~Off Topic Thread~

[NickyMcMillan 0]

Pasta hut?! Is it April fools yet? Whatever next... Salad King?!

Sorry to hear about Hugo, Maven. That's tough. I look forward to having a cat again one day.

Edited October 13, 2008 by NickyMcMillan

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

Sorry to hear about Hugo, maven. It's hard to lose pets - they are often in your life longer than many friends and sometimes more loyal.

[Stinky Monkey 1]

Hey all -- still here in Connecticut. It's been kind of a mixed bag out here. On the one hand, I've had some great meetings and a really exciting roundtable that my center convened in New York last week. I also got a chance to road trip it up to Maine with my mom on Thurs-Sat -- I had a job interview of sorts with a think tank up there and it looks like I will be an adjunct researcher with them soon, so more work coming my way. The foliage was so amazing and the weather was just perfect -- New England in the fall is almost heart-stoppingly beautiful.

However, some bad news. My lovely, wonderful, cranky and adorable cat Hugo died on Friday, when I was in Maine. Yes, he was elderly (17 in August) but up until the day before he died he was still running around and eating like a horse. We knew the end would be coming soon, but it hasn't made it any better for us who are still around to mourn him. He had kidney failure, which hadn't been the case on the last visit to the vet's in June. In fact, they had pronounced him healthy, if a bit fragile. Hugo couldn't walk on Friday morning, so my dad took him to the vet. It turned out his kidneys had failed, and he had developed cancer. He wasn't yet in any pain, but the best thing was for him to be put to sleep.

Hugo was born the day I left for college. He was the only surviving kitten (of two) that my sweet, sweet cat Peeper ever had. He was stubborn and cranky, loved spiral ham and cheese, ate broccoli and bread with gusto, put the fear of god in dogs far larger than him, once befriended a silver fox, considered lounging in and pouncing out of flower beds the height of fun. He was gigantic -- at one point nearly 22 pounds and nearly all muscle. He was one of those black and white tuxedo cats, and he hated all orange marmalade cats on principle. He came running every time I opened the fridge, even on the day before he died, the last day I saw him. I gave him some chicken, and he looked up at me with the sweetest expression afterwards. I said to my mom, "Doesn't he look just like he did when he was a kitten?"

I was a child when he was born. Now I'm a woman with two marriages under her belt and two transatlantic moves. I've loved and lost and been hired and fired. And every time I came home, there was Hugo to greet me. He trusted me more than anyone else, and I tried never to let him down. And even though I'm an atheist, I like to think there's somewhere warm and fun and sweet that good animals go. And I'm sure Hugo's there with his mommy now, eating spiral ham and sunbathing in a choice bed of daisies.

I am so sorry for your loss, I still miss my dog Tosh after years since he went to doggy heaven. It is like losing a member of your family

my thoughts are with you at this sad time

Shaz

[English Muffin 59]

For Maven.

[Laura+Tom 2]

May Hugo rest in peace.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

Thanks everyone -- I know I'm soppy but I loved him so much. I'm just glad I got to see him one last time, and that I wasn't out in California.

On another topic, how 'bout this SoCal fire???

[ginger1981 0]

Your story about Hugo tugged at my heartstrings and brought a tear to my eye. Recently I lost my family dog, Molly and the little idiosyncrisies and personalities our pets had reminded me of my old girl.

Molly was a black toy poodle, who never had her tail clipped and was viscious to every human being on earth except to my immediate family. She was typical of a small dog...often very hyper and high strung. I never saw a moment where her tail wasn't wagging so fast like that of a hummingbird's wings. In the rare moments she would sit still she would crawl into my lap and suckle on the crook of my arm...I guess regressing to a puppy like state was comforting to her.

Molly thought of herself as being a viscious beast and would growl and snarl at every neighborhood child who rode by on their bicycle or get near our fence. Taking her to get groomed was a wholely different venture. She had attacked groomers with her small razor sharp teeth, and it got to the point where we would have to take her to the vet, have her put under and have the vet's assistant groom her. We hated doing that, but being a poodle meant she had to be groomed a good 3-4 times a year minimum. Generally, we would laugh at her acting like a wolf when she was merely a pup, but we knew all the same that if anyone tried to hurt anyone in our family she would give her little life to protect us. She was just a rare animal that was 100% loyal and devoted to those she loved.

She was also a talented acrobat. Molly could raise up on her hind legs and walk and twirl around like a circus performer. Of course a potato chip...her favorite treat...would be necessary to get her to perform, but her talent was unmistakeable.

And love...she had it. A heart of gold. After I had long moved out on my own and would come home to visit she would always greet me with a thousand kisses to my face and a puddle of pee at my feet. I like to say that you know someone loves you when they wet themselves every time they see you come home. My shoes were a small price to pay for such love.

When my grandfather passed away we took in his 13 year old schnauzer named Pepper. She was old, frail and losing her hearing and eyesight. Since Molly was so devoted to us we worried about being upset about having a new dog around...but instead of possesiveness Molly became the companion and protector of Pepper. Like Anne Sullivan to Helen Keller, Molly would lead Pepper around the house and yard on their frolics. When a kid would run by our house, she would lead Pepper to the side of the yard so they could together bark and terrorize the neighbor kid. When Pepper was cold due to weight loss, Molly would cuddle up against her to keep her warm. She would take her out to smell the grass, lead her over to be pet by one of the family members, and keep her company as she slowly passed away.

After Pepper passed away Molly was never quite the same. We thought about getting another dog but Molly was starting to get old too, and we thought a puppy would be too much for her to handle. My mother noticed her tail didn't wag as fast as it used to, and she didn't relish barking at the neighbor kids running by the house anymore.

One morning a few months ago when my dad took her out of her kennel in the morning she wouldn't leave. After taking her to the doctor he prescribed an antibiotic for a minor infection...but otherwise she would be ok. So my dad gave her the medication and that night put her to sleep in her kennel. The next morning my dad went downstairs and found she had passed away in her sleep. It was unexpected, but at the same time it didn't surprise us that a broken heart had ultimately been her demise.

Molly's short life taught me much more now than I realized at the time. She helped me understand what unconditional love is. She brought light to what loyalty is. Finally, she showed me what devotion to another person or pet is.

I truly believe the world would be a better place if more people had the same qualities that Molly had shown in her life as a dog. May she rest in peace.

[VisaJourneyLady 33]

for Maven

for Ginger

You two write beautifully by the way.

My parents and brother and sister are on the plane right now! Pretty excited to see them. Not excited about them taking over my little apartment.

[Jason&Sarah 0]

Truly beautiful stories...my heart goes out to you!

And Poiteen, how big is your apartment?

[VisaJourneyLady 33]

It's a one bed... they're going to be around for about 3 weeks, but they're planning to do some out of town trips. We'll see how it goes for a few days, if it's waay too cramped maybe some of them can stay in a hotel for a few of the days they're here.

[Laura+Tom 2]

Well I made my Christmas cake. Got a good receipe from the BBC food site. Now I just have to douse it in brandy every week till Christmas. At that rate one slice will get you drunk.

[ginger1981 0]

Well I made my Christmas cake. Got a good receipe from the BBC food site. Now I just have to douse it in brandy every week till Christmas. At that rate one slice will get you drunk.

World Market is putting out their X-mas stuff...and they had mini and full sized Walker's X-mas cakes on sale. They are a bit pricey, but Nicky got a mini one and seemed relatively impressed with it.

I personally will stick with pumpkin pie. I find x-mas cakes too rich for my taste.

[Jeraly 4]

Hey all -- still here in Connecticut. It's been kind of a mixed bag out here. On the one hand, I've had some great meetings and a really exciting roundtable that my center convened in New York last week. I also got a chance to road trip it up to Maine with my mom on Thurs-Sat -- I had a job interview of sorts with a think tank up there and it looks like I will be an adjunct researcher with them soon, so more work coming my way. The foliage was so amazing and the weather was just perfect -- New England in the fall is almost heart-stoppingly beautiful.

However, some bad news. My lovely, wonderful, cranky and adorable cat Hugo died on Friday, when I was in Maine. Yes, he was elderly (17 in August) but up until the day before he died he was still running around and eating like a horse. We knew the end would be coming soon, but it hasn't made it any better for us who are still around to mourn him. He had kidney failure, which hadn't been the case on the last visit to the vet's in June. In fact, they had pronounced him healthy, if a bit fragile. Hugo couldn't walk on Friday morning, so my dad took him to the vet. It turned out his kidneys had failed, and he had developed cancer. He wasn't yet in any pain, but the best thing was for him to be put to sleep.

Hugo was born the day I left for college. He was the only surviving kitten (of two) that my sweet, sweet cat Peeper ever had. He was stubborn and cranky, loved spiral ham and cheese, ate broccoli and bread with gusto, put the fear of god in dogs far larger than him, once befriended a silver fox, considered lounging in and pouncing out of flower beds the height of fun. He was gigantic -- at one point nearly 22 pounds and nearly all muscle. He was one of those black and white tuxedo cats, and he hated all orange marmalade cats on principle. He came running every time I opened the fridge, even on the day before he died, the last day I saw him. I gave him some chicken, and he looked up at me with the sweetest expression afterwards. I said to my mom, "Doesn't he look just like he did when he was a kitten?"

I was a child when he was born. Now I'm a woman with two marriages under her belt and two transatlantic moves. I've loved and lost and been hired and fired. And every time I came home, there was Hugo to greet me. He trusted me more than anyone else, and I tried never to let him down. And even though I'm an atheist, I like to think there's somewhere warm and fun and sweet that good animals go. And I'm sure Hugo's there with his mommy now, eating spiral ham and sunbathing in a choice bed of daisies.

Oh Maven I am so so sorry - you've got me in tears already One of the reasons that I wanted a kitten is because I kept freaking out about when Daisy eventually dies - I can't imagine not having another cat there to get us both through the hard times. When my last cat, Jasper, died, he was only 9. I was devastated as it was just after Christmas. He had been breathing funny, not eating and obviously in pain for a couple of days but nowhere was open because of the holiday. My mum's partner took him to the vet the moment he could as I went to collect some books from my friend's house as he was going to China for a year. When I came back, my mum's partner told me that he had "gone". I was so upset that I couldn't eat or do anything but spent about 6 hours alphabetising the 200+ books that I had just collected. I just needed that logical, repetitive process to keep my mind focused on something else. For ages after, I would see Jasper's shadow at the back door. I'd walk past and open it to let him in before realising that it just couldn't be him.

In time it got easier, but I wanted another cat. It took a year before I got a new cat (Daisy) and a lot of persuading my mum, but now I can't imagine being without Daisy - we've been through so much together, especially as she has travelled all the way out here with me.

Although in a way it is hard because you had to be there, at least you had a chance to see him one last time. I'm not sure which would be easier.

*hugs hugs for Maven*

Well I made my Christmas cake. Got a good receipe from the BBC food site. Now I just have to douse it in brandy every week till Christmas. At that rate one slice will get you drunk.

World Market is putting out their X-mas stuff...and they had mini and full sized Walker's X-mas cakes on sale. They are a bit pricey, but Nicky got a mini one and seemed relatively impressed with it.

I personally will stick with pumpkin pie. I find x-mas cakes too rich for my taste.

Ok so I quoted this and want to reply but am crying my eyes out!! I just wanted to share that we got our advent calendars from World Market this weekend along with some fold out chairs for our patio table/Thanksgiving/Hallowe'en party.

Any more RSVPs from the Hallowe'eners?!

Oh - and I had to postpone doing my laundry this morning as we have a three inch mantis in the machine!!!

[Jason&Sarah 0]

So I have a question for you all!

I'm going to see Sarah at Christmas in London, and was wondering if anyone had any ideas for things to do around the holidays...we're already planning on hitting up the Christmas lights, and what not, and I think heading over to Covent Garden to see their faire...but suggestions would be lovely!

[Stinky Monkey 1]

So I have a question for you all!

I'm going to see Sarah at Christmas in London, and was wondering if anyone had any ideas for things to do around the holidays...we're already planning on hitting up the Christmas lights, and what not, and I think heading over to Covent Garden to see their faire...but suggestions would be lovely!

Well my finace loved the London Eye and if the weather is not to bad then the Big red Bus is great for seeing everything in London, you can hop on and hop off all day and it takes in all the sights and you can add on a trip up the thame on a boat

Covent Garden is great to visit I love going there and will miss it when I go