Gotcha!

One of the earliest pictures we have of me, not long after I came to live with Kate back in '02.

Today is my seventh gotchaversary!

Seven years ago, Kate came and picked me up from the place where I used to live and took me to live with her. That was even before she and Nick got married.

It's also the day that we celebrate my birthday, even though it's not exactly the day that I was born. Today, I'm officially nine years old!

Finally, on this very special day, I'd like to send special purrs across the universe to my birthday buddy, the late George Harrison. Thanks for your musics, Georgie Boy.

Cheers,
--Pabs

Faux feral Friday

I'm not feral, or formerly feral, but we're all a little wild at heart, aren't we? To all you FFs out there, did I get the look of fear right?

Cheers,
--Pabs

A Pablog exclusive: Axel's narrow escape, part 2

Axel and Manny enjoying a snuggle when they were reunited after the fires.

As promised, part 2 of my Pablog exclusive: Axel's narrow escape (check out yesterday's post if you missed part 1):

Nonno quickly got us out of there, but there was no other free road, so we had to go back home. We didn’t have much time, so it was back to the dam next to the vineyard where we held our last stand. We were all ready with blankets to jump into the dam if need be. With pumps and hoses going, we were not only able to save ourselves, but also the vineyard, sheds, equipment and house too!! The paddocks and fences and all that was in them are gone though.

Daddy tried to get up to us, but was blocked at every road in by the police. He knows the area well, and found a forestry road in, but was stopped only a few km’s away by burning trees on the road!! He had to go back home, not knowing what happened to us. It was all ok for us though, he came the next morning with Aunty Gianna, and helped out with the initial cleanup. The goats survived too. We lost a lot, but nothing compared to so many in our area and the rest of fire zone. The danger hadn’t passed though, it was days until all the spot fires were out, and the threat of another big fire was real. So the fire fighters charged though the properties putting in fire breaks with bulldozers and were backburning.

I hope that the pictures tell a better story then I have. As they say, a picture tells a thousand words.

As heartbreaking as it was for all this to happen, and what is still happening, it’s also heartwarming too!! Within hours, the reports of property loss and the death toll was being fed to us. But also as fast was news about the support and relief efforts! Every imaginable thing has been thought of and supplied to everyone affected by the fires. Even cat food!! You see, even though our property and house may not have been burnt down, there are still a lot of other long-term problems to be fixed. Ash and silt are everywhere!! All food and water is contaminated, the house needs to be washed down, inside and out. The animals now have to be hand fed, as there is literally no grass left. And the cleanup effort will take months to finish. I normally like a nice dead animal to play with. But there are so many around – wombats, kangaroo’s, possums, rabbits, deer, as well as livestock– that the stench is unbearable in this heat.

But the main thing is we’re all ok. A lot of the neighbours were not so lucky, losing a lot or everything. And it has brought the community, and Australia, together!! I am so proud to be an Australian!! Even though there are a few sick people taking advantage of the generosity, we are, as a whole, the lucky country. And Daddy says from now on he will chew the head off any hippy who whinges about the nation!!

With love and purrs, Axel. Full-time Farm Supervisor and part-time Tiger.

A goat in one of the fields that was saved from the fire... you can see how dry the countryside was before the fires!

A goose in the area where Manny's parents stopped the fire. Hooray!

Manny and Butch posing in front of the damaged farmland. Even in times of crisis, Manny is a poser (!)

What an amazing story! Thanks so much for sharing it with us, Axel and Manny. By the way, if you want to give financial support to those who need help after these awful fires, you can go to the links I posted in my post last Tuesday.

Cheers,
--Pabs

P.S. Kate's a little bit worried about what will happen next time she sees Manny, as she may well be one of the 'hippies who whinge about the nation' that he was talking about!!

A Pablog exclusive: Axel's narrow escape, Part 1

Axel on farm patrol. Looks like fun!

Axel and his daddy, Manny. They're old friends of ours.

Most of you heard about the terrible bushfires that happened in country Victoria (in southeast Australia) in early February. While many people and creatures lost their lives and their homes in these fires, we can be thankful that no blogging kitties or their families were hurt in this disaster. But my mate and sometime blogger Axel had a very close call, and he's written a report on his experiences that I'm honoured to publish here on Pablog.

First, some context. Axel was born in Tasmania and adopted by his daddy, Manny, who is a friend of Kate and Nick's (Kate even went to the adoption centre with Manny when he adopted Axel!). A few years ago, Axel and Manny moved from Tasmania to Victoria. Axel now lives with his nonno and nonna on a farm around an hour's drive north of Melbourne, just north of a town called Wandong, while his daddy lives in the city.

Here is part 1 of Axel's narrow escape, along with a few pictures taken by Manny in the days after the fires:

Hello Everycat, Axel here.

The first thing I want to say is, I am not a bushfire victim, I am a bushfire survivor. Pablo has asked me to give a meow-by-meow account of what happened on Saturday the 7th of February. I am very honoured to have been asked to do this. So here goes...

We woke up to another bad day of heat and wind. In fact, the worst that Victoria has ever seen on record. The gauges at the farm read 49 degrees (120F) by midday! Then my nonna and nonno saw smoke directly west of them, over on the other side of the Hume Highway, the main route from Melbourne to Sydney. The wind was blowing south towards Melbourne, so we were ok. It very quickly spread to the Hume, then jumped over the other side, but we were still ok. We lost power and phones, but the mobiles were still ok. So nonna was calling daddy every hour or so for updates from the emergency websites.

They activated their fire plans when they realised this fire was out of control – a few fires were now burning, a cool change was predicted, but they still put me, my farmhand Jerry, and Butch the sleepy dog into the cellar out of the smoke and danger. The cool change came, but it didn’t help at all. All it did was turn the wind straight back at us. It wasn’t long before the fire was raging straight up at us!! So we abandoned everything, all got into nonno’s ute (like a pickup truck) and tried to get to a safe area. Only a couple of km’s down the road the fire had caught us, and big trees were falling everywhere. It was very dark now too. Even though it was only 6pm, the thick smoke was blocking out the sunlight. All of a sudden – SMASH!! We drove into a fallen tree!!

The family ute, which was hit by a tree.

Butch the dog inspecting a fire-damaged paddock on the farm.

A nearby home, destroyed by the flames.

Stay tuned tomorrow for part 2 of Axel's narrow escape...

Cheers,
--Pabs

I'm not the world's most passionate mancat...

...but I know that today is a day for friends and, ahem, lovers *blush* to think about how much they mean to each other.

I hear that flowers help with this sort of thing, so here's a picture of some sunflowers that Kate and I grew this summer:
Happy Valentine's Day, everycat! May all your wildest dreams come true, especially if they involve chicken.

Cheers,
--Pabs

Too many sad things

There are just too many sad things going on at the moment.

I think most people in the world would know that there have been some terrible, terrible bushfires in Australia over the past weekend. They've mostly affected the state of Victoria, which is where my friends Huffle Mawson and Gypsy and Tasha live (but they're in the city, so they're ok). So far, these fires have claimed at least 173 human lives, and no doubt the lives of countless pets, feral animals and native animals. At least 750 homes have been destroyed, and thousands of people (and probably lots of animals too) are homeless.

At the same time, there have been big floods up in northeast Australia, where the Forever Foster cats live (but they're ok too). Many beans and animals have been affected.

Australia can be a very extreme place to live sometimes.

Meanwhile, My friend Momo's SS lost her dear aunt yesterday afternoon. And last week, the blogosphere lost some dear friends, including Jake, Huffle's brother Salvador, and Bear. It's all too sad.

So today, I'm sending purrs to people and creatures everywhere who are injured, hurting, or missing someone they love. Please join me.

*** If your beans are able to help those who have suffered in the Victorian bushfires, they can make donations to the Australian Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal or to the RSPCA in Victoria (I'm not sure if these online donation facilities will work overseas. It's worth a shot!)***

Cheers,
--Pabs

Investigationing

With props to Aussie comedian Ryan Shelton for the title of today's blog post.

Cheers,
--Pabs

Newsflash: Aussie cat to play in Super Bowl XLIII

... unfortunately, it's not me.

But former Geelong Cats captain (from the Australian Football League) Ben Graham, who punts for the Arizona Cardinals, will tomorrow (Australian time) become the first Australian to play in a Super Bowl when his team goes up against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He's overcome a niggling groin injury, and looks set to make history for Australia.

As you can see from the photo above, I'm usually a Vikings man, but I'll be supporting the Cardinals in the big game, for Ben Graham's sake. Go Cardinals!

Happy Super Bowl Sunday, everycat!

Cheers,
--Pabs

P.S. I'm honoured to be featured in Zoolatry's High Five Sunday today. Go and check me out, I look great, thanks to some Zoolatry magic.