The Silver Screen Oasis

charliechaplinfan, I am sorry for the loss of your fuzzy-faced companion. You did the right thing, the unselfish thing, in allowing his suffering to end. Thank goodness you have family to help you through this time.

Thank you everyone, it means so much to me, I wondered if I'd been too maudlin when I left my post. It was the hardest decision to make, his spirit was very much still alive and he was still at the heart of things but he was soiling, without realising, he wasn't keeping down water, of course he'd perk up when people got home but I'd seen him all day, I knew that he'd not eaten, I knew he'd sicked up every drop of water but he was indominatable, his spirit just didn't abate, he was sat on the table whilst the kids were having their tea, Chris and I were pretending to have colds, even so Libby kept eyeing us but she didn't guess, thank goodness. Chris had said no, he wasn't ready but I thought it was the kindest thing to do but wouldn't force it but I insisted we went to the vets to try to stop the sickness, I think we both knew but I thought Chris would want him home for a few days but once the vet had spoken to us both (thankfully I'd written everything down about how he was and how we seperately felt about what should happen) the vet was great, he made sure we had no lingering doubts or guilt. I just hadn't reckoned on the lonliness, it's elections here today butthe kids have gone to my Mum's because they don't want to be here with their memories. Poor kids, they noticed straight away when we came back,'Where's Claude?' and looked striken. Libby sat on Chris's knee and Joe on mine and we all had a good cry whilst poor Lara didn't know what to do with herself. Poor, silly, dancing (no kidding) Lara, thank goodness for her and Charlie and Molly.

Thanks once again everyone, if it's too painful to read I'm but it's made me feel better just to get it out there.

Alison, I am so very sorry about Claude. It's painful especially with a pet who has been with you for so long,the quiet can get to you. PT was right, you were unselfish and caring, he had the best family he could possibly have had. Claude is n a better place, without pain. Please, take care and we'll be here when you feel like writing. Love you.

Thank you Wendy, it's so difficult to do and so painful but if it's the price to pay for years of happiness with an animal, so be it. I know there's so many animal lovers here that I'm in comforting hands.

what you did was out of love

Miss Goddess is right. You put Claude's needs above your own. I'm so sorry this had to happen.

Thank you, I'm so confused I've remained logged on for 3 hours despite going out to do the shopping, the strangest lot of groceries I've bought in a long time, despite having a list it all went haywire succumbing to all the deals and forgetting essentials, nevermind.

Claude came home today, in a beautiful box from the crematorium, I haven't had a pet cremated before, we've buried the others we lost but Claude was such a homebody, he never stuck his head outdoors it seemed fitting to have him inside. I picked his little box up from the vets by myself, very proud of myself, I didn't cry in the vets but sobbed when I got back to the car. We've just unwrapped his casket to see that he has a beautiful little casket but I welled up again, thinking my little guy is in there. Very silly I know, everyone else was dry eyed but I sobbed whilst Chris told Joe that he must never ever open the casket and never move it, especially to a level that Lara the dog can get it, she's eating everything at the moment and a cremated cat would be gobbled up in seconds. She has got plenty of Claude's characteristics and spirit already, she doesn't need to bodily ingest him too. Oh dear one has to see the humour in every situation I suppose to get through them.

My second whinge of the day is a root canal treatment that couldn't be done, the tooth needs to be pulled in 3 weeks. It's not my day

Alison, I feel for you. I still have twinges of sobbing or sadness over Tippy, even though no one else seems to, he was a difficult dog but I loved him so. I wish I could cheer you up, but I guess we have to have our sorrow sometimes.

Oddly this is the second time today that the idea of inheriting traits from ingesting someone has come up.

What an odd subject to come up twice, I'm not going to give Lara the chance. In his own way Claude was rather cranky and bossy but I adored him.

I suppose it's all part of the grief coming out, we'll always miss him and he'll always be part of our lives. Joe put his arms around my neck to comfort me, what a love he is.

That little Joe is a treasure. I know what Wendy means, I still tear up when I think about dogs I've lost. My Charlie cat is the first cat I've ever had for such a long time..she will be 15 soon, and still full of p*ss and vinegar..gives the 2 dogs a time of it, very bossy, very cranky...and I love her dearly. Don't be afraid to feel sad, Alison, it is definitely a part of the grieving process. Joe and Libby are learning about the joys of life and the sorrows of death, but this is a very good thing for them. I'm glad Claude is back home with those who loved him..

Thank you, when I talk with fellow pet owners I know I'm in comforting hands

Can I whine about something? It appears that Youtube has changed it's layout, and I see no way to sort videos by upload date or view count anymore. Oh well, not that important I suppose, just that I hate that when these visual layout changes are made, it all ends up looking more cluttered to me - and I hate clutter!

Jezebel38 wrote:Can I whine about something? It appears that Youtube has changed it's layout, and I see no way to sort videos by upload date or view count anymore. Oh well, not that important I suppose, just that I hate that when these visual layout changes are made, it all ends up looking more cluttered to me - and I hate clutter!

I agree with what you say, except that to me sorting is important. Please send them feedback -- I just did. If they receive enough requests they may bring back the sorting feature.

Whine away, Jezebel. I wish that youtube would allow me to keep things in simple, alphabetical order, rather than sorting stuff like playlists and "watch later" videos by date by default. This is trivial, I realize, but most annoying and I haven't been able to figure out if there is any preference for this that I can choose to implement. Besides, every time I think I have a handle on something, it will be changed, or, as is laughingly known in the IT world, "upgraded."

Here is an update on the YouTube search results sorting situation.

On Google's discussion board for YouTube there have been many posts complaining about the removal of this functionality, and users have come up with a couple of work-arounds to bring back the desired sorting of search results. One method involves installing an add-on to Firefox called Greasemonkey and then installing a javascript which will return the Sort By section into the Filter menu on the search results page. The other method is to append appropriate syntax to the URL once the search has been executed, then re-execute it. Click here to go to a discussion where both methods are reviewed.

It's possible that YouTube might make further changes that would cause these work-arounds to stop working at some point, but for now, I've installed the Firefox add-on and the script and it has been working great.