Finnegan

Here is Finnegan with his favorite nip toy. Finnegan was adopted from a shelter when he was about a year old. He got his name from a saying of his Great-grandma's.  She used to say,"In again, Finnegan?" or "Out again, Finnegan?" every time she opened the door to let a cat in or out of the house.  His Mom always thought it would be great to have a cat named Finnegan.  He is a fun-loving kitty who loves his brother Buddy, his nip, catgrass and his grandparents. His Mom changed her job a while back and now they are waiting until they can sell their house so they can either buy a condo or rent an apartment in Durham. At present, Finnegan is living with Mom's parents and Mom and Buddy are living with Aunt Ree. They are all hoping that the house sells soon, so they can all be together again. The present situation isn't too bad because Finnegan really loves his Grandpa and Grandma. He helps Grandpa in his workshop and loves to "splat" on Grandma's shoulder for loving.

                                         Tell me how Finnegan got his name again?
                                         "In again, Finnegan?"  "Out again, Finnegan?"
                                                           Great-grandma used to say
                                                           As the cats got their way,
                                         Trooping in and out of the house.  Hey, Finnegan!

Brach Lee

Brach Lee is Kukka-Maria's brother or husband (it's complicated). He is 7.75 years old. As you can see he loves to be brushed. He is delighted that Kukka-Maria has no interest in his brush, so it is his alone. He has an unfortunate attraction to string and will try to eat it whenever he finds any. This had very bad consequences in 2004 when he swallowed a piece of thread, which wrapped itself around the base of his tongue, then tore 18 holes in his intestines. Luckily, the vet was able to perform surgery to remove the thread and Brach recovered completely. Brach is a fun cat, but he gets very little blog time, as Kukka-Maria does most of the blogging, being the Alpha Cat, hence this limerick.

                                       Have you heard of a cat named Brach Lee?
                                       He's usually eclipsed by Kukka-Marie.
                                                But he's very smart
                                                And has a good heart.
                                       He needs more blog-time, does Brach Lee.

Prince Muddy Paws

Prince Muddy Paws is a Himalayan, which means that he has lots and lots of fur. He loves to be brushed, which is a very good thing, because it means that he can keep all that fur in tip-top condition. Prince Muddy Paws is a very playful cat. He loves to chase the other cats around and play with the people. He is a great watcher of birds and bugs, but woe to any bug who dares to enter his house, as he is a mighty hunter, too. He has been blogging for quite a long time and is very amusing.

                                    Prince Muddy Paws really loves to be brushed,
                                    But take your time; he doesn't like to be rushed.
                                                    From head to tail
                                                    You must not fail
                                     To get every inch of Muddy Paws brushed.

Dobby

Here's Dobby, in one of his few moments of standing still. He is a very active kitten, always zooming around the house and playing with anything he can get his paws on. He really loves his big brother Merlin. The two of them took to each other quite quickly. Dobby started off as a rescue kitten and spent some time with Bubbles and Mrs. B, but they couldn't really keep him, as they had as many cats as they could handle already. His kitten antics were also upsetting the older cats. Luckily, Merlin's Mom and Dad had room for him and he moved in. Dobby loves to wrestle with Merlin, play chase with him, snuggle with him and groom him. Unfortunately, one time while he was grooming Merlin, he chewed off his whiskers. Merlin didn't even notice until later. Luckily, Merlin's whiskers are growing back.

                                          Dobby is always on the go.
                                          He's always fast and never slow.
                                                   He chewed Merlin's whiskers
                                                   Down to little twiskers
                                          And did it so fast Merlin didn't know.

Chairman Mao

Sweet Ariel and her Mom requested that I do a limerick for Chairman Mao, who is Ariel's boyfriend. Maomao showed up last year at the Ballicus house as a stray and first appeared on the blog in December. He made himself at home in the garage, where the Dad has a workshop. He bonded with Dad very quickly and soon moved inside. Maomao soon made friends with the other cats, though Dorydoo still doesn't much care for him. He is very attached to Brainball, following her around, snuggling with her and wrestling with her. He is still full of kitten energy, being about a year old now, and is always getting into something. He has learned how to open all the kitchen cabinets. He will play with anything he can get his paws on and delights in killing evil coffee stirrers. His motto is : The whole world is a kitty toy.

                                   Chairman Mao is a very busy cat.
                                   He can kill a coffee stirrer in nothing flat.
                                                He pulls out drain stops
                                                And jumps on counter tops.
                                   He writes poetry, too.  What a talented cat!

Suzanne Went to the Bridge

As most of you know already, Suzanne went to the Rainbow Bridge this morning. She cuddled with her Mom, laid her head on her shoulder and just went. This makes me very sad, but she saved her Mom a little pain. Today was the day her Mom was going to make that dreaded decision, but Suzanne saved her from having to decide. If you haven't already, go over to Under the Bed and leave some virtual snuggles for Mom and Ben2. Thank you so much, Daisy, for the lovely tribute card.

I only knew Suzanne for about three months, but I became very fond of her in that time. She was the first one to make a suggestion for a limerick. She suggested that I write a limerick about her cousin, Daisy Mae Maus. I had been working on a limerick for Daisy Mae, but it was going nowhere. After Suzanne's suggestion, I decided to throw away what I had written already and start over. After that, the limerick came fairly quickly. Then Suzanne shyly asked if I would write a limerick for her, too. When I start out to write a limerick for a kitty, especially one I don't know very well, I go and start reading their blog from the beginning. I read Suzanne's entire blog and came to love this tiny, shy, but feisty little feline. I am really going to miss her. I'm getting too teary-eyed to see the screen anymore, so I'll stop there. Good-bye, Suzanne. Have a wonderful time at the Bridge while you wait for your Mom.

Merlin

This is Merlin with his favorite toy, Fishie. Merlin started out life as a feral kitten. He somehow hooked up with three younger kittens and was trying to care for them when a nice lady found the four of them and took them to her vet. Merlin was eight weeks old and the others were five to six weeks old.  She kept one of the younger ones and the other two younger ones were also adopted. The lady told Merlin's Mom-to-be the story and the two of them went to the vet's to see him. Merlin and his Mom took to each other at once and he went home with her. Merlin loves to play, look out of the window and romp around with his new brother Dobby.

                                         Merlin's favorite toy is named Fishie.
                                         It's shaped like a fish and is nice and squishy.
                                                              Merlin could play
                                                               All night and all day
                                         With his favorite toy named Fishie.