Bogey Narro (2001-2010)

He came into our lives when we certainly didn't need any new animals. We were living in a two-bedroom apartment and already had a cat. We also were in the middle of building our house, which was its own headache.

When I was leaving the construction site one day, we found them. There was a black kitten, an orange one and a white one. They were curled up right on the side of the road -- I almost hit them with my car. Shayne was with me, and we went back to check on them. It was love at first meow.

The vet aged them at about two weeks old. Our neighbor at the apartment complex took the orange one, and we were left with Birdie and Bogey, named for my husband's love of golf. Their names fit perfectly as Birdie was never any trouble. Bogey, however, was trouble from the start.

When we moved into our house, he got in fights with the neighbors' cats, and he never learned to get along with our dog. While they didn't hate each other, they had an understanding. And until Bogey's dying breath, J.P. respected that Bogey was here first.

Bogey brought us many presents. There were garden moles, mice, rats and even squirrels. Several geckos and lizards lost the battle with Bogey. Just last week, when one thought he could outsmart Bogey in his feeble state, a gecko saw his final moments. We joke that a few weeks ago, he had 'roid rage (he was taking them to control his pain) and killed his last squirrel.

For the last four months, I watched my once 14-pound cat (16 at his heaviest and under nine when he died) struggle through cancer. And this morning, I had to make the decision I didn't want to make. My vets were wonderful; the staff was amazing. It was quiet and peaceful, and he hurts no more.

My first reaction was that I never want another animal again, but I thought about the joy he gave us. He was a hunter and fighter by night and a sweet, cuddly kitten by day. As I whispered in his ear when he was taking his last breath, I am thankful for him.

Thank you, Bogey. I hope my next kitten is half the everything you were and always will be.

I can't make the decision ... he's just so special

I'm not talking about a break-up here, I'm talking about my sweet kitty cat, Bogey. For the last three months, Bogey has been battling his body, and it looks like he is going to lose this one. He has gone from a cat giant at over 14 pounds to under nine and is refusing food.

I have held him down to pill him, and I have to force myself to make him miserable so that he still won't eat. He looks at me with his one blue eye and one green eye and begs me not to hold him down.

He is not responding to the four-week steroid shot. I'm afraid he may have some sort of infection. I'm going to get the vet to give him another round of antibiotics next week -- to try something that he hasn't had before. Say a little prayer for him.

A Tiger Tale 2

I am writing this editorial in response to Ms. Sylvia Schon’s smack-down on the media for coverage of the “Tiger Tale.” I have a slightly different take on it.

I met my husband Jake 12 years ago while I was working at Oak Knoll Country Club. Jake has been a member of the Professional Golfers Association of America since 1996 and has worked in the golf industry for almost 20 years. Before I started working at Oak Knoll and met Jake, I didn’t know the difference between a driver and a putter. And before I married my sweet husband, I certainly would have never been caught dead watching golf!

Times have changed, however, and I have even caddied in a few events for Jake. My television habits also have changed. Golf and Tiger Woods are now part of my daily life.

Over the years of his magnificent golfing career, Tiger has wowed me with his talent. He is one of golf’s greatest, if not the greatest. His Sunday afternoon dominance of those who look like they might challenge him never fails to amaze me. He is to golf what Michael Jordan was to basketball in the 90s. He will be a legend, even if he never touches a golf club again.

Tiger’s main problem is that golf is supposed to be the gentlemen’s game. Sorry, golfers are just held to a different standard due to the non-contact, respectful, handshake-after-the-round nature of the game. I know that not all golfers are gentlemen, but that is the image we associate with them. You won’t see many fists flying at a golf course, except maybe from spectators who have had a little too much fun.

Golf is supposed to be a game based on etiquette, sportsmanship and honesty. Golfers actually call rules on themselves and penalize themselves – I’ve seen it happen. You’ll never see a football player tell a referee that he can’t take the touchdown because he was indeed out-of-bounds. Again, I know that not all golfers are honest, but that’s what we expect. When we remember golf greats, we remember family men who kissed their wives when coming off the course.

We’ve seen Tiger kiss Elin – a lot. That makes it personal.

Another problem – Tiger at times has been less than gracious with the media, using his influence to control the media and to pick and choose which reporters he will grace with an interview. He oftentimes gives short answers and has definitely staked his claim on his private life, even naming his $20 million yacht “Privacy.” Basically, he slapped the media in the face with that little jab. Nobody can control the tabloids, however, and they pay big bucks.

Finally, Tiger flat-out lied on his own blog the Friday the incident took place, calling Elin a hero for her actions and saying that the media was being malicious and spreading rumors. Well … ?

Now people are having a lot of fun with the situation, circulating silly e-mail forwards and watching the Tiger-directed antics of late-night comedians. Before the truth came out, there was tons of speculation, and we all knew he was hiding something big. His blog entry basically called his readers stupid – no way could we have figured out that running over the fire hydrant and hitting that tree at 2 a.m. wasn’t a normal accident.

The truth is that he has positioned himself as a great, and with that comes responsibility. He has a foundation that promotes better lives for children. When he took that on, he took on the role model position.

No, I don’t want to know every detail. I feel very sorry for Elin and the children. I hate that she will have to explain this to them one day when they Google their daddy. It’s sad.

Elin has taken on a hero label; she’s just not Tiger’s hero. She may be the hero of every political wife who has had to stand by her man, smiling while he admits his transgressions. If my golfer pulled this, no one would be interested, except for me of course. And while I don’t condone domestic violence, I would at least entertain the thought of throwing a nine-iron through his car window.

Elin is now dealing with these domestic violence issues as well as the embarrassment of her husband’s actions. If she is understanding enough to take Tiger back, and for his sake and the children’s, I hope she is, she will now have to also help him fix his reputation while mending her own. She is going to have to answer for her actions as well.

I wish Tiger would have handled this differently. If he would have just come forward with the truth in the beginning and asked the public for our understanding, we my have had much more sympathy. He tried to lie his way through it, as he had done with his family. The media fought back.

Because he lied again, he now can’t face his public. Because he lied again, some of his sponsors are beginning to think twice. Because he lied again, the PGA Tour will lose millions in sponsorships and endorsements.

Do I care? Yes, I care. He has lied to all of us, and we are the ones who have paid money to help make him who he is. We didn’t make him talented, but we did make him richer through supporting those who endorse him, giving him more wealth than he ever could have had by playing alone. I'm extremely disappointed.

I hope a Tiger can change his stripes. I have a lot of respect for what he has done for the game of golf. Like Ms. Schon, I hope he is able to pick up his golf clubs again. And lastly, I hope he becomes a better husband and role model because like it or not, he asked for both titles.

Let's give this chat/blog thing a try!

PHS Freshmen vs. Hammond -- pics from the game

A Tiger's Tale

A Tiger’s Tale…

I’m a journalist with all my heart. I love the profession and will participate in its excitement until my dying breath. I have covered entertainment and art, as well as non-profit activities. A little fluffy, right? Yes, and I like it that way. Not all journalists are hard-nosed, gotta-get-it-first types. Some of us do cover only the softer side of the news.

The gotta-get-it-first types do intrigue me however. Truth is, I would have loved to be one. The schedule doesn’t appeal to me though. I was a very young mother when I graduated from college, and I didn’t want to be on call. Making appointments and writing in-depth was more my style, and it worked for me.

I was a little sick on Friday when Tiger Woods had an accident outside his home. The first tweet from Breaking News On said that the situation was “serious,” and I was very worried about our “friend,” Tiger. I call him friend because he’s in our home almost daily. We watch his poise, his vigor and his sure will. We breathe his emotion on red-shirt Sunday, and we can only hope his health and his drive remain in tact so that we may watch him for years to come.

I texted my golfer Friday when I was tweeted, and of course, my husband called me from the golf course, demanding more information. I had none for about 30 minutes. Everyone at the golf course was worried sick, and the television was turned on immediately. People were glued to the set … and then we found out that Tiger was in fact no longer still in the hospital and had only minor injuries.

Are you kidding me?

It fascinates me as a journalist that people are ready to pounce on information. The one thing that I beg of my journalism students is that they check and recheck their sources. Waiting and getting it right is much better than jumping and misstating facts. Shame on the television and Internet media for jumping. Really, you couldn’t wait 30 minutes to get confirmation before scaring us all half-to-death?

Now, whether Tiger was hacked off with his wife for burning the cookies or she was clubbing through that back window because he was late again for dinner (been there, have definitely had thoughts of doing the same) is yet to be known. But really, if this is a domestic spat, haven’t we all stormed off in an argument and thought not-so-nice stuff about the “others” in our lives. I would hate for the world to know that I stumped my toe once while pitching a little hissy fit at Jake. Whoops, cat’s out of the bag.

I have much more important things to worry about than what Tiger was doing at 2:25 in the morning banging into a fire hydrant. A lot of us were up at that time of the morning on that particular day. I’m content with the thought that maybe Elin had sent him to line up at the Best Buy. It was Black Friday after all! Then, he got so frustrated at this crazy request that the accidentally hit the fire hydrant and the tree after his swing was for once too quick. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

Ponchatoula High School Basketball Nov. 17

The PHS varsity squad had a successful season opener, beating Central Lafourche 69-59 on home court.

Click below for pictures from the varsity game.



Pictures from the JV game.



Photos from the freshmen game against Covington.