All alone in the moonlight

[austin_dern]

Sad news all around tonight. One is that the dog belonging to a brother of mine and his wife grew old and ill enough they had to put him down. I'd known he was getting into old age -- last I saw the dog was blind, nearly deaf, and getting arthritic -- but I'm still sad for them, and the dog.

The other is the belated discovery that the reason I haven't seen the older cat around here is that she died, of old age, several months ago. I didn't realize I was this far out of touch. Everybody assumed someone else had e-mailed me, and nobody actually did. I had assumed this trip she was simply hiding out of sight and sulking about my presence, most likely coming out when I was asleep to glare at me. She treated strangers in her domain that way.

She was a fine cat, pleasant in her way, for a cat with the personality that there's only one person she likes and that person is not you. But she could touch on affectionate, and she had that sort of bundle of dignity some cats are born with, was passionately in love with those little cardboard bits held on the end of a long wire (she would chase them, and them alone, to the point she had to lie down and pant), and when I took the time to meow at her she only looked at me for a few seconds before deciding I wasn't going to say anything interesting. I miss her.

Trivia: By 17 May 1973, three days after launch, Skylab had used 23 percent of its attitude control propellant, about twice what was expected. Source: Living and Working in Space: A History of Skylab, W David Compton and Charles D Benson, NASA SP-4208.

Currently Reading: Discoveries: The Voyages of Captain Cook, Nicholas Thomas.

Comments

[oliver-otter.livejournal.com]

*hugs* :-(

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

Agh, losing a fourlegged companion's never easy, is it? *sigh* And all too often, their end isn't the gothically romantic quiet expiry amidst slumber, but from a solemn, final act of compassion.

three days after launch, Skylab had used 23 percent of its attitude control propellant, about twice what was expected.

Well, that's what happens to spacecraft with a bad attitude.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

No, the end for pets that comes with arthritis, glaucoma, deafness, all these horrible infirmities ... that's just terrible. Mercifully I've not had any pets that were explicitly mine that suffered that way, but being in the circle of that is sad enough.

---

Actually, Skylab's attitude was fine; the problem was one of the solar panels was ripped off and the other not deployed, and the reflective panel for sunlight was ripped off, so they had to keep turning the station so that the `windmill' panels faced the sun, then turning it away so the lab could cool down lest the food, film, and other things on board bake.

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

sorry to hear about the sad critter news.... :< *peep*

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I appreciate the sympathy.

[chefmongoose.livejournal.com]

Awww. :/ I'm sorry to hear that, Austin. *hugs*

It seems like your family could use a dedicated bearer of sad news, for you. One would hope he or she need not fulfill that post often.

--Chiaroscuro

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Thank you ... typically my mother takes care of dispersing the news; it's strange that she didn't notify me, although since it was her cat maybe she just overlooked it. It's easy for even a very organized person to miss someone in those circumstances.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

*Hug* I'm sorry to hear about your Cat friend.


*****

Porsupah, don't make me come over there...

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Thank you ... she was only a casual friend, but she'd been there for a decade now.