Dunno who's more excited in that first photo Nath, you or Charlie!
Haven't had a pet since I left home at 17, sadly the cat passed away a month ago which is a bugger when you're overseas. She was the last of a long line of pets, my mum and dad are a bit old for it now.
But in the past we've had a long and illustrious list of pets from living in the bush. Here goes:
Cats:
Cat (white one)
Cat (ginger one)
Sooty (mum named that one, my brother and I named the other 2
![Big Grin :D :D](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
)
Ginger Cat was the hardest bastard i've ever come across, a bit like Horse from the Footrot Flats comics. Had no qualms in chasing dogs or going for my jugular. Very affectionate old bloke though. He lived hard and died young (well about 10 anyway). We never had him neutered so he was always out fighting. Wasn't the smartest cat, could never work out the catflap in the door while Sooty would walk in and out all day.
Sooty turned up on our doorstep one day, she was jet black (as the name suggests). Dad cracked it and made us take her around the neighbourhood looking to see if anyone had lost her. Five minutes later we came back and said no-one had. Dad cursed a bit and told us not to feed the bloody thing, a month later she had a home on his lap where she stayed for the next 17 years. Old softy. We had a theory that when Sooty saw how fat the dog was she thought that this place would be alright. Then about a year later she got a big of ginger in her fur and we were wondering if she'd just gone to live with her old man.
Dogs:
Timmy the border collie (named after the Famous Five dog). Very big Border Collie that was smarter than our combined IQ's. Sadly was hit by a car when he was 2. Loved surfing - many times you'd paddle out past the breakers then feel scratching on the back of your legs as the dog had followed and tried to climb on top of you.
Benny the border collie. Now for f*ck's sake don't laugh, there's a story behind me sharing a name with the dog. When we got Timmy from the farm a couple of pups in the litter were left there. After Timmy died we heard the farm people were moving to Sydney and couldn't keep the dogs, so we inherited Benny. Completely different character to his brother, a bit woosy and was a grey colour, pretty rare in Border Collies. Great dog though, loved chocolate, a bit like this Benny
Other pets:
Sophie the Wallaby. Sophie was left orphaned in a flood when she was a joey so we fed her and kept her in our backyard until she was strong enough and old enough to leave. In winter she would sleep next to the pot belly stove and watch tv with us. I think she liked that better because she never went bush again, no matter how many times we tried.
Dozens of chickens, a sheep for a little bit, about 9 generations of Kookaburras. The first came and sat on our pool fence in 1980, dad fed it and then it brought the rest of it's family. Every year they would bring new babies and the year after new babies again until we had kookaburras everywhere. Dad fed them mincemeat and they kept the snakes out of the pool. Win win.
Five peacocks that actually belonged to the bloke next door but for some reason they came and lived in our backyard for 3 years. Looked nice around the pool.
Dozens of magpies - lovely friendly birds with beautiful song, but every Spring they would go completely nuts and try to peck your brains out of your head. If they can see your eyes they won't attack so we would have to wear ice-cream containers with eyes drawn all over them.
I think that's about it. Mum and Dad just have birds now, wild ones but they perch on their verandah and get fed everyday so they hang around a bit. There are some annual ones too thay fly in once a year. It's funny watching the parents - they eat the first bit of mince, then store the next 2 or 3 bits in their mouth and fly off to feed the young ones. Most animals leave our place a bit fatter than when they started.