Your resolution for the month: Adopt a “shelter” animal

I’m getting quite a few emails from people asking me if “Zook” had any favorite charity, and if they can donate to it in his name. I still need to pin down the details with his family — but in the meantime, I can safely say that he was a true champion of animal adoption; his household was filled with creatures (two dogs, two cats) and every one of those animals is either a stray or a shelter animal. He took great care of the animals, and hated to leave them in kennels for any length of time when he was away. So … one great way to honor David is to give a good home to a dog or cat that you find in a shelter. In my case, I eliminated the middleman and just adopted a cat right off the street some years back when I was living in Pleasure Point, a so-called “Surf Ghetto” in Santa Cruz County near Portola Drive. He was all bones when I adopted him. Now, Robert Earl (a short-haired tabby cat) is so humongous that he crushes my chest at night when I’m trying to sleep.)