A One-Cat Flowerpot & A Memorial...

Today was pretty uneventful in my world.  I stopped and worked on a laptop before I headed into my grandma's house to pick up a shirt she had mended for me.  When I got to her house we ran out to grab a bite to eat and sat and talked for a little while.

I headed to up Mom and Dad's house to get out and about for a while.  Mom wasn't home when I got there so I wandered around for a second and I looked over and saw two cats sleeping in the same flower pot.  As you can tell from the pictures below there's pretty much a once cat limit.  They were overflowing a little bit on the edges.

(The yellow cat is a BIG one, and his butt is hanging over the edge.)

(I'm just guessing, but I think the gray cat looks more comfortable than the yellow cat.)

(The kitten in mid-Meow...kinda looks like it's hissing at me...)

(Tonight's sunset.)

On my way to town Mom called me to say that our beloved hunting dog had passed away.  I will have to admit his name was not a typical name, but it made sense to his personality...MEATHEAD.  That, he was...a pure dumb, lovable dog.  His bark was a LOT worse than his bite.  We figured he wouldn't make it through this winter, because he was starting to get stiff and the cold would take a toll on him.  If calculations are somewhat accurate he was around 11-12 years old.  Even at his age he was still a BIG baby.  Pretty much anybody that hunted with my Dad knew the name "Meathead".  The big lug was unique in his own way, and that's what made him so memorable.  He has his little tendencies and behaviors that you knew to expect, like how he would pretty much walk sideways and stop in front of you to get attention or how he would roll around in the yard and bark randomly.  

Whenever I would stop by Mom and Dad's he would whiz on my tires, but just playing around with him I would holler "Meathead" in a "what do you think you're doing" kind of tone.  He would look at me with those puppy-dog eyes, wander around to the other side of the vehicle, whiz on my tire and then come wagging his tail over to me so I could pet him.

We will all miss him, but I think it will hit Dad the hardest.  As Dad would get ready to leave for work Meathead would be waiting at the back door barking, ready to follow Dad down the road a ways to go off hunting.  At least we know that he isn't going to be in pain this winter.  It just won't be the same around there though without Ol' Meathead.  

(This was taken on February 26, 2005.  He would have been about 6 years old.)

(This was taken on September 12, 2010...He's really starting to show his age here.)

Meathead (~1999 to 2010)