A New Home



New home. Seemed like a good place to come to because I already have two acquaintances here (albeit not the most regular of bloggers are you and you?

Will blog when I feel like it again.

If I ever feel like it again.

Oh, I'm sure I will feel like it again.














Popular posts from this blog

Ontheemding

  Dis wanneer ek só voel dat Buurman se .270 baie aanloklik begin lyk waar hy in die kluis toegesluit staan. Die wanskape misvormdheid voor die computer kan nie skryf nie. Die ding sit op die stoel met 'n klip in sy maag, 'n krampagtige gevoel wat eers herinner aan opgewondenheid, tot die gedrog besef: dis vrees wat so voel. Verlammende vrees vir wanskape wees. Die wanskape wese vrees sy eie wanstaltigheid. Ek soek woorde in die HAT, want hierdie wanskapenheid bestaan buite die kring van naamgewing, soos 'n brandsiek township-hond wat aan niemand behoort nie. Die lelike ding wat niemand wil sien nie, wat almal van wegkyk; nie van wil weet nie. Wat mens sommer wegskop wanneer hy 'n oorlas van homself maak.   Op die laaste dag van September stuur my suster twee vars foto's van ons ma. Sy vra eers of ek wil sien, want sy is gaaf en het begrip. Ek sê ja en laai die foto's af. Dit vat my weke om die foto's oop te maak. Ek kyk skrams, sonder om te sien. Ek raak ga...
Read more

Roepman's Story, the short version

Image
R oepman was my second Bulldog. He died at 3 months old. This happened last year. He had left the breeder at 6 weeks (too young) with a full health clear. We took him to puppy school (second mistake). It rained lightly. He got sick. Our own vet suspected a long palate [reductively, it's not the palate that's too long, it's the face that's too short] and treated accordingly. He got well. I noticed that he slept with his head stretched backwards and did not know at the time it was the only way he could breathe. I just thought it was cute. He often sat like that as well. After mild activity he would vomit foam. While eating he would stop breathing completely and fall down, his tongue and gums blue.  I'd never thought that doggy-CPR would come so naturally to me. The second time he stopped breathing and I got him going again, we bypassed our usual vet and drove to a Bulldog specialist in another town with Roepman on my lap and me holdin...
Read more

You Give God a Bad Name [Part 2]

Image
Leon and I sometimes spend a few days in summer at a hunting lodge near my old hometown . Summer is a good time to occupy a hunting lodge - there are neither hunters nor dead animals around and one can enjoy a kind of pseudo-pastoralism without any of the annoying work of real farm life. Also, I don't know if I'd want to do Molteno in winter again, having acclimatised to the much milder Western Cape a long time ago.  Of course it always leaves a lingering sadness that we have to go and stay on someone else's farm. But hey, ons het almal op ons manier 'n plaas verloor , get over it. So we invited Anton to drive up from East London and share our little pastoral fantasy, and the vast old sandstone house, for a weekend. His eldest son would join us. I was on my way into town when I met them driving out to the farm and pulled over.  A small, grey man got out from the passenger side of the Landcruiser. He was hunched over and holding onto the front of his loos...
Read more