As some of you may know, one of our cats was hit by a car and killed over the hols. The ground is frozen too hard to bury her properly, so this evening we are building a bonfire (including the Christmas tree) and cremating the poor wee bobbie. Suzie was our owl-headed cat, the most independent of the three, and a wonderful mouser who also brought many gifts of small critters to our porch. Her brother misses her and has required extra attention since her untimely demise.
Which is a long way of saying that I won’t be around much this evening.
UPDATE: As a man performing a manly duty, I am proud to report that I built a fire hot enough to properly incinerate the kitty, by arranging the wood in such a way as to maximize the tornadic airflow. Also, I saved $100 whilst giving her a proper sendoff.
Mostly they’re better people than people, Dan…
Aww, sorry to hear it, Dan. Losing a pet like that just sucks. Believe me, you’ll have to get a replacement. The other cat won’t EVER stop looking for her, and then looking up at you and meowing piteously. It’s heartbreaking.
I’m sorry for your loss. One of ours is getting old, and I’m dreading the day.
I’m sorry, Dan.
Our 20 year old cat still looks for her lost brother from time to time.
Cats are so strange, but I mean that in a good way. They’re so strange, they’re entertaining. I’m sorry about Suzie. What you say I send you one of mine?
I’m sorry about Suzie, Dan. I’ve given up on letting my kitties ever out of the house anymore. (my two two-year-olds are strictly house kitties) … too many coyotes in our area that look to pets as part of their all-u-can-eat buffet.
Years ago I had a German Shepherd-Misty- and cats, and when Misty passed away the cats she had nurtured as kittens prowled the house looking for her and crying.
Mmmmm…Beer.
Sorry. I can’t think about the word “bier” without thinking of John Milton’s Lycidas, floating upon his watery bier, which takes me to watery beer, ugh, wich takes me to mmmm…beer.
Yes, I am heartless, or some such. Imeant, I laughed out loud when Little Nell died.
What’s with wasting the cat. Add some tobasco and she’ll taste just like spiced jerky.
Don’t you watch Survivor Man? A house cat and some forged grubs is week’s worth of fuel.
I feel empathy for you, Dan.
As I write this, I’m glancing at a plaque on the wall over the computer that says “labs leave paw prints on our hearts”.
It holds true for cats, too.
Suzie’s brother. When my one puppy had to be sort of euthanized the vet said to bring the other puppy along so she could sniff him and spend some time with his deadness so she would understand and not just think he was missing and was coming back. For some reason I find that really moving even though I’m not 100% sure if it really works that way. It should work that way. But I don’t know really. Still, it’s a proactive thing to do.
I’m sorry you have lost your good kitty, Dan.
I didn’t know you had a viking kitten, but I’m not surprised.
Sorry for your loss, Dan, I know it would be tough not having my little misanthropic Lucyfur around.
She is more ninja than viking, though, I wonder what the proper send off will be when her meanness fades?
So sorry for your loss Dan.
“What’s with wasting the cat. Add some tobasco and she’ll taste just like spiced jerky.”
“Don’t you watch Survivor Man? A house cat and some forged grubs is week’s worth of fuel.”
You stay classy there, thor.
I hope no one ever mocks your pain. No wait, I’d like to see it just once, so you’ll learn.
Dan,
Really sorry to hear it. Three years ago, within an 8 month period, I had to put down two cats and a dog. I share and empathize your loss.
They are wonderful creatures, and I know there is not much I can say to console you…tears on my cheeks as I write this, so I understand.
I hope the cherished memories stay with you for many decades…
Mike
Awwww. * sads *
But I must control my emotion. * deftly switches *
You can make a bonfire where you live? I’m impressed. We’d be arrested for it where I live. Bonfire, that’s a funny word. Sounds half French — Bon le feu, bon flamme, bon flambé.
This reminds me, did you know you can make your own marshmallows and that they’re 10 X better than commercial marshmallows? As far as marshmallows go, that is, they’re still only sugar and gelatin after all. They’re also much better for roasting, or so I hear, which is something children enjoy. I do not recommend making them for anything other than an insane indulgence.
I’ve noticed sometimes linkie no work; http://tinyurl.com/96td3c
My sympathies Dan. When our old dog died it was a heart-felt loss. I think my folks still have her dishes and leash, and old Cinder died about fifteen years ago.
SarahW made marshmallows once. I sort of made them vicariously through her. It was neat.
More fun with marshmallows. But no chubby bunnies. You know who you are.
Sorry to hear, Dan.
I’ve buried several pets out back; that’s the hardest part, digging the damned holes. One, an 18-yo midnight-black cat that was killed by a neighbor’s pit bull. Needless to say, someone else dug that one’s hole, soon thereafter.
Is there a specific term for killing
your neighbor’s petthe trash renter next door’s feral pest? Because I probably should learn that one.Sounds half French  Bon le feu, bon flamme, bon flambé.
Looks like it actually comes from “bone fire”.
[f. BONE n. 1 + FIRE = fire of bones. The etymological spelling bone-fire, Sc. bane-fire, was common down to 1760, though bonfire was also in use from the 16th c., and became more common as the original sense was forgotten. Johnson in 1755 decided for bonfire, ‘from bon good, (Fr.) and fire’. But the shortening of the vowel was natural, from its position; cf. knowledge, Monday, collier, etc. In Scotland with the form bane-fire, the memory of the original sense was retained longer; for the annual midsummer ‘banefire’ or ‘bonfire’ in the burgh of Hawick, old bones were regularly collected and stored up, down to c. 1800.]
1. A fire of bones; a great fire in which bones were burnt in the open air. Obs.
(The 17th c. quotations are chiefly allusive, implying a knowledge that bon(e)fires ought to burn bones.)
1483 Cath. Angl. 20/1 A banefyre, ignis ossium. 1493 Festyvall (W. de W. 1515) 105 In worshyppe of saynte Johan the people waked at home, & made iij maner of fyres. One was clene bones and noo woode, and that is called a bone fyre. a1552 in Leland Brit. Coll. I. p. lxxvi, In some parts of Lincolnshire..on some peculiar nights, they make great fires in the public streets of their Towns with bones of oxon, sheep, &c. which are heaped together before. I am apt to believe..that from hence came the original of Bonefires. 1586 MARLOWE 1st. Pt. Tamburl. III. iii, Making bonfires for my overthrow. But, ere I die, those foul idolaters Shall make me bonfires with their filthy bones. 1684 DINELEY Dk. Beaufort’s Progr. Wales 154 A fire of joy..called a Bonfire..being part wood and part bones. [1655 FULLER Ch. Hist. IX. 52 Both parties..would in a bonefire of their generall joy, have burnt this unhappy bone of dissention cast betwixt them. 1674 W. STANLEY Rom. Horseleech 82 (Skeat) Causing all the bones of Becket to be burnt..and how his arms should escape that bonefire is very strange.]
2. A fire in which to consume corpses, a funeral pile, a pyre. (The ordinary transl. of L. pyra, rogus in 16-17th c.) Obs.
1552 HULOET, Bonefyre..pyra. 1565 GOLDING Ovid’s Met. VII. Or els without solemnitie were burnt in bone-fires hie. 1583 STANYHURST Æneid IV. (Arb.) 119 Madlye she [Dido] scaleth Thee top of her banefyer. 1639 HORN & ROBOTHAM Gate Lang. Unl. xcvii. §961 The dead corps is buried: they of old made a bone-fire, and therein burnt it. 1658 SIR T. BROWNE Hydriot. ii. 22 Burning [was] perhaps not fully disused till Christianity fully established gave the finall extinction to these sepulchrall Bonefires.
3. A fire for immolation; a fire in which heretics, bibles, or proscribed books were burnt. Still familiarly applied to a great fire for burning up thorns, brushwood, or rubbish, though, as the purpose is not now specifically considered as constituting a bonfire, not distinguished from sense 4b.
1581 J. BELL Haddon’s Answ. Osor. 483/2 You would have made boanefiers with ye blood of many good Preachers. 1611 SPEED Hist. Gt. Brit. VI. ix. (1632) 79 Their holy Bibles cast into Bone-fires. 1638 SHIRLEY Mart. Soldier IV. ii. in Bullen O. Pl. (1882) I. 228 Methinks Christians make the bravest Bonefires of any people in the Universe. 1640 BROME Sparagus Gard. I. v. 132 Making a Bon-fire in Smithfield. 1653 A. WILSON Jas. I, 47 He [James I] thanks them for the Bonefire they made of certain Papers. 1678 BUTLER Hud. III. II. 1543. 1711 ADDISON Spect. No. 98 {page}3 Many of the Women threw down their Head-dresses in the Middle of his Sermon, and made a Bonfire of them. 1845 S. AUSTIN Ranke’s Hist. Ref. II. 9 Luther’s writings were collected and publicly burned; but the emperor might be seen to smile ironically as he passed these bonfires.
b. (Ireland) An incendiary fire. Obs.
1633 T. STAFFORD Pac. Hib. ii. (1821) 231 That..the County of Clare might be freed from bonfires. Ibid. xvii. 183 They departed, before they had made any Bonfiers in Mounster.
4. A large fire kindled in the open air for a celebration, display, or amusement: a. (orig.) on certain anniversaries, esp. on the eves of St. John and St. Peter (cf. Fr. feu de la Saint-Jean, Ger. Johannis feuer, and BALE-FIRE). These were originally bone-fires in sense 1 (where cf. quot. 1493), and appear to have come down from heathen times.
1493 Privy Purse Exp. Hen. VII, in Brand Pop. Ant. (1870) I. 174 To the makyng of the bonefuyr on Middesomer Eve, 10s. 1570 B. GOOGE Pop. Kingd. IV. 54b, Then doth the ioyfull feast of John the Baptist take his turne, When bonfiers great with loftie flame, in every towne doe burne. 1575 Ord. Cooks Newcastle in Brand Pop. Ant. (1870) I. 178 The said Felloship of Cookes shall yearelie..mainteigne and keep the Bone-fires..that is to say, one Bone-fire on the Even of the Feast of the Nativitie of St. John Baptist..and the other on the Even of the Feast of St. Peter the Apostle. 1581 Sc. Acts Jas. VI (1597) §104 Setteris out of Bane-fyers, singers of Carrales..and of sik vthers superstitious and Papisticall rites. 1600 ROWLANDS Let. Humours Blood iv. 65 At leaping ore a Midsommer bon-fier. 1867 in Brand Pop. Ant. (1870) I. 177 Bonfires are still made on Midsummer Eve, in the northern parts of England and in Wales.
b. (In general modern use) in celebration of some event of public or local interest, or on some festive occasion, as a victory, jubilee, the birth or marriage of the heir to an estate, etc.; but also applied to any great blazing fire made for amusement, or combining amusement with the burning of rubbish, thorns, weeds, etc. (Cf. sense 3.)
(The Fifth of November bonfires combined various senses of the word.)
1530 PALSGR. 199/2 Bonne fyre, fev de behovrdis. 1556 Chron. Gr. Friars (1852) 32 Commandement..that there shulde be a gret bonfyer at Powlles churche dore..for the good tydynges. 1558 MAITLAND Quenis Maryage, All burrows townis..To maik bainfyres, fairseis and clerk~playis. 1582 NORTH Gueuara’s Diall Pr. 73b Great bond~fires. 1591 RALEIGH Last Fight Rev. 17 Celebrate the victorie with bonefiers in euerie town. 1603 DRAYTON Bar. Warres IV. xxiii, With Bells and Bone-fires welcomes her ashore. 1660 BOYLE New Exp. Phys. Mech. xxxvii. 309 The People..testified their Joy by numerous Bon-fires. 1710 ADDISON Whig-Exam. No. 2 {page}9 The mob has huzza’d round bonefires. 1736 BYROM Rem. (1856) II. I. 35 You have had burnfires and bells and shooting and drinking. 1772 PRIESTLEY Inst. Relig. (1782) I. 384 Our custom..of making bonfires on the fifth of November. 1836 W. IRVING Astoria (1849) 365 They built a great bonfire..and men and women danced round it. 1848 MACAULAY Hist. Eng. I. 631.
c. attrib. or comb.
1596 SHAKES. 1 Hen. IV, III. iii. 47 Thou art a perpetuall Triumph, an euerlasting Bone-fire-Light. 1690 Hist. Wars Ireland 111 Bonfire-Works..were no sooner lighted, but the Allarm-Signal was given.
Oh, I don’t take what thor said ill. He’s just trying to cheer me up.
But thanks for the sympathies.
Speaking of Viking Kittehs…
Ya see, like all real men, he does watch Survivor Man.
Ahhhh, thor, you just continue to embarrass yourself. Real men already know what is taught on that show; their fathers or someone else taught them.
But you keep getting your manhood through TV, that will serve you well.
Dan,
Rodger, Wilco.
Seems a bizarre way to cheer someone up, but hey, whatever works…
Condolences to you and your family…
Survivor Man and Survivor Hick are different shows, York.
My little Sweetie died and I found her when I came home. Her Mom, even though she was around Sweetie’s body, cried and cried for about 2 months, and the vet recommended I get her a new kitty to be friends with.
She then learned to be careful what she’d wished for, as the new kitty drives her nuts every single day.
My sympathies, Dan. A good cat is worth 10 of some people.
: (
Sympathies on your family’s loss Dan. As a veteran pet owner it’s always hard to see one go…
I have 2 cats, which are brothers, and a dog; I’m not looking forward to the day when they go…
Sorry to hear about the permafrost preventing Suxie’s burial; must be due to the global warming…
I blame Obama!
Nice try, ……
Unfortunately, I clicked on your link, so I’ve got it right.
You’re just so sophisticated, aren’t you, thor?
We’re all hicks, eh?
Apparently, you never did pick up on your contradiction from a couple of weeks back.
Self-awareness is a bitch, isn’t it?
You really are an amusement…
Now I know why Dan said what he said…
My family and friends are building art museums, Zoos, arts centers and running [or past tense, ran] the National Symphony Association.
While you preen.
Keep embarrassing yourself….it’s vastly entertaining.
Did you see last night’s Survivor Hick where they dropped a toothless hick in a cornfield for a week? He survived by snare trapping two field mice and by using corn shucks to filter his chaw spit. The best episode was where the Survivor Hick survived for a week at the bottom of a abandoned latrine.
Sorry about your cat, Dan.
Bad attention beats no attention for socially retarded, friendless jerks. Nice to see that still applies…
Sorry, Dano. It’s hard to lose your furry friends. I’ve laid 4 dogs and a cat to rest the last 20 years. Each time, I swear it’s the last pet. It’s just that they are so damned loveable! RIP, Suzie.
If not for Aidan’s illness, we’d still have dogs, but he’s improved to the point where we may get him a service dog. We’d always had Aussies, before.
Yeah, thor, I know. Honestly, though, I almost never watch TV. The monsterlings generally control the channel when the tube’s on, which isn’t much.
I once had a cat that died in mod-winter. The ground was so hard I used a post-hole digger which, once I got below the frost line, wasn’t so bad to use. Sometimes I wonder if that cat is still standing up, one foot under.
She was a good cat, that one.
And Dan, an Aussie likely would be an excellent service dog, they are so smart. He probably could do your taxes, too, as an added bonus.
It’s a shame more Democrats don’t use Borders or Aussies to help them with their taxes.
“Comment by thor on 1/18 @ 2:35 pm #”
As I said, vastly entertaining.
He’s like a retarded child that keeps burning his/her hand on the stove, but never learns.
Really is funny…
I think the NY Times is saying Obama’s treasury guy had his taxes done by a dog… but maybe I misread the piece.
On the side note of laughing inappropriately, I thought the marshmallows were hilarious… although getting your marshmallow in the blaze too early wouldn’t get a good result… for me anyway.
I had to put down a dog, and before that had one run over when I ran out of gas on the freeway and then mishandled the leash…. jokes about roadkill will be gracefully accepted in the spirit of: If you are gonna dish it out, you are gonna have to take it… but I cried (both times) for days. Nothing like kneeling in the center median of the freeway holding your dog’s last moments as he thrashes around and then finding a big trash bag stuck in the creosote bush and using that to wrap him in to get a big reality check about life and it’s fleeting preciousness. I cursed God for the apparent capriciousness and was forgiven because God felt like it.
My current dog has no knowledge of my checkered past, which I’d guess is a big strike three against cognizant past knowledge within reincarnation… or then again, maybe she was some oblivious blonde who in a past life married that Pedersen guy whose wives seem to have a short life span.
I was watching a little TV tonight and mainly was struck by one thought:
Who told Frank Langella that Richard Nixon sounded like Sean Connery?
“He’s like a retarded child that keeps burning his/her hand on the stove, but never learns.
Really is funny…”
You peeps get “48 Hours” reruns in your area? There was a great episode about a socially-retarded loner and his R*ssian mail-order bride (very hot, I might add. Non inflatable.) She got sick of his Star Wars obsessions, walked out, and poor Luke Skywalker ended up committing suicide by cop. Just saying…interesting episode. Only thing that would have made it sadder would have been a dead pet.
RIP.
“Years ago I had a German Shepherd-Misty- and cats, and when Misty passed away the cats she had nurtured as kittens prowled the house looking for her and crying.”
Ouch. I used to be surprised that some shelters don’t allow you to adopt one cat w/o taking in its “friends”, too. Not anymore. Kind of egocentric, how we assume only humans can have complex emotions.
Oh, geez, SteveG. Sorry.
Steve, I lost my Greta over a year ago when she was hit by a car (I was away for ONE FREAKIN NIGHT and we had just moved- she’d gone to the road to wait for me I think) …
I had a crying spell just the other day about her.
My new dog – I like to think my Greta explained things to him, ’cause he goes about halfway up the driveway and refuses to go any further. The driveway is REALLY long, and we live on 10 acres. Halfway down the driveway is a safe distance.
Sorry about the kitty. Congratulations on designing a proper funeral pyre, but oh man! The EPA,DEQ,BLM, moonbats, greenies and God knows how many others at thelocal, state and federal level are going to be after you for pollution, emission of greenhouse gasses and what all else. Quick, scrub this website!
We had a cat die on us a couple of years ago, and the wife didn’t want to just plant him, so we had him cremated. $270. I could’ve done bought a fresh tank of propane and done it on the old soon-to-be-replaced grill, and pocketed the difference. At any rate…
Sounds like you gave the critter a good send-off. Sorry ’bout your loss.
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