Passing of a Season, and an Era

13 October 2010
Sunny & cool

Shelley passed away of a heart attack Sunday night, almost in our laps. She was a wonderful cat who was with us for more than fifteen years.

We'd decided early on that a house without cats in it was something unfit to be lived in, and so we went to a local animal shelter and picked out, ultimately, four cats, which was just about double what we'd intended. One of us had spotted two sisters, kittens who'd been dumped, and so the other had to get two to 'be fair' and keep things even. The other two were both males, a little older, fully grown, and unrelated.

The boys ultimately were named Argent and Wimsey. The girls were Shelley and Omaha. We moved them in, and the girls had to wait a week or so for appointments to be spayed, whereas the boys already had been altered.

Shelley went into heat that weekend, demanding Wimsey perform the honours. Up until this point she'd hissed whenever he was nearby and wanted nothing to do with him, being a somewhat nervous kitten. While the girls weren't quite feral, they were very nervous and skittish of human contact, and of the other cats.

Wimsey was delighted. She finally wanted to play! He batted at the tip of her tail and tried to play with her until she, in furious desperation, lashed out at him with a growl. While she was fixed a few days later, she never got over her grudge against him and her nervousness, although she did gradually mellow, curling up with us in bed and collecting cuddles from her daddy in particular.

She eventually became fond of her 'mother' as well, and could be counted upon to purr ferociously and yowl if petted and stroked and scritched with 'rough love' in the right way by us both. She loved to cuddle in bed with us, and while she was never a terribly sociable or talkative puss, she knew she was loved, and once the household was down to just her and her sister, she became quite open about looking for love.

Fifteen years just doesn't seem like it was long enough. Her passing wasn't quite as quick as we'd have liked, but it wasn't lingering, either. We miss her greatly, and the house seems all the emptier for her passing.

Omaha is bearing up well - better than we are, in some ways. We are spoiling her immensely, and her latest thing has been coming up onto the bed as we're trying to drift off to sleep and demanding love and curling up on top of us and purring aggressively. She has been informed that she isn't allowed to pass on for at least another year and preferably another five.

In other news, autumn is very definitely here, and there is the hint of winter in the air. Hoarfrost has been appearing on the grass in the mornings, and the sheep are hungry for as much hay as we'll give them. The little ram lamb's been finding his way back into the ewes' pasture, and is disconcertingly wary of being caught; this weekend we'll be trying to set that straight.

We'll be hitting up a livestock auction soon, to purchase a couple of sheep, goats or other livestock for butchering purposes, and filling the freezer in the garage for the winter. The winter is likely to be a harsh one, and having plenty of food on hand seems like a good idea.

At present, things are going reasonably well. We are spacing out major purchases and making notes on farm items we wish to procure. The barn cats are sleek and happy (and happy to collect any excess kitty hugs in the wake of Shelley's passing), and they are catching vermin left and right. The geese and ducks are doing well and we haven't had further losses lately - we are going to be taking steps to obtain motion lights to help frighten off night-time predators.

We will be getting a cylinder stove as well, in case of power losses this winter. And at present we have about a peck's worth of apples slowly cooking down into apple butter for the winter also. There are approximately two pecks of apples more to be stored or made into pie filling or other stowables for over the winter and into spring.

When spring comes and the ground has thawed, we will go to the nursery and select a suitable tree for Shelley to be planted under. Due to her lifelong antipathy to Wimsey, her tree and his will likely be planted far enough apart for harmony's sake. There is, after all, no harm in honouring her wishes, even now in death.