She was a stray kitten.  Landed on the doorstep of my brothers work partner,
who was allergic to cats.  So she came to the office, and I claimed her and
she would sit in my chair with me as I worked.

She was named to go with a friends cat, Zooey, although they were both
girls.

Anyway, Franny was an independent cat from the start.  She was one mean
mouser, bringing 2-4 mice a day to me in our on-campus apartment from the
mini swamp area behind our building.

She also liked to pull my underwear through the open slots that served as
handles on our campus supplied dressers.  Then she would drag them down
three flights of stairs and throw them all over our shared living area.
Franny had a twisted sense of humor.
She also liked to knock plants on one of my housemates head.  (Thats sort of
what the roommate gets for putting them on a shelf above her bed.)

She is also the cat that trained the border collie I had at the time.

One meow = sit

Two meows = lie down

It was pretty cool.

It may not have worked with any other dog, Henry was very very sweet and
always wanted to please.

Franny wanted to be the Queen of the Universe.

Once, a friend came over with her dog.... and Henry, my border collie, got
all brave, and the two dogs chased Franny under the bed. (I'm sure Henry
just thought he was playing, but the other dog was not)

When the other dog left, Franny came out and smacked the bejesus out of
Henry for chasing her.

I miss that cat.  She died at age 10 of kidney failure.  She used the last
of her energy to get into bed with me, and she died in my arms.  Henry had
to be put to sleep the following year, we never figured out what caused his
swift and sharp decline, but I think it was a broken heart for missing
Franny cat.

TBird <--- nostalgic