Jesus christ – can’t someone get this kid to shut the fuck up?
Thanks, all of you, for your kind words yesterday – they mean a lot. You guys are pretty freakin’ awesome, if I might say so.
Yesterday was particularly hard for me – every time I thought about Hamilton, I burst into tears. It got to the point where I’d start to say something to Fred about the fact that I was bursting into tears at the drop of a hat, and then I’d start crying, and then I’d laugh at the ridiculousness and throw up my hands.
(The worst part about bursting into tears is the inability to TALK without the wobbly voice. Also, the swollen eyes.)
We buried Hamilton and his brothers under the big pecan tree by the garden, and as I wrapped Hamilton in a soft pink blanket, he looked like he was sleeping, and I kept wishing I could touch his back and feel him arch against my hand one last time. That, of course, brought on more crying. I’m telling you, I was a mess yesterday.
Part of the problem, I’m sure, is that I hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in a week and a half, including Sunday night. I decided that last night if I couldn’t turn my brain off and go to sleep, I was going to take a hydrocodone. Luckily, that wasn’t necessary. I got a good eight hours of sleep, and I’m feeling a lot better today.
I’m only taking a short break from fostering – I told Susan I’d be ready to foster again at the end of the month. Maybe not bottle-fed kittens again right away, but I am absolutely willing to try with tiny ones again in the future. As painful as this experience was, it taught me not to be scared of the idea of tube feeding, and I think that’s a valuable skill to have. When I emailed Susan to tell her about Hamilton, she emailed me back to remind me what she’d told me at some point in the past: A local Abyssinian breeder once told me that with these teeny ones, “If they’re going to die, they’re going to die no matter what you do and if they’re going to live, they’re going to live no matter what you do.” I think that’s probably pretty good advice. We do our best to save them but sometimes we just can’t. I know that they were warm and safe and loved while they were here, and although we couldn’t save them, I believe we offered them some sort of comfort before they passed on.
It’s so quiet around here with only our nine cats – no little fosters running around or needing to be fed. We talked seriously last night about adopting Dwight, who is the sweetest little guy on earth (we always called him Fred’s “boyfriend” because he loved to snuggle with Fred at TV-watching time), but ultimately decided that it wasn’t what we wanted to do. I know that Dwight will end up in a great home. Anyone who spends one minute with him is going to know what a sweetheart he is.
I kept busy yesterday, and there was plenty to do. I’d let a lot of stuff fall by the wayside while I was taking care of those kittens, so I spent a good part of the day taking care of produce from the garden that needed to be frozen or dehydrated or whatever. I ended up roasting 7 spaghetti squash over the course of the day so I could freeze them, I put cayennes on to dehydrate (when they’re dehydrated, I’ll grind them into powder), I put yellow squash on to dehydrate, and chopped more yellow squash up to freeze. I started a batch of gherkins (which will take a few days to finish), shredded zucchini to freeze. I’m sure there’s more I did, I’m just not remembering what it was.
Oh! I did laundry. I had a ton of laundry to do, mostly towel, cleaning rags, baby blankets. I swear to god that I generated more laundry every day with these kittens than Kate Gosselin does in an average day.
I also got out the sewing machine and made a couple of covers for the heating pad. The cover that came with the heating pad is ancient and ugly, so I used a baby blanket to make one of them, and some fleece material I had for the other. They look okay, but I was reminded anew that I cannot sew a straight seam to save my life. Probably if I messed with the sewing machine more than once a year, I might improve, ya think? I also took some baby diapers – ones that I bought back when I had Maddy and dyed purple – and cut them smaller. One of the many things I wished while I had Hamilton, Jefferson, and their brothers was that I had some smaller cloths to wash their faces (and back ends) with. It kind of seems overkill to grab a huge cloth to wipe their faces with, you know? So I cut three diapers into quarters, and ran seams around the cut edges of the cloths so they won’t unravel. Black thread on purple cloths. Someone really needs to buy more thread, I’m thinking, because my choices at this point are black, red, or white.
Today, I have groceries to get, recycling to take to the recycling center, and a house to clean. I have literally not vacuumed this house since last Monday, and I can’t even look at my floors, they’re so horrifying. Not to mention the bathrooms that desperately need cleaning, and the dusting.
Oy. I hate the dusting.
I still have more squash (pattypan, this time) to dehydrate, and a chicken to boil ’cause I’m going to make a Quesadilla Pie for dinner. And speaking of pies, I made a Zucchini Pie with dinner the other night and it was very, very good. One of the things I’m going to try with my dehydrated zucchini this winter, is to rehydrate it and see if I can make a decent Zucchini Pie with it. It’s worth experimenting with. The only thing is that the bottom of the pie crust was a bit doughy, so next time I’m going to prebake it before I fill it, and we’ll see if that reduces the doughiness.
Okay, I’m off to clean. Wish me luck!
Cats do control humans, study shows.
That right there is what we call a “no-shitter.”
This video is AWESOME.
Tommy was laying in this cat bed, and Sugarbutt decided it was time for snugglin’. I love how he’s all stretched out, taking up more than his allotted space.
And Tommy is clearly pleased about this turn of events.
Previously
2008: All in all, a very good weekend.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: It doesn’t have that ring of finality to it, that “I’m ending this goddamn email, see?” air.
2004: Why the fucking hell shouldn’t men cheat on beautiful women?
2003: Could I be more boring, yammering on about my email address?
2002: No entry.
2001: No entry.
2000: I guess I should clean under the couch a little more often, huh?
Robyn I am so so sorry for your losses. You and Fred are such wonderful loving people and those little kitties got such a gift from you before they went to be with their momma. Your hearts are huge and you do a tremendous amount of good in this world. You make this reader smile every day with your sassy ways and I am happy to know you are on the planet. Why, one of you makes up for at least 10 assholes! HA HA. Poor attempt at humor. Take care of yourself and when you are ready to curse instead of cry you’ll be on the mend. We love you Anderson family!!
There is no love lost with me where Palin is concerned but that baby Father is a dumb one is he not? I think they follow him because he will say things like that. Someone does need to shut him the hell up.
I’m sorry about the baby kittys. I have seen ones in similar situations turn a corner and make it but most of the time they don’t 🙁 It is sad.
I thought about you all day yesterday. I’m glad to see your feeling a little better.
Here in Halifax we’ve been reading about Sons of Maxwell and the saga of the broken guitar for days. It amazes me that you have a) actually seen the video and 2) posted it. Small little world.
So sorry about the kittens.
Sorry about the little babies. Too sad.
I am sooo glad that guy made a video about his experience…just wish I had the talent to do so everytime an airline screwed me over. Any response from United??
I’m glad you’re feeling better today, too.
I made Quesadilla Pie last night for dinner, and it was a big hit with me and my husband. We ate the entire freakin’ thing! Thanks for sharing that one…it’s a keeper!
The Sons of Maxwell are great. They tried for a year to get a settlement with United but that was just a waste of time.
So sorry about the kitties, but as you said you learned another important skill looking after them. I am sure a huge part of your grieving was due to Mr Boogers passing, the kittens was very bad timing being so close.
Why oh why is the baby daddy getting so much publicity??? What a dumbo.
Just getting caught up on the past few days. How sad, sorry to hear that things did not work out. ((HUGS)) The video about United was on the National News here, not great publicity for United but finally got a resolution to the bands complaint. Apparently there are more to come. Hope you feel better soon. Take care.
good god–how do you have the time & energy to do all of that stuff & still post a nice long blog post??
while i was working at a humane shelter i fostered a super old cattle dog with cancer who had failed her evalutation & was going to be euthanized. i couldn’t give her much–just a few weeks–but i had to give her something. we just gotta give what we can. thank you.
Loved the video! It’s great when people can use their talent to get even with a big corporate entity like the airlines. They are one talented group-I hope the exposure helps them. I don’t know them but am so out of the loop w/current music. The “friendly skies” were mentioned sarcasticly on the today show this morning. Makes the fact I’m not traveling these days (money) not seem so bad.
Thanks for the shout out. Wonder why the zucchini pie crust was doughy on the bottom. Huh. I didn’t experience anything like that.
The pic of those kitties made my day. Sigh.
Robyn, you’re an angel for trying to save those orphaned kitties. I’m so sorry they didn’t make it.
As much as I love my three cats I don’t think I could ever put myself through what you and Fred
do on a regular basis. You guys are the Patron Saints of Kittehs!
{{HUGS}} Robyn, I’m so sorry. Man!
I was thinking about you and those little bebbies all day yesterday. I don’t know how you do it Robyn. That would just break my heart. I channeled my feelings by giving my three extra hugs.
My dog totally runs the house! She’s well behaved, but she’s like our child. She’ll knock something over or take somebody’s spot on the couch and my husband will leap up, point at her and yell (joking): “DAMN DOG, DOIN’ WHATEVER YOU WANT, DON’T PAY NOT ONE CENT OF THE RENT.” (Note: he’s an attorney and only speaks like that when he’s messing around, lol.)
Also, get an electronic air cleaner installed in your heating/cooling system. It’ll cut down on dust/animal hair/random bits and you won’t find yourself having to dust as much or pick up tumbleweeds. It really helps with allergies too, if you have them.
p.s. Northwest or Southwest (can’t remember which one) broke four or five thick metal lacrosse sticks contained in a stick bag on my brother’s flight home from California – hundreds of dollars of equipment, snapped clean in half. We have NO idea how they were destroyed, but think of a lacrosse stick or hockey stick and how strong they are, then think of four of five of them bundled together and how much force it took to snap them. I swear the plane ran over them.
They paid him in full for the current value of the sticks, which was actually more than he paid for them, and the heads weren’t broken on the ones that had heads on them, so he got some extra equipment for his troubles, basically:)
My last 2 fosters JC and Kitsy were adopted separately tonight as was Cadbury (I was busy!). I gave your three smurgles and boy are they little love bugs. I picked two up and they instantly melted against me purring. I had to laugh at Phyllis. I remembered you saying how vocal she is and boy you weren’t kidding! At the end of the night I let EVERYONE out for a few minutes to romp.
I’ve had a busy couple of months and have neglected reading my long list of favorite blogs, but I typed in Bitchypoo this morning… and bawled all over the keyboard. SO sorry about Mister B and the kittens. These soft hearts of ours’ sure break easy, don’t they?
Thinking about you.