Pets help us understand our own mortality in ways that continue to surprise me. When I was young, the first pet I lost was a young cat, just a few years old. I raised her from a kitten that was probably too young to ween so we had a close bond. She was indoor/outdoor and was attacked by a neighbor’s dog during the day when I was gone. Holding her and watching her die broke me, like she waited all day to die in my arms. She was mine and I felt like I let her down. Woof, it hurt. Still does.

But while I was holding her, our family dog (Allison) was next to me. She was older than I was, a feisty Lhasa Apso that had lost her ability to hold her bladder. We diapered her: we’d cut a hole in human diapers to pull her tail through to keep the hardwoods from getting ruined. She died a year later, after living a full life.

I buried both of them in the front yard, under a couple of pines that bordered our neighbor’s pet cemetery. Both times, digging those holes gave me the time I needed to be able to return them to the earth and say goodbye. I learned so much from their passing. It is the last gift our pets give us, their final act of love.

Now, older, with kids of my own, we have Sadie, who I am looking at as I write this. She’s a rescue, probably a golden mixed with some border collie, at least 16 years old. Her sister died last year and it was the first close death my kids experienced. Her passing taught my kids the alchemy of aging gracefully, the privilege of old age. Now, they find charm in Sadie’s rickety hips and excuse her incontinence. Getting old is okay; we are lucky to be able to do it. Watching your loved ones get old is a privilege we should cherish.

Edit: I wanted to thank OP for posting this. Reading your observations of your aging cat brought It all forward.

Under 4 mins. Nice one!

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Azalea, hellebores, and sarcococca that have been suggested won’t survive in your zone. There are some rhododendron that can survive, and those might be your best bet.

groan

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What zone are you in?

Connections Puzzle #684

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So, we are continuing the ‘is it legitimate that an elite Red Squad exists in egalitarian Starfleet’ argument? All signs point to no. Still, Nog, you go on with your bad self.

The smoothening virus, as per Phlox, would eventually be bred out of the Klingons. Kang, Koloth and Kor had plastic surgery to restore their ridges. From this, I could only assume that the writers might show a smooth forehead Klingon and give a character, probably a young one, a throwaway line to pay a little fan service.

I really enjoy the lengths that the writers go to connect the many decades of Trek. It just proves that they are nerds themselves, as it should be.

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Thank God this dangerous man is off the streets.

I’ve tried this a couple of times and just today understood about the backwards words. I solved it! It was fun.

This article focuses specifically on the warming and the depletion of oxygen in our rivers. I watched the video, but I didn’t read the text. I think it is just a transcript from the video.

The best way to save any part of our environment is to get more people to engage with it. Whether that is fishing on a river, hiking through the woods, or any other outdoor activity. These activities have routinely been proven clinically to improve a person’s health and well-being. If we can get more people participating in this positive feedback loop, we will have more interest and political will to protect our environment.

It’s only mentioned that warming in general is causing the lack of oxygen in the rivers. Well, what is causing the warming? They mentioned sedimentation, but they don’t connect that more large rain events lead to more sedimentation, more sediment in the rivers absorbs more sunlight and holds heat. They mentioned removing old dams to make the water run faster which will keep it cooler. That’s a great thing to do, but we really need to focus on increasing the buffer zones between rivers and development and showing up the banks along our rivers.

I know we are arguing the same point, but supporting policies that directly harm yourself, your children, your neighbors, etc, should be seen as a failure of critical thinking AND of common sense. Pride in ignorance, like you said, is so anathema to my worldview.

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These types of headlines remind me that scientific thinking is not inherent to humanity. The idea that people would react reasonably to the same set of data seems a given, something we call “common sense.” But it’s much less common than we think.