pets – Things I've Learned Along The Way

Lessons in Parenting: The Rat in the Dryer

Sometimes, being a parent is the most intimidating thing in the world. And you wonder how you ever became qualified to be one.

A moving experience – dismantling a life

August, 2018: Earlier this year, I helped my mother and stepfather move from a house they had lived in for 20 years into a retirement community. I flew from Florida to Seattle and spent five days taping together cardboard boxes, filling them with possessions, marking them with sharpies and stickers so the movers would knowContinue reading “A moving experience – dismantling a life”

Saying goodbye

We had to say goodbye to our 14-year-old cat Morceau today. It came as rather a shock, as last week he was skittering around the kitchen like a kitten. But death can come like this, suddenly and without warning I knew our cat Morceau before he was even born. In January of 2004, my sonContinue reading “Saying goodbye”

Rescue

She was found wandering the streets of Gainesville. She had probably been on the lam for months. More than half-starved, she was also pregnant, the babies eating her alive as she unsuccessfully sought food. Someone brought her into the shelter and the veterinarians did a hysterectomy to save her life. That’s what they told usContinue reading “Rescue”

A dog’s life, in memoriam

My husband Curt and I were lucky enough to be owned by a chocolate lab named Koloa. He was a happy, go-lucky chap. He loved everyone. He loved every dog he ever met, except possibly the two pit bulls that once attacked him. He loved barking at squirrels in the yard, going for a goodContinue reading “A dog’s life, in memoriam”