REIGNING CATS AND DOGS

"Recipes are like cats: You only think they're yours."

—Roadside cafe reader-board in Hillsboro, OR

My kids love animals. I can't begin to emphasize that enough. One is a doting cat-dad and the other regularly volunteers at a dog shelter in Santa Barbara. Both assume their roles as much for themselves as for the animals they serve. Although their devotion to cats and dogs is undoubtedly innate, it was also nurtured by their mom. One can point to any number of examples where Jenny showed her love for animals.

Remember that shy kitten from the October 20, 2025 post? Well, she now co-owns the apartment and inspects everything that arrives and leaves. Her sister, the other apartment owner, is behind her.

I'll say just a couple of them:

Around the time the kids were born, Jenny regularly volunteered at the ASPCA. Her soft spot was not only for dogs, but dogs who weren't wanted. In fact, on vacation in Hawaii Jenny arranged for us to be foster parents for a dog of our choosing at the local shelter. Jenny told the director of the shelter that we wanted to care for the "oldest, loneliest and most unloved dog" the shelter had.

Jenny with three of the five kittens she found in our backyard. She took care of all the kittens and adopted the mom. She found homes for everyone after getting them vaccinated and fixed.

Jenny once found a cat behind our house who had just given birth to five kittens. She took care of all six cats. She also took it upon herself to get vaccinations for the cats and have them spayed and neutered. Miraculously, she was able to find homes for all the kittens. We kept the mom.

Jenny and the boys with Coco, the dog we foster-parented in Kauai.

While we were a family of four, we never got a dog ourselves because Jenny didn't think it was fair to leave the dog behind if we went on vacation. Still, one day a co-worker told me before a meeting while I was on speakerphone that he had a litter of 11 puppies. Dylan was sitting right next to me during this COVID-era meeting and his eyes lit up. Dylan had lost his mom barely two months earlier and I hadn't seen him so excited since. How could I say no? It was shortly thereafter that Skeeter became a part of our family.

Dylan with a puppy at a Santa Barbara animal shelter where he volunteers

As for our vacations, after searching for nearly a year, I found the perfect hosts for Skeeter on Rover. The downside is that it actually costs me more per night to board Skeeter than for my hotel room when I make my trips to Minnesota. But, there comes a point where a dog is no longer just a dog but practically your own child.

Skeeter and I waiting at the vet, who tells me the little guy is in great health.

We three boys sometimes wonder if Jenny is somehow connected to Skeeter. The timing is interesting. A calculation based on the gestation period of dogs shows that when Jenny passed away, Skeeter would have just been conceived. Maybe her spirit transferred from one body to another? One of those way-out-of-left-field, silly thoughts, right? Yet, it's also one of those thoughts that's hard to completely dismiss once it occurs to you.