HeARTworks Heart

My Kids

NYC Sidewalk

Heart Cookie

Found this after a Marfan syndrome presentation in New Jersey.

Heart in the Drawer

Snuggle time

My Little Buddy

Paw Prints on the Punkin Pie

As I was cutting into a pumpkin pie today, I flashed back to a long-
ago Thanksgiving when mom made the pies to take to a family friend's
house for dinner. We woke up to find a kitty paw print in the one and
only pumpkin pie.

It's amazing what you can hide with well-placed whipped cream. We
were sworn to secrecy, and no one was the wiser.

Sent from my iPhone

Keeping Watch

Doesn't this look like Eyore is watching Cootie while she sleeps?!

(I swear this wasn't posed! Eyore sometimes sits on the back of my couch-- I guess one of the cats knocked him off and onto the edge of the kitty bed. SO SWEET!)

New Pics of My Kids

Cootie

Scutter

PITA

PITA enjoying the 100 degree heat (a cool day in Phoenix).

"I'm Cute"

The Animaniacs sing "I'm Cute"

Kitty Posting Re-Dux

I think I figured out how to 1) get videos off of my FlipUltra, 2) Edit--although it needs to still be shorter, 3) Create titles and closing credits, and 4) Add my choice of music.

Woo HOO! This is going to be fun.

Settling in for the Night

I am pretty sure that nobody will find this post overly stimulating after the first few seconds, if THAT long, but I am just learning how to use my new FlipUltra Camcorder that I got for my birthday (thanks Lynne, Dad, and Matt!). I still need to learn to clip and edit the videos and choose my own music-- I wanted to play Disney's "The Aristocats"-- But this is a start.

UPDATE: SEE POST ABOVE INSTEAD-- I FIGURED OUT A FEW MORE THINGS! :)

Exotic Feline Rescue Center

Please visit the website for The Exotic Feline Rescue Center to find out about this amazing sanctuary for abused, abandoned or otherwise displaced "big cats." My Dad went to college with Joe Taft, the man who founded the Center in the early nineties. It's located about an hour outside Indianapolis, and provides up close and personal views of some of the most amazing animals on the planet.

Wind Beneath My Wings-- or not

As I was getting ready for work early this morning, Scutter started going crazy over something that he was trying to get at under the front door of my apartment... I assumed the worst, and armed myself as if I was about to face a big hairy spider (which, under the right circumstances, can turn me into a big sissy).

I was pleasantly surprise to find this baby bird (not really a baby-- more a young adolescent) clinging to the underside of the door jam. It let me get this close to take the photo, but wouldn't let me pick it up to see if it was injured. It sort of fly-hopped (or hop-flew) away down to the ground level. I didn't get the impression it was injured, just not quite adept at the whole wind beneath my wings thing. It had the right idea, but wasn't quite sustaining its airtime. Poor little feller.

When I left for work, it was gone. Such a sweet little thing looking up at me. I sure hope it makes it...

My Babies

Friends at last.

I know how Mom felt--the frustration she must have endured watching Matt and I fight so much when we were growing up. Cootie has been a loner for many years. Now that Emerald is gone and Scutter doesn't have her to torment, he and Cootie have struck up a new friendship. It make my heart melt to see them snuggle. Of course, it's usually short-lived, becuase the "Mr. Hyde" surfaces and he launches an unprovoked attack, and they're off...

Rest in Peace, Sweet Emerald

It couldn't be avoided any longer... I came home from work last night and Emerald let me know in no uncertain terms that it was her time to go.

She has been showing signs of her old-age for a few months, and I was preparing myself for when her time came, but as long as she was able to get up to her favorite spot on the cable box on her own (using the "stairs" I made from boxes and the coffee table) and was eating and drinking, I wasn't going to rush her out of this world. But the last few days she faded fast, and she couldnt' even walk when I came home last night.

Emerald was my first pet out on my own. She was the sweetest natured cat I've ever seen, and she's been with me through most of my adult life. Isabella joined us a year after Emerald came to me, but passed away about 5 years ago. It was so sad to see how Emerald mourned her friend. Now they're back together.

I'll miss her.

Recovery Mode

In recovery from last night-- lounging with my baby boy Scutter. If he had been able to use my cell phone camera in this moment, he would have gotten a shot of me lookin' pretty much the same way back at him.

My Precious

My little Emerald is such a sweet natured girl. She appeared at my apartment door when she was just a few weeks old. I heard a crying sound in the hall and thought it was a baby crying. I opened the door to find her looking up at me. There was no question in that moment that she would be staying. That was 16+ years ago.

She is starting to become frail, and spends the majority of her time on the top of the cable box warming her aching body, but she makes a point of coming to see me for at least a few minutes every night when I go to bed.

I hate seeing her get so old. She's saved me many times with her sweet attention.