Ally and the kittens

 I love watching animals and their behaviour to other creatures and to their own kind. We’ve had all sorts of different animals over the years, and not just cats and dawgs. We’ve had a goat, a horse that used to live in our paddock, guinea pigs, mice, rats, ants and  chooks. I think that’s about all. Nothing particularly exciting except for the echidna that got stuck in our laundry. But that’s another story.

 Shortly after I got Ally, my dawg, I acquired a cat we called Purzah. Before I had a chance to get her fixed she came on heat. So for 5 weeks, I had this screaming, female, feline who nothing more than to find the nearest man and root herself silly. But I was adamant. I was not going to have kittens in the house. I was not going to have any more animals. I had two cats and my dawg, and that was sufficient.

 Finally the caterwauling diminished and I let the cat outside for the first time in weeks. She disappeared for about 3 days, and yes, 9 weeks later, she had four kittens.

 As many of you are aware, I’m a sucker for a pretty face, and Ally appears to be as well. They were bedded down in the bottom of my wardrobe and Ally and I would lie on the floor together and contemplate the miracles of nature.

 As Purzah became more confident, I was allowed to touch her babies and Ally was allow to lick them.

 Over the next few weeks, the kittens grew and began exploring their new world. Ally followed them around like a mother hen. When Purzah went outside to do her business and to get something to eat, Ally would watch over the kittens. She would lick their bottoms ever so gently, and they would snuggle up to her, just like she was their mother.

 As they got older, they would climb on Ally. She would lick them ever so gently. However, as they got bigger, you could see that Ally was aware that they were bigger and stronger, and she would push them, again, gently, and play with them. Exactly at the level they could handle. Never once was she ahead of them.

 It was amazing to watch. This little dog, who had never had a litter of her own, knowing instinctively, what these kittens were capable of.

 Ally has her own chair in the lounge. As the kittens got big enough to climb up on the chair, they would and Ally allowed them to. You could almost see the look of pride on her face as they learned to negotiate the chair, and improved their climbing skills on Ally’s favourite chair.

 More time passed, the kittens got bigger. One day I heard Ally growl. Something she rarely does. I turned around and there she was growling at one of the kittens. Ally had decided, as do all good mothers, that this chair was hers again and the kittens were now big enough to be told that it was time for them to move onto other people’s chairs and to claim hers back.

 Madeleine

Wednesday, 18 January 2006

Apples and oranges

 I was blog browsing today and came to a blog where they were discussing “original sin” and whether humans were born sinful or whether they became sinful. There were heaps of responses. Everyone putting across, quite vehemently, their own personal view. I got bored reading and thought about putting in my comment, but decided not to.

 To me no one asked the most important question. The one that would probably stop the discussion in it’s tracks: “What is a sin?”. They all just kept going on and on proving their point, with whatever scriptures they could come to mind. What a waste of time unless you’ve got the parameters of the discussion sorted. I hear this often in many areas. People discuss topics and one person is discussing apples and the other is talking about oranges.

 Same blog: “6-year olds have to be taught and disciplined how to do RIGHT, not WRONG. Kids wouldn't have to repeatedly be disciplined if they had a good natures”. Again, that depends on your definition of right and wrong.

 This type of rhetoric and accepting words at their face value. People talk about all these “things” that EVERYONE knows what they mean when in fact each person has their own connotation, experience and definition for the words. How can any argument take place when everyone is actually talking about something different? How can people even hear what the other person is saying if one person is talking about apples and the other about oranges?

 Just my question for the day.

 Madeleine

Sunday, 29 January 2006

Laziness

 Mary and I are having a chat about laziness and doing nothing. When I went back to Uni I had to do what they called a Trunk Course – sort of a “teaching you to think” course. A good idea for some of the young people, but I was a very mature age student and had already learned to think outside my square. Anyway, this course was called STAR – Structure, Thought and Reality. One of the things they talked about was “social construct”. Concepts that society develops to contain it’s members. For instance, addiction is seen as a social construct because before it got a name, and people decided it was a problem, addiction didn’t exist – certainly not as a problem.

 As I’m sitting here writing, talking to Mary about laziness and having written on my Friday Fun Facts that I am incredibly lazy, I find myself pondering the word “lazy”. So I check it out:

1.lazy - moving slowly and gently; "up a lazy river"; "lazy white clouds"; "at a lazy pace"

slow - not moving quickly; taking a comparatively long time; "a slow walker"; "the slow lane of traffic"; "her steps were slow"; "he was slow in reacting to the news"; "slow but steady growth"

2.lazy - disinclined to work or exertion; "faineant kings under whose rule the country languished"; "an indolent hanger-on"; "too lazy to wash the dishes"; "shiftless idle youth"; "slothful employees"; "the unemployed are not necessarily work-shy"

faineant, indolent, slothful, work-shy, otiose idle - not in action or at work; "an idle laborer"; "idle drifters"; "the idle rich"; "an idle mind"

 Well, I am certainly not the first. My mind and fingers have been working at top speed this morning, almost unable to keep up with myself. The second one is interesting. Some people would say that I am being lazy this morning. I am disinclined to work or exertion. I am definitely too lazy to wash the dishes right now even though a part of me is saying “Get up off your backside and get some of the things done that should be done”. “Stop wasting time writing, Madeleine”.

 So to put my two ideas together, laziness is a social construct. It is an idea that has been developed by, probably religions, to keep people doing what other people want them to do i.e. get a job, study, do things that are seen as socially acceptable and are not fun.

 I guess that’s the crucial point. If you are doing anything you enjoy, you are not working. Hence, I am enjoying my writing this morning, therefore I am being lazy.

 In fact, I have been working very hard this morning. I have written 3 Melissa stories, I have written my Friday Fun Facts, I have got out of bed, I have written this article, I have had some lunch, and I have been chatting with people on the internet. If that’s not working hard, I don’t know what is. Now I can hear some people say, but you aren’t doing anything constructive. I disagree. Writing is constructive. I may not get paid for it, but all creative activity is constructive. It’s just that our society sees it as less than unless you happen to be famous, or rich.

 I wonder if there is any logic in my logic. I wish my brain would slow down my fingers can’t keep up with me.

 I will be very interested in seeing what other people come up with.

 Madeleine

Saturday, 28 January 2006

I've just started another blog with an idea I had last night. So if you are interested, check out:
http://melissastory.blogstream.com

Madeleine
Saturday 28 January 2006

Friday Fun Facts (2)

Okay PolarB, here you go. A bit late as usual.

1. I have a strong rebellious streak. It comes out in things like not wanting to do FFF’s cause everyone else is doing it. I hated the Beatles as a teenager cause everyone else thought they were great!

2. I hate the texture of mushrooms, but like the flavour of them. I also don’t like anything with vinegar in it – this includes tomato sauce (ketchup) and any pickles so when I get MacDonald’s or Hungry Jacks I get them without tomato sauce and pickles.

3. Poetry really doesn’t do much for me which is a shame cause there are a number of people on blogstream that I like who write poetry.

4. I get really bored with American politics and people who write about them.

5. I am incredibly lazy and would much prefer to sit and write at my computer, watch television or read a book than get up and do something constructive.

Madeleine
Saturday, 28 January 2006