Confessions

Like the Son He Never Had

July 2, 2007 urngarden.com

Florida passed a piece of legislation that allows humans to be buried with their pets. Previously, funeral homes were prohibited from handling animal remains and ashes of humans and animals could not be co-mingled.

At the Best Friends Animal Hospital at Gateway, office manager, Rainy Hoy, said about half of their clients take home their pet’s ashes. “They just want to keep them. They’re like family to them,” Hoy said.

Fort Myers resident Joe Castrogiovanni wouldn’t consider euthanizing his 2-year-old dog Barkley to put him in the casket, but he would consider saving Barkley’s ashes.

“It may be a little weird, but he’s like the son I never had,” Castrogiovanni said.

Jay O’Shaughnessy, funeral director for Anderson Funeral Home of Fort Myers with more than 30 years’ experience, said he has received requests from clients wanting their loved ones to be buried with remains of their pet.

“It’s not a real new deal. We’ve done stranger things than that,” he said. “It’s always the family’s idea.” Complete article here.

He’s right, it’s not unusual. Urngarden has received several requests for urns large enough to contain the pet owner and the ashes of their cats or dogs. Or couples that have left instructions for their children to bury their ashes in the back yard with the family pets.

We had a dog, dear Bonnie, that I always thought I’d have taxidermied so we could enjoy her to the end. She died on a camping trip and had to be buried on the spot. Looking back, I’m glad we didn’t have the opportunity to get her stuffed!

Now, my two precious pups I’ll probably sprinkle somewhere, or maybe I’ll save their ashes to be packed into a mortar shell with me!

Hiding in Plain Sight

June 28, 2007 urngarden.com

Urn garden greeting

The recent find of Queen Hatshepsut is intriguing.Â Undoubtedly one of the most extraordinary women in recorded history, Hatshepsut was the daughter of Pharaoh Tuthmosis I and wife of Tuthmosis II, her half-brother.

When her husband-brother died, she became regent for the boy-king Tuthmosis III, the child of Tuthmosis II and a concubine. But hieroglyphic carvings suggest that Hatshepsut didn’t put up with that state of affairs for long: Wearing the royal headdress and a false beard, she proclaimed herself pharaoh.

She reigned in 1498-1483 B.C. as the fifth pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty, whose later members included Akhenaton and Tutankhamun. Under her 20-year rule, Egypt enjoyed a peaceful and prosperous time. Yet after her death, the female pharaoh was scorned, her images and inscriptions mutilated and her monuments demolished by the jealous successor Tuthmosis III.

Of her monumental construction work, only two great obelisks at Karnak and the temple at Deir al-Bahari the scene of a notorious massacre of foreign tourists in 1997 remain. Her mummy was never found, and some scholars even hypothized that Tuthmosis III may have destroyed it.

Scholars speculate that during the 21st or 22nd Dynasties, the priests moved the mummy of Hatshepsut to KV60 where she was found.

The mummy of Hatshepsut, was identified, thanks to gum disease and a tooth in a box.

Discovery Channel has the story and pix and will air “Secrets of Egypt’s Lost Queen,” on Sunday, July 15 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

To View or Not To View

June 27, 2007 urngarden.com

Never have been a fan of embalming, but then I realized I’d never seen embalming done well. Recently, a friend of the family passed after a long illness. At 93, in ill health, she was ready to go, she was worn out.

Before she passed, this once active lady nested on the couch, slept in her clothes and occasionally risked getting up to go the bathroom. You know the story; fell, broke her hip never to recover.

She’d tell you that she was ready to go and didn’t understand what was taking so long. She meant it.

Fast forward to the visitation. At the viewing, my grandmother Etta insisted that I go look at the deceased. “Doesn’t she look like she could sit up and start talking?” Etta Mae asked. I stepped back; I was amazed by the good work done by Gorman Sharpf funeral home. I’d never witnessed someone who looked better in death than in the last few years of life.

The next day at the burial, I stopped the funeral director, Bruce Howell and praised the firm’s work. Mr. Howell sited his nephew and said that sometimes with older ladies that have been ill, the results of embalming and cosmetics are good.

My grandfather, was the worst embalming case I have ever seen. Granted, he’d been gravely ill before he died, however, he would have wanted a viewing and a picture, and I believe my mother obliged him.

The only time I can recall actually needing a viewing to confirm that the deceased was actually gone was in the case of a friend’s suicide.

The act was so shocking and unbelievable at the time. The casket was closed and I remember thinking that my friend couldn’t possibly be in there. What are we doing here?

Enter Vernie Fountain. Master of reconstruction. He believes the open casket viewing is a critical component in the grieving process. Mr. Fountain is the one to call when damage is so severe that most funeral directors won’t even attempt a viewing. Students from all over the world come to Springfield, MO to attend his academy and learn his techniques.

An Iowa family recently used Mr. Fountain’s services when their 22 year old son committed suicide by placing a high velocity rifle in his mouth and pulling the trigger. No note. The family needed to say goodbye and try to get through this terrible tragedy.

Fountain came through and gave the family some closure. The family and community needed to see the young man one last time .

Irish Spring- And I Like It Too!

June 26, 2007 urngarden.com

Randomness from the garden.

Construction crews have been busy with improvements in the garden now for about a month. Yesterday, while completing the final phase of the project, the crew accidentally ripped out my phone line. No DSL. No Internets. No bidnez.

Hot phone guy in tool belt arrived at 5:45 PM and hooked it up. Ladder climbing on the west side with the sun bearing down in full force. Dangerous work. I was his last stop, offered him an ice tea in a go cup and he was off. Now, let’s deal with the mail.

Dirtsister has more compassion for the men and women who have physical jobs, working in the elements. For the women who complain that their man doesn’t move after he hits the door, I can see why. After a long day of being bent over a rake, or running a jack hammer in the heat it’s understandable they would collapse on the couch in a vegetative state, re-charging until the next shift.

Next, we’re conducting another experiment in the garden. Irish Spring as cat repellent. Dirtsister read that cats hate the smell of Irish Spring. Peeled bars of the soap sprinkled on the borders of flower beds is an effective non toxic way to keep the kittys from using my beds as litter boxes. Let’s give it a whirl.

So far. So good. We’ll have to clean out the beds (ewww!) to accurately measure our success. But so far I haven’t spotted them squatting. It’s early yet.

Cat lady next door has five cats minimum and at times the population has swelled to twenty. Not kidding. Too many flies. Wrecked the beds. The good news….they’re good hunters.

So I was a little worried yesterday when I stepped out and saw this little pooper passed out in the lane.

Checked to make sure he was breathing. He was. Just napping is all.