Ooh, so one of my favorite subjects - my fuzzy "kids"!

This is Kodi (Kodiak). We adopted him from a shelter when he was 6 wks old. The woman who owned his mother and siblings told the shelter she was going to dump them on the side of the road if they didn't take them. The shelter agreed to take them, but only if the mother was surrendered, also. The woman said, "Fine, I was going to get rid of her anyway because she keeps having pups". Imagine? What an idiot!

Kodi is 11 yrs old now.

I thought Kodi should have a friend, so I looked on Petfinder and saw Meadow. She was about a year old and had been in 4 homes. While in her second home, she escaped out of the yard where she was being neglected, and was hit by a car, sustaining two broken legs. She was treated and is ok.

Dora was in The Newark, NJ humane Soc and was pulled by someone at the shelter where I volunteer. I felt sorry for her being caged much of the time and thought I would take her home and foster her. At least she would have a yard to run around in. Kodi and Meadow were NOT thrilled. I failed "Fostering 101" and wound up adopting Dora.

And last, but not least....this is Sky. One day I went into the shelter and saw this gorgeous guy there - I HAD to have him! Supposedly, he was abandoned in a park with a German Shepherd and picked up by the shelter there. A man came in to claim the GSD, but not Sky. He wound up at our shelter because they were overcrowded.

Oh, and this is Patrick. He's a 25 yr old Blue Crowned Conure. I've had him since he was about 6 mos old.

This is our dog. He's like the pet mayor of town and all of the other dogs seem to want to visit him. If not for that, I might think they were just using him for his brawn or something on their nighttime escapades...

Our fence is kind of old and there's a dip under one of the gates from where I used to drive through to park in the shade in the back yard, so several times I've discovered dogs in our yard that aren't ours. At least 2 of our dog's dog buddies know to open gates. On 3 occasions so far, we've woken up to find the gate opened IN, and our dog gone. Luckily he's so distinct looking, somebody's seen where he went and we tracked him down. The last time we found him because of Facebook. As soon as we noticed he was gone, we called the police station to see if he'd been reported and ask them to let us know if he was seen. When the lady who answers these calls went on break, she checked her FB and saw that her friend or neighbor (not clear on that) had posted a pic of a black great Dane that had come home with their dog after running the streets all night. Also never did get clear on why the other dog was loose, but thought it was funny our dog was famous on FB that day. Another time he was found in the company of another dog known for opening CL fence gates. We knew that other dog and his owner from previous encounters of his dog coming to visit ours. We've had to install a 2nd latch to these gates to make sure other dogs don't let ours out again. I've never heard of dogs opening gates until I moved here. Seems to be common knowledge among dogs in this town. Crazy!

I don't know why somebody took a pic in the middle of this mess-in-progress. It doesn't usually look like this.

I've had cats in the past, too. I adopted "Morgan" (aka Moogie) from a woman who does cat rescue. He had been badly abused. The woman said he was 3 yrs old, but my vet said he was more like 7. He died at 17 of respiratory failure.

One day "Tuxedo" showed up here. I think someone drove up here and dumped him off. I eventually found out he had contracted feline aids right before I got him inside. It did not show up in his initial blood work. He died from it at about 16 yrs old.

And "Tawnee" was discovered hiding under the rowboat stored in the side yard. I think someone moved away and left her.
She died of mast cell cancer at around 13 yrs old.

I've also always had fish tanks (fresh water) until a few years ago when I decided to take them down.

Purple: even if it is a "mess", love the dog relaxing with plants!

I've been waiting for the right pic before posting. I thought this new one of Bogie with the thanksgiving cacti was funny. We adopted Bogie in sept of 2005. He is a great black cat who head bonks as his special trick. He'll eat most plants, but thankfully he doesn't care about TCs.

Here is a photo of my children: