Welcome!

While it is called "City of Cayce House of Cats", this site is a repository for the many video slide shows I've been privileged to make over the years.

The range of subject matter is broad - literally from birth to death - and all manner of experience in between.

I was inspired to do these in 2005 when I discovered Microsoft's Movie Maker. It had the "Ken Burns Effect" - a type of effect that can pan and zoom still images for use in video production.

My first video, using Movie Maker, was a 2004 submission to Workman Publishing's 365-Cats-a-Day calendar for 2005.

After that first video, I happened upon Photo Story 3.  It was a free download from Microsoft and was a little easier to use than Movie Maker.   So, for the next 12 years, I used Photo Story 3 to generate the slide show portion of the video, and would port it into Nero to set up the menu and generate the final DVD.  During that time, I learned additional video could also be included - such as from a digital camera, drone footage, or honest-to-goodness video tape - as I did for a birthday present.  Sounds funny to say things like that now, but, back then, it was state of the art!

Time marches on; however, and Windows 7 forced me to ditch my beloved (and free) Photo Story 3.  Beginning in Spring, 2016, all slide-show components of my videos were generated thru Photo DVD Slideshow from Anvsoft.  Not freeware, but the price was nominal and it performed just like Photo Story 3.

Then, in 2017, I had some time to play with the Nero software.  I knew Nero had the ability to produce the same type of pan and zoom effect, but I never had time to actually try the process.  While there was a bit of a learning curve, I can honestly say it is cleaner to manipulate photos directly in Nero and not import files from an external source.  Nero is now my sole video-generation software.

Where the dickens have I been?  September 1, 2024 - January 20, 2025

January 20, 2025...


Welp!  The last five months have been interesting.  This is one of the few times I've had to ask for help; otherwise, I likely would not be here now.


So - here's what happened...

 

I have had a pronounced heart murmur ever since I was little. It never bothered me - but even if it did, I likely compensated for it without even realizing.

 

More serious symptoms started showing last May. I woke up at 4:30 one morning and had to force myself to breathe. I felt better when I sat up and was fine when I laid back down. I wrote it off as a physical reaction to a bad dream.

 

Then, on August 21, I started experiencing pain in my middle right back. I presumed it was a pulled muscle from getting in and out of our airplane wrong during the Triple Tree Fly-in that prior Sunday. When the pain was there, it felt like someone had taken a big rope and pulled a knot in it. I also had nausea. It almost put me down at Lowe's, but it stopped soon thereafter.

 

Then, on September 1, I woke again at 4:30am with the same breathing problem - but this time, getting up really didn't help much.  I was still gasping for air.

 

I managed to sleep to 8.  We got up, dressed, and fed the cats. I felt kinda puny that whole time - but didn't want to say anything until I knew the cats were fed.

 

I then told Stoney what was going on. He tried to take my pulse with his Apple watch and it would not register. He called one of his flying students, a pediatric anesthesiologist, and after he interviewed me, he told Stoney to drive me to the hospital.

 

I was in atrial fibrillation with a pulse of 180. They put me on heparin and a drug to knock back the heart beat. They corrected the a-fib with a targeted electrical stimulus and to examine my heart.  The mitral valve was pretty much useless and had to be replaced.  They scheduled me for open heart surgery that Friday, Sep 6.

 

I got out of hospital on September 13th and convalesced at home.  Cardiac Rehabilitation was October 14 - December 30.  During that time I returned to the SC Breakfast Club meetings - but only as a spectator (NOT running around taking pictures and producing music videos).  I returned to SC Public Radio on January 7.  I planned to return to taking pictures for the SCBC in Greenville on January 19, but the weather was down to a point where we didn't make the trip. Hopefully, I will be able to return to SCBC picture-taking on February 1 at Charleston Exec. 

 

I think I got lucky??  Stoney was more upset about all this than I was.

 

So - I canceled my attendance at both Chicago Tardis in November 2024 and Gallifrey One in February 2025.  I cannot deal with 150 lbs. of luggage...yet.

 

Bottom line. I had warning signs. I know that now. If Stoney hadn't taken me to the hospital when he did, I likely would not have made it.

 

You guys still have me to put up with.

 

Feel free to pass this around if you think it will help someone recognize these symptoms for what they are...


What's New - January 20, 2025

The South Carolina Breakfast Club was in action at Greenville Downtown Airport on January 19, 2025.


Our first meeting of 2025 was greeted with ceilings down to minimums!  We couldn't get out of Columbia as the weather there was much the same the entire morning.  


While we were aware of 2 scheduled flights, only one made it in from Rock Hill.  The pilot was rewarded with the opportunity to sign the ball.  


Thank you to the folks in Greenville (and especially to the Runway Cafe) for hosting us.


All photos in the video are courtesy of Scott Crosby.

A Memorial to "Big O"

One of the pleasures we have in life is the privilege of taking care of a feral cat colony at the South Carolina State Museum and EdVenture. We have been feeding the cats there since before 2007.  We named two of the most prominent male members of the Colony “Big O” and “Pippie”.  O and Pip were always together.  If you saw one alone, the other was guaranteed to be somewhere nearby.  We described them as “the old married couple”.  Those two, plus their Daughter, Grey, made up the core of the Colony of approximately 20 cats.


All that was forever changed on January 16, 2018, when “Big O” crossed the Rainbow Bridge.


O had been sick for a couple of months.  We are fortunate to have several folks from DHEC looking after the cats during the day – and it was those folks who alerted us just after Thanksgiving that O looked down and was not eating much.  We managed to get him to a veterinarian and return him to the Colony within a few days.  The troublesome part was that he had tested FIV positive.  While FIV is not an immediate death sentence, in the case of a feral, time is not on their side. 


We and the DHEC folks kept a close watch on him and did our best to provide good food, shelter, and a warm bed.  Sadly, he started to deteriorate at the beginning of the year and was found on a Museum sidewalk the morning of January 16.  We had him cremated. We and the folks at DHEC sprinkled his ashes on a hill in the place where he, Pippie, and Grey were always found sunning themselves.


This has been extraordinarily difficult not only for Stoney and me, but for the folks at DHEC (who I understand are many) and also the folks at the State Museum (who have a funny story to tell).  Seeing Big O and Pippie every day gave people a sense of constancy.  We now have to work thru our grief and make certain that Pippie, Grey, and the other members of the Colony are well cared for – in honor of the man, Big O. 
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