I am so sorry to hear about your little kitty, Merryheart. I know how much it hurts to lose a beloved pet. I worry a lot about urinary tract problems in my cat since my best friend lost her cat to it years ago. I think it's fairly prevalent in cats. I feed my cat Purina One 'Urinary Tract' formula. I don't know that it helps, but it makes me feel better, and she likes it. I've made stepping stones for my dogs that have died, and they are nice additions to my garden. I had a pet cemetery at my old house where I planted plants with the same names as my pets. I had grave markers, and stepping stones, and also had a bird bath set up there. For cats I have seen very precious little grave statues that are cat angels. They look very nice in your garden. If you know of a shop that has a laser engraver, they can make a marker with a picture of your cat with her name on a rock, a stepping stone, on granite, glass, or nearly anything. My brother's company has a laser engraver and they sometimes make pet grave markers. Another thing I like to do is plant trees in memory of my dogs that have died. I have a weeping willow that I planted for my all time favorite dog, Star. I hated to leave it when I moved, so I am taking cuttings of that tree to plant at my new house in memory of Star. That sounds crazy, I know, but I can't take the dogs' graves with me but I can take a cutting of "their" memorial tree. I have one tree still in a pot from when my dog Maggie died that I'm going to plant here. It's a corkscrew willow that I call "Maggie's tree". I also have a pine tree I brought here that belonged to my grandmother before she died, and it's "Grandma's tree". I realize you don't have an acreage like I have so maybe don't have enough room to plant a tree for your kitty. But it's my very favorite living memorial I do in memory of my pets. I also have a Southern Bottle Tree I made in memory of my friend Larry when he died. I found the cedar tree in his back yard with all the branches cut off fairly close to the trunk. I have no idea what Larry had planned for it, but I brought it home and "planted" it in my garden to remember him by. Eventually I covered all the limbs with cobalt blue bottles, and made it into a bottle tree. I think it's beautiful. :) But it's still "Larry's Tree" and reminds me of him in my garden. He was a gardener too and I think he would have liked it. I could send you a picture of it if you're interested. Here is a link for a kitty memorial stepping stone. If you'll see the seller's other items further down the page, she has some nice cat memorial items. Again, I'm so sorry for your loss. I know planting a memorial garden for you kitty will help you in your grief. Dawna Here is a link that might be useful: cat memorial stone

thanks, douglas! I went outside today, 24 hours after the damage, to assess what looks damaged. Out of 35 tomato plants, only two are wilty looking, my Fourth of July and Mr. Stripey, and then my Pink Brandywine has yellowed leaves but I'm not sure if that's from the frost or if it wasn't doing well ahead of time. I didn't notice it yesterday, so I'm guessing the frost. One of my six Romas is looking questionable, too, but it might need to be watered. Out of my 37 pepper plants and 2 tomatillo plants, everything looks completely green and healthy. Meanwhile, five of my eight cucumber hills are goners and the other three might soon follow. And one of my four basil plants is shriveled. So far, the cukes bore the worst of the frost damage, no question. And after reading posts here about Mr. Stripey's production and the bad taste of Fourth of July tomatoes, perhaps I'm no worse off with those gone. But I do love pink Brandywine tomatoes, so I have to replace that one. Thanks for all the advice. I'll keep you guys posted if more of them die, just so that my original thread becomes something of a reference in itself since I didn't see this topic addressed when I searched for it ahead of time.

You're going to kill me, because I have very few pictures! My camera wasn't working, so I have a few that I took when we went to the Iao valley on my phone, but nothing of the beach! Anyway, the Wailea area is lovely in the Spring. The weather was in the mid to high 80's and it was breezy with stronger winds in the afternoon that died down later. The ocean water was the perfect temperature. We didn't get any pics at the FS, it was dark when we were there, but we did walk down through the pool area to the beach walk to walk back to the Marriott. I would have liked to have seen it during the day.

Well, here I am! Late to this party, as I got home last night. First things being first, we cleared out the dog crate, food and treats by packing them up and walking them over to different neighbors who knew Luna. (She had a lot of friends in the neighborhood.) Delivering news like this is hard, but right this minute I think the hardest is having such a quiet house. Packing up her favorite toys choked me up, but it's done. Working my way backwards and starting with OKC, I regret we didn't get to meet David or Sally, but I'm anticipating there will be another opportunity. Having the extra time allowed us to blow on so I could visit my mother. We drove 4,603 miles in three weeks, so you might say it was a whirlwind (tornadic in places), and we were ready to get home. Meeting Donna and her friend Debbie was fun. We met for breakfast in Albuquerque and I really enjoyed it. It's so nice to have the CF in common, and there were no awkward moments in the conversation. In fact, I'm finding it's so easy to talk to the CF in person, it's kind of hard to leave! I enjoyed every moment, and hope that with Donna, David and Sally, we have an opportunity to meet again. I feel pretty certain we'll see Karen (and Tom) somewhere at some point! (I think it must be easy to form a certain bond with the first people you meet.) I've tried for five GT's, and have managed two so far...The best thing is my New Year's resolution of meeting some of you is up and running! I'm loving it and at this point have TWO GT's under my belt and COUNTING. Thank you for your generosity in wanting to meet; it's so nice to feel a part of the CF in real life. I'll upload a few pictures when I can...