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.)