MUST watch

The Lyre Bird. This is just amazing. How beautiful this birds song is just makes me love life. I also love the special effects it can do... "The fate of the creatures which share our planet lies entirely at the hand of mankind." - Sir David Attenborough

beauty

Source

do people even know this is happening?

Nostalgic Saturday

This is my grandmother and grandfather sitting behind her at a dress up party. Love the guy dressed up as a woman haha. Looks like a fun party. My grandmother looks so beautiful. My mum sent me this photo, I'll have to ask her more if she knows more background info on this photo. Visit Abbey's page to see the links for our Nostalgic Saturday stories

Friday Ark

I was trying to get some study done, but someone likes to take a nap in high traffic areas as always. Post a pic of your lovely little pet and link here

Live export for slaughter

Australia’s international reputation for good animal welfare has taken a battering with people worldwide protesting the Rudd Government’s support of the cruel live export trade.

"From June 23, concerned citizens from countries as varied as Kenya, Indonesia, Mexico, the US and Ireland have been writing to their local Australian Embassy to highlight the suffering inflicted on sheep sent to the Middle East for slaughter. The international action will last for a fortnight, ending on July 4.

And in a show of unity, animal welfare groups around the world have been writing to Prime Minister Rudd directly to raise serious animal welfare concerns with the trade.

The global protest is part of the Handle with Care campaign against the long distance transport of animals for slaughter.

Handle with Care spokesperson Dr Hugh Wirth said international condemnation of the live export trade was a powerful way to tell the Rudd Government that Australia should no longer be a world leader in animal cruelty.

“This trade puts to shame the nation’s good record in many other areas of animal welfare, and tarnishes our otherwise good international reputation,” Dr Wirth said.

“We urge the many Australians who abhor the trade to contact their overseas friends, and ask them to let the Rudd Government know that live export must end.”

taken from world society for the protection of animals.

thoughts?

Animals and Natural Disasters

Just some of the victims of the Midwest floods in America. Thousands of stranded pets are being moved to shelters all over America and many orphaned wildlife is also being cared for.
Images from nationalgeographic.com by Joe Raedle.

busy busy

I have just started a new job and currently in 4 weeks training. A bit intense and full on but interesting learning some new skills. I need to do this to save some money for my next veterinary courses as I just can't afford to go any further in my studies till I have a bit of savings under my belt. Just not making ends meet at the moment so going to do some hard work for a while! (not that I don't normally work hard). I have been busy reading up on blogs but just haven't had the time to sit and think for myself and what I would like to blog about.

So life has been busy working all day and just exhausted when I come home finding the energy to play with my beloved Jonah. Missing the boy a lot but still very excited for him. So instead of posting some animal news, I'm just going to find a picture that really means something to me.

Keep posted for animal news and events. If your interested by any chance, one of the sites I visit daily is http://news.nationalgeographic.com/ Just fascinating news on nature. x

all byyyy myselffff

my boy is gone for a whole month and I'm already terribly miserable and lonely. Sigh... I will be doing lots of blogging whilst he is away, and catching up on reading all your blogs. x

Nostalgic Saturday

This is me when I was about 6? Not too sure on that one but anyway I am there with my best friend Anna who was often at my house as my mum used to do family daycare. She often came round when her mother had to work. We are dressed up for a performance at school. Each class was given a certain decade in history to dress up as, I can't remember why. I was dressed up from the 50's, based on a character from Greece. I love the way mum did my hair. The skirt was the closest thing to a full skirt. All I can remember of this day is doing the "time warp" dance haha. I like this photo. Thanks to Abbey for inviting me to walk down memory lane of myself and my family every Saturday.

Friday Ark - The meeting

The first time my dog, my family dog that now lives with my mum, and my baby boy Jonah ever met. I took Jonah up to my mum's house for Christmas. I wish I got this in one shot but they wouldn't go near eachother. Just stared at eachother from either side of the room. When the finally did go near eachother, it was either her growling at him or him slapping her away with his paw. What an interesting day this was, at least I had the family together for Christmas.


Join the ark here

A bit of a mix...

A Brisbane man cut off his 8 week old American Staffy pup's ears in an attempt to make the dog look "tougher", back in 2007. No pain relief or sedation. The maximum penalty so the news reports state is a $75,000 fine and 2 years imprisonment.

I see many acts of animal cruelty reported on television and in the newspapers. Another case not long ago of a teenage boy also from Brisbane who kicked a kitten to death after it approached him. His sentence was overturned as his lawyer argued "his client was severely punished when compared to six Townsville-based soldiers escaped jail who escaped jail in 2004 after pleading guilty to setting a litter of three-week-old stray kittens on fire before running them over."

I do believe tougher penalties need to stand. These animals don't have voices and are totally dependant on us to care for them, just like an innocent child is. No person or animal deserves abuse.

However with all the horror and cruelty in there world there is also such beauty and kindness. It amazes me as I research these acts of cruelty, the stories that I find about the people that help these creatures in these situations. All their time and effort and every dollar they have to save helpless animals.

I guess I don't really want this post to be a negative about the lack of strict penalties that get handed down in Australia against animal abuse, (which is totally true, but I don't want all my posts to be negative) but more a post so say Thank you to those volunteers and workers that dedicate their lives to helping those who don't have a voice, like the people that are acting as foster parents for this little pup with no ears. He was taken from a cruel owner to live the rest of his life with a family that will love and respect him.
So today or tomorrow, spread some love to the animal community. .
If its a cuddle to a companion, a pat to a dog walking down the street or just watching and appreciating the native wildlife around you. Trust me it will make you feel glowing inside.

Sleep

My internet is back. I'm busy catching up on reading blogs. Hope I sleep well tonight like this fellow looks like he is. http://www.koalahospital.org.au

No Internet

Hello Hello,

Just a quick post to say my home internet is down at the moment so I have just been checking my blog at an internet cafe. Thank you everyone for your comments and sorry for the lack of my comments. I look forward to catching up on some blog reading (your blogs that is) on my next day off, Wednesday :)

Interesting Fact

"For a [female] cheetah the real danger is not losing a kill but losing her cubs. Ninety-five percent of cheetah cubs die before reaching independence." text and picture from National Geographic.

Nostalgic Saturday

This is me and my brother Michael. I have 3 brothers and 2 sisters. All half brothers and sisters. At one point we all lived together as the brady bunch when my mum and dad were still married. I think this was taken around that time. Looks like I'm at a playground possibly in the little town where we lived. I wish I still had a close relationship with all of them like I did when I was a little baby. They are all grown up now in their 30's and almost 40's some married and some with kids (im an aunty to 14).

Mum tells me that white flower scrunchie I had in my hair I wore everywhere. I never took it out. Apparently I wore it till it fell to pieces. I remember I never liked to go on the playground if other kids where there. I would make dad wait with me till they all went and then would play by myself. I was too shy. I loved my brother mike though and I would mimic ANYTHING he told me to. Any picture with my sibilings I cherish. I wish I could remember being with them at that age like they can remember it.

War

pic: AWM

I have been watching a lot of movies on the great wars of the world lately.
Schindler's List, Full Metal Jacket, Platoon and even Forest Gump. Even though these are Hollywood blockbusters, I have been learning a lot. At the end of most of these movies I have just felt sick. That's the only word I have for it all. Sick.

It's funny how at school you learn about world wars and other great world history and it just doesn't seem to sink in or interest you at all. I always appreciated Anzac day at school but never really cared to listen in history. I only chose to listen to ancient history. It is only now as I'm getting older I am learning, and appreciating this history. What these people went through, the hardships, the pain and suffering. Life just baffles me so much the more I learn about it.

One of my fave novel series is by John Marsden. The Tomorrow, When the War Began series. This is actually classified as "young adult". I love it. It just makes me imagine what it would be like in this day and age, for someone my age, whilst Australia was being invaded. Really are great reads and I've read them many times over.

I guess movies like this are a good way to reach out to younger people to visually show them the impact of what actually went on back then. I know after Schindler's List when my tears finally dried I stayed up quite late on the internet researching about WWII. My mum was telling me her grandad fought and died in WWI leaving behind his wife and five children. There was no centerlink payments for her back then. Families still suffer like this today. Not even to mention what the poor families in Iraq go through.

Anyway, I have been pondering this for a while now and cannot stress how much respect I have for everyone that had to go through that horror. Which brings me to the wars of today. The politics of if all is beyond me. Thanks to other bloggers like Abbey that make it easier for me to understand and create an opinion. I guess all I can do in my power is research the past as it is not just history, it is my history. The present? I will keep researching and create awareness.

So to all, thank you for your information and please keep it coming.

"Bald Eagle gets a new beak"

Story and pictures from discovery.com/news"June 6, 2008 -- More than three years after a poacher shot off her upper beak, a bald eagle named Beauty can finally live up to her name -- with the help of volunteers.

A team attached an artificial beak to the 15-pound eagle in mid-May, improving her appearance and, more importantly, helping her grasp food.

"She's got a grill," joked Nate Calvin, the Boise engineer who spent 200 hours designing the complex beak.

The "grill" was exposed when a bit of the synthetic beak broke off during application. But the new beak is only a temporary fix, designed to nail down precise measurements.

A final beak made of tougher material will be created and attached later, though her saviors don't plan to release her back into the wild. They say that she has spent too much time with humans that the final beak will still not be strong enough to tear flesh from prey.

But getting this artificial beak now was key to Beauty's survival. A wild eagle that must be hand-fed by humans would eventually have to be euthanized, especially since her life span could run four more decades, said Jane Fink Cantwell, who took Beauty to her raptor recovery center in Idaho two years ago.

The bird was found in 2005 scrounging for food and slowly starving at a landfill in Alaska. A bullet had taken from her curved upper beak, leaving her tongue and sinuses exposed, with a stump useless for grasping food. Cantwell said eating with her beak was like using one chopstick. She also had trouble drinking and couldn't preen her feathers. "

Comfort

This picture always makes me smile. He is always getting into any bag or box that is left sitting for more than one minute. Sometimes I will be looking for him for ages... Must be a secure feeling curled up inside there.

Nostalgic Saturday

Well hello and sorry for the late post. As you know I have been in Sydney so did not have access to any photos. This is a picture of my grandparents, my mothers parents. Rusty and Vic. What a glamourous couple. This is a picture of them in Egypt when they lived there with their three children: Eve, Penny and Angela (my mum). Mum recalls going to school there and it ended every day at midday because of the heat. They also lived in India at one stage where my aunty Penny was born.

I am still learning a lot about the history of my family and the lives they lead, and enjoy sharing it here. I will also add some posts on my childhood too in the future. Look forward to catching up on everyone else's blogs and posting more soon.

A weekend away

I'm heading to Sydney for the long weekend. Tonight after work I am flying down to Newcastle to visit my dad and then heading to Sydney on the Friday to meet up with 5 of my best friends who are flying down as well. Although I would rather be somewhere warm and tropical, I'm excited to get away for the weekend. May have to post my nostalgic Saturday on Friday while I'm still at my dad's as I don't think I will have much Internet access after that. Will report to you soon. Thank you everyone for welcoming me here and I'm loving the blogging world and finding some very interesting reads. Will be posting lots of comments when I get back. Joseph, make sure you look after Jonah well I will be worrying about him! x

Puppy mills

As I was sitting having my afternoon tea and toast and watching Oprah, I almost threw up when I saw their exposure of the "Puppy Mill" problem in America. Apparently most people don't even know these puppy mills exist. Puppy Mills or puppy farms are large scale breeding facilities and also exist for cats and birds as well.
Puppy mills are used to pump out the puppies as quickly as they can and are often sold through pet stores. The puppies that make it to the pet store are lucky and usually get bought, however its the older dogs that live in the puppy mills that suffer. Female dogs spend their WHOLE lives in cages and constantly breed. Some are kept indoors with never seeing the sunlight, some are kept outdoors with no protection from the weather conditions, some don't even know how to walk as they are crammed in with other females and males and most never receive human affection which lead to temperament disorders. Basically these animals are bred for profit and the animals suffer. No words can really describe the conditions these animals are kept in until you see for yourself.

Male and female dogs are killed after they are deemed useless and many die in their cages from infections, pneumonia, hip displacia. Responsible breeders produce healthy animals with good temperament and are proud to produce a good product. These "puppy mills" however, are kept in such a state that animals are left in their own waste and never receive veterinary care nor proper diet needs.

90% of pet stores allegedly buy their products from puppy mills. Of course, this is debated a lot by "hobby breeders" saying that not all places are this way and other excuses.

Basically, to avoid giving money to these businesses, please, adopt from a shelter!! I cannot stress this enough. If you are wanting a pure bred animal, do your research. Make sure you find out exactly where the animal comes from and do not buy if you think the conditions are unsatisfactory. Something NEEDS to be done. THOUSANDS and thousands of unwanted animals are kept in shelters and killed if they are not homed, so please, open your hearts and adopt from a shelter.

You can help by visiting these websites and signing petitions online.
http://www.thepuppymill.com.au is the website of a documentary that was made and is not just a typical animals rights video. Please check out this website
http://www.stoppuppymills.org
http://www.awarenessday.org
http://www.nopuppymills.com
http://www.prisonersofgreed.com

Jonah

I love this pic as it has my boys together. Jonah, my cat, came to us about...6 months ago now, he is 8 months old. God I love him. He is a Ragdoll which is a breed that tend to go floppy when you pick them up. He is very vocal and very friendly. More on him later..

memorable words...

Scrubs is a comedy based in a teaching hospital called "Sacred Heart"
"The show focuses on the lives of several people working at Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced dialogue, slapstick, and surreal vignettes presented mostly as the daydreams of the central character, Dr. John "J.D." Dorian." source wikipedia.

Anyway this is one of my dead set favourite shows and as stupid as the show seems, it actually comes up with a few good quotes. "J.D" always likes to sum things up in his head, and some of his quotes are actually meaningful when I think about it. Here are some of my favourites...

“I guess in the end, things seldom work out the way you expect. sometimes, fate is on your side. other times, well, you’ve kind of sealed your own fate. either way you have to trust that whatever’s supposed to happen, will happen."

“The truth is, it is all your memories, the joyful ones and the heartbreaking ones that make up who you are as a person”

“It’s not always easy to do the right thing. Like putting someone else’s feelings first for a change. Even if it goes against what you really want. Of course, there’s always ramifications…Even if you do the right thing, there’s no guarantee it’ll turn out the right way.”

Don't even get me started on the funny quotes...

Sharks...

Most people fear them. I know for the majority of my life I have feared them. Growing up by the beach my whole life, I was always in the ocean, but thanks to the media, I always had a fear of going too far out in case of being killed by a shark. I have even had many nightmares about sharks.

"Selachophobia - the scientific name for an abnormal and persistent fear of sharks - is a serious problem for many would-be swimmers. Sufferers are usually completely unable to swim in the sea, even when reassured that shark nets and other safety procedures are in force." discoverychannel.co.uk/sharks.


Some people could argue that movies such as "Jaws" are largely responsible for creating this fear. Shark attacks are actually extremely rare however the media generates such panic within the public that it can seem like a current occurrence.

Sharks are amazing creatures, many people don't know how endangered they are. As many as 100 million sharks are killed each year from fining alone!

I urge everyone to see the movie Sharkwater. Check out the trailer and the website and see what is really being done to these truly amazing creatures. No animal deserves to be treated this way, and sharks are an important part of the food chain. This movie is said to have changed a lot of people's minds on sharks, so please at least check out the website. http://www.sharkwater.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggtxA4wuXzY see the trailer.

The world's first Elephant hospital

http://www.elephants-soraida.com/ This is the site to the first Elephant hospital. I was watching a doco on this the other day, amazing. Helping these amazing creatures.

"At present, Thai elephants in captivity are facing a lot of problems due to the rapid change of the environment, sickness and threats from men. Thus, it causes a great loss in numbers of elephants for the a two decades. As the consequences of the above mentioned crisis, FAE has established the World' s first Elephant Hospital. The first Infirmary Unit was finished in October 1994."

This is one example of the work they do.

" limpalong lump of a three-legged elephant is walking much more easily again after having an artificial limb attached.
The new canvas leg was created for Mocha, a female elephant being cared for by Thai vets.
The animal was severely injured when she stepped on a landmine at the Thai-Myanmar border, losing her front right leg in the blast.
But now experts at the Friends of the Asian Elephant Hospital in northern Thailand's Lampang province have come to her aid " article from http://www.metro.co.uk/

This would be a dream job for me. Check out their website, check out their projects. Conservation through awareness.

How to describe how I feel. Impossible. Been through so much and know we have so much more to go through. I enjoy every moment with you and just wish I could express just how much you mean to me. I will spend my life trying to show you. I love you...

breath taking

these are some of the animals that take my breath away and make me happy to be alive

Nostalgic Saturday

I know I am a day late but I really want to join "nostalgic Saturday". This is something that Abbey does on her blog galeslifethoughts.blogspot.com. It is so interesting to read and I love going down memory lane. I think I will do so not only about myself, but about my parents. They have had such an amazing life and I enjoy so much talking about them and sharing the pictures I have.

Here is one. This is my mum when she was my age. Here she is with her dad, who has passed. He passed away before I was born which is so sad. I wish I could have known him, mum says he was a wonderful man. This was taken in England, where my mum grew up. This was taken on her wedding day! Hard to imagine, she was 20, I'm 20. I could not imagine being married haha! This was her wedding day to her first husband, Peter, who she had 3 children to. My 2 brothers and sister who now have their own families. My mum is now 63, mother of 4 and grandmother of 13. Amazing! So much more to tell on her life.

Oh and to add to this: My grandfather passed 4 months before I was born. There was a song that came out in the 80's that my mum really relates to Mike and the Mechanics - In the living years.

" I wasnt there that morning

When my father passed away

I didnt get to tell him

All the things I had to say

I think I caught his spirit

Later that same year

Im sure I heard his echo

In my babys new born tears

I just wish I could have told him in the living years "

amazing creatures

I have been doing a lot of research lately on the welfare of animals. As I have said before, animals are one of my greatest interests. I find them fascinating. Every animal is amazing in each and every way. I have always been in great protest to whaling. I have always supported Greenpeace in their anti-whaling campaigns. http://www.send-a-whale.com/sendawhale/landing.php is a great easy way to help. It is an online petition through Greenpeace and the daily telegraph that is a fun way to protest. It involves making a virtual whale and decorating it as you wish. Check it out, conservation through awareness.

last night

Last night I attended my 2ND big 21st of the year, it was great. Got me thinking about my own 21st. and what I should do for mine. I still have no idea. I love 21St's. Its great to meet the family and show the love and make that one person feel extremely special. Anyway, just a short post to show a pic. The 3 blondes. Myself, Julia the birthday girl and Sharna who has become one of my closest friends.

First entry!

Well, here is my first entry. I'm quite excited. I was inspired to write for a few reasons. I spend a lot of time on the computer, and enjoy reading all sorts online. My partners mother started a blog a while ago and I find it so very interesting to read. I also see a lot of fashion blogs and so on, which made me think I would like to have my own. I wanted it to be about my own passions.

Some of the things I'm passionate are animals - all kinds and their rights and welfare. Family and friends, I love to talk about my family history. Current issues, comedy, social events news and so on. So here we go.

There is so much to talk about I don't really know where to start. I guess I will just talk about what is on my mind. I am sitting at home with my amazing friend, Jonah. He is my cat. That's him in the picture when he was quite younger. He loves to sit on the laptop. My partner who I live with Joseph is away, and I already miss him. I have Seinfeld playing in the background as I type, one of my fave shows. So here is my first entry and will be adding many, many more so please, stay tuned.