That is sad, ecar.
The reciprocal "nursing" duties aided both your lives. Unfortunately, your routine has gone "topsy turvy" and it will take a little time to cope with the peace and quiet from his physical absence.
DEB
Not my photo.
Meanwhile, my fishpond with its newly designed cover of old-fashioned fly screen doors that keep the leaves, palm nuts, etc from the water are not shading the water enough to stop the algae from going "ballistic" on these hot sunny days.
Back to the drawing board......
I could spend an afternoon writing down the, and I put it in inverted commas, "solutions" I've read and heard of, for pond algae.
All of which seem not to work... 
Anything from radically altering the pH of the water (either acid or alkaline), to salt, draining and steam cleaning the pond, then there's always the commercial anti-algae formulas - for every positive piece of feedback, there's a negative to balance it.
Sometimes I think it's a hit or miss affair.
Good luck with it, though.
I have a theory that it's like soap scum of the tiles in the shower; turn your back and multiplies, try to do something about removing it, and it takes that as a challenge, and comes back fourfold.
Can't find the drawing board.
The fish, the water lillies, the filter system, the screens to stop litter. I thought all of these would eliminate the extreme growth of the algae.
Haven't turned off the UV rays from the sun though.
I have a park bench alongside the pond where I sit and "ponder". The light gauze of the screens might have to make way for a couple of layers of shadecloth. And I'll have to prop up a door, for my viewing pleasure on those occasions. But then the lillies won't get the required sun to flower. Dilemma.
DEB
Copper hindering the growth of the green muck...?
Finally, a use for all those old 1 and 2 cent pieces that turn up at the back of old desk drawers.
I made friends with her because she's the local magpie, and it's a good idea to be at least nodding terms with magpies.
Then baby magpie came along. Dad magpie disappeared off the scene, very suddenly, one day, leaving her to raise junior on her own, so I took pity on her.
Now, if she sees me through the window, she hops up onto the sill and looks through, at me. Stares, glares...
Young one usually isn't too far behind, knowing that from the house comes food, so I have down tools and fetch bread (or on a good day, macaroni elbows; they're The favourite) when mother magpie makes an appearance.
They're a good excuse to take a five minute break. 
I went into a phone shop, looking for a mobile phone with buttons on it.
Oh, no, they said, they only sell touch screen phones - they're Much Better than the old button phones.
Uh huh.
So I went into an electrical store and asked for a remote control with a touch screen, because the people in the phone shop said that buttons are so last week.
They just looked at me.
I've never had a gripe with technological advancement, but fashion, on the other hand...
It's hard, adjusting.
It's hard, grieving.
This persona doesn't allow me to express some aspects of the grief cycle. It's not that I'm not allowed to feel angry, it's that it's not appropriate for "Me", here, to express myself in that way. It's not something that "I" do, here.
That's the problem with the internet - you aren't who you are.
Finding a new routine feels like a long and complicated process, unlearning patterns, forgiving myself for the things I could never have done, the irrationality of grief, and growth, and stopping and smiling every so often, for no better reason than that I can.
There's always been the undercurrent thought - people are superior to animals, one of those things like road rules, that you're taught as a child, that, no matter how irrational, stay with you, a sort of lurking lie masquerading as truth.
But people aren't better than animals. I've lost people, and this is what it felt like. Or maybe it's just me, my strong affinity with my feathered friend means I feel his loss just as keenly.
I can console myself that I did what I set out to do, from the first day that he arrived - I give him a reason to smile, I gave him somewhere to live, that in the end truly was, in his mind, His.
