Across the Rainbow Bridge

05 Apr 2017 Leave a comment

by Quietude's Junction in journal, pets Tags: , , , , , , , ,

On Monday I had to put my dog to sleep. He was a wonderful, old lab mix that the vets never could agree about. Some said he was part mastiff, others part Dane, but all agreed that it was part BIG. He was a sweetheart, a lover, a comforter, and a protector. He was there when we needed him every time, there to scare off anyone from coming inside that he didn’t personally agree with. He took care of us.

When we got kittens, he became their guardian. He understood that the babies were his new ones to be his to protect. He let them climb on him. He wagged his tail so they would play with it. They, in turn, treated him as their protector and de facto nanny. He didn’t even chase after the cats when one of them scented his nose.

Buddy was a silent protector who needed to know where everyone was at all points in time. He had to lie down in the best place to see all of the people in his home. So he, in essence, was a road block 99% of the time. After all, it is never easy stepping over a 112 pound dog whenever he blocked a door especially when he would unexpectedly raise his head or try to stand up while you are mid-step.

The decision to let my dog go over the Rainbow Bridge was not made easily. I waited and put it off as long as I could. I just couldn’t let him go until he started whimpering in pain each night. It became difficult for him to walk, to stand, and to remain standing even during his walks. I finally had to accept that his quality of life was not worth the struggle of the day to day. I talked with his vet and she agreed that it was time. We cried. We held onto him and let the tears flow. We hugged him and petted him and it seemed that he understood in the end. The vet came in and he placed his big, blocky head into her hand and looked into her eyes. Acceptance and love were there for all to see.

He died as he came to us, a big lover, protector, and a huge part of my family.

I love and miss you, Buddy. One day we will meet again, across the Rainbow Bridge.

 

Kitten wars: Babies finding homes

22 Nov 2016 Leave a comment

by Quietude's Junction in journal, Kitten Wars Tags: , , , , ,

About 7 weeks ago, the feral mama kitty that I’ve been feeding, decided to introduce me to her babies. They were precious balls of fluff whose eyes were not even open. Over the next couple of weeks, I slowly introduced my son and myself into their lives. There was Shadow, the solid black with black stripes, Precious Cream Puff, a Siamese bobtail, Tony the Tigger cat of the ultra soft paws, and Miss Hiss the dark calico. Tony was the first one I touched because he literally rolled into the parking lot. Then I met Precious Cream Puff who fell 12 feet off the platform where Mama Kitty left them and didn’t get hurt. My son raced down to rescue him. Shadow was curious about these overly large hairless cats so he came over to inspect us. Last there was Miss Hiss. She earned her name because she was literally a tiny ball of runty hissing. We overruled her hissing to pick her up and love on her. She fell in love with my son and would fall asleep in his arms. He had never been around an entire litter of kittens before and fell in love.

Precious Boy was the first one to start purring followed quickly by Shadow. After a few days, they would race out purring to greet us whenever we would go to see them. Mama kitty kept her distance, watching us, but didn’t move them. After a couple of weeks, she decided to take them for a walk through the parking lot. That was when we intervened. I just couldn’t  have them walking through the busy apartment parking lot. So, we took the kittens inside, but Mama Kitty refused to join us even though she demanded to be fed each morning.

We put the kittens in my son’s walk-in closet to keep them safe and fed them with kitten wean, kitten chow, and all good things kitten. Now these precious babies are going out to good homes. Shadow and Precious Cream Puff will go out this week. We are keeping Miss Hiss. I don’t think that my son will ever part with her. Their bond is solid. I’m hoping to find Tony the Tigger a good home soon. He is the sweetest of the bunch with his very soft paws.

 

Kitten Wars: Sister’s Babies are Here!

27 Jun 2016 Leave a comment

by Quietude's Junction in Kitten Wars Tags: , , , , ,

The wild kitty outside had kittens in my bush, just like her momma before her. Now I have 3 rambunctious 4 week old kitties running around my porch, tumbling over each other in their joy of life. It makes you appreciate life again watching something that little be that fearless and curious about everything. These babies are precious, adorable balls of fluff. Two are tail-less like their daddy. Only the dark calico female has a tail. She is, by far, the most fearless of the bunch. She tackles the others, leaps through the air pouncing on them all with her arms spread wide. While they play on my porch, my cats watch through the glass windowed door and try to play with them.

I plan on trying to tame those little ones to see if I can find them a new home. Momma kitty is my cat’s sister. She knows where Cleo is, but when I tamed Cleo, she refused to come near. Now she keeps watching me through my glass door to see what I plan on doing. She comes to the door to tell me that I need to feed them, training her kittens to do the same. She is slowly coming closer to me each day, but I’m not gonna hold my breath about taming her.

So life continues and the circle goes on, one kitten at a time.

Kitten Wars: How to blow the mind of your cat

21 Apr 2016 Leave a comment

by Quietude's Junction in Kitten Wars Tags: , , , , ,

Step one Alter your routine. (There is only one step.)

How to blow the minds of your cats:

This morning started an hour and a half earlier than usual. I couldn’t sleep so decided to go for a walk instead of fighting the stare at the ceiling game and losing. (Yes, the ceiling is still there. It always wins that one.) When I came inside, both kitties were waiting for me at the door to tell me exactly why I shouldn’t go out into the cold before daylight. For starters, well, its COLD out there and DARK. And don’t you know that you do not go WALKING first!

They were quite forthright with much “paws out” and tails swishing making constant eye contact while they told me off for emphasis. As a unit, they decided to help me get back on my morning routine. While Cleo led the way to the shower, Jeager escorted me, herding me along to ensure that I got where I should have gone first.

Just to make sure that I stayed where they put me, both cats checked up on me a few times. They parted the curtain, stuck their heads inside, “You still with the Water Beast? Yes? GOOD!”

Kitty Love and Ownership Kitten Wars 1/28/15

28 Jan 2015 Leave a comment

by Quietude's Junction in journal, Kitten Wars Tags: , , , , , ,

Kitty love as declared by Teeny:
Perch halfway on the couch back with front paws on my human’s shoulder.
Purr LOUDLY into my human’s ear.
Avidly watch the computer while head bumping my human.
Purr LOUDER to remind her that hands need to be petting the CAT.
Dig claws in whenever she moves her shoulder the slightest bit forward.
Purr loudly and head bump harder.
Stare deeply into my human’s eyes reminding her who is in charge.
Nod at her, then rest my head on my paws which are still on her shoulder.

Kitten Wars 1/2/15: Persona Non Grata in My Own Home

03 Jan 2015 Leave a comment

by Quietude's Junction in journal, Kitten Wars, reflections Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

20140720-121720-44240593.jpg

 

I’ve had the best holiday season ever thanks to family and friends. I had my best friend come and stay for a couple of weeks which was fabulous. Both of my cats and my dog were completely spoiled by Dallas. The cats took turns getting loved on by him and would hiss at poor Buddy when he ventured too close. By the end of his visit, Cleo, my normally very sweet, everyone loves me and I love everyone kitty, actually stalked over and swiped her claws across the poor dog’s nose completely confusing him. After all, since she was being petted, why couldn’t Buddy put his big dog head in Dallas’s lap and get some of the same. But the clincher came when I returned from the airport after dropping him off to fly away home. Both cats, not just Cleo, came running to the door with the perfect “pet me” meows echoing through the apartment. Cleo in specific looked at me, then watched in disgust as I closed the door and her favorite petting friend did not come through it after me. She glared in my direction, raised her head as high as it could go with her tail straight up and marched off filled with utter disgust that I had dared to come home without him. Persona NON Grata in my OWN place. Spoiled my pets, he did! It took Buddy almost 3 hours to get over it. He kept going back and forth to my son’s room, then back to the front door looking, waiting for Dallas to come through it. The cats are still trying to decide if I’ll ever be allowed to pet them again. I’m sure they will get over it by breakfast tomorrow.20140720-121721-44241475.jpg

A dog and his kibble

04 Nov 2014 Leave a comment

by Quietude's Junction in journal, reflections Tags: , , , ,

My dog is an easy 110 -115 pounds depending on what time of year it is. He is the sweetest of animals and the most loyal. He trails me everywhere I go and will happily lie on the edge of the runway kitchen while I make meals. The problem with a 110+ pound dog, is that they are a little bit more than a speed bump when it comes to moving beyond. And while he is very good about remaining still, occasionally he just can’t stop from popping his head up and nailing whomever is stepping over him well, in the center of all things painful. But that is not what today is about. Today is about the one thing that my dog absolutely refuses to learn and that is to keep his kibble in his bowl or the bathroom.

Buddy, has a head that is easily bigger than my own. It is a big, blocky head that is part labrador and part mastiff to give you a hint. He has droopy over hanging lips that seem to move on their own to pick up all kinds of things that I wish he wouldn’t. So when I feed him, I put the food in the bowl in the bathroom so that he is out of the way. Now for those of you who have never had a big dog who still has his tail, let me tell you that thing is LETHAL! When Buddy eats, his tail could hack down a tree from all the wagging it does.  So, like I said, his kibble is in the bathroom. Well, he does not agree with this idea and never really has. You see, if he is eating it where the bowls are, then he cannot see what I or my son are doing. SO he painstakingly tucks pieces of kibble into his lips and drops them on my off white carpet at the entrance to the kitchen so that he can eat and watch me cook at the same time. He has the best of both worlds there, especially if I drop something to the floor that a dog might like.

Remember, I said Off White Carpet? Yes, Off White! It is now also Off Brown, Off Red, and Off Beige from where he and I have been having the kibble war. Thank goodness, kibble stains aren’t really stains. They do clean up, just not the first time. I love my dog. He is a sweet mountain of mess 🙂

Kitten Wars: Ninja Kitty and the Art of Being Picked Up

13 Oct 2014 Leave a comment

by Quietude's Junction in journal, Kitten Wars, reflections Tags: , , , , , , , ,

The cats have decided that they will take turns in claiming which human they will deign to show their affection. I’m guessing it is because I am generally quietly relaxing on the sofa, that I get Miss Sofa Shoulder Cat (Teeny) much more frequently than my son who is a constant motion machine. This frustrates him because he wants to pet Teeny and love all over her, but just won’t slow down enough to do so most days. So he picks her up, a lot, which she absolutely does not like and will loudly voice her opinion about on most days.

Teeny will actually tell him off for quite a while when he picks her up. She has this little purrupt meow that she uses quite extensively in multiple sounds and ranges to convey her extreme dislike of being picked up. But, my son is not one to be discouraged. Every day, he picks her up for 5-10 minutes at least 5 times a day during the week and more over the weekends. I’m guessing that he is wearing her down, slowly. She no longer trots off to parts unknown or to the area behind my shoulders on the couch when she sees him coming. She has even not chewed him out about it a few times. So this is progress. She knows he won’t drop her, at least.

Cleo on the other hand has taken to hunting anything that could possibly move in the house. And, quite frankly, even if it doesn’t move, and she can figure out a way to make it move, she does. This includes but is definitely not exclusive to single pieces of toilet paper, nerf darts, pieces of clothing, toy discs, and anything else that she believes can be hunted.

Recently, my son has been shooting off his nerf disc gun much to Cleo’s delight. He has not figured out that the reason he keeps losing his discs is because the cat hijacks them as soon as she finds them. He will go searching for them immediately after shooting them. Counting them up, he gets annoyed when he can’t find one. Then out of the corner of my eye, I spy Cleo. There is the little tuxedo ninja kitty with a disc in her mouth as she trots off to parts hidden from view to play with and stalk her prey once more.

After she has played with her new toy to her delight, she will come out of hiding and love all over my son. I’m sure that she is thanking him for her new toy, begging him to give her more.

The loss of one too young

04 Sep 2014 4 Comments

by Quietude's Junction in journal, reflections Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

This morning before work, I found out that I lost a student. As a teacher, I become very attached to the kids I teach, but this one was more special than most. He was one of my troubled babies, but never call him baby to his face. In his eyes he was a man, and probably had been a man in his house for several years despite only being a teenager. He came from a shattered home and was familiar with the judicial system from an early age. He had a smart mouth, quick wit, and despite all the nastiness that life had dealt him, a closely guarded soft heart. He didn’t let many people in to know that he was secretly a really nice kid living a very bad life. There was not a mean thought or bone in his body, but he had a bad reputation from the time he was about 10 years old. The trouble was from home not being stable.

As adults we think of home as a place of comfort, love, sharing, and safety. He had none of those. From the earliest years he was exposed to drugs, sex, alcohol, and all types of abuse verbal, physical, and mental. He didn’t have a single place to call home. Instead he was shipped between places to live with relatives whenever his welcome was worn thin at whichever school he was currently attending. He was called a “behavior case”, and I admit that he couldn’t keep still or control of his mouth when he wasn’t medicated, which was frequently. Every teacher could tell on the days that he had taken his meds. On those days he was a bright student with a curious mind. He offered opinions, information, and help willingly. He wanted to share, but all of the experiences with the dark days of no medicine got in the way. People didn’t trust him to be the “good” kid that he could be. After a while it became easier to just be the bad kid and to stop trying on the days when his medicine was not available.

He was a very creative kid. He had ideas that he wanted to do and could plan them out. He knew people better than anyone would have expected. When I did a project with all of my students, he created the best out of all of them. Unlike the other boys who created male oriented toys, this boy created toys that girls would love. When I asked him why he did what he did, he said simply, “Girls love hearts. I hope my toys go to little girls who will love them.” I just about cried that day.

As I said, I lost him. He died in a motorcycle accident. Rumors have already started as to why he was on a bike during school hours. Most say he was skipping school or suspended. Some kids who knew him well though, are saying that he was running away, that life had finally dealt him a hand that he couldn’t deal with anymore. No matter what was going through his head, I hope that he finds peace, love, and joy where he is now. No kid deserves the life he was dealt.

A Little Cat’s Music Kitten Wars at Peace time 8/23/14

23 Aug 2014 Leave a comment

by Quietude's Junction in journal, Kitten Wars, reflections Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

While writing “Songbird” I listened to “Phantom of the Opera” and other musicals that Andrew Lloyd Webber composed to get into the mood. While I frequently listen to all sorts of music, my cats usually ignore me and the computer. Until I put on Webber, overall, my computer was generally left alone, too. Little did I know that “Phantom” must be Teeny’s favorite music. I was singing along with “Think of Me” while I was composing the story on the keyboard when she leaped into my lap. Now most cat owners will think nothing of this, but keep in mind that Teeny is an affectionate in her own time kinda lady. She will talk to you, tell you she’s hungry, and knead on your shoulders on the couch, but getting into your lap is not her favorite thing. When she wants affection, she will call to you for you to come over to where ever she is poised ready for her scritch. SO for her to leap into my lap was very unusual.

Once in my lap, she started purring loudly, head bumping me, and kneading my legs as if she couldn’t decide which was the most important thing to do. At this point, I did a very silly thing. I STOPPED singing. Her head popped up. She put her face up to mine and took her paw to my lips where she proceeded to try to open them as if by that I would start singing once more. So, taking her clue, I started singing again. Once more the purring, the kneading, and the head bumping began. When the you tube vid was over, Teeny stared at the computer screen and very ladylike put her paw on the screen, then turned back to me with a look of “Make it happen! It can’t be over” So, I ran that video and sang for her that day. Can’t tell you how many times I sang just for my cat, but finally she dropped down off my lap. Supremely happy with herself, she walked over to Buddy, who was sleeping, and half-heartedly hissed at him telling him how stupid he was for sleeping while she and I had been communing.

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