gospel Choir. It’s supposed to be fantastic and not to be missed. The celebration is at 7:00 pm, 201 University Blvd NE. 243-7834.
I was out at midnight under the full moon — the silence was peaceful and the shadows cast by the moonlight were beautiful, yet somewhat sinister like a dragon or Scylla ready to rise up out of the serpentine shadows when your back is turned.
The ways of the world, and even more so, the ways of the Internet can be so very puzzling. I participate in market surveys that earn money for charities. The surveys are mostly about technology, automotive products and architecturally related merchandise like doors, windows, flooring, etc. I don’t know what the surveys will be about until I start them. Yesterday, after Stretch died, I received an alert that I had a new survey. The first question was “Do you own a pet?” I answered yes, and the rest of the survey was about if I would be interested in receiving text messages from my pet during the day, how much I’d pay for such a service and if I’d like to get continue to get messages from pet heaven after the pet died. Not only was it one of the weirdest things I’d ever heard of, it really creeped me out coming the day after Stretch died. I answered no to all questions and commented how weird it was when comments were allowed. I guess someone is thinking that people who don’t have time to spend with their pets would like the feeling of having a personal connection by getting text messages throughout the day from their neglected or even their dead pets. Trying to imagine why anyone would consider paying for such a silly service was like the kernel panic in the last photo.
Stretch finally succumbed to his long battle with renal failure. We gave him a kind of kitty hospice for the past couple of weeks after he started on a downhill trend and he began not responding very well to the fluids we gave him daily. He was still happy, had many energetic episodes where he would twinkle-toes around the house and go outside, and talk to us as usual. We groomed him (Laurie mostly), talked to him, rearranged a lot of stuff in the kitchen where he like to hang out to make him as comfortable as possible. He didn’t seem to be in pain even at the end, so we let nature run its course so he could have the dignity of dying at home in the place he loved. I wasn’t sure he would last through the night on Tuesday, as he was very lethargic when we went to bed, but I woke up at midnight and checked on him, I found him staring into one of his favorite water dishes and sticking his paw in it. He was drinking, just doing one of the things he liked best. I petted him and talked to him for a little bit before I went back to bed. When I woke up at 3:00 am, we was laying in another one of his favorite spots. I talked to him some more and scratched his head since I couldn’t reach under the shelf to pet him. After I went to work, Laurie let him outside and she reported his activities to me throughout the day. He laid in his favorite spots outside all day then died late in the afternoon.
Stretch was one of the smartest, most clever and creative kitties we’ve ever had. He could conceptualize things and would also come up with different behaviors to keep himself entertained. After I put on the catio in 2008, Stretch started catching lizards and birds and bringing them in the house. He would triumphantly announce his catch, and then drop the unharmed lizard or bird for us — we’d end up chasing his catches all of the house before we could put them outside again. On night he brought in a little bird and gave it to me. After putting the bird outside, a had a talk with Stretch and told him as much as he was a cat and as much as I appreciated his presents, he needed to leave them alone. He went back outside and a few minutes later came in announcing another catch. When I turned around to see what critter he had, I was surprised to see a flower from the trumpet vine in his mouth. He trotted up proudly and dropped it at my feet. I praised him and the rest of that summer of 2009 he brought us flowers, and never again brought another animal into the house.
Then he went though his stage of wanting roses in his water dish. He would put is paw on the rose, push it under the water and then lick the water off the petals. He could also see ghosts, and while he never sat on our laps, he would sit on our shoulders and backs. Stretch loved boxes and would be on or in a new box, sometimes before the box made it in the house. He also helped take care of me and Laurie when we both had health crises in 2010. He seemed to understand what we were going through.
Stretch begin having renal failure in 2007. He responded well to his initial treatments, but started having serious problems with the renal failure agin in 2011. He responded to treatment well, and did really well up until a few months ago, when we could see the fluids were not having the same effects. But he lived six happy years longer than he would have without the fluids. We are going to really miss Stretch.
The photos today are from when he was a kitten up through 2010. Here are a few posts with Stretch being clever:
If you put “Stretch” in the search, you will see all the posts I’ve done with Stretch in them over the past 2 years on this blog.
Off Center & Not Even 