| This piece of animation was a quick creation by my friend/computer guru, Doc Smith. It was so hysterial that I HAD to add it to my photo album. |
There are days when you can find me dressed like a non-biker. However, the only time you'll see me looking like this is when I have my dancing shoes on!
I am the proud slave to FIVE...count 'em.....five house cats and one house rabbit. UGH!!!!! Whoa, wait one minute.......did I say FIVE cats?? What was I thinking? I have EIGHT CATS! I have never seen so much cat hair in my life. This is Cheddar, the youngest of my children. He is an adopted stray from my local shelter. He was born in early Oct. 2002 and he is about 3 months old in this shot. He is a lively little buggar to say the least. He also answers to Mini Me! To date he is an emormous creature weighing in around 20 pounds. He won't answer to Mini Me anymore....we pretty much call him Meatloaf!
This is one of my other recent additions.....Fuji!!!!! As with all my pets, Fuji is a rescue animal. The interesting story with Fuji though is, I found him via the internet (look below for more information about pet adoptions via the internet.) I had been looking to adopt another cat since I had lost one of my original 4 cats to cancer a year prior. During my internet search, everytime I did a search for cats in a 250 radius of my home.....regardless of what site I was using........Fuji's picture and stats came up time and time again!!!! I watched the websites for over a month and yet he appeared. Didn't anyone want this beautiful cat? Finally, I had to go see him. It was a nasty wintery day here in Pa. He was at the Pet Adoption League in Yukon, Pa. (70 miles away from me). I drove to the shelter only to discover that he had been taken to the local PetsMart for an Adoption Day program. Even with getting wrong directions I managed to get there (took an hour and a half). Fuji was the only cat there amongst all the barking dogs. He looked so forlorn and they said he had spent 18 of his 24 months of life in a cage in shelters.!!!! I couldn't stand to see him in that cage....so depressed and defeated looking. I had to take him. Mind you...I had just adopted a 2 month old kitten (see above photo) just a week earlier. FIVE CATS in my little house? What drugs am I on? Well, I took him home and he has been a great cat. Not a problem with him at all other than he is a big fat CHICKEN and everyone bosses him around! He is a great addition to my family, not to mention he is one of the most gorgeous Snowshoe Siamese cats I have every laid eyes on!
These are my other boys, Stumpy (on the left) and Spirit. They are not related though they look it. Stumpy passed away in Oct 2000 from a massive tumor in his head. He was 6 years old. He had an unusual life in that he was born with dozens of birth defects. No doubt from being born to a stray barn cat Mom getting poor nutrition. He had a double set of teeth ("ouch, stop biting me!"), his rear legs were much longer than the front making him look like a souped up '65 Mustang Fastback, and his tail measured a whopping 6 inches!!!! Thus, the name! He was a wonderful cat, a great clown and everyone loved him. He is sorely missed! Spirit is about 6 months old in this pic. Today he is a regal 17 pound, 8 year old! When Stumpy died, Spirit was so lost and mourned so badly that he almost died. He stopped eating and went from his then plump 15 pounds down to about 8 pounds. My vet said he was dying and they couldn't do anything for him. So here is proof that animals have personalities and souls and they grieve just like humans! As luck would have it, just when I thought it was over for Spirit, my boss found a long haired scraggly, rag-a-muffin of a kitten and said,"Here you have to take this cat". Being the great employee that I was, I did as he told me!!! That was the ticket to Spirit's health. Having a new kitten to care for was what he needed. Within 24 hours he was eating and within a month he was back to his normal self and happy as a lark with his new buddy. Though I do not have other photos up yet, my other babies consist of 17 year old Shadow, 7 year old Magic, 1 year old Deaf Thomas (who is obviously deaf) and a young male who appears to be about 2 years old whom I named Creamer. I think that Creamer belonged to a family across the street who was renting a house. They moved in the fall of 2004 and suddenly this cat appreared at my step wanting food and love. I have TONS of both. He prefers to go out so I do allow him in and out, but he other 6 are house cats only. Oh.....and Bunny Rabbit. I adopted her 2 years ago. She too is a house only rabbit. She is bigger than half of the cats and they are always playing with each other. What a lark they all are.
Here is a group photo of the little "back porch band" I play with. We primarily play folksy/bluegrass stuff. The members are (L-R)Ed O'Brien, Lois Gagermeier, Me, Bill Marks and Tom McCarty. Bill Marks passed away in June 2004 and he is sorely missed.
Here are just some old photos of me. The left picture is me on my old Yamaha V-Star 1100 Classic. The pic on the right is a very old shot of me and my 1984 Yamaha Virago 1000.