Thursday night was the Harmony Project concert (free!) at Columbus Commons. Vivian Eichel & I parked at the office and walked there - it was a glorious (tho cool! We saw lots of blankets and winter coats!) night.
I was ironing a t-shirt (as one does when they’re trying to assuage themselves with a false sense of control over their life), and when I flipped it over, realized I need to maybe not use that towel. Or actually get an ironing board cover.
I had to say goodbye to Roy last night.
I noticed a swollen place on his front jaw yesterday, & it had a little open wound on it. His lower jaw has seemed weird-shaped for a long time - but it never bothered him and seemed to stay kind of the same, so I let it ride. But the swollen place & wound were new, and I’d planned on the vet today, but then at around 6pm, he started making faces & pawing at his face and was clearly in pain/distress. I took him to Medvet and X-rays showed he had a mass in his jaw. All signs pointed to an aggressive kind of cancer and there’s no coming back from that.
He came to my porch April 2018, little & injured & Romeo found him for us. He never met a soul he didn’t like. He played fetch, and loved to hide under things and in things and around corners and spring out at the unsuspecting (read: Petey). He liked to get on my back if I bent over to pick up anything. He would get in anything - bag, box, a folded blanket, your pants while you were on the toilet, the toilet itself. He was a champion smuggler & is the reason why those hoodies that carry cats needed to be invented. He woke me up at night because he needed me to know he was there. He was *determined* to get outside, and often regretted it. He was charming and fun and annoying and I loved him.
It’s been a hell of a week.
This is that post. (Posting the same here, as Facebook, since some folks aren’t over there. Originally posted 3-19-2026.)
I said goodbye to Petey today. He was probably 19 years old, and for 17 years, 8 months, and 10 days of his time on earth, he was mine.
I’ve been thinking about this day for a long time, as he grew older, then very old, and more frail. He didn’t get sick. There wasn’t a Big Event. But I knew the day where he’d no longer be able to get himself up was waiting. He got to go out on the terms I set, without drama or fear, eating (extremely forbidden) baloney.
I loved sharing him with y’all - especially those of you who knew him from the #tornadodog days. We had so many incredible adventures together, and he was a good friend to me and to my good friends.
He was the first one to know I was sick. I think about that - how confusing it must have been, and how it inevitably changed both of us, and our relationship. I had to work hard to rebuild what had been lost, because I had been lost for so long. Every night since, before I’d get in bed, I’d stop and scritch and rub his head the way he liked, and tell him the story of his day, and maybe what we’d be doing the next.
Last night, I got to carry him upstairs one last time. And carefully put him in the bed, and I told him the story of us. And rubbed his head and told him I was so thankful and lucky that he was mine for so long.
It has been a big. sad. day. And my heart is broke clean in two. But I told Petey the truth - I’m so lucky and grateful to have had him. He taught me so much about myself that I never would have known.
Scritch your lil doggos for me and take them on long walks and tell them about their days. Tell them all your secrets - you’ll never find a more willing listener and better keeper. 🧡🧡🧡
If you have a Ring doorbell, this “feature” where they are selling video gathered in your private property was automatically activated. It can be disabled - or you can hit it over and over with a hammer.
Ok folks, let’s talk snow and cold.
* If waterlines are on exterior walls, run a space heater if you can. Drip the water, so there is a continuous flow. If the pipes are exposed, consider foam covers or plug in pipe heat tape.
* Change your furnace filter. Your furnace is going to run a month’s worth in the next week or so.
* Wipe/dust the air intake vents - even if they look clean, wipe them. Mine always have some amount of pet hair on them.
* If you have a dog, tarp or cardboard some grass before it snows
* When shoveling, keep it below your waist.
* Dressing warmly is about air. Baselayer, then next layer should be big enough to keep a little pocket of air in place. The goal is Michelin Man.
* If you have to drive in the snow, slip some cardboard or old bath mats in your vehicle - they’re so useful to get a tire to grip enough to get out.
* ALSO - if you have to go out, dress for the weather. Don’t get in the car with just a hoodie or kids with no coats. You don’t know what can happen, and don’t add to having a stuck or inoperable car by being in real danger of freezing to death.
Whachy’all got?
(Btw - this stuff is amazing on gappy doors or windows )
I have enough coffee and creamer and snacks to survive the incoming weather, plus one pure impulse purchase - frosted raspberry pop tarts. What are y’all’s impulse buys??
When I have spaghetti - and this is specific to that particular pasta noodle - I want buttered soft white bread. Preferably Italian bread, but any white bread will work. Do y’all have that?
I took a page out of @seligmansdog pizza experimenting and made a pizza using the biscuit dough recipe on the back of a Clabber Girl baking powder can (which I got off the internet, as I’m a Mumford baking powder faithful). It’s shortening + a dab of butter. I used half the dough to make the pizza, rolling it out. Crushed tomato on top + flake salt + parm. Baked at 450° for an unknon amount of time.
The flavor is great. Crushed tomato may be my new pizza sauce. I’m not sure what i thought the texture would be, but it’s “short” - unsurprisingly somewhere between a biscuit and a cracker.
Now I need to get my hands on that King Arthur pizza dough recipe.
I finally started working on conditioning my vintage kitchen cabinets. They’ll need a few applications, since they’re sooo dry, but dang - that was very easy, and very rewarding.
