MY GARDENER

He loves to help in the garden, especially when I'm working in the daylily beds where the soil is damp and the foliage provides filtered shade on hot days. Black as onyx, he's actually a smoke; his undercoat is soft gray. He has fabulous ear tufts and feet the size of silver dollars; his whiskers are long and proud.

He carries the name of my great-uncle Howard (in my family, we name our animals after our ancestors -- it's considered a great honor), who survived a hitch in the Navy during WWI, but died in his 30s from an undiagnosed heart condition.

This Howard would not do well in the Navy, but he certainly does a fine job in the vinca and daylilies!