[Leica] Slides the cat has gone to kitty heaven

[lea at whinydogpress.com (lea)]

Mark,

I feel your pain...and send my condolences. Slides was a lucky cat to
have had you. That forehead thing makes me sad. Reminds me of  when I
was a much younger girl and my parents bought a little white toy poodle
puppy named Clancy. She used to sleep in my bed, on my pillow curled
around the crown of my head like a pair of earmuffs that didn't quite
fit. At 14 weeks she was run over by a bicyclist and killed. It was one
of the saddest things I've ever seen.

I now have 3 toy poodles, all chocolate and the loves of my life. As I
type this I can hear, from the kitchen, my newest litter of puppies
crying for attention...they are 5 week old boys, both chocolate and both
gorgeous. Soon they will go to new homes but for now they are mine.

Where would we be without our pets?
Lea

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Rabiner" <mark@rabinergroup.com>
To: "Leica Users Group" <lug@leica-users.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 14, 2004 5:55 PM
Subject: [Leica] Slides the cat has gone to kitty heaven


> To the many LUGnuts who have had the pleasure of meeting my longtime
of 20
> years cat and favorite photosubject, Slides the Calico, she died
peacefully
> Monday of renal failure.
> Which is what usually gets old cats. Their kidneys. She had gotten
heart
> breakingly thin.
> Here is a picture of Slides and me a few years ago in which Tom
Christianson
> took in my studio.
>
http://students.washington.edu/tomchr/pictures/Summer2001/Portland/Portl
and.
> htm
> I think with his Contax 645 and transparency film.
>
> Slides and I shared the same pillow since my wife (of 25 years) left a
few
> years ago. Hard luck story my mom died last year too. I've said this
already
> on list. Everybody was sympathetic.
>
> So now its just the boys. Elmo the 100 pound German Shepard and me in
this
> photo studio household. Elmo seems a little wistful about Slides being
gone
> but does not mind being the unchallenged master of the household.
Slides had
> that title before.
> I'm the bottom of the totem pole for sure. The runt of the litter. But
as
> I'm set up to be less "pack like" then Elmo it doesn?t bother me so
much.
> Elmo is into total domination. He doesn?t play with other dogs.
> He wants to invade Poland.
> He wants people to throw his ball and has never bitten anybody.
> I've decided to not get another cat. I'm getting rid of the kitty
artifacts
> around the house/stuido but I'm not being obsessive about it. When I
see a
> toy of hers I don?t get all upset which is nice.
> Elmo is 10 and when he goes in 5 or 10 years I'll take a slow trip
around
> the world in a nuclear powered hydrofoil. And not have to worry about
a
> critter sitter. Just a Hasselblad sitter.
>
> In kitty heaven Ahai Tuna is served on demand cooked medium rare on
little
> snack plates.
> Although I think Sides would go for the beefsteak. She loved cow.
> Give her a can of Aberdeen-Angus of the sea any day.
> I fed her only beans, rice and brewers yeast her first years of her
life as
> we had vegetarian household. She was the smallest kitty on the block
I'm not
> sure if that's why. But she had enough attitude for a kitty three
times her
> size. She normally weighed 8 pounds.
> I'll have a slides memorial page going up I got the Nikon 5000
yesterday
> night to reward myself for having a dead cat and living to tell about
it. I
> buried her in my backyard in my pet cemetery. There was no 21 gun
salute but
> a few birdies flew overhead and dipped their wings it seemed like.
> She had to have been the most photographed cat in the north west usa.
>
> Toward the end after a tough day of not feeling so well during bedtime
she
> would push her forehead really hard into mine as we fell asleep on the
> pillow. I'll never forget that.
>
> But no anchovies for me please
> And
> No archive
>
> Mark Rabiner
>
>
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>
>