All the pretty things

Okay, so really it's just my cats: 

Oliver━is the black and white━he's the oldest. He just turned 7. He is the mellowest of all cats that's out there.

He likes to have a bit of a cuddle beside me every day━never on my lap. Oliver is my rescue cat from the Toowoomba RSPCA. I got him to cheer up Willow after her brother Droogie passed, but alas Willow didn't take to him and died of a broken heart (vet's words not mine) a few short weeks later.

Robson━is the youngest he's just about to turn 3. He was gifted to me by the local Gatton Vet. He's the polar opposite of Olli. Robby loves climbing all over me (and anyone else in the house). I believe he thinks we are his own personal jungle gyms.

Robby basically thinks he rules the roost. He's forever bringing me in presents from the garden such as flowers, live lizards, live snakes (eastern browns━according to my brother 2nd deadliest snake in the world. Thank god he only brings me in the babies to deal with), Cockroaches, moths, though normally it's leaves he's ripped off one of the plants, (my side garden is one huge cat enclosure━my brother and I built it before I moved in. So they have the safety needed to go outdoors without the danger of getting run over or attacked by other wildlife).

Daisy━ only comes to visit every now and again as she is Grace's cat, but when she does her and my boys get on like a house on fire. Especially her and Robson, they chase each other all over the house playing tag. Olli just likes to sit back and watch. (I get to look after her whenever they go away on holiday or for family stuff that requires them from being away from home for more than a day or so. It's just easier to bring Daisy over to my house).

The other animals who have enjoyed time in our home have been loved every bit as much as the two we have right now. (I no longer have pictures of all the neighbour's animals who used to come for, but trust me I had cows ━at least 3, a pig, a rooster, 4 chickens, a turkey, about 120 ducks (though to be honest I believe they were wild ducks), 2 dogs, 2 possums (also wild), a family of plovers, a family of magpies, a family of crows, a family of Tawny Frogmouth owls, wild hares, 3 tortoises that live in the dam━All of this was when I lived on 5 acres in the bush, and didn't really have fences and the animals would just wander in).

1) Andy Capp━Died when he was 14. He was attacked by a dog up the street━a Rottweiler named, Clyde. Who belonged to my friend Warren. (I got him when I was 4-years-old. I wanted to name him Dwayne after the guy down the road, but my dad made me name him Andy Capp instead. He was one of the smartest dogs I knew. If I was in plainclothes he followed me everywhere, but the second I put on a uniform he would sit and wait for me at the front gate).

2) Sox━Was literally our first cat. (We adopted him from an RSPCA in Tassie. Strangely, he hated kids, so he wasn't any good to have around Emily who was only little, and he had to end up going to live with my sister up on her farm. he was a beautiful cat though. He loved eating cooked potato. Apparently, he liked to bring my sister live tiger snakes as presents).

3) Alexander:  Mr big boy pusselcat━Died after being bitten by a king brown snake... he saved me from being bitten... (Alex came to us because I rescued him f some jack-arses up the road who had tied stuff to his tail and set their dogs on him━he took refuge in my niece's house━we lived next door to each other, and Alex looked so much like her cat Steerpike that at first, we didn't realise there were two cats).

4) Milsie━Actually he was cat-napped by a neighbour when they moved. I later heard he was one spoiled cat. (Milsie came to me when someone cut his legs and threw him out the window of a moving car and into the driveway of the flats I was living in. my husband at the time said you are not rescuing another cat━as we still had 3...Alex had just died━then no sooner had I agreed when all of a sudden he's the one out there feeding and tending to the cat. Milsie

was a tiny thing. he never grew much at all. Milsie was just a tiny little black bundle of fur who loved to hang with his adopted brother Nathan).

5) Nathan━Died aged 26+ (by the vet's calculations) after being bitten by a white-tailed spider. I never want to see that ever again. seriously so scary and so sad. (Nathan came to us because an old man up the road died and when the family cleaned the house out the cat ran away into the bush. It took me three months to coax that sucker back out. he was a beautiful dark orange colour and loved to be brushed. I loved that cat).

6) Toby━Died from a stroke aged 16 (Toby came to us after my nephew's grandmother gave the kitten to him, which he named Phoenix... and then my mother gave my nephew $20 for the kitten and renamed him Toby━he was always a shit of a cat who thought he should be boss of the house... though he did love him some cuddles. We also named him the million-dollar cat because he was always at the vet getting something fixed━and yes, that is a younger version of Emily in the picture. she'd like you all to believe that poor Toby who was on his death bead was photobombing her, but we all can see it was the other way around).

7) Droogie━Died age 17 from a stroke. This is the cat I miss the most because he was my cat. and one of the first cat's I ever got. (Droogie came to us when ys sister thought it would be hilarious to give my daughter and me a kitten each for our birthdays. She gave my daughter said kitten's when I wasn't around. That cat would follow me anywhere then dump himself on my feet so I would carry him if he got tired of walking). He was one crazy bugger but he was my big boy. Though, in all honesty, I think Oliver might be a little larger than Droogie. They both have the same nature and remind me so much of each other.

8) Willow━Died age 17. She belonged to Emily but always lived at my house. Emily was allergic to her. (See Droogie's info on how we got her━You can blame my eldest sister, Catherine Walker, for turning me into the cat lady that I am .today).

NOTE:━I lost my last three fur babies all within 9 months. first Toby, seven months later it was Droogie, and then a few weeks after it was Willow. I suppose after 17 years together she couldn't go on without her brothers. Droogie was her littermate and Toby was adopted, but still... a lot of years to be together for it all to be over. Which amazed me when I got Oliver who was already 5 and then brought Robson home as a new kitten and they bonded instantly. And then to periodically throw Daisy into the mix and they all get along so well.