Fake Leg Balustrade

There's a house on the way to the freeway that's getting flipped. They've painted it black, as you do these days, but the posts holding up the railing on the porch are painted this horrible peachy white man's flesh color. I always call this fake leg color. My mom preferred this color for her nail polish. I really don't know why.

It's been a deathy day today. Our beautiful boy, the inky ingot, left us. He was feeling poorly this week, not eating. Yesterday I said that I felt like he was telling us it's his time. And this morning he was hiding behind the tv console in the kitchenden while in another room I spoke to our dear dear friend about the death of his wife a few weeks ago. I came back in and mrguy said it was time to go to the ER. Sweet boy was crying, and breathing fast.

We went to the ER at the clinic that gave mr handsome a clean bill of health four weeks ago. They saw us immediately and were so kind and professional. The bad news came soon -- our boy was basically almost gone already, with his congestive heart failure winning out over his kidneys, which were failing. There was not a single thing to be done, and not a way to bring him home. It had to be done there.

Sweet boy. I felt the krink in his tail one last time and petted and kissed him, but you could just feel his suffering.

On the way home with our empty cat carrier we passed the house again. They've painted more of the black but seem set on the tan color for the porch, which mrguy has dubbed the Fake Leg Balustrade.

You probably think I'm terrible for referring to this color as "fake leg", and you'd be right. It's outrageous and insensitive and some day I'll probably quit it but not today. The usage of that term in the guy household came from the big guy, mrguy's dad, whose birthday guest list we found after he died. On it, (typed up in Excel, mind you), were the names of his various business partners and friends he wanted to invite to his gathering including one weird entry that said Fake Leg Guy. We knew exactly what he meant. The big guy's company made a product, an industrial ingredient, that they were always trying to find new markets for. And this is how they met a man whose company manufactured prosthetics. Guess he couldn't recall the guy's name.

Today's been a shock, really. My sweet boy. He turned his love rays on me this past year, which was pretty different from the 14 that came before. I needed it. When mrguy was so sick he was such a comfort. And he didn't stop after mrguy got better. Just like with his sister, who died of congestive heart failure earlier this year. She also decided to love on me this year. I guess they just know.

And now we're down to one. I guess we can give him the run of the house now, as long as we hide all dish towels and clothing. This will be a weird adjustment for all.