...farewell, Thomas

last night, I offered him some "people" salmon, which he enjoyed...
but I could tell he was loosing ground fast...
it was the only thing he had been willing to eat all day...
and he wasn't drinking, so his voice was going...



the night before, he waited right by my bedroom door...
this morning, for the first time ever, he didn't come to greet me...
so I went looking for him & found him laying on the heating grate...
and when he silently looked at me, we both knew it was time...

the other kitties had stopped hanging around him...
though just yesterday, they were rubbing heads with him...
snoozing in the sun with him, washing his face...
Sneaky Pie had even stopped laying in ambush & swatting him...
they knew it was time & they had said their goodbyes

the vet also knew when I took him into the exam room...
I held Tommy, kissed him & told him what a good cat he'd been...
and how he would soon see his rowdy friends who were all waiting for him...
while the vet prepared the injection...

though he couldn't meow anymore...
I could feel him purring while the vet kissed him on the head...
then eased the needle, ever so gently, into his arm...

he was gone in an instant...

I laid him to rest in the springtime backyard...
with a rose between his stripey paws...
at peace at last...



Thomas Cat [aka Bunnyface][1996-2010]

"TommyToes"["Alpha" cat supreme...]
is survived by his good buddies Charlie & MJ...
He will be missed by Lucyfur, Mackie, Murphpy...
Lacy, Cagney & Molly, the dog...
& especially, by his nemesis, Sneaky Pie...

He was preceded in death by his sister, Sadie...
and the rest of the "rowdy boys"...
Tucker, Hobbes, Bubba & Frick...
His good buddy, Mattie...
and sworn enemy, Gracie...

farewell sweet, silly Thomas...
I'll miss your stripey self...

...going "out", like a lion

today is one of those days that I'd love to just be outside...
close to shelter, of course, but ready for those amazing "skyscapes"...
that come into being, only to move away with the continuing winds...
sort of like God is using the wind to make an ever changing, cloud kaleidoscope...



if there is anything you don't care for in the sky...
just wait a few moments & it will change...



as I sat in the dentist's chair[biannual cleaning... no cavities...]
I watched the patchy blue sky turn a deep, grayish black...
saw the rain pour down, and then...
watched the sky turn bright blue again...
until as I walked to my car, it was glorious !



but by the time I got over to the church, it was overcast again...
it's supposed to be like this through Easter...
but I'm NOT complaining...

we need the rain & besides...
the "weed & feed" I put on my lawn after I mowed it Saturday...
has had it's minimum of 24 hours, sans rain, to start feeding the Bermuda grass lawn...
and killing the dandilions, milkweed, sand burrs & other weeds in the lawn...
it also get the wild onions & other stuff that dies in the heat anyway...

FYI: these 4 shots were all taken within a period of about 1 minute...
from almost the same location...and in similar directions...
which proves my point about the quick changing sky...

farewell March...you came in like a lamb...
but your exit has been a "roaring success"...
not enough to knock off all the setting fruit...
but adding some more rain to the landscape...

...spring has definitely sprung, part 5

you know it's spring...
when the mostly dead, city tree in front of UnklePhil's is leafing-out...



and new leaves almost hide all the old dead, liquid amber seed pods...



the rosebud I was showing a picture of...
has now completely unfurled itself shamelessly in the sun...
and hangs spent, waiting for a strong breeze to scatter the petals...



there are tons of old leaves, some of which are being formed into piles...
like these in my driveway...

and some of the remnants of my fence flower boxes...



this thriving allyssum...



this red salvia...



and this dark red dianthus...
are doing their best to revel in the sunshine...



and this was a nice surprise ! a few iris are blooming...
even though I had looked for some stalks just a day or so ago...
and found nothing...
these appeared along with a couple of other stalks around the hose...
so I'm enjoying them very much...



in the back, an old Cecil Brunner rose bush...
from a really old bush Mom had at the ranch...
not only flourishes, but is already blooming...
it loves being ignored, when I cut it back, it's never as nice...



the old cherry blossoms are now cherries...



the baby peaches have fuzz...



the Japanese maples are leafing out quickly...
creating the wonderful kaleidoscope of shades of green...
as the breezes move the branches...



seeds are already starting to form...
soon there will be lots of seedling maples to harvest...
for various bonsai attempts...



are these freesias ?
they are some kind of bulb I planted along with the daffodils that are long gone...
they come up every spring...



the buds on the apple tree are opening...



and the grape vine is leafing out faster than anything else...



and then I spied this...
a spike of blooms on the old lilac bush, ready to burst forth...
[it's parent would be 80 if still alive...]
as the old becomes new again with the spring...



a perfect time to spend with old friends...

...more cat tales

from September, 1973 through early June, 1978...
I lived in Chicagoland, while attending grad school...
more specifically, in this brownstone, "garden apartment"[aka basement...]
most of the time with 3 cats, of whom Tiger, aka "Fang"...
is shown here, playing in the snow...
[the others mostly stayed inside when it was cold...
only he would go out, stay out & frolic...]



here you see [L to R], Max, wrangler of grasshoppers, extraordinaire...
Barney, his half-brother, who was named after "Barney Fife"[for good reason...]
and Tiger, resident, "bon vivant", catcher of critters & snazzy looker...
these 3 came with me from Mudville & would return there...

Tiger didn't live long enough to make it to my current home...
he died at 16 of kidney problems over 22 years ago...
he was a loving lap cat and all around good guy...
I still miss him, even now, so many kitties later...

Max & Barney both made the move in 1988 to my current home...

Barney died of liver disease a couple of years after the move...
and Max, who mourned him tremendously...
but shook it off to live another year or so...
died of frail, old age, in the back yard, just out for some sun...



joining my gang in Chicagoland, & ultimately, returning to Mudville with us...
was Boomer, another half-brother of both Max & Barney[same mother cat...]
who belonged to a roommate from Mudville who also came to Chicagoland...
and ultimately abandoned Boomer to go, "on the road"...

he made the move in 1988 too, succumbed to old age a few years later...
and with too many others to mention, sleeps in my garden...

I got to thinking of some of my furry friends...
who have crossed over that Rainbow Bridge...
because I live now with several old cats...
2 in particular, who are reaching the end of their days...



this is Fluff, about 4 months old, looking very cute in 1990...



she has always been a strikingly beautiful cat...
I remember the first moment I saw her...
looking up at me with those green eyes, pink nose with gray & white fur...
SO FLUFFY... I was putty in her paws...

the medicine I've been giving her seems to be working very well...
the constant trips to the cat box have ceased...[no more pink pee]
her fever's gone, she's eating well, her diarrhea has stopped...
and she's sleeping for hours at a time in her nest...

she's just an old girl,[20], and even though she's thin...
she seems to be doing well so I just pet her...
& enjoy her company while she's still here...
she'll be gone soon enough, leaving quite a void...



Thomas, seen here last spring with his snoozing buddy, Charlie...
is another matter...



Thomas, who has always been slinky, is now just skin & bones...



he & his sister, Sadie, were rescued by me just before Halloween, 1996...
when the then, 4 or 5 week old kittens were dumped at my school...
late in the day, just as I was getting ready to leave...
2 tiny, stripey, balls of screaming, frightened kitten...
who scooted through the chain-link fence, right to me when I called...
the screams ramped down to loud meows as they trembled in fearful hope...

one[Thomas] was twice as big as the other[Sadie] and such a baby...
but stopped screaming when I held them both as they snuggled under my chin...
I tried so hard to find them other homes, but gave up by Thanksgiving...
and welcomed them, "home"...Sadie died only about 3 years ago...

Thomas, who didn't seem to miss her, was busy...
keeping Sneaky Pie & her sister, Gracie, in line...
[he's under the mistaken idea that he's the "alpha"...]
and gained some notoriety for his exploits with SPie in the "Catmas Carols"...
[think of Thomas as "Wiley Coyote" to SPie's "Road Runner" & you're close...]



here's Thomas in the Fall of '08...
enjoying Molly's bed, in her absence...
with his good buddy, Mattie, who died last summer...
and MJ, who is doing just fine...



I took this picture today...

just before I went out to prepare a place for him in the garden...
he's very unsteady, but still pesters for food, though not much satisfies him...
it's only a matter of days now for him...
I dread having to take him in, but I won't let him suffer...

he was sleeping in the sun with Charlie earlier...
then MJ & some of the others were loving on him & washing his face...
I'll know when it's time... I always do...
I just really hate long good-byes... but it's all we have left...

...still there

when I drove by this morning, anyway...

...spring has definitely sprung, part 4

the weeping cherry is now in full bloom...
the buds start out pinkish, but show, white...
which is fine with me as all the other ones in my area are pink...



the various red-leaf Japanese maples are showing off...
this lace-leafed one especially glows when it catches the late sun...



these ones in smaller pots seem to have survived the winter...
and are now basking in the sunlight under the old plum tree...



these volunteer lilies are taking over what was once an iris bed...
and since they are NOT good in warm places...
this south facing brick wall backed bed...
will soon be the home of dried up lilies...
come the first hot days...



UnklePhil's lilacs are starting to bloom...



mine are still budding leaves, much less blossoms...



the good news is that the cutting of the heirloom lilac from the ranch...
has survived and is starting to wake-up again...



as are these climbing roses on the back fence...
just behind the lilacs...



the front roses are covered with early buds...



here & there, already opening...



this bud was closed tight just a day ago...
now it's opening to the sun...



the buds on the apple tree are starting to open...
it's just covered with buds this year...
I got 3 small apples from it last year...
not too bad for a first crop rescued from the critters...



the grapevine that I thought dead, is not...
and wending its way through the tops of the apple & peach tree...
I haven't seen any grapes, I think it's a muscat...



the pomegranate tree is beginning to reveal it's buds...
it's in a good place for both sun & heat...
both required for fruit production...



the tangerine tree, which, for the first year in a while...
had a few on it last year, actually has a bud again...
it's been my experience with container citrus ...
that you tend to get fruit every other year...



the volunteer fig tree I rescued & potted...
really needs to go into the ground if it is to survive...



these are 2 of 3 grapefruit ripening on the tree...



with the promise of more for next season...



there are also tons of Meyer lemon buds preparing to bloom...
I was buzzed by a great fuzzy,yellow & black bumble bee today...
I think he's impatient for the blooms to open...
'cause he was after my orange turtleneck...



meanwhile, on my kitchen window ledge...
the grapefruit seedlings from last year have new growth...



and the orange seedlings from December are growing well...



only the 2 albino seedlings are looking sick...
hopefully they'll do better outside on the patio table...
but it's just a bit early yet...but not to worry...
there will be many warm nights to come...