Yesterday, July 11, 2025, my cat, Kačka, died. I woke up to find her body in the kitchen. It still feels surreal to think that she is gone. Twelve years of her goofiness, cuddly-ness, and presence. This is a music blog, so I will include some music: my own. From my album Untitled No. 2 (West Texas Fantasies) which was recorded between winter 2020 and summer 2021 and, as it is apt to happen when recording ambient sounds in a house with a cat, has a sample of Kačka in the final track, "Just drips in an empty sink". Untitled No. 2 (West Texas Fantasy) by Justin Houser Kačka came into my life with a bit of a scare. In late July 2013, I was working as a TA in the School of Music at Texas Tech getting the computer lab I taught out of ready for classes when I received a text from my mother that just read "We need to talk." Anyone will recognize the concern of "what have I done" or "what horrible thing has happened" that ran throug...