Posted by barb on Feb 23, 2010 in
Cute Pets,
Pictures,
Random Thoughts I keep thinking I should blog more, but when I sit down to do it, I find I don’t have much to say. This year has been so stressful, and I find it hard to be inspired by much. The house has this pall of sadness over it, and every day at home is a slog. I’m watching Ares to see what side-effects of chemo he may develop, constantly watching what he eats and checking the litter box (yes, isn’t that lovely). Also constantly trying to see that Duncan has food any time he shows interest, and that it’s food he likes. One has few external signs that he’s sick, but I know the cancer is eating away at him. The other has lost nearly half his body weight and feels so fragile to the touch. It’s hard enough to face losing one, but facing losing two just seems inconceivable.
Mostly I try to celebrate them, taking pictures and snuggling copiously. Then, of course, I have to make sure that Artemis, our non-sick cat, gets enough attention, too. Often she feels left out because I’m not facing losing her sooner rather than later. So it feels like every day at home is just all about the cats. And all about the prospect of loss.
On the one hand, I know that it’s “just my cats”, not like it’s a human that’s sick. On the other hand, Ares has been part of my life since 1996, and Ducan since 2000. It’s hard to pretend it doesn’t matter because they’re “just a pet”, because I’ve never seen pets as “just pets” – they’re family members.
So for now, I’m just hanging on. Hoping for the best, and often cursing that hope.
Tags: cats, suckitude
Posted by barb on Sep 22, 2006 in
Cute Pets,
Pictures Ares and Artemis have been very clingy since my busy, busy two weeks has wound down. Today I was trying to write in my thesis, and they had to “help”.
Tags: cats
Posted by barb on Aug 18, 2006 in
Cute Pets,
Pictures Yup, it’s that time again. Telecommuting on a Friday means that I have to fend off the cuteness of our three fuzzy residents. Ares spent much of the morning following me around, and finally settled near the window in my office, so he was easy to find:
Artemis was on our bed, with the “Vegas chick” toy (a feather and pom-pom toy that reminds me of the hideous head-wear worn by some Vegas showgirls):
And Duncan was watching out the front window:
Tags: cats
Posted by barb on Aug 11, 2006 in
Cute Pets,
Pictures Ares was waiting for me, as if he knew it was time for the kitten check:
Artemis and Duncan were both sleeping in the master bedroom:
[Posted a bit late, but the pics were still taken Friday]
Tags: cats
Posted by barb on Jul 28, 2006 in
Cute Pets,
Pictures Artemis and Duncan are sleeping-clones on different sides of the room:
Ares was being silly on the chair by my scrappin’ table:
Tags: cats
Posted by barb on Jul 14, 2006 in
Cute Pets,
Pictures Duncan and Ares were easy to find, sleeping on the floor in the master bedroom:
Artemis, however, was hiding pretty well. I looked on the main level and in the basement, even looking under the futon, where she’s been known to hide when we have service people in the house. No luck. I went back up to our second level and called her a couple times. Then I remembered that sometimes she liked to go in our closet. That’s where I found her, but I’d already disturbed her nap (bad mama), so she was ready to jump out. I had to snap quickly:
Tags: cats
Posted by barb on Jun 23, 2006 in
Cute Pets,
Pictures I’m just about to walk out the door for a scrapbook convention (yay!), and took a spin around the house to catch the kids. No big surprises – they’re all up in the master bedroom sleeping.
Tags: cats
Posted by barb on Jun 16, 2006 in
Cute Pets,
Pictures I took a quick spin around the house, and here’s what the cats are up to (no big surprises):
Ares is face-marking the kitchen chair
Duncan is slumbering in the master bedroom
Artemis is sunggled on my sweatshirt on the ottoman in the living room (where I’m working)
Tags: cats
Posted by barb on May 24, 2006 in
Cute Pets,
Pictures 
The weather was finally nice enough after work that I could sit out at our new deck table with Ares. Ares and Artemis used to go out on the balcony at my apartment all the time. I had taught them that it wasn’t okay to put their paws up on the railing (yup, cats *can* be taught) and they needed to stay away from the edge. (Plus, we were only on the second floor, so I was pretty sure they would be okay if they did happen to jump down.) It got to a point where I would just leave the balcony door open, and just let them come in an out as they pleased.
Since we moved to the house, though, I haven’t felt like I could bring the cats out, because we don’t really trust Duncan – though, I think it might be time to try and teach him like I did with Ares and Artemis. Today I decided to just let Ares out, since I was pretty sure I could trust him, though I do need to teach him a bit about what he can do and what he can’t (i.e. he can jump up on the built-in bench, but he can’t jump up on the flower box). He had a great time rolling around in the random detritus on the deck, exploring the sad planters filled with weeds, and rubbing his cheeks against the rake we have out there.
The picture with this post is Ares attacking the sad, weed-filled planter. What a little guy.
Tags: cats
