I'm a California girl who grew up in Marin County. Moved to Solano County in 1997. Researching family since the 1970s and as of 2023, have over 123,000 family ties. Two Mayflower Pilgrim ancestors - Richard Warren and Francis Eaton among that number.

Started taking photos of tombstones for Find-A-Grave as a Thanksgiving 2008 project that turned out to be more involved than first envisioned! Started with 120 names, but quickly grew to more than 2,500 in just one cemetery!

Have had a love affair with cats all my life. This is Simba, which means Lion. As a kitten he looked just like Simba from Lion King, hence that is how he got his name. He was a diabetic, had pancratitis, developed kidney infections, was anemic, and he walked on his elbows on his hind legs. Comic relief to see him waddle! Went through a couple of wars with the neighborhood cats, both of which he lost, but he was a survivor anyway. Loveable and loved us to death.

He started the downward cycle while we were on vacation in July 2013. The vet was able to bring him around and kept him going until we got home in August. It is with great sadness to announce that on August 15, 2013 Simba was finally sent off to heaven to be with God and all the other worldly cats and kittens. Maybe he'll find some playmates? He was 18 years old and in human years that would be age 84!

The vet told us when he was much younger that he had feline aids because of the first cat bite he received and not to expect him to live very long - perhaps to age 9. That came to pass and he was fine until the next diagnosis, which was a tumor at the base of the head which was inoperable but it wasn't affecting his lifestyle at the time. Then six years ago the diagnosis of high blood pressure and diabetes. Still healthy and active until the last few years when the muscles in his hind legs broke down but he overcame that disability and continued to walk about as described -- more a waddle than a walk. Next diagnosis -- glaucoma in one of his eyes but it didn't affect his getting about and he never went blind. The last diagnosis was the pancretitis and then kidney infections. Everything wrong but he was a fighter till the end. We loved him very much and he will be sorely missed. The vet who became his doctor at the beginning of his life 18 years ago was there at the end. He said Simba was his favorite and we know his entire staff loved Simba when he was there for office visits or to be boarded while we traveled. He told us that the life expectancy for a cat with diabetes was about 3 years, so Simba lived 3 additional years (or 6 total) with the disease. Again, he was a fighter.

Update: Acquired a new kitty in January 2016 that had been hanging around our yard since the summer (was a neighbors cat's offspring) in the hopes that we could get it friendly enough to come in before the urge to mate hit. We missed the capture and she was pregnant. Took to vet who did an ultrasound and said at least two kittens where showing in her belly. Well, 3-21-16 at about 3:45 p.m. she popped two kittens that looked just like her. We call her Mittens because she is Tuxedo - white muff on chest and 4 white mittens on her feet. The two kitties are both black with the same markings except one has a white mouth with a blaze on the nose and a white belly, but both have the 4 white feet. We call the girl Blackie and the boy Mustache.

Update: September 4, 2017 - Mittens the mom suddenly developed a severe heart condition and an auto immune deficiency that was so serious she would have required a blood transfusion with no guarantee it would work. While we had to make a decision, the expense of keeping her alive with meds for the rest of her life outweighed her quality of life. So it is with a sad heart she was sent to the cat angels in heaven with a country burial on this date. Blackie and Mustache are missing her already and so are we. Farewell. Blackie and Mustache are living the high life and in March 2022 will celebrate another birthday.

Just before Thanksgiving 2022, Blackie, the girl, had to be put down. At Halloween she was outside on the porch with me and snuck a bite of a fern which turned out to be poisonous to cats/ No ill effects until after the beginning of November when she became listless and wasn't eating,. Vet time, who gave her some pills to stimulate eating but to no avail. Vet felt lumps that day but within a week she turned and so she went off to na-na land to be with her mommy. I felt the lumps myself and they were huge by this time. Her brother, Mustache searched the house high and low for several days and then his personality changed. No longer a touch me not kitty and running away but one who wants his ears scratched, sits in my lap and wants my full attention while doing genealogy. A 7th birthday in March.

I'm a California girl who grew up in Marin County. Moved to Solano County in 1997. Researching family since the 1970s and as of 2023, have over 123,000 family ties. Two Mayflower Pilgrim ancestors - Richard Warren and Francis Eaton among that number.

Started taking photos of tombstones for Find-A-Grave as a Thanksgiving 2008 project that turned out to be more involved than first envisioned! Started with 120 names, but quickly grew to more than 2,500 in just one cemetery!

Have had a love affair with cats all my life. This is Simba, which means Lion. As a kitten he looked just like Simba from Lion King, hence that is how he got his name. He was a diabetic, had pancratitis, developed kidney infections, was anemic, and he walked on his elbows on his hind legs. Comic relief to see him waddle! Went through a couple of wars with the neighborhood cats, both of which he lost, but he was a survivor anyway. Loveable and loved us to death.

He started the downward cycle while we were on vacation in July 2013. The vet was able to bring him around and kept him going until we got home in August. It is with great sadness to announce that on August 15, 2013 Simba was finally sent off to heaven to be with God and all the other worldly cats and kittens. Maybe he'll find some playmates? He was 18 years old and in human years that would be age 84!

The vet told us when he was much younger that he had feline aids because of the first cat bite he received and not to expect him to live very long - perhaps to age 9. That came to pass and he was fine until the next diagnosis, which was a tumor at the base of the head which was inoperable but it wasn't affecting his lifestyle at the time. Then six years ago the diagnosis of high blood pressure and diabetes. Still healthy and active until the last few years when the muscles in his hind legs broke down but he overcame that disability and continued to walk about as described -- more a waddle than a walk. Next diagnosis -- glaucoma in one of his eyes but it didn't affect his getting about and he never went blind. The last diagnosis was the pancretitis and then kidney infections. Everything wrong but he was a fighter till the end. We loved him very much and he will be sorely missed. The vet who became his doctor at the beginning of his life 18 years ago was there at the end. He said Simba was his favorite and we know his entire staff loved Simba when he was there for office visits or to be boarded while we traveled. He told us that the life expectancy for a cat with diabetes was about 3 years, so Simba lived 3 additional years (or 6 total) with the disease. Again, he was a fighter.

Update: Acquired a new kitty in January 2016 that had been hanging around our yard since the summer (was a neighbors cat's offspring) in the hopes that we could get it friendly enough to come in before the urge to mate hit. We missed the capture and she was pregnant. Took to vet who did an ultrasound and said at least two kittens where showing in her belly. Well, 3-21-16 at about 3:45 p.m. she popped two kittens that looked just like her. We call her Mittens because she is Tuxedo - white muff on chest and 4 white mittens on her feet. The two kitties are both black with the same markings except one has a white mouth with a blaze on the nose and a white belly, but both have the 4 white feet. We call the girl Blackie and the boy Mustache.

Update: September 4, 2017 - Mittens the mom suddenly developed a severe heart condition and an auto immune deficiency that was so serious she would have required a blood transfusion with no guarantee it would work. While we had to make a decision, the expense of keeping her alive with meds for the rest of her life outweighed her quality of life. So it is with a sad heart she was sent to the cat angels in heaven with a country burial on this date. Blackie and Mustache are missing her already and so are we. Farewell. Blackie and Mustache are living the high life and in March 2022 will celebrate another birthday.

Just before Thanksgiving 2022, Blackie, the girl, had to be put down. At Halloween she was outside on the porch with me and snuck a bite of a fern which turned out to be poisonous to cats/ No ill effects until after the beginning of November when she became listless and wasn't eating,. Vet time, who gave her some pills to stimulate eating but to no avail. Vet felt lumps that day but within a week she turned and so she went off to na-na land to be with her mommy. I felt the lumps myself and they were huge by this time. Her brother, Mustache searched the house high and low for several days and then his personality changed. No longer a touch me not kitty and running away but one who wants his ears scratched, sits in my lap and wants my full attention while doing genealogy. A 7th birthday in March.