I won’t give you a history lesson – my attention span isn’t that good just yet to do the proper research. Situated in County Offaly, the site dates to 545 ad. That boggles my mind!
We were here last Wednesday. It was a lovely day for pictures. These are a mixture of his and mine.
We got a kitten. I wasn’t ready, but Siamese Lokii was pining badly for his buddy Spot. As we all were. But he was crying all the time, and eating the dog toys even more than usual. I won’t say he was clingy, because the pair always shared me together and he didn’t really know what to do with us humans, when he didn’t have his brother with him to show him what to do.
It didn’t take long before he became big brother to Lumi. My legs, by the way.
Good boys.
Sleepy kitten.
Sleepy kitten with big paws. Do you see the glitter? His toes are sparkling silver.
And his nose is sparkling gold.
Kissable little boop-nose. And he lets me kiss it.
Those eyes.
When he first wakes up from a long nap, he loves to talk about it. He still has the tiny kitten voice, so I wake to him sleepily coming up to my face and ‘meeping’ to me. Then he licks my nose, or eyes. Usually my eyes! I think this picture gives an indication of what he might look like all grown up.
Lumi (Finnish for snow) is a lynx seal point snow Bengal. His markings will darken, but the white will stay white. I didn’t get him for his looks, but his personality. I couldn’t imagine life without a Bengal in it. He has been such a little love, I know I did right. I didn’t replace Spot, but made a new place in my heart to be filled.
I’ve had this plant a long time. I first got it in 1998 or so. I couldn’t bring it with me to Ireland, but I did take a cutting and brought it in sans soil. Lucky for me, it survived a month in the container in a jar of water and damp paper towel. Probably still illegal, but at least I didn’t bring any bugs or weird microbes in to the country. It’s a house plant, here, but is native to South Africa – as it seems a lot of my favourite plants are!
Oddly enough, after 11 years, this thing finally decided to bloom. Not that long ago, I gave it a good soaking, and a wash (the leaves are furry and collect a lot of cat hair), and I guess that finally sparked it into flowering. I won’t read anything into a corpse flower blooming the week my Spotty cat died.
First I noticed was that there was a huge balloon sticking out the side.
Stormtrooper mini-fig for size. We all know how big they are, right?
Then it opened.
Weird as hell, right? And it does, indeed, stink of death. Not that bad, really, unless you stick your face right in it. The scent and hairs are to mimic a dead animal, as this is a fly-pollinated plant. The texture of the bloom is very much like leather, too. This one started to shrivel today, so I cut it off. But there are several more coming, so I am taking better care of it than I usually do. It got another good soaking today.
If you want to learn more about this unique plant.
Spot died last night, at the veterinarian’s. We said goodbye this morning, and will bring home his ashes tomorrow.
Still don’t have our Spottie boy back. Maybe tomorrow. He did look and act a lot better today than he did on Saturday. We got him purring: purring so hard you could see it. Then he got super worn out and started to fall asleep with his eyes open. Still not eating, however he has pooped (nutrition has been given via IV) so at least his bowels are working. His fur is clean, not all greasy and clumpy, which for me is always a sign of a very sick cat. No sign of infection, his incision is healing well and no fever. We won’t know if he has cancer or not until Friday, most likely.
Thank you all for your support, I really do need it and appreciate it.
Spot’s biopsy turned out to be much much worse. He had a tumor. It is gone, and sent for testing, along with a good 2in of his intestine and the nearby lymph nodes. We brought him home last night but that was premature. We took him back to the vet this afternoon and he is in for the night.
He wasn’t drinking, and every time he was awake and I offered him water or anything at all he went for the litter box. He strained as if he felt that he needed to poo, then came out and threw up. Since he also has kidney disease, no fluids and vomiting up what little he had is clearly bad for him.
He’s on an IV now. Antibiotics, painkillers, fluids, a light sedative, and an anti-emetic to stop the nausea. I wish I was there to cuddle him, but I know he is safe and in good hands. The vet who took him in this afternoon rang to let me know how he was doing, and all is going as well as can be expected after such a major surgery.
We won’t know for a week or so if he has cancer or it was benign. I forget how long we have to wait as my brain shut down when I heard ‘tumour’ and I couldn’t stop crying. I took today off to look after him but all I could see is he was in pain and confused. He was just running around playing like a madkitty the day before, no matter that he is 14/15, damn it all.
You never know what might be going on when someone can’t tell you what hurts. He had soft, stinky poop for too long – that’s the only reason I took him to the vet at all. I’m so glad he is an indoor cat and I could see/smell that something wasn’t right – after days in the garden all cat poop is soft.
You know I don’t do prayers, but I’ll take on offer all the best wishes for him to recover fast and it not be cancer.
I’m not depressed. I could be? But actually I’m positive at the moment. I had a good Friday this week. A text that made me so proud and happy; a thing I did at work that was very appreciated and I’m quite proud of. A notch tighter on my belt in the morning when I got dressed for work. My new-found love for playing bass guitar!
It’s not like me to focus on positive things, and it feels weird. I’m just not that kind of person. I look sideways at things: looking for the shadow that is, in my experience, hiding in wait to bite.
But maybe I can learn, still, to see the silver lining that mom said was in every cloud?
My good old man Spot has a new problem – this time his guts. A vet visit came away with this cat bed, that he chose himself, and a cocktail of drugs in liquid form that he HATED. Seriously, I’ve never seen a cat gag at the idea of something being put into his mouth before. It didn’t work, either. Wednesday he goes back in for a biopsy of his intestines. I suppose the vets wouldn’t even suggest it if he wasn’t robust enough to handle the procedure. The cocktail did make him feel better, anyway – he’s as playful and cuddly as you could want out of an old man kitty.
Lokii also loves the new bed. But Spot has set down clear rules that if he is in the bed, it is his territory and Lokes can just piss off! Poor daft Lokii thinks they can share…nope!
So the silver lining is that we bought a cat bed that the cats actually like. It might be a first!
My mother died 19 years ago today. It’s never a good day for me, and somehow the day before is worse. I have her beloved peace roses growing in my garden, and I think of her every time I see them. She wasn’t a gardener at all, but passed the love of this particular rose on to me.
I just wish I could share them with her.
If you love any of these photos, please save them, but share with someone you love. I would feel as though you are spreading the love of the peace rose on behalf of my mama.
Right where I want them.
In my compost bin! I was very pleased to see so many worms when turning the compost over. I must be doing something right!
Found new residents in my grey willow this evening.
There are three groups of this size that I can see.
They are eating the leaves down to the centre vein! Not that I care about the willow, in fact I’m trying to kill it by girdling it (I want to keep the framework for other climbers). I don’t see them in any of my other plants, either.
Any ideas? Are they bad, good, or chaotic neutral?
heretherebespiders 