Angels and what not....

So it appears Clarissa has a skewed view as to what an angel looks like. In the bath, she will take her Ariel mermaid, open her arms and dip her in bubbles and then say 'look mommy an angel'. A little off, but not too bad......

Then she decided to dress up like an angel.....she put the kiddie toilet seat insert around her waist, put a minnie mouse ball cap on, grabbed a light saber and asked where some flappers were (aka wings)....then announced she was an angel.....not quite what my Catholic school upbringing taught me angels were....I can only imagine Mary's surprise if this was the angel that appeared to her.....

My 'Angel'

In a related matter, last weekend we had to bury Yukon.....I adopted him from the shelter in San Diego around February 1998.....he was 4 months old then. He was a master hunter.....over the years he had caught a hummingbird, blue bird, mice, frogs, bugs, lizards, and a bat! (to name a few). (The hummingbird, bat and 1 of the lizard gifts were released alive....).

In addition to being a master hunter, Yukon was a great protector.....in my younger years in California he was quick to inform if a potential suitor was unsuitable.....but he had a weak spot for bacon and could be bribed into acceptance.....Yukon was also great around both kids.....always rushing in if something was wrong, letting them pet him (and let Clarissa attempt to carry him).

When we moved into our current house, he was a tad festively plump (17 lbs). My old house was close to a busy road so I didn't let him out and Mason dropped him lots of scraps. He thoroughly enjoyed being able to go back outside since moving here and all the napping in the sun helped him drop about 7-8 lbs back to a normal weight. Since the holiday season though, he really began to drop the weight, slow down and just wasn't quite himself. A vet friend observed and evaluated him and without doing blood work, we thought he was in kidney failure. At the time, he didn't seem to be in any discomforted. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the month he stopped eating....I even put out the soft good stuff and he only took a couple bits (as oppose to inhaling it in minutes as normal). I weighed him that week....he was about 6.5 lbs.....pretty much bones with skin on top.....the only place comfortable to pet him was his head. So last Friday after school/work we offered our final act of kindness and took away his pain and discomfort. When we were driving to the vet, I didn't even bother with the carrier. I just wrapped him up in a towel and carry/cuddled with him. Normal Yukon would of lasted all about 20 seconds.....sick Yukon stayed all wrapped the whole way there and even up until the vet came in.

He is missed greatly.....after about a week, Clarissa even noticed she hadn't seen him and has been asking about him.....we just tell her he is heaven with Doodah.....

2 yr old Mason building with Yukon

1 yr old Clarissa finding eggs with Yukon

Yukon cuddling with me