Things are not great at my house. In addition to our "normal" struggles, we all have full blown influenza and we keep getting a blizzard every other day. Did I mention that our snow blower broke? Amazingly, swearing at it, while beating it with a fallen branch, has not fixed the problem.
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Anyway, all this has got me feeling lower than a politician's ethical bar.
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Not one for chemical solutions, I turn to animals. I find it soothing to cuddle the cat and look at pictures/videos of cute critters.

Having pretty much petted all the fur off my own poor kitty, and having exhausted the YouTube supply, (yes, that's possible), I am appealing to the NT community to post pictures of their fur babies. Cute accompanying stories are also appreciated.

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You can watch the surf near my place in my sig file. Sun came up an hour or so ago so it's looking pretty.

I have some photos on my old computer but haven't moved them across to this one yet.

I'll try this...

So, that is our Famous who is a naughty kitty and wakes me up in the middle of the night about 4 times.
She's not a kitty really, she an aged cat now but as healthy as a young cat. Vets are always shocked at how strong and healthy she is and sometimes just don't believe me when I tell them she is almost 15. She's a tree climber and a very very independent being. A bit like me in some ways. LOL

Edited to add: oh and about her name Famous. My daughter wasn't very old when Famous adopted her and there were all these cat food ads on tv and on cat biscuit containers etc and the cats all looked like her when she was a little fluffy kitten so daughter called her Famous. Makes sense doesn't it? lol

Puppy is PennyLane who is a sweetie.

Little kitten is Isis who is departed sadly. She was a Persian Himalayan cross and had the sweetest nature I've ever seen in a cat.

I have lots of photos of our cats, past and present in my profile album. It is best to check there so I don't gobble up bandwidth on this thread.

Our current two--- both black are quite a hoot!
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The beautiful Bull Mastiff who is my Profile pic was Bobby. Rescued at 18 months old he had been starved and weighed only 90lbs. He soon got up to his proper weight of 165lbs, and stood as high as my hip.
He was the quintissential Gentle Giant, who led a sedentary and much loved life for 2 short years before cancer claimed him. In that time he slept in a chair half his size whenever he couldn't claim the settee, used his enormous strength to pull me up just by leaning back and made me VERY happy by just being with me.
I miss him, but this is not a sad post - I smile every time I think of him and how we gave him a life of luxury for his final years.

Dave.

I love Bull Mastiffs. Our late, great Jack Russell had a Mastiff buddy at the dog park. She had to do all the barking, for both of them.
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Sorry your world is in chaos, Hockey.
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Are you familiar with the world-famous Decorah (Iowa, USA) Bald Eagles? I live just south of them. Last summer I drove up to see them IRL. Their world was in chaos, too. A day or so before I drove up, one newly-fledged baby was electrocuted and killed, and another had earlier broken a wing and was in rehab.

Here's a photo I took of the one free-flying young BE. She had claimed that mulch pile as her substitute nest for weeks. You'll notice she's wearing a transmitter. This month she spent a lot of time just south of me, according to her map. (
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) My boyfriend and I went looking for her last week. We probably drove right past her but never saw her.

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How are you doing, Hockey? Better, I hope!

A few more pics for you.

First, taken recently, is a lousy photo. But I caught a nice surprise when all I saw was Goldfinches. There's a Purple Finch in the shot!

The doe and fawn pic was taken from my front window, a year or two ago. In better weather!

The woodpecker is a Red Bellied. They really do have some red on their belly but it rarely shows. The dark bird waiting for a turn is a Dark Eyed Junco. That photo was taken recently also.

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I love the little juncos. We have had a huge bird feeder season, and I have lots of photos too.
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first photo is Maya with Spongey (hubby named him, but he is a red bellied woodpecker like Sparky's) taken by hubby with his iPhone thru our kitchen window. Just taken this past weekend.

2nd is Spongey on one of our feeders, with a peanut. Taken about 2 wks ago.