Everyone wants to get into the Halloween spirit.... "Clothes make a statement. Costumes tell a story." ~ Mason Coole
Daisy helped me hand out the Halloween candy this year and of course she needed a costume. Walmart had a cute ladybug stretchy one... but it was a tad too small. She has filled out since moving in with us and by October, her hair had grown as well and she was a soft, cuddly, sweet buff girl with platinum blonde bangs and two platinum curls at the tip of her stubby tail. So we had to come up with something else. The "hot dog" costume had mustard on it and she prefers mayonnaise and chili... and the witch, vampire and skeleton were too scary for her delicate sensibilities. Daisy didn't look like a cheerleader or a clown, so what to do...?
At least Daisy did... now, the cats? Not so much.
Little "watch dog" is on the job!
Taking time to smell the mums....
..... and just goofing off! 
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Mr. Rhett and his (relatively) new friend Miss Daisy. 
Inadvertent sleeping buddies........ 
....awake and sniff noses before taking leave to their separate corners."If you can look at a dog and not feel vicarious excitement and affection, you must be a cat." ~ Author Unknown
I need to get caught up.... wow! That is an understatement! We'll have to take it slowly...so much to tell and so many pictures left over to post. But, of course, I have to start with the animals! I found Daisy online at a Richmond canine rescue site. She has been with us now for five months and she is an absolute joy! She is calm with everyone, great with kids, loves baths and she has only barked five or six times in all these months.
While Mom was in the rehab center after her hip replacement, we found that they allowed dogs to visit. So Daisy put on her best pink coat and her big smile and walked right in. Several of the residents called her and she quietly walked up to them and sat down, waiting to be petted. Mom couldn't bend over to her level so Daisy sat on Mom's bed right next to her as she sat in the wheelchair. All the nurses were very impressed, one even asked if she was a certified therapy dog! And my mom absolutely loved her visits! Daisy seems to know when someone needs a little extra loving and she will sit next to them, put her head on their chest and offer her paw. How can one help but hug the curly cutie pie?
As for the cats... Daisy loves them. Unfortunately, the feeling is not mutual. Nicky, Scarlett and Maggie are totally immobilized by fear, Willow hisses and Chloe just gives her a wide berth. Only Mr. Rhett seems to be open to Daisy, but as with all things cat... it is only on his own terms. Daisy tries very hard to get him to play with her. She ignores the squeaky ball toys that Max loved so much, but when Rhett is in the room, she grabs one of his stripped balls and tosses it around, trying to get his attention. Most of the time he just walks around and ignores her when Daisy tries to sniff his nose. These are the best shots showing any degree of inter-species love.
At least she doesn't chase them... actually she DOES chase squirrels.... and barks at them. So my question is... how does she know that small furry thing is a squirrel rather than a cat?
Lastly, I'll get on my little soap box.... if you are considering the addition of a dog (or a cat) to your family... please, please, please check out the rescue groups and shelters first. These animals are so grateful and so loving and truly know how to appreciate life. Daisy came within 30 minutes of being euthanized by carbon monoxide gassing, a barbaric method that should be banned. But more than this, she was alone and unloved... yet with so much love left to give. We feel blessed to have Miss Daisy and she will ALWAYS be loved. Rescued dogs are the absolute BEST!!!
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Pansies.... (click for larger views)"Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most." ~ Mark Twain
Let's see. I did post about the sale of my parent's house and the daughter's graduation and the "fleeing of the nest." I managed to let you know about the sweetheart of a dog we adopted and the passing of dear Miss Clover. But there are many, many pictures of gardens and cats and storms and pumpkins and holidays that haven't seen the light of day.... well, because my mind is addled. I forgot to do a post on my wonderful surprise gift.... from my brother.... a new iMac with the wide 24 inch screen and 4 GB of RAM and 1TB hard drive and that it has Aperture for pictures and the software to make it run Windows. Oh! He also sent a new HP Photosmart All-in-one printer.. fax.. copier.. scanner; although I think part of this was for him too... so he could fax business stuff back and forth to Vienna. The package is WONDERFUL!!!!! Since it came in May, I have had time to link it to my network and can share picture files back and forth with the old Dell.
A patch of autumn color...
That was just it! It took more than four months of seeing orthopedic surgeons for hips, orthopedic surgeons for backs, physical therapy for both, neurosurgeons for backs, various injections, scans, blood tests... etc........ before one of the docs finally decided that there was a problem with BOTH.. but the hip was the worst and first to be taken care of. So we made the rounds of the renal specialist, heart specialist, rheumatologist, family practice, orthopedic surgeon, more bone densities, chest x-rays, stress tests and pre-op blood tests and had the surgery set for October 23rd but because of a last minute glitch, it was canceled and more tests ordered.
Finally, on November 17th, the surgery finally went off.... right hip replacement. Surgery went well but the post-op pain meds really made her confused.... she thought we were all lying to her and that the surgery had been canceled again. Friday, finally over the post-op problems, she transferred to the rehab center.... right next to the two gas stations with the cheapest gas in Hampton Roads...... yeah! Dad spent the last two weeks on the couch in the hospital room. I got him to come home to shower and eat two or three times. Now, he will stay home at night and sit with her part of the day.
Wildflowers & friend....
Thanksgiving was formally held in the hospital, and I must say that the kitchen personnel outdid themselves with ham and turkey, yams, mashed potatoes, green beans and collards. It was one of the better hospital fares I have seen. On the way to the feast I saw a woodchuck (groundhog) sitting up at the side of the road... doing whatever woodchucks do... so... with the addled mind running loosely... that childhood rhyme started running through my head... How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood? Of course, it is now in my head and won't go away!!!
Violas.....
So that about catches things up... oh, yes! I MET JUDY!! AND MR. KENJU!! We had a wonderful lunch and her daughter was reassured that I was not a knife wielding serial killer from the internet...
"It can take a surprisingly long time to get from one part of my mind to another." ~ Ashleigh Brilliant
What do the flower and tree pictures have to do with any of this post? Absolutely nothing! An addled mind doesn't need an excuse... for anything.
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A plentiful harvest..... "Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." ~ Melody Beattie
Today is Thanksgiving with families getting together for food and fun and football. For many, it represents the harvest with food gathered and stored for the winter... a day to be thankful for spring warmth, summer rain and a late frost. For most it is traditional... turkey, stuffing, green-bean casserole, corn pudding, sweet potatoes, homemade yeast rolls and, of course.. pumpkin pie with whipped cream!
.....a day of thanksgiving.
Still, it looks as if the worst has past and perhaps... maybe... she will be transferred to the rehab on Friday. For this we are very, very grateful.
I pray that this Thanksgiving finds you filled with joy and gratitude for all the blessings of life.... Oh! And eat a turkey leg for me, please!
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Miss Clover (July 1993 - October 8, 2008)
(Click pictures for larger view of her glorious eyes)"You can't see anything properly while your eyes are blurred with tears."
~ (C. S. Lewis)
I thought she would live forever.... this tiny kitten that we brought home in 1993. Miss Chloe, her sister, was the first born, sedate and dignified. Miss Clover, on the other hand, arrived in this world as an angry camper. She was known as "the dark one" until we settled on her name; while most Siamese are born as small balls of white or cream fluff and only tiny tips of color, she burst on the scene already light tan with a dark mask and vivid blue eyes. As her siblings darkened, so did she until she was almost a dark cocoa all over with a completely black face, tail, ears and paws.
Often her coloring matched her mood. Clover was not one to fawn over visitors nor did she appreciate unsolicited attention from other cats or humans. And yet she would be more than willing to warm your lap all afternoon and sleep next to you all night... but always on her own terms.
Clover never met a box she didn't like.
Clover had a love affair with boxes... any shape, any size, any color. She could wedge herself in the smallest book box and sleep will at least half of all her parts hanging outside the box or sun her tummy in the produce box from Sam's or play the warrior princess defending her castle in a large QVC box.
Once, when Nyssa and I were packing for a two week vacation, I put a large empty box on the dining room table and labeled it.... "MAIL" for our house sitter. A bit later as I was walking by, I noticed two black ears sticking out of the box, just above the writing. Nyssa took a black and white picture and there she was, thinking she was totally hidden.... just half of her eyes and her ears showing...peeking over the rim.
She was really a cave dweller...Clover loved to burrow.
Yes, she IS the lump under the gray robe. (upper right)
Miss Clover loved to burrow... under anything! If there was a lump on the bed under a robe or throw or in a pile of stuffed animals or pillows, it was likely to be her! She would nudge and nudge the covers at night and inch herself down to my feet..under the sheets and blankets and go to sleep.
She was a cat with many hobbies... bird watching, boxing, sun bathing, catnip-dipping (in any shape or form), photography and sleeping. Her favorite hobby, or perhaps it was more of a "talent" was singing. Clover loved to walk into a darkened bathroom when no one else was around and there she would "sing" in full voice, to be heard all over the house. These were not "mews" or "meows" or "squeaks" or even cat fight "screams", but full-bodied melodious "yowls" that reverberated with a power many opera singers would envy! How did she know that the best acoustics are found in the bathroom?
Birdwatching, sun bathing, cameras, catnip.
(clockwise from top left)
Miss Clover loved her sister Chloe.... 95% of the time. They were best friends and bathing buddies. Our vet once remarked that he had never seen two cats with such clean ears... he had never seen their post-meal ritual. They groomed each other, sometimes from head to toe. This occasionally provoked a short lived hitting and biting fight which usually ended with both of them staring each other down and then one offering up her ears for the washing to commence again. They ALWAYS slept together... in chairs, on the floor, in the bed... usually entwined and always touching.
They could fight with passion, as most sisters can. I usually took them to the vet together (but in separate carriers) for their yearly visit and left them for the day, picking them up on the way home. On one occasion I arrived at the vet and they asked if I could get them back in their carriers. Apparently, both were in the same exam room and had gotten up into the bookshelves on the wall... Chloe on one side of the divider and Clover on the other. While they couldn't see each other, they knew a cat was on the other side of the shelf, they knew they were at a place that neither wanted to be and that they were NOT going anywhere. The vet techs were met with hissing, spitting, biting and slapping demon possessed animals each time they tried to get them down, so they left them in the exam room all day... and there they were when I went in. The sisters were hissing at me and each other and making a general spectacle of themselves, so I just grabbed each one by the nape of the neck, like their mother would and as soon as they were able to see each other... everything was fine. When they emerged from their respective carriers at home, they immediately bathed each other... had to get that stinky vet smell off!
Clover and Chloe, loving sisters.
(Clover it to the right in each picture..the dark one)
Somehow I thought she would live forever, or at least longer than my first Siamese, Shamroc, who lived well until the ripe old age of 19. But, she didn't. I thought I could get her to gain weight by tempting her with fancy morsels, or at least stop the spiraling weight loss. But I couldn't. She felt heavier as I carried her to her soft heated bed each day, but the scales said something else; another three pounds lost in one year. She lost the ability to jump on the bed or even climb the pet steps... her balance was gone and her back legs weak. She found it hard to get in and out of her litter box and almost impossible to groom herself, so she quit trying to. She couldn't get the food off of her face after eating and even had trouble climbing onto the soft pallet I fixed for her, sometimes landing half in and half out.
The most devastating loss for Clover was her sight. It was obvious that she was completely blind as she navigated the room by keeping her nose against the wall and by her back and forth head movements as she tried to see shapes in front of her. No cataracts, no glaucoma but some neurologic problem. Her hearing became hyperacute and her sense of smell was still keen, she had no trouble finding the food bowls.
I finally accepted that the time was short. Chloe cried for her sister so I let her into my room with Clover. I have never seen such a patient cat. Miss Clover hissed and growled at her sister, whom she could not see, yet Chloe simply sat beside her until she was calm. I kept the food bowls full and Chloe would sit aside and let Clover eat all she wanted first. I would wipe her face and get her settled on the heated bed, covered with a light and very soft baby blanket; then Chloe would come over and clean Clover's face and ears and curl up next to her to sleep. Later, as Clover still slept, Chloe would have her food. Being together brought a calm to both.
One last outing in the warm sun and cool grass.
My brother said his good-byes to Miss Clover in September and Nyssa visited one last time. Yes, it was time to end her pain and preserve what was left of her dignity.
On October 8th, I wrapped her in her blanket and drove to the vet. They were, as always, kind and gentle and gave us space and time to let go. I held her in my arms as she relaxed and grew still...her pain finally ending as mine began.
It has taken me over a month to collect my thoughts for this piece. Miss Chloe misses her and still looks for her in my room, but she seems more content with the other cats now... she knows, somehow, that her sister is gone. I catch myself still calling her name or hearing her operatic aria in the distance. What do I miss the most about our Miss Clover??......
"Who can believe that there is no soul behind those luminous eyes!"
~ Theophile Gautier
Her presence in those singularly unique, dark blue, marbled eyes that were always clear and piercing. Clover could shoot daggers from those eyes or roll them comically when trying to get a fuzz ball off her nose. Her eyes could melt my heart and ALWAYS did.
Rest in peace dear Miss Clover "All Over"
Friday's Ark #217... In Memoriam.
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