My friends, I hope things are getting better for you, wherever you are. Spring weather finally has arrived here. I sat on my front porch last night until well past dark, and it gets dark later these days, you know. You can almost see the buds growing on shrubs and trees. The groundhog in the ditch has been receiving, and the birds are going berserk. The window of my office is open as I write this, and it’s going to be very difficult to get much paying work done today. I repeat: I hope things are better for you, too.
That Synching Feeling
By Jimmy Johnson
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133 responses to “That Synching Feeling”
Today I am very sad. One of our cats was killed by our neighbor’s dog yesterday evening. Apparently, unbeknownst to my husband, our cat slipped outside while he was shutting the door to our garage. We discovered she was missing within two hours, realized she may have gotten outside, and started searching and calling. However, it was dark by then and we couldn’t see outside very well. Had she even been still alive, I know she would have come so I feared the worst. This morning we found her in the yard, intact but with some matted fur that I would ascribe to a dog’s saliva. The dog is not a vicious or unfriendly dog, but is a chicken killer and I know would chase any small animal for sport. That is the very reason I never let our cats outside. She was about seven years old, and the hard part will be telling my daughter; it was originally her cat.
I am so sorry, Granny Carol. It’s so very painful to lose a beloved pet.
I’m so sorry, Granny Carol.
Carol, they are family too and it is so hard.
I’m sorry for your loss, Carol.
If anyone thinks it strange I’m offering the same condolence I would for the loss for a family member, well, you must have never had a pet and/or you must have too limited an understanding of the concept of “family”.
Granny Carol, that is very sad. If the dog is a known chicken killer, and has now killed your cat, you need to call animal control and have it euthanized as a vicious animal. Like it or not, it now meets the definition and is a danger to any other small animal, possibly even to small children.
OF due 1631-1651 CDT. emb
http://www.nps.gov/features/yell/webcam/oldFaithfulStreaming.html
For those who haven’t read any Terry Pratchett, a good place to start is Good Omens, which he wrote with Neil Gaiman. Someone on Facebook posted a list of quotes from one of his books; here’s one of my favorites:
“Character assassination. What a wonderful idea. Ordinary assassination only works once, but this one works every day.”
? Terry Pratchett, The Truth
I swear that ? wasn’t there before I hit submit!
Ruth Anne, what is the name of Death’s horse and in fact, what is Death called?
Mark, I love you and cats and animals but I just couldn’t do that
Dead of Alzheimer’s at only 66. Sad. Decades back, wife of a colleague did same. Fortunately, he later married a widow, and they had many happy years together. emb
You have my deepest sympathy, Granny Carol. I’ve had at least one cat killed and came home from a convention to find that another one had died (He was fourteen, so it may have been simple heart failure.) while I was away.
And, I agree that your local animal control people need to be made aware of your neighbor’s vicious dog before it kills again.
As for Sir Terry Pratchett, he will be missed. I’m sure that I’m not the only one who is saddened both by the fact that he’s gone but because there won’t be any more DiscWorld books coming out.
Jackie, one of Death’s associates is the Death of Rats. What is his other title?
Cat?
OF due 1758-1818 CDT. emb
http://www.nps.gov/features/yell/webcam/oldFaithfulStreaming.html
So sorry, Carol. As Ghost said, pets are part of the family.
Trapper Jean-
That’s my hometown team that willbe offering that gastronomical abomination. Those deep fried, over sugared offerings aren’t normally found around here; I have doubts as to how many will actually sell and think there will be very few repeat customers.
Jackie, I would do that so no one else had to experience a loss that could have been prevented by proper training of the dog. The people my brother is acting as executor for ran a dog rescue. After the wife’s death, one of the older, harmless dogs was given to some of their friends who had a dog of their own and a fenced back yard. The friends came home one day to find both dogs dying in their back yard. The neighbors had two pit bulls in the yard that backed up to these folks. The pit bulls were so determined to get to these two harmless dogs that they dug their way into the yard and killed them. Instead of surrendering the pit bulls, the owners hid them. That is a serious incident with worse things waiting. Next time it might be a child or an adult. The breed is not the issue, but the actions are. There should be no second chances for this behavior.
Blinky the Wonder Wombat, I don’t know. Sounds like the customers may have some repeats. Bet the sales of antacids rise during the season there!
Perhaps I need to revisit Pratchett’s writing. My one and only brush with it was reading “The Long Earth” a couple of years ago. It was OK, but it really didn’t grab me and gave me no desire to read its sequel. Perhaps not his best work?
The divine ether took away my post about people who kill animals in my neighborhood. Or the leader did? I get carried away by that.
Terry Pratchett is much beloved by my intelligent friends who love him and the satirical plots. I think I forgot anything I read because I only remembered tiny bits.
Ghost: my husband is working his way through the Long Earth series now, emphasis on “work”; it’s another joint effort and seems more the style of the other author. You should definitely give the Discworld series a chance. We started with Equal Rites, which Bob described as “if Douglas Adams had written Harry Potter, only better”. One good thing about the series is that it’s not necessary to read them in any particular order.
Jackie: can’t remember Death’s other name, but his granddaughter’s name is Susan.
Thank you for all the kind words of condolence. I know you all know exactly how I feel. And, I understand what you mean about reporting the animal, Mark, but I don’t know if I can do that either. We did not witness the dog kill the cat, but it is the only solution. Plus, he did not truly bite the cat or draw blood, but apparently shook the cat and caused internal injuries or brain injury. We will tell his owner. The dog is a German Shepherd, and is often over here with his ball, wanting to play fetch. It is hard to know what do do. We live in the country and there are not any small animals (other than wildlife) in our general vicinity. He has never been aggressive with people, or even children, as there are often children that visit next door. It is just a sad situation all around.
I would suggest starting with The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic because they’re two parts of a single story, and set everything up for you. There are a number of different story lines that continue from book to book, each one telling the adventures of one or more major characters, along with various cross-overs, such as when Tiffany Aching went to Ank Morpork and met several members of the City Watch, the lead characters of a different set of stories.
Thanks, Ruth Ann, as I would definitely trust your judgment in all matters literary. And yes, being the result of collaboration, it probably isn’t the best example of Pratchett’s work.
Thanks for your input, also, sideburns.