Swearing at Children

i swore at a child today. not my child though. does that make it okay?

not very grown up of me but i would probably do it again. losing one's temper isn't good but it was in defence of a loved one.

after making my way to a local supermarket to buy some cat food Moby, our cheeky little cat, had followed me further than his little legs should have. he can be quite dog-like following people. we were nearer the store than home and he had already crossed a busy road to get there so the decision was made to take him to, or near, the shop. while debating in my head whether he could be taken into the store (i imagine arguing with a manager and pointing to a no dogs allowed notice), the furry one stopped to play at a tree trunk. that was my chance to get out of his sight, shop, and get back before he noticed me gone.

by chance Bulbgirl was just entering the store too, as the gym had brought forward their opening hours and wouldn't let her in. we shopped but noticed a few kids, quite small, early teens maybe, creating havoc and mucking about, throwing empty boxes at each other, as if they owned the joint. we shopped quickly, left and got back to our boy.

he was pretty much in the same place waiting for me, but happy to see both of us, and followed us back to Bulbgirl's flat. i say followed, but it was more like running excitedly beside and by us, then hanging back for a bit interested in something eles. it was while he was lagging behind that the 4 or 5 bawbag kids got between us. Moby was unsure. but he approached. it was then that one of the girls stamped her foot and screamed at the poor poor pussycat. the other kids laughed. this bravado, and laddish behaviour, sparked something in my head.

what annoyed me most was that it was a little kid who did it. Bulbgirl (good cop) chided the offending little madam, and then myself (bad cop) said a bad word followed by a really, really bad word. i was suprised that i swore at a child. the girl was also informed that Moby was a "lovely little thing". the thought occurred to me to tell her how much joy he brings to everyone he meets and had the nicest nature of any feline myself or Bulbgirl has ever met, but the best way of encapsulating all that in a short amount of time was to use a 4 letter word while she gave me he best 'don't-care-nuffink-can-touch-me-soap-opera' face.

i don't know whether she will reflect on her behaviour and the reaction it caused later. doubt it but i hope so. anybody who shouts at a defenceless kitty cat deserves a dressing down. maybe it was the painful day i had, stabbing eye pains while at university today, but the same events would probably have unfolded had i been feeling fit and fine. is the mind numbing music from mind numbed kids on public transport, in shops, everywhere resulting in a self centred generation who care for neither man nor beast?


should it be okay to verbally abuse children if they are not your own and the aforementioned childred screamed at your pussy?

< /rant>

Balls Away

today was the first day of the year, and today was also Moby's first full day of having no balls. he was taken to the vet yesterday and "done". having been snipped and chipped, i thought he would be moping about and wondering where his gonads did go.


what prompted the castration was a cut on his paw pad. there was a little trailer of bloody footprint, which led up to the top of the white washing machine. there was a little flap of skin that had been ripped off, only a few millimetres, but it looked nasty. it reminded me of when i cut my finger a while back and fatty tissue was poking out. Moby, brave little soul that he is, seemed unperturbed by this. ti's but a flesh wound you could almost see dart across his eyes. to be on the safe side, a little bit of advice seemed in order, just to get the cat's cut paw all cleaned up.

sex drugs and rock 'n' roll

thinking forward about the new year, i wondered when the best time to get a cat snipped, and the vet informed me that it was at around 6 months of age. Moby is 7 months, oh dear. when would be good for the vet to book him in? i half expected the animal doctors to be taking a rest so was surprised that they said bring him in tomorrow (31st dec). no, too soon! give me time to get used to the idea.

like pulling an elastoplast off, though quicker is probably better. you don't has so much time to worry about things and just do it. plus, it's probably better to get them off when he hasn't actually used. them yet. today he was absolutely fine, rounding around the hall chasing a red laser beam like a thing possessed.

happy new year all things can only get better (for Moby at least).

Bulbcat #4

meet Moby, our latest addition. he is nearly 17 weeks old, and we got him when he was just a 10 week old kitten. he is bulbcat #4, a little black and white cuteness exuder. it's almost a years since we lost Raku so should he be called #3 (moving up the rankings) or #4 (chronological)?.

a slight hint of bluishness in the eyes

where did we find Moby? in a supermarket. there was a notice that Bulbgirl saw on the local for sale board after we had done some shopping. the notice was selling a 9 week old black and white kitten. it didn't say what sex the cat was and it didn't show a picture or even a sketch of the kitten's markings.

Bulbgirl took the number down and phoned shortly after getting back. the kitten was still available and now 10 weeks old as the notice had been up for a week. we could have taken him that evening if we really wanted to, but it gave the family a little time to say goodbye to the wee fella. they were getting really attached they said and were on the verge of naming him and keeping him. they hadn't named him as yet, because once you do that how can you give them up?

you can't really say i want to see him/her before i decide to keep the little bundle of fur. how cold would it be to see the cat and say "nope, not quite what i'm looking for"?

a little unsteady on his feet

Moby arrived the next day (it was a tuesday) about 1pm. a little sniffing around and he seemed quite at home. at that stage when playing with a kitten, they get tired all of a sudden and just stop, instead of slowing down gradually. it's as if their batteries suddenly run out (and it's really funny to watch).

white chin. feathery toy just out of shot

we put him in a set of kitchen scales and he was 1.25kg. he then put on another 250g in the next 2 weeks. he has grown up even more since then. he could fit in the scales really easily. not now though; he has grown so fast in such a short space of time. sigh. their kittenhood goes so fast. people talk of missing their kids growing up, with kittens blink and you miss it!

i met Moby's former owners by chance in the same supermarket where he was advertised. they said that they would take him back if he wasn't settling in with Bulbcat #3. they almost had slightly watery eyes, they missed him. he is a naughty little kitten but has bags of personality.

The Cat Came Back

Raku's remains were returned to us from the pet crematorium. my sister wanted that done so we can scatter his ashes on the heather where he used to lie. there is still a patch there which he carved, or nudged out for himself. we used to look out the window and laugh to see his little head pop up from the rockery.

i would have been just as happy burying him out in the back garden, with a little marker to say he was there, or even the notion of taxidermy, one of Derren Brown's pursuits, crossed my mind momentarily. you don't see that done a lot, i don't even think i've ever seen a taxidermy shop. but that idea creeps most people out, and the possibility of a taxidermist not getting your pet just right is quite probable, as they didn't know him/her. cremation was probably the right option though, seeing as Raku is the word for a Japanese ceramic firing process.

it's still strange around the house, everyone still misses him and we often think we catch a glimpse of a little black and white face at the window, or under the table. he was a very cool cat as i said before, but it's a little bizarre just how much his quiet little presence is missed. my mother especially misses him so as a birthday present recently i made a sculpey version of Raku to site there quietly. she was very happy with it saying i captured his personality. it is strangely comforting to have a plastic memento of him. here is the sculpture unpainted and baking in the oven.
i don't have painted up pics just yet. will try and get some soon.

this was just my second proper sculpey attempt (first being the Shoemoney head) and i'm quite pleased the way it turned out. the fur was interesting to form.

maybe one day i should take a cast of it and make a proper raku ceramic figure out of Raku.

Raku is No More

sad news. Raku is dead. Raku was bulbcat #2, my flashllight protector, and one of the nicest, coolest cats you could meet. so otherwordly in fact sometimes i'd think of him as a little man in a cat costume. he really was that different. he had such a sweet nature and never clawed at anyone that i know of.

he displayed some breathing problems at the end of August standing with his elbows out. his lungs weren't filling to capacity and not enough air was getting in to his body. the vet determined that an X-ray was needed but to put him under when he was only getting about 10% of the oxygen he should have been breathing was too dangerous. they put him in an oxygen tent overnight before performing the X-ray the next morning and unfortunately found "something" in his chest area that could possibly have been a tumor.

Raku and i

100ml of chyle (a milky fluid) was removed from his lungs and he seemed to perk up, although he'd initially alternate one bad day then one good day. Raku then appeared to be on the mend and the family started to get their hopes up. even last Saturday i was thinking that maybe we should let him out again (he was kept inside since the trip to the vet). he was jumping on to the front window ledge and even playing games with our other cat Pushkin.

sadly my beautiful boy was unable to roam free again, he developed major breathing difficulties on monday morning and was rushed to the vet by my father and younger brother to be put down. we had the option of trying to drain his lungs again, but that would have been just a selfish motive. of course we wanted to keep him but we knew his days were numbered two weeks ago. we were just fortunate to have had a little more time with him and thankfully his suffering was mercifully short.

Raku with shaved patch behind right elbow.

x

Bulbomuchacha

Bulbgirl returns from Spain today. in a few hours she will be back in Glasgow. where was she? Barcelona, doing a language course and learning new stuff. that's what she does, she teaches English. meanwhile i've been plodding along slowly but surely with diy, and catsitting bulbcat #3, Gizma (originally Bulbgirl's cat) and looking after bulbcat#2, Raku who is pretty poorly.

Raku had an x-ray taken and it looks like he has some kind of tumor in his chest, so says the vet. his wee lungs were getting enough air into them and he had to be put into an oxygen tent so that he would be strong enough for the x-ray. the vet thinks his days are pretty much numbered which is really sad for all the family, but he seems to be having one good, then one bad day. he should last until Bulbgirl gets back from Spain, and hopefully a lot longer. as long as the poor wee thing isn't in any pain, we'll continue to look after him.

he's people after all.

Animals

animals are nice. i feel quite calm usually in the company of animals. this evening Bulbgirl and i jumped off the bus one stop early, and went to see some horses in a field near home. we fed them some grass mostly to the very large stallion who called the shots in the field. as twilight fell, we spent a little while with them before moseying on back to the flat. i didn't show them grass lit by flashlight as Bulbgirl was a little nervous about them stampeding.

here is a picture of Bulbcat #1. she is called Pushkin. it's about time i put up her pic after showing you Bulbcat #2 (Raku). she was a stray and came to me one night and decided to stay. small or big animals have individual personalities just like humans, so it was with dismay i found this PETA video introduced by Trent Reznor, which made me sad to be human.

it was put on youtube over a year ago, and i wonder how many animals have suffered since then.