That damn cat is so very lucky she’s the cutest four legged fur ball on the planet.
Yesterday I came home to a big hair ball on the living room floor. Today is the first kid day this week and both of them found hair balls on their beds. We are going to run out of sheets!
Enough is enough, Patches!
Sent from my awesome iPhone 5!
This is a new one for Patches. I sat at my desk and she jumped onto the arm of the couch behind me and climbed onto my lap. From there she climbed me!
Such a good baby kitty.
Yeah, I did a my-year-in-pictures thing the other day. It was fun. What the hell, thought I, why not do it again? This time I’ll run fast and loose with the whole one-pic-from-each-month thing. I’m crazy like that.
We have to get our pics of the Sands Bridge in Methuen before she collapses. Or maybe I should say before she finishes collapsing. It’s already started. Also, I don’t think I found a relative in the Grove Street Cemetery, but who knows?
In February I finally finished an RPM Challenge on time. It only took me five tries. We also got a new bed. Jen’s penguin approved.
In March, the kids and I became wilderness explorers. Hipstamatic came along for the ride. Actually, we just wandered around in the woods behind our house for a little while. It was fun.
April in San Diego. I want to go back RIGHT NOW!
May gave us baseball, Bar Harbor, and my first up close New England Lighthouse.
The picture pickin’s are slim in June, but we did get a new Rush album (and it is awesome) and we got another fantastic piano recital from the kids.
July offers more choices after a spontaneous trip to Boston, and a week long stay in Maine that included some time in the mountains of New Hampshire.
In August we went to the Top of the Hub for the first time in my life. The views of my city were spectacular. We also spent some twilight time on Hampton Beach.
September had mountain waterfalls, leaf peeping, my first ever attempt at photo-walking in Tewksbury, and more Rush.
October continues to belong to Washington, DC.
The camera didn’t come out much in November, but I did torture the cat, and my wife, with my camera phone, and we did celebrate Turkey Day.
December had more mountains, more mountain streams, and Christmas.
And there we have a second view of my 2012 in pictures. Forgive the gratuitousness.
Happy New Year (again).
Patches likes to come out and try to help me work whenever I telecommute. Not right away though. She has to have her 6+ hour power nap first, so she comes out and says hello at about 3:30.
Kitty loves it when we fail to put the laundry in the hamper.
What do you call it when your family includes step children whose time is split equally with another family? Is that a blended family? I think that’s the proper term. Last night we had a loss in our blended family.
My wife has two kids. Two fantastic kids. Two amazing kids. They spend half of their time with us, and half of their time with their father and step mother. I might have mentioned that a few hundred million times, but I am just clearing it up for all the new people.
In our house it’s me and my wife, the two kids, and a cat. We had some fish there for a while, but they didn’t make it. We also had a mouse for a couple of days, but he wasn’t exactly an invited guest.
At their father’s house they have two dogs and three cats. One of those cats had to be put down yesterday. Squeaky Cat, a Siamese who lived a whopping 14 years. When the kids were dropped off at our house last night they weren’t exactly clear on the details as they were still pretty upset, but it sounds like Squeaky Cat’s kidneys were failing and she was suffering.
Both kids were very brave and very strong. They watched the procedure and told us what happened. They were both clearly upset by the loss, but they were handling it great. Right up until bed time, that is.
My step son went to bed first. He was in the bathroom brushing his teeth and I happened to be walking by and noticed that he was crying. Hugs were given, tears were shed, I told him he should focus on his happiest memories and he said that Squeaky loved jumping into boxes, especially laundry baskets. Is there anything cuter than a cat in a laundry basket? At one point he said one of the saddest things I’ve ever heard. He said, “I’m going to make a wish to Santa to bring Squeaky back.” Eventually he was able to pull it together and he went to sleep. I am very proud of how he has handled the situation. He’s a fantastic kid.
30 minutes after my step son went to bed, my step daughter’s bed time came along. She just walked up to me with tears beginning to well up in her eyes and leaned on me. Again, hugs were given, tears were shed. I asked her what her favorite memories of Squeaky Cat were and she also said Squeaky jumping into boxes. Again, is there anything cuter? She too got herself together and was about to go to sleep when she started crying again and asked, “Whose going to feed her?” It was just gut wrenching, the poor thing. Still, I am very proud of the way she handled the situation. She too is a fantastic kid.
I’ve said it a millions times before, but I am the luckiest man alive. The obvious reason is the way my wife and her kids have let me be a part of their family. I couldn’t ask for anything more. Even when it’s sad and difficult like last night was, I still could not imagine being luckier.
Rest in peace, Squeaky Cat.
