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20506. Neato - 11/9/2006 12:36:19 PM Condolences, Thoughtful.
Death is all around me at the moment, just nudges for me, but blows for my friends and relatives.
A good friend's father is dying - the old boy (as we always called him) is 90, and his son seems to want to go through it with his Dad all on his own, and I know that's hard, because I went though my mother's dying last year, and it was hard, even with the good support that I had.
My husband's brother has melanomas sprouting in nasty places. He is an extreme kind of Christian (literal old testament kind of stuff) and had no treatment for a long time. Faith (or something) kept him going for a few years. But he hasn't got long to go.
A friend in NZ's daughter suicided last week. She seemed fine, lots of friends, good career prospects. But her parents, with whom she seemd so close, didn't know she had a mental illness. She had been put "Under the Act" (which means you are required to have treament for a mental illness in NZ). She was a self harmer. She had been cutting herself. So badly. No-one knew (except the inevitable internet group). She overdosed. She was 23.
20507. wonkers2 - 11/9/2006 3:24:38 PM Sad. There is a lot yet to learn about mental illness. 20508. arkymalarky - 11/9/2006 4:18:29 PM That's so sad, Neato. I hope things ease up on your circle of family and friends. 20509. arkymalarky - 11/9/2006 4:19:48 PM I'm registering for the spring semester today. I dread it because this particular university has a weak network and system and the simplest things at other universities seem to be a major ordeal here.
I'll be taking two classes this spring, one this summer, and I'm done. 20510. arkymalarky - 11/9/2006 4:20:11 PM by system I mean administrative system 20511. thoughtful - 11/9/2006 4:23:49 PM Thanks poipual, jex and neato, and my sympathies for your losses as well.
Suicide is a really really rough one.
Not that losing any one any way is a picnic...there is no good or easy way to die. But suicide in one so young is especially tough. Some how it seems it should be preventable and yet so often it isn't ... except with hindsight. And that's the real hell of it. 20512. judithathome - 11/9/2006 10:26:01 PM Okay, I have a kitty.
It took me four hours to go pick him up, return some pillows I'd bought yesterday, get him a carrier (red suede and really nifty), a bed (white lambskin), food, cat litter and box, and toys. Not all in that order...
He's cream colored with cafe au lait ears trimmed in a darker cocoa and his nose is the same color as his dark ears with a white stripe going down the middle...white toes on cocoa feet and legs, the palest pale blue eyes in the world, and he's very, very small. He is Siamese.
Got home and set up the litter box and food bowl and turned around and he had disappeared behind the stove. Keoni stopped by to see him and after he and his partner left, I guess Albert liked their voices and came out looking for the "guys".
This is going to be so different from having a dog. But he's already purring up a storm when I hold him. 20513. thoughtful - 11/9/2006 10:43:45 PM congrats on the new family member. kitties are very different from dogs, but no less lovable. 20514. arkymalarky - 11/10/2006 12:07:25 AM I loved my Siamese (Jasper) when I was a kid. I became allergic to them after moving to AR, and he died not long after we moved here. 20515. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/10/2006 12:16:53 AM He sounds like a good lap-cat and they're the best. Is he cockeyed, vociferous and a climber?–three very typical Siamese traits. 20516. judithathome - 11/10/2006 2:25:19 AM Seems to be al three right now. I am taking him to the vet tomorrow and he may come home as Lulu...my neighbor thinks Albert is a girl. 20517. wonkers2 - 11/10/2006 6:42:03 AM The more you handle him the better. Or her. 20518. judithathome - 11/10/2006 5:09:14 PM It's hard NOT to handle him...he's on me all the time. He likes to watch TV and the computer screen. Already using the litter box and eating very well. Coming from a litter of four and being the runt, I'm sure he never got enough food.
I'm thinking of changing his name to Harley (or Lulu if he's a she) because he purrs like a motorcycle. 20519. judithathome - 11/10/2006 5:18:52 PM Okay, just talked to Keoni and Harley it is...even if it's a female. 20520. Magoseph - 11/10/2006 5:48:10 PM Better have Harley spaded--a little harlot you don't need around the house? 20521. judithathome - 11/10/2006 9:07:10 PM I will, when he's six months old. But no de-clawing! 20522. wonkers2 - 11/10/2006 9:14:44 PM What a coincidence, we had a beautiful huge Siamese cat which we named Harley. Sadly, he was flattened by a car at around age 6 in the street in front of our house. 20523. thoughtful - 11/10/2006 10:06:24 PM be sure to take pictures...they're little for such a short time. 20524. wonkers2 - 11/10/2006 11:34:04 PM We've never de-clawed our cats. But we've never figured out how to stop them from shredding our furniture. 20525. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/11/2006 12:08:27 AM De-clawing just their front paws still allows them to defend themselves and your furniture will be spared.
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