Scratcher of heads, rubber of bellies
As 2018 rings in, a picture from New Year’s Day a decade ago, about a week after we adopted Sam and Emma. Sam was allowed limited exposure to the house at large, which meant he also got to meet our oldest Scout face-to-face instead of under the door. She quickly became his hero. Today the roles have changed, he is our oldest and it is little Trixie who worships him. They are both curled up on my lap, but with fireworks in the distance he is too restless to sleep.
A picture of Emma from 10 years ago on Christmas Eve, a couple of days after we adopted her, one of my all-time favorite Christmas presents. I thought of her as I was putting up her beloved tree a couple days ago, seeing the branches permanently bent down from her repeated climbs, hard to believe she’s been gone almost three years. Miss you Em.
Although I took this picture in the afternoon when Sam was sleeping on our bed, this is the view I have many mornings when I wake. It’s the view I have right now, albeit on my couch instead of the bed. If I was a cartoon character I’d have a Sam-shaped divot in my lap. A more snuggly creature you will never meet.
Templeton died just over ten years ago on December 8, 2007. This little fellow changed my life. I took this picture while he was recuperating from surgery in January 2006.
I have this romantic notion that at least one hair from each of our pets will follow me all the days of my life, so that on my deathbed I will have a piece of them with me. A romantic notion but not a realistic one. In day-to-day life, however, I’m quite confident I do carry each of our current pets with me, and Trixie is doing her duty to make sure of it as she sleeps on my clean T-shirt. In the picture below, Trixie doesn’t usually sleep in my desk chair but she loves the feel of these hoodies.
In memory of my sister’s sweet pup Sari, who had to be euthanized today after a long illness. These pictures are from 2009, Sari was sleeping on my mom’s bed. In the first picture I angled the camera so the picture of my sister hanging on the wall was looking over her pup. The picture below is my favorite of her, she seems so happy in her sleep, and look at those wonderful ears. She was a real sweetheart, she even got to meet Ellie one time when my sister came to visit us in Portland, I saw her for the last time this summer when I was in Atlanta.
Rest in peace little one.
Emma lost more weight than we expected, started throwing up more than normal, and her appetite dropped off. Despite extensive blood work and an ultrasound (you can see part of her belly that got shaved for the ultrasound) there still isn’t any definitive explanation. We are switching the protein source of her food and giving her anti-nausea medicine and she seems to have stabilized, though she is still well under her normal weight.
She doesn’t appear to be in any immediate danger, and her behavior is normal, but I’ll be a lot happier when her weekly weighings show she’s putting on weight.
I can’t find him anywhere.
Photographing Emma is harder than the other cats because it’s difficult to balance her dark fur with the surroundings. I found her sitting on the edge of our bed on New Year’s Day and bounced the flash off the ceiling.
Sam on New Year’s Day. He was still getting treatment on his ears at this point so some of the hairs in his ears are wet. The drops were cold since the medicine had to be refrigerated, so little Sam was understandably less than happy about his treatment. Despite the intense stare in the picture, though, he was immediately all purrs and happiness when you finished rubbing the drops in and started cuddling with him. Although he had a handful of things he had to be treated for from the time he was at the Humane Society through his first couple of weeks with us, thankfully he’s been healthy ever since.
Boolie 