Faz

Faz the Cat found her forever home after her  original owner got too sick to care for her any more. She is now a very happy cat in Wimbledon with lots of outdoor space to explore and mice to catch. She has a nemesis in Hefty Tabby who once sat outside her cat flap and wouldn't let her out to do her business. She finally had to go down a drain inside the house. Braer Fox also causes some consternation when he invades her garden. She got a little hefty herself and had to go on a diet. She has lost some weight, but she supplements her diet crunchies with mice, which she calls LLMs, or Luscious Little Mice. Faz is very good at catching them and likes to bring them inside to munch. She is not the most fastidious of diners and sometimes leaves her leftovers around for the people to find. This does not make her very popular, but she is always forgiven in the end.

                                 Faz the Cat is a very good mouser.
                                 She brings LLMs into the house-er.
                                        She dines in peace
                                        On her little meece,
                                 But the humans wish she would eat out of the house-er.

Latte

Latte is a seal point Siamese who was adopted from his breeder in November of 2005 when he was 9 weeks old. It took him about three days to get used to his new home, but he took to Chase right away. He turned out to be quite a handful, tearing around the house and getting into everything and driving Chase nuts. It didn't take long for the people to decide that Latte needed a young cat companion and that is how they came to adopt Kaze. The two of them love playing together and wrestling. Latte has always held his tail in a curl. The day of his wedding to Cheysuli, his Mom and Dad noticed that he was not holding his tail up as usual. He had a huge lump at the base of the tail and it was painful. Off he went to the vet, who determined that the tail was not broken, but it had suffered some sort of trauma. The best guess is that Kaze opened a cabinet door and Latte went inside to investigate. The door then closed on his tail. Fortunately the tail is all better now, as you can see in the picture.

                                           Latte likes to hold his tail in a curl.
                                           It means he is happy; all is right with his world.
                                                   When it was hurt
                                                    It dragged in the dirt,
                                           But now it is back in its happy curl.

Parker

Parker was a feral kitty until her Daddy found her and gradually tamed her. Once she got used to him, she led him to where she was taking care of her five kittens. They have all been fixed and have good homes now. Parker stayed with Daddy and gradually got introduced to the rest of the family, including three other cats and a D.O.G. Parker prefers the company of humans to the other cats and especially the D.O.G., who has been introduced to the Paw of Death often enough to be afraid of it. Parker loves shrimp and ham and will give high fives for treats. Her favorite thing to play with is fake mousies. She really, really loves fake mousies. Parker is rather distinctive in appearance. She is a tabby, but she has swirls rather than stripes. She also has bi-colored eyes.

                                           Parker has eyes of blue and green --
                                           Two of the prettiest I've ever seen.
                                                    They are clear and bright;
                                                    They see in the night.
                                           I love Parker's eyes of blue and green.

Kaze

Kaze was adopted from her breeder at six months old. Her Mom and Dad brought her home to keep Latte company, as he turned out to be much more active than they expected. It worked out perfectly. The two of them love to play together. In fact, Kaze would rather play than do anything else, even eat. Her favorite toys are the wand toys and Whirly-Bird. Unfortunately for Kaze, her Mom and Dad are worried that she is losing a little weight, so she gets much less wand toy time than she used to. Kaze, and her breeder, say that her weight and body build are normal for her breed. It could be just a case of her converting kitten fat to muscle as she grows up. I hope so.

                                      Kaze would much rather play than eat.
                                      The wand toy is more fun than a treat.
                                                         She'll cry at the door
                                                         'Til it comes out of store
                                       For jumping and leaping and swatting with feet.

Bonnie Underfoot 2

I don't think Bonnie liked her last limerick very much, so I wrote another one for her. One of Bonnie's favorite things to do is to fit herself into boxes. This talent came in very handy in the Catolympics last year. Bonnie got the silver medal for Fitting into Small Boxes and the bronze medal in Hairball Hurling.

                               Bonnie likes to fit in small boxes.
                               She took on the challengers and knocked off their soxes.
                                                The silver she won
                                                 By just having fun.
                               She is the queen of fitting in boxes.

Willow

Willow is a little over three years old. She was adopted from the Humane Society when she was 2 1/2 months old. She quickly made friends with China Cat and the two of them get along very well. Willow likes to eat things which come in cans, like beans, tuna and tomatoes. Her Mom very cleverly got a can opener which leaves no sharp edges, so Willow can enjoy her food right out of the can. Willow absolutely refuses to eat anything which gets on the floor. She even refuses to eat the crunchies which get out of the bowl and on her placemat.


Willow likes to eat canned tomatoes.
She eats out of the can and gets some on her nose.
The can may fall down,
But she doesn't frown.
She hops to the floor and licks her tomatoes.

China Cat Sunflower

China Cat Sunflower is a lovely ginger kitty who was found under a bush by her Mom and brought home. She quickly made friends with Samantha, who was already there. When Samantha went to the Bridge, China Cat was a bit lonely until Willow joined the household. China Cat loves Willow very much and the two of them have lots of fun together. China Cat has two very favorite things: sitting in Mom's lap and sunshine.

China Cat Sunflower loves the sun.

It's her favorite place to rest or have fun.

She will take a nap,

Give a toy a whap,

Or look around for a place with more sun.

Marilyn MonREOW

Still no pictures. Click on the link in the limerick to find the picture.

Marilyn MonREOW is a pure white kitty with odd colored eyes. She is deaf on the blue-eyed side. She is about 10 years old and turned up as a stray on the Ballicai doorstep last year. She had obviously been cared for at some time, but no one claimed her. Marilyn loves to be loved. She is very friendly with everyone and not a bit shy. She loves her Mom best, next to Mickey Mantle, that is, and sits in her lap at every opportunity.

                             A glamorous cat is Marilyn MonREOW.
                             As she saunters by all the ManCats say, "Wow!"
                                          With her fur of white
                                          And her eyes so bright
                             She has won her sweet Mickey, has Marilyn MonREOW.

Tripper

I still can't post pictures.  Click on the link in the limerick to see the picture that goes with it.

Tripper was a stray cat who decided to hang out at the house where Mr. Tasty Face and the Food Lady live.  He would always follow when Skeezix went for a stroll.  Mr. Tasty Face and the Food Lady started feeding him and when the weather got so cold last winter, they let him come inside.  He is an indoor/outdoor cat like Rocky the Gutter Cat.  He is under a year old, but you would never know it to look at him.  He is enormous.  He is bursting with kitten energy, though.  Rocky, Mao and Skeezix don't like him much because he plays very rough.  He seems to get a kick out of scaring Skeezix.  He once climbed a tree and looked in a second story window where Skeezix was lying and scared the dickens out of him.  His very favorite toy is a stuffed tiger.  He snuggles with it, sleeps with it and sometimes kicks it so hard that he knocks some of the fur off.

                         Tripper the cat runs everywhere.
                          He ran up a tree and gave Skeezix a scare.
                                        He is on the go;
                                        He's a bit psycho.
                          He kicks poor Tiger 'til she loses her hair.

Annie

Blogger is at it again and I can't put up a picture.  I tried tricking Blogger by writing my own html for the picture, but it didn't work.  Click on the link in the limerick to see the picture that goes with it.

About 8 years ago, Annie was orphaned at one week old.  Someone found her and took her to the police station.  A very kind policeman took her to a vet, who supplied him with a bottle and formula, but he was on duty and couldn't look after a kitten.  The policeman took her to a big box store with a pet center.  As luck would have it, Maw was at the same store buying cat food and saw the tiny kitten and took her home, thinking that maybe her nursing cat would take care of the little orphan.  Unfortunately, the other kittens were much bigger and didn't want to share and neither did the nursing momcat.  Maw learned a whole lot about hand-raising a tiny kitten in a very short time.  Li'l Orphan Annie thrived under Maw's loving care and the time came when she was big enough to go back to the pet center to be adopted.  Maw cried and cried and Paw went to the pet center and brought Annie back home.  Annie has certainly thrived at Forty Paws.  She loves to hide and be found by Maw and Paw, especially under newspapers.

                                  There is a Forty Paws cat called Annie.
                                   She finds places to hide most uncanny,
                                           In the magazine holder,
                                           Or some place bolder.
                                   Everyone loves to play "Where's Annie?"

Stella

Yay!  DP Blogger will let me do images again, so I'm back.  I got my computer problem fixed and I got my badges up, so everything is go again.

Stella is a young Meezer who lives with the rest of the Meezer Gang. She loves to play and tears around the house at top speed. Lately she's been having a slight problem, but now Peter Pan is visiting to help her out. I hope they enjoy each other's company very much.

                            Poor Stella kitty is getting urjes.
                            She can't help it when her blood surges.
                                        When it's in control
                                         She just has to roll.
                            When is her husband arriving to quell the urjes?

Frustration, Oh, Frustration

I really hate to do this to all of you, but Dread Pirate Blogger still won't let me upload pictures and the only way I can save a draft is to publish it. I am also having a bunch of frustrating minor things going on in my life, which, taken one at a time, are really nothing much, but all together, they are really getting on my nerves. I am going to take a break from posting limericks for a few days. I will be teaching myself some basic HTML, so I can put up my Thinking Blogger badge and the button for the pet recalls. I am also going to go back to my old limericks and put in links and practice trying to get pictures up without Blogger's cooperation. I also have to fix some minor problems with my computer.

Thank you for all the nice comments. I don't actually know how I keep coming up with limericks. I think I have a knack for it. Sometimes they just come to me and sometimes I have to work at it. I will keep writing them on paper and building up a backlog, so that when I am ready to start posting them again, I will have a bunch ready to go. I'll see you again in a few days and I'll be around commenting.

Luxor

Dread Pirate Blogger won't let me upload any pictures and it won't save my drafts, either.  Pfffft!
Click on the link to see the picture that goes with the limerick.  Hooray!  Blogger will let me upload pictures again, so here is the picture I wanted to include.

Luxor is a pure white Oriental Shorthair with green eyes.  His Mom and Dad got him from a breeder when he was a kitten.  They saw a picture of him and just had to adopt him.  He lives with two other kitties: Ninna, a Siamese who is quite a bit older, and Silky, his for real sister from another litter.  Luxor is a very active cat with loads of personality.  Usually, he enjoys going for walks in his harness, but one day he decided that he would just rather roll around on the sidewalk.

                      Luxor didn't want to go for a stroll,
                      So he decided to lie down and roll.
                                 Look at him there
                                 With his feet in the air
                       Then you decide who is in control.

Bow

Bow is the Top Cat at Forty Paws and he just turned 17 in March. He came to his forever home as a little kitty and the only kitty, to boot. Things have really changed since then. Bow has a digestive problem and has to take medicine every day to keep from barfing. He doesn't like his medicine very much and tries to hide from Maw, but she always finds him. Bow likes things warm and had his very own heated cat cup all to himself for quite a while. Then Gatsbi discovered it. Maw got another one for Bow and Jenny discovered that one. Now poor Bow seldom gets to sleep in his heated bed.

                           Bow is the Top Cat at Forty Paws.
                           He rules the house and lays down the laws.
                                    He has a heated bed
                                    In which to lay his head.
                          When pill time comes he hides from Maw.

Georgie Sr

This picture of Georgie Sr is from last September, just after he became a proud father. At 2 1/2 years, Georgie Sr is the oldest of the Poi rats and he is quite a character. He had his own condo because he was acting like a grumpy old man rat and didn't want any company. However, Morgan le Rat took to visiting him which he didn't seem to mind at all. The result was 9 ratlets. When they were old enough, the three boy ratlets, Georgie Jr, Mozart and Monty were given their very own condo. They didn't like this at all. They soon discovered that they could squeeze out through the bars of their condo and into Georgie Sr's condo. Poi Mom moved Georgie Sr into the now empty boy's condo and the ratlets promptly moved in with him again. As Poi Mom put it, they moved "lock, stock and chicken bones" which meant they were serious about staying. Georgie Sr accepted his sons in good grace and has even been seen playing with them.

Unfortunately, Georgie Sr isn't doing too well right now. His front paws have become paralyzed and he can't feed himself any more, as rats always hold their food in their front paws. Poi Mom is holding his food for him, but he is losing weight. Good wishes, purrs and prayers are needed.

UPDATE: Georgie Sr was helped to the Bridge yesterday afternoon, Hawaiian time.  The paralysis had spread from just his paws to his legs and he was in pain.  Run free and happy at the Rainbow Bridge, Georgie Sr.

                                   The oldest Poi rat is Georgie Sr.
                                    He is a sweet Daddy, never a mean-ior.
                                           His boys all adore him.
                                           Their play'll never bore him.
                                   You lived a good life, sweet Georgie Sr.

Princess

Princess, usually called Prinnie, is Caesar's sister and also 16 years old. When she was younger she loved high places. She used to jump and climb to the top of the kitchen cabinets, almost up to the ceiling. Her favorite human is Blizzie, but now that Blizzie is at college, she is making do with Mom. I really like this picture of her because you can really see her curly fur.

                                       Prinnie is white with curly fur.
                                       She's a charming cat and we all love her.
                                                 She used to jump high,
                                                  Almost up to the sky,
                                       But now sleeping in the sun is what she'd prefer.

Caesar

Caesar and Princess are two Devon Rex cats from the same litter. They just turned 16 years old. They were a couple of wild kitties when they were young, but now they are much more sedate. Caesar still likes to get to high places when he can, but he really can't jump as well as he used to. One of Caesar's favorite things is this tiger. I think it is ceramic, but I'm not sure.

                                            Caesar likes to sleep with a tiger
                                             (Not the famous one from Niger).
                                                      He crawls under its paw,
                                                       Which fills me with awe,
                                              And smilingly sleeps with his tiger.

TeaCup

TeaCup was a sweet kitty who could be very rambunctious at times.  He could get a bit possessive of toys and wouldn't share, but he was a little loverboy who loved to snuggle and cuddle with his humans and brothers.  His mother was Riot, who is a very small cat, and his father was a persian siamese. He had a tremendous personality and will be missed dreadfully by all who knew him.

                               TeaCup was a sweet kitty boy.
                                He brought his Mama Megan joy.
                                      He'd plot with Zed
                                       About, well, 'nuff said.
                                Now he's an angel, our sweet kitty boy.

Grover

Grover is Piglet's older brother. He is a Devon Rex and he's 8 years old. Grover wasn't particularly thrilled when Piglet entered his life, but they have gotten used to each other over the years. They play and wrestle together, but Grover still doesn't want Piglet to snuggle up to him. Grover likes a wide range of people food. He also likes to get his water from anywhere but his water bowl. Here is a picture of him drinking out of the bathtub.

                            Grover likes to eat ladybugs on a log.
                             You can read about it on Piglet's blog.
                                      He licks and licks
                                      But the PB sticks
                             To the roof of his mouth, poor mog.*

*short for "moggy", British slang for cat.

Seven Random Facts about Me

Yao-lin tagged me for the 7 random facts meme and further challenged me to do it in limericks.
Here are the rules: Each player starts with seven random facts about themselves. Cats who are tagged need to write on their own blog about the seven things and the rules. You need to choose seven cats to tag and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment that they have been tagged and to read your blog!

                                  1. I no longer have big toenails.
                                  2. I once went to Washington, D.C., by rail.
                                   3.             I have long gray hair
                                                    That grows down to there.*
                                  4. I buy Doctor Who DVDs by mail.

                                   5. I go to work in a grocery store deli
                                        Slicing meat and cheese to fill your belly.
                                   6.              I've bought books by the score,
                                                     A casefull and more.
                                    7. I like reading poems by Byron and Shelley.

*halfway down my back.

I tag: Sadie
          Daphne
          Missy 
          Monte
          Baci
          Bella
          Rabbie Burns

Ko-Ko

Poi Mom adopted Ko-Ko from the Hawaiian Humane Center in March of 2005 when he was eight months old. He is a pure bred Tonkinese. He fit in with the other two cats, Merlin and Shadow, pretty quickly, though Shadow was not too enamored of him at first. The rats were another matter altogether. Shadow and Merlin treat the ratties as other members of the household, but Ko-Ko seemed very interested in them as prey at first. He has settled down now and doesn't watch them with hungry eyes any more. Ko-Ko is very active and loves to play and climb. He has a favorite green pillow to sleep on.

Ko-Ko has a great green pillow.
He sleeps on it and gets all mellow.
He rests his head
Or makes his bed
On his very favorite great green pillow.

Merlin

Merlin is a rather mischievous kitty who loves yarn.  It even attacks him sometimes and he just has to defend himself.  Merlin also likes to wear clothes.  He won the auction for Mao's pink bathrobe and he looks stunning in it.  He has his own bedibye basket and he really hates it when some other cat or, especially, bunny hops into it.

                                                    Merlin was attacked by the yarn.
                                                    It leaped from the basket to do him harm.
                                                           He fought and rolled.
                                                           It twisted and coiled.
                                                    Mom had to save Merlin from the yarn.

Rabbie Burns

Rabbie Burns was adopted from a pet store in January 2006. He was given to the store with all his stuff for unknown reasons, though he does bite occasionally. He is a Netherland Dwarf rabbit. One of the first things he did after being introduced into the Poi Rats, Cats and Bun household was to make himself very comfortable in Merlin's bedibye basket. Merlin was not at all pleased with this. As is natural with bunnies, Rabbie is a chewer. He will chew anything he can get his teeth into, especially the couch and any wires he finds. He also likes to eat the paper covers off the books on the bookshelf and Kinsey's homework.

                                                         Bad Bunny Burns likes to chew.
                                                         He'll chew a wire all the way through.
                                                                  He'll eat a book cover
                                                                   And any other
                                                        Thing he finds around to chew.

Shadow

Shadow was adopted from the Hawaiian Humane Center when she was a kitten.  Kinsey is the one who picked her out and they have been best friends ever since.  Shadow is the one who keeps order among the kitties.  She keeps Merlin in line, even though he is much bigger than she is.  Shadow doesn't play much with Merlin or Ko-Ko.  She prefers to play with toys or Kinsey.  One day she got to the top of the bookcase and discovered a plush raven.  They soon became good friends.

                                              Shadow climbs to the top of the books
                                              To be with Raven, one of the rooks.
                                                          From there they look down
                                                           And watch Ko-Ko clown.
                                               They have lots of fun on top of the books.

The Wedding

Yesterday the big wedding took place and it was magnificent. You can find more wedding pictures here.  Now Latte and Chey are off on their honeymoon to a Caribbean island with lots of human servants to look after their every need. Latte hurt his tail on the morning of the wedding, but it should recover quickly in the sun and relaxation they have planned.

                                        Latte and Cheysuli had a marriage.
                                        They arrived in a horse-drawn carriage.
                                                   All the famous were there;
                                                    It was quite debonair.
                                         Congratulations to Latte and Chey on their marriage.

Monte

I think this is my favorite picture of Monte. He looks so happy. Monte was adopted from an animal rescue place because BeanDad wanted an orange cat. Monte fit the bill perfectly. He is the oldest of the three, but he's only about two. Monte is the Big Man Cat and keeps an eye his little brother and sister. Monte is a little shy around strangers and when retire under the bed when there are houseguests. He also likes shiny objects and will stash them under the bed as well. He has learned how to take his collar off by himself. He has also discovered that wrapped hard candies make excellent hockey pucks on the kitchen floor.

Monte hides his stash under the bed.
There are shiny things there, and maybe some red.
He goes there to hide
When he gets spooked inside.
There is no place better than under the bed.

Missy

Missy is a about 1 1/2 years old. She and Monte were adopted together. BeanDad had picked out Monte and when the time came to take him home, the shelter people brought Missy as well. She had just arrived at the shelter because her people had threatened to put her in the trash. BeanMom and BeanDad decided that they had room for two cats, so Missy found a forever home. Missy is the Princess of the house, being the only girl, and she keeps the two boys from sitting in her spots. She loves feather toys and sitting by the window in the neat bed you can see in the video. One of her favorite treats is yoghurt.

Missy likes to eat yoghurt in bed
With Momma there to pick up the lid
When she knocks it off
With her tongue so rough.
There's nothing better than yoghurt in bed.

Thinking Blogger Award

Daisy was kind enough to award me the Thinking Blogger Award, for which I am very grateful. I am very late in doing anything about it, as the very idea of trying to learn the art of imbedded links scared me. With a lot of help from Victor Tabbycat, I figured it out. Here are the rules for participation:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative silver version if gold doesn't fit your blog).

Now I have to award five blogs which make me think. This was the really hard part, as every blog I read makes me think about something. I was also trying to think of blogs which hadn't already been awarded, but I'm pretty sure I didn't completely succeed on that score.

1. Zeus writes about so many different topics with such flair that he is always making me think, then laugh, then think some more.

2. Thumper is keenly observant of the human condition and often presents her readers with thumbnail sketches of people she sees. She also spends time analyzing her own emotional responses, which gives us insight into our own emotions. She does all this with a keen sense of humor, so she also makes me think, laugh, then think again.

3. The House of (Mostly) Black Cats makes me think a lot about generosity and how giving a little bit of my time and/or money can really make a difference to other people and their furry companions. They make me wonder about what I can do to make the world a better place.

4. Beau makes me think about others. He shows how generosity of spirit can make things better for ourselves and others.

5. I am awarding Mia and Ghost for the same reasons as Beau.

Sweet Ariel

Sweet Ariel was adopted from a pet store in 2003 as a tiny kitten. She was all alone in a big cage and looked so sad and lonely that her adoptive Mama took her home at once. Poor Ariel had a good reason to look sad, as it turned out that she had a nasty stomach parasite and the vet said that she might not live. Mama took her home and gave her medicine and lots of loving and Ariel recovered. Now when Mama is sick or hurt, Ariel returns the love. Of course, she loves her Mama all the time, but she is especially loving during difficult times. Mama has a niece who comes to visit often. Ariel often hides from this niece, but she loves the toys she finds, especially the doll stroller, which is just the right size for napping in. Ariel doesn't play much with the regular run of cat toys, but she will swipe stuffed animals. She once swiped a plush Snoopy from the niece and a small teddy bear from her Mama. One of her very favorite things is to sit in the kitchen window and watch for birds. Now that the weather is warming up, she should be having lots of fun with this hobby.

Ariel takes good care of Mama
Whenever she has sickness or trauma.
She snuggles and purrs
With that Mama of hers,
So Mama gets well in a hurry, does Mama.

Munchkin

Munchkin was abandoned by his birth mother behind a dumpster in September 2006 when he was only two weeks old. Luckily, his adoptive Dad found him and took him home. He was pampered and bottle-fed and now he is quite an active kitten. He had his hoo-ha-ectomy recently, much to his chagrin, but it has made him a friendlier kitty. He has also discovered the joys of nip and has a nip pillow that he has claimed as his very own. He has also claimed the yellow tunnel as his. He has a big brother, Monte, and a big sister, Missy, with whom he plays sometimes, but the favorite toy of all three of them is the Whirly-bird.

Munchkin loves his tunnel best.
It is a place to play and rest.
He plays with a bird
And shadow and cord
While staying within his tunnel of rest.

Toes

I really want to thank all of you who have expressed concern over the state of my toes. I had no idea that so many of you would care so much that you mentioned me in your blogs and wrote poems and limericks to me. I am very deeply touched by it all. My toes are doing fine. The healing process has started and I can walk pretty normally again. My two big toenails had to be removed because of a ferocious fungus infection that resisted everything my doctor could throw at it for over a year. The toenails were starting to loosen and I had to have them removed so that they would not snag on something and rip off. The nailbeds are still a little bit sensitive, but otherwise, everything is fine. Thank you all again for caring so much.

Daisy gave me a Thinking Blogger Award and I am still trying to figure out what to do with it. I appreciate it very much, but I need to learn how to imbed the links. I am also spending a lot of time trying to narrow down the field of blogs I want to pass it on to. I'll do something with it soon, I promise.

Beezer

There is a picture just like this one on Beezer's blog titled "If you were sitting here, I would be in your lap." It does seem to be just what he is thinking. Beezer was adopted from the San Francisco SPCA the day before Thanksgiving in 1999. His Mama was still mourning the loss of a long-time feline friend when she saw a display of kittens who were up for adoption. Every year the SFSPCA gets permission from large department stores to put up a kitten or puppy playroom as part of the store's Christmas display. Anyway, Mama was looking at the kittens and wondering if she was ready to adopt another cat when Beezer walked right up to the glass and meowed at her. He went home with her that day. Beezer's original name was Butterball, but it quickly mutated into Beezer. Beezer is a lap cat supreme. He is curious and playful, but his favorite place to sit is in Mama's lap.

Beezer loves to sit on Mama's lap.
It's the bestest place for a kitty to nap.
He'll play with a toy,
But his greatest joy
Is the scritches and loving in Mama's lap.