Well, back again after we lost our best friend

[ck80]

It's been a crazy couple months... things took a turn south after we lost our girl Honey.

She was part of the family. Our special helper, always there to give you a hand with whatever you were working on. You come home and there's someone waiting at the door... you're sick or feeling poor, she'd be there at your side.

Its hard to say what it takes out of you after you lose what is basically a member of your family. I'm sure some of you have been through it too.

I tried to do my best by her, make her one last final bed from some cedar lumber although it was tough with the injuries I've been dealing with.

Just plain didn't have the strength to do everything I'd have liked... had some trim and embellishments I wanted to use but... the body just couldn't do it.

So what she wound up with was... kind of simple... but the best I could do. Had a nice satin lining, a little homemade pillow, a tiny version of her favorite blanket... but she's at peace now, and nothing more will hurt.

Around all that time things went a bit worse health wise for me too... sciatic nerve and some of the stenotic discs turned downhill, more muscle problems popping up. Wasn't walking too well let alone anything else, and didn't even have my little helper around to provide that mental boost they give you..

Anyways. Decided to make a clean break of things. Took a cash offer a company had been making on that house, now we're listing the extra land for sale as a building lot. Moved out, put the furniture in storage for now, packed up the tools and parts and stacked them into a spare bay. Probably clean up the other property/house and sell it too, just need to find some crews to do the work.

Disappeared for a few weeks entirely after all that. But, for all of that, I'll be back around more again now I think. There's going to need to be a few procedures soon to help with mobility some, but, hopefully contributing around here again can serve as a distraction some.

Might pick up a toy that doesn't need much work just to enjoy for a while. Also spend some time finding somewhere to relocate to for good.

Perhaps for now though the first step is that I'll need to figure out what new toys there are to play with on the new board software that seems to be here since I'd left.

 

[Daca214]

sorry for your loss. our pets are our family.
its nice you built that for her.

 

[Longroof79]

So sorry for your loss. She looks like an old friend of mine, Loki. My next door neighbor has few cats, one is a tuxedo cat like yours. He also greeted me everyday, waited for me to come home. I'd sit in the yard and he'd come over and hop on my lap. I'd have the hood up on one of the cars doing something, he'd hop right up on the fender, look around and make himself comfortable laying across the cowl.
Well, to make a long story short, the neighbor went on a sabbatical and took a teaching job in the DC area. I was kinda heartbroken that I lost my old friend. I'd also give him treats every morning when he greeted me. I'm hoping I'll see him again. I miss him walking me to the mailbox and he loved sitting on my shoulder.
From what I've read about this breed of cat, they're very smart and have a great disposition. It's been two years that he's been gone, and I think of my buddy almost everyday.

Again, I'm sorry you lost your friend. That is a beautiful coffin you've constructed. Certainly a testament to the love you had for her.

 

[pagrunt]

It's always hard to loose one the smaller family members. Back around Valentines Day in '14 we lost my grandfathers cat (I became her custodian in '98.) She was part of the family since '95, born in '94. I wish she would of made it to her 21st that year. I had her cremated & burried her with her proper owner.
It still sucks that she is gone cause she greeted when I got home from both deployments (think she missed me more than the wife.)

 

[melloelky]

it's always tough losing a furry friend,that's a fitting send off for Honey.nicey done CK

 

[ck80]

Thanks guys.

I will say, with my health issues it ended up taking a good 4 days to finish her bed for her. While you're working on it it's almost a good distraction, but once you're almost done, or in my case as done as I was able, that's when it really starts sinking in - the finality and all. The last little bit of the work is the hardest.

I swear you still think you see them or hear them sometimes when your lying down or just not paying real good attention to your surroundings. Still happens to me over a month later.

For what its worth, have another pic of the inside:

It wasn't quite finished with the trim and such yet, but you can see the double wall construction the satin was secured to before the trim strip covered up the staples and such. My wife made the pillow inside, that and some decoration of the underside lid were her contributions to what we could do.

If any of you here on the board ever have such a need (and I hope those days are far far in the future for you all) I can walk you through (more or less) a building process... when it's the last thing you get to do for them, well, those cheap boxes they sell online just don't seem like enough (and they charge an friggin fortune for the junk to boot).