Just over two weeks ago, the constant companion of my entire adult life moved on to her next plane of existence. While the adult in me cherishes 14 wonderful years, there is a little girl just beneath the surface who is angry and hurt that her cat couldn’t live forever. This angry little girl stayed in bed crying for two days, only caring about her own loss and blocking out the rest of the world around her. Desperate to pull her back into the world, her family discussed how to ease the pain in her heart.
The little boy who loved her remembered that when she lost her Fuzz Monster, that the girl held tight to her Mocha cat for hours and it made her feel better. The little boy went off on a mission and when he found his goal, he returned to the girl. He took his love by the hand and gently suggested they go out and get some fresh air. He drove to a place he knew and did the only thing he could think of to help her pain; he put a little kitten into her arms and let her hold him as she used to hold her Mocha cat.
Although he was incredibly small compared to her Mocha cat, he was content to stay in her arms, occasionally pressing his cold, wet nose against her cheek and putting his warm paws to her mouth, as if to express that he understood her hurt and she didn’t need to say anything. The girl did feel better after cuddling the kitten, but she was wary of letting small fur balls back into her heart and went back to her bed.
The next day as the girl lay in bed, the little boy who loved her put the kitten back into her arms. He added a second kitten, because two kittens cause much more trouble than one and he wanted to see her smile while she watched the kittens play.
Even though both kittens were to make the little girl smile, one quickly became “her” kitten and the other turned into “his” kitten. While Leroy is without a doubt beautiful…
...and falls asleep in silly positions…
...the little girl can’t help but see shadows of her Mocha cat when she stares into the eyes of her Stitch kitten…
...and she can’t bring herself to move him off of her pillow when he falls asleep next to her head.
You were the sweetest, strangest, fluffy little puppy-cat and I can’t begin to describe how much you’ll be missed. We love you.
the FrankenFuzz Monster.
I mentioned in my last post that our kitten was a smidge broken. When we got her from Jacquie last November, she’d previously had two polyps removed from her nasal passages. Fuzz made a great deal of noise when she ate or drank and we soon realized that the polyps were probably back. Since about February, we were constantly in to see the vet, trying out medicine cocktails to control the problem as surgery was a bit cost prohibitive. It got to the point where daily steroids were the only thing helping to control but not correct the problem.
Neither the husband or I felt very good about giving our less than 7lb kitten the equivalent of kitty prednisone every day for an extended amount of time. Any attempts to wean her from the pills was painful. Her breathing was incredibly labored and along with the vet, we wondered if she was getting enough oxygen at times. I also became convinced that she was mostly deaf as nasal pharyngeal polyps tend to originate in the ear canal. The deafness did explain why Fuzz Monster insisted on “playing” with Jezebel despite the growling and hissing; Fuzz couldn’t hear the growling.
Two weeks ago, bleeding heart that he is, the husband decided we weren’t going to medicate anymore and took Fuzz to Georgia Veterinary Services with the referral our vet submitted at the beginning of the whole process of getting the kitten better. GVS removed a marble sized pharyngeal polyp from the back of her throat and nasal passage. Then they opened her up and cleaned out the bony area around her right ear canal to ensure the unwanted tissue was completely gone.
She came home on the 12th looking like the most pathetic kitten in the world. In addition to the shaved head, she had a drain under her chin to let the excess fluid out and a row of stitches next to it. The Elizabethan collar finished up the indignity. She got the drain removed on the 14th and the incision area has healed very nicely over the past week. This past Thursday, I came home and found her sleeping just inside the bedroom door, sans collar. I looked around and found it on the bed, still velcroed together. She’d managed to pull her head out of the collar and run free. Since she wasn’t bothering the staples at the incision, we kept the collar off for longer and longer stretches, finally keeping it off Saturday. We also let her out of her sick quarters (our bedroom) and reintroduced her to the household.
Mocha is still not very impressed.
My internet capabilities at work are being limited more and more to non-interesting sites. Ravelry is blocked and lately, the browser won’t load the dashboard so that I can at least update blogs. I figured I should take a minute while I’m thinking about it at home to go ahead and fess up to my Mission Possible list. I considered never posting it and then feigning ignorance when Jen, Sandy & Claudia come after me at the end of the year for not finishing…only for a second, though 
In no particular order, my goals for the year:
- process & spin alpaca purchased at SAFF 07
- fingerless mitts and socks for the little sister
- complete the mates for both the Herring and Shimmer socks
- spin every bit of roving and top purchased up to the end of 2007*
- Bee Fields Shawl*
- Mystery Stole 3*
- finish Fattie’s Fish Fish, you know, because the baby’s already here
- Shedir
- design and knit a sock for Mom
- use 50% of the oddball yarns in stash
- design a sweater for some stash yarn
- use up the bits of yarn left over from other projects
Now then, the caveats, because all good missions need an “in case of emergency break glass” sort of clause.
- The Monster Batts of Doom™ started as batts and therefore are excluded from the requirement of being yarn by the end of the year. I simply hope to be finished spinning those in my lifetime.
- With regard to Bee Fields and MS3, the spinning for both projects must be complete. One of the projects must be completed in its entirety and the second must be a minimum of 50% complete by the end of the year.
Fuzz (aka Fuzz Monster, Fuzzarino, the Fuzzmeister, Fuzztastic, Fuzzalicious) came to live with us last month. Behold the devastating cuteness that is a disgustingly soft (I don’t think the alpaca top I’m spinning is softer) and fuzzy kitten.
If she had a bellybutton, I’m pretty sure there would be lint.
I’m sure you’d be surprised to learn that I’ve been working on things…a good many things, actually. There’s been knitting.
And not knitting.
And spinning (50/50 merino and silk).
And knitting handspun. What a concept! I’ve just been throwing the finished skeins into a basket all this time.
I went through that basket and started a Baby Surprise Jacket (Humbug BFL and blue merino/silk)
There’s my first toe-up sock with encroachment heel ala Jen.
And more spinning. Spunky Elcectic “Tulip” BFL. The real color is between these two shots.
Whew! I’m exhausted!
