Today, we euthanized Snickers, who had been with us for 12 years. He was a great cat: he was so good with all of our dogs, always loving it when they licked his ears. More recently, he had lost a lot of weight and wasn’t eating, even after treatment.

This is one of my favorite images of Snickers. Not only did he have a great personality, but also some nice eyes. He also made a great Batman shadow. At these times, I’m always reminded of one of my favorite James Dickey poems, The Heaven of Animals, especially this part:

For some of these,
It could not be the place
It is, without blood.
These hunt, as they have done
But with claws and teeth grown perfect,

May take years
In a sovereign floating of joy.

Here’s one of my super-pets, Ares, doing his best Aquaman impression. Not really comic related, I know, but he is named after the God of War, and I’d really love to get a little set of Ares armor based on the DC Universe version for him someday.

I’ve bought a few of Mattel’s DC Infinite Heroes line: mostly characters that I like (not attempting to collect a full set…yet). These are the 3 and 3/4ths inch character line, so are lacking in some detail/articulation, but are nice enough.

One thing that’s really nice, though, is that they actually got the Nightwing/Starfire scale correct (well, more correct than usual). Starfire is actually taller than Nightwing: something that artists seem to forget constantly, as do the toy makers.

I need to dig up my DC Direct Starfire and Nightwing: I think they were also in scale. Also, it would allow me to set up a great Nightwing/Starfire set up: I’ve got them as Mini-Mates, DC Infinite Heroes, DC Universe Classics, and DC Direct heroes. If they’d make a 13-inch Starfire, I’d be very happy.

I love this cover for DC Super-Friends. The Kangaroo for Wonder Woman is inspired, though I’d like to see less "Superman" type pets. I always thought that Green Lantern would probably own a yellow Labrador retriever…

Unlike many guys, my wife doesn’t mind if I put a few ornaments on the tree, as long as they aren’t too tasteless. I have a lot of superhero ornaments, which are spouse-approved for usage.

Growing up, though, some of my sisters would get a little annoyed when I’d make adjustments to the nativity set we had. Hawkman instead of an angel, Batman as one of the wise men, the Martian Manhunter hanging around, etc. I think I went too far when I had a Captain Kirk with a phaser pointed at baby Jesus.

Anyhow, here’s a photo of Robin hanging out on a globe ornament. You can see a couple of others on my Flickr page.