I'm just a soul whose intentions are good (The Animals)

This one is about our animals. Sometimes it's tough to keep track of them all but here we go.


The before restoration Jimi front

 Starting with Jimi, or as Adam calls him - the dumpster cat!

The before restoration Jimi back

The story so far - you will recall that Jacky rescued Jimi from a miserable fate a month ago. He was lying in our garage looking next to death's door. His tail had been shredded, he was malnourished and dehydrated and was maybe a day away from systems failure and a painful demise. He looked miserable!

He spent a week at the vets, had his tail amputated and then we've spent the last three weeks restoring his health (on NZ beef, cooked of course).

Our aim has been to find Jimi a good home here with a western family. An aussie lady called Peta has been working on that and she's found an animal mad South African couple who have adopted wee Jimi.
He now looks fatter and healthier and we can feel good that we gave him a second chance at life. We said farewell to the lad today and wished him our best.

Here are the latest images of him. As you see he has come a long way.

The animals we left behind in Nu Zild with friends and family while we took off on our crazy adventure in the sandpit are still on our minds.

Our cavoodle called Dookie is being looked after by some of Samantha's friends in Wellington until she returns from San Francisco in a few months time.

Bazil, our border collie with a dab of springer cross, is back at his second home with Sallie after a brief stay with Jade. Baz loves walks through Sallie's farm, lounging in the Hawke's Bay sunshine and rain. He especially loves the dead things found on the farm from time to time. Here he is visiting my Buddha shrine which Sallie is also kindly minding for us.

And that's it for the NZ contingent. Sadly Soda (my cat) has been a casualty of our overseas adventure. Entrusted to in-laws, Soda unfortunately ran away to freedom. I hope he found his own Jacky like Jimi did!

But wait...there's more. The latest addition to this menagerie has joined this weekend.

Jacky has bought a horse back in NZ. His name is Strike Irish and we are busy thinking of a new paddock name for him.

Love and peace - Wozza

I got the rockin' pneumonia and the boogie woogie flu (Johnny Rivers)

I've had to take two sick days in a row this week with this stoopid cold. I really can't remember the last time I had to do that.

Yesterday was the peak day - sweats, heavy cough and nothing stemmed the nasal flow and, believe me, I tried - three different types of cold and flu tablets!

Today it's just that heavy feeling, a sore nose because of yesterday and a cough. Should be back to work tomorrow.

Being at home with a cold is weird. It's not relaxing but not boring either. It's a between time. A pause. An enforced rest.


Davy Jones and Frank Zappa's cameo in Head.

 I've been reading (Die Trying by Lee Child) and watching some videos (Head by The Monkees and Grey's Anatomy Season 6 episodes when Jacky's been around).

Whenever I'm sick and recovering I have an urge for marmite and lettuce sandwiches. This is from when I was a kid and mum would make those for me.

What else? Well I have also been watching some TED talks online and I've done a couple of posts as well.

Jimi has been keeping me company too. He has stuck close - either the other side of the couch (he didn't appear too impressed with Head), or in the shelf of the desk while I use the computer (he's there now). If I go to the kitchen to make a cuppa he follows me out and then follows me back.

[By the way - we've worked out that he's been owned by Arabic speakers rather than westerners. He looked at Jacky blankly and disdainfully when she saw him try to scratch the couch arm and shouted, "NO". But the Arabic version, "LA" - as in lar, got his attention immediately.]

Another in between activity has been taking some more photographs of him to put on the blog.

He seems to blend in to the surroundings so let's play Where's Jimi?.

Love and (cough) peace - Wozza

Take me down to junior's farm - take me there Jimi! (Wings)

Latest on the Jimi - his stumpy almost tail is repairing itself slowly and the NZ mince and chicken scraps that SWMBO is feeding him have resulted in the start of a Jimi tummy.

Jimi was down but Jimi is getting back up again - he's obviously feeling a lot better now given that he has started to swat at my ankles as I walk by!

His sleeping possies are in the computer desk (yes - in) while Umm Keegan does her emailing and horse perusing, on a chair in the dining room in the mornings, and guards my CDs by our stereo in the evenings (Jimi recommends the latest from Intronaut, Opeth, Dream Theater, and Mastodon by the way).

Love and Peace - Wozza

Move over Rover and let Jimi take over (James Marshall Hendrix)

Jimi has risen! And the pecking order has been reshuffled!!

We now have Jimi back from the vets following his week of recuperation after he had his tail amputated. The wound is healing thanks to Jacky's diligent ministrations and he's learning about apartment living and already bossing me around.

[Why 'Jimi'? Not because of Hendrix - that's just a happy co-incidence. We live in a district of Al Ain called Al Jimi and our apartment (where Jacky found him) is called Yellow Jimi, because it's painted yellow! So Jimi seemed a good choice.]

Jacky has kitted him out with a collar and bell so that he won't be mistaken for a 'pavement special' if he gets out of our place.

She has also made the spare bathroom into Jimi's bedroom - with a door barrier preventing his escape.

At 2.58am this morning I woke because I heard his bell (Jacky continued to snore on beside me). It jingled for a spell, then quiet, a big jingle, quiet, then thirty seconds of jingling before silence.

By this stage I was three quarters awake myself so I got up to see what was happening and get a drink. I was pretty sure that the jingles meant Jimi had jumped on and over the barrier and was relocating himself on a lounge chair.

I checked and, as I'd dreamily surmised Jimi had vacated his bedroom. Lounge? Nope. Kitchen? Nope.

I had a drink and dreamily stumbled back to bed, dreamily careful to check that I wasn't going to step on wee Jimi.

The alarm woke me for work at 5am as per usual. I remembered the 2.58am adventure and went searching for Jimi. Spare bedrooms? Nope. Under beds? Nope. Laundry? Nope.

Then I remembered where Soda loved to sleep - on a dining room chair. Sure enuf - there was Jimi, still fast asleep.

I think you'll agree he is on the mend (even though he has a permanently sour facial expression - bless 'im).

We have removed the bell (no chance of him threatening a bird in our place) and the barrier. I'm hoping for a better sleep tonight, if Jimi lets me.

Love and peace - Wozza (with assistance from Jimi as seen above)

Well now you know that your cat has nine lives to itself (Dr Winston O'Boogie)

Much of this week has been spent tending to a stray cat.

We arrived home from the supermarket on Saturday afternoon to find what looked like a really beat up feral cat in the garage to Yellow Jimi.

There are feral cats everywhere in Al Ain. They hang around the waste bins that line the roads and are lean and battered looking. We have three regulars that chill outside our apartment waiting for Jacky to give them our leftovers. I didn't think much of it when I saw the one in the garage.

Jacky went down to give it some food and discovered it wasn't feral at all. His tail had been 'de-gloved' (Jacky's elegant term) and was raw but his purrer was intact. She bundled it up and we took it to a vet (well we thought it was a vet, a place called The Modern Vet Clinic - you can see why we'd think that). The vet gave Jimi (I'd christened him by now) some shots, said he was about 5 months old, but also said he'd be fine so we took Jimi home.

You can see that he was really impressed by the whole thing!

On the way we, of course, had to stock up on cat paraphernalia - litter box, cat cage etc.

I went to work the next day and talked to my mathematics advisor (Jan) about Jimi. Jan is a cat lover/rescuer with form so I knew she'd know stuff. Turns out the place we'd gone to was a vet supplier! So I got her directions to the proper vet clinic and back we went.

Turns out Jimi had more injuries that we (and the vet supplies guy) hadn't spotted - leg, teeth and lots of bugs. Looks like wee Jimi has used up 8 of those 9 lives but he was lucky enough to find Jacky.

Jimi has now had his tail amputated, his leg attended to, been deloused and sorted - we hope. The vet rang me at work (Jimi is staying in for a few days) to let me know that Jimi is doing okay. According to her Jimi is about 5 years old and a really expensive breed.

Inshallah he'll make it through the next few days. The infection in his tail was pretty bad, but Jacky's TLC has given him a shot at least.

Rest assured I'll keep the blogosphere posted.

Love and Peace - Wozza