Saying Goodbye to a Companion and Friend

Sadly, my dog Tira, passed away in our home yesterday. This is the dog that I have posted abput before. I am a bit too emotional right now to say much more, but I will give her a proper send off soon.

All Cat's Go To Kitty Heaven

Even the prickly ones.
I woke up this morning on my own, rather than to my cat meowing when she thought I should get up.
That should have made me happy, but it didn't. Not today, anyways.
Yesterday we had to have our 16 year old cat put to sleep. I found her lying on the floor, unable to get up. Her legs could move and she stretched out a couple of times, but couldn't even manouver into a position to get up , and didn't seem able to lift her head. She peed on the floor while lying on her side, and I knew that it wasn't going to be a good day.
We picked up my daughter, from her apartment (it had always been her cat, and when she moved out, she couldn't take it with her) and went to the vet. The vet was nice, and sympathetic, but honest and said it was  very serious, there was nothing we could do for her, it was either a clot in her head, or a tumor. So we did the only thing we could for her. My daughter was devastated. I was incredibly sad, but I have been through this before.
  Skittles wasn't a cuddly sweet cat to everyone. She had her own personality like all animals, especially cats, do.She was loving and affectionate to my daughter, she really lived in her room most of the time when she lived here. When my daughter left, the cat transfered that to me. I got to pet her and got the lap sits. She did mellow a bit when she got older, but she never really bonded with others in the household, not much anyways. That kind of makes me sad too.

I will miss you Skittles.

Bye Dad

You have been my dad or almost 97 years.
You've taken good care of your family.
You've been there for all of us, through all our troubles.
Shared our joy over new spouses, new babies, and our babies babies.
I know mom loves you.
Your children love you.
Your grandchildren love you.
Your great granchildren love you.
You will continue to be loved and respected forever.
Thanks for being my dad.
You will be missed more than you can know.

I am going to add a bit of the eulogy that my brother wrote, because I think it's interesting, and just makes me feel good to read it. I have left out some bits that are a little more personal and some that you don't need to see.

"We should not have known him, Fredrick (dad), and most of us should not be here. Sailing to Canada from Avonmouth, his parents were all excited to board the greatest ship ever built... but they could not, and had to settle for the next ship, an old steamer named the Royal George, sailing just 2 days behind the mighty RMS Titanic. His mother was terribly ill, both with morning sickness and sea sickness, and welcomed to Canada by the bitter cold of the Eastern Canadian winters.Some months later at Batt’s farm at the top of a hill on Beckett Road on the outskirts of Sherbrooke, a tiny child was born. At only 3 or 4 pounds the country doctor said he was too small to survive, but the midwife decided otherwise. She rubbed him in goose grease and laid him in a shoebox. Day and night she sat by the old wood stove to keep him warm, feeding him with an eye dropper. And that is how Dad came into this world, ninety seven years ago today,
As a child, Dad’s job was to go down to the lumber mills around False Creek to fill his wagon with scraps for the old wood stove. If the lumberman spotted him he would be charged a penny or two per load.One day at about 14 years of age he came home from school to be told that he had a job as a printer’s helper. Having a good eye for matching colours and being a bit of a perfectionist, he became a very skilled lithographer and was usually given the toughest jobs and pickiest customers. He was in fact, skipped over for promotions several times because he was too good to lose as a pressman. But after 51 years working as a printer, he retired, and that was almost 32 years ago!
In 1945 Dad’s sister Winnie brought home a distraught young lady from work who had just left home and had nowhere to live. Being a kindly family, she was taken in... and so was Dad. In due time he proposed to her at Spanish Banks and they were married in June of the following year. Together they built a home and raised four wonderful children, watched their families grow through weddings and births, and lived to see their Great-Grandchildren.
Though not outwardly religious, Dad exemplified many of those old time virtues like faithfulness, hard work, honesty, integrity, and personal sacrifice.His word meaning something and promises were kept. He was outraged by injustice and a champion of fairness, and underdogs. He treated others with courtesy and respect and was a steadfast provider for the family. If he had shortcomings, it was that he had more than a little trouble with patience and didn’t easily express his feelings and affirmation.
Personally, dad could be quite charming with the ladies. A little while ago in the hospital we heard more than one nurse remark “Oh, he’s so cute”. Still, he was not much of a socialite and had little use for parties, dressing up or going out. He would much rather eat at home than at the finest restaurants. Nor was he a man of impulse, a thing as simple as a drive to the beach was something to be planned and scheduled days in advance.
Like a fine wine however some things did improve with age. With the coming of Grandchildren Dad seemed to loosen up.Grandad would read to them as much as they wanted and the same story as many times as they wanted. He gave them the gift of his time, his attention, and would talk to them about anything. Even in his 90’s with the Great-Grandchildren it was not unusual to find him on the floor playing with them."

Painting a Memory Box

I recently had a friend of mine, request a box made for her friend that had recently lost a beloved dog. She wanted this dog and the man's two other dogs on one box.

I was given a photo with three dogs (not sitting right beside each other) and from that I drew a picture of them close together.

I then transferred the picture on to a simple wooden box.

Then I painted in the large areas and began to start the detail.

Then I filled in the requested background colour and finished up the details.

Finally, I worked on a fitting border, (huskies, sleigh) and put several coats of varnish and sanding it between coats.

These boxes can be used for anything, but I have heard people say they put in a few favourite pictures, a collar or dog tags, and then keep it somewhere they can always be reminded of their special friend.