Saying Goodbye to Jazz

On Monday night, I had to have Jazz put to sleep. As I prepared to take him to the emergency pet hospital, I was pretty sure he wouldn't be coming back home. I laid him on my bed while I got dressed and he fell asleep. I decided to take this one last picture of him. Mostly because my daughter, Alissa, couldn't be there. I wanted her to have something to mark his passing. She was the one who wanted a kitty all those years ago and the reason that Jazz came into our lives.

At the hospital, the x-rays confirmed what we suspected, congestive heart failure. The prognosis was grim and I made the decision not to let him suffer. He passed away quietly and peacefully as I rubbed his face and chin. He always liked that.

He was a great cat. He'll be greatly missed.

Other posts starring Jazz:
How to Give a Cat a Haircut
How to Give a Cat a Haircut - The Sequel

I also want to share with you a sweet card that Mindy's mom made for me. I don't know whether she wrote the poem herself or found it somewhere, but it was...
PUR-fect!

He will not go quietly,
the cat who shared your life.
In subtle ways he lets you know
his spirit still survives.
Your feet still go around the place
the food dish used to be,
And sometimes coming home at night,
you miss him terribly.
And although time may bring new friends
and a new food dish to fill,
That one place in your heart
belongs to him...
and always will.

Boo!

Photo by Donna Harkins (mom).

No, I wasn't scared either. Have a great weekend!

f-stop Friday - Forehand

I don't do much sports photography. For one thing, it's HARD! Last night, my daughter played in a high school tennis match and I wanted to capture some of the action. Sound easy? She was on one of the center courts of four and I wasn't allowed inside the chain link fence. So the best I could do was to shoot through an open gate when a coach wasn't standing in it. I took a lot of shots, hoping for at least one good one. Sometimes you just take what you can get.

On a side note, this is a sad day for me. Alissa has decided to go live with her mom. There's nothing wrong between us; she says she just misses her mom. She will transfer today to the high school in the city where her mom lives. I do understand that a 16 year old girl needs the emotional support that only a mom can give. But I'm still a sad dad today.

Zapp Through My Lens

Just grab her leg and hold on tight!



Clicking the photo above will start a slide show of 80 photos. It's the best way to view my Zapp photos in large size, but may not be dial-up friendly. Alternatively, you can view the set here. Either way be sure to enlarge the window to full size.

And if you were at Zapp, you'd better look at all the photos because YOU could be in there!

Hope you enjoy!

Party in Pink!

To mark the 25th anniversary of National Breast Cancer Awareness month as well as her own "bloggaversary," my friend, FringeGirl is throwing a Party in Pink. As you can see, I've put on one of my "I dare to wear pink" shirts to join in the fun!



You too can participate! Here are the simple rules...

1. Link your specific ‘Party in Pink’ post to Mr. Linky located on FringeGirl's Party in Pink blog.

2. Take a picture of yourself wearing pink. If I can do it, you can too!

3. Honor a woman or many women who have or have had breast cancer. If you don't know anyone who fits these qualifications, honor women in general with this disease.

4. Be an encouragement to others with your post!

5. Somewhere in your post, link back to The Domestic Fringe. This will allow your readers to come and read other tributes.

I'm dedicating my Party in Pink post to another blog friend, Cher. And in honor of her decidedly Texas flavor, I have also put on my best 6x beaver Resistol. Yee haw!

Warrenton... WHEW!

Mindy and I are back from twelve glorious days in Warrenton! And I'm exhausted! I'll have more pictures to share later. Still processing. In the meantime, just to prove I'm still alive, here's a picture that I took in Debbie and Danny's tent...



Please forgive my lack of comments. I'll try to get back to perusing your blogs soon!