Our Cat, Tully - Bittersweet Moments.

We have received hard news...our cat Tully, who is one of our sweetest cats, has cancer. It's inoperable, and he has a very limited time left. He is not in pain...he is also eating and drinking, snuggly and active! We've been told to feed him anything, any time, and we have meds for him for a secondary infection which he is responding to. On the one hand, our hearts are breaking, and on the other hand we are enjoying this precious time with him so much! We are, per the vets instructions, spoiling him rotten - er, rottener! He's gonna get his very own little plate of bacon and eggs this weekend too!

I have hesitated to take pictures of him - he is so thin! On the other hand, today I walked out into the living room and found him and one of the kittens, Dante curled up together in the chair and HAD to get a picture of them beaming cute beams at me! The first picture was a little dark, before I got the lamp turned on...

Tully and Dante

 For the second pair of pictures I got the light turned on...

Tully and Dante - "Hi!"

"Did you hear something?"
"Yeah, I heard it too..."

So...these are precious, special days with our dear cat. We love him with all our hearts, and we will see to it that when the end comes that he is not alone, nor will he suffer. This is a sacred space in time. Let us honor it, and our wonderful cat, Tully!

I Passed!

I passed my Research Literacy class with an A! Whew! My 4.0 stands...classes start back up tomorrow, but this was the SCARY bug bear of the program, its over and done. Still a lot of work to do, but for me, its easy work.
Life is good!

Betty Ford April 8, 1918 – July 8, 2011

Betty Ford has passed away at the age of 93. Everybody, of course, remembers her for her transparent honesty in dealing with breast cancer and addiction in the public forum, and for founding the Betty Ford Center for addiction treatment - pivotal in the way addiction counseling and aid is managed to day. But...she also during her active years counseled the right wing to moderation regarding social concerns and programs, supported whole heartedly the Equal Rights Amendment, was pro-abortion, pro-women serving in the military in combat, and pro-gays serving in the military. Her voice is silenced now, and people will pick and choose what they wish to remember her for...but she was a great and powerful example for us all.

Update on a Hero...

Quite awhile back, I wrote a blog post about my friend Gabe called Transgender Courage...meet one of my heroes... . Its past time for an update. Gabe's daughter, Claudia is now a year old and precocious and cute beyond words! He has also met a wonderful man and is in a relationship that is blossoming and beautiful! And he has started testosterone at last! He is becoming the beautiful young man is truly is and was meant to be - and it has taken some courage still to do this - finances have been tight, insurance companies difficult (his doctor has found a nice work around though, and as of this date, he finally has coverage for the moment.), shots have been painful, and the patch has been not as successful as hoped for. He is wrestling with the complex battle of changing gender markers on documents such as birth certificate, etc. and has hit some brick walls there on that in the state he lives it.  Yet still he perseveres and lives and loves. He plans to return to school, and has goals for the future.
Gabe also, with all this, remains my brother, and my friend, ever willing to listen and support me when I struggle or have questions, which, with everything else going on in his life is truly amazing! Recently, he shared some pictures of himself chronicling his transition from before to present day, and with his permission I'd like to share a couple of them, as they profoundly and unbelievably show the incredible journey he has undertaken to become truly himself...

At age 15, quite some time ago. He was in a battle at the time with his mom who did not want him to cut his hair short, so was unhappily struggling with it being longer...

Gabe as he is today, a strong, confident young man.

And it is a journey he has chosen to share with us, in all its ups and downs and the glories of living. Which I for one am entirely grateful for! Gabe, you remain as always, a brother, a friend and one of my heroes! 

Gabriel and Claudia

Kitten Update...

And here's EVERYBODY! They are kind of like tribbles at this point...in order from far left - Maya, Amergin, Dante, Rosie, Audre with Seamus and Maire in the middle! And they are all so wonderful...

.Dante, Maya, and Amergin are now eating crunchy cat food out of the food bin...they think they are big now!Actually all 5 are eating crunchy food - these were the 3 that happened to be into the food...

Its making it difficult for the other cats and the dog to get their dinner, as there is  usually  a bunch of kittens in the way...

Maire, the littlest girl...I don't have a shot of Seamus by himself, since the camera batteries died.

MacDubh saying "Hi!" to Maire (the little Calico) and Seamus (the little black one)...their eyes are just getting open, and their kinda sorta creeping maybe...

I am sorry to say that one of the littlest kittens did not make it - it was the little orange boy, Rob Roy. There did not appear to be anything dramatically wrong with him, except that he was smaller than the other two. *sigh* Its always so sad when this happens - everybody else however is fat and sassy and driving the momcats nuts! Marmalade is totally convinced that kittens belong IN their box. The kittens are convinced they should be out and into everything. So when its kitten bed time, Marmalade runs around trying to catch them and put them in the box, and they hop out two seconds after she turns her back. It usually takes about an hour for them to wear her out or vice versa, and they all fall asleep together. And they are almost getting too big for her to pick them up.

Sunset this past Friday night...

Um...well...you see...

Rob Ruadh and Séamus

‎*FACE...PALM* Um...remember us talking about the adoptive mom cat, Marmalade, who jumped in to help Lucy mother the kittens?
Well. She evidently had ulterior motives. 3 of them. Two of them pictured here, about 2 and a half minutes old - the third was on the way. These two are both little boys, named Séamus (the little black one) and Rob Ruadh (the little orange one) and a little girl - a dark callico just like Maya and Audre, named Maire. Everybody is fine, except I am having a nervous break down. Firedancer the Second, who fathered this fine brood (both of them) will be having surgery in two weeks. Whether he wants to or not is immaterial. We never even knew she was pregnant - aka. known as a stealth pregnancy (had one other cat that pulled that one on us, years ago). Everyone else will also be attended to at the proper ages, immediately! Although getting Lucy fixed is going to be a nightmare as she is shy to the point of being feral. So, welcome the newest additions to the family. And yes, they are all in the same box. Snoring. Contentedly. 

0.o 

I however may be awake for awhile...

*twitch*