Deeker's Message of the Week
August 8, 2004
Patches Update
Last week I reported that my cat Patches turned up missing. He got out of my house on the night of July 23.
While Patches has still not made it back home, I do have an update that gives me some continued hope. On Tuesday night at around midnight, just as I was getting ready to go to bed, my other cat Hobbes was pawing at the vent cover where he had gotten it open and gotten out along with Patches (the cover is blocked now with a very heavy object). I realized that perhaps I should have looked outside to see if maybe Hobbes could sense Patches being out there. When I turned on the light to my back patio, there he was, Patches! I wish I could say that I caught him and brought him into the house, but he slipped away. I walked around for about a half hour in the back yard trying to find him, but I couldn't find him in the darkness. I couldn't find a flashlight, so all I had to use were these super bright LED lights that I have on my key ring. I also tried using the light from my video camera. I also had to be careful not to shine any lights too close to anyone else's units, lest they become alarmed and call the
cops, thinking I might be some burglar or prowler. I've also checked out back for the past couple mornings before going to work, but there was just barely enough daylight to see anything (the beginning of the civil twilight phase). I have a hunch he's staying close to the back side of the house and is more likely to roam around at night than in the daytime. There is a shallow ditch nearby with running water in it, so at least I feel good that he can get to water easily, though I am not sure how many mice or birds he can live on before he is driven to come back home. It was so frustrating, coming so close to getting him back into the house but not succeeding. At least I know he's close by. I hope he's been eating okay this past week, but I am sure he's still hungry, which may be why he came back since he knows there's food around. My scent should be all over the yard now, so I hope this will help Patches to know he's close to home. One guy at work also told me that I shouldn't leave food out. The idea is
that the cat should be made to come into the house to get food and not just get it where he can eat it and then run off again.
Another Friend Gone
This morning I received an email message from another friend's mother who informed me that her son, Matt, had taken his own life. While my correspondence with Matt was more sporadic and I didn't know him quite as closely as I knew Kolby, it's still difficult to deal with such a loss. Matt was in his mid twenties, I believe. He suffered from clinical depression, and while he took meds and tried to cope with it, it got the best of him. In his last email to me he told me that he was "going away for awhile." I presumed he had meant that he was going to check himself in to a mental health facility for treatment. Unfortunately, he never made it there. Had he not told me about his depression I would have never known what horrible affliction was eating him up from the inside. He seemed like a happy person. He loved his diapers and he loved Star Wars. Like Kolby, he was a fan of my "Forever in Diapers" story and several others I had written. While Matt had told me about his dark feelings, he also told me that he
believed in Christ, so at least I can feel at ease knowing that he is in a better place now. Matt, as you always told me at the end of your emails, May the Force Alwyas Be With You. There is no greater force than God's love for all of us.
Other Messages of the Week
