Marvin Wilkerson, Our Farmer, Our Friend

Our neighbor Marvin Wilkerson passed away recently.  If you have watched our videos of harvesting on the farm, that was Marvin operating the equipment.  Marvin loved John Deere tractors, and that is what he and Donna farmed with for more than sixty years.  He has been farming Patti's ground for more than forty years.  His obituary is here.  We shot a little video in September of Marvin combining beans on the back 40.

It Was A Long Good-Bye

"What's going on out here? You talking to Joe again??

"Oh No...I can't watch this."

Marvin Cat started showing up for meals many years ago, and soon became part of the family. This photo was taken in 1995.

This photo was taken in 2008, after we had learned that Marvin had melanoma. We figured he was a short-timer, but his cancer advanced slowly. He has been losing hair for a couple years; and a year ago his lungs began to wheeze, but he didn't show many signs of being ill.

He went off his feed Christmas Eve, and retreated to a little cat hut where he could curl up and stay warm.  Yesterday he was sitting in front of the water bowl, unable to drink.  We had a couple of long sessions with an eye dropper to give him water and a molasses mix.  When I greeted him this morning he cried instead of purring, and I called the vet.

The vet gave him a muscle relaxer in his hip and I held him in my lap; Marvin purred until he went limp. They took him away to administer the IV to finish the job, and then I brought him home and buried him next to HeyJoe. Jack figured out that this was serious business. He was with Joe when he died, and watched me wrap him up and bury him. This was a tough way to end the holiday season, but on the positive side, this year Susan and I managed to to bring our mothers through some serious medical crises, and that is a real blessing...and we have more pets, thanks to our brother-in-law who gave us SEVEN feral cats that he caught and had neutered and vaccinated. We aren't about to run out of cats, and they have mostly tamed down so I can pick up most of them.

Crankin' It Up: Johny Marvin and His Ukulele Perform "I Love My Baby"

Not My Victrola

BSGS98 posted this great song from the talkie "Sunny Side Up," performed by Johny Marvin, who is remembered for "Tiptoe Through The Tulips." If you have time, watch the excerpt below of Janet Gaynor singing this song in the movie.



Upload by Stjn00.

Annual Valentine Song Festival! Red Lips, Kiss My Blues Away, Aileen Stanley and Johny Marvin

Tigger

Tigger was abandoned just down the road from us in 2000 along with Donna Cat. Donna is still with us, but she is a short-timer now. Tigger had a cancer eating the left side of her jaw, and she made her final trip to the vet today.

She is buried next to Woody, Leonardo, Nellie, Marvin, and HeyJoe.

Not My Victrola

This Johny Marvin song was recorded in the UK in 1928, and shared with us by 240252.

What About The Cat?

Quite a few have asked about the cat that put the hole in my hand.  Most assume that I would have done him in, but that's not the way I am.  Big'un was the cat that bit me, and it was my fault.  He was hiding, and when I reached for his front end, he nailed me.  I didn't understand at the time why he was acting that way, but it all became clear last week.  Back in February I saw that Big'un's right eye had turned red, and I caged him, and took him to the vet.  He was a bad patient, but we managed to give him a shot of antibiotic, which had no effect on the eye.

He went back to the vet and had surgery to remove the eye, and we began taming down the little barn cat as he healed.  It wasn't long until he welcomed contact, and he would purr as soon as he was picked up into my arms.  He stayed off to himself during the days, but at night he was glad to come to our bed and sleep with us.

Then, one day, he didn't want to be touched, and that was when he bit me.  We kept him fed and watered, but left him alone, and he stayed hidden most of the time.  Last week I put on the gloves and caught him.  His remaining eye was tinged with red, and he was wasting away to skin and bones.   Friday morning we had him at the Vet's office.

The eye was unresponsive, and was dying.  Feline Leukemia was the first possibility our vet mentioned, and then FIV.  She tested him for both of those diseases and the results were negative.  That left cancer as the greatest possibility, but whatever the problem was, it meant Curtains for our little Big'un.  Our Vet put him down for us, and he's buried with Nellie, Hank, Marvin, and Hey Joe.  We have lost several pets, and both our fathers to cancer; it's a cruel monster.

Blue Monday

Zeke and Brigid have lost Barkley.  What can you say?  We've buried more four-legged friends than I can stand, but we always make room for more.  We couldn't live without them.

 Merky and Cracker,

 Snaggle,

Teddy,

Toopie.  Brat stayed with him while he recovered from a stroke, and stuck by his side while he died.

Hank.

Marvin.  Jack sat inside his pen and mourned while I buried him,

and he did the same thing while I buried his companion, HeyJoe.  Learned people will tell you that animals have no soul, but if a pet can call me across hundreds of miles, and if a pet mourns when his friend is dying, are they not as real as we are?

Not My Victrola

Here is a great Charleston sung by Johny Marvin, and posted on You Tube by RReady555. This will help you start the week on the right foot.

Happy Birthday, Marines!

Bonus, with Lee Marvin!

Pattie's Birthday Must Be Coming Up

Marvin moved into Pattie's wheat field today.  She was born while the wheat was being threshed in 1924, and she remembers threshing with steam when she was a girl.