Friday flashback

I don’t often do a flashback but cleaning up my files i found these..and as i sometimes feel we have so much to do..i realise when i see this that we have done an awful lot in the four years we have been here..and this is just one part of 11 acres and not including the inside..goodness me 🙂

Have a super friday folks i am off to beddies 🙂

Before..yikes

After…

Magic found in the small things

No matter my age I always find a childlike joy in the simplest of things…
At Christmas time these beetles arrive and as Aussies we know them as Christmas beetles..
Their carapace’s are usually the most iridescent of turquoise blue purple and emerald..
I remember when one of our sons Christopher was little ..I sat in the backyard with him and we studiously watched this adorable beetle on the ground..
Chris’s little hands were clasped and his little chubby fingers very still…a rarity for a child that woke up at full speed and went to bed the same way..
We sat and I talked to him about beetles and creatures..much as I always did with all the kids….loving that time when a parent can make magic for a child with a simple story …a time when lessons for life about respect for the world we live in is forged..
We sat and watched as this little creature waddled along on the ground amongst the browning grass of summer and with heat radiating down.
The moment of magic arrived…..all of a sudden this little beetle opened it’s wings and took flight…
The magic was the reaction of Christopher…as it took off he was so intent watching that it startled him…did he cry…did he try and squash it..no
his whole little body just shivered..like you do when you get a chill all of a sudden…or something seems creepy…he wasn’t scared at all he simply got caught up in the moment.
This little boy who is now a married man …you see the magic is that I will always remember that sunny summer day when a little boy who was always so busy spent time with his mum on the ground watching a beetle…
See the small things this weekend as you may never know just how big an impact they will have on your life:)

Me and my little friend the Xmas Beetle

WARM WISHES TO OUR WINTER FRIENDS

MONDAY MEMORIES

Five years ago today we said goodbye to my beautiful Merlin Mc Tavish….he was my boy my soft cuddly gentle little man who never raised a paw in anger..

When I first met Tav (as we always ended up calling him) he was lucky to be six weeks old two kids came to our door and asked if he and his sister were ours..i said no and to come back if they couldn’t find where they came from..they came back the next day and said they were allowed to keep one kitten because they couldn’t find their owners..i said I will take one and they asked which one and I chose Tav..well he chose me..he had a huge tummy from a bad worm burden and he looked scruffy and dirty and meowed quietly but his engine was on full purr.He also had a bad leg and it appeared he may have been attacked by something and he had a big scab with an ulcer underneath…

We took him to the vets and the poor little thing was in a bad way..he needed antibiotics due to his worm burden taking it’s toll on his little tummy and he needed worming..badly..he had some shots and home he came.His  leg healed well which was a blessing as it was a mess.

Weeks he was on antibiotics but it did not stop him giving Simba a run for his money (who was about four or five months older at this time) and our old girl Squash just sniffed him and ignored him.

Merlin spent his days with me..gaining a tummy from weight not worms and I became besotted with him.

This little guy grew so well and with occasional bouts of tummy infections popping up he was back to the vets every now and then but took it all in his stride.

We had him desexed vacc’d and he was a member of the family that had everyone in his spell.

He was after all named after the master magician 🙂

Merlin was the most gentle cat I have ever met…he was a smoocher and was happy pottering in our back yard and lying under the maple trees watching the world go by..he had a thing about shoes…if there was an odd pair near the door..ones he had not seen before he would leap over them to get in..no idea why..he just did…when he slept with me at night he had to have his head tucked right under my chin.if I rolled over he followed and tucked his head right back under my chin..my boy my sweet Tav….

We had a feral turn up one day and he beat the daylights out of Merlin right in our backyard in front of us..he was a mess..this feral raked his head almost to bone..straight to the vets we went…poor baby was in a bad way…we fixed him up but were unaware of the chain of events..still a bit naïve to Feline Aids we were..

It was about a year later that he developed and abscess..it just kept recurring..he would get antibiotics and then back it would come..i knew by now as I had immersed myself in Volunteer work at a shelter that this was possibly much more than an abscess issue but an immune issue..i took him to our vet and said  can you test him do you think he has aids? The vet sadi we will test him I think it may be..

The phone call I received confirmed my worst nightmares..my Tav had Feline aids ..I was shattered.

How could I have been so naïve..

We did everything we could for my boy..his diet changed (it was a good diet but we needed to add extra fro him) we had him on homeopathics and kept on top of any bugs he got.The vets and I decided to ceases yearly vacs as he didn’t need more bug in his system and was an indoor cat now anyway.

We had Merlin for five years from diagnosis he was happy just spending his days with us inside chilling or in his enclosure on his hammock watching the world go by..if I called him in from the enclosure and he didn’t respond my heart would stop…he just wanted to sit there…naughty boy..he slept with his head up under my chin and if he stopped purring my heart would stop..i dreaded losing him..reality was we had to make the choice for him.

So five years ago on this day I looked at my boy ..I am crying just typing this… he looked at me and I said it’s time Tavvie..I can’t hold onto you for my sake anymore…you can let me go my sweet boy..

My heart broke..we stayed with him our vet let us be with him as long as we wanted..i didn’t want to leave him…hubby and I felt broken…

But the truth is he was tired,he was eating but because he had to ..his coat had lost it’s black sheen and was not as soft as it used to be..he was trying to keep going for us..and with hindsight I would have said goodbye sooner but we had lost Simba in the September and my heart just couldn’t deal with it….

Tav I miss you my sweet boy..you would be sixteen now,you were my funny little man…your little white patch of fluff like a pair of bikini pants, your silent meow, your huge purr engine,your brown summer suit of fur you would get as the days got warmer,your gentleness with the foster kittens we had around all the time and most of all your soft head nestled under my chin at night…I know you are with Simba and snuggling like the yin yang you both used too…we will meet again my sweet Tav but for now the worlds a little less soft because you are no longer in it….

Mum xxxx

MY MERLIN

TIMEWARP TUESDAY

I HAVE BEEN GOING THROUGH SOME BOXES AS PART OF MY FIREPLAN,FUNNY I REALISED LAST YEAR I PACKED APPLIANCE MANUALS …IF THE HOUSE IS NO LONGER THERE  WHAT GOOD IS A MANUAL..THEY TAKE UP A HUGE AMOUNT OF SPACE SO THEY CAN STAY HERE ..ANOTHER SILLY THING I LEARNED.

ANYWHO AS I WAS TRYING TO, FOR EXAMPLE CULL PAPER WORK THAT IS NO LONGER NEEDED HERE OR OUT OF THE HOUSE I.E. TAX STUFF FROM THE 80’S ??? ,I HAPPENED UPON A CARD FROM MANY YEARS AGO ..

IT WAS A CARD I GOT FOR A BIRTHDAY AND I HAD ONE FROM MY KIDS AND HUBBY AND ONE FROM MY PETS…

THE PAW PRINTS ARE FROM VEGEMITE THAT GOOD OLD AUSSIE STAPLE (WHICH I DON’T ACTUALLY LIKE) AND IT MADE ME STOP..

YOU SEE ALL THESE BEAUTIFUL DARLINGS ARE OVER THE RAINBOW BRIDGE NOW.

SQUASH FEMALE LONG HAIRED GINGER AND WHITE KITTY AT 17 YEARS OLD,EICH A ROTTWEILER WE LOST HIM AT AGE 8 FROM LIVER FAILURE,SIMBA BLACK PANTHER KITTY WE LOST HIM AT AGE 8 HE WAS SHOT AND MERLIN A BLACK PANTHER KITTY WE LOST AT AGE 7 TO FELINE AIDS.. THIS CARD IS A DEFINITE PACK TO GO ITEM..I HAVE THEM ALL LEAVING THEIR PAW PRINTS ON THIS AND I WILL NEVER FORGET THEM.

 

MY RAINBOW BRIDGE BABIES

BITTER-SWEET FLASHBACK FRIDAY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUZONxPNGbA&feature=player_detailpage

FOUND THIS VIDEO OF OUR MUCH MISSED SIMBA..HE LOVED BEING VACUUMED IT WAS THE ULTIMATE GROOMING FOR HIM….NEXT MONTH MARKS FOUR YEARS SINCE HE WAS SHOT AND KILLED BY SOMEONE IN BROAD DAYLIGHT.

R.I.P. AT THE RAINBOW BRIDGE SWEET MAN UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN.

MISS YOU ..LOVE YOU AND WILL NEVER GET OVER YOUR LEAVING US IN SUCH A VIOLENT WAY..

THIS VIDEO IS HOW I CHOOSE TO REMEMBER YOU..A SENSE OF FUN..AN INDIVIDUAL..AND A CAT LIKE NO OTHER I HAVE EVER MET..