Mom Passed Away

Update: If any of you would like to see my Mom's obituary, you can find it online here.

I didn't post any updates on my Mom because by the time there were any changes, things went downhill in a hurry. My Mom passed away this evening. It really was a blessed release because she was really suffering. At least near the end she went to sleep and passed peacefully. She lived a full and wonderful life and left it at home, where she wanted to be. I don't know when I'll get back to the limericks, but I will start visiting again, as I think it will comfort me. Thank you all for your kind and comforting comments on my previous post.

Goodbye for Now

It really pains me to have to do this, especially after all the nice comments I just got, but I have to stop blogging for a while. My Mother has become very fragile and often needs me during the night. This means that I have to go to bed as early as possible in order to get enough sleep and that leaves no time for blogging. I am not totally disappearing, I hope. I will try to visit some when I can, but I simply do not have the time to research or write posts any more. I won't be gone forever, but it may be quite a while before I post again. I will miss you all very much.

Casper

 
I totally forgot about Meow Like a Pirate Day, so I will give it a miss this year. I had nothing at all prepared, but I had been working on this post for a while, so I will go ahead with it.

Casper is a fifteen-year-old tabby, but I think he looks like he has some Siamese in him somewhere. He has the most beautiful blue eyes, but they rarely show up in his photos, because he tends to close them or squint when the flashy box comes out. His Mom found him hanging out in back of the motel she was running and adopted him. Before they moved last year, they had a fenced back yard where the kitties could play and hunt frogs and lizards. Casper was very good at hunting the frogs. He never ate them, but he did play them to death, unless his Mom managed to rescue them. He loves to put the bitey on cardboard boxes. He does a lot more napping these days, but sometimes the urge to play comes out and he bounces around like a youngster. He gets along fine with his sisters. He has always had a crush on Missy Blue-Eyes and they have been valentines, but he finally overcame his shyness and asked permission to court her. She accepted and I trust that they will have much happiness together.

                                              Casper, named for the friendly ghost,
                                              Just declared his love for the cat he loves most.
                                                       Missy and Casper,
                                                       Never lackluster,
                                              Are congratulated by their friends in a host.

Farewell, MrSippi

I just love MrSippi's name. He got it because his forever Mom and Dad found him in a ditch near the Mississippi river. He had fallen or been thrown from a moving car and his little face was smashed in so badly that he couldn't eat. They planned to take him home to the cat rescue place, but on the way they fell in love with him and took him to the vet instead. MrSippi lived with two cats, Mama and Caroline, and two Siberian Huskies, Thor and Marco Polo. Caroline went to the Bridge before him. MrSippi was sad about that, as Caroline was his best friend. He didn't get along very well with Mama. They usually hissed at each other quite a bit. He got along fine with the dogs, though he would give Marco Polo an occasional nose swat when Marco got too nosy. They all have a big back yard with a six foot fence, so they could all go outside to play. MrSippi would look for a way out, because he wanted to go visit his girlfriend, Huffle Mawson. Just recently, he discovered a way and he went to visit her. They had a lovely time together, then he teleported back. The Mom grew catnip in the garden and MrSippi really enjoyed the fresh leaves. A couple of days ago, MrSippi suddenly got very sick and was rushed to the vet. The vet discovered that he had a raging infection of some kind and was in terrible pain. His Mom and Dad decided to send him on to the Bridge to end his suffering. They really miss him.  I worked and worked on this limerick to find a way of including MrSippi's trip to see Huffle and that he went to the Bridge without it appearing that one led to the other and I just didn't seem to be able to manage it.  Of course there is no connection.

                                                 MrSippi longed to be free
                                                 For Huffle Mawson he yearned to see.
                                                         He traveled over
                                                         To see his lover.
                                                 Now he waits at the Bridge for his family.

Mr. Tuck

I finally get to write a happy limerick again, and who is happier than Mr. Tuck? Mr. Tuck started out life as a feral kitty, but he was caught when he was quite young and taken to the vet to get his shots and be neutered. The vet tipped his ear after neutering him. I know that this is a standard practice for trap/neuter/release programs, but Mr. Tuck wasn't going to be released. He went to a shelter where Jen and Frank found him and adopted him. Mr. Tuck has always been a happy kitty, full of fun and mischief. He adores his beans and loves to be cuddled. They both work, so Mr. Tuck sleeps most of the day and he rushes to greet them when they get home. He wants his loving and he wants it now. When he was small, he used to get bored in the middle of the night, so he would wake Jen up to play with him. He is mostly over this now that he is a mancat, but he wakes Frank up at 5:30 every morning. Mr. Tuck is mostly gentle with the wakening, or he tries to be. He starts with the soft paw on the face, followed by loud purring in the ear. If that doesn't work, he tries running across the bed at full speed, making sure that at least one paw lands on Frank's stomach. If all else fails, there is the toe chomp. Mr. Tuck has fishy toys and mousie toys. He has twice put a fishy in his water bowl, but has never done it with a mousie. He is one smart cat. I know that kittens don't react to catnip, but I don't know how old they get before they start to react to it. On the other hand, Mr. Tuck seems to actively dislike it. He will totally ignore any toy that has catnip in it. He loves feathers. He is very good at stripping the feathers from a toy, then just playing with the feathers. Mr. Tuck has a great sense of balance. He has been known to lie on top of the flat-screen TV.

                                                Mr. Tuck is a mischievous boy.
                                                He knows what he wants and is never coy.
                                                      Early morning he wakes his bean.
                                                      He can't be stopped by any means.
                                                He can't be bribed with a treat or a toy.

Farewell, Machiko

There are two tribes of cats at Jimbo's house: the inside cats and the outside cats. The outside cats are allowed and encouraged to come inside, but they prefer the outside life. The weather is pretty nice year round in Malaysia, except for the rains, so this isn't really a problem. They have really nice trees to climb and bushes to sleep under, out of the sun. When the rains get really heavy, some of the outside cats come in to stay dry. I think Machiko may have been one of the outside cats, because all of the pictures of him, except for the ones where he is sitting or lying in boxes are of him outside. There were thirteen cats until Machiko went to the Rainbow Bridge. The family adopts all the strays who come to their house. One of the reasons they do this is because some the shelters in Malaysia have real problems when it comes to taking care of their charges. All of the cats get vet care and are fixed and find love, food and water in abundance. Machiko had lived with the family for eight years. His health started to fail recently and he just passed away quietly. The family are really missing him.

                                      Machiko loved to sit in boxes.
                                      It's one of life's paradoxes.
                                             Outside he loved to stay
                                              But he would come in to play.
                                      Now he's at the Bridge with plenty of boxes.

Farewell, Nickodemus

Things are really sad over at Thoughts Fur Paws. Nickodemus was helped to the Rainbow Bridge after a very hard decision at the emergency vet's on August 22. He was nineteen years old and in failing health, mostly kidney problems. Jamie is really sad because Nickodemus had been with him for over half his life. Jamie's Mom is also really sad, because Nickodemus was her best friend for years. Nickodemus was rescued from the woods when he was seven weeks old. He had never even seen a human before. He became an inside cat and it took him months to get used to it. Once he did, though, he loved it. He loved to snuggle into warm spots. His very favorite food was fish. He loved to be loved and now he is being missed terribly.

                                                Nickodemus had a great life.
                                                He lived inside, away from strife.
                                                      He got lots of scritches
                                                      To soothe his itches.
                                                He went to the Bridge to start a new life.

Farewell, Percy

Percy went through a lot lately. I wrote his story and a happy limerick for him before all his troubles started, which you can find here. Percy and Eliot were cagemates and were adopted together. Percy was the oldest cat of the Cats Stephens and the most picked on. He was on the timid side and would rather hide from the other cats than fight with them. He tore a hole in the fabric under the box springs and made his own kitty hammock inside them. This was a great hiding place and made things rather difficult for his Mom when she had to give him medicine. Percy may not have got on well with the other cats, but he adored his humans and sought out their company for snuggles, naps and petting. Last year he developed a sore lump on his right forepaw and had to go to the vet. Percy really hated going to the vet. She determined that there was a growth there and there were two options. She could go in and get enough tissue for a biopsy, then determine what needed to be done next, or she could remove the whole growth, which might mean removing one of Percy's toes, then biopsy the growth and see if anything else needed to be done. To save Percy as much pain as possible, the family told the vet to remove all of the growth, even the toe if necessary. Once the vet got in, she decided to try to save the toe, but she didn't get all of the growth. The lump turned out to be nerve-sheath sarcoma, which can grow really fast and get very nasty in a hurry. Unfortunately, since she didn't get all of it, this meant that Percy's toe would have to be removed as soon as possible after he healed from the first surgery. Waiting too long might mean that Percy would lose the whole leg. As you can imagine, the family wasn't too happy with the vet and took Percy to another practice for his toe removal. In the meantime, the family decided to move to California, not too far from where Grandma lived. Since Percy would have a long recovery time and the picking on him from the other cats wasn't getting any better, they decided to take Percy along while they looked for a place to move into and leave him with Grandma. Percy loved Grandma and Grandma loved Percy and, best of all from Percy's point of view, she didn't have any other cats. Percy got spoiled rotten at Grandma's and he loved every minute of it. Unfortunately, after a few months of this idyllic existence, Percy got sick. They thought he had a bladder infection, but it turned out to be serious blockage, requiring surgery. Percy's kidneys were showing signs of failure and he just generally was not in good health. Rather than put poor Percy through yet another surgery, which might not buy him a whole lot of time anyway, the family decided that the best thing for Percy was to send him on to the Rainbow Bridge. The whole family is missing Percy terribly.

                                                 Percy loved to lie in the sun.
                                                 He'd hit the nip for a little fun.
                                                          To the Bridge he was sent
                                                          Because his health just went.
                                                 Now he can find plenty of sun.