From The Chief Editor's Desk...

Up until recently, we had eight of those furry little buggers running around here.

How did we get to the point that we had eight cats? Well, there’s a number of factors involved. First, I guess you could say I married a “crazy cat lady.” Second, I also have a fondness for cats. They are more self-sufficient than dogs. You can go away for an evening or two, and cats will do just fine on their own. Third, we live just three doors down from a city park. As sad and unfortunate as reality might be, it’s not uncommon for people to drop off their unwanted pets at the park.

Now how they find their way to our door, sometimes I feel like we must have a neon sign posted in front of our house that only cats can see. It seems like every cat dropped off at the park by their irresponsible owners finds their way to our door.

I guess you could say that there’s a fourth factor involved. That is the ability to “just say no.” And, for a long time, that was the case. It seems that “eight” was the magic number for us to learn to say “no more.”

Every single one of the cats we have were strays, most of them dropped off at the local park. They all came to us as strays.

But recently, we had to deal with losing three of our cats. First, Smokie died. Then, my son’s cat, Pixie (a.k.a. CiCi, since my son couldn’t say “Pixie” when he was little … it came out as CiCi, and the name just stuck) passed away. Then, our “outdoor cat,” Callie, passed away. All of them lived long, long lives, and died from (basically) old age. They all lived a much longer life with us than they ever would have had we not taken them in.

Since they were all strays, we were never quite sure exactly how old any of them are or were. Smokie was at least 20 years old. Pixie/CiCi was over 20 years old (we’re guessing that he was close to 25 years old). Callie had to be close to 20 years old, if not more.

Cats are a LOT like people. They each have their own unique personalities, their own likes and dislikes, their own quirks. Even if you blindfold me, I can tell you the name of any of our cats, just by their voices. But anyone who has had cats already knows this.

Don’t get me wrong. I like dogs, too. But a dog just hasn’t fit into our lives the way that the cats have. And, we are “animal” people. My nine-year-old daughter has two leopard geckos. My son has had pet tarantulas on two separate occasions. Plus, we have nine hens in our “backyard flock,” and six new baby chicks growing up in the brooder in our dining room.

So, maybe it’s more accurate to say that we are “animal” people. No judgments here, though. I know some people just aren’t animal people. For others, animals just don’t fit into their lives. But, there are also a LOT of “animal” people in our midst.

This month’s cover image was created by Bing Image Creator, and celebrates Tux as the great magician, Harry Houdini. Houdini’s birthday is March 24, and he was born in 1874. He tragically died in 1926. You can read more about his life here.

Until next month, I bid you peace, happiness, serenity, prosperity, and continued good health.