And now for something completely different...

Michael and Pat Thursday

We�re in the bush this week, and with the exhaustion Stan referred to last week after knocking Dead of Night into good shape at the eleventh hour (and fifty-fifth minute), and with another deadline already looming, it seemed that something a bit more light hearted might be in order. So here it is.

You may have developed the impression that only good things happen in the African bush from the posts from me, Stan, and Annamaria. Well, that�s not always the case. Consider the Egyptian lady:

There was a young girl from the Nile,

Who fell for a large crocodile,

Although she quite bloomed,

Their affair was quite doomed,

For he ate her after a while.

Then there was the experience we had a few days ago:

The baboon who shat on the car,

Preened himself like a star,

�With a smelly great turd,

I have had the last word,

And the stink will spread wide and far!�

There are some lascivious things goings on. We noticed that our friendly large lizard who is usually found sunning himself on a well-oriented rock had developed some pinkish scales. Imagine our shock at discovering what this means.

The giant plated lizard once said,

�I can feel the change to my head,

When the scales go pink,

As quick as a wink,

I will lure a young lady to bed!�

Finally there is the Fork-tailed Drongo who spends his mornings with the car�s side mirror.

A delightful young Drongo named Jayzee,

Is known for his beauty but lazy,

He coos to himself,

On each reflecting shelf,

The narcissism is driving him crazy!

As for me, I was tearing out so much hair over the last few weeks that my beard survived unscathed. I approached trimming it with trepidation.

Michael, while trimming his beard,

Said it is just as I feared,

�A Pearl-spotted Owl,

And two Guinea Fowl,

Have all made their nests in my beard.�

(With apologies to Edward Lear.)

We�re sure the Limerick experts out there can do better. You�re invited to paste your favorite creature limericks into comments, or send them on to me and I�ll add them to the post.