ARTICLE: A VERY SPECIAL VALENTINE'S TO SOMEONE I LOVE SO DEAR

Image~©MELANIE NEER~Personal Photo of My Pyewacket (June 17, 2001-April 19, 2010)

Originally Written February 16, 2012)

A Valentine's Day dedication of love from a very different perspective, and dedicated to those who have loved their pets who have passed on and still miss them in their lives and who understand that it's "not just a cat or dog"

I just needed and wanted to let you know, that here it is Valentine's Day,
I wanted you to know just how much I have loved you
and have always loved you from the moment I met you.

I wanted you to know how special you were in my life.
I loved all the times I cuddled up next to you, while you were lying in bed
and trying to read, yet being selfish and I didn't want you to read, since I wanted your love and attention solely on me...yes I was selfish, but that's how much I loved you.

I wanted you to know how special you were in my life.
All those times I would cuddle up next to you on the sofa, while watching TV,
feeling safe and secure with you since I knew you loved me,
and I loved you...oh how I loved you and still do.

I wanted you to know how special you were in my life.
And especially now I want you to know how special you were in my life
And yes, oh yes, I DO know how much you loved me, since I know you still grieve for me.

I wanted you to know how special you were in my life.
I felt your pain and anguish, that day, that day, that took you and myself
away from us forever.

I wanted you to know how special you were in my life.
That day that took us apart.
I felt your anguish that day.
When you realized I was gone,
You cradled me to your bosom like a baby and rocked me back and forth.
And in anguish and with tears, calling out my name over and over again,
Still not believing I was gone from your life.

I wanted you to know how special you were in my life.
You may not see me now.
You may not hear me anymore now.
You may not feel my cuddles anymore now.
But I'm still here.
I'm still with you and will always be in your heart.

On this Valentine's Day
I just wanted you to know....

I still love you and will be with you always.

Love all my love,
Pyewacket

©Melanie Neer~I dedicate this to all who have pets no longer in their lives and still feel the pain of their passing.

ARTICLE: What Is Crossposting And Does It Really Help?

Image~©Melanie Neer~Composite photo of "Dot", whom I renamed Ouija whom I adopted

Originally written May 9, 2013 for Bubblews, a website that no longer exists

I spend a lot of my time over at Facebook everyday crossposting the urgent pets that need to be saved/rescued/adopted/fostered from shelters, particularly the high kill shelters.

For those of you not familiar with just what crossposting is, let me explain. Facebook has become perhaps the greatest social networking website in order to "crosspost" urgent shelter pets. Over at Facebook, there are hundreds, if not thousands of pages or groups that on a daily basis post the urgent cats and dogs that are on "death row" and scheduled to be "euthanized" (a nice and polite way of saying killed). The "race" is on in which animal activists, advocates and rescuers share these posts by "crossposting", not only sharing the posts on their own profile walls, but on other pages and groups dedicated to saving the lives of shelter pets.

Some people can't understand the process though and wonder what good it does. I once came across the profile wall of a fellow crossposter, and underneath the posting was a comment made by one of her friends. She requested that the person, my friend, to stop sharing and "tagging" urgent cats on her wall. She said I live in Alabama, how can I possible help save a cat in a Georgia shelter. She just plain didn't get it, for you see, you may never know if you have someone on your friends list that IS in the area and can save the particular pet(s).

This indeed was something that personally happened not too long ago. I was lurking around on a friend's profile wall who is a tireless crossposter and who happens to be in Canada, nonetheless even though he's in Canada he posts the urgent cats from nearly all states of the USA. Late one night as I looked at his wall I came across one particular cat named Prince and was on "death row" scheduled to be killed the next day. The cat was in a high kill shelter in Florida. I decided to share the posting of Prince on my wall…and I'm from the NYC area mind you. Only a few moments passed, when one of my friends chimed in…she wanted to save the cat. Where was she? Yes you guessed…she lived nearby that particular shelter. You might say the race was on, time was ticking. Rather frantic emails and messages went back and forth between me, my friend and representatives of that shelter. Since it was well beyond business hours, one couldn't simply call the shelter. Bottom line though, it worked, the cat Prince was saved instead of killed and was adopted.

Sadly it doesn't always work, as too many shelter pets are still killed off each and everyday, but with crossposting is that glimmer of hope, that yes, many ARE saved. So if you're over at Facebook, and wonder why you have some friends who are maniacs about posting urgent pets and what good it does, tell that to that pet who was saved from death row, and perhaps consider crossposting urgent pets yourself. You never know…YOU just might have a friend on your list at Facebook that can help save a life.

I would also like to add, that there are scores of pets even in the no-kill shelters nationwide that also need to be crossposted as well, as many of these shelters can often be overwhelmed with pets needing rescue and adoption. It was by crossposting that I came upon a black cat and at first merely cosponsored him by sending money to the shelter that would go toward his vet and neuter fees. I was to later go one step further, and yes, adopted him.

The photo I include here is a composite of my black cat Ouija (his shelter name was Dot) whom I adopted via the Grayson County Humane Society in KY and was transported to me all the way to my home on December 1, 2012 here in the NYC area.

ARTICLE: The Bittersweet Moments Our Pets Show Us: Just One Demonstration of Unconditional Love a Pet Gave Me

Image~©MELANIE NEER~Personal photo of Tippy

Originally published February 8, 2011 on Associated Content/Yahoo.voices website which no longer exists

ABSTRACT: Our pets don't ask much from us, they don't judge us but accept us for who we are no matter what and know the meaning of Unconditional love CONTENT: I think many of us who have pets realize the wonderful unconditional love they have for us. They don't judge us, they don't really ask for much yet are capable of showing their love and affection to us without asking for anything much in return. They know the true meaning of unconditional love, something we humans could learn from.

I was talking about one of my cats over at Facebook. As many of my friends may know, my cat Pyewacket passed on April 19th 2010, yet this isn't about him but about one of my cats that I had years and years ago. Her name was Tippy. You might say I rescued her. It was on a warm May day, many, many years ago in 1983. I was at home and at one point, I looked out the window and saw a circle of kids tossing around a very young tiger-striped kitten as if it were a football. Enraged doesn't quite explain how I felt. I zoomed out of my apt. and went straight over to those kids and demanded they hand over the kitten to me; no doubt they must have thought I was a looney tunes and one kid had even said to me "It's just a cat." I cuddled the very scared kitten close to me and took her home.

Despite her ordeal of being treated like a mere object she didn't seem to fear me or her new surroundings considering the fact that I also had about five other cats at the time, and she quickly made herself at home. I named her Tippy since even though she was a tiger-striped cat, at the very tip of her tail was the color of an orange tabby...thus the name "Tippy"

Tippy became one of my cuddle bugs and velcro cat. She would hop on my bed to keep me company while I slept, and even gave me her version of a back message. All this attention she gave me unfortunately seemed to spark the jealousy of another cat named Bobbie. He began to antagonize her, bully her, wanted to fight her all the time, it was like a world war going on day in and day out. She began turning into a scared and timid cat and she felt her only safe place where Bobbie wouldn't bother her was to hop up into a cabinet over the refrigerator. She was to remain there for years and years after never coming down. I would have to place her food on top of the fridge and hoist up the litter pan for her to do her business. She just plain wouldn't come down.

Then one day in 1996 I was sitting in the living room when a movement attracted me from my peripheral vision. Looking directly to the "movement" my jaw dropped as I saw Tippy walking around the living room like she was the Queen of Sheba and unafraid of being bullied. At any moment I expected Bobbie to resort to bullying her again but he didn't. This should have maybe raised alarms, but I was just so happy to see her out and about again. She even resumed hopping up on my bed, giving me her back rubs, just as if nothing happened those years she stuck herself in the cabinet and not coming down from her "sanctuary".

About two weeks passed by after her initial daring day of her escape from her sanctuary , and Tippy remained feeling secure about being out and not afraid of Bobbie, and continued to snuggle up on my bed while I slept . Then one morning, I woke up and saw Tippy lying on the floor near the foot of my bed. I got up and went over to her to pet her thinking she was merely asleep, but no, she was still, lifeless....she had passed on. It was as if though, in her last moments of her life she wanted to be near me and why she was where she was on the floor at the foot of my bed.

I'm sure those of us who are pet owners have our own stories to tell of a pet or pets, who demonstrated their unconditional and trusting love for us even in their final moments of life. The story of Tippy is just one of many for me and I will always remember until my own final day.

ARTICLE: Books, On-Line, Or Kindle Reading: Which Do You Prefer?

Image~©Melanie Neer~Bookcase with primarily my Native American History and Culture Collection

Originally written on October 2, 2013 for Bubblews Website which no longer exists

I've been a bibliophile ever since I can remember, which when I think of it is a remarkable characteristic of my personality, considering my mother never cared for books. As a child she never read bedtime stories to me; when it was my great grandmother, grandmother, mother and myself all living together, it was my great-grandmother who would read to me. Even in her later years, my mother wasn't too keen on reading, not even a newspaper, so yes it is remarkable that I developed a rather fanaticism when it came to books. Also as a child, my mother often bought the usual type gifts for me that were popular at the time for girls, and whether for my birthday or Christmas, she would buy me things like Barbie dolls…boring. Like how many Barbie dolls could one have? Then one year, she totally surprised me, and instead of more dolls, she gave me my very first book, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I suppose it was then that I got hooked with books. My mother perhaps didn't realize what she had started by getting that very first book, as many others were to follow including the Nancy Drew series, a copy of Island of The Blue Dolphins (by Scott O'Dell) and on and on it went. Yes, I turned into a bookworm. My idea of having a good time as a child wasn't playing with other children, but instead going to a library and taking books out, and settling comfortably at home reading, reading, reading.

My love for books continues to this day, and I have quite a collection, not only fiction, but being a science and history geek I have a rather staggeringly large collection of science books (geology, astronomy, archeology) and as for history, Ancient Egyptian, Greek, Babylonian, Medieval, Renaissance and American History, especially the Civil War period. Let's put it this way, I have books literally all over the place; even all the shelves, save one, in my linen closet has a storage of books in it since I ran out of room on my bookcases, and being rather OCD about things, all my books are stored according to subject and/or genre.

But here's the thing, to this day I prefer a book in my hand. I really am not a great on-line reader, in fact, if I can avoid reading too much on-line, I do. I could never, ever see myself downloading books and read from a Kindle either as it would remind me a bit too much of on-line reading Yes, I realize with a Kindle, one can snuggle in bed on a rainy day and read, but to my mind it's just not the same as having the feel of a book in hand, the real physical turning of the pages, the smell of a book. Yes, maybe I'm old fashioned, but give me a book any day and I'm a real happy camper.

So what is your preference? Books, on-line reading from a computer or a Kindle? And if you have books, do you have a large collection yourself?