Merry Christmas

I am sorry that this turned out all blurry.  My hand must have shaken as I took the picture.  I finally got my Christmas decorating, such as it is, done today.  I put up this little tree and decorated it with the Christmas cards I received from members of the Cat Blogosphere, got out Herman's stocking and put a couple of things in it and put a Christmas wreath on the front door.  This is the first time I have done any Christmas decorating since my Mother died.  I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas full of love.

Beau

This is Brutus on the left and Gentleman Beau on the right sharing a bed and acting like brothers.  I didn't originally intend to write another limerick for Beau.  I had already written one for him years ago that you can find here.  I did my pick a random blog thing and came up with Jersey Fresh.  I decided to write a limerick for Emily first, then Brutus, then Marigold.  I spent an evening reading the blog and went to bed, thinking about Emily.  As often happens, when I woke up the next morning, I had a limerick in my head, but it wasn't about Emily; it was about Beau.  Not being one to waste an inspiration, I decided to go with it.

Beau lived and blogged happily with his Mom Cathy for many years.  Not too long ago, Cathy got an infection that just wouldn't heal.  She had other health issues as well and she eventually died, leaving Beau all alone.  Arrangements were made to have Beau move to New Jersey to live with a neighbor of Rose and the Royals. At first things seemed to be working out, but Beau had issues that weren't being resolved.  For one thing, the neighbor lived right next door to a large dog and that seemed to be upsetting Beau quite a bit.  Eventually, it was decided that Beau would move in with the Royals.  He was was given a room without other cats at first and was rather shy about the whole thing.  It didn't take him too long to decide that he was in a safe place and he started to come out and let Rose pet him.  Having been an only cat his whole life, he didn't take to the Royals nearly as quickly, but now he and Brutus have become very friendly.  I am thinking that it won't be much longer before they all get along famously.

                                                    Beau came to the Royals sad and afraid,
                                                    But for him cunning plans were laid
                                                                To treat him with care
                                                                So he would come out where
                                                    Welcome to the family he could be made.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!  My mother used these china quail each Thanksgiving as decorations on the table, so they always make me think of Thanksgiving.  May you all have lots and lots to be thankful for.

Farewell, Emma

Here's Emma with her nip banana.  I chose this picture for her farewell post because this is the way I want to remember her.  I want to thank all of you for your purrs for Emma.  I really appreciate them.  I buried her in the flower garden near the bird feeder.  If you want to read Emma's story, it is just a few posts down with her happy limerick.  If you want to read about her death, it is over on Herman's Hideaway.  A few of you may wonder why I didn't rush Emma off to the emergency vet when I found her in the litter box, too weak to get out.  The nearest emergency vet is a 45 minute drive from here.  I did consider it, but the stress of moving her would have probably meant that she would have run off to the Rainbow Bridge on the way.  Even if she had survived the trip, there would have been nothing that they could have done for her.  She exhibited all the symptoms of Feline Leukemia that Herman did, but they were much worse.  I thought it best to just let her go here at home in her room where she felt most comfortable.  I will miss her terribly and I think that Herman will miss her, too.  I let Herman see her and smell her and touch her before I buried her, but I don't know if he understands why she didn't respond to him.  I hope so.

                                                 Goodbye, Emma, my sweet little one.
                                                 It's all too soon that you are gone.
                                                           You fly away free,
                                                           But for Herman and me
                                                 It's a sad time here all alone.

Dona Nobis Pacem

Today is Blog Blast for Peace, started by Mimi Lennox.  On this day we all put up our peace globes and dare to dream that one day the world will be at peace.  To me it looks like we are making some progress, but we still have a long way to go. We all need to do all we can to give peace a home in our lives and our world.  We need to be a bit more forgiving of our neighbors and friends and all those around us.  If we all have peace in our hearts, then world peace will follow.  Peace be with you today and every day.

Happy Halloween

I hope you all have a Happy Halloween with lots of treats and no tricks, unless you like them.

Keiko

Here is Keiko on the living room table. She is the only one allowed up here. It could be because she has the honor of being the first kitty to be adopted into the Kitty Quartet or it could be that she is so sneaky and determined that the Mom has given up on trying to keep her off the table.  If I read and did my addition right, Keiko is four years old.  She is full of energy and loves to be up high.  She was delighted when her family moved into a house with stairs.  She likes to climb up the stairs on the wrong side, that is, outside of the bannister rails.  This makes her Mom nervous, but she hasn't fallen yet.  Keiko also likes to hang out on top of the refrigerator and on any shelf she can find room enough for her. She likes her nip quite a bit.  For some reason, when she was adopted, she didn't know about playing with toys.  Her Mom and Dad have slowly taught her the fun of toys and Keiko is learning.  Keiko is very fond of milk and her Mom or Dad will often dip their finger in their milk and let Keiko lick their finger.  The only thing that Keiko doesn't like about her life as part of the Kitty Quartet is that her brother Kenji likes to chase her and try to wrestle with her.  Keiko doesn't want to kitty wrestle and wishes that Kenji would limit his wrestling to his brother Ryker.

                                                   Keiko likes to sit on the table.
                                                   She grins because she's the only cat able
                                                          To sit there with no fear
                                                          Because Mom makes it clear,
                                                   "I don't want kitties on my table!"

Tenzing

I didn't think it would take me this long to get back to the hang of writing kitty limericks. Sorry about the delay.  First some information, as Kitty Limericks has been neglected for so long.  You may wonder, how do I select the kitties to write limericks for?  Most of the time it is entirely random. Sometimes I see something on a blog that inspires me.  If you would like to have me write a limerick for you or some other kitty (or woofie or any other blogging animal) just drop me an note to nyctolopsATvlaDOTcom or tell me in the comments.

Now to tell you about Tenzing.  He moved in with Jack and Persephone March 1, 2010.  Somebody had moved and left him behind all alone.  The OTW and Big One rescued him and brought him home.  He was about five months old at the time.  He was big for his age and continues to be big.  The OTW (opposable thumbs woman) wonders if he could be part Maine Coon.  He has the size and long fur for it.  Jack and Persephone have not been best pleased with their new brother.  Jack calls him The Unnecessary Kitten and Persephone calls him the Orinch Meniss.  He has fit himself into the family and can be caught snoozing with both Jack and Persephone, though neither one really likes to play with him, still.  The photo shows Tenzing doing his second favorite thing in the whole world, rolling outside.  Once let outside, he will roll and roll and roll.  He just loves it.  His favorite thing is house-trashing.  I chatted with OTW not long ago and she thought that maybe he just doesn't realize how big he has grown or how strong his tail is or maybe he just likes to play "Will it bounce or will it break?"  Whatever the reason, if something is on a shelf or table, Tenzing is likely to knock it down.  He loves to climb the indoor tree.  He loves to climb up the shelves.  He has been known to knock over a floor lamp by pushing something over on it.  Jack just loves to have fun.  He always has fun, wherever he is.  Put him in a room by himself for time-out and he will find a way to have fun in there.

                                                  Tenzing has fun wherever he goes.
                                                   It keeps him Mom on her toes.
                                                       To Jack and Persephone he'll say,
                                                       "Please, won't you come play?"
                                                  Unfortunately, they mostly say, "Noes!"

Emma

Now that I am retired and have lots of time to do what I want, Kitty Limericks is coming back.  I am really rusty on limerick writing, so I am starting with Emma.  This is still my favorite photo of Emma.  It is the first good picture I got of her and the only time I got close enough to her with the camera to get a portrait photo. Emma came into my (and Herman's) life on March 1st of this year.  She was brought into the Espanola Animal Shelter (high kill rate) by a couple who found her hanging around their yard.  They had been feeding her outside and noticed that the other cats in the neighborhood were being really mean to her.  They decided to bring her inside, but first took her to the shelter's spay and neuter clinic for a checkup and to be spayed.  The shelter did a workup on her and discovered that she was FeLV+. The couple who brought her in decided that they didn't want to keep her after all.  I don't know if it was because of her diagnosis, or if they just had second thoughts about adopting a stray kitty. At any rate, the shelter couldn't keep her for any length of time because they are always overcrowded and she was considered hard to adopt out.  The foster homes were all full and couldn't take an FeLV+ cat because she would have to be isolated. A lady who worked at the shelter remembered that Herman's foster Mom had a room for kitties who needed to be isolated and contacted her.  Herman's foster Mom was also full up, but she told the lady at the shelter that she knew the perfect person to take in this kitty.  Herman's foster Mom called me up and gave me the contact information.  I called up the shelter lady as soon as possible and told her that I would be delighted to take her in, as I already had a cat with FeLV.  We had a long conversation about the personalities of both cats and decided that there was a very good chance that Herman and the yet-unnamed kitty would get along.  I made sure that she understood that if they didn't get along, I was willing to foster the kitty until I could find her a home. The call ended with, "When can you come pick her up?"  Herman's foster Mom and picked her up the very next day.

It turned out that I needn't have worried at all about them getting along.  My concerns were that Herman had always been an only cat in his two homes and much of his contact with other cats had been of the fighting kind.  On the plus side, Herman had been acting a bit lonely.  He wasn't playing as much as he had been.  He was sort of moping around during the day,  but being very clingy at night.  I think he actually wanted a companion cat.  When I brought Emma home (she didn't have a name yet, not for several days), the first thing I did was put her carrier in the middle of the living room floor.  Herman greeted me, but ignored the carrier until Emma meowed softly.  Then he slowly sauntered over to inspect the carrier.  When he got up to the door, Emma backed to the very back of the carrier and hissed at him.  Herman backed up just a little ways and lay down on the floor, looking at Emma.  I took this for a good sign.

I had set up Herman's safe room for Emma.  She had a litter box waiting and I brought her food and water as soon as we let her out of the carrier. She made herself right at home.  She availed herself of all three facilities almost immediately and accepted my caresses right away.  She was obviously not a feral-born cat, but must have escaped (or been dumped) from a home at a very early age, as she is only a year and a half old now.  I don't know which it was, but all attempts to locate the former home failed.  Herman insisted on coming into Emma's room with me every time I went in to feed, water, scoop the box and spend time with her.  I let him stay until Emma hissed at him.  To do him justice, he backed off every time he heard the hiss.  He was a perfect gentleman toward her at all times.  Herman wanted to be friends with her so badly, but Emma was scared of him.  No wonder, he is twice her size.  On the nineteenth day of Emma being in her safe room, I was awakened by loud thumping on that door.  I thought Herman was trying to get in, so I got up to tell him to leave her alone until breakfast time.  I found Herman right outside the door all right, but the latch hadn't engaged fully and Herman could have pushed the door open any time he liked.  The noise came from Emma trying to get out.  I opened the door, Herman and Emma kissed noses and they have been mostly friends every since. There is the occasional spat, but I have never seen any poofed-up tails or arched backs, so they have never been really serious about it.

Emma is very active. She wants to go everywhere, see everything, do everything.  She even entices Herman to chase her by running right past his nose at top speed or even jumping over him. Sometimes, Emma has had enough of Herman and she goes to one of several spots where he can't or won't follow.  I have never seen any kitty wrestling, but that isn't surprising, due to the difference in their sizes.  Emma really does run wherever she goes.  Oh, I have seen her occasionally start to just saunter down the hall, the way Herman does, but she soon picks up the pace. At night, as I go to my room, I see her flashing white feet ahead of me in the dimly lit hallway.

                                                  Emma runs wherever she goes.
                                                  The reason why, only she knows.
                                                             She runs and she leaps
                                                             Way up high, where she sleeps.
                                                  I love to watch those flashing white toes.

Happy New Year

May you all have a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.