Dude loses his angel on earth...

...and gains an angel in his heart...and mine. Debra emailed me to let me know her mom, MaryAnn, who has been here many times to visit and gave sweet shy Dude a home, passed away unexpectedly last week.

MaryAnn and Debra were just recently here, and MaryAnn told a story of falling asleep on the couch in a Snuggie and waking up to find Dude had crawled up one of the arms to sleep against her chest, giving her quite a start (and giving all of us a great laugh).

"Dude has been a joy to my Mom and only wish they would have been spending more years together......Dude has become fond of my Dad as well.....he hugs my Brother every day and I know he will miss my Mom but will do fine with all of the rest of the Mosier Family. We love Dude and we are all sad and shocked."

I put away the candle I had been burning and took out a new one for MaryAnn, so I will be reminded of her over the next few weeks as this one flickers. When you live alone, there is no one to talk to honor the person's memory as you'd like to, and so all you have are your own thoughts. I've found that lighting a candle keeps my mind on those good memories, each time I look up, and reminds me to take a moment to send a small prayer to her family.



MaryAnn was always full of kindness and laughter. I'm so glad that Dude had her to coax him out of his shy shell.

Some of my readers may have met MaryAnn while she was visiting here. I'm sure she made you smile as well.

You can never spend too much time with people whose paths cross yours.

Dorothy

I never got my Christmas cards out, so recently I made up a little newsletter that I've slowly been sending out. In it I've included my email address and an envelope with a stamp so that people can send back photos of their cats for me to blog.



Dorothy's photo arrived in my inbox this week. Dorothy is nineteen, and owns Chris and Becky in North Carolina. I can't begin to count the different houses Dorothy has lived in, but her particular skill and charm is that she would take evening walks with the family. Seriously. They would walk around their block, or up and down their street, and Dorothy would dart from tree to bush to sidewalk, exercising along with them, every single night.

But sweet Dorothy with the big wide eyes has made it to a beautiful and graceful age nineteen (would you guess she was that age from her photo? I would not). Obviously she has been smarter than the hazards of the outdoors. I understand that in her more senior years she finds the indoors a bit more attractive. Dorothy is not a Wildrun cat, but she has been a very special friend, along with her family.

Snow.

No breakfast for you, kitties! Just joking--they are already shoveled out.

Now it's time to find homes for the Fat Cats

Since all the kittens except Longfellow and Wiggles are adopted, it's time to slim down these pudgy cats who have been sadly neglected and get them homes. Arthur (above) immediately honed in on the fact that there was a new food in the house. Food is very important to Arthur, even though he (a very very large cat) is not one of our pudgy kitties.



Wings (above) is a tub of lard. Sir Morgan (below) is "plump, bordering on lard"



Owlie is a bit squishy in the middle, although he feels he is quite handsome, thank-you-very-much!





So they are all now on Purina Fatty-O food for inactive kitties, and we'll see if we can slim them down and into new homes!

Faith is not fat at all, and wants to be certain she's not lumped in with the gluttonous boys.





Can we please have a round of applause for the new camera? I still haven't mastered getting sharp photos, but at least they are presentable.

Most of them, anyway.

Back from Silver Spring...

...where in addition to a lot of great plans, the big news was the new Petfinder.com app. I'm going to let The Social Animal tell you about it. I'm also going to add The Social Animal to my blog roll, because they are obviously much faster than I am!

For the first time I regret that I have no cell service in the deep hills of Spencer NY, because now I WANT a smart phone. Think of how I could show off my pets anywhere I am, instead of just saying "When you get home, go to www.petfinder.com..."

Now, at least, I can say "Got an iPhone? Let me show you!"

Visiting work colleagues and DC snow

Last year I was toasting my toes with work friends and Key West street cats, but this year the economy and reality brings us all together at the Silver Spring office, where snow rules.

On the train ride down through the snowy landscape, cat tracks dotted the neighborhoods, especially in Baltimore. Are there more cats in Baltimore than other cities, or was it just a matter of where the tracks happened to go?

Fergie gets a home for Valentine's Day

...and that's better than a box of chocolates any day! We have a "feel free to donate your adoption fee to a local animal welfare group" option, so the Humane Society of Schuyler County will be getting a $50 donation as well.

The cat facility is now kitten-free, which means it's time to concentrate on getting Arthur, Sir Morgan, and Faith adopted.

There are still kittens in the house -- just two! Fergie's new owners have asked for us to let us know how Longfellow fares after his vet visit (he's too skinny, in my opinion). They may be interested in adopting Longfellow as well. That would leave Wiggles, and she's such a soft, sweet, kitty.



Clean, too! :)

Last Kitten Standing

Fergie is the last kitten in the cat facility. Longfellow and Wiggles are in the house. Fergie would dearly love a home. He has inquiries on him this weekend, so let's hope one turns into a forever home for him!

Cat ladder blog

Here. Refill your coffee because you'll spend a few minutes. There is even video!

Blizzards rough on stray animals as well

Lest we forget...

Celebration today...



...of a miraculous rebound from this...



But remember this...



....and remember that Americans in Haiti were forced to leave their two dachshunds behind when evacuated by the military. Luckily animal response teams reunited them. Apparently we have not yet learned this smallest of lessons.

Let us toast the human resilience of New Orleans, and light a candle of hope that the Haiti may experience a miracle as well. I think it will take more than a football championship to symbolize resurrection for Haiti.

From street feral to royalty

I think it's rather wonderful that both the vice president of my team and my direct manager "came into feral cats" this year. Kim's neighbor had a back-porch cat who had kittens, and Sara moved into a new neighborhood that came complete with an eartipped feral, and friends. They both took it up themselves to assist their newfound feline neighbors.

Today Kim sent me a link to photos from the a local cat event:



Frappacino (mislabeled Cappuccino on the photo) was born a feral kitten in Union NJ and is now the princess ("crowd favorite) of the 13th annual Cat Society Afternoon Tea at St. Hubert's Animal Welfare Center. She is still available for adoption.

(This photo is #2 here: http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=C0&Dato=20100207&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=2070802&Ref=PH , and was taken by Karen Mancinelli)

Here is Frappicino's Pet Note on Petfinder, just in case someone in Jersey is looking to adopt a princess to add to their court!

Now she just needs her fairytale ending.

Longfellow and, ummm...friend

5:00 pm, no flash, new $119 camera.

You may see a lot more blogging from now on.

And yes, Longfellow is two inches from the woodstove. I'm making an appointment at the vet for him. Too skinny. Too cold.

Brie was adopted today, however! Longfellow lobbied pretty hard as well.

Just watch the puppies

The Puppy Bowl seems to be picking up great press everywhere. It's even number seven on the User's Guide to Super Bowl Halftime -- 11 Things You Should Know.

7. There are more wholesome halftime activities available, though. The Puppy Bowl also returns for a sixth go-round on Animal Planet. If you've never seen it, I could tell you that it features a group of puppies running around in a football-themed pen, but that doesn't come anywhere near capturing the insane levels of cuteness that will be achieved. If you don't smile when watching the Puppy Bowl, you may need medical attention. Or your team might be down 30 at halftime.

What's the Puppy Bowl about? Adoption, Adoption, Adoption. We all owe Puppy Bowl Referee Andrew Schechter a huge thank-you for saying that over and over and over.

Brie has suitors, and the camera craps out

This is the last photo you are likely to see off the old Easyshare:



Either the battery charger or the battery is dead. It's probably a good thing fate gave me a reason to give up on it, because the quality on the photos has gone down quite a bit. Everything I read tells me digital cameras do NOT lose their quality, but I'm sorry, my experience tells me it does. Or perhaps I'm just comparing my photos against photos taken on newer cameras with more megapixels. Anyway, it takes a lot of work to get a photo this nice, and I don't have time to spend a half hour on a single kitten photo.

Luckily, cameras were on sale at Staples. The new EasyShare is 1/2 the purchase price of my old one (5 years ago), and that one was half the price of my original Mavica (nine years ago?). Maybe if we're lucky they'll be free in a few more years.

Pardon me while I grumble, moan, and complain over learning a new camera.

Brie got THREE inquiries on her. I still have to answer two.

Rocket discovers hi-def

April sent me this photo of Rocket after they got their new TV. (Here's her kitten picture back when she was "Marcia." Apparently she is fascinated by it.

It could be dangerous if she learns to use the remote!

I stole this other photo off of April's Facebook page:



More Rocket photos.'
And her first day in her new home.

"Hey, Lady, Norma's not upstairs?"

"No, Nellie, I'm afraid Norma is gone and won't be coming back. She was very sick and would have been wretched if I had to stick her with fluid needles every day."

After spending two years almost entirely upstairs, Nellie has moved downstairs. She really was staying up there in the chilly upstairs just to be with Norma.

Cats are friends. Thank you for making Norma's last years less lonely, Nell.

Rest in peace, little Norma.

Please vote for Misha!

Nothing would make me happier than to see my friend Susan M., win this essay contest with her story of Misha. Please, please help! Will you vote for Misha?

Not that you need extra incentive, but Susan rescued Bear.

Checking the mail at almost 1am...

"Do you remember this beast from a few years ago... Eight years I think. I believe you named him Tyler.. He is doing great and still is a spaz case. He is lonely now that his brother has been gone since December 7th....Attached is a picture of "Tyler" doing what he did best. Torment his brother.

Hope all is well.

Doug"

I am so glad that people think to let me know that my kittens have grown up well. I imagine it was the loss of their beautiful dog (at age 15) that made Doug think that perhaps I would like to see Tyler and his brother together.

And I do. I really do.

It's good to see animals in homes where they are loved.

Just in case you forgot how....

If you were in college when I was, you were making these.

I had forgotten how, and after seeing these on The Animal Rescue Site, I Googled "how to knot bracelets" and there they were -- instructions for the same bracelets we used to churn out in hotel rooms or while sleeping on gym floors when we were traveling for crew.

How is this cat related? Well, the Spencer Community Showcase is March 7. I enjoy going, although it is a heck of a lot of work. While I never get many donations or on-site adoptions, I did have a person who met me there come adopt a cat just a few months ago.

I plan to have the fetish kitties there as a gift for people who make a larger donation, but times are tight, and there are a lot of kids at this event, so I thought I'd make some bracelets with a simple kitty bead or charm for folks who leave a donation of a few bucks.

I can make them when I'm sitting in hotel rooms traveling for work. Hey, it's not quite the same as crew, but the surroundings will be familiar.

I plan to take Arthur if he's still here. I'm betting he'll be a grand cat for a special event like that.

(Post-note: But no new projects until my current fetish kitties are finished!)