GANEIDA'S KNOT.

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Quaker by conviction, mother by default, Celticst through love, Christ follower because I once was lost but now am found...

Monday, October 18, 2010

Spring shows what God can do with a drab and dirty world ~ Virgil A. Kraft
 I think I've lived here too long.  Maybe it's just me but during the course of a rather odd conversation all I could think of was a rather insulting line in Emma's War: " The Americans are cowards."

See my day starts early anyway so when I knew I had to tote the car up to the garage to get the clutch adjusted I planned on doing it early ~ early enough that all the dog walkers were out & about & a neighbour I've never set eyes on before today bailed me up on my own verge [while assuring me her unleashed & very yappy dogs were perfectly harmless] to enquire about our recent cyclone.

I was more than a little bewildered.  What cyclone?  It's not even cyclone season yet! Certain that the earliness of the hour had addled my brains rather more than usual I let her rabbit on...& on...& on some more while it slowly dawned on my fog that this poor deluded woman was referring to our recent high winds, which had apparently terrified her husband.  She then felt obligated to mention the snake on the road ~ by which point I'm sure my casual attitude was making her think I was a super~duper hick but honestly!  At which point my brain started making odd associations with completely unrelated subject matter ~ hence the quote.

Have we really become so used to living safely a little bit of wind has us scurrying to an even safer corner?  And if she likes her safety soo much, what on earth is she doing living here?  I swear, people, I was good.  I really truly was.  I was polite & friendly & I explained as nicely as I could that wasn't a cyclone ~ only a little bit of extra wind & it shouldn't worry them overly much because council insists all our newer buildings are cyclone strength.

I took my car up to the garage & walked home through the sort of spring day that makes you glad to be alive to enjoy it. The water table has risen & all the little streams that criss~cross the island are running [but we have to fence the pools!]. The pockets of malaluca & rainforest echo with a myriad of birdsong.  Actually the only thing to spoil it was the dogs.  Now I know all my bloggity friends who own dogs are responsible & sensible dog owners so perhaps you can explain something to someone who is a little chary of which dogs she's friendly with & dislikes dog owners assuming she is overjoyed to see their beloved pets scampering unrestrained through her yard ~ especially when she knows perfectly well a black & white cat is belly down in the camouflage with enormous eyes & palpitating heart ~  yet even on being informed of this said dog owners seem to think their dogs have more rights than my cats in their own yard.  Peculiar. Yes, it annoys me.  I'm not a big dog fancier ~ yet dogs adore me.  Maybe because I smell so strongly of cat!  And I do have dogs I'm very fond of ~ usually the very well trained sort that don't jump up on me, don't yap frenziedly every time I step into my yard & who have obviously had enough obedience training to not be an unmitigated pest to the general public ~ oh, & who don't terrify my cats!

 I miss Issi.  He had all the dogs so terrified they wouldn't walk past our place.  The number of owners I've watched trying to drag an unwilling dog past here while the poor animal is rolling it's eyes almost into the back of its head trying to anticipate where Issi was going to spring from this time is beyond counting. Iss had a very bent sense of humour but Kirby just cowers & he's neurotic enough already!

OK, I'll stop griping ~ if only because I want something left over to gripe about yesterday! Gird your loins people!  I'm tired.  It makes me crotchety. ☺

11 comments:

Ruby said...

Ladies, I think we need to start a fund for Ganeida's five star holiday in the cat friendly resort mentioned a day of two ago :-0
Breathe, girl, breathe. Enjoy this beautiful Spring weather. Keep calm. Too much happening. You sound frazzled.
I too have days like this! And sometimes it goes on for weeks and months.
"In quietness and confidence will be thy strength."

Ganeida said...

Ruby, you're a gem! lol I think some people just rattle my cage more than others till I want to scream where have they left their brains! Besides being tired ~ which is the result of yesterday & which I am in the process of building up a head of steam for! lol I will try & be amusing & not just rant. OK?

Amanda said...

LOL!! you are too much fun sometimes Ganeida! And when you and Ruby banter, it is all the more enjoyable :D

Ganeida, I felt your frustration, and when you are frustrated and tired, you write in a way that makes me laugh. I love humour when it maybe isn't meant to be ;)

I don't like yappy silly dogs either. Only nice big cuddly ones, or little cuddly ones. Not yappy and uncontrollable.

Cyclone!! ha! they wouldn't want to live up here where we know how it really is!

Ganeida said...

Amanda: Laugh away. It's better than crying is my motto. Yes, I was thinking similar things about not knowing a real cyclone if they fell over it but I guess some people have just had very sheltered lives... And you know, I do like dogs, but like cats I like to take my time about making friends. All that exhuberance rather freaks me out. lol And I do get antsy when dog lovers aren't considerate of my cats because Kirby is very high strung & it can take ages to calm him down if he gets terribly upset.

Joyfulmum said...

sorry I chuckled a bit too, just because you have a way with words and I felt I was there with you and this neighbour:)
on another note, maybe they were a newcomer to your town, guessing from down south here where we don't have cyclones:)? too sheltered in Sydney we are:) woose would be another word....hope I spelled that right:)

Unknown said...

I am both a dog and a cat person, I love them both for different reasons. I do however agree with you that calm, well behaved, polite dogs are much more enjoyable. Come to think of it I prefer children that way as well...LOL! A yappy, jumpy, lick insistant dog is just not acceptable to me, and I insist all my dogs be well trained and respectful of human space. As for the cyclones, I understand when I lived on the East coast in hurricane paths I was quite amused at how quick people were to board up and abandon their homes for fear of the rain. I've never been one to overreact about weather, and honestly I'm far more likely to underreact, which I'm not quite sure is much better.

I hope that Kirby wasn't too terribly upset by the naughty little dogs.

Finding Joy said...

The thing I like about cats is that you can't boss them about, they take their orders from no one! After living I'm Darwin for 14 years I am familiar with storms, big storms that bring so much rain you can't see when driving, so you crawl along the road with your head out of the window as it is impossible to see out of the window. Or trees falling over on the road as you are driving past. No, they weren't cyclones just a storm.

Ganeida said...

Rosemary: As an ex~Sydneysider I am very familiar with *Southerly Busters* ~ & they're not for woos' either. ☺

Birbitt: I think we are slowly getting you hooked on this blogging thing.;D It's lovely to have you aboard!

Jo: Ah, yes, these tropical storms are something else again. I usually pull off the road if it's got that heavy. I hate not being able to see where I'm going!

seekingmyLord said...

I wrote a comment yesterday and it was lost in a connection quirk.

As I recall, it mentioned that many dog owners do not take the time to learn how to train dogs properly. All our dogs, except our current one, was perimeter trained from puppy-hood. Hanah was a Border Patrol dog, so she is used to searching areas, but she is beginning to respond to perimeter training also.

However, she is a cat chaser, unfortunately. Jamie has her nearly broke on that, and even now and then I see that cat playing with her ears and rubbing up against her while she lies down...basically bullying her as he does everyone else.

Outside cats, however, seem to be fair game still with Hanah and we are working on that. No to cats, but yes to peach stealing squirrels...within the perimeter!

Pen Wilcock said...

Badger knew a cat that killed a spaniel! I think that cut down on the number of dogs visiting its yard (well, by one anyway). x

Ganeida said...

Seeking: I'm sure your dog is very well trained but round here we see a lot of pit bulls & their owners just let them roam.

Ember: My brother had a white rabbit that took on a lab & won. ☺