Well, we lost Jack today – he was never really ours, but I hope that over the last year and a half, we made his life as cat-happy as possible.

A few weeks ago, he stopped eating, and vet visits showed nothing. He has barely drunk any water in the last five days – I’m surprised he was still able to get around. For mammals, dehydration usually leads to organ failure after a few days. And he was a 15-year-old cat.

He will be missed – when I’d get home and feed the birds, he’d pop out from wherever he was hiding (miscanthus, Joe Pye weed, by the goldenrod…) and trot over to me, flopping on the grass and demanding a belly rub.

It’s never fun to put an animal down, but when the quality of life has all but gone for the animal, it’s the oddly humane thing to do.

He’ll always be aka Action Jackson to us.