Not Very Wordless Wednesday: Sparrow's Swan Song

Red-headed Alec came to me and said, "Sparrow is losing weight, and I'm worried about her.  She was throwing up, and she won't come when I call her and she always comes when I call her.  She also didn't sleep with me last night!"

That last symptom was the scariest to me, Sparrow always slept with Red-headed Alec, ever since he got her as a 6-week-old kitten.

Thus i called Dr. Bea, and was told to get her in right away.  Red-headed Alec went to get her and not only did he find her hiding in a dark corner, which she never did, she didn't fight going into a carrier.  This was a cat that tried to take off any hands that put her in a carrier.

The news was grim -- liver cancer, advanced.  The liver was lumpy and she was badly jaundiced, and if we wanted to take her home and give her fluids and see if we could get her eating again she might last a few weeks, or a month or two.

Red-headed Alec grabbed her, told her good-bye with tears, and told them he didn't want to see her suffer as he walked out.  Later he told me he didn't want to prolong anything so he wouldn't change his mind.  Dr. Bea offered to bury Sparrow out on her land, by the pond near the forest.  A great place for a cat to run and play.

This was the last picture i had taken of Sparrow, in her favorite place:

Sparrow on her favorite perch, a sleeping Red-headed Alec.

Today is:

Chief Red Cloud Day -- marking the Sioux leader's death in 1909; defender of Native rights, son of Lone Man and Walks As She Thinks

Constitution Day -- Thailand

Dewey Decimal System Day -- anniversary of Melvil Dewey's birth

Do Something Wild and Crazy with Velveeta Day -- guess they mean besides turn it into Hillbilly Hor d'oeuvres (melted with Rotel and served with chips)

Election Day -- Mauritius

International Animal Rights Day

International Human Rights Day -- anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948

Lux Mundi -- Ancient Roman Calendar (honoring Libertas as the bringer of light into the world)

Magal de Touba -- Senegal (commemoration of the departure into exile of Ahmadou Bamba to Gabon, a Sufi religious festival)

National Lager Day

Nobeldagen -- Sweden (Alfred Nobel Day, presentations of the Nobel Prizes at the Stockholm Concert Hall)
     Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony -- Oslo City Hall, Oslo, Norway

Sister-Friend Day -- internet generated, but if you have a sister who is a good friend to you, it's worth celebrating

St. Eulalia of Merida's Day (Patron of runaways, torture victims, widows; Merida, Spain; Oviedo, Spain)

Whirling Dervishes Festival -- Konya, Turkey (through the 17th)


Anniversaries Today:

Mississippi becomes the 20th US State, 1817


Birthdays Today:

Raven-Symone, 1985
Bobby Flay, 1964
Kenneth Branagh, 1960
Susan Dey, 1952
Gloria Loring, 1946
Dan Blocker, 1928
Harold Gould, 1923
Dorothy Lamour, 1914
Chet Huntley, 1911
Hermes "Pan" Panagiotopolous, 1909
Mary Norton, 1903
Melvil Dewey, 1851
Emily Dickinson, 1830
Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, 1787


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Wings Over America"(Album release), 1976
Lawrence of Arabia(Film), 1962
"The Mighty Mouse Playhouse" (TV), 1955
Grand Ole Opry (first radio broadcast), 1927


Today in History:

Martin Luther publicly burns the papal edict demanding that he recant, 1520
Isaac Newton's paper De Motu Corporum in Gyrum, containing the derivation of Kepler's laws from his theory of gravity, is read to the Royal Society by Edmund Halley, 1684
The Massachusetts Bay Colony becomes the first American Colonial government to borrow money, 1690
The metric system is formally established in France, 1799
The first traffic lights are installed outside the Palace of Westminster in London, 1868
Women's suffrage is granted in Wyoming Territory, the first in the US, 1869
Women are granted suffrage in Tasmania, 1902
The 10,000,000th Model T Ford is assembled, 1915
The Grand Ole Opry makes its radio debut, in Nashville, Tn, 1927
UN General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948
Ralph J Bunche becomes the first black to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, 1950
The United Nations General Assembly approves Pakistan's proposal for establishing nuclear free-zone in South Asia, 1981
The last shift leaves Wearmouth Colliery in Sunderland; the closure of the 156-year-old pit marks the end of the old County Durham coalfield, which had been in operation since the Middle Ages, 1993
An archive documenting the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda is revealed in the capital city of Kigali, 2010

Feline Friday: Cat-Bird

Feline Friday was started by Steve, The Burnt Food Dude, and i'm going to believe it's because he likes cats.


Red-Headed Alec has a cat named Sparrow.  When she was a baby, she used to perch on his shoulder when he walked around.  She still perches on him sometimes.

Sparrow's favorite perch!

Today is:

Armed Forces Day -- Bangladesh

Colorado River Crossing Balloon Festival -- Yuma, AZ, US (through Sunday)

False Confessions Day -- internet generated, and not for the faint of heart

Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin -- Eastern and Roman Catholic Christian (those following the Gregorian Calendar)

Festival of Madonna della Salute -- Venice, Italy

Furniture Memory Day -- an internet generated test of your memory; see if you remember where you got each piece of furniture you own, how much it cost, and how its most precious scratch came to be; you are also encouraged to dust if you want to

General Framework Agreement Day -- RS, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Gerard d'Aboville Day -- marking the day, in 1991, he arrived in Ilwaco, WA, US, after departing Japan 4 months earlier in a rowboat!

Gingerbread Day

Grand Illumination Celebration and Gingerbread House Competition & Display -- Lahaska, PA, US (the holiday fun begins at the Peddler's Village)

Greater Pittsburgh Arts and Crafts Show -- Monroeville, PA, US (through Sunday)

Holiday Folk Fair International -- Milwaukee, WI, US (featuring costumes, dancing, entertainment, exhibits, and more from 65 cultures; through Sunday)

Holiday Lights on the Lake -- Altoona, PA, US (51 acres of lights, animations, gift shops, food, model train displays, and more; through the Sunday after New Year's Day)

National Stuffing Day -- various dates given on many sites, so if you enjoy stuffing, celebrate them all

No Music Day -- www.nomusicday.com for the explanation

Ranch Hand Festival and Breakfast -- King Ranch, Kingsville, TX, US (a real ranch hand meal, cooked and served outdoors, on a working cattle ranch where you can watch cowboys round up longhorns)
     kickoff of the celebration La Posada de Kingsville, with special holiday celebrations through December

Silver Bells in the City -- Lansing, MI, US (the capital city sparkles as the business district lights up for the holidays)

St. Gelasius' Day

Substitute Educators Day -- US (the NEA encourages everyone to recognize those hard working substitute teachers, especially the ones who work most or all of the school year

Ugly Day -- Fairy Calendar

World Hello Day -- recognizing the importance of communication in world peace, say hello to people you don't usually greet today

World Television Day -- UN

York International Postcard Fair -- York, PA, US (over 100 international dealers in post cards show, sell, and trade their finest cards; through tomorrow)


Anniversaries Today:

South Carolina becomes the 12 US State, 1789


Birthdays Today:

Tasha Schwikert, 1984
Ken Griffey, Jr., 1969
Troy Aikman, 1966
Bjork, 1965
Nicollette Sheridan, 1963
Cherry Jones, 1956
Cynthia Rhodes, 1956
Lorna Luft, 1952
Goldie Hawn, 1945
Harold Ramis, 1944
Marcy Carsey, 1944
Tweety Bird, 1942
Juliet Mills, 1941
Marlo Thomas, 1938
James DePreist, 1936
Laurence Luckinbill, 1934
Joseph Campanella, 1927
Stan Musial, 1920
Coleman Hawkins, 1904
Rene Magritte, 1898
Hetty Green, 1834
William Beaumont, 1785
Josiah Bartlett, 1729
Voltaire, 1694


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"I'm Gonna Make You Love Me"(Single release), 1968
"A Tale of Two Kitties"(Warner cartoon, debut of Tweety Bird), 1942
"The Relapse, or, Virtue in Danger"(Vanbrugh play), 1696


Today in History:

Judas Maccabaeus, son of Mattathias of the Hasmonean family, restores the Temple in Jerusalem; this is the event commemorated each year by the festival of Hanukkah, BC164
The Pilgrims, aboard the Mayflower, reach what is now called Provincetown Harbor, Massachusetts, and sign the Mayflower Compact, 1620
Richard Johnson, a free black, is granted 550 acres in Virginia, 1654
In Paris, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent, Marquis d'Arlandes, make the first untethered hot air balloon flight, 1783
Colonel Napoléon Bonaparte is promoted to full general and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the French Republic, 1791
First Jewish Reform congregation in US forms, Charleston, SC, 1824
Moses F Gale patents a cigar lighter, 1871
Tom Edison announces his "talking machine" invention (phonograph), 1877
Rebecca Latimer Felton of Georgia takes the oath of office, becoming the first female United States Senator, 1922
First commercial crossing of Pacific by plane (China Clipper), 1935
The Alcan Highway is completed, 1942*
The British Natural History Museum announces that the "Piltdown Man" skull is a hoax, 1953
The first permanent ARPANET link is established between UCLA and SRI, 1969
Gerard d'Aboville completes his four-month solo journey to row across the Pacific Ocean, 1991
The Dayton Peace Agreement is initialed at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio, ending three and a half years of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1995
NATO invites Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia to become members, 2002
Iran's President Ahmadinejad rejects the country's successful family planning program and tells Iranian girls they should marry at 16, 2010
The three most senior surviving members of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime are charged with genocide and crimes against humanity, 2011
For the second time in four months, New Zealand's Mount Tongariro volcano, on the North Island, erupts, 2012


*Not opened to general vehicular traffic until the next year