The Zoo

For several months now I’ve been hearing from Samantha “Your cat is so naughty!” and “You aren’t going to believe what your cat has done now!” Which is humours about this is the cat she was referring to is not Pharaoh, the little black cat I picked up in Fayetteville, but Cora, a little gray kitten in New Zealand I’d never met. Cora was one of the two surviving cats from a litter born in January while Samantha and her daughters were visiting me in the states. The other surviving kitten is a little black kitten named Tui (for a native New Zealand bird). Until June I hadn’t been to New Zealand and so had not met “my cat” her entire life. Of course she was my cat because she was naughty and when she misbehaved the girls could say “oh no, look what Sam’s cat did!” I was very proud of my cat.

Cora, named for the white spot on her chest

Now that I’ve met my cat, it is quite funny that she was bestowed to me because she is very friendly with everyone, except me. She has two cousins roughly the same age, William, a blond tabby, and Montgomery, (Monkey for short) a beautiful tortoise shell. All the others seem quite taken with me, but not my naughty cat. The mothers are Percy and Bronte, Percy being an affectionate little grey cat who doesn’t like to come inside at night (which is how we ended up with kittens) and Bronte a chubby little grey cat whose tail lays down flat on her back all the time, also a very affectionate little cat. To finish off the “Pride” are Oscar a little orange tabby who is slightly psychotic and hisses when pet and Balto, the king of the pride, both older males.

Monkey

Tui

William

The lovely Percy

Bronte, up close and personal

Scabby old Oscar

And last, the king of the house, Balto

Next, after the pride comes the pack, starting with George. George is Samantha’s dog, a big black and white mastiff mutt. Sam saved him from an owner who had gotten him thinking he’d be a big tough dog and unfortunately for them both, George is a big marshmallow… Unfortunately for George, when he wasn’t a big mean dog, his previous owner tried to beat him into being a big mean dog. Today George is a big happy puppy… A bit grumpy, and the cat’s favorite pillow (to his great displeasure).

George, everyone loves George...

Next is Sophie, an ornery little female dog who loves to play, pick fights, eat, pick fights and misbehave… Sophie is Emily’s dog, and is the only dog that was planned, she was picked up at the SPCA so Em might have her own dog. She is a bit too smart for her own good and manages to get into all manner of trouble if left to her own devices (such as chasing the herd) so she spends her days tied up at home if no one is around, is someone is around she is allowed to get into some mischief.

Last is Buster (named for Buster Keaton I believe) who was also saved in order to come to the pack. Buster is a weimaraner black lab mix (we are told intentional) but truth be told he is just another mutt like George and Sophie. He was the pup of a cousin of Samantha’s and when still just a bit more than a pup was playing rough with a kitten and the kitten was killed. Buster’s owner was livid and was going to have him put down, but just before he made the walk down the green mile, Sam’s cousin called her and asked if she’d be willing to take Buster, and would never have been able to say no, couldn’t let a perfectly good dog be put down… Or Buster…

Sophie and Buster in flight

And so finishes the pack, which leaves the herd. Sam’s first and oldest horse is Cullen, don’t tell him he is the oldest, he won’t hear of it, and really, for being the oldest he isn’t much worse for wear. He is a white quarter horse thoroughbred cross with the attitude of a pit bull. He loves to bully the other horses (though Seth will have none of it) and is happiest when being ridden hard, fast, over large obstacles, or run up steep hills.

The Old Boys, Cullen and Seth

Seth was Sam’s first pro, a little black thoroughbred that is also very happy to be jumping large obstacles. He, like so many of Sam’s pets was a rescue animal. While he had brilliant blood lines and was meant to be a great racer, a little too much of the wrong attention made Seth not good for much and he was well on his way to being dog food (bummer for a race horse with champion bloodlines) when Samantha picked him up for $150 NZ. With a little of the right kind of attention he became an excellent eventer (competitive jumping horse) but his early days of a little too much of the whip left him a little crazy. In the end after a bad jump (not his fault, but poor conditions) Sam put him out to pasture.

The beautiful and sophisticated Seth

Luna is Sam’s current eventer, a chestnut, German warm blood/thoroughbred mix the size of a house. He is a bit of a grump, and for being a horse purpose breed for war (as warm bloods were so very long ago) he is unusually skittish… A unique temperament for a horse whose purpose is to jump large solid objects taller than he is, but it isn’t the jumps that bother him, put a wall in front of him and tell him to jump it and he’ll jump it. It’s the little things he is skittish of, spotted horses, cows, little horses, plastic bags blowing on the ground peacocks, you know, the real scary things in life. His nick name (for his colour and because he is a big baby) is Elmo, which brings us to our most recent addition to the family, Scooter.

Zee German, Luna (Elmo)

Scooter is a chestnut thoroughbred Sam recently acquired with the intentions of selling on, but at the moment he looks like he might be a brilliant horse, and if that is the case I might keep him for myself. He is named for the Republican fall guy Scooter Libby, but with a Scoot and an Elmo, it only seems right we call these two ‘The Muppets.’ We are just starting to train Scoot but he already seems to be an excellent athlete, and is very eager to please.

Eager to please, Scooter... The other muppet

This is where I live; this is what I walked into moving to New Zealand. But then, honestly, I’ve always kinda wanted to be a farm boy, so it is really a dream come true… We shall see if it is everything it’s cracked up to be…