Last entry

It's Ace's person here. Writing in his diary one last time.

Ace passed away in February this year. He had an inoperable brain tumor, so we helped him leave us with dignity.

Dignity. Most humans don't have nearly as much dignity as Ace. Nor compassion, courage, nor love.

Eighteen years is a long time, whether in cat or human years. In that time, we learned a lot from each other, and the lessons he taught me will last the rest of my human years. I count Ace as a friend in the truest sense - species has very little to do with it.

The hurt will never completely stop. And, thankfully, neither does the healing. I will never regret a moment of the time we were allowed to spend with Ace. A quote from the play/movie Steel Magnolias comes to mind. "I was there when that wonderful person drifted into my world and I was there when ...(he) drifted out. It was the most precious moment in my life..." Guess that sums things up.

I hope to be as good a friend to the people and animals in my life as Ace taught me to be.

Christmas

House full - again. Happens every Christmas. I prefer the house to have Just Us, but no. At least I was able to climb up on the big bed and sleep in peace. Another good thing is that Scooter totally freaks out when we have company, so I see very little of her.

Naturally I supervised the opening of presents. Quite satisfactory.

Everybody talked about the true meaning of Christmas, which I think is totally appropriate. And of course, we had turkey. Pounds and pounds of turkey. Normally I don't get overly excited about food, but I make exception for Chicken from KFC, duck, pepperoni pizza, and turkey.

All in all, a very satisfactory Christmas. My folks do it well. Soon it will be time to put away all the decorations and my supervision will be required on that front.

It's nice to be needed. My folks depend on me for so much.

Pleeze

"Get in front of the Christmas tree, Ace!'
That's what I heard last night. "Now look this way! Oh Ace, please, look over here!" Pleading. I like that.

"Ace, honey, I just want to take your picture. PLEASE stay still."
Oooh. Begging.

"Acey, you're so beautiful. I just want one GOOD picture. C'mon, just look over here just one time, pleeeeeaaase?" Compliments and begging.

Oh yeah.

War

I didn't actually see it happen, but from what I understand, Scooter finally got her nerve up to really swat the dog. She actually made contact with something other than the air.

If I'm any judge, the war is on now. How nice to play the role of impartial observer.

I would sell tickets, but this is just too good to share.

Besides, crowds are noisy and they're, well, crowds. I want to leave Cati and Scooter p-l-e-n-t-y of room to, how shall I put it? Duke it out.

It's up.

Tree is up.

I supervised.

Brought it home on my birthday. Highly signifigant, I think.

Unbreakable ornaments on the bottom of the tree - put there just for me as always.

Scooter back to sleeping underneath it. Good, keeps her out of my way.

Dog totally confused. Thought she was going to twist her head off looking at it. Satisfactory.

Tree tastes the same as last year. So does the water in the stand.

Christmas time is here again. Wonder if there's any leftover turkey in the fridge?

At it again.

The humans are tearing the house apart to put it back together again.

I am supervising.

If I'm any judge we should have company and lots of food in a day or two, then they'll bring all the Christmas stuff out of the closet the next day or so after that. It always smells funny.

Then they'll start bringing trees into the house again, and of course they'll fuss when I drink out of the tree stand and graze on the tree.

Oh, how delightful

I must say I do like frustrating the dog. Let me explain:

She sleeps with the humans on the bed at night sometimes. Lately she's begun regarding the bed as hers. So, I have begun the process of changing her way of thinking.

She knows she is supposed to leave me alone. The humans tell her not to bother me, and of course, I started her off on the right foot the moment she moved in with a good left hook to the jaw. I've been sleeping on the bed at night, just to show her who's boss. Last night she wanted on the bed, so the humans put her up there. Little did she know I was already there! Needless to say, she was quite startled, but to give her credit, she did hold her ground...at least for a while.

The dog clearly understood my "Studying on killin' you" gaze, because she demanded the humans get her off the bed, which they did post haste. The simpleton sat in the floor and barked at me for a few minutes - I ignored her- then she lay down on the floor at the foot of the bed. I went to sleep with my head on the pillow.

I might feel sorry for the dog if I weren't so pleased with myself.

To coin a phrase, " I might not be good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was."

How true.

They did it again.

Every year at Halloween the people give children chocolate.

I do my part to decorate the window, since I am a black cat, and I watch the children arrive.

Why do my folks give the children chocolate? Anyone can tell by sniffing it that chocolate will kill you if you eat it. I know better than to eat chocolate. Even Scooter knows better. Cati doesn't, but then she'll eat anything.

I would understand giving it to the dog, but to children?

I grant you, they can be extremely annoying, but chocolate seems a bit drastic.

I WOULD understand giving it to the dog...

Oooooh, how relaxing...

No dog in the house tonight.

Mmmmmmm.

Just Scooter.

Might be fun to mess with her head again.

Note to self

Dog goes to obedience class tomorrow night.

Lock dog out of house if possible.