The Story of Rose - One of Us now

Connections are important to people.

We are a social primate and connections are important to us.  Actually, oftentimes they are the difference between Life and Death.

(Oh I say, things have taken an uncharacteristically dramatic & serious tone for a change) 

So, when another Sentient Being enters my little World, I believe He/She/It has come to me for a reason.

In truth, it isn't (can't) always be positive so let's not get overly gushy or all Rainbow & Fairies about this.

Incidentally, if it isn't a positive experience I learn what I need to & ditch it (or keep it at arm's length) - I will learn from it but I ain't letting it mess with my mojo.

This is a system that includes inter-species connections.  When One gets 'in', I commit to it.

Except Flies, still gonna punch a fly if it sits on me more than twice.

You get 2 sits, Fly, then *POW*!

Flies notwithstanding, this is why I simply do not understand when people get pets and yet, clearly never really commit to them.

...... It gets worse.

How do you walk away from an living being, that has been in your house, has sat with you, trusted you enough to snuggle up to you?

I mean, essentially fly-tipping something with a beating heart, that feels hunger, pain, fear ...... and love.

Gotta tell you, I think there is a special place in H-E- (double hockey-sticks) for those people.

************************

We were not recruiting.
HR (& the not so 'H' part of the Team) were happy with the status quo.  The balance of faces, feet, tails were at a happy equilibrium.

And then, I had to go and respond to a request for help on the Bin Kitty Collective FB page, didn't I?

Just for a few days I assured Trousers.  Promise.

The thing has been just dumped.

We have a spare room.

We have to help.

It'll be fine.

4 weeks later, She is still here.

There was strong, and understandable, resistance from the Largest Member of the Household.
Someone had to, just for show at least, be the Sensible Measured One.

But, the truth is, there were forces at work here bigger than all of us.

Firstly, it is clear, She chose Us.  

The connection she made with the Smallest Biped of the House was astonishing.  

He came with me, when we went to rescue Her, & all the way home had His hand on Her carrier chatting away, giving Her the heads up on other creatures of the House She was going to meet.

What they liked. "Ollie likes to shout"
What they did.  "Bea likes to sleep"
"Don't worry, you have a family now."

"Errrrrrrr, sweetheart, She isn't staying. We will find Her her own family, ok?"

"Yup" (He knew, even then, didn't He?)

  Secondly, the rest of the Crew gave Her the thumbs-up too.

CREW MEMBER #1
The 70kg Dog after 2 days of
"Want to look. Want to look. 

*shaking with effort of restraint* 

REALLY want to look. Mustn't chase. 

*OUCH!* 

She hit me! Didn't anyone else see Her just hit me?!?!"

CREW MEMBER #2

The stripy Sighthound.
Supposedly with an un-override-able genetic disposition to Seek, Chase & Destroy all that is small and furry (but who has lived for past 10 years with 3 cats and a parrot) ..... was:


"And who is this?"

*OUCH!* 

"She hit me!
Meh.  Over it"

CREW MEMBER #3

Incy-wincy cat.
Looks like a Pixie.

Super-relaxed. Snuggles in the winter, sunbathes in the Summer - that's his thing.
Unleashes the 7 Levels of HELL and turns to a Teeny-Weeny Hell Creature of Fury and Violence when another cat comes in the garden.

"OK, so here's my plan:
1) I will glare at her 24/7 through the window for 7 days. Yup, sideways ears, small, serious eyes, the whole thing.
2) then, I will make scary sounds at her for the 1st 30 minutes of when we actually meet.

and then, 

3) I shall go and sunbathe."

And here is the Most Important Bit of All: 
* In our house, we talk alot about how families are made with a special kind of magic.

* That there are lots of different ways that Families are made.  And all Families are different.

* But all made with the same magic.

We believe, heck, we are PROOF, that those that are meant to be a Family, will always find each other.

So, here She is.
She is one of Us now.

Perhaps you'd like to meet Us?

Thought you might like to have an idea as to who we are - what better than to provide a visual? (please stop watching so much Star Trek, Pants)

TaaaaaaDaaaaaaa, here we are......

 

 

To clarify, Daddy (Trousers) is not YouKnowWho.

(calm down, Conspiracy Theorists. THAT guy def did come to a sticky end with Eva Braun in that bunker. Or DID he?).

 

Hair depiction of the 3 humans fairly accurate - ranging from 'Long' to 'Some' to, well, 'No Hair'.

Also featured are most, but not all, of our animal family members.  He was keen to include them.  Even the dead ones.

 

Yeah, the dead ones.  Last year was a tough year, we lost 4 of our family last year.

*  STANLEY, Greyhound, old old old age.  He came with us from the UK to Dubai & had a wonderful 8 years here.

 

*  GLORIA, Great Dane. Sadly, she was only about 3 yrs old, max. She was really sick when she came to live with us & we knew we'd only have a few months but we were determined for her to have a real home & know nice things like grass & love & cuddles before she left this earth.

*  IVY (not pictured), cat, 4 years old , handreared by Me since 1 hr old.  Presumed killed, shot.  Can't talk about it really.  Will do sometime. Not now.

 

*  TONY, Pekinese (Peke), 4 yrs old. Accident, hit by a car when he escaped from the house.  Despite weighing no more than about 3 kgs (when wet), he was a shocking car-chaser.  He also Esteem Issues (as in EXTREMELY high estimation of himself & DID believe he was indestructible.  Sadly, he was wrong.)

 

Survivors:
PAT is the African Grey Parrot.

OLLIE, the brindle Lurcher
BLANCHE, Harlequin Great Dane
Chopsticks, a TOY rat.

Not appearing due to lack of space:
MING, the black Devon Rex (cat)
LEAH (DIAMONDS MISS SNIPPET), my horse

 

BTW, this is also Us.
The resemblance is uncanny, I feel

 



"Wherever I am there's always Pooh. There's always Pooh and Me ..." A.A.Milne

 Focus on the dog, people.

The dog on the sofa. Not the weirdo kid.*

That is Pooh.  (oh DO try not to snigger) You know, Pooh? As in Winnie The ....?

Well, that dog, (name inspired by the books about a toy bear, written in the late 1920's, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie-the-Pooh ) was a very special dog.

He was there, from Day 1 of Me.  Yep, from Day 1 of Me he never left my side (& vice versa ).

He, along with ALLLLLLLL the other dogs that entered my life as a child, (at one point we lived with, I think it was, 13 dogs - all rescues from HongKong SPCA, incidentally) started & then, signed, sealed & delivered the Love of The Dog (especially the Rescue Dog) into the very soul of Me.

I truly believe Childhood pets can be really pivotal.

He was mine.  It all started with him.



“So wherever I am, there's always Pooh,
There's always Pooh and Me.
"What would I do?" I said to Pooh,
"If it wasn't for you," and Pooh said to me: "True,
It isn't much fun for One, but Two
Can stick together," says Pooh, says he.
"That's how it is," says Pooh.”

― A.A. Milne, Now We Are Six

 

* Think that I should count myself lucky, having escaped any kind of lasting mental scarring from that outfit. It MAY have been the 70s but, come on!?