At this moment I live with, or in the vicinity of, 2 dogs, 2 goats, a family of feral cats headed by a renegade Ginger Tom named Tiberius, and a noisy possum.
The dogs. Once upon a time there were two dogs. There beasts were brother and sister, and grew up together from pups side by side. They were free to come and go as they pleased and did so, their favourite past time to take a run down to the irrigation channel for a leisurely swim, then chase some rabbits and back home for tea. It was an idiyllic existence. Unfortunately one day, they mistook sheep for rabbits and ended up with quite the appetite for roast lamb. Living on a farm, this sort of thing is slightly frowned upon. We had two options, keep them locked up, or it was doggy heaven. We opted for the former. A prison of sorts was constructed, dubbed Guantanimo, the dogs could usually breach the walls with 4 hours. Very intelligent. Bodie, the female, was the brains of the operation, Butch, the male, the brawn. Just before Xmas last year Butch chased a snake, the snake didn't like to be chased, the rest is history. We were all very sad at his passing, such a lovely, if mischeavous, character. None was as sad as Bodie, she had lost her companion and she developed a sorrowful look in her eye. However, every cloud has a silver lining, and this lining came in puppy-shaped form. Despite her mother also being her half sister and her father also being her uncle, Molly came into this world as one happy little dog, despite obviously falling a little short in the brains department.
Molly loves life. She loves chasing rabbits. She loves going for a walk. She especially loves stealing my boot off the verandah and then hiding it in the woods. Especially when it has just been raining so I have one wet shoe, one dry shoe. Bodie is still sad, she sees Molly as a distinct inconvenience, an interruption into her life. I think she still misses Butch too much. At least we now have something to remember him by.
The goats are new arrivals. They are still kids. I had to collect them on Thursday. Due to reasons of bad planning, I had to pick them up in the van. Our van is only a small transit with a tiny cab. The goats had to ride in the front with me all the way home, 55 minutes away. They tried to eat everything, including my ipod. I had to pull over. I looked them in the eye and gave them 3 grounds, 1 - no shitting, 2 - no pissing, 3 - no shitting AND pissing. It took Goat One 3 minutes to break the first rule. It took Goat Two 15 minutes to break rule one. Unfortunately, he had just climbed onto my lap so broke rule one all over me. Voices were raised, assurances were given it wouldn't happen again. Luckily when i passed the police car in Barham with one goat with its head out of the window, and another on my lap trying to eat the indicator, he didn't see me. Made it back to the farm, dusted myself off and checked for droppings. Introduced the goats to their new home. My goat is all white, like an albino but without the crazy red eyes, I called him Barney, as he is AWESOME. Goat Two, black and white and shaggy, was named Mr Tumnus. Not by me. I don't think it will be long before this is changed. I've only known them for two days, I like them already, they follow me around, eating grass as they go, like organic lawnmowers.
The cats. Haven't seen them for a while. I used to learn gone-off tuna out for them and they'd come and snaffle it in the middle of the night. I always thought to myself, I wonder what a cat that lives 500km from the sea thinks of the taste of tuna. They must have liked it though. One time we caught one of them, a ginger tom named Tiberius. He was a mercurial fellow. One moment it was all hssing and scratching, the next he was running all over us and as tame as a pet. Turns out he didn't like us, he ran off after two days.
The possum, Julian. I don't have much to say about him, apart from he is a creature of habit. Every night, approximately 7.15pm, he jumps from the roof onto his favourite tree for his nocturnal adventures. I like to think he glides around the treetops , throwing pinecones at unsuspecting owls. He lives above my room. Sometimes he gets lucky and brings home 'company'. Those nights I don't get much sleep.
These are the animals I share my life with.
