First Ever Blog for me

Welcome to my blog :-)

I'm sitting here with a cat on my lap. He's a fairly big cat too, and he's making it rather hard to type, but he's cute and I love him, so he's welcome to stay put for now. When he gets too annoying I'll probably dislodge him, but currently he's just looking cute and trying to sleep, and that's okay with me.

I have to admit, I really do like cats. I never used to. I grew up with dogs my whole life. I was brought up to believe that cats were icky. Cats were meant to be run over by cars. Cats were meant to be chased by dogs. Cats were meant to be hosed....that kind of stuff.

And then one day I was adopted by a cat and my whole life changed. Not the one that is lying spread out over my lap, he came after. But my first cat is still with me, and she's beautiful. I guess she's probably about 9 now. I'm not sure, because she was a stray who followed me home one week and then moved in one Friday evening and stayed put for two weeks, before finally going and sitting on the top of my steps. Of course, now she's just another member of my ever growing family of adopted animals.

Since I moved out of home, I've been adopted by a chook (a white leghorn chicken) who I called Sally, my first beautiful fluffy grey cat, the boy who is sitting on my lap just now, a dalmatian dog, who was given to me because for the two of us it was love at first sight, and besides, she's beautiful, a fair few guinea pigs, and most recently, two twin kittens. My family tell me I am using my pets as replacement children, because I don't currently have any kids. I don't know about that. I think if you are adopted by an animal, then it happened for a reason. I love my animals to bits, and yes they get spoiled, but I'm not 100% sure they are replacement kids. Well, maybe they are...just a little :-)

My sister told me the other day that her biggest fear was that I would end up as a Cat Lady. You know, one of those old women who live in a house with hundreds and hundreds of cats, and who are generally a little strange, and all the local kids are scared of her and say she's a witch and stuff.

I really hope I DON'T turn out like that! I love my cats, but I know 4 is way too many, when you add a guinea pig and a dog to the mix. Especially when two of the cats are indoor only cats because they are so inbred they can run head first into the side of the couch and not even miss a beat, or careen head first into a wall and not notice, or truly believe they can fly, and therefore jump off the top of the highest thing they can find, and wonder why they go splat onto the ground below.

Now, exactly how long would they last outside my house in the street? Probably not very long at all. I know they are inbred because their dad is also their half brother, their grandfather, their uncle and their cousin. And their mum is their sister and aunt as well as being their mum. That said, there isn't a nasty bone in either of their cute little bodies, and they are so happy to see you that they turn on their little engines and purr the house down. Oh how I love being woken in the morning by a cat at each ear, purring madly into it! :-)

It's Autumn here, and starting to get a bit cool at night. I haven't decided if it is going to be a cold winter yet, though. Where I live it doesn't snow, it just gets very very windy. Not that I have any trouble keeping warm when I have four cats and a very large dog all vying for a place on my lap! I don't let the dog in the house. She's too big, and she's a little TOO fond of the two older cats, and the guinea pig, to let her roam free. That and she hogged the bed on the two occasions I DID let her in for the night.

My cats, however, well, unless I lock them ALL in the bathroom together (NOT a good idea), I generally end up with at least three of the four cats on the bed for most of the night. The twins and Mr Vampire Teeth (the boy on my lap currently) all have a thing about attacking anything that moves, so apparently my feet are fair game. My old girl though, she just loves sleeping across my neck, on my shoulder, or generally as close to my head as she can get, so every time I open my eyes, she's nose to nose with me. Actually, that's pretty true of the other three as well.

When I can, I try to make other arrangements for them, so I can get a decent night's sleep. There's just NOT enough room in a single bed for four cats and one human, or one very very large dalmatian and one little human. Maybe I'm just too soft hearted. I don't want them to be cold, and they are nice little heaters to have on the bed in winter. Not the dog though. She's just smelly. Smelly, but lovable. But anyway, I digress.

No I am NOT obsessed with my animals. :-) I've just reread what I have written above, and I know I sound like I am, but I really am not obsessed. I do have other things in my life.

I'm reading a very interesting book currently. It's called "Reach For The Skies". It's the autobiographical story of Douglas Badar. He was in the Air Force in WW2, and he lost both legs. I think he was the first pilot to have two metal legs. They made a film about his life many years ago, by the same title as the book. I remember watching it with Dad. Every time there was a war flick on TV (or a John Wayne film) Dad would call me from wherever I was in the house to watch it with him. I think, quite possibly, that I have seen every single war film made until about 1985. Oh, and Seven Samurai. I don't know how many times I've seen that.

I think Dad has a great deal to do with how I view the world. In fact, I know he does. He's shown me a world I don't know that I would have seen by myself. Life hasn't always been easy between us, but of all the teachers I have had in my life, his lessons were the ones that stuck the hardest. He taught me to question everything. To not wear blinkers when looking at the world. To laugh at everything and everyone, including myself. He taught me to love and be loved, but mostly he taught me to stand up for myself and be honest to who I am. He taught me how to fight the good fight. He taught me to look beyond what is right in front of me, and to go in search of answers, of rights and wrongs, of wonderlust, of freedom. He taught me to be me.

Wow, my mind really is wandering tonight. I seem to go off on a tangent a lot....

I've been wondering what else I can say right now, or what I'd like to add to my first ever blog entry. Maybe just a short bio? :-) A list of likes and dislikes? OK. :-)

Favourite Movie: 1949 version of A Secret Garden (with Margaret O'Brien)

Favourite Book: "Pastures of a Blue Crane". It's an Australian book, and not politically correct, but very descriptive.

Favourite Band: I have so many. 'Men at Work', 'Divynals', 'Australian Crawl', 'Aqua', 'The Beatles', 'The Monkees', 'Hedgehoppers Anonymous', 'Diesel Park West', to name just a few.

Favourite Food: Dad's Macaroni and Cheese. But it has to be made by Dad. Or it's no good. Mum's Irish Stew and Dumplings.

Favourite Animal: Friesian Cows.

Favourite type of ship (so okay this one is an odd question): triple expansion coal fired steam tug (and yes, I'm aware that a tug isn't big enough to be a ship, and is actually a boat, but a tug is just as strong, if not stronger than an average ship, and so qualifies to be classed as a ship)

Favourite Place to visit: Well I've never left Australia, so I will have to say this great wide brown land that I call home!

Favourite Poem: "A Sunburnt Country", by Dorethea Mackellar. Also, "The Loaded Dog", by Henry Lawson, and "A Road Less Travelled", by Robert Frost.

Favourite Author: Raymond E Feist

Favourite Colour: umm....purple, green, sky blue? Yellow, sometimes. Happy colours, colours of nature, colours of the sea.

Favourite time of day: sunrise.

Favourite TV show: MASH, Doc Martin, Dr Who (mostly the old version, but the new one isn't too bad), Law and Order, Cops, anything Star Trek, Stargate, Babylon 5, La Prova del Cuoco

Favourite Song: "Reuben James", Men at Work's "Down Under", "One Night in Bangkok" from CHESS, "When The Hoodoo Comes", "It's Good News Week", "These Boots Are Made For Walkin", "Dr Jones"....others.

What are you listening to right now?: KLF - Justified Ancients of Moo-Moo, Bluegrass Student Union (Barbershop), FRED (Barbershop), Boney M, Benny Goodman, stuff like that.

What are you reading currently?: "Reach for the Skies", a Star Trek Voyager novel (number 2, I think), "My Brilliant Career", "Coonardoo", and another book I've forgotten the name of right now.

What's your ideal job?: being a deckhand on a tug boat.

How many siblings do you have?: One. An older sister.

Are both your parents still alive?: yes.

What is the MOST IMPORTANT thing in your life?: my family

Okay...I can't think of anything else to say for now.