Iza Marker

I finished making the Iza Memorial marker yesterday.  I couldn't find the right size brass letters at first and then it took 2 weeks for them to arrive.  Apparently, 2" brass letters are actually only 1 3/4", so they match.  BTW, these came with simple slot-head screws.  Any company who provides such nearly-unusable screws should be ashamed.  Phillips heads are managable, square heads are better, star heads are amazing. 

And, naturally, I had to make it match Skeeter's and LC's markers and I had gone all fancy then.  Couldn't be a simple box or upright stand.  No, I wanted an angled front so the letters would show up.  Now I have to keep doing that.

Well, I don't mind; it's a labor of love and remembrance.  But I keep having to figure out the angles of the cuts, and after 10 years, I didn't remember exactly.  I messed up a couple of pieces.

But all turned out well...

I had initially removed the perennial plant between Skeeter's and LC's markers a couple days after Iza went over The Bridge, but my right knee fails sometimes so I couldn't dig deeper.  I have been careful with the knee for weeks, so I was ready to dig again today.

Shrub branches and briars were in the way, so I used a cordless hedge trimmer freely.  The briars were interwoven with the shrub.

But I plan to remove that large shrub anyway.  Golden Euonymus.  Evergreen to yellow leaves.  The label said 5' high and 3 feet wide,  HAH!  They grow to 10' high and 5' wide.

I only mention that because the spot where I want to bury Iza is covered with 2" thick roots from one.  I spent an hour yesterday digging up offshoots, briars, and poison ivy.  Can't have those above my sweet girl!  I think I will place black plastic or corrugated cardboard over the soil under the 3 markers to keep the weeds down.

But the shrub roots are thick.  I could cut some with an ax, but I have serious tree roots from a neighbor tree on the surface and making mowing BUMPY like driving over railroad ties.  So I've ordered "landscaping blades" for my reciprocating saw.  They will arrive in a week.

Every delay hurts.  Iza needs to be properly buried deeply and with some few artifacts of her life.  But Iza's spirit is free even if her body is triple-bagged in the freezer.  I hate that, but I have to wait yet again...  I need the saw blade to cut through the shrub roots and pry them out.

Damn, digging holes with a pry bar and shovel in frozen ground for both Skeeter and LC was actually easier.  But I am determined that Iza will be buried no less deeply nor without a few things she loved.

Heart Cat

There will never be another Skeeter in my life.  He was the first who really was special.  I won't denigrate the ones who came before, because they were good companions who I loved, but there wasn't that "special connection".  They were GOOD CATS!

Skeeter was special.  I had reached an age and situation where I could appreciate him more than the others, but I have come to understand that it was my fault, not theirs'.  They shared my apartments or the rented house, but they never quite attached themselves to me.  Skeeter was the first here in my real house who did.  He slept under the covers against me.  And the other cat, LC, was really sort of HIS cat.  I loved and cherished them both.

But here is the difficult part.  Ayla, Iza, and Marley are more closely attached to me than even Skeeter was.  This is hard to explain, but for most of Skeeter's life, I was away at work.  Ayla, Iza, and Marley have been with me 24/7/365.  That has changed my thoughts a bit. 

I think what I'm trying to say here is that there is not just one Heart Cat in life..  And not all cats will be Heart Cats.  But there can be more than one...

I'm sitting here at the computer and Iza is sitting at my feet.  She really can't bear to be away from me.  I'm really her total focus in life; Tonkinese are amazing that way.  She has to sleep next to me, she has to follow me around the house, she has to sit next to me while I eat dinner.  I can't move without checking to see where she is.  If I fail, I bump her with a foot.  In bed, I have to be careful when I toss or turn because she is there.  She is THAT close to me all the time.  I cherish her affection deeply.  How could she not be a Heart Cat?

Ayla isn't always around me (she avoids Iza), but she wants my attention every morning.  Her territory is the bedroom.  When I get up, she is there on furniture wanting my touch.  Head bumps, strokes, nuzzles...  She follows me every place except into the shower (there ARE limits).  She needs me to hold and stroke her for assurance that she is my Small Beloved Princess and that she is as important to me as Iza is. 

And after 2 failed spays and frustrating constant heats in her younger days Pulling her off me sometimes like a pile of thorny brambles), how can I not assure her that her love is not returned.  I am so happy with her finally free of the "heat".  I can hold her over my shoulder for a long time and she purrs so happily when I do.  When I sit up in bed, ready to face the day, she comes and nestles on my lap for as long as I will allow,  and when she sits on the sunny bathroom windowsill, she desires all my attention for as long as I can give it.  She eats in the bedroom and guides me (as I follow her around holding the foodbowl) to the spot she desires for that meal.

Whenever I enter the bedroom, she calls to me,wanting my attention.  We went through so much difficulty together before she was finally spayed successfully on the 3rd try.  How could she not be a Heart Cat?

And Marley.  Good old Marley.  Marley does not sleep with me often.  But he is always a calm presence here.  He is usually on the ottoman in front of me while I watch TV, he is often on my lap.  If he was the only cat, he would attached to me like Skeeter was.  He is the cat who appears on my lap when I don't notice it until he is asleep there.  He is welcomed by Iza and Ayla equally, and naps with both.  When I am restless, he calms me.  He sneaks under the blankets sometimes but never disturbs my sleep, staying near but just out of touch so that I know he is there but I can turn around and he won't mind.  He is so much like Skeeter, but maybe more so.  How can he not be a Heart Cat?

The truth is that each one is.  I can't be so lucky to have 4 Heart Cats, so it has to be that we choose any early cat and decide on that one, and then deny the title to all that come after.

I think I will try to stop thinking in terms of Heart Cats, and allow them all to be, in their own ways.  The current ones surely are deserving of that title...