Hello everyone, I just wanted to update everyone. I put my kitty Cosmo down yesterday and feel good about seeing how peacefully he left me. I know I did the right thing, but my heart still aches for him. I just feel so lucky that have had him for 13 years and hope that he felt the same way about his momma. I've gone through all my outstanding trades and have emailed the following GW members to pick things back up: blue_ivy darkwildflower nottougly mao_tse_mom mngardener1 trish_ca Please let me know if I've left anyone out and please accept my apologies if I have. Thank you all for your support through this difficult process. I couldn't have gotten through it without each and every one of you. Diana

Diana: Sorry about your kitty. Losing a loved pet is so hard. I still miss my mom's schnauzer who I took in after my mom passed away. I had Mimi for three years after that and it was so hard to admit that the time was right, but know that it was the right thing to do. Hugs, Ann

Thanks for the thoughts, Lamora! This time of year, living in Oklahoma, my nerves are always frazzled & I seem to be perpetually on edge, monitoring the weather. This year seems to be worse than most years. I'm glued to the Weather Channel constantly & my weather preparedness borders on obsession (or so says my crazy, adrenaline junkie husband, who likes to stay out & video the storms). When storms knock the satellite out, I turn to my computer. If that fails, I'm subscribed to text alerts from TWC & our county's Blackboard notification system. We don't have an underground shelter, but I have 2 interior hall closets. The one that backs up to our bathroom shower plumbing is for us humans & the other one is for the dogs. It's always an adventure to get those 3 mutts to cooperate with me. Two of my dogs are like me & want to hide until the storms go away, but my youngest pup is like my husband & wants to go out in the storm & run the zoomies around the yard in the thick of it all. Luckily, my 4-year-old son's take on things is more like mine than his father's, b/c he will stay in the closet with me & worries constantly about any rain or storm bringing a tornado. I don't shelter him from the news coverage on storms & definitely want him to have that healthy fear. Mission accomplished, especially after the last month's coverage on TX & OK monster tornadoes. We've watched live coverage on the Moore tornado & yesterday's OKC area tornado. If watching something like that live isn't enough to scare you half to death & make you take storms seriously, I don't know what is. Our area down here in southern OK hasn't had any extremely damaging tornadoes hit in many, many years & people here have fallen into complacency. They say that b/c we're in a valley, any rotation that comes our way will just magically lift & go over us. Despite TWC stating over & over again that this is a false statement, many people in my area just don't take the warnings seriously. I fear that it will take a tragedy of epic proportions to put that fear back into the natives of this area, but I have a great fearful respect for these storms, & you won't find me brushing warnings off lightly. Better safe than sorry, in my experience. Living in Oklahoma (& formerly in North Texas), these storms are just a fact of life for us. May is always a bad month for tornadoes, but we've had tornadoes in the immediate vicinity of us anywhere from February to December. All it takes in those "off-season" times to get the weather to go severe is an unseasonably warm, humid day out ahead of a powerful cold front. I find it in my best interest to always stay informed of the ever-changing weather b/c it takes literally minutes for the sky here to go from sunny to scary.

my vet will be here at noon today. simon and i have been getting lots of cuddle time in over the past few days, i have explained to him what will happen today and i like to think he understands me. he will get a whole hershey bar all to himself and then i will give him a calming sedative an hour before dr. B arrives. when i look into simon's eyes, i see nothing but sadness. although i do not think he is in pain, he is sad and has been this way for several weeks. he no longer even tries to participate in the things he so loved to do...walking down to burn the trash, going out to feed the horses. he simply lays up by the deck and watches. the little sparkle in his sweet eyes is gone. this is not a decision i have reached lightly. i have agonized over it for week after endless week. in the end, i know it is the right one for both simon and for me. the emotional toll it has taken on me is indescribable, my feelings are much the same as i sat by my husband's bedside during his last hours. i take comfort in the knowledge that soon, simon will be running, on all four feet, right into gary's arms. they will watch over me and save me a place. my heart is in a million pieces. :(