The Bachmans: Pawprints and Purrs, Inc.

Craig and I met on America OnLine, December 1994 in the now long gone Members Helping Members (within the "Unique" folder). After six months of corresponding, we wondered if a Louisiana girl and a Pennsylvania man could ever make a life together in the real world. So we agreed to meet at my dear lady friend's home in Columbus, OH mid-October of 1995 ... welp, magic happened.

I flew to Pennsylvania to attend a mutual online friend's wedding the following month. And yes, ... she married her cyberfiance. What a blast we all had ... we got to meet so many other friends from Unique; with many we've kept in contact as of to date.

I flew back to Shreveport, announcing to my family and friends that after twenty years of single life, I would put my home on the market and Craig would move me to Allentown, PA. You guessed it ... no one, absolutely no one believed it.

Realizing that I've been extremely active in animal awareness and advocacy all my adult life, Craig was still a bit taken back when we first began discussing a life together. He thought himself an avid dog lover, not one to care much about cats. Never being owned by one, he had no idea what marvelous companions they are. When I began taking steps to put my home up for sale, he asked to whom I planned on giving the five Kiddens. I was flabbergasted to say the least, for I hadn't even considered anything but where I go, they go. And I said the first thing that popped into my mind in response: "No cats, no me - we're a package deal."

He took the entire package.

Thinking I had probably six months minimum to pack and think about a 1,700 mile trip to PA, Craig and I knew it would be some time before we'd get to see each other. And, too, I couldn't begin to think how my Louisiana Kiddens would travel by car in the flurry of moving. At the time, I had four adult cats and one kitten. So imagine our surprise when my house sold in eighteen days.

Craig flew to Shreveport on Christmas Day, 1995. We rented the largest non-commerical moving van. For three days we packed and stuffed 20+ years accumulation of household and personal belongings into that 28 footer. Among many tearful goodbyes to my old neighborhood, friends and family, we headed north on December 29th. I followed behind Craig and the truck with the five cats in my car. Even more surprisingly, the cats traveled beautifully. All of us were only too glad to hit Allentown, PA 25 hours later.

Just a few days later, the Kiddens and I were formally introduced to the great Northeast when the Blizzard of '96 hit us. Oh yay! ... never saw that much snow in my previous 44 years all lumped together. Snow, however, got to become really old, really quick for this Southern gal.

It wasn't long afterward, Craig and I decided city life wasn't for us. I wasn't used to people living on top of people as the North is compared to the South, and he'd been long looking for an excuse to move from his birthplace. Once more the Kiddens were packed into the car, a forty-five minute drive to our new home in the mountains.

We moved into a 1919 red schoolhouse which had been converted into large, airy apartments, nestled on the side of a mountain in Palmerton, PA. The cats had huge, huge windows with deep sills to gaze out into the Gap - the only natural gap in the Appalachian Ridge for miles and miles - watching the world go by. It was peaceful there; they seemed to love their new home, though they sorely missed their daily supervised outdoor outings.

On December 19th, 1996, Craig and I were quietly married with his family in attendance. Nearly twenty-one years had passed since I'd been a wife. I still think I'm living in a dreamland.

We made another move March, 1997 - to a little house closer to Allentown, our work and his family. Another small town steeped in history ... we moved to North Catasauqua to a home built in 1890. The Kiddens had three floors and a basement to streak up and down staircases. They loved roosting on the stairs to grab passing ankles. There, too, they had deep window sills to watch our neighborhood squirrels and birds. But they loved their access to the backyard best - when their daily outings resumed, they were truly happy cats, living in blissful catdom. The Kiddens, along with their Meowmie, never truly adjusted to their Yankee home, for the yearning of Southern hospitality and milder winters was deeply embedded in our hearts and souls.

Finally in November, 1999 when my mother's health began to fail, we had the opportunity due to a transfer with Craig's employment to move home. We bought my parents' old home down in Keithville, Louisiana. Quite honestly, it was the mother of all moves from Hell, but all of us - Craig, the Kiddens and oh especially me! - are so thankful to be in the South again. Craig (born, reared and had never lived anywhere but Pennsylvania) absolutely never wants to live in the North again. Believe me, the Kiddens and I don't ever plan to do so again ...

Craig can't believe how much joy felines have brought him. He is certainly now an avid catlover. Knowing that I have over thirty years in hands-on animal rescue and advocacy, he works just as hard as I do for cats and other animals. We are deeply involved in many animal efforts, attempting to make a difference for cats and other pets in our personal and internet lives.

Besides running our small non-profit animal organization, Pawprints and Purrs, Inc., we maintain a small colony of feral cats which we've relocated onto our property so that we can properly care for them - spaying/neutering, ear tipping, vaccinating, and providing food and shelter. We currently have 66 cats and kittens who share our home with their own cat run and house, 7 rescued Death Row shelter dogs, three semi-tame feral cats who live contentedly on our patio, and we sponsor two charming shelter cats from another rescue organization. In the meantime, due to old age and chronic illnesses, we've lost two sponsor cats and 47 house and/or feral cats to the Rainbow Bridge.