Rest in Peace, Zeuss

Zeuss was my Aunt Dot's cat.  She got him in May of 2003.  She always said they were a good match for each other because Zeuss had long legs!

He really was a nice cat.

Marley was almost three when Dot got Zeuss.  We are a family of cat lovers.

In Dot's later years, before she went to the Atrium, Zeuss was a little hard for her to handle.  He was always trying to get out, and Dot would have to chase after him.  One day when we got to her house to take her grocery shopping she was all upset because Zeuss had gotten out.  She said that was it, he was gone and she wasn't going to try to find him.  I told her he would eventually come home when he was hungry.

Guess who was waiting for us when we got home?

One of the things I felt the worst about when Dot went to the Atrium was Zeuss.  I knew how much she loved that cat, and so did we.  Paul and I couldn't take him because we already had two cats.  Kris and Toby had a cat (and Toby is allergic to cats), and so did Mark and Janelle.

My friend Barbara at work, who is also a cat lover, offered to take him.  I was so relieved.  She had him for 7 years!

Barbara called me this morning to tell me that Zeuss passed away today.  I can't tell you how sad that made me.  All the guilt of taking him away from Dot came rushing back.  She spent her last 7 years without him.  I know it's silly to think that way; we did what we had to do, but pets are such a part of our family.

I'm so grateful to Barbara for taking him, and I know she loved him too.

Maybe Zeuss is up in Heaven with Dot now.  It makes me feel good to think so.

RIP Zeuss.

Happy Birthday Paul!

Happy 68th Paul!

I originally was going to use this story for a Throwback Thursday, but every now and then I like to do a birthday post for someone in my family and include an old story of that person.

A while back, we went for a ride to Otis and Tolland State Forest. Paul wanted to see where the entrance to the camping place was because he used to camp there with his parents when he was young. 

He told me the story of one day walking to the general store in the center of East Otis to get something for his mother. It was quite a way away. We figured it was about a 5 mile round-trip, which seems incredible to me for a kid of 10 or so. He said that it had gotten dark on his way back and an owl screeched right next to him and scared the life out of him. He got back after dark and his mother was quite worried.

That same day while we driving around, we saw a bear in the front yard of the headquarters of the Tolland State Forest. He was just browsing around, sniffing, and even walked up on their deck.

We watched him for what seemed like a long time.  Eventually a lady came walking across the street with two dogs, one of which was not on a leash.  A forest ranger type person came out of the headquarters and shooed the bear away because she was afraid of a confrontation with the bear and the dog.

It was fun seeing that bear from the car, but I'm so glad that 10-year-old Paul didn't see one on his way to or from the general store!

May 2018 Scrapbook Pages