Life is always a mixture of the bitter and the sweet, the dark and the light, the gratitude and grief. I admit that I often focus on the bitter parts to the exclusion of all else. That is in large part due to the fact that a large portion of my 20’s and almost all of my 30’s have been spent dealing with one crisis or another and, last year, dealing with death after death. That, and the way that people treat you, tends to color one’s outlook on the world a bit. Depression doesn’t help either.
That being said, this year is turning out to be one of the best in a long time. Despite losing Bucky last week, things seem to be looking up for us.
Today Geoff and I helped Bucky leave this world and move on to the next. He was 18 years old, and I will miss him every day.
Bucky and Scratch, this was as close as they got to cuddling.
Bucky was born on April 15, 1998. He was born before I graduated from college, in the last century, the last millennium, before Barack Obama became President, before I had my first cell phone, before I had even met Geoff, let alone married him. He was my first child, and he will always be special.
Bucky moved with me through seven different apartments in two cities, he outlived his younger brother Smoky, he tolerated two foster dachshund sisters, an untold amount of visiting dogs of varying breeds (Scarlett, Ivory, Fletcher, Pixie, Jasmine, the list goes on), living with a roommate who had a dog and a cat of her own*, and surviving a 1 1/2 story fall down an uncovered shaft and being pinned inside a wall in the middle of the night**.
Bucky in his less formal wear. In true lord of the manor style, he showed up for meals and when he needed personal grooming. Yep, he was totally an Earl.
Bucky was nearly imperturbable. He was loving and sweet with humans, but he suffered no crap from other animals. When I brought Smoky home from the shelter, at Bucky’s request mind you, and Smoky turned into an unholy terror, Bucky rolled his eyes and we hid in my loft bed and watched the destruction in amicable silence. When Bucky met Rerun he quickly established dominance with a sequence of three closed paw blows to Rerun’s snout that were over nearly before they’d begun. Rerun never forgot that encounter.
Bucky was also an athlete like no other cat I’ve met. In his prime he could jump from a sitting position to over six feet straight up into the air and land on a narrow (maybe 1 inch?) window frame. That moved. Then he’d make another flying leap up onto the next story of our interior courtyard and simply hop windowsill to windowsill and visit the upstairs neighbors. Some of them would leave the windows open so he could come inside and visit. As he was a stellar mouser and the building was, well, infested with mice, his presence was always welcome.
Privacy in the bathroom? Ha!
About a year and a half ago we had noticed that Bucky was starting to lose weight. I fully expected his blood work to come back saying that his kidneys were going. But they weren’t, turns out something was up in his digestive track. Eventually there was a tiny hardening in the area. We kept him on meds for a while, but finally he let us know on no uncertain terms that he just didn’t like the taste. So we switched to prednisolone. He was on it for the better part of 9 months. He was doing fine. The palpable thing in his belly, as of the first week of May, was small, smaller than a dime. He spent Brimfield at the vet’s and came back happy and shiny.
Don’t look up!
Then this week he pretty much stopped eating. And tonight he wouldn’t come when we called for dinner. We went looking for him and found him hiding where Smoky used to hide when he was scared or didn’t want to be pilled. As I’d barely been able to pill him this morning, we knew it was time. The vet graciously stayed open late for us, and we said our goodbyes. I know that he’s with Smoky and Rerun and all of the other furry kids that Geoff and I have had come in and out of our lives so far and I know I’ll see him again. I am at peace with the decision to let him go and I think that the timing was just right. But I will miss him. O Lord, will I miss him.
Bucky came to me from the MSPCA. He was a Phinney’s Friends cat. Phinney’s Friends was, at the time, a program at the MSPCA designed to help people with HIV/AIDS keep their pets while dealing with their disease. Bucky’s human had died and so he was up for adoption. I adopted him in 1999 and he was with me for the rest of his life.
Phinney’s Friends is now a standalone non-profit and it is entirely volunteer run. If you are so inclined, I encourage you to make a donation there in Bucky’s memory or in the memory of a person or animal you love. Without them he never would have come into my life and I would have been all the poorer for it. Also, Phinney’s Friends now has an expanded mission that, especially with the way the economy has been, is more important than ever.
Now cracks a noble heart.—Good night, sweet prince,
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!
~Kelly
* Bucky got his nickname “Bruiser” while living with that roommate. He got in a spat with her cat over some of her cat’s wet food and bit her cat’s tail. The end of that cat’s tail later fell off. In her owner’s bed. Whoops.
** This is a super long story but I will tell you sometime if you want to hear it. Just not now.
Gentle readers, you need a cat. Specifically, you need this cat.
Hi! I’m Sadie. Can I be your lady?
Sadie is 8 years young. She was recently orphaned when her human died unexpectedly two weeks ago. She’s currently living with the very kind daughter of her human, but that situation can’t last forever as that nice lady, Pam, has two cats already. Sadie would very much like to play with those kitties, but they’re not so much into her. So she’s staying in the bathroom and looking for a new home.
Sadie is healthy, up to date on her shots, and has all of her medical records. She’s a Chinchilla Persian, a total sweetheart, and would love a home with adults, other cats, and older kids. She’s located in Western MA but can be brought to the greater Boston area and is available for a meet and greet or for a foster arrangement if it’s the right fit.
Leave a comment here if you’re interested and please feel free to crosspost this info to other interested parties.
Before we get to the year that was or the year that will be, here’s your annual Christmas card. Brought to you by the little dogs that keep us happy, on our toes, and forever finding rawhide chews in the strangest places.
All of us, yes, even Scratch, wish you the best in the New Year.
Regular readers know that we’re animal lovers here. We have cats and dogs here at Casa Dachshund, despite the name, and we love all animals.* That’s why this new project by Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal fame is so cool. This is, as he explains on the website, a form of cat atonement (catonement) for recently Kickstarting a super successful game called Exploding Kittens. Really.
Today we brought home the newest member of our family, Dash. Dash is a 6-year-old black and tan tweenie male long hair dachshund. We thought initially that the previous owners had named him Dash because so many people mispronounce dachshund as “dash-hound.” Apparently that’s not the case, this little guy is fast.
I got word last week that my job is going to be outsourced to external contractors, with the idea that the organization will save money in the long run. I can’t say I agree, but I guess what I think doesn’t quite matter as much anymore, now that my job has an expiration date. My last day is March 20th.
So once again, I will be looking for a job. And I am just thrilled, let me tell you.
Right now it is zero degrees outside, and with the wind blowing pretty hard the wind chill is WAY below zero. I think right now with the wind blowing at 12 miles an hour, the wind chill is about fourteen below zero. And since the wind is gusting to even higher speeds, that wind chill is probably going to go even further into Antarctica territory.
And what is truly insane? This is not going to be over anytime soon.
I woke up a couple of hours ago and checked outside. Dave Epstein had predicted that many of us would have a foot of snow or more by this point, and I am pretty sure his predictions have been born out in many places across Massachusetts. I cam’t tell how much snow we have gotten so far but it looks like we have gotten enough to almost reach the top of the Mini’s tires.
Looking out the front door a few minutes after 7 AM.
The Books are Taking Over... 