Oh my Roxie, our 'pet goat' was Cupid. He was born on Valentine's Day. He too, had a ride in the car....When we moved years ago, our last trip was done late on a Saturday nite, (bar time) and we attempted to 'hobble' him, thinking he would not sit in the car, and the ride would be made easier if he just laid down...he would have none of that....we learned, that if we just opened the hatchback, he WOULD sit in there. He sat there, and the expressions of the people that passed us on the freeway were, indeed, priceless. I could see there mouths say, "It's a goat".

We had Cupid for 7 years, and one morning, my husband came in and said,"Cupid woke up dead!" We were heart broken...Cupid, too, was a black Nubian goat, with a wonderful personality.

Cupid was buried with honors on our property.

Speaking of sad, the kitty born on that same property 17 years ago, is quite sick. She has been with us all this time, and unless the vet decides to treat this infection, we will have to have her put to sleep. She has a bone cancer in her sinus, and we have bought her some time, with treating bone infections with antibiotic, but this time, I am thinking it may not be enough.

She has a companion dog, a lab of 14, who is also weak and feeble....I just put a call into the vet today to see what she thinks is best....I don't think I can go thru 2 separately, and would so prefer them to go together. I am facing this by the end of Fall anyway, as our dog is not going thru another brutal winter.

We moved away from that property where Cupid is buried, 13 years ago, and have recently moved back to the area, so we can drive by and still imagine Cupid standing in our former back yard. I can still imagine my now grown children as little ones, scampering around, as well. We are glad to have returned to our kitty's ancestral home too, as we knew she didn't have a lot of time left, and we wanted her to make it 'home'. She has. We have.

I woke up at 4am, with my right leg totally spasmed. I have had problems with my sacrum and it has progressed down the leg....in the mean time there have been 3 changes of primary docs over the years all blowing off this problem to some extent..altho my new one wants to run another spine MRI and I think she will include this sacrum, when she gets the message...neither of the first two doing much regarding this problem. Today, I called my primary, and got a voice mail that they are out of the office and to leave a message, but it cuts out and never gets to the beep....

I can't call my neuro over this, even tho it might be a neuro problem...I asked hubby to palpate it, and he says it feels like my sacrum is almost two inches winder on that side and sticking up more....he said it feels very different than the other side...

I am just going to lay in bed, exactly like a horizontal flamingo, and help myself to whatever meds I feel I can handle....I will attempt to call my primary again later to see if we can get an MRI set up. The meds should be helping, but they are not doing much.

I was supposed to go help to get ready for our Solstice Festival, but given my most comfortable position is the horizontal flamingo, and that I am awaiting a dreaded call from my vet...I will just call this day a wash-tomorrow as well, most likely.

My vet will likely be far more responsive and understanding than the people docs...Vets are not in HMOs or PPOs...they are like the doctor's of olden days, when they had their own practice and cared for their patients...

I need a vet to take care of me!

I am glad my cat and dog, will get such good care, even to the end of their lives, sensitive care for them and for us....

We have sad days in our lives, and that is part of the cycle of life...Both of these pets had wonderful long lives, and fortunately most of the family was here yesterday to visit with them and cuddle them, so if the decision is to let them go, then we all said our goodbyes, will finish the grieving we have already started, and move on, as our pets would have us do if they could tell us that in words. Pets are not people, but sometimes they come darn close, at least in our hearts.

So if you don't hear from me much over the next few days, pardon my seclusion...I will either be stuck in my flamingo position or doing a bit of grieving. I don't want to burden any one on here with anything any more sad...we all have our tough times, and reminding folks of tough times past is just not what most of us need.

I will be back on, when I regain my sense of humor.