Thanks everyone else, too; Esther and Jo, beautiful kitties there. And Paula, BKay, I know I'm forgetting people and I'm sorry. I'm overtired and should just go to sleep. Thanks to all who understand the heartache felt when you lose a non-humanoid member of the family. They may not be human, but they certainly are loved members and for me and my family at least, the wound aches when having to say your final goodbyes, and doesn't subside for some time.

Regards To All,

Don Backer and Family

Don, I'm so very sorry for your loss. Your Bessie was a beauty. Our animal companions are part of our every day lives. There's no other way to see them than as our furry family members. Heartbreaking to say the least.

Here's a pic in better days of the two I lost this year. My dog and best gardening buddy ever, Casey. And my sweet Ashley, who was an awesome cat, also lost to kidney disease.

What you said, ...."the wound aches when having to say your final goodbyes, and doesn't subside for some time. " ....how right you are.

With 40/50 mile an hour winds blowing outside and 60/70 mph with 2 inches of rain forecast for tonight I thought I would get creative and post a few pictures.

May this year and the collection starts to wake up.

Don, it always hurts to loose a beloved pet. I've lost a few, and sympathise. Here is my chief mouser, " Tiddles 6 " in memory of the five who went before her. Soaking up the sun in the greenhouse amongst the fuchsias.

Esther, your cats are beautiful, as are your babies, Sandyslopes. I'm so sorry you lost them both, in the same year, no less.

Tiddisolo, WOW, look at all those pots! Beautiful! Tiddles 6 looks right at home among all the plants. : )

Don B.

Thanks, Don. It's been hard. I wanted you to know I can sympathize with your loss of your furry family member, Bessie.

In keeping with the spirit of random pics....
Here's Mickey Mouse in flowers

And a moose topiary in front of the ride, It's a Small World....

Oh wow, the moose topiary! It's been a long time, but I remember the moose : )

Don B.

Really cool pic of BIG Moray Eel. Lives at the Downtown Aquarium in Denver. Been there several times, and this fellow is always interacting with the crowd at the front of the aquarium.

Don B.

Well, here's a random pix. I call this "closing the barn door after the horse got out." Rollie pollies ate the crap out of this poor hosta, and then I read about plant collars on here. So here's the new collar.

Don, I am so sorry to hear you lost your Bessie. My son and daughter in law also lost a much loved cat within the past year or so. I know she will remain in your hearts.

Love your pictures, everyone! Not to be a downer, but here's what my hosta beds will be looking like 2-3 months from now :-(

And on a happier note, we had Philly Cheesesteaks in Philadelphia last winter... My daughter and son in law took us to both Pat's and Geno's (which are both famous Cheesesteak vendors who sit on opposite corners of the same intersection) in Philly. Gary and I shared a Cheesesteak at each place.

My vote was that Geno's had the best Cheesesteaks, but I'm sure anyone who has been there has their own opinion.

I'm not uploading my pics to Photobucket (etc) so will post three times, with three pics.

Pat's

Gary, enjoying a Cheesesteak at Pat's!

fall grillin on hillbilly ridge

Strangest lookin' creature ever in my garden:

{{gwi:201788}}

Queen Maleficent of Sleeping Beauty and Merida of Brave!

trick r treat

going, going, . . .

redneck heaven still hanging in there today

little black scapes is holding on

another survivor

here's a tough gal

1 more nov 1 survivor

Japanese maples fall colors

today's fall mushroom explosion

'Krossa Regal' starting to leaf out on May 5th, 2013.

Don B.

Van Wade n hostabevie @ Hosta College 2011

Oh, Don, I don't know how I missed this, except last week I was sort of out of it. October affects me that way. I had my first cat, a female named Tiger Lily, born in a flower pot. She was a huntress par excellence and could leap into trees very easily. I loved Lily, and learned about cats finally. Then the vet gave me Christmas kitty guess what time of year....My little Maltese boy, MoonPie, lost his battles last October, also kidney failure. So very hard to lose a little fuzz ball who'd shadowed my every step for almost 14 years. All the garden paths of red cement squares were laid to keep his feet dry as he followed me around the garden. And of course, that is how the MoonWalk got its name.

They're just discovering that dogs, and surely cats, have emotions revealed in brain waves which seems to suggest, or affirm, that our animals are consciously feeling love for us their people. Hey....animal owners everywhere can attest to that!

MoonPie

and sweet Lily girl safely away from her nemisis black male cat Smudgy

and Lily and haughty younger sister Christmas (Chrissy) back in 2004

moc , is the treed one a Bengal?

zzzzz

dooey, dooey, dooey, lookin out mah back door

winter bird feed

birds eat these all winter too so I don't clip until spring

HH, your hosta leaves look like sugar frosted grape leaves, so tasty and succulent.

The treed kitty is Lily, climber of great ability, who my vet said acted like a dog--well, she was my very first cat and I treated her like I did my two maltese dogs, didn't know they were supposed to be treated differently.

Here is the young Chrissy, happily sleeping on a chair.

And Chrissy of the short bottlebrush tail, and Lily of the very long elegant tail, eating on the back deck.

And here is the view I had of Dog River....which made a big bend, and so I had water front back and side.

Dawn on Dog River....do you see why I love it so?

And from the other side looking down the river. That is my small floating dock which hosted canoe launching....built it myself, ruining a rotator cuff/cup in the process. Ouch

Looking at this one, I still feel the fog on my eyelashes

Nice pics moccasinlanding, did you paint those pictures?

It seems that a lot of hosta people are cat people, I have two Footie and Ginger, Ginger has recently adopted me and has fallen on his feet here, little does he know that he will be visiting the vet soon to be "done" lol!

This is Footie she has been with me for 7 years now.

This post was edited by mountainy_man on Sat, Nov 2, 13 at 17:05

NOVEMBER ROSE!

Can you believe it, I came home from school Friday to find this late gift from my wonderful Easy Does It rosebush.

I'm loving this thread! So many cute kitties on here. Don, I'm sorry to hear about the loss of yours. I've lost a few beloved lets over the years and it's always hard. I wish our animals could live the same amount of years as we humans do.

Here are my two kitties, Casper and Arial. Casper is the orange flame point Siamese and Arial is the dark Ragdoll/Siamese mix. She was named Arial because she has to be rescued from a tree. She had climbed up over 80 feet because someone had swung her around by the tail and scared her badly. She still walks funny from that injury. Some people can be so mean!

Hmmm ... one of these things is not like the others. (Casper up in the laundry room cupboards of our old house.)

This post was edited by flower-frenzy on Sat, Nov 2, 13 at 22:47

My preferred garden "pet" to keep different pests down.

Hostahillbilly, any particular kind of birds that are attracted to the seed pods? I'll leave mine up next year.

old-dirt , chickadees, juncos, finches, nuthatches, grosbeakes

is that a hog-nosed snake?

Cocoa and a deer eating from a window bird feeder. The winter was a bad one that year and could call the deer in to get fed that year( no hosta then)

Hostahillbilly...thanks, we appreciate the birds here almost as much as the hostas.

Yes that is a hog nose, a big one. I like to think he feeds on voles, moles and maybe slugs. One draw back is that toads are high on their priority list and I think toads are one of the best natural control for slugs. Looking for some kind of balance there.

since cats r popular here, here's our oldest n newest vole patrol members on break

I have a Kindle Fire HEX with camera to test out. How can it give shots to upload here. Gotta try at least. Somehow there are older photos which come up if I choose "Browse" but none. Show taken with this tablet... okay, more to learn I guess.

MOuntain's, the pelican pics were edited using software VIRTUAL PAINTER, which was on my XP computer. I loved using it. Not available on Win 7 or 8 sad to say.

This post was edited by moccasinlanding on Sat, Nov 9, 13 at 13:47

That's a beautiful parrot, Mocc. I don't know much about them. What kind is he/she?

Don B.

Kimali is a fairly large male African grey parrot, weighing in around 600 grams. In order to have him, I took early retirement, because that is the kind of commitment such a companion requires. On March 18, he will be 15 years old. I fell in love with him when he was 3 days old and looked like a prehistoric dinosaur! A gray fuzz ball, the biggest of his clutch, and his parents were known to have strong, healthy, smart and friendly babies. He is a beauty, isn't he.....so good natured.....and he flies....and he talks....and he is a sensitive companion....but he doesn't clean up after himself. :)

And thank you for admiring him.

Yes indeed, he's gorgeous. How old did he need to be before you were able to take him home?

Don B.

Don, he wasn't my first parrot....He could be likened to finally getting a Porsche, if you're into cars. I brought him home when he was 5 weeks old.... about mid-April, 1999. Here is his baby picture when he came home.

I'd been going over to my friend's house (the breeder), to hand feed him when she pulled him from the nestbox. I continued to hand feed him, with what is called "abundance feeding" so he weaned himself, at 22 weeks old, without feeling deprived. He weighed 600 grams as a well fed baby boy, and he weighs that now as an adult. He has beautiful feathers, no fat, great muscle tone especially in his breast which allows him to fly efficiently.....but consider that birds are so aerodynamic, with hollow bones, hollow feathers, they eat moderately frequently, also poop frequently and do it almost EVERY time before they take flight....which is a clue to imminent flight, by the way.

Aw, what a cute little fella! And, one thing I DO know about him, at not quite 15, he's still a young man. Thanks for sharing pics of your Kimali (Namesake of Joseph Kimani) ; ) A more handsome bird I'd be hard-pressed to think of, Mocc.

Cheers (and thanks for the tip about 'Heart of Hearts' and 'Cherokee'. Hope the remodeling is going as well as possible (I've been there, I like to think I understand some of what you're going through...But It'll be awesome when it's all done)!!!!

Don B.