Ron and I have been married for 13 years, this being my third marriage. I wish we had met 20 years ago. He was romantic though, and chose Valentine's Day for our Wedding Day. We have a lot in common, about the only thing we don't have in common is that he likes the cold and I don't.
Both of my parents are deceased, and I miss them terribly. I travelled overseas when I was 19 to England and the United States. I actually remained in the US as I loved it so much, and overstayed my visa by 2 years. I felt like it was my second home. Most of my time was spent in Los Angeles. I have also recently been diagnosed with MS, it is "slow progression" and I am still learning a lot about the condition. If you would like to learn more about MS, please visit http://multiple-wa.asn.au/mssocieties_link_new.html or http://www.geocities.com/ozms2004/
I am currently employed for a State Government Department as an Admin Support Co-ordindator supervising 19 staff. Most of my life I have been employed as a clerical or secretarial person, but have also done other duties including nursing, delivery driver, sales person and spare parts distributor.
Ron used to work as a Senior Computer Technical Support Officer for the same organisation but recently retired due to ill health and has been a house husband since. Ron was also in the Navy for 20 years, retiring 20 years ago.
We have recently started to renovate our house by laying tiles, finishing off the kitchen, re-modelling the bathroom and toilet, painting and soon the big job of building a built in wardrobe for me. We have also recently planted some more trees along the driveway and front of the property, hopefully this will block off some of the street noise - not that it is bad, but some drivers still disobey the speed limit! A lot of what Ron is doing now is to help me in the future, should the MS get bad and I can't get around on my own two legs. I have a scooter that I use at work, as well as a wheely walker, but I find the scooter is much better for my legs and tiredness. I also have two walking sticks, but have basically stopped using them as they offer no support.
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"Kelly" aka Chamwari Keleborn |
Meet my darling Kelly, who passed away on her 14th birthday. Kelly was a Rhodesian Ridgeback and a big lovable baby. Kelly had two litters of puppies, one at the ripe old age of 18 months, when she gave birth to 15 puppies. Unfortunately, only 13 survived, and guess who did most of the feeding? She was glad to give them up at weaning time. I decided to keep one female from the litter, which increased the brood to three. Caesar, my first ever male dog, came into my home just before Kelly mated with his father. Kelly had a very special 14th birthday in October, as it was her last. This is my tribute to her:
My best friend, my companion and the best dog I have ever owned. I wanted to be with you when you went to the Rainbow Bridge, but you left before I could be with you. I know you cared about me too, and that you waited to make it to your 14th Birthday, and I am glad we celebrated it together. I will miss you terribly, but I won't miss your tearing up my lounge suites as you did as a puppy, and I’ll miss the "Kelly Hugs", the way you would wake me in the mornings with the cold nose and kisses, and Sunday breakfasts, but I will miss your love and affection, your personality, your kisses, your happy face, your playfulness and cheekiness. You will be with friends, Brandy (my labrador cross), your babies - Muffin, Red, ES and Cuddles, and your companion Caesar, and now your mate Noodle. You were the matriarch of the Karnimirie Klan, and now Noodle is with you, he missed you too much. The 30th of October will always hold a special place in my heart, and I will always remember you. I am sorry you became so dependent on me in the end, but I know how stubborn you were and how you always wanted to please me. I have many fond memories of our life together and the fun times we had. I would not have been around today if it had not been for you, my friend. Goodbye my darling!
Both Kelly and Noodle were known as "Senior Dogs", and we belong to a "Seniors List" and I often still visit the following site for information. If you are looking for hints, feeding and care of a senior dog, please visit the following site:
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"Noodle" aka Sunbane Bhrathair |
Meet Aust. Ch. Sunbane Bhrathair, better known as Noodle. He was the biggest sook I have ever known. Noodle was a gift from a friend, and I was ever so proud when he gained his 100 points. Noodle fathered one litter with Kelly, of which there were 10. Unfortunately that litter came down with parvo-virus and the two best pups passed away. After having sold one, he came back to me, Red was his name. He had a tough life though, and I don't know how many "Karnimiries" there are left now. Noodle got his name from running into a pergola post when he was about 12 months old. We have since found out that he has epilepsy and probably caused by the bump on the head. Ron was not fussed on Noodle when we first met and subsequently moved in to his place, but Noodle soon wormed his way into Rons heart. Noodle now has to have cuddles every morning and night with Ron and gives the biggest kisses. Noodle has now left us, but was still a big puppy at heart at the age of 11 1/2.
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"Maggie" aka Trekveld Malalanguae |
This is one of our new additions to the family. Her name is Maggie and she comes from a broken home of four dogs and four kids. A similar situation to what I was in once before, and I think it was fate that we found her as my mothers name was Margaret as well. When we first brought her home, she ran away when she got spooked and ran for about 3 kilometres and we just could not catch her. I panicked and got really upset. I placed several ads in the newspapers and contacted all of the Councils in our area, without success. Then, nearly two weeks later, I received a phone call from a couple who lived near the local school, they had found her. So, I rang the previous owner to see if she would come out just in case Maggie would not come to me. It was a miracle. It took Maggie a while to settle in, and she is still a bit toey with some noises, but she seems very happy. She follows me everywhere and has to know where I am all of the time. And talk about a food fiend, she has even discovered how to open our refrigerator. Maggie is extremely affectionate and has some similar traits to Kelly, but she will never replace her. Maggie is now 7 years old, and maybe we will have some puppies, I don't know yet.
When we first tried to bath her, she would not come near the bathroom, as if she had an unpleasant experience with it. So I thought I would make it more pleasant for her by tempting her with a biscuit. It worked. She even went in by herself at one point and when she was to have her last bath, she actually got in by herself! Another bridge crossed.
I also think she is part greyhound. She runs around like she is on a race track, and flies around the house in about 5 seconds, she loves it. It is her way of getting rid of the spent up energy from being confined all day. She darts about, just missing us by a few centimetres and plays for ages.
Recently she was bitten by a brown snake, but fortunately, we found the snake and her early enough to get her to the vet. It was not cheap, but at least she survived. Maybe it being Good Friday had something to do with it.
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"Max" aka Kazeniah Maximilian |
This is Max, our latest rescue dog. He was only 18 months old, when we first saw him, I almost called him "Pluto", as he has the hugest feet and looks a lot like Pluto, really gangly. The poor baby also has entropian, which we have just had operated on. I have only ever seen it once before in a Ridgeback, so I was not sure if it was when we picked him up. But, we love him, and he was settling in so quickly, that we decided not to send him back and for him to have the operation to correct it. We'd rather have him in a home where we knew he would be well cared for and his eyes fixed, rather than being passed from pillar to post. He has now been with us for 3 years, and is the happiest dog I have ever know and so affectionate.
He and Maggie get along really well, although he is quite possessive as well and pushes in for attention when Maggie gets it. Which is exactly what she did when she first came here too. Maggie is actually the one who initiates play, which is good to see as we were not sure how she would react to a mate, especially being without Noodle for so long. But, they only had one or two growls at each other, and they have been fine since. I now have two shadows following me everywhere, Max has to know where I am all of the time now.
Max is a real sook, but an excellent guard dog as well. He started protecting us virtually straight away, and he is such a big boy, so he is quite scarey to strangers. We are trying to put some weight on him at the moment as he is a bit skinny, pity we could not transfer some of Maggies weight to him, she is on a diet to lose weight!!
They now both have to have cuddles on the bed, and Max loves to get between us, pillow end!! The other day, I had left the room, he had made his way up onto the bed, and was lying on my pillows with tummy exposed!! I wish I'd had a film in my camera. I think he is going to fit in really well.
Max's great grandmother was Kelly's grandmother - now that is closer than the rellie in Maggie's line. Maggie has a Kelly relative also, Pronkhuis Nyanga (Tang), can't find anything in Noodle's line though.
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"Dizzy" aka - "the Social Butterfly", "Twinkletoes" |
Dizzy is our latest edition. She is such a cutey and at 5 years old quite playful. We got Dizzy in August from a family who had moved from acerage to a small block and Dizzy would not settle, so they put her up for adoption with the Ridgeback Rescue. We still don't have her papers though, they are taking their time getting them to us.
Max loves her, but it did not start out that way, he'd growl at her and fight with her, would not let her eat without fighting. But on day four, she initiated play and he joined in. It was great, typical though, the female has to make the first move!!! We still have to separate them at dinner time, Max eats in the new bathroom and Dizzy eats in the laundry.
She is such a petite thing, similar to Maggie when we first got her. I think she will stay pretty trim as she does not eat much and is very active. She has even made friends with Rocky (german shepherd) next door and has even gotten Max to play with him. They run up and down the fence line and tease each other. Rocky always greets me when I get home as well as my two. Rocky comes to the fence to say hello every afternoon. Rocky is owned by a German couple, Barb and Manfred, we had to babysit him once when Barb and Manfred went out as he snuck under the fence.
There is one thing we are trying to get Maggie out of and that is jumping up on people. She is a real people person and will never make a guard dog like Max. She is very playful with us as well and plays "getcha" with me a lot and tug of war. Loves her tummy rubs as well. Must be a trait of all dogs I think, as Max will cock his leg when he is lying down and wants a tummy rub.
Dizzy loves our boomerang pillows and curls up with both of them quite a lot, it is so cute. You know when she has been on the bed, as the pillows are everywhere. She also moves around like twinkletoes. You never know she is there. Call her and you tend to be waiting forever, but look around and she is there.
She does not like my birds though, she wants to eat them. She charges at Billy's cage and is fixated on Banjo (our newest bird) the cockateil. She has knocked over his cage a couple of times, luckily not hurting him or him escaping.
We hope to have Dizzy for a number of years, or at least as long as we had Maggie, 7 years. Max has been with us for 7 years now and he is still going strong and the playing with Dizzy certainly has given him back some zing.
We live on acreage about 25 kilometres from Gatton in Queensland and travel to Toowoomba to work every day. We have lived here for three years now, and we are certainly much happier as are the dogs. The property is fully fenced, and we live in a four bedroom, removal home which was bricked in. Recently we put some garden edging in and put up a rainwater tank to water the gardens. Ron also now has a 6m x 9m x 3m shed where he spends half of his time, the rest is spent in the computer room. He has a lot of the good things in there, and now I can place my order for a windmill for the front garden, hangers for pot plants, doors for my wardrobe etc.
Web address
https://www.angelfire.com/planet/karnimirie
