My other thought today is for my old friend Cutter, the smartest and most wonderful cat I've ever known. He died a few hours ago at the ripe old age of 20. He's been with me longer than Karen! Of all the animals I've known, he's the only one I really wished could talk ala Dr. Doolittle. From an early age, he knew how to do all kinds of things....opening doors and cabinets and windows and such. But he always remained proud to be a cat.

When Karen and I would sit and have serious discussions, he would come and sit between us and listen.....it was as though he were the "Animal Representative" at the meeting. When we played games or cards, he had to be involved. We even started calling the table leaf we would put up for him the "Cutter Flap." He had a great facial expression for showing his displeasure at things.....mouth slightly open and lips curled back in a face that said, "Faah."

He was always my boy, but he was also the ultimate ladies man. Any woman who came to the house got the full treatment and his favorite women, Karen and Katy, used to be treated to a floor-to-shoulder leap when he was younger. Too many stories over the 20 years since I found him on the side of the road as a tiny kitten in Nashville.

Now he's buried out beside his best pal Luff......another remarkable cat. I have a great picture (also turned into a painting by a friend) of the two of them, both lying side by side with Cutty's front paw around Luffy's shoulders. They were quite a pair, Luff the long and lanky red point Siamese, and Cutter, the black alley cat.

So now we go on as usual. But it won't be quite the same. It never is.

Spaw