My cat the protector....

I finally sold my house. Now I just have to find somewhere to live....

Well, I'm in the process of selling anyway. I've got a buyer, we've signed contracts, but it's going to take a few months to finalise, which is fine with me, because it gives me a chance to be ruthless with my belongings, and chuck all the crap, plus I can take my time packing up properly.

And besides, it gives me a little more time to find a house :-)

The moving company delivered the packing boxes today, though I've spent since yesterday packing books into any smaller-sized box that was sealable that I could find, so now I have 27 boxes at last count, all sealed up with books in them, waiting for me to find a house to move to.

Tonight I started packing up my music and craft books, using the moving company's boxes. The small ones are actually slightly bigger than the boxes I was using for books, but they are meant for books. I never thought sheet music and charts could weigh so much though!

I'll have to get my boyfriend to help me move all the boxes I have packed tonight downstairs next time he is over. They are very heavy, but apparently I'm packing them with the right things, and they said to pack them to full capacity, so here's hoping.

I still have the big boxes to pack. Mostly with clothes and bedding. That will be fun.

What the company supplied was what they call an "Oversupply". It's supposed to be more boxes than you'll ever need, but I'm starting to wonder if it will be enough, if I can fill 27 boxes with books, and still have a sea of books to pack!

I don't plan on moving again any time soon, that's for sure. Once I've found a new place and moved, that's it for another decade.

I guess it would be easier if I actually drove, because then I could move a great deal of stuff to the new place by myself, and not necessarily need all the boxes, but there is only so much I can take on the train, which is how I will get at least some of the stuff to the new place. That's assuming I get possession of the new house before moving day, anyway, and not ON moving day.

I'm so totally buggered today. I've been up since 6:30am, waiting for these boxes to arrive, and I've been keeping myself busy by going through other boxes and chucking stuff, and then packing those boxes up with books.

I'll be glad when it's all done.

I'll be glad when I am settled in my new place, even if it means two years of unpacking :-)

And I will be even gladder when I can finally get another dog. I miss my old girl so much. Especially now. I know she'd have loved all this. She would have been terribly annoying, having underfoot all the time, but she would have loved it anyway.

I have noticed that my boy cat, Mr Vampire Teeth, has progressively taken over the role of protector from her. He's always at the back door waiting for me each morning, lying exactly where my old girl used to lie, so now I have to tell him to move his bum out of the way so I can get the door open and go downstairs, just as I had to with my darling dalmatian. And if I sit on the back stairs in the morning with a cuppa, he climbs up into my lap, and head butts me.

When he gets underfoot, as only a cat can, I generally end up picking him up (which turns on the purring engine), and carry him from place to place, like I did today when I went out to check the mail box. When he starts to purr, he also starts to dribble though, so I generally end up with a wet shoulder or sleeve :-)

He's terribly sweet though, when he's not trying to rip my feet apart.

Anyway, I need sleep. Got more boxes to pack tomorrow!

The difference between cats and dogs.......

Have you ever really watched an animal? I was thinking about it today, while watching my cats do their regularly strange little things, and it occured to me that they aren't just animals, without a brain, or conciousness, but are actual living little creatures with little personalities and mannerisms and such.

I knew all this before, of course, because I've grown up around animals all my life, but just sometimes they do something that reminds you of that.

I found some pictures today of puppies and dogs and cats and kittens, and it occured to me that dogs and puppies always look guilty when they are doing things they shouldn't, like tearing a teddy bear to death, or digging up your vegie patch, or even scratching themselves when they know you've put a healing cream on them and so they shouldn't scratch. But cats?

My cats at least, well they never seem to look guilty about much at all, except for the twins. They often look guilty, because quite often they are! My two older ones though, if they've just shredded something, or done their business somewhere they shouldn't, they give me a look that says "well if you waited on us at our every beck and call like we think you should, then we wouldn't do it!", and so it ends up being my fault somehow. But the twins? They seem to know that they shouldn't do these things, and so they have the good grace to look embarrased and sorry when they do :-)

I caught one of my older cats today, just sitting on his bum in the back yard. Not doing anything, just sitting and looking about him. Since my dog died, he's had full run of the back yard, and I often look out my kitchen window and see him prancing around the yard, much as my old girl did when she was alive. As I have said before, my older boy cat (Mr Vampire Teeth) seems to have taken over the role of protector from my dog. My older girl cat appears to be content to spend more and more time inside these days, though I guess I'm not surprised, given she's 10 now.

My life is still full with my pets, and trying to pack up my house - though I've not done a lot of that recently due to having had the flu for about four months now, and having started physio on my back recently, but I'm getting there.

I still have my wonderful boyfriend, and he's been just about the best friend a girl can have recently, taking care of me while I've been sick, and keeping my spirits up when I think I am going to be sick all of the rest of my life.

Anyway, stuff to do, and sweet little kitten cats to hug and kiss and spend time with.

Rain Rain come this way........

We need more rain. Our dams are pretty much empty. We need a flood or two, not that I want to live through that particularly, but we definitely need the rain. Actually, I could live without the rain here, so long as it rained over the dams. That'd be good.

This morning it's raining. The weather men and women on the great god TV tell us that it will rain much of the week, which probably means it won't, because when are they ever right? I mean, honestly....

I like the rain, though. It gives me an excuse to curl up in bed with a good book and read for a few hours, or go online and just do some research, which I love to do.

I have to admit though, I know now why I changed from dial-up to broadband. At my boyfriend's place I use dial-up, and it's so incredibly slow, compared to broadband, but at least its unlimited, so I'm not complaining (much) :)

Anyway, things to do, rain to enjoy.

The frailty and fragility of life and the wonders of anime

Since my dog died, I think I've been more aware of the frailty of life on this planet.

Not just human and animal life, either, but plant life too. The day before my old girl died, my rose bush burst into furious blooming, and hasn't stopped yet. Normally, I'll get maybe 12 roses at most all year from the rose bush, but I must have had at least 30 in the last month. And yet, yesterday, when I happened to look at the bush, I noticed only one or two roses on it, when it's been covered in them for weeks now.

And when I was standing in my back yard yesterday, I happened to look up and see a sign writer. He was busy writing "NO DAM" across the sky, but by the time he got to the M in DAM, the NO had almost vanished.

Perhaps I am just more aware now of the life teeming around me on this beautiful planet that we call home, or maybe I just finally opened my eyes again after a long sleep.

Recently, mostly because my boyfriend is seriously into it, I have been discovering the wonders of Japanese Anime. My experiences of this genre previously had been Akira, Neon Genesis Evangeleon, and the old tv show "The Yearling". I loved that show as a kid, and I'd love to track it down on dvd now. But as I said, my boyfriend is into the anime thing, and has a rather nice little collection of dvds (though my collection seems to be growing too, courtesy of a friend of mine who keeps plying me with more) representing this fast growing genre.

The japanese have, apparently, been doing anime for simply ages. It's just that us westerners didn't necessarily know that. We tend to think, as Westerners, that if we didn't create it, it doesn't exist. I found a rather nice blog about that yesterday, that commented on the fact that Western films and tv shows all seem to have an annoying male kid at the centre, and all have intelligence levels of Barney, whereas the Japanese Anime stuff has normal people in it, decent intelligence levels, and a hell of a lot of quirkiness.

One of the series my boyfriend introduced me to involves a talking motorcycle and a girl who travels on it, around the world, only staying in one place for three days at the most. It's an unusual little series, and I'm sad to say I cannot remember the name of it just now, but it's worth watching.

Currently, though, we are attempting to watch all the Studio Ghibli films. I think the oddest one I have seen so far is "My Neighbour Totoro". It involves an 8 foot tall cat. 'Nuff said. :-)

Though Studio Ghibli films all have a lot to say for themselves. A lot of them have inner meanings, and messages. Some are just feel good type films. But most of them you do need to watch more than once. Without offering any offence at all, I think if it was possible to describe them this way, I would say that Studio Ghibli is Japan's answer to Disney, but with more intelligence and better characters.

Apart from that, what have I been up to? Hmm...let's see. I'm in the process of packing up my house for the elusive move that will happen one day, some day, down the track. It also gives me a damn good excuse to stop being lazy and get off my bum and be ruthless and chuck a heap of stuff I've been holding on to for years, that I don't need anymore.

I'm also playing with languages. More for something to do than for any other reason. I've always loved languages. I find them interesting. I get excited at the idea that I can read and write in another language. It's like opening that secret door that always seems to exist in computer games, and finding a whole new level (or world) out there to investigate. But then, I guess I also have a passion for learning in general, as I am discovering. The amount of lecture notes I still have is truly frightening!

Anyway, the day is sunny, and I have things to do.

An innocent soul set free xoxo

My dog has died. Her "visit" this morning was her way of saying goodbye, it seems.

Dad was with her right up until the end, and she died with him there in her kennel, surrounded by greyhounds who had only got to know her over the past week, but who already loved her.

At least she's no longer suffering, and is free once again to be a happy-go-lucky pup.

RIP my sweet and beloved girl. You will never be forgotten, and you were honestly and truly loved.

Happier times....?

Do you believe in psychic goodbyes? I do.

When one of my grandfathers died back in the 1980s, I remember this feeling just before he died, that he was in my room with me, trying to tell me it was his time to go. Shortly after that, the phone rang, and we were told he had died a few minutes before.

The same thing happened in the 1990s when an uncle I loved dearly died. I knew he had died before Mum even rang me at 6.30 in the morning to tell me. All I could say to her was "I know. I was there." She didn't understand, and I don't expect her to, because rightfully I was asleep in my bed at home, not up at the hospital holding his hand.

Last night, or early this morning, I was woken by a jangle of collar, a thrumming down the back stairs, and a happy joyful barking. I haven't had the phone call yet, so I don't know if this means my beautiful, sweet, loving dalmatian has died, and she was coming to say goodbye and let me know she was no longer suffering in any way, or if (and here I know I am hoping like mad, but do you blame me?) perhaps it is her way of saying she is better now, or at least on the mend, and that she will indeed soon be home?

I have had guinea pigs hold on until I came home so they could say their goodbyes to me before dying. I even had a pet chook who let me know her moment of death.

This dog has been special though. She came to me as an older dog, to begin with. Shy, reserved, timid. But coming here seemed to change her. All of a sudden she became this happy, joyful pup again. Walkies were her all-time favourite part of the day, except for maybe dinner time :-)

She has gone from a dog that would lie quietly near the back door, hoping that someone might consider feeding her, to a dog that takes an active role in getting that food from the fridge into her tummy. She howls at the back door, she tries to stick her little wet black nose through the security door mesh, and looks so incredibly sweet and loveable that I can't help but feed her.

When she came here, she had never seen steps, let alone ever had to climb them. She was 5 years old then, and one rainy night, my two older cats got out, so my dog had to come in! And so, in the rain and the dark, I had to teach her how to climb my back steps. I'm sure if anyone had been watching they would have been laughing themselves silly, because in the end it involved me having to show her how to climb the stairs, by going down on all fours and doing it for her, so she could copy me.

In the end, I think the fear of being stuck out in the storm without "mummy" made her give in and attempt those stairs, all the time crying her little heart out. She's always been scared of storms, apparently, so she spent the night inside with me, and believe me when I say that a single bed really and honestly does not fit a human and a dalmatian. She refused to sleep on the floor - just had to sleep with me, I guess. She not only hogged my pillow, but also most of the bed, so I had a sliver on the edge, and she had the rest. But it was worth it, to keep her safe and happy.

There's not much I wouldn't do for this dog.

Together we have discovered the joys of walking. Because of her, I finally managed to lose some excess weight that I just never could shift before. And because of her, too, I am overcoming my shyness around strangers. It's hard to be shy when you are walking a dalmatian, and there are kids around going "ooh doggie!" and "oooh spots!" and such. It's also cool when total strangers shyly come up to you and ask if they may pat your "doggie" because they have never been that close to a dallie before, and have always wanted to pat one.

This dog has changed my life for the better, and I know I have done the same for her.

I just have to hope that if she has indeed died, then wherever she is, she is happy, and joyful, and once again puppy-like. And that if she is still with us, then her "visit" this morning was just a heads-up that she's feeling better, and for me not to be so sad anymore because she's coming back soon.

One can only hope, anyway.

A prayer for my dalmatian

It's cold here today. I got home from a weekend out with my boyfriend only to find that the cats had left little presents for me. Ick. So I opened all the windows last night, after cleaning up the mess (and they had fresh cat litter too, but it seems, chose not to use it this time. Grr). Hence the reason it's cold here today, I guess.

Currently my beloved dalmatian is having a prolonged stay with Dad. She's not at all well, and I guess the cold weather hasn't been helping her much, given she's an older dog to start with. But I do know that I miss her terribly, and hope like crazy that she comes home to me soon.

I have to admit, it's very odd here without her. She'll have been gone a week tomorrow, and I still cannot get used to seeing her empty dog bowl, empty dog bed, and lonely-looking water bucket. It's very strange indeed, not to see her sweet and extremely loveable face staring at me through the back security door, and to hear her whining at me at 3pm every afternoon.

Now that she isn't here, I feel bad about all the times I told her to shut up and stop whining, and made her wait until 3.30pm or even 4pm before I fed her, and all the promises I made to take her walking every single day, twice a day, when in reality I'd take her walking a couple of times a week, though more in winter.

I miss sitting on the back stairs with her, and beginning my day with a cup of coffee and a whole lot of doggie kisses. I miss seeing her stare up at me with her patient, beautiful, sweet, brown doggie eyes, so brimming with love and devotion.

I hate it when she's not here, and yet, I've not even had her two years. Suddenly, I cannot remember what it was like when it was just me, two cats, and a guinea pig or two. The velcro kittens came along with the dalmatian, from the same household, and I know they miss her too. I find them sitting at the back door, miaowing sadly, hoping she'll appear and say hi. My dog loves those two little kittens, though she loves to bark madly at the two older cats :-)

It's strange how one (or a bunch, as in my case) animal can change your life so drastically. I grew up with dogs, for sure, but I never really saw myself as being a dog owner when I became an adult. I didn't really plan on having pets as such, anyway, but the cats, at least, all seemed to adopt me, and so here I am. But when my dog came into my life, and yes, she was another rescue/adoptee, my life changed for the better.

All of a sudden I was out walking all the time, seeing more of my suburb than I had ever done before, meeting people, having complete strangers come up to me and ask if they could pat her because they'd never been that close to a dalmatian before. She's such a happy dog, friendly to the whole world, and I miss her so much. My house feels so empty without her. Granted, it still has four cats and a dalmatian guinea pig in it, but it still feels empty without my old girl.

Quiet. That's it. No happy doggie noises. No thrumming up and down the back stairs. No rushing off to bark at things only she can see. I miss those noises. I miss the fact that its almost impossible to go down the back stairs without having to first ask her to move her backside out of the way. I miss being unable to go around the back yard without her tagging along to "help". I miss her "helping" me hang out the washing too.

I hope she comes home soon. I love her too much to ever want to lose her. Get well soon, my sweet loveable dalmatian.