Animals are People Too

Ok, consider yourself forwarned. I have a significant amount of 'stuff' just roaming around my mind and this blog is about to become my choice sharing mechanism, our loyal blog readers. Read with caution and an open mind :).

Today, my mind has been wandering...aimlessly...(cuz that's what it does when I don't have imminent and time consuming work to occupy the grey matter)... and thinking about significant animals in my life, and how these animals have impacted who I am as a person. Not to mention... the people who associate themselves with these animals and the impact they have on me too!

So allow me to introduce a few of these animals to you, so that you can become acquainted with them too!:)

First, let me tell you about Garfield (cat). Garfield was born on my grandparents' farm near Lenore, Manitoba, when I was about 7 years old. She was a barn cat, and was quite wild. She kinda looked a bit like a grey tabby, but had an orange tip on her tail, so OF COURSE the name garfield was more than appropriate. Let me also introduce to you all my cousin, Brent, who was (is) one of my closest friends growing up. Brent and I would spend hours chasing down the very tiny kitten, Garfield, through the wooded areas on our grandparents' farm. Once caught, we would shower her with affection and withstand her scratching and biting for as long as possible, before we would succumb to the pain, and set her free again. [*remember that Saturday cartoon with the crazy little girl who would grab the terrified cat and love it and squeeze it and pet it and hug it.... ya, that was us*]. The poor kitten would take off to the forrest again, most likely praying to the little kitten gods to stop the crazy children from assaulting her. I remember sending Brent into the REALLY forrested areas alone (I was bossy back then. Of course I've gotten over that now! shut up.) to retrieve Garfield and he would come out with skinned knees and twigs stuck everywhere, but with the kitten everytime! And eventually, this scared little kitten became one of the best cat friends/pets there ever was :). She lived a very long and happy life with Brent, and his parents, and would, on serveral occassions, affectionately bring mice up to their front door and would expect praise and admiration for her brave efforts to bring food to her family. **tearing up. :) Brent, you should share more stories about Garr.

And now the story of Princess (cat). As I'm sure you all know, Becca and I basically grew up together, and during our childhood, she had many pets (dogs, cats, rabbits, etc), but the Princess (selfishly) was the most special to me because I was there the day she arrived to their home! And I remember the tears streaming down Becca's face as she held the rather small pure white fluffball tightly! Esme (Becca's mom, my 2nd mom) brought Princess home from Edmonton, and the people from the shelter/store told her that Princess was actually quite mean and aggressive! In fact, the opposite was true. This kind (and a bit, um... how can I put this delicately, dumb), beautiful cat watched Becca, and me on several occassions, as we grew up! I remember that Princess used to yell to figure out where we were in the house when she wanted some love. And I also remember, when I used to live with Becca and Trent, that although I had a no cat rule in my room, on many occassions I would bring her into my room to sleep with me at night...inspite of the small drool problem:)... Becca should share more Princess stories :).

Marlowe. Ah, Marlowe. This Jack Russell Terrier is a bundle of incredible energy! Marlowe lives with Becca and Trent, and is too smart for her own good! Brad, to her, is Rope-boy. When Brad visits, Marlowe knows that he will play rope with her, which consists of a game of keep-away as brad bravely attempts to keep the rope away from the bundle of energy dog who will never give up on her quest to 'get the rope'. never gives up. ever. And so finally, Marlowe gets the rope! yay! and then the game converts into a tug of war. Fun and growling, and laugther ensues. I love the little Marlowe dog because she's the most loyal, dedicated animal friend ever! Even when she injured her paw leaving blood on the snow (imagine the stark contrast: bright red blood, with white fresh snow... looked like a scary scene), she was just so happy to have her people there to love her and play with her that she didn't feel the pain! And read Becca's blog http://www.beccainhalifax.blogspot.com for more Marlowe stories.

And now for some Max time. Roz and Nelson's cat is certainly one of a kind. He and I have many deep and meaningful conversations (aka, he bellows, and I bellow back, and he, seemingly shocked that some has taken the time to talk back, continues with the discourse). Max is the fluffiest cat in the history of fluffy cats. In fact, once Chris came over and asked if Roz had just washed him or something. Nope. just that fluffy! Max likes to relax (like many of us do), and clean his mane (also a fond past time for many of us, I'm sure); however, he often gets lost in the moutainous thickness of mane around his neck (hey, I don't judge, hairy manes could also be a problem for some of us...). Ask Roz, and she will mimick her beloved kitty and his attempts at cleaning himself, which involves some interesting tongue action and neck rotating on her part. Because he is so fluffy, he also has very fluppy paws! And consequently, lino is sheer terror. I'm sure we'd understand if we had nothing but fur oozing out from between our toes, thereby causing us to have no traction when we run on the blasted linoleum, when chasing after the feather! Yes, and also, I love Max very much, but not very smrt :)

Enkido and Ozzie poo! Ozzy (ozzie??) was the kitten rescued by Trent ... when he was ramming his head into the wall. The kitten, not the Trent. Well, maybe Trent too. And ever since then I've been very fearful of Oz! Like the rocker, his namesake, he's a very scary soul! I'm sure he's just misunderstood.. .but still! Mr Oz has introduced me to the stereotypical cat who thinks of us, mere humans, as his staff and are we are basically in the way most of the time unless we are feeding them. Nevertheless, his personality is definite! And then!... I saw pics of a very shameful Oz when he had to have his fur shaved! Not so high and mighty now! :) And then there's Enkido, who is lovey dovey and is the only one who truly understands Ozzie. Trent once wanted to trim Enkido's whiskers because they were tickling him when he tries to sleep at night! How cruel would that be! suddenly Enkido would run in to everything.... Mean, Trent. Maybe you should be ramming your head into the wall to empathasize :)

Matt and Kim's dog children are Jade and Logan. These dogs have very similar personalities to our cats! (more on them later.) Jade is a very tall, skinny dog who would be happiest with a bone, and person (or several) to love her endlessly. Logan would like to be told that he's a very handsome purebread huskey and then would like a snowbank to play in. :) Jade, on several occassions, has been told to "go lie down" when in reality Brad and I really don't mind her placing her long skinny face on our laps for love, while we play cards at the kitchen table. It's also amusing how both dogs would love some attention from Daorcey, who is quite allergic and would rather not bestowe love on the obviously starved for attention dogs. haha! Kim should share some goofy dog children stories :)

Mongo. Oh, my Mongo. Those who are familiar with my childhood and living in Cold Lake know that my parents and I pretty much shared everything (homes, yards, everything!) with our neighbors, Mel, Ron and the boys (Kyle, Reese, and Brett). When Ron and Mel moved in next door to us, they had this adorable puppy with this black face and fuzzy grey body, named Mongo! I fell in love with him instantly. He was my mongo! He grew to be a large dog, with a big face, a menacing woof, a large body, but rather stumpy legs. I used to spend hours, (in fact the wee hours of the morning as I was babysitting the boys, who'd be fast asleep), talking to mongo, petting him, and showering him with affection. He had very very thick fur and actually preferred to be outside, but selfishly I used to make him stay inside and cuddle with me until he would wimper while relentlessly panting. Also, when I would bring him inside during the winter, he would have to lie on the carpet by the door until he was dry. And he knew this rule, but he would very often crawl on his belly, covertly of course, to come closer for some love. And if he was desperate enough, he would walk over to me, and place his large dark face directly in front of mine so that I couldn't possibly ignore him. He was so awesome!!! I miss Mongo everyday.

Monty! Ange and Matt's adorable doggie has taken away any hidden fear of large dogs! He is the most adorable dog ever! And he's the largest dog I've ever met (An American bulldog, I think). He's super awesome; even his drooling problem is cute. Also cute, is his attempt to roll over! oh-my-gosh! I've witnessed him as he HEAVES his very large dog body over... takes quite the effort! He lies on Ange's feet, often, and her blood circulation is affected... so big, but so CUTE!

Simon. Simon is our Tabby cat. We rescued him from the SPCA when he was about 5 weeks old. Before he came home with us, he had to be force fed! Wow, what a stark contrast to the Simon we know now! ~~more on that later. From day one, he was full of piss and vinegar. He could fit into the palms of our hands, so little, yet such a large personality. As a kitten, he very rarely slept. All he would do was play! For the first few weeks, Simon had a kitty cold, which meant that he had sneezes very similar to the Roz sneeze (grab a kleenex, stat.) I remember we would wake up (sorry, folks this is a bit gross!) in the morning and our duvet would be covered with Simon snot! The lady from the SPCA told us that he would probably want to be left in a room by himself for the first little bit so that he wasn't overwhelmed by such a large new surrounding. haha!. no. Simon, to this day, suffers from seperation anxiety when a door is closed and there is someone on the otherside. So, basically, from day 2, he had full run of our house. Anyway, back to Simon and his playing. He would play all day and all night.... a problem for me when I had to go to sleep early for school the next day. Simon, at about midnight would bring all of his toys to bed with us, and would pounce all over the bed. All night. So, being the mean and nasty person I am, I used to make Brad get up and play vigorously with him to try and tire him out, so that I could get some sleep! Moreover, Simon loves food. In fact, in his opinion, there is never enough food for the Simon. He's a 17 pound very large, but very beautiful tabby cat. We discovered that Simon is most likely a bengal, which is a few generations off an Asian snow lepard. That explains his size and his crazy personality. Simon knows "supper time", "off the counter", "treat", "out of the kitchen" ~~~~ you will notice that all of these phrases can be linked to food, directly or indirectly. We are fully trained to the ways of the Simon cat, who routinely wakes brad up around 6 am for his breakfast. Thanks to Roz, and her affection, Simon will now withstand some love and cuddles for approximately 1 min and 12 seconds. After that, you've been warned . He is honestly the funniest cat....

MEETOO!.... Meetoo is a baby kitten, even now at over 1 year old. We rescued him, unexpectedly from 4 Paws Rescue when he was about 6 weeks old. We went to Pet Smart to pick up some kitty litter and I went in to see the kittens..and There ws the black and white little guy stretching his paw out in my direction as far as he could! Instant love. During the drive home with him, however, I had a sudden burst of fear... They placed him in a box, did the box up, and handed the box to us to go home. Ya, 3.5 seconds later, he was attempting to break out of said box. So on the drive home, I had brad pull over as we had this little deamon cat attempting to rip right through the cardboard! (I secretly do I have a fear of kittens, and this didn't help much). Brad opened the box, and let him out.... Meetoo found his way to my lap, began purring, and such has been our relationship ever since. :) Meetoo has a certain love quota that needs to be filled everyday. He could do without play... he would rather have a warm lap and some cuddles to make him the happiest kitten ever. He's quite small... especially in comparison to our horse, I mean cat, Simon, who loves and hates his brother. See, Simon loves to play, and gets rather insulted by Meetoos lack of interest. Makes for some pretty one-sided wrestling matches. I love these guys so much!... while they can both be pains, I know that Brad agrees... our lives wouldn't be the same without them... more stories on them to come, I'm sure.

In my concurrent thoughts on all these animals...and their impact on me... I guess I've come to realize how humbling it is to have an animal give you this kind of devotion ... It's nice to have these memories bring a smile to my face... kind of put things in perspective. It's nice to not be judged... and to easily avoid criticism, yet to have these loyal friends touch our lives.

Ok, this is my mushy post. I'd love to hear some of your animal friend stories!

T