Be careful out there

If you've ever loved a pet, loved a cat, then read this post. I will warn you that it is sad, and I will tell you that it made me cry. {EDITED: I realized from Felicia's comment that I inadvertently may have misled you -- the link goes to the most beautifully written tribute to a beloved cat who died of natural causes -- it is NOT about anyone doing anything bad to an animal -- I see that my photo and the text may have made you think otherwise} For what it's worth, I will also tell you that I am NOT the kind of person who cries easily. At all. I do not cry at sappy movies and I didn't cry at my wedding and I didn't cry when my son was born (OK, I'm getting off track, but you see my point). No fewer than 1,711 people who read that post were moved to comment on it.

I love that I can drop in from time to time at Laurie's blog and become instantly immersed in her usually laugh-out-loud story of her life (although I've just told you that she can also make me cry). I don't have a link to her because I figure if you've found my little blog, you've probably already passed through any huge number of blogs that link to Crazy Aunt Purl and she really doesn't need any more traffic at this point. 1,711 comments. AND a book in the works! I keep my link list pretty small because I hope it will help draw attention to some less-trafficked blogs (though some of these are quite popular...). It in no way reflects my bookmarked blog list, which is so long that Dean often asks me if I've hit the limit yet of the number of sites I can bookmark. I've recently done some refreshing of my little link list here on your right; I'm trying to switch some around periodically to keep things fresh.

I'm not sure where I meant to go with all this, other than to try to stop thinking about bridges and about how if we took all the resources (people, money) that we're pouring into Iraq and instead used them to inspect and repair our bridges, then maybe it wouldn't take "generations" for US bridges to be considered safe.