Never Got To Say Good Bye...

The day was just starting to feel warm after the cool season was over. My dog Ariwari came to greet me as usual but there was something about her. I felt inside my gut, that I should take her home with me since my farm's housekeeper was taking a long vacation in her province. A week later I was going to pick her up on a Saturday when I planned to bring the pick up. Ariwari gets car sick and she doesn't like to travel if the windows are not open. She will sit on the back seat with her nose sticking out, savoring all the scents of the air as we pass through the countryside. The week was almost done, it was an early Friday morning that I received a call from my administration worker who had gone to the farm to repair the fence. He asked that I should not go up to the farm to get Ariwari, and then he added that my dog had died...just collapsed in the shed where she and I used to hang out when I am with her outside.

Three months since that time, I have avoided my farm. I realised my dog didn't just die...she was poisoned by robbers who had gone into the farm and stolen electric wires, and an old, but useful manual water pump near the poultry house. I feel very discouraged, hurt and very sad. All the years of my labour and enjoyment at the farm was also because of my animals there. Yet after 25 years, urban sprawl has come in, developers cutting down forests to make golf courses, and subdivisions, and along with those, commercial centers with fast food outlets with their tall signs standing instead of tall narra trees. I never got to say good bye to my beloved Belgian Shepherd, Ariwari. She was my companion , protector and loving friend.

I also did not get to say good bye to my cat Hart, and her two kittens , Nadine and Pia who have also died. Victims of young boys from the area around the creek, who caught them only to slash their necks....what kind of people do these things to innocent animals? No matter how cruel these people are, but I did not go after them because I realize it is pointless. Eventually they will reap karma from their evil deeds. We were told drug addicts in the area were responsible for the rash of robberies and the police are now hunting them down. A neighbour installed electric fences and one night a robber was found electrocuted trying to break in to steal some fighting cocks. I wondered if this man that had been killed on that fence was one of those who hurt my animals? If so, karma came early enough... A lot has been said in the news about the current President going after drug lords, pushers and users. There are truths and also fake news about the President. He is doing a lot of good projects to improve facilities like water distribution, and there is progress especially in cleaning up pollution around beach resorts. This is a beautiful country so neglected by previous administrations who couldn't fix all the problems around the country. This President is trying his best, and as usual, there are haters and supporters...I just hope there will be peace in the land, and cooperation to protect agriculture. I heard from my farm hands that the subdivision next to us has caused a lot of squatters from the big city of Manila to be evicted from prime city land by developers of our country area. Robberies have started to happen to those who owned farms around me. These squatters are poor people from the city slum relocated down the highway from our place. I do not believe that poor people are thieves...but if some of these are into robbing their neighbours, in time, they will be caught and punished. However, I wish the rest of these underprivileged can get jobs, earn an income to better their lives and have their children get an education. It seems our area has turned into a suburb, rather than a rural community because of rapid transition from agricultural land to a multi-zoned area. I am in fact moving back to my own place in the big city of Honolulu, Hawaii. I have since a few weeks ago decided to finally put up my farm for sale, because my animal friends are gone with exception of two old retired horses, 2 old goats, and a few free range chickens. I am ready to leave, and go back to my former home in Hawaii. My children have since moved to California, and married and I have grandchildren now and I want to spend more time with them. Unless there is a change in events, there is little to add to this blog. I think going over what I wrote about the pleasant times I spent in the uplands of Cavite, in the Philippines has made me smile, shed a tear, and also helped me write down a lot of good memories. I won't say good bye, no, not just yet! As we say in Hawaii...ALOHA is both hello and goodbye!

MY CATS...Sadly HART , PIA, and NADINE crossed the bridge into their next lives.

The very first cat I ever had was a white and yellow spotted cat. HART had a heart shaped yellow spot on her shoulder area. She was the only cat that leaped into my arms, and would always greet me when I arrived. She would stay with me, and come when I called out her name. She had a long life of 15 years and populated my place with at least 54 kittens. HART was the matriarch of the farm. Even our dog, a large Belgian shepherd deferred to HART. In fact, since HART was the elder, the dog respected her and in some odd way, tolerated each other.

HART was both the mother, and the great grandmother to all her kittens who then beget more kittens as the years passed. Two of her most recent kittens I named Nadine and Pia, both looking similar to their mother, but all had sort of brown-yellowish eyes, except Pia that had blue sapphire eyes. I neutered Hart, Pia and Nadine, hoping to keep them and bought them each collars with little bells so the chickens and birds would hear them coming.

I felt very sad to know people can be very mean to cats. I knew there were children in the area that tormented cats and HART being very docile and genuinely affectionate, had been abused by farmhands and street people. I describe street people as those passing by who kick or throw stones at cats wandering outside. I saw scald marks often on some of our cats, and I am assuming that HART and her family of kittens and grown ups had wandered into kitchens and had eaten some food they were not allowed to eat. HART was always polite and did not leap up on counters or tables if I wasn't around. Sometimes she just loved to sleep on our granite counter top since the weather was rather warm, and the granite was cool. I miss her, and mourn her passing. This blog has existed for a long time...the story of my farm and all the animals who have lived and passed on have affected me now that I am a grandmother....I am growing older, and find new animal friends, but I can never forget HART, my first beloved cat....may she come again, and let me know she is back! *wink*