Dad Jobs

"The animals are right here, right in front of us. And how we treat these companions is a test."

---Linda Blair

There are certain jobs that will probably always belong to Dads. The ceremonial burial of the family pet is, I think, one of those jobs. Little Fish woke me early this morning and sure enough, Kingalini Hammyzhino had passed away in the night. He lay right where I left him, snuggled down in the bedding I had prepared for him.

So, I packed up his little cage and threw away all of the disposables and placed his little hamster corpse in a Celestial Seasonings Tension Tamer teabox. Mrs. Fish and Little Fish said their goodbyes, along with the appropriate hamster-platitudes ("He was a good hamster" "Have fun in hamster-Heaven" "Say hi to Eddie and Daisy for us") and then it was time to bury him.

I grabbed Murphy (the dog) and took the shovel off the wall in the garage and Murphy and I walked down to the tiny stream that bubbles and flows behind our home. I tried to bury King there, but the ground is so root-bound that I wasn't confident I could dig deeply enough to keep curious critters away.

I climbed the hill and found a nice sunny spot next to the house. I think he would like the sunshine and warmth.