What’s Going On!

April 3, 2009 I just got back from California last night - what a great trip! Just can’t beat the Santa Barbara weather - even when I have to work all week! Here, it’s raining of course! It was great to see my parents, too.  I just received copies of Kittens USA, which will available in PetCo stores everywhere by the end of this month. Finding Your Own Home is featured on page 99. We’re going to be interviewed on Animal Radio Network tomorrow for broadcast on April 25th, and Finding Your Own Home is listed on their New & Notable page! Finding Your Own Home was also featured in Pet Product News and The House-Hunting Kit for Cat Lovers will be highlighted later this month! I should be getting copies soon!

We’re on Pet Realty Network, Animal Radio Network, on Pet Radio, in The Pet Press, and...

March 18, 2009:  Today is my birthday, yippie :p ...  I’m going to California tomorrow. Meanwhile, The Cat Lover’s Guide to Finding Your Own Home is now in I Love Cats magazine. An interview with me is in The Peninsula Gateway right now, too! In kitty-cat news: Mollee has learned that if the door between the garage and the house is just barely closed, she can go in and out whenever she wants. Then she taught Skittle to come in by himself, too!  What a clever little fluff-nugget!

February 25, 2009:   Wow - lots of news! Kate of ModernCat.net says she might do a book review! ModernCat has very specialized cat furniture and other cool things - if you haven’t been to this site, you MUST check it out. Friends in California mentioned that the Santa Barbara Zoo is looking for photos.  The Black Footed Cats below only weigh about 4 lbs., come from Africa, and are considered a vulnerable species. Last November I caught sight of these tiny kitties right before sunset. For information visit this interesting cat site.

January 15: Every year I have promised to make a donation to a compassionate animal organization from some of the proceeds from the sale of each book or e-book. With last year’s sales, I have sponsored an incredibly sweet little black cat that I met in Atlanta: Greer has been at Rescue Cats for more than a year with her twin sister Grizabella. (see the story in November, below).

Right now you can vote for the shelter of your choice to win $10,000. in 2009.  My choice is www.PurrfectPals.org because it is - sadly - the only no-kill shelter that I have found in the area, and because they accept kitty-cat ‘estates’. Meaning, when I die, my living trust will pay for the compassionate care of my cats in their facility. Since I now have my own home, I can plan for the future of my pets. Purrfect Pals has found homes for over 23,000 cats since 1988. To vote for Purrfect Pals, click on the link above. To vote for another no-kill shelter of your choice, go to: http://www.care2.com/animalsheltercontest

January 1, 2009:   To start the New Year off right, The Pet Lover’s Guide to Finding Your Own Home is being featured on Pet Realty Network’s Community Pages, I also found out that the SAGE Handbook of Online Learning (2nd edition) is  due to be released in May 2009.  I co-authored a chapter on Higher Education and Corporate Learning Strategies with Dr. Bruce LaRue in the Handbook.

It is hard to believe we are almost a decade into the 21st century. 10 years ago we were looking at the turn of the millennium and I was living in a toxic roommate situation. Now I am in my own house and living in the Pacific Northwest instead of Southern California, my home of 25 years.  This New Year’s Eve I saw the fireworks live at the Space Needle in Seattle for the first time. A spectacular front row balcony view, and these photos were just taken with my cell phone with no zoom!

December 2008: I  just found out that someone gave me a very special holiday present: a ‘foster’ kitty named Sweet William at the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. I just got a photo. If you’d like to adopt a kitty sweet enough to get the name “Sweet William”, the golden child on the left needs a forever home. The photo on the right is NOT him!

November 2008: This month I attended the Cat Writers Association annual conference in Atlanta, Georgia, where I was the recipient of the Bio-Pro Research scholarship stipend of $500! After signing my books at the Cat Fancy International Cat Show, I had to wander over to the rescue cat section, naturally. Who can resist temptation. Not surprisingly, I was forced to sponsor a 1.5 year-old little black cat named Grizabella. She has a sister named Greer and they’ve been at the shelter for a very long time, over a year - the lady tells me that people in Atlanta just don’t love black cats. (Taslin was shocked!)  The “G” sisters were born on July 22, 2007. To sponsor a kitty for just $10 a month at this small no-kill shelter (which has found homes for over 4300 cats since 1999), go to www.RescueCats.org and click on the Make A Donation link, then scroll to the bottom of the page for the Sponsor button. Or, you can go directly here. I hope to sponsor Greer, too... help! This is Grizabella on the left, and her sister Greer on the right.

Other cat news from my travels: When I was in Santa Barbara, this lady wrote to the local Independent paper complaining about a cat obituary that appeared at the bottom of the human obituary list. She said these notices should be separate, but “at least” it was at the bottom. I took exception to this catty attitude, and the response that I wrote to the Santa Barbara Independent is here.

October 2008: The Ultimate Dog Lover (2008, HCI) came out this month with my color photo of Louie on page 15 - the whole page!  Visit HCI Publishing for a free sample of the stories in this book. Louie is a pit bull that was fixed by the new low-cost spay/neuter clinic in Tacoma, called Coalition Humane.  I write the Happy Client Corner for CH every month, and Louie was one of the wonderful stories of a dog and his mom who were assisted by the clinic. Another story I wrote for CH is here.

Also this month, Harbor Flavors
(2008, Morris Press) was released.
It is a cookbook that contains
hundreds of recipes from people
in my local area, including
four recipes of mine!