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Remembering Visitor the Cat
Jan. 19th, 2022 12:03 am[The verb tense changes as this was written over the last two weeks.]
TL:DR - A wonderful cat is gone.
It's difficult to write an obituary for a cat we've had for nearly nine years, especially while he's still alive, but Thursday January 6th when we brought him to the emergency vet, we were told that he has three life threatening problems. He has liver disease (and an enlarged bile duct), cancer of the spleen, and a loud heart murmur. Separately, any one of them might be treatable, but together, they're fatal. In this case, the vet (a very nice person) agreed that taking him home for hospice is probably the best thing we can do for him. When we brought him home it was apparent that he didn't know anything about this. Soon after we got home he was zooming up and down the stairs and being his usually extremely friendly, but obnoxious self.
In February, 2013, we first met Visitor. We were heading out for the evening, when we heard a meow coming from the carport. Ann investigated and saw there was a skinny, tuxedo cat hiding in the far corner of the carport. Ann put out some water, cat food and an old sweatshirt for a bed. After a couple days we borrowed a large Havahart trap and brought him to the vet. They verified he was a healthy, one or two year old cat. The pads of his paws were in rough shape, so he probably was outside for a while. He had on an old flea collar, so it was obvious that at some point, he was someone's cat, but he didn't have a chip. We brought him back to the carport and let him out.
We wondered if the cat was friendly or feral? I sat down on the carport steps and called out to him. He came over and climbed into my lap and accepted pets from me. That answered the question. It took a few days, but eventually we brought him into the house and he's been a house cat ever since then (he never expressed an interest in going outside after that). I called the town's animal control officer (and the one from the neighboring town), checked with the local vet (they have a book of cats reported missing), and put out flyers in neighboring mailboxes, but no one reported a missing cat that resembled him.
Unlike Ann, I'm not really a cat person. I grew up with dogs (Komondors) and various rodents. But it's not hard to grow to like a cat like Visitor. Even my parents, who are not cat people, grew to like Visitor. He's extremely friendly. He never bites. And will happily accept pets for as long as you want. I once sat down on the floor (with NPR playing on the radio) and started petting him. Fifteen minutes later I gave up and stopped petting him.
Being humans, we had rules for Visitor. But being a cat he mostly ignored them. At first he had to stay in the kitchen, mud room, and rat room. If we didn't properly close the door between the kitchen and the rest of the house, he'd push the door open and go exploring. Eventually we allowed him out at night so he could join us as Ann read in bed as she prepared to go to sleep. Then there was the rule that he wasn't allowed on the counters or the table top. Eventually we gave up enforcing that, but occasionally, I'll build a barricade to prevent him from getting too close when I'm cooking and there's raw meat on the counter (that would occasionally get his interest). Being a cat, he's not allowed in the TV room and living room (we like to keep it cat free for allergic guests), but occasionally if we didn't close the door all the way he'd go intp tje TV room looking for mice.
While being an extremely friendly cat, he's still a cat and is slightly obnoxious. He'll steal food from your plate, but he'll be polite and wait until you're done eating and have abandoned the plate (he really likes the sauces). At night, we'll let him climb on the bed with us while Ann reads before going to sleep. Frequently, he'll claim a spot on the bed on my side of the bed and Ann will need to call him over or I'll have to gently lift the blanket to get him to move, reluctantly. Once I'm in bed he'll occasionally come over to my side of the bed to get my attention by walking along the side of the bed or standing on me (which makes it hard to pet him). Sometimes he'll lay down on top of me
Another way he likes to get attention is to sit on the table where your attention is, such as on the newspaper you're trying to read or on the bag you're stuffing with newspapers to recycle. Sometimes at night, when it's late and he wants his midnight snack, he'd jump up onto my desk and strut back and forth or sit in front of my monitor. Then when he's made his point, he'd step on my keyboard on the way to the floor. Usually I had a warning and could switch to a chat window so he could type a message to a friend.
With a cat like Visitor, I've found it difficult to say "Bad Kitty!" when I'm reaching for my phone to take a picture of what he's doing.
To me, he's a very smart cat. He seems to understand when it's time to go downstairs for a midnight snack and to shut him up for the night in the kitchen (we'd rather not have the cat show up at 5 am to let us know he wants his breakfast (he's done when we've forgotten to close the kitchen door)). As part of the nightly routine, I'd first go to the bathroom to get my daily antihistamine pill (did I mention I'm allergic to cats?). After a while he learned this is a portion of the routine and frequently he'd lead me to the bathroom before we went downstairs. Once in a while, when Ann has to get up early (without the cat's help), she'll sleep in the guest room, but Visitor, definitely a creature of habit, will go to the usual bedroom. So I'll have to go and encourage him to move to the guest room. After a couple of times of doing this, he figured out that my gesturing meant that he should get off the comfy bed and follow me (or sometimes lead) to the guest room.
Sometimes when I ask him to move he chooses to ignore me and doesn't move, so I'll pick him up and carry him. Instead of struggling, he'll look around at where he's going. Our interpretation is that he's enjoying the view and is studying his domain from this new perspective.
Having VIsitor be a tuxedo cat with a white chest and white toes means he is easier to spot when he is laying down in the middle of a dark hallway at night. But sometimes he'd hang out in Ann's coat closet on the pile of gloves and other soft things, so all you'd see is his eyes staring at you.
Visitor really likes his hairball treats and he likes getting them from a plastic, mouse-shaped Weeble. The mouse has holes on the side to slowly distribute the treats as he bats the mouse around the room and it wobbles like a Weeble. If he hears the bag crinkling as I open it, it'll come running over to get some treats. This is useful when I forget to close the kitchen door after feeding him. Frequently, he'll stroll out of the kitchen and then sit down five feet from the door. Sometimes I get the feeling that this is the kitty version of extortion. He'll sit there, waiting for the sound and promise of the hairball treats. He learned to sit up and beg for the hairball treats. I'll fill the plastic mouse and then hold it slightly above him. He'll sit up and then raise one paw to touch the mouse. Whereupon I'll put the Weeble down and say "good kitty". Recently, I thought I should make a video of him doing this, but that was the night before we took him to the emergency vet, so that never happened.
Visitor never had time for the usual cat toys like something dangling from the end of a stick, a small ball or a laser pointer, but leave a box or a large paper bag, and he'll spend lots of time in them. Another favorite of his is leeks. If there is a leek on the counter with a leaf dangling down he'll hit it with a paw and try to bite it. He also has a fondness for the drawstrings of plastic garbage bags. Every garbage night, I'd leave the bags near him so he could grab the drawstrings and bite them (unfortunately, this meant that the drawstrings would frequently be wet when I carried the bags out of the kitchen.
Another thing Visitor loves is a pair of wool socks. We're not quite sure why this is, but we've learned to accept this and ceded the socks to him. He'll frequently sit or lay on the socks at the top of the stairs and watch as we go about our evening routine.
He loves being "furminated", being groomed with a FURminator (a metal comb to remove the loose hairs and make him handsome). He'll jump onto the counter in front of the microwave and happily stand there and purr while being brushed. When you brush him under the chin, he'll stretch out his head to give you full access to his chin and neck. Occasionally he'll carefully turn so I can get to the other side. Sometimes, this goes on long enough that I'll have to pause four or five times to remove the hairs from the comb.
Tuna fish is something that he loves. When opening cans of tuna, I'd normally pour off the liquid. When I discovered that he liked it, I'd set aside the liquid (and a little bit of tuna) for him. I learned to look behind me before stepping away from the counter because even if he wasn't in the kitchen when I started, there would be a cat at my feet waiting for his tuna.
Fish flakes are another thing that he likes. When he hears the jar lid unscrew, he'd be right there. Occasionally we put it on his food as a treat or offer it to him straight (this one the one thing he'd take from my fingers).
Of course, like any good cat, he loves his little catnip pillows. He'd sit down with one between his paws and enjoy the scent for quite a while. There are several of these in the kitchen (one is in the cat carrier), another is at the bottom of the stairs (it started out on the enclosed porch
While Visitor was an indoor cat, he was good at hunting for mice. We live in an old farmhouse that always has a few mice in the walls. Whenever he heard a mouse in a wall or rustling around in the corner, he'd stare waiting for hours to catch that mouse. Occasionally we'd hear a loud scramble and soon he'd proudly walk past with the mouse he just caught. When he'd put the mouse down, occasionally the mouse would scramble off and the chase would resume. If we got a chance, we'd use a plastic cup to catch the mouse and take it outside (unfortunately, not always alive). Whereupon Visitor will start searching the area for the missing mouse.
Birds, squirrels, and other critters would hold his attention, but I think he eventually learned that he couldn't get to them and chose to just watch them. But when there was an explosion of winter moths a few years ago, he kept batting at the windows trying to get to them.
On the other hand, our pet rats were of no interest to him. My suspicion is that he got too close to the cage and a rat swiped at him with a paw through the bars.
We don't know how long he has left (we didn't ask), but the appetite and the steroid medication they gave him seemed to work because he cleaned out his wet food bowl soon after he got home.
We have a friend, who after years of working as a veterinarian at various practices, decided to become one of the first veterinarians to receive training as a hospice veterinarian. I enjoyed reading her blog posts about Now she has a mobile practice and will come to your home and help with your pets final days. She's on vacation, but she offered to come over next week to see how she can help make him comfortable (if he's still alive).
autumnvet.com
I first met Doctor Becky while she was a new veterinarian at our local vet practice. Then a few days later, she said "hi" at Arisia (an SF convention). It took me a few moments to place her in a different context. Since then we've bumped into her at various social events.
On Monday, January 10th, we made an appointment to bring him to the local animal hospital to have him put to sleep. About an hour before the appointment, he jumped onto the counter and I started furminated him for 10 minutes. Listening to him purr as I furminated him made me very sad because I was thinking it might be the last time I'll hear him purr. But because he was still eating and he was fit enough to jump onto the counter, we called the vet and postponed his appointment for another day. After this, we decided to let him out of the kitchen so he could go upstairs.
I followed him to the bedroom and climbed in bed next to him to pet him for a bit. He decided to cross to the other side, pausing to stand on my leg to claim me for a moment. He settled down next to me, but barely out of reach, so I had to scoot down to pet him for a little bit. He seemed quite content to stay there for a while so I pulled out my phone and read while I could feel him next to my leg. After an hour of this I got up, gave him a quick pat and headed downstairs. He got up and followed me to the kitchen (sometimes leading). Since he didn't stay after I left the bed, I wondered who was comforting whom.
On Tuesday, we turned the appointment into giving him some fluids and we decided to take things day by day.
He's been slowing down a little and eating less, but he still loves his hairball treats and, we discovered, milk (lactose-free). He was excited by some of the tuna we gave him out of the can, but we quickly found out it's not the tuna he likes, but the tuna flavored water in the can.
On Friday, January 14th, we made an appointment for Dr. Becky to come over on Tuesday.
Monday, I made Tuna Mac for dinner, partly for us, and partly for Visitor. While the water was boiling, I opened the two cans of tuna. As usual, Visitor was at my feet watching very carefully, as I opened the cans (I've learned to look before backing away from the sink when there is tuna involved). As I went back to the boiling pasta and got things ready, Visitor stuck close to me and then started whining for his tuna juice. Finally, when the tuna was added to the drained pot along with the rest of the other ingredients, Visitor followed me back to his food dish. By followed, I mean he led and constantly looked over his shoulder at the can of tuna in my hand.
Today, Tuesday January 18th, Dr. Becky came to our house, examined Visitor, and discussed the options. At breakfast, he was purring while I petted him and then he enjoyed some of my leftover cereal milk. But by the time Dr. Becky arrived, he had declined and was breathing heavily. It was decided that it was time for him "to pass" to use her phrase. At this point, I left the room but Ann stayed with him.
After Dr. Becky left and we had lunch, we cleaned up much of the signs that we had a cat in the kitchen. The cans of cat food that Ann got for Visitor are in a bag and will be donated to a shelter tomorrow. His bowls are in the sink to be washed. But scattered throughout the house, there are many of Visitor's catnip pillows. Walking from the kitchen to the stairs, I counted three. I'm not sure how long they will stay there. But it's nice to see the little reminders. Tonight was the first time In many years that I said Good Night to Ann without a cat walking over us or curling up next to us in a few years. And then when I left the bedroom I closed the door all the way.
Not everyone may agree that Visitor is the best cat in the world, but he is our cat, and that is how we feel about him (and if you ask Alexa in our house, she will confirm that).
You can find some photos of Visitor here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/pzhBnHvNwrHANErV7
---Ben
This probably needs to be proofread, but it's long and I'm not sure I'm up for that. Writing this made me both happy and sad. Writing about about his approaching end made me sad, but writing about his antics made me happy,
TL:DR - A wonderful cat is gone.
It's difficult to write an obituary for a cat we've had for nearly nine years, especially while he's still alive, but Thursday January 6th when we brought him to the emergency vet, we were told that he has three life threatening problems. He has liver disease (and an enlarged bile duct), cancer of the spleen, and a loud heart murmur. Separately, any one of them might be treatable, but together, they're fatal. In this case, the vet (a very nice person) agreed that taking him home for hospice is probably the best thing we can do for him. When we brought him home it was apparent that he didn't know anything about this. Soon after we got home he was zooming up and down the stairs and being his usually extremely friendly, but obnoxious self.
In February, 2013, we first met Visitor. We were heading out for the evening, when we heard a meow coming from the carport. Ann investigated and saw there was a skinny, tuxedo cat hiding in the far corner of the carport. Ann put out some water, cat food and an old sweatshirt for a bed. After a couple days we borrowed a large Havahart trap and brought him to the vet. They verified he was a healthy, one or two year old cat. The pads of his paws were in rough shape, so he probably was outside for a while. He had on an old flea collar, so it was obvious that at some point, he was someone's cat, but he didn't have a chip. We brought him back to the carport and let him out.
We wondered if the cat was friendly or feral? I sat down on the carport steps and called out to him. He came over and climbed into my lap and accepted pets from me. That answered the question. It took a few days, but eventually we brought him into the house and he's been a house cat ever since then (he never expressed an interest in going outside after that). I called the town's animal control officer (and the one from the neighboring town), checked with the local vet (they have a book of cats reported missing), and put out flyers in neighboring mailboxes, but no one reported a missing cat that resembled him.
Unlike Ann, I'm not really a cat person. I grew up with dogs (Komondors) and various rodents. But it's not hard to grow to like a cat like Visitor. Even my parents, who are not cat people, grew to like Visitor. He's extremely friendly. He never bites. And will happily accept pets for as long as you want. I once sat down on the floor (with NPR playing on the radio) and started petting him. Fifteen minutes later I gave up and stopped petting him.
Being humans, we had rules for Visitor. But being a cat he mostly ignored them. At first he had to stay in the kitchen, mud room, and rat room. If we didn't properly close the door between the kitchen and the rest of the house, he'd push the door open and go exploring. Eventually we allowed him out at night so he could join us as Ann read in bed as she prepared to go to sleep. Then there was the rule that he wasn't allowed on the counters or the table top. Eventually we gave up enforcing that, but occasionally, I'll build a barricade to prevent him from getting too close when I'm cooking and there's raw meat on the counter (that would occasionally get his interest). Being a cat, he's not allowed in the TV room and living room (we like to keep it cat free for allergic guests), but occasionally if we didn't close the door all the way he'd go intp tje TV room looking for mice.
While being an extremely friendly cat, he's still a cat and is slightly obnoxious. He'll steal food from your plate, but he'll be polite and wait until you're done eating and have abandoned the plate (he really likes the sauces). At night, we'll let him climb on the bed with us while Ann reads before going to sleep. Frequently, he'll claim a spot on the bed on my side of the bed and Ann will need to call him over or I'll have to gently lift the blanket to get him to move, reluctantly. Once I'm in bed he'll occasionally come over to my side of the bed to get my attention by walking along the side of the bed or standing on me (which makes it hard to pet him). Sometimes he'll lay down on top of me
Another way he likes to get attention is to sit on the table where your attention is, such as on the newspaper you're trying to read or on the bag you're stuffing with newspapers to recycle. Sometimes at night, when it's late and he wants his midnight snack, he'd jump up onto my desk and strut back and forth or sit in front of my monitor. Then when he's made his point, he'd step on my keyboard on the way to the floor. Usually I had a warning and could switch to a chat window so he could type a message to a friend.
With a cat like Visitor, I've found it difficult to say "Bad Kitty!" when I'm reaching for my phone to take a picture of what he's doing.
To me, he's a very smart cat. He seems to understand when it's time to go downstairs for a midnight snack and to shut him up for the night in the kitchen (we'd rather not have the cat show up at 5 am to let us know he wants his breakfast (he's done when we've forgotten to close the kitchen door)). As part of the nightly routine, I'd first go to the bathroom to get my daily antihistamine pill (did I mention I'm allergic to cats?). After a while he learned this is a portion of the routine and frequently he'd lead me to the bathroom before we went downstairs. Once in a while, when Ann has to get up early (without the cat's help), she'll sleep in the guest room, but Visitor, definitely a creature of habit, will go to the usual bedroom. So I'll have to go and encourage him to move to the guest room. After a couple of times of doing this, he figured out that my gesturing meant that he should get off the comfy bed and follow me (or sometimes lead) to the guest room.
Sometimes when I ask him to move he chooses to ignore me and doesn't move, so I'll pick him up and carry him. Instead of struggling, he'll look around at where he's going. Our interpretation is that he's enjoying the view and is studying his domain from this new perspective.
Having VIsitor be a tuxedo cat with a white chest and white toes means he is easier to spot when he is laying down in the middle of a dark hallway at night. But sometimes he'd hang out in Ann's coat closet on the pile of gloves and other soft things, so all you'd see is his eyes staring at you.
Visitor really likes his hairball treats and he likes getting them from a plastic, mouse-shaped Weeble. The mouse has holes on the side to slowly distribute the treats as he bats the mouse around the room and it wobbles like a Weeble. If he hears the bag crinkling as I open it, it'll come running over to get some treats. This is useful when I forget to close the kitchen door after feeding him. Frequently, he'll stroll out of the kitchen and then sit down five feet from the door. Sometimes I get the feeling that this is the kitty version of extortion. He'll sit there, waiting for the sound and promise of the hairball treats. He learned to sit up and beg for the hairball treats. I'll fill the plastic mouse and then hold it slightly above him. He'll sit up and then raise one paw to touch the mouse. Whereupon I'll put the Weeble down and say "good kitty". Recently, I thought I should make a video of him doing this, but that was the night before we took him to the emergency vet, so that never happened.
Visitor never had time for the usual cat toys like something dangling from the end of a stick, a small ball or a laser pointer, but leave a box or a large paper bag, and he'll spend lots of time in them. Another favorite of his is leeks. If there is a leek on the counter with a leaf dangling down he'll hit it with a paw and try to bite it. He also has a fondness for the drawstrings of plastic garbage bags. Every garbage night, I'd leave the bags near him so he could grab the drawstrings and bite them (unfortunately, this meant that the drawstrings would frequently be wet when I carried the bags out of the kitchen.
Another thing Visitor loves is a pair of wool socks. We're not quite sure why this is, but we've learned to accept this and ceded the socks to him. He'll frequently sit or lay on the socks at the top of the stairs and watch as we go about our evening routine.
He loves being "furminated", being groomed with a FURminator (a metal comb to remove the loose hairs and make him handsome). He'll jump onto the counter in front of the microwave and happily stand there and purr while being brushed. When you brush him under the chin, he'll stretch out his head to give you full access to his chin and neck. Occasionally he'll carefully turn so I can get to the other side. Sometimes, this goes on long enough that I'll have to pause four or five times to remove the hairs from the comb.
Tuna fish is something that he loves. When opening cans of tuna, I'd normally pour off the liquid. When I discovered that he liked it, I'd set aside the liquid (and a little bit of tuna) for him. I learned to look behind me before stepping away from the counter because even if he wasn't in the kitchen when I started, there would be a cat at my feet waiting for his tuna.
Fish flakes are another thing that he likes. When he hears the jar lid unscrew, he'd be right there. Occasionally we put it on his food as a treat or offer it to him straight (this one the one thing he'd take from my fingers).
Of course, like any good cat, he loves his little catnip pillows. He'd sit down with one between his paws and enjoy the scent for quite a while. There are several of these in the kitchen (one is in the cat carrier), another is at the bottom of the stairs (it started out on the enclosed porch
While Visitor was an indoor cat, he was good at hunting for mice. We live in an old farmhouse that always has a few mice in the walls. Whenever he heard a mouse in a wall or rustling around in the corner, he'd stare waiting for hours to catch that mouse. Occasionally we'd hear a loud scramble and soon he'd proudly walk past with the mouse he just caught. When he'd put the mouse down, occasionally the mouse would scramble off and the chase would resume. If we got a chance, we'd use a plastic cup to catch the mouse and take it outside (unfortunately, not always alive). Whereupon Visitor will start searching the area for the missing mouse.
Birds, squirrels, and other critters would hold his attention, but I think he eventually learned that he couldn't get to them and chose to just watch them. But when there was an explosion of winter moths a few years ago, he kept batting at the windows trying to get to them.
On the other hand, our pet rats were of no interest to him. My suspicion is that he got too close to the cage and a rat swiped at him with a paw through the bars.
We don't know how long he has left (we didn't ask), but the appetite and the steroid medication they gave him seemed to work because he cleaned out his wet food bowl soon after he got home.
We have a friend, who after years of working as a veterinarian at various practices, decided to become one of the first veterinarians to receive training as a hospice veterinarian. I enjoyed reading her blog posts about Now she has a mobile practice and will come to your home and help with your pets final days. She's on vacation, but she offered to come over next week to see how she can help make him comfortable (if he's still alive).
autumnvet.com
I first met Doctor Becky while she was a new veterinarian at our local vet practice. Then a few days later, she said "hi" at Arisia (an SF convention). It took me a few moments to place her in a different context. Since then we've bumped into her at various social events.
On Monday, January 10th, we made an appointment to bring him to the local animal hospital to have him put to sleep. About an hour before the appointment, he jumped onto the counter and I started furminated him for 10 minutes. Listening to him purr as I furminated him made me very sad because I was thinking it might be the last time I'll hear him purr. But because he was still eating and he was fit enough to jump onto the counter, we called the vet and postponed his appointment for another day. After this, we decided to let him out of the kitchen so he could go upstairs.
I followed him to the bedroom and climbed in bed next to him to pet him for a bit. He decided to cross to the other side, pausing to stand on my leg to claim me for a moment. He settled down next to me, but barely out of reach, so I had to scoot down to pet him for a little bit. He seemed quite content to stay there for a while so I pulled out my phone and read while I could feel him next to my leg. After an hour of this I got up, gave him a quick pat and headed downstairs. He got up and followed me to the kitchen (sometimes leading). Since he didn't stay after I left the bed, I wondered who was comforting whom.
On Tuesday, we turned the appointment into giving him some fluids and we decided to take things day by day.
He's been slowing down a little and eating less, but he still loves his hairball treats and, we discovered, milk (lactose-free). He was excited by some of the tuna we gave him out of the can, but we quickly found out it's not the tuna he likes, but the tuna flavored water in the can.
On Friday, January 14th, we made an appointment for Dr. Becky to come over on Tuesday.
Monday, I made Tuna Mac for dinner, partly for us, and partly for Visitor. While the water was boiling, I opened the two cans of tuna. As usual, Visitor was at my feet watching very carefully, as I opened the cans (I've learned to look before backing away from the sink when there is tuna involved). As I went back to the boiling pasta and got things ready, Visitor stuck close to me and then started whining for his tuna juice. Finally, when the tuna was added to the drained pot along with the rest of the other ingredients, Visitor followed me back to his food dish. By followed, I mean he led and constantly looked over his shoulder at the can of tuna in my hand.
Today, Tuesday January 18th, Dr. Becky came to our house, examined Visitor, and discussed the options. At breakfast, he was purring while I petted him and then he enjoyed some of my leftover cereal milk. But by the time Dr. Becky arrived, he had declined and was breathing heavily. It was decided that it was time for him "to pass" to use her phrase. At this point, I left the room but Ann stayed with him.
After Dr. Becky left and we had lunch, we cleaned up much of the signs that we had a cat in the kitchen. The cans of cat food that Ann got for Visitor are in a bag and will be donated to a shelter tomorrow. His bowls are in the sink to be washed. But scattered throughout the house, there are many of Visitor's catnip pillows. Walking from the kitchen to the stairs, I counted three. I'm not sure how long they will stay there. But it's nice to see the little reminders. Tonight was the first time In many years that I said Good Night to Ann without a cat walking over us or curling up next to us in a few years. And then when I left the bedroom I closed the door all the way.
Not everyone may agree that Visitor is the best cat in the world, but he is our cat, and that is how we feel about him (and if you ask Alexa in our house, she will confirm that).
You can find some photos of Visitor here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/pzhBnHvNwrHANErV7
---Ben
This probably needs to be proofread, but it's long and I'm not sure I'm up for that. Writing this made me both happy and sad. Writing about about his approaching end made me sad, but writing about his antics made me happy,
