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.

What's New - April 22, 2024

The South Carolina Breakfast Club was in action at Broxton Bridge Plantation in Ehrhardt, SC on April 21, 2024.


The weather forecast on Saturday looked like we were going to be driving to Broxton Bridge but the weather Sunday morning gave us some hope until we saw MVFR forecasts for the entire day - so we drove anyway.  


Unfortunately, the SCBC bag with the Distance Hats, the Ball and the Lottery tickets did not make it into the car.  We remembered when we were 3/4 of the way there...


We did have one airplane - and that was Martin Varn in his Baron. We believe he knows the area exceptionally well!  


Reminded us of Gerald Ballard arriving in his Baron many years ago.  


Thank you so much to Jerry Varn and the ladies of the kitchen for their hospitality and stellar breakfast.  


Broxton Bridge is one of our more unique venues and we will look forward to better weather next year.  

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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