Well, Mom and I finally went to the Humane Society today, and we came home with three kittens!  They are between 4 and 4 1/2 months old and are regular pistols!  Pandora is slowly getting used to them, and the dogs have already become friends, although the kittens don't like the dogs yet.  We kept them in the dogs' old kennel, since it large enough for the three of them to run around, plus have a litter box and food and water in there.  They got to run around for about four hours this evening, playing with each other and exploring the house - I had forgotten how rambunctious kittens are!

Here is Stella.  She is the largest of the three.



And here are Emma (on the left) and Celia.

This morning I lost my dear cat, Reina.  Her full name was Reina de los Corazones, which means Queen of Hearts in Spanish, but we just called her Reina or "Rainy" for short.   Her name came about for three reasons - "queen" because when she showed up at the front door about ten years ago with a kitten, we realized she was a mother, and a queen cat.  Queen also fit because she was pure cat, and knew it.  Whatever she wanted, she got, and she could be very demanding and insistent, and knew she was regal.  "Hearts" came about because she had several heart-shaped patches on her fur.

I'm not sure exactly how old she was.  When she arrived in 1998 or 1999, she was fully grown, and could have been one year old or six years old.  We will never know.  She was very skittish at first, but over the next six or seven months, I began to earn her trust by feeding her, and then sitting on the porch watching her, until she finally allowed me to pet her.  After that, she quickly discovered she loved the attention, and demanded a thorough pet every time I went outside.

After about a year, she decided she wanted to make the relationship permanent, and one day, she followed Mom into the house and never left.  Even though we had six other cats at the time, she quickly fit in and there were no problems.  She wasn't the most lovey-dovey cat, but when she did want attention, she would let you know by coming over to where you were sitting, meowing with her little meow, and putting her front feet up on your leg.  Often, if you weren't quick enough to invite her up, she wouldn't wait and would jump in your lap without warning.  She rarely stayed long, usually jumping back down after ten or fifteen minutes, but there were times she would curl up and take an hour-long nap.  She had a quiet, throaty purr, and she adored having her cheeks rubbed.

A few years ago, we noticed her eyes were looking glazed over.  At the vet's, we learned she was going blind, and she tested positive for feline leukemia.  Her disease didn't affect her much at first, and even though her sight was going, she was happy and got around the house with no problems, never hesitating to show the dogs that she was boss.  About two years ago, she had her first spell where she stopped eating and her coat looked shabby.  The vet put her on Prednisone for a week, and she rallied.  She had another issue about a year ago, and again the Prednisone helped immensely.

About a month ago, we noticed she was losing weight.  She had been fat ever since she came into the house, but now her skin hung loosely over her body.  We tried giving her canned food and pieces of chicken, which she did eat.  However, her weight never came back, and she started stumbling around the house more and almost constantly sleeping.  She still loved her pettings though, again, as long as they were on her terms. 

Last week, she stopped showing interest in any food.  The vet didn't want to give Prednisone again, so she recommended crushing Vitamin B tabs in canned food, which helped for a few days, but on Thursday she stopped eating.  When I came home after dinner and seeing Watchmen (great movie, but don't feel like blogging about it at present) I noticed her hunched up under Mom's computer desk.  I was able to pick her up, and noticed she seemed really weak.  At that point, I KNEW.  She wasn't going to make it through Saturday. 

I lay on the couch for three hours, just letting her sleep on my chest, not very responsive but still occasionally purring and making a feeble attempt to reciprocate when I rubbed her cheek.  I finally had to get to bed at 2:30am, so I found a box (she loved boxes), put an old towel in, and made her comfortable in the bathroom, near a space heater to keep her warm.  Mom thought that she might rally if we insisted on the Prednisone, but I just knew in my heart and in my gut that she was ready to go.  I told her it was okay to pass on and not to worry about me, that I knew she would return to me in the future, and gave her several kisses on her forehead.  We decided to take her to the vet's first thing in the morning to have her put down.  I said a prayer that she would pass overnight, so she wouldn't have to go through the stress of the car ride.

When I woke up this morning, she was still alive, but barely.  I gave her another kiss, and rubbed her cheek, but there was no response - no purring, no movement except her labored breathing.  We headed to the vet's, but she was gone before the vet could finish the job.  I am relieved that she went fairly quickly, in her sleep, with me lovingly stroking her as she left this world. 

When we got back home, I found a nice spot in the yard and dug her grave.  We brought her into the house, still in her box, so the other animals could say goodbye and could see we didn't just take her out of the house and leave her somewhere; they seemed to understand what had happened.  Then we buried her, sobbed some more, and came inside to snuggle with the remaining animals. 

It feels so weird to only have one cat.  This is the first time in my life we haven't had at least two in the house.  Usually a stray finds us just before we lose one, but this time that didn't happen.  We've already decided that if one doesn't show up in the next few weeks, we are going to the animal shelter to get one - it just doesn't feel right not having another cat, and Pandora is already looking a little lonely.

I wish I knew why this never gets any easier.  I have lost so many pets, and I swear it gets harder each time, not easier.  At least we had three more years than we expected to have, when she had her first diagnosis, and until the last few weeks, she was in great health.  Even up until yesterday, she seemed happy.  I am thankful for her coming into my life, and I know it must have been her time to go.  I think I was worthy enough to deserve such a great cat (and if not, I did the best I could for her), and I take some comfort in knowing that she is with the Goddess now, demanding attention from her.
( Reina )

-The interview last Thursday went well; I should hear back from them by the end of this week.  The position opening up in my current department finally posted; I am applying for it tomorrow morning.

-I am getting really excited for Watchmen!

-As soon as I get my tax refund, I am going to go ahead and get the Eternal Membership at DragonCon.

-The weather has been really nice lately, but it is supposed to rain tomorrow.

-I ordered some Tourbooks and maps from AAA yesterday, so I can start research for my potential road trip in June.

-Here are some new pix of the animals!


Pandora looking solemn:

 

Reina checking out something on the chair:




Charm snuggled up:



Phoenix with his toy hydrant:

-Pandora has become quite the pilferer of pillows.  The last two weeks I keep waking up with her firmly ensconced on MY pillow, and my head at an odd angle on the mattress itself.  I can't even get upset with her, because she is so freaking cute.  *grumble*

-I had an interview today for a regular full-time position at the bank, and it went very well.  Also, another position opens up in the department I currently work in mid-February.  My current manager has said repeatedly that she doesn't want to lose me when my assignment ends, plus she is friends with the manager I interviewed with today.  I feel pretty good that I will have one of the jobs by President's Day, which means benefits, paid time off, a 401k, and a pretty good pay increase.  *keeps fingers crossed*

-I did some more writing today, mostly plot or cultural ideas for my characters.  I finally decided on a naming scheme for my dragons, and started working on a timeline to keep things straight.

-I've been doing some book reading lately, which had been neglected last month while trying to get caught up on my magazines (my subscriptions are People, Entertainment Weekly, Newsweek, Wired, Vanity Fair, and Realms of Fantasy, plus I pick up the British magazine Empire every month and read Mom's Reader's Digest).  I got caught up on several of my fantasy series that had new books released in the past few months, including Book 4 of the Age of Fire series (titled Dragon Strike, by E.E. Knight), Book 3 of the Imaginarium Geographica series (titled The Indigo King, by James Owen), Book 5 of the Powers of Three series (titled Long Shadows, by Erin Hunter), Book 14 of the Tail of the Moon manga, Book 8 of the Trinity Blood manga, and I am two-thirds through the latest Pern book, Dragonheart.  I sure love my books. *grin*

-Finally, here are some more pictures I took on Wednesday.  These are about two hours later, when the snow was coming down much harder and the wind was picking up, causing the snow to drift.  A few hours later, when the snow died down, I ventured outside and made some snow ice cream.


     


   

Here are some pretty Christmas pictures for you to enjoy, as well as some new ones of the animals.


( Photos! )

I've had a couple of people on here want to see pictures of my animals (I can't really call them "pets" because I know who really rules the house - *sigh*).