July 2021 - Kelly Kandra Hughes, PhD

This week kicks off the anniversary of a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week. Tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of my dad’s death. Friday is the one-year anniversary of Smudge’s death.

My dad’s decline started slowly a few years ago and then sped up quickly. He went into the hospital in June 2020 and died a little over a month later.

Smudge’s death happened with no warning whatsoever. I wasn’t even there to see him one last time as I was still in Pennsylvania with my family. One of the greatest regrets of my life is that I didn’t stop by to visit Smudge before I left Norfolk in July so I could be in Harrisburg with my dad. I’ve written about this regret before, and I don’t want to write about it again other than to say that almost a year has gone by and the sadness still cuts into my heart with as much pain as it did on July 23, 2021.

Deep breath … moving on. Only because I have to.

When it comes to the whole dog versus cat debate, I’m solidly Team Dog. I have nothing against cats. I like them, in general. I love some cats, specifically.

And, I think many cat internet videos are hilarious. So you can imagine my surprise that my heart has been taken over in the last few days by a cat.

Her name is Bertha and I’ve never even met her!

On Friday I whiled away some time scrolling through Instagram. One of the local groups I follow is Little Guild, an animal rescue organization located in Cornwell, CT. I saw Bertha’s little face with the caption that she is now the Guild’s longest resident at around 150 days. My heart broke into 150 pieces when I read that information.

Unfortunately, at that moment, I accidentally sent the Little Guild a laughing emoji in an attempt to “swipe up” so I could learn more information. Mortified, I then immediately sent them an apology direct message explaining that I wanted to read more about Bertha and I didn’t mean to laugh at their post.

As I’m in no position to adopt a cat, I thought I would share her here in case someone else is. She’s a senior cat at 10 years old. What I love most about her is how she looks like two cats in one. If you’re on Instagram, you can watch videos of her flopping around and meowing. Warning – she’ll steal your heart.

Here’s the description of her on their website:

BERTHA

Domestic Short Hair / Mixed (short coat)

Female (spayed), 10 yrs

Bertha is an affectionate and laid-back lady. She loves being pet and once she starts purring she doesn’t stop! She will roll from side to side to show you how happy and grateful she is to be getting your attention. Bertha is a quirky little girl who has been a total sweetheart from the minute we met her. She always seems to make us laugh, especially when she eats her dinner while still laying on her side! This pretty and sweet girl can’t wait to be somebody’s new best friend.

Approximate Weight: 11 lbs
Estimated DOB: 2/1/2011
Good with Cats: No

I have no idea if positing about Bertha on my blog will make a difference. I can only hope it does. I’d like to think my dad would be rooting for Bertha, too. Pretty sure Smudge wouldn’t, though. I’m okay with that.

For more information about how to adopt Bertha or how to support the Little Guild, please visit their website: https://www.littleguild.org/

It’s the 4th of July! You know what that means?

The year is more than half over.

Ha! Bet you didn’t see that coming. Yes, it’s true. We are officially more than halfway through 2021.

Since my brain can’t seem to wrap around how fast time is moving, I decided to distract myself by creating some patriotic pups.

This is Indie! She’s a young Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Heath and I both had the opportunity to babysit for her recently. But since Heath is 100% smitten with her, I magnanimously offered to step out of the way so the two of them could be together.

Say hello to Zelda! She’s an old-timey Bedlington terrier. I recently got to take care of her and her baby sister, Sadie. This is the second time I had the privilege of taking care of Zelda. The first time was over four years ago, well before she had a baby sister. I remember enjoying the experience, as Zelda is as sweet as 4th of July apple pie.

Sadie, however, made this time quite different as she is a HUMONGOUS goofball. She reminded me so much of my beloved Smudge, I simultaneously wanted to laugh and cry. Not a day goes by that I don’t miss him.

Next, we have Fergus. Wednesday at work I heard some jingling outside my office door. In flew Fergus! His human mom had brought him to the library and one of my colleagues/friends brought him up the stairs to visit me. Wednesday was the last day of the extremely hot temperatures we were having (think close to 100 with the heat index). Since the library is nice and cool with our abundant AC (not common in the NW corner of CT), Fergus’ mom wanted to get some work done in a cool and relaxing environment. I asked if I could take Fergus upstairs with me. For the rest of the afternoon, Fergus sat on my desk intermittently napping and watching the world go by on Rt. 44.

Annie is clearly a 4-star dog! Even when she’s muddy. I think that adds to her charm. I recently had the opportunity to babysit Annie overnight. Is anyone surprised to learn she’s a bed hog?

Last but not least, we have Yankee Doodle Dodger.

If you’re thinking that Dodger looks different, well…There was an incident at the groomers where “summer cut” meant one thing to us and something else to the person grooming him. I can’t believe how small a dog Dodger actually is. I’d been calling him “Pork Chop Dodger” all winter and it became clear I needed to apologize once I saw his true size. Dodger forgave me (mostly) and he seems to have (mostly) recovered from being shaven. The humans have yet to recover.

I hope you have a safe and happy 4th of July! And remember — we only have six months left in 2021. Let’s make them good ones!

Kelly Kandra Hughes, PhD

Running across the street right now to pet a dog!

Monthly Archives: July 2021

Cats!

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Patriotic Pups for the Fourth of July

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