This is why people and cats bond

Recently I wrote about cats and received this letter from my friends Scott and Ann of Pensacola, who said: “Everybody has a cat story, so here’s ours. “Our cat is a master thief!” A partial list of what their cat… READ MORE

Holy penguins, Batman! The Aquarium of the Americas is pretty cool!

Aquarium of the Americas visitors stand eye-to-eye with species of fish that inhabit the Atlantic Ocean. The aquarium is a favored tourist attraction of New Orelans. Image by Del Stone Jr.

I was editing Staff Writer Pam Golden’s account of her trip to the Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans when I was stung by the idea of getting in the face of a jellyfish. Let’s do it, I told… READ MORE

Restore island land tract to its natural beauty

Today, Okaloosa County holds the last of its workshops to decide the fate of a 54-acre tract on Okaloosa Island. The debate has been fractious, with many people and institutions expressing their opinions about how the land should be used…. READ MORE

My relief was cheap at 40 cents

I had just cracked open a 20-ounce Diet Coke after finishing a steaming-hot Styrofoam cup of coffee when I pulled onto the Interstate 294 toll road in Chicago. The day was freezing. An icy northwest wind cut across the eight… READ MORE

8 a.m.? Time to vomit in the big guy’s shoe

Pavlov, about to get up to no good. Image by Del Stone Jr.

Today’s cat itinerary: 5 a.m. – Sit outside the big guy’s door and meow frantically, as if to shout, “The house is on fire!” When he’s standing in front of you, wild-eyed and hair sticking out at crazy angles and… READ MORE

The cat nearly gutted me, and all I did was smile

This is a stock photo from Flickr user Tambako the Jaguar, but it roughly equates to the cat Mao, who nearly took off my arm as we sat after dinner and chatted in the living room. https://www.flickr.com/photos/tambako/

Got a call from a lady in Navarre who wanted to point out the traffic lights in front of the Target store in Mary Esther are hard to see, and drivers are NOT seeing them, and they’re blowing through red… READ MORE