May 22, 2009
Miss Casey enjoying cat heaven
Casey visits Lamont at the computer. Her very pronounced tiger stripes are evident in the photo.
Also known as: Quesadilla, Miss Exploradia, Miss Chirpadea, Miss Squawkadia, Miss Barfadia, Miss Persnickety.
March 1991-May 9, 2009
Casey Belliveau first came into our lives 10 years ago. We had mice periodically invading our house every autumn at the first cold snap. I mentioned this casually to my mother.
She said, "I think Jim is trying to give his cats away due to Judy's allergies." I relayed that Jim's cats were being given away to Lamont, just conversationally, not as a request to take them. He said, not "oh really," but "OK."
Once I figured out we had leapt into the realm of actually acquiring Casey and Oliver, I called Judy who was very happy that they wouldn't be picked up by strangers as a result of an ad at the grocery store bulletin board and that instead they would stay in the family.
I first recall seeing Casey in the 1980s at Jim's house, where she struck me as large, calm and good with visitors and children as she strolled around the living room. The gentle and less confident Ollie would generally flee at the arrival of guests.
Jim termed Casey a princess who was always perfectly groomed. When she transferred to our household, where I had no clue how to interact with a cat, she knew who to train her adoring eyes on.
"This is a GREAT CAT!" exclaimed Lamont with the enthusiasm of a child at Christmas upon Casey's strolling out of her cat carrier onto our dining room table. She was in his arms purring as loud as a motorboat engine. He renamed Casey as Miss Quesadilla and they were great friends from that day forward.
Lamont understands cats. When Casey snuck out onto the roof, he was less panicked than I, and just put out a saucer of milk for her, to which she promptly arrived out of the dark night. Hence one of her nicknames, Miss Exploradia.
Two weeks ago today, we put our Casey, at this point 18 years and two months old, to sleep.
Until the Tuesday of that week, she had been booking around competently, as was her way, but on Wednesday she crashed, issuing an odd meow and staggering a bit as she walked. She was drinking nonstop at the pet fountain and wrinkling her nose at her food dish (indicating nausea).
It seemed like a rapid-fire version of the kidney failure that gradually befell our sheltie Beau in his last year or so.
We were more businesslike than with prior pet deaths in losing Casey. Having been through the loss of Oliver, we were more prepared. We loaded Casey into a cardboard box lined with warm sweatpants, put a shovel and tarp in the trunk of the car, and drove her to Essex-Middle River Veterinary Center.
Lamont never wants to euthanize our pets, feeling that everything living wants to live, but even he acknowledged that Casey was not longer automatically purring on hearing his voice or being petted. I was aware that toxins were raging uncleansed by the kidneys in her body, and that she must be not only sleepy all the time but fairly uncomfortable, and didn't want to deal with her in end-stage pain or confusion.
She was brave and uncomplaining at the vet. We made a bed out of sweatpants on the examining table. Dr. Zulty was very kind. He gave her a sedative, and she was so compromised that her breaths slowed to once every 40 seconds or so, even prior to the final overdose of anesthetic. She, our oldest pet of all, had a simpler passing than either Beau or Oliver. We knew to leave by the back door of the veterinary center, and we drove off to bury her.
Lamont dug a grave for her six feet west of Oliver's. I wrapped her body in a sweatpants leg cut to her size to serve as a shroud. Lamont said as we laid her to rest, "I'm going to miss your white whiskers."
"I'm going to miss your lynx-tip ears," I said. Even no longer alive, her coat was a beautiful blend of tan, copper and brown as I laid her gently down and we each gave her some pieces of cat food for her journey to heaven.
"You were a very sweet cat, a good brave girl, no trouble even at the very end," I said.
Photos don't do Casey justice. She had a broad nose that was the prettiest brown shading of a lion. She was talkative, chirping and purring like a motorboat when fed or petted or upon seeing Lamont.
For a big cat who loved food, she was very mobile, and managed to book up our stairs when some of the treads were missing during an improvement project, while Oliver, Beau and Pierre, as well as most of the humans, were all stranded.
Casey was popular with our housemates and flirty with men in particular. She seemed to have imprinted on my brother Jim during her first eight years and Lamont for her last 10.
Our housemate Justin was also fond of her and wanted to take her to Hopkins parties to show her off. Our later housemate, Joanne, made a cast of her pawprint for posterity, and was amused by Casey's outgoing nature. She once gathered a group of nursing students in her room to prepare a demonstration poster, and Casey sat in the middle while they worked around her.
Lamont had a call-and-response with her:
(In deep voice) "Miss Quesa-dilla!"
"Squawk."
"Miss Quesa-dilla!"
"Squawk."
In her last days, she didn't squawk or purr in response, she was hollow eyed and weak in the neck.
The vets that had treated her over the years were sad to hear about her crash. Dr. Lynn Nesbitt of Essex Middle River had saved her life in 2003 when she got kitty anorexia (hepatic lipidosis), and she called leaving a heartfelt voicemail after her colleague Dr. Zulty euthanized Casey. We also got nice condolence cards from not only Essex Middle River but also Dr. Carine Klimentidis of Doc-Side Veterinary Center here in Upper Fells Point, who also helped with Casey's care in the final months when she was less able to be driven to Essex, and we would walk her, ever lighter as she fought thyroid and kidney issues, in our arms to Doc-Side.
Casey was adopted as a kitten from the SPCA of Anne Arundel County, as were Oliver and his fine replacement, Olivia. (Don't hesitate to get a kitten or cat from there, the staff and volunteers socialize them so much they behave more like affectionate dogs.)
We miss her but know she had a great, great run, making it past her kitty anorexia at age 12 and eventually to age 18.
As her back got more arthritic, it was necessary to put something by the litter box for when she missed the inside. The Group One Litter Welcome Mat
Here are some photos of Casey to keep her memory:
Casey in her favorite spot on the daybed in the living room. Our acquisition of Olivia in November 2005, the young female in the foreground who loved to harass Casey, made her life less picture perfect. Casey never cared for Oliver or Olivia or some kinds of cat food, leading me to label her Miss Persnickety.
Casey on the windowsill where she ate her meals. She was usually a hefty 11-pound cat but declined to only about 4-1/2 pounds in her final weeks.
A last photo of Casey shows her pretty lion nose, lynx-tip ears and white whiskers. She couldn't keep her body temperature warm, so I took her up in the sun on the roof deck the morning of Friday, May 9.
May 19, 2009
Congratulations to many fine Alaska journalists
Naomi Klouda works in the newsroom of the Homer Tribune, a beautiful light-filled space overlooking spectacular Kachemak Bay. The back of editor Sean Pearson is at right, and my iMac laptop showing our cats in the foreground.It was wonderful to see my good friend Naomi Klouda of the Homer Tribune continue her lengthy tradition of groundbreaking reporting and win four awards -- a fifth counting the Tribune's best paper award -- at the Alaska Press Club awards this year.
Naomi, also a gifted poet, won first place in best crime or court reporting for “Seldovia Youth Out of Control,” an article I believe she was working on when I visited her in Homer a year ago.
"This story met several goals," wrote judge Steve Mills of the Chicago Tribune, "telling readers about a growing crime problem and the longtime police chief’s important role in the community–and how his absence was affecting crime. Well done."
She also won third place for best short feature for “The enduring power of fireweed.”
Judge Dana Coffield of the Denver Post called this feature "beautifully written and evocative."
Another story, “Rat Island no more?” won third place for best reporting on health or science.
Finally she shared another prize, a third place finish along with Sean Pearson for “Pebble mine series.” The judge wrote:
This series attempts to arm voters with information before they go to the polls on an important ballot measure affecting the future of Alaska’s economy and environment. It is difficult to sift through the spin, but the Homer Tribune tries to show readers what is at stake. The focus on environmental implications, as well as jobs, was enhanced by humanizing the issue.And in the competitive, two-paper market of Homer, the Tribune managed to win first place for best weekly newspaper. The judge wrote:
The Homer Trib clearly recognizes that newspapers are in a fight for their collective lives. The paper's staff seeks the conflicts in news—such as a controversial shoot-out at the Homer airport—and latches onto big issues such as the proposed Pebble Mine (Ballot Measure 4) and pursue them with an admirable mixture of skepticism and enterprise reporting.
Naomi, right, on a friend's boat returning from Halibut Cove, a millionaire's row on the south bank of Kachemak Bay.My former colleagues at Alaska Newspapers also picked up nine awards. I was privileged to work with them and be the first set of eyes on eight of the nine stories below that won 2008 press awards, which add to a then-record five awards in the 2007 Press Clubs.
- Victoria Barber of the Dutch Harbor Fisherman, who has sinced moved on to the Arctic Sounder, took three awards. Well done! She won first place in best government or political reporting with “Local 302 employees in a sick-out," first place for best reporting on science or health care with "“Technology brings clinic home,” and second place for best short feature with “A rare Attu basket takes the long way home," two stories I very much enjoyed reading as well as editing.
The judge for her "Local 302" story noted:
While union representatives weren't available by press time, Barber used her reporting notebook filled with information from a previous interview with a union leader and a current interview with a union member to provide one side of the story and a letter to the editor and a current interview with the city manager to provide the other side of the story.
Victoria was always incredibly thorough, resourceful and fair, as the judge notes. We worked pretty hard on the sick-out story and the final story appears to have been of great benefit to Dutch Harbor readers.Barber captured the city manager's surprise and challenged the increases he received in comparison to the union workers. She also included the details of the sick-out, with how many people reported where and how the city remained in operation. Fair and solid.
- Roy Corral won a well-deserved first place for "People of the Salmon" for First Alaskans magazine. I remember being blown away by the poetry of his writing, be it short form or photo cutlines, time and again while editing his writing.
- Roy also won first place for best sports photo, with the judge writing, "Not your everyday sports photo. Super clean peak action vaults this photo into first," and third place for best feature photo.
- Tamar Ben-Yosef, a tremendous worker and reporter during her time at the Arctic Sounder, won third place for "A Family Affair" for First Alaskans, the result of her memorable visit in winter, which included a brush with frostbite, fabulous photos and a real feel of bush Alaska, to the camp of Kotzebue's leading dog-racing family.
- The gifted Mary Lochner won first place in best business reporting for “Growing Energy Demands, A Cold Reality for Manokotak" in the Bristol BayTimes. The judge wrote:
Back in the summer, when it was easy to be distracted by other topics, Lochner sounded an alarm about an energy crunch hitting a Bush village. She documented two significant problems – a lack of storage for gasoline and a lack of cash to fully fill village fuel oil storage tanks for heating (a problem that would become a much bigger issue in Bush Alaska later in the year as the cold weather hit).
- The completely unclassifiable Ryan Reynolds, a freelance who writes an offbeat column called "Weird Book of the Week" for the Seward Phoenix Log, won a second place in the Humor category with "All About Varmint Hunting." His editor, the fabulous Cynthia Ritchie, a transcendent writer, wrote about Ryan here.
- Mike Peters also won a third place for best overall magazine design for First Alaskans.
Former Alaska Newspapers sportswriter Darrell Breese and former copyeditor Kate Golden also picked up awards.
Naomi and I first worked together when she was a politics reporter for Alaska Newspapers and later managing editor of the Tundra Drums. We worked together on the Drums' prizewinning report on Rural Justice, compiled here.
Congratulations also to Robert Dillon, former managing editor of the Bristol BayTimes, who is now on Sen. Lisa Murkowski's staff as an energy aide.
