That's my boy (the one hauling down the boy with the ball).

Damon's 4X100 relay team wins. Damon also won 400M and came second in 100M

Campbell takes 1st place in 400M.

Peony.

Kira, I told her to be careful not to get her new white shorts dirty sitting on the wall with her brother, so she picked them up 1 inch.

Charlie

April 2012

 February 1992- June 2012

When I first met Charlie, I was working at an animal hospital, and he was a kitten in a cage asking to be cuddled.  The vet told me that he had been brought in by the Humane Society after he had fallen from an apartment balcony and broken bones in his nose and his hind leg.  The vet's 4 year old son had come in with him, took one look at the kitten in the cage and said, "Hey Charlie".  It sounded like a good name to me.  I helped the vet put a cast on his leg, and when I heard that he was going to need a foster home to recover in, I quickly volunteered.  He and my cat Buddie soon became best friends and I knew that he was meant to be mine.  Buddie was full of mischief, and Charlie was a sweet angel doing nothing wrong.  The break in his hind leg left him with a limp, but I don't think that was the reason he was so "lazy", he was just a meek and mellow guy.

1994

When we began our family, I was doing home daycare and Charlie was a little bit frightened of small children.  So while Buddie joined us for circle time, Charlie spent some of the early years sleeping under my bed, or in the attic window.  But over time he learned that kids weren't bad at all and by the time Campbell was born, he actually sought out the kids and showed them affection.

2002 during his "fatcat" days with Buddie

2002 with Damon

2002

2002

2003 with Murphy

For the last 6 years, he was very attached to Kira and Hanna.  He slept with them, in their beds, or if they slept on my bed, so did he.

2006

2006 with Kira

2007 with Hanna

He was a kind, gentle, and calm cat.  He lived a long life, comfortable and free from any ailments up until the very end.  I think that's what we all hope for.  He will be greatly missed by our whole family.

Jan 2012

First peony.

Second kittenhood?

Poor old Charlie is acting very strange today and I know that the end is very near.  Instead of his usual 20 hour nap on Kira's bed, he's walking into things, meowing, trying to go outside whenever the dogs do, climbing into the kittens' bed when they are eating, getting caught between the wall and a laundry hamper that he could have walked around, sleeping on top of a tray of jalapeno pepper plants and crushing half of them, chewing house plants, following the dog around and so on.

I want to make him more comfortable, but he's not necessarily showing signs of pain, just acting like mischevious kitten, only in slow motion.  Be at peace Old Charlie Cat.