Brisbane Floods

Hi everyone!

I haven't been blogging much.  We've been having a flood.  A big one.

Last week we flew back to our apartment in Brisbane.  As always I flew Qantas and I was not very happy.  I heard the parents say something about free drinks, but I didn't get any.

When we got to the apartment the parents commenced bringing everything from the storage in the basement up into the apartment.  This was very interesting as there were a lot of good smells coming with them.  And there was lots of boxes to climb on and look at.

 As each hour went by there was more and more boxes and there was less and less space in the apartment.  That meant there were more places to hide from the parents.

More and more and more stuff came up to the apartment.  None of it was very good because there was nothing to eat in it.  

Finally there was so much stuff that I had to find new places to sleep.  In cupboards, on tables, where ever.  It was very tiring watching those two move stuff in and then about, then stacking it and balancing it and then knocking it over.

Then the power turned off and everything went dark and quiet.  Well it went quiet everywhere except in our apartment.  Both stupid smoke detectors started their stupid chirping because they had flat batteries.  I really hate that sound and had to hide under the bed.  My mother really hates that sound and she yells at my father.  My father must really like it because he climbed on a chair to get closer and hear it more.

The first high water flooded our street and only came up to the apartment block.  My mother and father were very happy.  Then the sewer burst down in the basement carpark.  That changed their faces.  But I got to tell you.  For a cat things started to smell nice and interesting.


The sewer kept coming up and up.  Then the second high tide came.  The water level was even higher and so was the sewer.  There was no power for the building pumps.  Finally my dad and some other men got some portable pumps and started pumping it all out in the street to show the neighbours what they had.  My father helped run the pumps for three days 24/7.  Every time he came home he smelt very interesting, unfortunately my mother would make him take his boots and clothes off before he could come inside.

We didn't have any power for nearly 4 days, so the parents had to have cold showers. Even when the power came back the hot water didn't work because it was flooded by the sewer. 


Finally all the sewer got shared with all the neighbours and then everything down in the basement car park had been removed.  A professional detox company has been pressure cleaning and disinfecting the basement for 4 days now.  


It doesn't seem to smell as interesting as before.

My family has been very lucky.  They have only suffered discomfort.  

There has been much tragedy in this, the biggest natural disaster Queensland has ever experienced. 


Queenslanders are a friendly, helpful, caring people.  Some of these wonderful people have lost their lives, some have lost their livelihoods and many more have lost everything they own.

Didn't You Hear Me?

Itchy Ear

Well here we are first week into 2011 and I can't believe it!  On Wednesday I had an itchy ear.  Actually, it was itchy on Monday and Tuesday too.  So I got whisked off to the Vets.  

Whisked is probably not accurate, because I didn't give up and just go without a fight. I mean what do you expect?  I'm a male, a guy, you just don't go to the doctors because you've got an itch right?  I mean doctors are for serious stuff, like what happens to everyone else. 

Anyway my ear was itchy.  So I'm having a good scratch, just hitting the right spot and it's starting to feel sooooo goood when out of the corner of my eye I see one of the parents come in carrying the cage.  What! Cage?! That's it I'm out of here.    

To cut a long story short, I'm sure he must have cheated to catch me 'cause we only did two laps of the dining table, three laps of the armchair in the family room, back to the dining room and once behind the blinds, but somehow he caught me and scooped me into the cage.  I must be losing my touch.

Now when you find yourself in a cage, in the car there is generally only three places to be going.  The airport, but unlikely this time as I didn't see any suitcases; the kennels; again unlikely no bags; or the vets!  That's it.  Time to yell as loud as I can.  Meowwwww.  Maybe the police will hear and think a cat is being killed in the car and intervene.  All the way to the vets I yelled, but no one came to help me.

At the Sunbury Animal Hospital my tactics are to shut up when you get there in the hope that they will either not notice me, or think I'm perfectly healthy and leave me alone or treat all those other animals that need to be there instead of me.  This tactic is yet to pay dividends.

So in we went to see Louise and this is where the visit takes a turn for the worst.  She wants to know what's wrong and the parent says he's scratching his ear.  I'm thinking so what?  The parent always scratches his ear, particularly when he's asked questions and no one cares about his ears.  While I'm thinking this and looking around I suddenly hear her say hold him still we'll check his temperature.  Whoa, I know what's coming next. What's temperature got to do with it?  I distinctly heard the parent say ear, not rear!  Suddenly it's clear to me one person needs their ears checked and it's not me!

I must admit though, deaf or not, Louise is clever.  When she takes my temperature she grabs my tail, but tells the parent to hold me still.  That leaves the parent cling to what he calls the sharp end, while I strongly consider what else is in need of a good scratching.

Finally, after what seems an eternity of me grappling with the parent she removes the thermometer and pronounces me perfect.  I could have told her that without a thermometer.  The parent relaxes and I try to get back inside my cage.  Time to go right? You heard her, I'm perfect.

But no, she's not finished with me.  She grabs a device and shoves it in my ear, at the same time telling the parent to keep hanging on to me.  That's it! I've had enough and it's time to growl.  You should have seen the parent's face.  Now he has to hang because as soon as he lets go it will be my turn to grab and hang on to him.  We'll see how he likes it.

After a good look, she says there's nothing there, but instead of letting me be, she grabs some cotton buds and stuffs in my ear.  Clearly this is an exercise in escalating my anger.

Finally they both let me be.  She disappears for some tests and the parent tries to calm me down.  Calm down?  How do you expect me to react?  You've ripped me out of my home, you've shoved things into me in several places and now you think I should be calm?  Are you deluded?  Before I do something we will both regret I storm back into my cage, turn my back on him and ignore him. 

Finally she's back and tells the parent I should have some tablets and we're free to go.  Sensational! Tablets! And yes, the parent has to try and get them into the sharp end twice a day.  Ha!