Goodbye Rusty

Sad, sad weekend.

On Saturday, Rusty, my brown kelpie, ran out on the road and was killed.

Rusty was one of those special spirits that come along so few times in life. I found him at the local RSPCA shelter. I looked into his eyes and recognised him instantly. He was Jock. My black kelpie x dingo who died quite a few years ago. I knew him and he knew me -- though he didn't really understand why he thought he knew me.

I brought Rusty home. It was obvious he'd been very badly treated during his short life. He was only about 8 months old then. During the ten months he was with us, he blossomed into a wonderful, gentle spirit, full of confidence, joy and love.

Just when he was becoming himself again, he was snatched away. Why?

I always thought I had unfinished business with Jock. He was just becoming who he really was when he died.

I think, perhaps, Rusty was the unfinished business. Somewhere along the line, between his life as Jock and one or two other lives until Rusty, I think he lost himself. He came back "home" to find his true self.

Why do I keep doing this? I join my spirit with these animals and then I'm devastated when they leave. I guess that's just me. I can't do it any other way.

In a way, those special spirits haven't really left me. Bandit, my soul mate, the one who taught me everything he could about "real" communication with animals, is now one of my spirit guides. Bandit is the domestic dog link. Jock is another guide who has stayed with me. He is the wolf, the link to the wild. Another little spirit guide who stays in my background is Tess. Little old Tess who wasn't with us long either. She was another pound refugee and a gentle spirit.

It's nice to know they're still there. But I'm just so very sad that I can't reach out and hug them.

For my other little friends who are not spirit guides, but are living other lives, helping people and learning lessons, I look forward to seeing you again too. Blue the cattle dog, Merlin the Russian Blue cat, Nikki the Burmese x. I hope our paths cross again sometime.

All I can say is, they all knew love and happiness while they were with me. I hope I helped them in some small way, as they helped me, and continue to do so.

Goodbye Rusty. Be all that you were meant to be.

I'll see you again. That much I do know for sure.

All Things Mundane

Okay. No writing done this week.

It's the end of the financial year and the start of another. Jeez I hate working with numbers. I'm almost finished. I only have to do the last little fiddly bits, then I can sit back and relax and let the Accountant do the rest.

Then... back to writing.

I left Jaxxlar in rather a state. Raped, pillaged, plundered and not at all happy about it, Jaxx is in for a rather rough ride emotionally. Ranger, his friend and partner, is also in for a hard time as Jaxxlar comes to terms with what happened to him. Ranger will be a bit of a sounding board, I fear, and someone Jaxxlar can take all his frustrations out on. Well, for a while. Or, at least, until Ranger thumps him back to his senses... or whatever. I'm not sure how they're going to deal with this one.

Alice Cooper

Last night I took my two boys (Rhys aged 19 and Kris 21) to the Alice Cooper concert at the old Palais Theatre in St. Kilda, Melbourne.

What a show!

I tell you, that guy can really ROCK.

Even though the stage was smaller than what he's probably used to, he still managed to pack in as much as possible. He's the ultimate rocker and the ultimate showman. Kris and Rhys didn't really know what to expect. They sure got a rocking education.

Billy Thorpe was the opening act. Good on ya Billy. Loud and proud as ever.

Can't wait for Thorpey's new album to be released. He played some of the songs last night and I'll definitely be buying that one. Give it a listen if you get a chance.

Alice... well... what can I say? You've still got it, buddy. You're my number one.

I waited 30 years to go to an Alice Cooper concert and had to drive three and a half hours to get there. It was worth it. I'd go again... and again... and again...

We got home at 3 a.m. this morning and my ears are still ringing. I always say, "If you can still hear when you come out of a rock concert, then it wasn't a real ROCK concert."

And now... it's back to all things mundane. It's the end of the financial year and I'll have to leave The Shadow Runners for boring old tax stuff. Don't you hate that?

I'm not the best person to be doing the books. I'm dyslexic. I can't read numbers, symbols, tell left from right, and have a lot of trouble telling the time. Figures just don't mean anything to me. I get them backwards and see all sorts of funny things. Thank God I can read letters. I was the only one in my class from school who could do algebra. A + B = C made perfect sense to me.

I became a printer by trade after leaving school. Those were the days of hot metal composition. For that I had to learn to read upside down and back-to-front. I did that with no effort at all. Little did they know... I couldn't tell that it was upside down and back-to-front! It just looked like ordinary words to me.

Thank goodness for computers. I hated working with molten lead. It's dirty, dangerous and time consuming. I'll take technology any day!

Okay, I'd better get my poor tired brain around these numbers. I know what I'd rather be doing though...