There’s something very neat about sharing your life with animals (non-human) and developing a dynamic based on genuine trust and knowing each other.
Cockatoos are great for that. Mess up your relationship with one and you might lose some flesh and a good portion of your hearing. Still, Charlie is not in love with me. Her pure adoration is reserved for Ivan and Ivan only. Her attention easily stretches to other men she deems suitable though. Adoration, though... Rare and unwavering in her rapidly beating little heart is that, and it took years to build.
Meanwhile, in that same time period, I managed to cobble together some semblance of trust and the right to exist inoffensively (usually…) in the same space.
I spent a good chunk of time with the guinea pigs today. Trimming nails, checking general conditions, giving chin rubs and cuddles. This group of eleven will likely be my last little gaggle of wheeking hay beasts for the foreseeable future. They’re hard creatures to care for well when I’m unwell. At the moment my health is stable but that’s not a long-term guarantee and I carry the weight of insufficient attention and subpar care in the form of several heartbreaking tiny losses. This year, though my health dipped to its worst and I was, in all actuality, dying, I have not lost anyone in my care.
Minor miracles for which I am grateful.
Also partially thanks to the backup plans and coping mechanisms my lacklustre health has pushed me to learn (or lose my mental health trying) over the years.
I’ll spend some time writing here and see if it feels right. I need some space to ramble and post photos that isn’t run by Meta or an equally ethically dour data-sucking billion dollar maelstrom of a company.