My cat Bompy died this morning. There was no indication that there was anything wrong with him, he was standing in the living room, fell over and was gone within minutes.
I found Bompy about twelve years ago. I was doing yard work in front of my house and sat on the steps to take a break. He was across the street, saw me, ran across the street, up the stairs and into my lap. I posted signs around the neighborhood, no one claimed him so he was mine. "Bompy" was an expression my father used for a hobo, it seemed to fit him. Since he was full grown when I found him I don't really know how old he was when I found him, the vet said about two or three if I remember correctly, so he was probably around 14 or so.
Bompy was all black, and a big, solid, muscular cat. He loved people, loved laps, and loved to be petted and scratched. He'd sit on my lap and I'd scratch his head, and he'd purr so hard he'd drool. He'd actually purr as he inhaled as well as when he exhaled, apparently he couldn't get enough purring done just on the exhale. He wasn't the smartest cat I've ever known, but he was certainly one of the most affectionate.
Bompy made my life richer by his presence in my life. I'm glad he died at home, surrounded by his people. I'm glad he died quickly and didn't suffer.
I suspect the other two cats (Algy and Snoball, both females) will be getting extra attention from my wife and I for a while.
"No heaven will ever heaven be, unless my cats are there to welcome me" - Anonymous.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Monday, January 15, 2007
Back From Arizona
My wife and I took a trip to Arizona recently, we left on December 26 and returned on January 2. I didn't mention our trip beforehand because I'm not in the habit of advertizing, in a public forum, that our home will be empty for a week with someone coming in every other day to feed the cats and take in the mail. I'm seldom concerned about being paranoid, but I'm often concerned about not being paranoid enough.
Anyway, back to Arizona. We arrived in Phoenix, where we have friends, in the wee hours of December 27. We slept for a few hours, exchanged Christmas presents with our friends, and headed up to Sedona for a couple days. Sedona is about the prettiest place I've seen, with beautiful red rock formations. When you look out the window and can't see anything man-made in the distance you just decompress. We actually had snow while we were there, we took a pink-jeep tour (where you're in the back of an open jeep). We froze our collective butts off there, but it was a great time. There was a Christmas-light show where people decorated their homes and visitors voted on which was best.
Sedona apparently does have their fair share of nutters though, a bartender told us that on December 31, 1999 (the turn of the millenium for those who can't count) the road into Sedona was backed up by people who stopped their cars in sight of Bell Rock (the first major rock formation you see on your way into Sedona) and were banging on drums expecting Bell Rock to open up and a space ship to come out and take them away. Not that it would've been an entirely bad thing had that happened.
After our time in Sedona we returned to Phoenix. While the female halves of the two couples went shopping and to the movies for two days, the guys (Rick and I) went shooting at Ben Avery Shooting range. We had a great time, shooting everything from a .22 pocket gun to a Mauser rifle. The thrill for me was an SKS with a detachable 20 round magazine, which is illegal in NJ where I live. Shooting is fun, shooting with a good friend is funner. I have to admit that the SKS didn't impress me as much as I thought it would, I found it heavy, bulky, and I had to make a conscious effort to find the rear sight (as opposed to the Mauser where the rear sight was easy to find).
It was great to see a lot of couples and families at the range. One man was sighting in his daughter's 30 '06 which she'd so far used on an elk, a deer, and a javelina (pronouced hav-e-lina). His daughter is twelve years old. The people at the range run a very tight ship, very safety conscious which is as it should be. Every fifteen minutes they shut down the range so you can go out and change targets and such, during that time you can't handle any firearm that's not already in a hard case, meaning if your rifle is in a soft case (as ours were) you have to wait for the range to re-open to carry your gear to your car to leave. The range safety officer gets positively testy if he sees you touching a firearm during a ceasefire, again this is as it should be.
Things are different in Phoenix than they are in suburban New Jersey where I live. I always thought a cactus was pretty much like a thorn-bush, unless you blundered into it you had no trouble, and if you did blunder into it all you had to do was get out and your problems would be solved with band-aids. Not true. My wife brushed against a cactus in Sedona and found that cacti LEAVE their spines IN YOU. These particular spines were hair-thin, we used tape and tweezers to remove them and she kept finding more for a couple days. Second, there is one variety of cactus (I think it was the "Teddybear Hoya") that, due to differing static charges, will jump on to you and latch on. Great, predatory plants. Once you get off the beaten path there are things around that can put a serious hurt on you, like rattlesnakes, scorpions and spiders. Thankfully, none of these things WANT to hurt you, you have to go out of your way to annoy them enough to hurt you.
I also learned that the Saguaro cactus is pronounced Swar-oh.
Other than that we saw some sights and spent time with our friends. New Year's Eve was quiet, we watched the Times Square ball drop at 10:00 and they rebroadcast it at midnite.
All in all a good time was had by all.
Maybe I can talk my wife into adding some of her perceptions to the comments.
Anyway, back to Arizona. We arrived in Phoenix, where we have friends, in the wee hours of December 27. We slept for a few hours, exchanged Christmas presents with our friends, and headed up to Sedona for a couple days. Sedona is about the prettiest place I've seen, with beautiful red rock formations. When you look out the window and can't see anything man-made in the distance you just decompress. We actually had snow while we were there, we took a pink-jeep tour (where you're in the back of an open jeep). We froze our collective butts off there, but it was a great time. There was a Christmas-light show where people decorated their homes and visitors voted on which was best.
Sedona apparently does have their fair share of nutters though, a bartender told us that on December 31, 1999 (the turn of the millenium for those who can't count) the road into Sedona was backed up by people who stopped their cars in sight of Bell Rock (the first major rock formation you see on your way into Sedona) and were banging on drums expecting Bell Rock to open up and a space ship to come out and take them away. Not that it would've been an entirely bad thing had that happened.
After our time in Sedona we returned to Phoenix. While the female halves of the two couples went shopping and to the movies for two days, the guys (Rick and I) went shooting at Ben Avery Shooting range. We had a great time, shooting everything from a .22 pocket gun to a Mauser rifle. The thrill for me was an SKS with a detachable 20 round magazine, which is illegal in NJ where I live. Shooting is fun, shooting with a good friend is funner. I have to admit that the SKS didn't impress me as much as I thought it would, I found it heavy, bulky, and I had to make a conscious effort to find the rear sight (as opposed to the Mauser where the rear sight was easy to find).
It was great to see a lot of couples and families at the range. One man was sighting in his daughter's 30 '06 which she'd so far used on an elk, a deer, and a javelina (pronouced hav-e-lina). His daughter is twelve years old. The people at the range run a very tight ship, very safety conscious which is as it should be. Every fifteen minutes they shut down the range so you can go out and change targets and such, during that time you can't handle any firearm that's not already in a hard case, meaning if your rifle is in a soft case (as ours were) you have to wait for the range to re-open to carry your gear to your car to leave. The range safety officer gets positively testy if he sees you touching a firearm during a ceasefire, again this is as it should be.
Things are different in Phoenix than they are in suburban New Jersey where I live. I always thought a cactus was pretty much like a thorn-bush, unless you blundered into it you had no trouble, and if you did blunder into it all you had to do was get out and your problems would be solved with band-aids. Not true. My wife brushed against a cactus in Sedona and found that cacti LEAVE their spines IN YOU. These particular spines were hair-thin, we used tape and tweezers to remove them and she kept finding more for a couple days. Second, there is one variety of cactus (I think it was the "Teddybear Hoya") that, due to differing static charges, will jump on to you and latch on. Great, predatory plants. Once you get off the beaten path there are things around that can put a serious hurt on you, like rattlesnakes, scorpions and spiders. Thankfully, none of these things WANT to hurt you, you have to go out of your way to annoy them enough to hurt you.
I also learned that the Saguaro cactus is pronounced Swar-oh.
Other than that we saw some sights and spent time with our friends. New Year's Eve was quiet, we watched the Times Square ball drop at 10:00 and they rebroadcast it at midnite.
All in all a good time was had by all.
Maybe I can talk my wife into adding some of her perceptions to the comments.
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