I am my cat.

I am back in to the swing of running again of a morning and seeing the familiar faces I had come to recognise as I ran around the river loop each day in the latter part of last year. I am enjoying the random rambling thoughts that pop into my head as I run and for some reason the random is much stranger of a morning than of an evening.  This is a typical stream of thoughts as the fly through my head as I jog.

This morning I passed a woman out walking her dog and watching the two of them together got me to thinking how some people really do look like their pets.  Both her and her dog were short in stature (the dog looked to be a blue heeler in colour but crossed with a very short legged beagle), they both looked to be ‘older’ and shuffled rather than walked.  This in turn had me think if I was like any pet I have ever owned and I began to stroll through the list of pets I have been fortunate to share my life with.

Other than being loyal, I am nothing like Sandy the cockerspaniel I had when I was a kid, he liked to roll around in dead things and I am not so fond of the dead.  I am nothing like Queenie, the first cat I ever owned, she was a prolific breeder and I won’t go past 2 offspring.  Perhaps I am a little like Dodgy Rodger the rabbit who showed no emotion or affection, but perhaps it is because he was a rabbit and that is what they do!  The guinea pig with the exotic name of Squeaky did nothing but Squeak and whilst I do whinge and moan I don’t squeak so that really isn’t me.  I have owned more than my fair share of cats but other than being independent and at times aloof, I have never really thought of myself being like any of my cats until now.

We currently share our home with two cats, Lucky (aka Ducky or Duckster) and Tornado (aka Torny or Prawny) that are barely more than kittens.  The cats were both rescued from the RSPCA a year ago but they aren’t from the same litter.  In fact the cats couldn’t possibly be less alike.  Ducky is gigantic, bigger than most adult cats and still growing whilst Torny is tiny and barely bigger than a kitten.  Tornado is spritely, agile and very adventurous.  He is happy to climb the fence to go and visit the neighbours, including the dog of neighbours two doors down.  He will jump all the fences out the back to get onto the footpath so he can wander along the street and greet everyone who walks by.  He is very sociable and loved by everyone.  Ducky on the other hand looks really sleek and strong.  He is a powerful cat but he can barely jump.  Instead of jumping up onto the fence, he climbs it much as he would climb a tree.  He is very timid and tends to hide when people come over, giving the impression that he isn’t very sociable at all.  He wants to be brave and adventurous but can’t climb the series of fences he would need to climb to get out.  If the front door is open, he may peek out or even hide behind the hedge but that is about as far as he is willing to explore before running back inside.

I am Ducky;  I appear to be fit and strong but I have to work really hard to maintain the level of fitness I currently have, even a few days break sets me well back.  I look like I am brave but really it is all a facade.  I am being all brave and adventurous by heading to the Aussie Bloggers Conference this month (EEEK – this month!) yet I worry that I will find my very own ‘hedge’ to hide behind before being frightened and running away to hide.  Please, if you see me cowering behind a ‘hedge’, come rescue me.  I may look big and strong but really I am just a scaredy cat.

So that is me and some of the random thoughts that go through my head as I run around the river; the scaredy cat who insists on going for a run every morning for fear I will lose fitness and the habit of exercise and find yet another reason to be a hermit.