Our dog Xena has been sick for a while now and off her food. We thought she would be lucky to make it to the new year as she was pretty old and seemed to be on her last legs.

Well she was lucky…just.

She greeted us when we got in at 4:30am this morning after New Years celebrations, but she died sometime before 11:am and we found her in the loungeroom. By the look she seemed to have died peacefully in her sleep.

Just got back after buying a Melaleuca tree to bury her under.

A bit sad, but she had a good run and gave us all a lot of happiness.

And just like the cat a few months ago we (see here – the circle of life) we buried her under a new Melaleuca tree to ensure the circle continues.

Postscipt: While locating a suitable spot for the tree, we discovered that one of the chickens had died as well. It was also old but the death was unexpected. The circle does indeed continue.

Many years ago we were given a kitten. We took it on a bit reluctantly but it grew to be a part of the family. It was a long haired black cat called Gremlin.

As far as cat’s go, it was a bit skittish and really only liked one or two people and, sometimes, the dog. It tolerated me, barely, most of the time, although occassionally it would come up for a pat or to ask for food.

I guess you could describe our relationship as polite indifference.

Quite awhile ago, as it aged, it started losing it’s sight and spent more and more time curled up on the couch or asleep on the window sill in the sun. It also spent more time coming up for a pat or to sit on our laps. Last week we had to take it to the vet as it came down with some sort of cold or flue.

The vet gave her a shot and gave us some anitbiotics to give her. The Vet also said she may have some other problems related to her age and asked if we wanted to get some additional tests done. We said we would see how she responded to the antibiotics first and then make a decision and we took her home.

For the first few days she seemed to come good but was still off her food, but it become increasingly difficult to give her the medication. By day four, it was clear that she was losing strength and she continually tried to go outside and hide. As she became weaker we decided to keep her in the bedroom away from the other cat and the dog, and she sat quietly, only occassionally moving around the bedroom.

And she sat, and sat, and sat. She would respond briefly to a pat or being gently held but it was clear that she just wanted to quietly sit. And so she did.

I was amazed at the graceful way she just seemd to be quietly waiting. She didn’t appear to be in pain or distress. She just quietly sat, waiting!

Late last week, when we got up, there she was, curled up on the floor in the on-suite, no longer waiting.

We had already discussed what we wanted to do when it came time and so, we headed down the street and bought a small wattle tree and took the tree and Gremlin the cat down to an empty spot on the garden.

We buried the cat and planted the wattle on top and we look forward to watching the wattle grow near the bee hives and the Circle of Life continue.

I think I’ll miss that cat!

Last year I planted two varieties of broadbeans and they both did reasonably well and we got quite a few meals from them. I liked them so much I retained some of the the beans and planted them a little while ago. They have done ok, but not fabulously well. However, I must have missed quite a few when I collected the beans last year because a mass of beans self-seeded around the place and have gone gang-busters.

Over the last few days I have let the chooks have a bit of a run through the idle vegie beds in preparation for planting and I noticed that there is a profusion of beans ready for the table! As I was feeling just a wee bit peckish I thought “a feed of beans would hit the spot about now”. Then I realised that the rainbow chard had also taken off more than I remembered and the chooks were getting stuck in.

“Right!”, I thought, “that settles it, Beans and Silver Beet it is!”. A few minutes later I was armed to the teeth with fresh beans and greens.

Into the kitchen, into the pot, into the bowl, dotted with butter and finished off with salt, pepper, freshly grated nutmeg and freshly grated parmesan!

10 minutes later… YUM! This is living!! (Hmmm. I think I need a bit of a trim)