Our sweet Leo has crossed the Rainbow Bridge. His estimated birthday was May 2004 as he came to us in July 2004 at our West Kendall apartment in Miami. It was the middle of the night and Chris and I were awoken by what sounded like a baby bird chirping. It chirped and chirped, annoying me enough to get out of bed and walk around to the back porch to see what was going on. I could never find anything but the next morning Chris woke me up because he had found the culprit—or rather, Samson had found the culprit! It was a scraggly kitten at the back sliding door,…

In December of 2002 Chris and I were living in Melbourne, Florida while he was going to graduate school. We’d been married about six months or so and I’d been hankering for a pet. A dog wasn’t ideal at the time and it took some time to convince Chris that a cat was a good idea for us. He hadn’t grown up with cats but I had and knew that they could be just as fun as a dog—well, at least the right cat! We went to a couple of different rescue shelters before going to the Central Brevard Humane Society to see their selection of cats. Samson was there,…

It’s hard to believe this little kitten is now 10 years old! Leo came into our life July 1, 2004 when we lived in an apartment in far west Miami. We’d heard a squeaking noise all night, sounding like a bird. At one point I got out of bed and walked around to the back side of the apartment, we were on the ground floor, to see if I could figure out the noise. I saw nothing, but the next morning Chris found Samson sitting by the sliding glass door staring out at this kitten that wanted inside. Chris and I managed to corral him to stay on the porch…

Back in 2008 and 2009 we dogsat Baloo while our friends Marc and Eliana went on a crosscountry roadtrip. During that time Baloo became part of the pet family and we really grew to love the dog. He went on hikes and adventures with us and was a lively and entertaining addition to the household. I don’t think Samson and Leo thought that, but we did! We hadn’t seen the doggie since we left Florida in 2010. We attempted to see him in 2011 when we went on the Florida Trail but when we dropped by Eliana wasn’t home. Eliana and Marc weren’t home this time around either since they…

It’s been awhile since the boys have shown up on the blog. July and early August was hectic with both of them as they battled some kind of intestinal infection for several weeks. Samson, who at his chunkiest was 14-15lbs got down to 7lbs and I could feel the bones in his tail. It was not good.. Needless to say I fed him whatever he wanted to eat and now he’s in love with as much tuna as I can give him. And would you believe he’s picky about what kind of tuna it is, too? Cats! (FYI if you are going to give tuna to cats look to give…

My brother and his dog Isabelle. Poor pup is getting old and is partially blind.