Winston calendar celebrates his life

I just finished putting together a 2009 calendar with the best photos of Winston -- and some other cute dogs and cats in my life (including Sapphire).

I did my first pet-photo calendar last year as a Christmas gift to family and friends… and as a way to honor Winston as his health was failing last December. The calendar was a big hit with everyone, so I’m doing it again. This year I'm also making it available for sale online. Check out the ad below.

Working on the calendar helps me continue processing my grief over Winston’s death, and to celebrate his life and remember the many good times we shared. Giving the calendar to people is also a joyful, personal way to connect with my “dog friends.”

Almost everyone who sees it wants to make one of their own and asks how I did it. Follow the Zazzle.com links for more info.

All dogs and cats in this calendar are real pets, photographed with their real companions, in or near their real homes. See cute puppies and kittens, dogs of all shapes and sizes… Great Danes, Lab, Dachshund, Beagle mix and more. Made with love.

make custom gifts at Zazzle

Kitty's favorite toy is Cat Dancer

Our cat Sapphire misses having a dog around the house. She’s dealing with the loss by spending a lot more time playing with her favorite toy: the Cat Dancer Original Action Cat Toy.

The cat dancer is a wire with bits of rolled up paper on the ends. It’s the simplest, cheapest cat toy -- but cats LOVE it. Many reviews at Amazon.com attest to its fascination for kitties.

The cat dancer was also the favorite toy of our previous cat, the venerable Ambush.

Sapphire plays with the cat dancer in the video above.

Hot kitty in the city

Our cat kept cool by sleeping belly-up during the record heat we’ve been having in Los Angeles...


From the contented look on her face, the method seems to work.

I’m a Postie now

I’m officially a Postie now -- a blogger who writes some posts for advertisers.

Don’t worry, I’ll still be posting the same good quality, original content about my dog and my cat. In fact, I’ll probably be posting MORE original content because there has to be at least one original post for every sponsored post.

I want to make money with my blog, so I signed up with payperpost. This is my first “sponsored post,” sponsored by PayPerPost.com.

Sponsored posts will be clearly labeled, so you’ll know that the content wasn’t purely my idea. I will try to relate all the content to dogs and cats, which looks like it will be a challenge since the “opportunities” offered to me at present relate to rap music, prepaid phone cards and computer games. Hey, my whole world seems to revolve around my dog and my cat, so now I can put that to good use.

I’m a professional journalist and author who has been paid to write for major publications in the past, so you might wonder why I’m choosing to be a mere Postie. The main reason is that I like the idea of getting paid to write from home on my own time schedule, without having to sell myself and my ideas to an editor. Another attraction is that I won’t have to talk on the phone at all. Phone calls tend to wear me out. I’m already blogging, so it should be easy to just add a few extra posts for some much-needed cash. I hope to make some new friends online in the “Postie community.”

I’ve actually been thinking about doing pay per post for a long time -- since I first read about it in the Los Angeles Times more than a year ago. “Blogging for dollars raises question of online ethics” ran in the LA Times on March 9, 2007. The article was critical of the practice, but I immediately thought getting paid to post was worth exploring. For an objective view, you can read about pay per post on Wikipedia.

It took me a long time to decide to leap into Postie world, but the sign-up process was easy. The money will help us pay for the various expenses associated with getting our new dog.

Cat predicts 2008 election

Tired of election polls? Ask the cat: Who will be elected U.S. president in 2008?

Of course, she may not be any more definite than all the pollsters.

“Hi, Cute!”

My mother was looking through an old photo album last weekend. “Cute!” she exclaimed when she saw a picture of me as a little girl

Suddenly our cat Sapphire went running over to her. We were all mystified. Nobody knew why she zoomed over to my mom.

Then I remembered that I often call the cat “Cutie.” Sometimes I even greet her by saying, “Hey, cute kitty” or even “Hey, Cute!”

Now her attitude seems to be that her name is Cute. She really is the embodiment of Cute.

When we first adopted her in 2000, she came with a litter of unbelievably cute kittens, pictured above.

I thought that this CUTE photo would be appropriate to post on Easter, the season of hope, springtime and new life.

What a good kitty!

My cat Sapphire has been a very good kitty. She helps me keep smiling no matter what happens.

In this video she yawns, stretches, struts and watches my dog Winston take a nap.

Christmas Glamor-Puss 2007

I’ve been getting Sapphire used to wearing her glamorous Christmas collar -- red with a glittery stripe and a bell. Two days ago she was wearing it happily around the house -- until Winston heard it and got excited. He chased Sapphire so he could check out her jingly collar and she ended up threatening him with her claws.

Yesterday they were both used to her new look. My cat posed happily near the Christmas tree.