Thursday, November 27, 2008

2 buckets and a funeral

I have sooo many things I need to blog about and only 5 minutes spare in the next 36 hours so much will wait until next time.

We have had a tragedy here, and while not being of the human kind it has still been monumental in the eyes of my juniors...and their mother if you must know!

Even after 39 years of pets you never get used to death and the fact it is a 3 week old kitten doesn't make any difference. My kids loved that baby and my boy was especially paternal. It was dead on it's doormat when i got home from the gym yesterday with it's mum still fully cuddling it.
It did have the most beautiful funeral though.
If you don't believe in funerals for pets then that is up to you, I'm not saying it's gone to heaven, just a happy world of running dogs and purring cats! We had an "in the round" prayer that got some good death discussion happening. I wished I had my camera(but would have felt more invasive than a Britney knicker snapper!!) when my boy was praying in front of me with his eyes tightly closed and his hands raised...with tears trickling down his cheeks...a precious moment that will too soon be "boyed' out of him.
After a rousing rendition of All creatures great and small and an adapted 'if I were and Octopus" (kitten) he was interred in my new rose garden with a nice succulent or two above him....and a big rock to deter the persistent Archie! we don't need that disaster!
I have been making a few fabric buckets (from Ric-rac jodie's pattern) for Christmas presents. I wanted to make them bigger than Jodie's so I dragged out the old 2 pi r equations to work out my measurements..who knew sewing could be so hard!! They are Nancy Halvorsten panels with some red Roman Holiday
.
I'll leave you with some kitty pics taken the day before his untimely passing.....cue the violins....
Do you think he suffered some only-child-loved-to-death thing.....she was very attentive...
Back soon, don't give up on me, i am driving tractors, amidst all my normal stuff, to get hay done..the joys of farming !
Have a great day, Tracey

17 comments:

Lily Mulholland said...

Awww how sad but cute at the same time.

I did LOL at this: "but would have felt more invasive than a Britney knicker snapper!"

You are too funny Tracey!!!!

Love your flower shots too.

Quilts And Pieces said...

Oh I"m sorry. That is one of the reasons I think I would fail on a farm! LOVE your buckets!

Chookyblue...... said...

hey we have buried chickens before........country kids know much more about life and death then town kids.........but still find it precious........won't tell you we are trying to trap some feral kittens at the moment.......

loulee said...

((Hugs)) for your DS.

I too laughed at your Britney comment.

Jodie said...

Tracey - your kids are so sweet ! I am a farm kid and I went to a lot of funerals.....

Abby and Stephanie said...

Sweet post. The kitty certainly looked well loved.

Needled Mom said...

Awwww....how sad for everyone, especially momma cat. She certainly looked as though she was taking good care of the kitten.

The buckets are darling. I can imagine the math of all that.

Libby said...

It was a brief but well-loved life for the little kitty. What a precious memory of your little boy *s*

Dawn's Daily Journal said...

Sending you some warm thoughts on the kitty. Poor DS.
Love the buckets you made!!!
dawn

Julie said...

Poor little kitty and your little boy. Its so sad. We had an elaborate farewell to a guinea pig a few months ago. I picked a bunch of flowers to put on the grave but my five year old boy insisted we put them in the shoe box when we buried him. "For him to eat" he said. So thats what we did. Kids.
We had a private cremation for our pet cow but thats a whole other story.........
Love the buckets.

Chocolate Cat said...

Oh that is so sad, it is far too early in the morning to make me teary!

Lori in South Dakota said...

As I grew up on the farm, my father had a phrase he used to tell me when some animal died. "Not everything is meant to live". It's true, but a hard thing nonetheless. And the kitten, he was well loved.

Oh a happier note, do you have a link to the fabric buckets? I think they would make some great gifts!

Anne Ida said...

Little life lost... sorry to hear about the kitten, but guess these things just happen...

Love your buckets!

Kim said...

Ooh, this mama is wondering what's going on with her baby. This is such a sweet cat, cuddling her little one even in the end. I'm glad that you and your children paid your respect to this tiny and short lived little life with a proper funeral. Gosh, but that little kit was so cute!

Ruth's Place said...

So sorry to hear about your little kitten.

Your Brittney knicker snapper comment had me spewing my coffee over the keyboard...

The buckets are fabulous.

Vera Jean said...

Oh crap! The image of your kids is heartbreaking. I stil shed a tear over long lost pets when looking through the old photo albumns.. You crank up that tractor before it rains.. ha ha. We do contract windrowing and I havent seen my husband for about a week. Normally that would be lovely, but with the silly season coming, 3 kids including a very very fiesty 2yo boy, that is killing me..
Cheers, I will be back.
PS - please send me your snail mail address.

Saska said...

We've also had a lot of creature-funerals. My kids know it's a part of life..but it's still hard sometimes.