Ice is home now. Not up for much tonight, but there's a lot of work and expense ahead.

Photo copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved.

He is home now.

I was going to post the photo that Wings took of our final moments together, but I can't. I put wildflowers on his grave today (and Cree's, too), and I can't bring myself to post those, either. This is how I want to remember him. For the last of these posts (for now), it seemed fitting to show him at his most beautiful. After all, where he is now, this is what he looks like once again.

It's been a hard day. Virtually no sleep, mostly because of physical pain from my autoimmune disease, which was due to a combination of the physical and other stresses of the past week catching up to me and the weather front that moved in overnight. It's been raining most of the day. Probably because of all that, the sense of loss really caught up to me today — and to Wings, too, I think. I'll probably be better tomorrow, but tonight isn't good. I do owe special thanks, though, to the person who sent us something via e-mail this morning that included, in addition to two human names, "from Ice." You brought tears to our eyes, both of us, but it was such a beautiful thing to do, and we love you for remembering that.

I was supposed to spend today priming the stairwell, but nothing went according to plan. I mean nothing. I will be lucky if I get to it tomorrow, and there are three more coats to go on it, all of which will involve ladders and scaffolds. Meanwhile, with flooring in the offing over the next two weeks, I now have to turn my attention to the next big expense, which is cabinetry. I am feeling buried about now. I'm also not doing very well at putting my thoughts together tonight, at least not with any real coherence, so I'm just going to post the links for sharing:

• Wings's site, for sales;
• Lowe's cards (the physical version) via our Amazon wishlist;
• Lowe's e-cards (delivered via e-mail) here; and
• Home Depot cards via the company site. The e-version using my e-mail address is great; I take the tablet to the store with me, and they scan it off the screen.

Thanks again, to everyone. I think I'm done in for the night, physically, mentally, every other way. Tomorrow, Ice will be still be gone home, and that'll be time enough for me to get back to dealing with other issues and tasks.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Aji, 2017; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.