Untukmu Para Pengunjung

Growing up, the only pets we had were goldfish, and with their short lifespan, the constant funerals became a bit traumatic! Someone sent me an e-mail the other day asking if we have pets here in Zim. Well, not technically. We do have a hamster cage, but we're waiting for our friend's hamster to have babies. Our neighbours, however, have a dog named Dusty. Dusty seems to think he is our dog. He likes to sleep in front of our door, and to be truthful, Dusty loves us. I don't think I've ever had an animal love me so much, actually. Our own bunnies in Canada couldn't have cared less about us (even though we used our whole verandah as "Bunnyland" and tried to treat them so well!) As soon as Dusty sees us he runs and jumps and his tail wags like crazy. I have so many scratches all over my arms. The one on my hand from this morning is currently bleeding. I'm not huge on animals (always having been more of a people-person), but I feel badly for Dusty. I think he's quite attention-deprived. Animal rights aren't a huge priority, and dogs are for scaring people - not for cuddling as pets. So, I let Dusty jump on me - as long as I'm not in uniform. Dusty's moving tomorrow; with the rest of his real family to Bindura - a rural area where they won't have running water/electricity/phones, etc. We'll be back to being pet-less, and the house next to us will be empty.

P.S. Our garden is proving so useful. We ate fresh carrots last night, and they were delicious. We also took some lavendar and added it to our bath - how relaxing!