I almost forgot! Every good romance author web site also has a companion animals page. (All rescued pets OF COURSE. Don't shop at pet stores that sell animals! Adopt! Adopt!)

Now that I'm living with my parents' parrots, I guess they make this list!

Philea thinks herself a person, prefers people-company, is outgoing, and neurotic. More likely to fly on you and make friends, but also more likely to bite.

Chara prefers birds and is shy around people. It was hard bonding with her until I found out she loves singing. Now I sing to her every day, so she trusts me a TINY bit.

My husband, known in webland only as "Fernando." I met him when we were 15 and had a crush on him, but it took me another 5 years to land him as a boyfriend, and now we've been married over 13 years. He loves cats, online gaming, graph paper, marimbas, hugs n kisses, Bourne movies, finding new hobbies, mmsa dance music, and watching chick flicks with me.

Haley was so nasty the SPCA gave her to a feral cat rescue agency. When that agency had to move, my mother agreed to temporarily house her. I was in Vancouver visiting said mother, and for Haley and I it was lurv at first cuddle. She's a hellraiser.

We also discovered the reason she was at a feral cat house--when she gets freaked out by something, she can cut a b*tch. Copious amounts of love has brought out her sweeter side but... she's still trying to take over the world.

Our newest addition, as of August 2010! We figured if Haley was going to take over the world she'd need an evil minion. She turned out to be much more evil than we'd anticipated, as well as genius.

Her favourite activity is riding on Haley's back. (Needless to say this isn't Haley's favourite activity.) Her second fave activity is to break into food containers--hasn't cracked tin cans yet, but it's only a matter of time.

My first ever cats were Ernie and Bert. Bert ran away and we never found him, but Ernie was with me until he died when I was around 20. He was my absolute best friend and we were attached at the hip. In the history of cats, only Tigernan has equaled him in sweetness and smarts.

Two other cats passed through my childhood. I think they were both tabbies, and I don't know which this is. They were strays who came in for awhile and then moved on.

When I first lived with my now-ex-roommate she had a dog and two kittens and she wasn't supposed to bring anymore pets home. (I love animals, but I'd lost my lifelong cat only a few years before and wasn't totally ready to bring a new heartbreaker into my life.) But I agreed to let her temporarily house a cat from a shelter where she worked, and I knew we'd never give him back. His name was Tiger, but we called him Tigernan to give him a little dignity. This somehow morphed into Nombly. When the roommate and I "divorced" she took the dogs and I took the cats.

When my fiancé (now husband) met Nombly it was like two broken pieces finding each other and making a whole. They understood each other like no one else did. Fernando would get home from work and Nombly would just stand by his feet waiting to be picked up.

October 27th, 2009, had to put Nombly down--he was about 17 years old, and had an embolism in his lung. Luckily it happened relatively fast so he didn't suffer long, but we still miss him lots.

You'll wonder why a boy cat is called Sherry unless you've read Georgette Heyer. He and his sister (since adopted away) were named for the characters in Friday's Child. I also called him Bones because he had Colitis and at one point was quite skinny.

My ex-roommie adopted him as a kitten, and he was the top cat around here for years. He liked to play hard--I called him Sherriana Bones and knew he was having secret adventures like Melanie from The Secret Railroad (see below.)

Sherry was about 16 years old when he was diagnosed with untreatable cancer, and we put him down on June 28th, 2010, almost exactly 8 months after Nombly. Poopiness.

* I'll post a pic of his sister Hero once I find one to scan.

When I used to live with a roommate, this was her Rottie. Also known as Boom-Boom, he loved pop bottles and cats. He has sadly moved on to the big Tattooine in the sky.

Ooor Wullie! My brother and roommate married each other and lived down the hall from us. They inherited this cat after Bantha passed away. Sadly Willie is gone now too.

Another of my ex-roommate's dogs, happily still alive. Ooo she's an oldy! But a goody.