Smokey

I am sure that lots of you remember the story of Dinah and her Mites, but I will tell it again for the rest of you. In July of 2007 a very pregnant tuxie showed up on the Sherwood porch. ML let her in and fixed her up a nice place in the bathroom. On July 31 she gave birth to six kittens. ML named the momcat Dinah, so naturally all the kittens became known as her Mites. Missy was not amused by this invasion, but KC was thrilled. When the Mites got big enough to play, KC would spend hours playing pawsie with them under the door. When the Mites got a bit bigger, KC was allowed inside the bathroom to romp with them. The Mites continued to grow and soon the bathroom simply wasn't big enough for them. They were allowed outside, one room at a time, to explore the rest of the house. Missy really wasn't amused by this at all and started giving all of them the Big Hissy. ML fixed up a place in a walk-in closet just for Missy to give her some alone time and some "just Mom and me" time and Missy calmed down. When the time came, all the Mites got their operations, then they were ready to go the shelter to find their forever homes. ML took all of them, along with a second batch of kittens who had shown up, to the no-kill shelter and said good-bye, then she went home and cried. The house seemed so empty with just Missy and KC that eventually ML went back to the shelter and came home with BJ, Sol and Smokey. Smokey was originally named Earl Gray, but Papa Charley changed his name to Smokey and it suits him well. Smokey has always been the major climber in the family. Sol almost keeps up with him, but Smokey is the champ. He has climbed up on cabinets, on top of doors, and up on the curtain rod. If something can possibly be gotten on top of, Smokey has been there. Smokey loves to play and cuddle with his brothers and KC and his humans.

                                Way up high loves to go Smokey.
                                Into the curtains his claws he will pokey.
                                         He climbs to the top
                                         And there he will stop
                                To survey the domain that belongs to Smokey.

Lego

On January 11th Lego had his first birthday and became a Mancat, so I thought it was time that he had his own limerick. The picture shows Lego with Arion, Michico's fiance. Lego took to Arion right away and they love to cuddle and spend time together. When Lego first came to live with Michico and Adan he developed a persistent fungus during the time he was spending in a different room from Adan, so they could get used to each other. Since the fungus was of a type that is very contagious, the separation and get used to each other period went on for several months. During this time Lego had a paper plate for a collar, so he couldn't scratch the fungus on his chin and spread it to the rest of his body. Even so, he did get it on some other spots, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been had he not worn his paper plate. When the vet finally said that the fungus was gone, Adan and Lego met face to face at last. Adan got more than he bargained for. Lego wanted to play, play, play and part of this play was biting. Adan didn't like that at all. They play together much better now, but Lego still bites occasionally. Lego is a very friendly cat and I don't think he ever met a person he doesn't like. He also loves to play with toys, especially if catnip is involved. The caption on the picture is due to the fact that Lego is getting just a little pudgy.

                                 Lego loves to snuggle with Dad.
                                 Curling up together makes them both glad.
                                               Together they play
                                               'Most every day.
                                  There's a lot of love between Lego and Dad.

Farewell, Kukai

Little Kukai was the smallest cat at Flock O' Fuzzies. He was also the oldest. The shelter said that he was one year old when he was adopted, which would have made him 12 1/2, but the vet thought that he might have been as old as 16. There was nothing in particular that the vet could find wrong with him, but he wasn't eating much and was throwing up what he did eat. He got down to four pounds, which was really skinny, even for him. His Mom decided that it was time to help him go to the Rainbow Bridge. He was a Japanese bobtail with an attitude. He thought he could beat up any cat in the house, which was particularly amusing when he took on one of the Maine Coons. Those of you who remember reading Ayla the Grump's blog will remember him as the one she called The Annoying One. He kept wanting to cuddle with her and she wanting nothing to do with him. He had a very loud voice for such a small cat, especially when it was time for breakfast. He loved warmth and found the cable box on the TV particularly appealling. He was very loving toward his humans and they will really miss him.

                                           Little Kukai got very thin.
                                           The vet didn't know what was wrong with him.
                                                    His Mom helped him leave,
                                                    Though it made her grieve.
                                           At the Bridge he can eat whatever's his whim.

Farewell, Fat Cat Muffin

This is the only picture of Muffin that ever appeared on his blog. He was a handsome fellow. His Mom Tracy has been having a rough time lately. Her Father died a couple of years ago, then her Mother died on January 2nd, and now Muffin has run off to the Rainbow Bridge. She could really use some hugs. Midi the guinea pig is still there to give her comfort, but the house must seem pretty empty now. Muffin was a little over 14 years old and had diabetes for years. He developed acute renal failure and ran off to the Bridge. It's possible that he missed his Grammy so much that he just let go. For most of his life he was a very happy cat and really got a kick out of scaring the small woofies who lived in his apartment building. He was bigger than they were. They had a nice porch and Muffin liked to sit out there and chase the lizards who came to the porch to sun themselves. He caught and ate quite a few of them.

                                   Off to the Bridge ran Fat Cat Muffin.
                                   His Mom feels like someone knocked out her stuffin'.
                                          Muffin laughs at play,
                                          Leaving Mom to say,
                                    "Till we meet again, my dear darling Muffin."

Nymphadora Tonks

Nymphadora Tonks was adopted into The Fluffy Tribe in October of 2007, after the big move from Hawaii to New Mexico. She is a rose tarantula. You can see her eye cluster at the top of her head in this photo. She has molted once and is now about the size of the palm of a hand. She loves life in her terrarium, with her rocks and logs and silk plants and water dish and especially her heat lamp. She has learned that if she climbs to the top of the terrarium, her Mom will turn on the lamp for her. She eats crickets, which she hunts and catches. She had webbed in the ends of one of her logs to make a nice private room for herself. The click of the camera annoys her and she will go hide if her Mom takes too many pictures of her at one time.

                                Nymphadora Tonks likes to eat crickets.
                                They try to hide from her in the thickets
                                           Made by the silk plants,
                                           But they find they can't.
                                 Not a one escapes when Tonks hunts crickets.

Meme

Dorothy, Gretchen's Mom, tagged me for this meme some time ago and I am just now getting around to doing it. The meme originated with Mimi Lenox of Blog Blast for Peace fame, also known as the Queen of Memes.

1. How long do you sleep each night?
About six or seven hours. Sometimes on my days off I get in eight.

2. Do you fall asleep easily?
Usually it takes me a while, sometimes up to an hour.

3. Do you fall asleep at times not in your bed?
Yes. If I am very tired, I will fall asleep in my chair watching TV or even sitting at the computer.

4. Do you listen to music or use white noise to sleep?
I am bad. I turn the TV on when I go to bed and watch until I fall asleep. I used to read in bed until I fell asleep, but now I watch TV.

5. Do you sleep through the night or get up a couple of times?
I generally sleep through the night. Sometimes I get up once.

6. Do you have trouble sleeping away from your own bed?
Yes. It takes me a long time to get to sleep in a strange bed, but once asleep, I stay asleep.

7. Do you need an alarm clock to get you up?
Yes, although if I forget to set the alarm, I wake up within half an hour of when I am supposed to.

8. Do you ever take medication to help you sleep?
No.

9. Do you/have you slept with pets?
When I lived with cats, they always slept with me. I found it very comforting.

I will tag Black Cat, Michico and Mrs. Karate.

Reggie

I just love kitten pictures, don't you? This is Reggie at three weeks old. He was born April 28, 2008 at Hairlessdreams Cattery.

Reggie is very curious and just has to check everything out. Here he is trying to figure out what is making the strange noise in the microwave.


Now he knows what was making the strange noise. He got a bite, but didn't seem to impressed with the popcorn. Reggie is the little rebel. He hates his baths and he hates being rubbed down afterward. He yells bloody murder the whole time. Reggie was adopted when Marley was one year old. Marley only hissed at him twice. The Mom and Dad tried to keep them separated for a while, so they wouldn't share any nasty germs and so they could get used to each other gradually. Marley was having none of this. He would meow and meow at the closed door between him and Reggie and try to get the door open. Mom and Dad finally just gave up and left the door to Reggie's room open. At first, Marley would pounce Reggie whenever he saw him and the Mom and Dad would separate them if they thought Reggie was getting too scared, but this didn't last long. Marley really only wanted to play and Reggie figured this out pretty quickly. Reggie also quickly figured out that he could get into small places where Marley wouldn't fit and this is what he did when he had enough kitty wrestling. Marley and Reggie really love each other. When Reggie got back from his long trip to the vet for neutering, Marley was calling out to him before he even got back into the house. Reggie started calling back and couldn't get out of the PTU fast enough.  Reggie loves to play fetch with his mousie.  He will go fetch the mousie as many times as he can get one of his humans to throw it for him.

                                     Reggie is a very curious cat.
                                     His favorite question is, "What is that?"
                                            He jumps up to see
                                            What it can be,
                                     And he's sometimes rewarded, this curious cat.