Camera? What Camera?

Can it really be 17 years? Your Mom looks just the same! Happy, Happy, Belated Birthday you Beautiful, 17 year old, DRIVING Girl. We LOVE you!

Today is your birthday...

Happy Birthday 17 year old driving Leslie! We love you!!

Yesterday, while Dad was at the WI Council of Churches' 60th Anniversary at Monona Terrace. . .

Another Birthday for the Tired old Weenie

Happy Birthday Eric!!!!!!!!!!! It's not sooooo bad!!

There beneath the blue suburban skies

I am so thankful for the hard work and love that my family put in to try and help Penny these last few weeks, but it's hard for me to know she's gone because I never saw her when she was sick. Sundae has been the cat who seemed to be having problems as she'd gotten older, but Penny always seemed fine and I never worried about her. I'm sad that I didn't get to say goodbye. Ben and I might adopt a couple of kittens this week. There are some real cute little ones at a nearby animal shelter that we've really connected with. Some of the kittens were a little sick and so we had to wait till they were better, so we've been dealing with them for about a month. It suddenly feels strange to be adopting a new cat when Penny has just died. I'll never forget her though. We adopted her when my friend Meggie's cat had kittens, and when we got to their house to see her we couldn't believe she looked so much like Sundae! She had a sweet, cute meow. As skinny as she was, she was very food-oriented and would always meow to be fed first thing in the morning, as soon as she saw anyone downstairs but Dad. She knew Dad was not the one in charge of feeding the cats so she didn't bother him. Penny loved the smell of tomato sauce and always came around if Mom was cooking anything with tomatoes. She also liked to eat popcorn. She had the stinkiest farts of any cat I've known. Sometimes she'd let them go while sitting on the couch watching TV with you; Penny liked to watch TV. She was very sensitive and sometimes even petting her seemed to be too much; she was comfortable though just sitting near you, and you could hear her purr.

Here are some pictures I found on my phone:

Penny always loved the holidays.


She was such a sweet kitty.

"Penny's From Heaven"

After 3 long weeks of trying all we could to nurse our sweet girl back to health, we all decided that it was time. The doctor at the emergency clinic agreed with our decision to let her go. It was my first time staying with a pet as they were put to sleep. We had some time to be with her, and when we were ready, we signaled for the doctor to come in. She was already so weak that she just drifted off. But not before she extended her left front paw in our direction, as she always did as an act of affection. It was peaceful, not scary. We had as much time as we wanted to say goodbye, and the people were so understanding. We miss her a lot, but are relieved that she isn't suffering. To quote a famous theologian when asked if pets went to heaven, " Well, honey, it must be so, because it wouldn't be heaven without them!" Thank you God, for 13 years of a wonderful companion and member of our family!