h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It's me azahar.

Just stopping by to say hello. Have met you on a couple of other threads and have always been impressed by your humour and love of life. No mean feat, that.

You say that your age is not important. I am 46 1/2. And quite proud that I have made it this far . . . all things considered!

We also both share a love of wee Fnord. That kid (he would kill me for calling him that) is sometimes too clever for his boots, but like you, I cannot help but love him. He has a very good heart. And I count him as one of my very special friends here on hootoo.

Did you know he has gone into hospital today so he won't be around for a few days? Some surgery procedure on his mouth and then getting braces put in. I was surprised that this would require a hospital stay. But I will be thinking of him and sending 'positive az vibes' in his direction.

So you keep birds. I adore birds but can't bear to think of them being kept in a cage. But perhaps you have 'free range' birds in your house? I know many people who do this, let their birds just hang out wherever they like, though probably this ends up being a bit messy, cleaning up after them.

I have three cats, my little family. Well, I like to say that I have three cats but I think it is truer to say that my cats have a human. I am like their f*cking slave! But this totally cracks me up - they are so funny.

For some bizarre reason I have never been able to fathom, I seem to have the sort of 'strong personality' that often threatens people. Which I find very tiresome. And so I love it when the cats make it VERY clear who is the boss - them! Also, they make me laugh out loud every day by doing silly cat stuff. I don't even want to imagine a life without my little angels with fur.

You live in Brooklyn. I live in Sevilla, Spain. Almost moved to NY when I was 19. It was one of those 'crossroads' and I think it is the one thing I continue to wonder about. Like, how would my life had turned out if I had actually done this. But I also have no regrets - at least no serious ones. So, didn't move to NY but ended up having lots of other experiences. And now I live in Spain (was born in Canada). Also spent a couple of years living in England before I came here. Quite the adventure, especially as I left Toronto when I was 33 and had no idea about what this new life abroad would be like. Taking all these big leaps into the unknown! Well, I think my leaping days are over - maybe. Am feeling a bit tired now and would prefer to work on getting some semblance of 'security' happening in my life. Wish me luck.

Anyhow, just wanted to say hi.

az

Hey Az!
Good to hear from you....I am so sorry to hear "our" Fnord is in the hospital...hope all is OK...I shall be sending my vibes on as well...

I love this sight...you get to talk to 'normal' people....veryinteresting....

I'm 52,divorced, but my ex and I are very close. He actually is my tenant upstairs..we do our shopping & errands every weekend, and he does help around the house here....all the stuff he didn't do when we WERE married...ha ha....ah life is funny....so laugh!!!

My daughter just got married June 21....a wonderful guy, couldn't ask for better....(now..that's what happiness is)...

My son is 31 and single....can't see past that.....He's a good 'kid'.
Very much like his Dad...ah well.......

I LOVE MY BIRDS!!!...they are my "babies". And OF COURSE, they are all over the place....My parrots are out of the cage most of the time. They are young , their wings not grown since being clipped so they don't fly as yet...

My "Beany" (a Fischer lovebird) I let out as much as I can for his "free time" to fly around...he is doing OK with understanding "Hurry!" (go in your cage). The other, a peach-faced lovebird "Peanut" has her wings clipped, but she can fly straight across the room...when she's on the floor she climbs up on the furniture(wicker - so it's easy)and the two of them hang out on top of the mirror...very cute! My parakeets Chippy & Pretty are fairly new....I have them separated from the rest for now but I have let them out to stretch their wings....Pretty is a little runt of the litter...she is SO tiny...I take all my birds to the vet (and do I have to tell you what that cost? Yikes!!!) She was a little under the weather when I got her, but she is doing much better now...Chippy is named after my parakeet that I lost in September 2001....he was five and developed a kidney tumor...I cried my eyes out....I miss him terribly....he was an amazing bird. My parrots, Kiki, Kiwi & Jake are really too funny...you say you play with your cats...my Kiwi & Jake roll around and wrestle with each other...you would laugh your butt off!!!!! I nick-named Jake "Nubbins" because he lost a toe-nail. He's a gold-capped conure, very healthy bite! Kiki is like a cat...very independent...I guess Kiwi is my "baby".

The Love of My Life: Rocky
My Beloved Rocky passed away this April....that is when I got the other birds....He was fine...took him to the vet to have his nails clipped and a check-up....I was a little concerned because his poop was a bit watery...I wanted the vet to do a blood test to check his liver....what a mistake! There is a new procedure where they take the blood from the neck with a syringe instead of from the wing....The procedure went OK, but I think my bird was very frightened and went into shock....he could not stand afterward, and he went into seizure and died right there in the office....I was hysterical and had to be sedated....I loved that bird SOOOO much...I could not bear it....he was a beautiful sun conure, the brightest and most beautiful bird...and he said "Rocky", "kiss" and "wait, wait".He would snuggle under my shirt before bedtime and sleep there for a while...he gave me gazillions of kisses....he was a "kissy" bird...
It still hurts so much, but I must remember all the good times with my baby. Kiwi's personality is much like Rocky's, so it is a bit of a comfort. Kiwi is my snuggle bird.

My daughter has one cat and a mini lop bunny. Siva & Avery...Her old bunny Steve died not long ago...He made it to nine years..he had a good life with her that's for sure...I guess we are all animal lovers....the best kind of people if you ask me.....

So you are owned by two cats......I know how that is...I used to be owned by ONE....unfortunately, I developed an allergy to cats after I had my Buffy for SIX years....Luckily, she was adopted by a man who had another cat...good company....That was about 12 years ago....

Ah Spain....I've never been there, but a daughter of a friend was going to school there...I think maybe where you are...I have to check that..they showed us photos....WOW...what a beautiful place....you know, you cannot compare that to "Brooklyn"...it's not bad where I am, but Oh!!!! to be "somewhere else"...I will move eventually, when my daughter decides to leave the city...might be a while though....We are very close and want to be close (at least in the same area). All the good things to look forward to.....

My gosh, I have gone on and on.....it's so slow here at work, unbelieveable how much I can do while I'm at work....well, anyway...it's just about time to go home...yahoo!!!! Catch ya tomorrow and remember to smile when you think of me...it's contagious you know....pass it along..... (I will send Fnord lots of smiles)

Barb

hi again,

I so much loved the birthday greeting you sent to Sunny yesterday - how lovely and funny! From all the clan.

In fact, I am owned by THREE cats. Lua is Sunny's mother. I adopted her when she was two years old when I was living in Salamanca - the couple who had her no longer wanted her after the woman found out she was pregnant. So I took her and was immediately upset by the fact that Lua is the crankiest thing on four paws. Not affectionate, doesn't like being touched, a real b**ch of a cat! And I thought - oh great! - now I am stuck with a cat who isn't even nice to have around. But eleven years later . . . I do love that girl - lucky for her. And as she gets older she has become a bit more affectionate, bless her. Perhaps her original owners didn't treat her well. Anyhow, while still in Salamanca I mated Lua with an enormous Burman and she had four gorgeous kittens - and I kept Sunny. And he takes after his father, thank god. The MOST affectionate thing, he is also very calm and laid back. Really, he is a dog as he loves people and always comes to see any visitors so that they can pet him and tell him how wonderful he is. The third cat I rescued from the street after someone had tried to kill him - they only succeeded in almost ripping his front left leg off! B*st*rds! I've named him Azar, which means 'chance' or 'happenstance' in Spanish. He is so beautiful - jet black with yellow eyes and the biggest ears ever. Well, his broken front leg looks like a little hockey stick, but he gets around fine on three and a half legs, bless him. And HE is the most sensual of the three - he always wants me to massage his feet and otherwise constantly cuddle him! But even after living here in total safety for almost eight years he remains totally frightened of other people - nobody but me has ever been able to touch him. I guess those kittenhood traumas run deep.

So that is my little cat family. Total slave-drivers, each of them! But I wouldn't have it any other way.

You know, I almost burst into tears when I read the sad story about Rocky. My god, I'm not surprised you needed to be sedated - I'd have been totally hysterical. Oh, poor you! But yes, better to remember the lovely times you had with him, even though I'm sure that remembering is still quite painful.

I don't know much about birds, so I can't really picture what your birds look like, except maybe the parakeets. In the pet shop where I buy my cat sand they have a gorgeous parrot sort of bird, it's a dove grey colour, quite large, and sits out on a perch all day and has the run of the shop. I've seen it with the woman (it's a couple and their daughter who run the place) and that bird is soooooo affectionate. I've seen the woman talk to it and then the bird nuzzles her under the chin - so lovely. I like this pet shop because they mostly only sell birds and fish. And although I don't like seeing birds in cages it's somehow worse when I've seen other pet shops with very large puppies confined to a very small and not very clean cages - you know? At this place they occasionally get a litter of kittens in, but pedigree ones that they sell very quickly. Once I asked them when they would be going on holiday, as most shops here shut for at least two weeks during the summer. And the man told me that they could never go away and leave their animals. They even open on Sunday mornings. So, selling pets is not only their livelihood, but it seems they also live for their animals, which is a nice thing to see.

Meanwhile, our Fnord seems to be doing well. He is still on antibiotics but otherwise thriving. He is one of my most special friends here on hootoo and, like you, I LOVE THAT GUY. I found it so nice how at first he was a bit sarcastic and Fnord-ish with you, but you broke down his barriers by keeping on telling him that you loved him. And especially that you loved him for just being himself. I even saw that he paid me a compliment by saying that you reminded him of ME! Well, perhaps that was a mutual compliment for the both of us. And now he also has Jane loving him. He is truly such a special person and truly deserves all the love he gets.

Jane is also a very special hootoo friend of mine. We also MSN a lot when we are both online, but she doesn't get to her computer until her kids have been put to bed, and since she is an hour ahead of me in the Canaries this is sometimes too late for me to stay up to chat. Having said that, she has often made me stay up WAY TOO LATE yakking with her on MSN until about 3am my time!

Isn't this such a lovely forum to meet wonderful people? I only got on hootoo in March but since then I have met some very good friends, yourself included. One of my hootoo pals is even coming to stay in my extra apartment for the last two weeks of August. He was needing a holiday, I told him I could rent him a room at a good price, and he took me up on the offer. So it will be good fun showing him around MY CITY and I hope he has a good time and can bear the HEAT.

Well, enough from me for one posting I think! I have a tendency to ramble, which you may have noticed.

Anyhow, talk to you soon!

love,
az

Your cats Mama Lua, Sunny , and Azar sound really wonderful....Mom's are always cranky aren't they?

I think that bird you were talking about might be a Cockatiel. Although they are not really large. Cockatoos are large, but the one's I've seem are usually white. Anyway, I love ALL birds . It's nice to know some shop owners really do care about their birds. The place where I got Rocky was like that. The owner would spend lots of time actually playing with the birds. They were handfed and simply adorable. Rocky stole my heart when I first saw him. I was looking in the window and he saw me and followed me back and forth and was even turning upside down to follow me. It was hilarious! He let me hold him in my hand on his back and I kissed him and tickled that little belly.........That's one good memory.....and I want to
thank you for the kind words about Rocky.

On to Fnord...yes I do believe that was a compliment! He really is a charm.

It's so cool that Jane is so cool too. It really is nice to be able to talk to people like this. I too consider you, Fnord and Jane my friends......

Well, I really do have to go for now...I'm at work (hee hee)...talk to you real soon...give the kitties some kisses from all of us over here.

Barb