Boomer`s Story

We adopted Boomer from the Salt Lake County Animal Services Center when he was approximately 4 months old, in 1995.   We had two other cats but had just lost a kitten to heart disease, so the kids, who were all still living at home, wanted another.  My ex hub Scott and daughter Megan picked Boomer from his litter because he was the most friendly and “sweet”.  That trait was part of his personality throughout his life.

The biggest trouble Boomer ever got into was as a kitten. I used to cook hamburger (in this case, for tacos) and drain the grease into an empty frozen orange juice cylinder for it to harden so I could throw it away.  I apparently left it out on the counter one evening, and Boomer stuck his head in and got it stuck a bit.  He was able to shake it off, but he had taco-flavored grease all over his head.  I tried to wash it off (as if a kitten will hold still for THAT!) Luckily, we had a grown cat named Stan (whose brother Ollie had already been adopted when we got Stan).  Stan was a “daddy” to Boomer, and over the course of about 3-4 days, he bathed (licked) Boomer`s head several times a day until Boomer was clean.  

Like many cats, Boomer liked to curl up in sinks, lay in our laps, and as a tabby he was very vocal and talked to us all the time.  When Bruce and I married in 2003, Boomer was already 8 years old. He joined us at the dinner table almost every night. Not ON the table, mind you.  He just sat in his regular chair and kept us company, very well-mannered.  Occasionally he would get meat scraps after the meal, but mostly not.  

I have a lot of pictures of Boomer`s first 8 years, but they are in scrapbooks and have not yet been digitized. But here are some others that I particularly like. 

Boomer with Rudy (a Christmas reindeer decoration)

Inspector Boomer gives 2 Paws Up to the downstairs bathroom remodel. He always ‘helped’ our contractors, especially loving to watch plumbers.

You are NOT going on vacation without me!

Mom, I`m so glad you’re back from vacation!

Am I cute enough for you to let me lay in this box of lace?

It`s a guy thing. 

I love my Dad, too!

Laying outdoors in the sun with his stone friend.

Summer 2012.  Last of the healthy days.

In the fall of last year, Boomer began losing weight. At first it didn’t concern me too much, because Dr. Dan (whom I wrote about here) had just told me a few months before that Boomer was in great health for a 17-year-old cat, and if he didn’t know better, he would have guessed that Boomer was only about 10 years old.

But Boomer kept losing weight, and when we first took him to the vet (a nice, young new vet that bought the clinic after Dr. Dan died) in November, they discovered a mild infection in his gums.  He had to stay overnight there to be anesthetized and have his teeth cleaned (something we did regularly anyway). While Boomer was away for that 24-hour period, I went grocery shopping and for the first time heard the song “Set Fire to the Rain” by Adele. In fact, I heard it TWICE in that shopping trip, and it made me wonder if that song was going to be associated with my worrying about Boomer. Little did I know.

Boomer came home and began eating, and we had a nice Christmas.  But then in February he began losing weight again, so back to the vet for another checkup and blood test. His blood work was mostly good, but had one odd number that indicated there might be a kidney problem or something else.  So, in March they did a chest x-ray, and the diagnosis was confirmed; Boomer had a mass in one of his lungs. (This was about the time that Bruce was diagnosed with cancer, too, so I was a wreck).  Bruce kept his sense of humor and called himself and Boomer the lung cancer twins.  Yeah.  So not funny.

A steroid shot (depo-medrol) was administered, and gave Boomer his appetite and personality back. For the better part of six weeks, he was his old self.  I think of that period as being like an Indian Summer.  The days are lovely, but you know they are numbered.   We enjoyed those days intensely!

The vet said that Boomer could continue getting shots, but the effects would be less dramatic each time and not last as long.  During this period, I began noticing something odd. Often when I would go to the grocery store (which is about 3 times per week because I mail out my Etsy shop orders from the USPS outlet there), I would hear “Set Fire to the Rain” quite often. Not every visit, but once every 2-3 visits, at least. I began listening to the words. It definitely reminded me of Boomer, and the fact that I was losing him.

The second depo-medrol shot lasted about a month, and after I returned from my cruise in June, Boomer got his third (and last) shot.  He was having good days and bad, but we decided that since he had more good with only an occasional bad, we went ahead with that shot.  It only lasted a week, maybe two. Then he began withdrawing from us. Selfishly, I wanted him to last until his 18th birthday.

I researched cat behavior to learn how a cat acted when he was in pain, and Boomer was acting that way, huddled and tucked in on bad days.  It was a struggle that had gone on in my mind for weeks - when was it time to say goodbye? How could I make the decision to end the life of this creature I had loved and cared for for 18 years (and who had loved and cared for me, too)?

I cried on his birthday, July 16 and made up my mind that I would have to do the humane thing the next day. So, on Thursday, July 17, wouldn`t you know it - Boomer was having a good day. I wrestled with my thoughts all morning, until just before noon. Then I called the vet’s office, talked with them and made the euthanization appointment for 3:00 that afternoon.

Here is a picture (one of dozens) that I took of Boomer just before we left in the car:

July 17, 2013.  Just before visiting the vet for the last time. Weight: about 5 pounds.

The face Mommy will always love

I believe Boomer knew where we were going, and why.  He just laid on the front seat of the car, on a blanket in the sun as we drove there.  No meowing, no nervous behavior.  

The burial case I made for Boomer from Laurel Burch fabric.

We went into a special room, and they inserted an IV into Boomer’s front paw. Then they gave us a while to be together.  I just held him close and cried.  That is an understatement. By then I was sobbing so hysterically that I couldn’t talk or catch my breath. Boomer just snuggled into me.  Finally Boomer calmed me down (cats can do that, you know) and we called in the doctor.  Boomer nestled in the blanket they provided, and his eyes were large and open, expectant and frightened.  The doctor administered the shot and then . . . it was over.  There was no light passing out of the eyes, no gentle heave of a last breath.  Just nothing. Until I moved to hold him closer and his body was floppy.  That`s when it became real.  I looked upwards, imagining his little spirit ascending,  and said goodbye.

I set fire to the rain

And I threw us into the flames

When it fell, something died

'Cause I knew that that was the last time, the last time!

I will always be angry with myself for not holding his fragile little body longer. But they brought in a cardboard casket, placed him in and I took Boomer home to bury him outside by our bedroom window, under the apricot tree.  Just a few feet away from where I sleep.

The top of the cardboard casket

Sometimes I wake up by the door,

That heart you caught must be waiting for you

Even now when we're already over

I can't help myself from looking for you.

  

Boomer’s final rest

I set fire to the rain,

Watched it pour as I touched your face,

Well, it burned while I cried

'Cause I heard it screaming out your name, your name

I visited his little grave every day for the first month.   Then it was every couple days, now it’s a couple times a week.  Soon I will have to put the little cat marker (look familiar?) away for the winter.  

My friend Diane from Canada was visiting me a couple weeks ago and stayed for about 5 days.  I told her about Boomer and the song.  That week we went to the store twice, and heard the song played both times.  I can almost listen to it without breaking into tears.

I miss you, Boomer!

I’m BAAAAAAAACK!!

I really love to blog. I know what you’re thinking, but really, I do.  Can it be almost 9 months since I have blogged?  Three quarters of a year! Honestly, I think about blogging all the time. But I have not made the time to do it this year - until now.  After hearing from several of you (Are you OK? Why aren`t you blogging? Are you still alive?) and a  kick in the butt  shove  gentle nudge from a local friend who shall remain nameless (oh heck - it was Bev) I decided there was no better time than now to start writing again.

So much has happened in the last nine months, which should be no surprise to anyone who has a life.  But rather than go into detail here, I will just give a brief recap in this post and then move forward.  Little by little, I will hit the highlights (my son`s wedding) and the low points (the death of my furson Boomer) and everything in between (sewing and stitching projects, etc.).

For the early part of the year, while it was still winter here in Utah, I finished a quilt for my daughter Megan.  A belated Christmas present.   It was large; about 60” x 72 or 78”.  The fabric was Indie by Pat Bravo, my favorite fabric designer.

In February we also spent our usual week vacation in Arizona, but it snowed twice while we were there.  Really. That is what we were trying to get away from!

Here is a picture of the whole fam damily when we went out to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Wisdom’s.  Bruce and I are at the very right of the picture.  But then going from left to right is Dennis (Bruce`s oldest brother), Kim (whose late mother was Bruce`s sister) but we call her cousin Kim instead of a niece. Then we have Marv (another brother), Annette (Bruce’s remaining sister) and her husband Glenn, then Bruce and me.  Bruce also has another brother Doug who wasn’t there.


In the spring, I began getting ready for the upcoming wedding of my son Ryan and his fiance (of six years) Kim (not the Kim above).  But probably the most awful thing happened about that time.  Bruce was diagnosed with cancer. It was in his right forearm, where he had had surgery last year to remove a supposedly benign tumor.  This time, it was a sarcoma that they suspected (after tests) had metastasized to his lymph nodes and lungs.  More tests. Waiting. Radiation treatments on his arm that resulted in him having to miss our cruise to the Bahamas as part of my son’s wedding. Still more tests. It turned out that the lymph node was just inflamed from the surgery and was NOT cancerous.  And the spots on his lungs were so tiny and never grew (and later could not even be found), so they decided that was not cancer, either.  WHEW!  Everything is fine and back to normal now. He will continue to have a cat scan of his chest - next one at the end of this year, then hopefully just yearly after that.

The wedding and cruise - that is a post for another time. It was marvelous.  It turns out it was good that Bruce was home to stay with Boomer (my cat of 18 years), who had been diagnosed with lung cancer himself about the same time as Bruce had. But Boomer`s was for real, and untreatable. I will do a separate post about this, too, but Boomer died the day after his 18th birthday in July. For the next six weeks I was so distraught and depressed; I just cried and cried. But I slowly began pulling out of it as summer drew to a close and other things began occupying my life.

I did a remodel of one of the rooms of my studio area.  I will explain that in a later post with before and after pictures.  I joined Weight Watchers and have been losing weight. The 6th annual Crazy Quilting International Retreat was held in September in Colorado. Twenty-two of us met in Longmont and had a total blast! Even the road trip there was great. On the way back it was not so fun because it was raining, we were crowded, and I got a speeding ticket. But again, I will do a separate post about that.



And finally, we have gotten two new kittens to help fill the holes in our hearts.




Left:  Darla (female)
Right: Alfie (Alfalfa - male)


Finally, all this year I have tended my DGD London (who is now 4) once a week.  I have pictures to share of some of our adventures.  I continue to stitch in round robins (lots of CQ work to share). And then there is all my work with CQI (I am now the group owner/moderator) and the nasty changes that Yahoo has wrought with their poopey new system, NEO.  I`ve probably missed a few things in this recap, but if they are important enough, we will catch up with them later.

And that brings me current.  Yesterday I dyed lace for my Etsy shop, so this morning I began ironing it.  Then I had to do my weekly grocery shopping.  At lunchtime, my dear best friends Susan and Bev came by. We had chicken salad sandwiches and a side of broccoli salad. Yum!  We visited a couple thrift stores, because this time of year (leading up to Halloween) is a great time to pick up really lovely embellished clothing.  We have been snagging lots of beautiful Indian dresses and ravaging them for beads, sequins, rhinestones, gold and silver metal purl and other bling.

So, if you are still here, and you have made it through this post, please drop me a line or leave a comment.  Let me know how you are doing.  And I hope you will continue to visit and read my blog.

Thanks and hugs to you,

Garden Art - Nature’s and Mine

I want to show you some fun craftiness I had a couple of weeks ago.

After checking out some delightful garden art on Etsy and Pinterest, Bruce and I made a trip to the thrift store (well, a couple thrift stores actually, but who’s counting?) and purchased some fun glassware.   Then Bruce went to the hardware store and got the necessary things, and the next day I put these together.

Instant Birdbath (click to embiggen; I got my blog restored to the old picture viewing format).

The birdbath is three pieces; a large glass flower vase turned upside down, a ceramic vase with flowers, and a large glass platter.  I use waterproof silicone that comes in a tube, and apply it like hot glue with a caulking gun.  Let it cure for several hours (although it feels pretty sturdy within an hour), and voila!

Then I decided to make “flowers”.  This is just four pieces stacked and glued as described above. The large outer plate is a floral ceramic, but you could use colored glass. I think the wavy edges look better than the plain edges. The next layer in this case was a clear glass dish - again, just the cheapies from the thrift store.  The next layer is a frosted and fluted candle holder and inside that is a green shot glass.

Below is the “bird bath” in the backyard, which is slightly smaller and doesn’t impress me as much as my other one in the front.  :-)

This is the other “flower” I did; three plates of varying sizes,  and the center was a candle holder thingy that had beads wired on from its previous life. 

You can see it a bit better here.  These are all waterproof, but I do plan to bring them inside in the fall.

Here’s a picture of the attaching arrangement on the back. I glued a piece of PVC pipe on the back of the plate. It was plain on one end and had a threaded female area on the other. Into that I screwed a corner (elbow), and then a longer piece of PVC as a stake.  Inside the stake is a piece of rebar that we pounded into the ground to the desired height, then we just slipped this contraption and plate over it.  Soooo simple!

And speaking of Garden Art, Boomer’s favorite place in the backyard is here, next to his Stone Cat friend. Boomer is NOT an outdoor cat, but when we spend time out on the patio, he often wants to join us. If the weather is not too cold, too hot, too windy or too wet (he is very persnickety), he will come out and join us. And he is safe because our yard is fenced in, he has no front claws, and he is OLD. He will be celebrating his 17th birthday in July.  This is his favorite sunning spot, but when the vegetable garden gets bigger, he likes to lay under the corn.  And he usually ends up jumping up onto a wicker chair cushion and curling up to sleep on the covered patio.  :-)

This is a shot of some of our front pots a few days ago. The heat has made them just explode with color!

I loved the way these wilted and almost-dried roses looked, so before I began deadheading, I snapped a few pictures.

And here again is our troublesome side yard.  A couple months ago I posted a horrendous “before” picture. Ghastly. But I have worked away, slowly but surely, and gotten the grass and weeds pulled (it looks even better after my session yesterday).  Everything has been trimmed. Now I am just waiting for August and September to begin dividing and replanting the irises, lilies, some goldenrod and my poppy.

That’s it for now, garden-wise.

I have decided to take the pink ribbon trim off my May CQJP. It might have been OK if I had chosen a better path for it or used a bit narrower ribbon. The truth is I just wanted to get rid of some of my old Bucilla crap.  But off it comes, and I will figure out something else. The silk ribbon, however - and a better brand - will be used to fill in the “black holes” that are being created by abutting blocks. And since I haven’t really finalized what blocks are going where, that will be saved for the end.

I hope you are having a wonderful week!

Hugs,

Hot Fun in the Summertime

Summer is here, and as if right on cue, the weather in Utah turned from cool to pleasant to HOT in a matter of a couple days.  

We were lucky to have a visit from Bruce’s daughter Emily, hubby Chad and our two grandkids Deacon (4) and Abbie (2 ½) about a week ago.  They live in South Dakota, where Chad is stationed at Ellsworth AFB.  

Deacon and Abbie loved our itty bitty pool

Bruce brought out a version of telephones (think tin cans tied with string) that he had made down in his laBORatory.  :-)  They are connected by actual phone wire - lots of it - and the kids enjoyed talking to each other on it.

Here, Grandpa Bruce and Deacon went to the utility area of the backyard so they would be far away from the speakers at the other end of the line.

Abbie (on her mom Emily’s lap) loved it and didn’t want to give up her turn so that her dad Chad could talk on it to Deacon.

But she got plenty of other opportunities, so she was a happy camper.  It was so much fun to see and play with them again!  They’ve now returned to South Dakota.

Here Emily and Abbie greet Boomer, and vice versa.  Boomer does a good job of meowing on cue, so  Abbie was convinced he was talking to her as I “interpretted”.   :-)

And my dear little London comes by weekly to play with Grammy, and every second I spend with her is precious!  She has enjoyed “her” pool and thinks I should get in with her.  HA!  Here she is splashing Grammy’s feet, which is about all that WILL fit in the pool!

What is London eating?  Her new favorite that she wants first thing every time she comes - peanut butter and strawberry jam, made by me. She won’t allow me to mix them or put them on bread or anything. She wants them plain, and SHE wants to mix them.

Oh, to be two again!!

Celebrity Pet Buttons

My dear friend Gerry K (Olderrose) has completed a series of button paintings of friends’ pets.  My dear furson Boomer is among those featured (along with Pat Winter’s Angell and Nicki Lee’s Brat).  Do check them out.   Gerry is over-the-moon talented in CQ, and painting... and just about everything she does.   I am so lucky to count her among my dearest friends, and look forward to visiting her in just three weeks!

* * * * * * * * * *
By the way, I see that I am approaching 300 posts, and that means a celebration!  As I am off in Arizona next week vacationing, I will be thinking up something fun and easy in the way of a drawing.

In the meantime, here`s a vintage Valentine image for you...

Hugs,