Menagerie

I had to shoot back home to New Zealand recently for some sad times.

While at the airport waiting for my return flight back to Aussie, I checked my CCTV and saw Dilan digging a garden.

I asked what he was up to and he said something about a fruit garden or some shit.

When I got home, I tapped into my finely tuned, fading eyes and ears and concluded that a fruit garden was a pair of ducks.

I’m like, “What the fuck, man?”.

Dilan’s like, “They’re Indian Running Ducks, or one is anyway. Crystal and Shaniqua. Cool aye.”

“No, not even a little bit cool, man.”

Knowing we don’t really have a duck pen or pond, or whatever it is that ducks live in, I shake my head in wonder.

Crystal and Shaniqua
A proud dad

Around the same time we got our first duck egg, we also took in Harry the Huntsman. He roamed our house and grounds freely, taking down cockroaches, mice, rats, and the odd weak wallaby. Talk about feeling safe, man.

I buggered off on a cool little overseas trip and was again ambushed upon return.

Fuck me, I now had a chicken in my backyard.

I’m like, “Nah seriously Dilan, ya cunt! What the fuck, man? This ain’t even a little bit cool.”

“Hey, nah Dad, don’t be like that. Bad Betty’s cool and she’ll be laying eggs soon.”

A few days later Bad Betty had Skanky Sally join her.

I go to work and whinge to my mate.

That didn’t do shit, because I woke up the following morning and glimpsed what I initially thought was a goat on my patio.

Lucky I took another look though, because I then realised it wasn’t a goat at all. It was two goats!

Billy and Tyrone

Two goats pissing and shitting all over my patio area, looking up at me with cute as ‘come cuddle me eyes’.

Dilan had already left for work and I’m about to myself but I’ve got goats bleating, ducks quacking and chickens bock-fucken-bocking.

Ol’ Bad Betty had escaped her piss-weak prison and was out front showing me chickens can cross the road, no matter what the answer to the age old joke.

So I hunt chook for a bit and throw her back into the backyard, where she doesn’t yet know she even belongs.

Four of the bastards

I’ve also got our dog Bella that now wants in on the action. But she doesn’t know if she wants to eat them, protect them, shepherd them or what, but she’s whining and running around like a spastic.

And lets not forget the first of them all, our cat Pudding. Her scorning look of absolute disgust, as she looks on, following the recent farm annexation.

Pudding trying to prove to me that age isn’t a barrier to being flexible

On a positive though, now that the trauma of the goat invasion has somewhat subsided, one of the ducks has started laying eggs again.

Ouch

Yesterday I thought one of our chooks was being raped but apparently she gave birth to her first ever egg.

Dilan, full of pride, watched on from his room.

Bella loves eggs but prefers meat, including poultry

As for the goats, I’m pretty sure, I won’t be getting any eggs from them. The fact that they’re both males – without nuts has something to do with it.

So without even goats milk to make cheese, they’re kind of useless, except for maybe cooking or cuddling.

I actually started this blog hoping someone would want the goats, maybe on a loan basis, or buy back situation, but I’m going to change the theme a little.

Shall I let Dilan keep the animals, does somebody else want them, or shall we eat them for Christmas?

I’ll try work out how y’all can vote for a few options at the end.

Oh, and they’re some sort of midget goats by the way. You know, like the equivalent of our human dwarfs or midgets… and, like some of those cunts, these goats also try to root each other.

Now there’s a sales pitch if ever ya heard one right aye. Miniature gay goat porn. Bit of a niche there, I’m thinking.

Or maybe you’re a midget and love riding horses but always need a leg up. No longer a problem. You can own your own goat. Man’s new best friend.

In hindsight, maybe I would’ve been better off letting Dilan get a dog. For the record though, I did not say yes to a menagerie, ark, zoo etc.

I now have a backyard that, should I wish to access, I have to study architecture and train as a ninja warrior to get through the obstacle course Dilan created in an ad-hoc solution to animal containment.

I’m not sure Dilan realised, that none of these animals, are actually rocks that do not move.

Maybe a pet rock next time, Dilan

Their current living arrangement is a cross between a shanty town shack in South East Asia and bivouac style camping.

There may come a day when I build a mountainous Himalayas themed backyard to accommodate these animals but until then, anyone interested in them is asked to sing out very loud, or even whisper. Fuck it, just a hint will suffice.

The goats are like petting zoo level of friendly, cuddly and far too cute and cheeky for me to want to spend heaps of time with.

Not sure why I feel so inclined but I am purchasing a decent chook pen. If I don’t use it for the chooks and ducks, I might move Dilan into it.

They say a Mum, can’t really be replaced.

Unless it’s with two ducks.

And two chickens.

And two goats.

And a huntsman spider.

Nah, she can’t be replaced but I do wonder what Marjana would’ve said.

I guess it’s all part of turning the page.

#47 Radiation and doing shit

Been a while since I last blogged and this one’s probably a little overdue. But fuck man, it’s kinda hard finding the time to get these updates down on paper and that’s with me still only working a couple days per week. You’d think I’d have heaps of time on my hands but nah, not even. A slave’s work is never done. You’ll probably need about 15 minutes to read this so depending where you are and what you’re doing, ya might wanna grab a coffee or beer and settle in for a bit.

It’s the small things in life like finding a heart when eating chips at chemo

We can’t start this chapter without first mentioning one of Marjana’s workmates, Michelle. She absolutely loves her dog but it’s Michelle we call a naughty little bitch and not her dog but for good reason. Firstly, her dog is actually a boy, so technically he can’t be a bitch but also because it was Michelle who set up another GoFundMe page. Both of us (especially Marjana) felt like paupers putting our hands out when it really wasn’t that at all. Not that we didn’t or don’t appreciate it because we definitely do, as we appreciate every single donation sent our way. We’ve done our best to personally thank every single person and apart from a couple we couldn’t work out who they were, we did pretty well considering. Check it out here.

Y’all must be rich as wanting to throw money at us like that. Reminds me of my ol’ man-whore days but a lot easier on my body. Don’t get me wrong though because there’s still plenty of pain. Just a different concentrated kind of pain with longer lasting effects than that caused from standing under a dimly lit streetlight on a cold stormy night. That pain is of course cancer which is not contagious at all, unless of course you’re talking of the emotional pain in which case it spreads far and wide like an ol’ westy sheila’s legs back in the day.

As evidenced by the lack of long haired ringlets, this is very much a post man-whore days pic

As embarrassing as it is, the targeted total of $30,000 has well and truly been achieved and then some. As I write, the amount sits at $27,688 but so many have donated personally rather than going under the GoFundMe page, which leaves us richer than we’ve ever been in our lives. By richer, I don’t actually mean monetary wise. I’m talking about having so many good cunts in our lives that try and help anyway they can. 

Our life would be heaps better without cunty cancer coming a knocking but it could seriously be heaps worse too. We are surrounded by people who genuinely give a fuck, want to help and do actually help. The love and support we feel is so so so humbling and makes us tear up whenever we try to disect it.

Remember too that this is actually the second GoFundMe page that was set up for us.

🙏 Thank you 🙏 Hvala 🙏 Thank you 🙏 Hvala 🙏 Thank you 🙏 Hvala 🙏

Moving right along though, I now need to let y’all know how bitterly disappointed I was when ‘No Bra Day’ came and went with what I would call, a very piss poor effort by many of you on this great day for all mankind. October 13 isn’t just about admiring the cheeky little jiggle of licentious tits or the teasing of perky erect nipples under a t-shirt. Oh no, it’s way more than that as it’s also a sneaky little reminder for you sheilas to go get ya checks and balances done. If you’re due for a mammogram, smear test, skin cancer check, bowel cancer test or even if ya just like the old school prostate cancer check for fun, the go sort that shit out man, please. Since drafting this a good mate has since been diagnosed with breast cancer, another has had a heart attack and yet another was admitted to hospital for some other fucked up shit, so very topical.

You know what else we did on No Bra Day? We went to visit our surgeon Peter for a bit of a catch up, chat and laugh. Took him a roll of sandpaper to top up his tissue tray for any new unsuspecting clients.

Couple of tissue options

After that we went to see some radiation oncologist dude about options there and have since started and completed a radiation treatment plan consisting of five daily sessions and a few grand outlaid for the privilege of having Marjana’s life saved again.

For those who don’t know (and we didn’t really know either) radiation targets a specific area and is precise within a millimetre where as chemo shrouds the whole body with poison to combat cancer. This is probably better for metastised cancer like Marjana’s but the radiation was definitely needed because that cunt of an alien inside her bowel came back a bit angry and was bleeding and shit, so like a Wallabies scrum, it had to be stunted. That’s why the first wife was a little bit rooted for a few months, needing continual blood transfusions to top up what she was losing.

Action shot

The ol’ laser beam treatment was pretty cool for what it achieved and how the process worked. Each treatment only lasted about five minutes before she was released back into my custody, usually for a sleep as it fatigued the fuck out of the poor ol’ battler. She felt heaps better than she did following her Chernobyl sessions but still slept like a… very loud train.

Here’s to hoping that radiation helped a bit sometimes experts with cool words in front of their names like Surgeon, Specialist and Bald Fat Cunt don’t always agree, but on this point we do. 

When you ring a finishing radiation bell but freak out at how loud it is

The Mrs was really enjoying having time out from chemo though and after a six week break she was feeling flash as. Not too dissimilar to how she felt when she was initially diagnosed with cancer. Good, but could die any moment from her fucked up guts.

In other breaking news some fucked up shit went down recently that I’m not particularly proud of (said the spastic who has a mankini pic in this blog). I’d hung out a load of washing and the satisfaction felt when I stepped back was, to put it plainly, revolting.  The strategic placement of each garment made for a perfectly filled clothesline without even one space left to spare. It really was a thing of beauty and moral corruption, for I should not be slaved so abusively. There is slavery and then there is slavery. Unfortunately, I’ve realised I’ve been moulded into the later.

Death is inevitable but when faced with it occurring sooner rather than later, the inevitability can be very confronting. Need to sort shit out that is a cunt to sort out. Things like finding a funeral director, purchasing expensive real estate in the form of a grave, modifying wills and a whole lot of other fuckety fuck fuck shit.

Looks like we found a suitable piece of real estate for when the time comes. Mind you it did come with a prerequisite that I share the space with her. I’m always up for a deal and a two for the price of one makes me feel good in all things beer, food and graves. Gotta be a good deal, right.

 

Test driving our investment property

As usual we’ve been busy as fuck and as much as the first wife could use a bit of a slow down, it’s not really our style doing the living life approach to life. Made a point of catching up with our inner circle as much as possible and to that I say ‘Fuck yeah!’.

Spent a primo weekend down the Gold Coast thanks to our angel of an aunty Karen who offered up their apartment for a weekend. When we were kids, the ol’ lady would take us to Karen for haircuts and this one time she used a bladed weapon (scissors) and cut my fuckin ear real bad. But with the use of their apartment and the fact she has a genuine superpower of always remembering birthdays, she can sleep contently tonight knowing she’s now forgiven.

But anyway, back to the Gold Coast, one of us drank piss and ate decent tucker and one of us closed her eyes for half an hour that turned into a 12 hour sleep. I actually blame the Mrs work mates for that as we all caught up for a feed earlier that day. It ain’t the eating though, that makes one tired but a heap of sheilas doing catch up talking certainly does. It was a primo little lunch the Mrs loved that flowed into a relaxed weekend.

Dilan finally had his (Catholic) confirmation which my first wife wasn’t gunna miss for anything and proved that by turning up feeling a little bit shit with her chemo bottle attached. Was a nice little event and if anyone deserves to go to heaven it’s him ‘cos he’s a pretty good cunt.

A lot of that is thanks to Iona College where he spent his high school years. They’ve been the perfect fit for him and have been so good to us, not only with cancer but from day one. Iona College Rector, Father Michael came around for a visit, blessed our home. gave Marjana the Sacrament of Annointing of the Sick and of course we shared a mean as feed of lamb rack.

Plenty of ‘good’ in this pic

To the other spectrum, for some reason (called Kym) we ended up at a chicks with dicks show at Redland Performing Arts Centre (RPAC). The show called Dirty Laundry gave us a few laughs including the Samoan and Tongan fa’afafine built like front row forwards but after seeing their getups I’m kinda glad I left my mankini hanging up in the closet.

Then came Melbourne Cup day and again, Kym figured she’d take my cook along to a table full of sheilas and she covered the cost of the ticket. I’m not sure where my first wife found the shoelace she put on her head but she never fails to surprise me as she somehow managed to even tie the shoelace as if it was still on a shoe. Talented to the max, I reckon. Anyway, she went with no money and came home with some, thanks to their table winning the sweepstake. As me ol’ mate Scotty says, ‘Easy money’.

A shoelace

I drafted this blog a few weeks ago but yesterday we returned to visit to our surgeon Peter Yuide and lucky we did because a little look around his office identified something I could use to take the piss. A piece of art work that I believe was in fact a painting, which upon closer inspection revealed the coarse grit not too dissimilar to his tissues. Of course I raised my concerns with him.

Today we went to Chernobyl Day again and were almost sent away as my first wife had a fever last night that hadn’t dissolved. Apparently she’s supposed to go to hospital whenever she gets a fever because she can get all fucked up real quick, so we’re a little bit naughty apparently.

But she got her dose of a new concoction which unfortunately comes with bad pins and needles in her fingers, thanks to the make up of that brew. Our oncologist who I’m not allowed to call a gnome even though he looks like one can stake claim to the first of a few quotes of the day.

Oncologist: I’ll give you some antibiotics. You’re not allergic to anything are you?

Marjana: Just bees.

Oncologist: Ok, I’ll make sure they’re not bee based.

Next up was our surgeon Peter who mentioned something about someone being too scared to fart.

Me: Probably for good reason as I’m scared of Marjana’s farts.

We went to visit a good friend in hospital and used google maps with the generic sheila voice. Admittedly, I was a bit stressed from some other shit going on and got a bit pissed off because her directions were shit.

Me: Should have a fucken bloke talking, not this sheila. He’d probably ask me why I even need directions, don’t stop for instructions and just do whatever I want.

Part of a slave’s job, or at least this one’s, is to massage my first wife’s feet while sitting on the couch watching tv. This in itself most definitely crosses over with flow on effect of me also having to give her a back massage. Apparently I keep getting up for beer or moving to reach for a beer causing my dear ol’ first wife to become annoyed…

Marjana: Brendon, stop moving. You’re not a very good pillow.

Rather than taking a heap of tablets and pain killers, both of which are inevitable with modern day cancer treatments, the Mrs is keen on trying the more natural approach of CBD oil. In the old days we used to just call this hash oil but apparently I’m out of touch and it’s not quite the same. There are a couple of varieties including one with THC and one without. The THC one also treats anxiety but then ya can’t drive a vehicle. My dishwasher sheila doesn’t want the hooch version and neither do I because then she can’t be my sober driver. But either way, she needs to partake in a two week trial which has quite a bit involved in being accepted. One such thing is a memory test where a short story is told to her and questions are asked about it.

Me: You’re giving her a memory test? Just ask her anything to do with any date that I’ve pissed her off over the years, she’ll nail it big time, man.

The first wife has been in a bit of pain lately as feeling more and more of the effects of cunty cancer throughout her body. Yeah, fuck you (again) cancer. You suck.

Marjana: My back hurts.

Me: Why?

Marjana (gave me her knowing look of contempt): I have cancer ljubavi.

That moment made me cry.

Candles go with prayers even if they do have devilish looking angels in the centre

Not wanting to finish on a sad note and for me the following quote is by far my favourite.

In her defence, Marjana didn’t want me to throw it in here because some might think she was being mean and I’m like ‘Fuck the cunts. Having stage four metastised bowel cancer is mean,’ so here it is.

For those that watch ABC news, you’ve probably identified that some of the presenters look or sound a little funky. Marjana was watching it and told me to come quickly to check out the spunky looking sheila reporting on something out in the field somewhere. I don’t need to be invited twice to perve on a good looking chick and not wanting to upset my first wife I did as requested and rushed to check her out.

Marjana: She looks way too pretty for ABC.

Me: Oh yeah. She’s spunky as.

Marjana: Maybe she’s missing a leg.

Fuck I laughed at that one!

For anyone even remotely interested, Bird’s still very much a cunt.

A first wife’s reaction to her youngest child getting his ears pierced

Cheers y’all and feel free to spam my window cleaner with messages of whatever.

#45 First PET scan

Marjana had her first PET scan last Friday. She’d had a bunch of CT scans but this was her very first PET scan. For normal people who have no need to know the difference, a PET scan basically shows things in more detail than a CT so we were a little anxious to say the least.

Now would be an ideal time to give y’all some good news about recovery and shit but real life ain’t always perfect. I mean even the All Blacks don’t always win.

In fact, life can sometimes be a real cunt!

Modelling her new seat

Colours are cool including all those rainbow colours the gay community proudly wear (not sure if there’s a crossover to my tie-dyed clothed Deadhead days at Grateful Dead concerts) but… we don’t definitely didn’t like all the bright colours that glowed in this PET scan. Nup, they’re a little bit fucked actually.

This Grateful Dead ts actually shows colours and a skeleton not too disimilar to Marjana’s PET scan

Basically, the guts of the matter is that these Chernobyl sessions have kept the cancer mostly at bay for a year except for a lesion in her liver and some ugly Chernobyl-ish looking bright colours at the same spot she had the operation in her bowel to remove some tumours.

Our surgeon Peter Yuide said from the start that they couldn’t get all the cancer out in the operation so we knew it was still there to be managed with the likes of chemo, prayers and taking the piss. The fact it didn’t just give up like I’d like teams to do when playing the All Blacks really sucked.

For you regular readers, you may recall me saying the ol’ girl has been a bit rooted over the last couple months with fatigue, well it looks like this may be a result of internal bleeding and the cancer growing.

Oh, another term for a little bit rooted is anaemic.

Marjana gets blood tests done every fortnight just before chemo and for the last couple/few months they’ve come back with numbers lower than an Aussie cricketer’s batting score. Her haemoglobin in her last blood test for example was 72 and although I think 100 is sufficient, ideal is above 120 (I think).

Plus her iron count was only nine and (again, I think) it’s supposed to be around 40. Fuck, I need to stop this thinking shit.

If I was writing a blog about other shit I’d like to write about then it would make for very different reading. But these are The Cancer Chronicles and we tend to call it how it is even if it’s an ugly cunt of a thing because that’s exactly what it is (bowel cancer) and anyone grossed out can go read Karen on Facebook.

No cancer is cool but bowel cancer certainly ain’t the most romantic of cancers because it inevitably involves shit.

This may or may not be a response to Pudding’s response to a loud fart

Some of my very best times in my life ever have involved shit though. A myriad of you have already heard a few of my real life stories about faeces (both mine and that fucken Slovenian cunt) but there is nothing worse than being in public knowing you’re about to shit your pants, unless you’re not wearing pants. Don’t try and deny it either as I know y’all been there at some stage.

To the contrary though, there’s nothing better than successfully sucking that grogan and it’s turtlehead back up inside as far as you can and making it to a toilet just in time for that pressure release. Not sure about you fellas but personally I always hope that they people watching me beeline to the toilet doing some spastic squeezy kind of walk have left when I come out. But that’s just me.

Sorry, I got a little excited and side-tracked there but tend to do that when telling tales about shits.

Where was I… oh yeah, the first wife and her war with bowel cancer has got a few of her own shit stories. Her relationship with various versions of blood infused diarrhoea aint exactly what she likes to call a good time, especially after chemo when it feels like it’s ripping her insides out. As much as it hurts me to see how that affects her, it’s nothing compared to her living it in the first person.

So following a combo of black blooded diarrhoea, low iron, vitamin D and an extraordinary low haemoglobin count Wednesday’s Chernobyl day was kind of cancelled, but not really. Our oncologist who I’m not allowed to call a gnome even though he looks like one gave her a week off chemo but ordered my first wife a couple more pints of blood and a pint of iron. Lately, she’s been going through blood bags like I go through piss (for you Americans, I mean beer, not urine). If ol mate’s gunna order pints I could do with a few of my own. Beer though, not blood.

A look of guilt upon being spotted by a chemo nurse with nice smelling Pad Thai to chomp on

A few hours later my first wife came out feeling a bit more energetic… not energetic enough to vacuum though but energetic enough to compete with our dog Bella about who gives me the most kisses.

Although she felt better from her blood transfusions and the iron infusion, this was actually a cunt of a day. We’ve had a few of them and they don’t certainly don’t get any easier.

The PET scan shows heaps but they still need to check internally and rather than just do a colonoscopy (up the ass), they need to do an endoscopy (down the throat) as well. Sounds a lot more erotic than what this one is, believe me. I think my first wife is hoping they use different equipment or at least do the endoscopy before the colonoscopy. With the amount of kisses she gives me, I’m actually hoping that too.

She’s booked in for both procedures this afternoon.

Now I know what you’re thinking right. She just loves operations and shit like suffering the pre op diets, the pain, the inconvenience to life and the financial cost of being a as crook as a dog but nah man. She’s gotta have these procedures because quite simple, cancer is a cunt.

Following our Wednesday day came our Wednesday night when our surgeon Peter Yuide phoned to have a very real conversation. Just because we both reckon he’s a good cunt, doesn’t mean we have to enjoy what he says and what was said during that phone call didn’t exactly fill us with elation.

I know he follows these blogs because even great surgeons deserve to see their name and laugh at the same time. He, more than most fully appreciates our situation and by situation, I mean the cards we’ve been dealt and how we’ve tried to deal with them.

Although not the full conversation, your first quote of the day goes against the norm as isn’t funny but gets a mention because it is what it is.

Peter the surgeon: This is not the first time you’ve received news like this and you must be almost used to it by now. We’ll know more after your procedures on Friday but another operation isn’t off the table. Ideally we do not want to go back in to that part of the bowel and will look at options after reviewing Friday’s procedures. But over this last year Marjana, you haven’t dwelt upon the bad parts or given up and just died. Instead, you’ve rolled with the punches and basically lived life to the fullest, which I’m sure you will continue to do thanks to that crazy husband of yours.

Think she’s either praying a rosary for good health or for a normal husband

Those that have had colonoscopies can appreciate the prep involved. You have to drink heaps of gross shit that makes you shit out absolutely everything inside you and believe me it ain’t fun. Actually, when I put it like that it reminds me of my partying days pre first wife.

My first wife made me have a colonoscopy because she was scared for me after she was diagnosed. Either that, or she wanted me to suffer like she does. As gross as the prep drink shit is, I just open throat skulled most of it so the pain from the taste is short and sharp. But my first wife wasn’t born a Winslow and doesn’t have those skulling genes from birth like I had and our boys have. She married into it and therein lies the difference.

It’s hard not to laugh. Too hard in fact so I overtly laughed at her when she tried to drink that shit. She actually tortures herself by making the pain last longer and sipping ever so daintily, even with pinky in the air.

Me: It’s not a fine wine wife. Just skull that shit, man!

She didn’t but she did make me laugh again when she started gagging and coughing and spluttering. My laughing made her laugh which in turn made her gag, cough, splutter and laugh at the same time. This snowballed making me laugh even harder. Now that’s living right.

And your last quote of the day…

Marjana (immediately after she sneezed in bed after drinking prep drink): Oh good, I didn’t shit the bed.

Today is a crucial day for us as to where we go forward from here so if you’re the praying kind, do your thing please.

Bella prefers her bones herb infused

Back in 2017 I gave our dog Bella a mean as bone.

She loves me heaps!

I ain’t sure my first wife loves Bella heaps though.

Being a good little Croatian wifey, Marjana was trying to grow some lavender in a little pot plant.

We got us a massive backyard with heaps of cool hidy-hole spots but that don’t mean shit to Bella.

Ain’t no cooler hidy-hole spot than a juvenile lavender plant, reckons Bella.

Lavender dug out.

Bone dug in good and proper… and real real deep.

In Bella’s defence though lavender is actually a perennial herb and could potentially improve an old rotten bone’s flavour somewhat.

Plus, nobody actually witnessed Bella removing the lavender so is she even really guilty? Oh, I dunno, you tell me…

Exhibit A

Collecting cat piss

For those that don’t know, our cat is called Pudding and we adopted her from the Animal Welfare League in 2007. She’s been an awesome cat, and still is.

We all love her dearly. Except when she pisses on my clothes. Then she’s a cunt.

For those following The Cancer Chronicles blogs, you may recall the cat pissing tales but to flow on from that, here’s a little sub-chapter that made my boy Dilan laugh like fuck and made my first wife Marjana vomit uncontrollably, well almost. Both were great sights to see.

I’ll get to the vet’s response later too.

Best mates Bella and Pudding patiently waiting to go inside

Pudding is both and inside and outside cat and like a good ‘little puddy cat’ usually pisses and shits outside.

Recently though, she’s pissed inside a few times, most of which have been on my clothes; the little cunt.

Way back in the early days if she was mistakenly locked inside and needed a piss or shit, she’d do it in the bathroom and even bath. No dramas there, man. It’s more than acceptable considering the circumstances out of her control and fair enough too.

So, early morning about a week ago I was trying to sleep in and Pudding was outside the front door making some funky weird meowing noises. These meows tell us something’s up. It’s a different meow to her other meows and yes we do understand each different meow, much like we understand the different barks from our dog, Bella. This meow sounds like a deep drawn out note played on an out of tune cello. I ain’t no symphony orchestra expert but that description is pretty accurate, I reckon.

I was doing a pretty good job pushing on with my sleep in by ignoring her. Why ignore her? Because I’m wiser than our oldest boy Kodi who let her inside so she could then come and annoy me. So instead of hearing her twisted meows at a reasonable level, I now had full volume meows up close confirming something wasn’t right, but I dug it in and tried harder than ever to enjoy my sleep in.

My first wife though, not so much. She gave up waiting for me to get up and got up herself to see what the story was.

Oh she was upset alright and was looking for somewhere to piss in our bedroom. I’m talking about the cat here, not my first wife… although she does have her moments too. Pudding and her symphony orchestra instrument meow, along with some prancing around dance moves like Mr Bean, was trying to tell us something.

By this stage I don’t just have a spastic sounding cat because I also have a spastic sounding first wife whose freaking out making her own weird sounds of scold, most of which had my name attached. These had the desired effect of making me get up out of bed pretty fucken quick and pounce on Pudding like a coiled spring unloading (but a very worn and rusty spring in slow motion and with old bones and rooted knees).

Naked as fuck and holding Pudding at extended arms reach as far away from all appendages as possible (because she can be rather clawy in these sort of moments), I managed to put her back outside before she gave me reason to call her a cunt.

I didn’t even want to enjoy a fucking nice sleep in anyway.

In the aftermath when our household calmed somewhat, I took a moment to consider a potentially better approach to our Pudding scene and came to the conclusion it may be worth getting her checked by a vet. I came to this decision because my first wife came to that conclusion and told me we should do it.

Obviously all of our lives have changed since the first wife got bowel cancer. It’s affected each and every one of us including our kids and yes, even our pets. I can be a dumb cunt alright but not our pets. They’re brainy as fuck and know something’s up in our world. With that said though, obviously Pudding’s actions may possibly be behaviour related, but they may also be a urine infection or some other shit like that.

Over the weekend I booked an online appointment with the Animal Welfare League Vet in Daisy Hill. They phoned me Monday afternoon confirming an appointment at 8.50am the following day.

I explained the situation and the sheila said if possible to bring in a urine sample. She admitted that it would be difficult to get but threw it out there as a potential option because, well… ya just never know.

Fuck man, there’s a challenge if ever I heard one.

I spent that day working outside in the yard and Pudding mirrored Kodi and spent that day sleeping in a cosy bed inside. Those two have heaps more in common than just their love of each other, I tell ya.

Come late afternoon someone had let Pudding outside and as I was about to trick my mate Marty next door into having a beer with me I noticed Pudding following me. When she got to our front yard she started scratching the ground like she was gunna have a piss and I’m like ‘Fuck man, now’s my chance’.

I looked around for something to catch her piss in. Anything at all but nup, nothing. I even contemplated running inside to get something real quick but realised I didn’t have enough time so used what I like to call, my initiative.

I notice that shortly after I try and pull out that initiative thing, my first wife tends to call me spastic. It seems to be a bit of a recurring thing of late and the two definitely seem to go together.

As Pudding squatted she saw me coming towards her and started her pissing in the front yard.

Pissing outside is something I’ve done many times and both me and my boys much prefer it to pissing inside. The missus, not so much though. It just feels real natural and shit, ya know. Saves water too so definitely good for the environment. My first wife must be anti tree huggers ‘cos she reckons we’re just dirty cunts.

But anyway, back to the story… I reached over top of Pudding, cupped my hands under her fanny and as she’s letting rip I caught as much of her cat piss in my hands as I could. I actually did really well I reckon because I was in a weird leaning over pose with hands cupped kinda backwards underneath her. She pretty much filled my hands up with her cat piss and I have to admit the heat and amount of it did catch me of guard. It’s was way hotter than warm and there was untold.

In hindsight, it was probably best that Marty hadn’t noticed me coming to chat or where I’d slipped off to so that I was able to give it my full concentration without struggling to try hold a beer at the same time.

When Pudding finished she did look at me as if to say ‘What the fuck was that ya spastic cunt?’, and then she ran away rather quickly for some unknown reason. Not away as in ‘Fuck you, I’m moving out ya piss catching mental bastard’, but more of a ‘I’m just gunna go watch you from afar underneath the car where it’s safe’, sort of away.

So here I am with my cupped hands full of fresh hot cat piss and I’m looking at options as to where I can pour it before it drips through my hands.

I yelled out to the first wife who was inside to get me a glass or a cup or something quick and then did the ol’ quick as walk to our front door with hands held very still. I was focused as fuck and it actually reminded me of doing the egg and spoon race as a kid .

Marjana was in the kitchen with no idea what so ever and asked if a cup will do.

“Yeah, just hurry up. Quick!”

She came out the front door with one of our favourite cups; an old faded Hajduk Split cup.

Like the forever faithful doting wife with blind faith she did what I asked without any idea why. She tried to hand me the cup but I told her to hold it still which she did. I then poured what was left of Pudding’s cat piss into the cup… mostly. But yeah, maybe some of it did drip onto her hands too and possibly that some was quite a bit.

Noticing the Hansel and Gretel breadcrumb like trail all the way from front yard to front door my first wife asked me what it was.

Breadcrumbs of another variant

“Pudding’s piss,” said I rather proudly.

‘What?’

‘It’s a sample of Pudding’s piss for the vet, man.

‘Oh yuck! You’re gross! No it isn’t. No really, Brendon, what is it?’

‘I’m telling ya, it’s Pudding’s piss. Cool aye.’

‘You are disgusting! You’re not normal. Seriously Brendon, I mean it. We have to throw that cup out now. And don’t you even think about touching me tonight or even for the next week. What are you going to do with it now?’

I hadn’t actually thought that far ahead but having had to piss in a cup a time or two before I told her I was gunna put it in the fridge until we went to the vet.

‘No you are not!’

‘Yeah I am.’

She realised I was telling the truth and cut her losses by telling me to make sure I cover it.

You know when you feel a bit affectionate and try to touch your first wife’s face to move some hair from it in a loving manner? Well first wives don’t really like it when you do that with cat piss hands. Marjana put distance between us quicker than Pudding did to me.

I put the cup in the fridge, uncovered.

Amongst everything my first wife was saying from afar, I do recall her telling me to clean up the cat piss droplets. I poured some water over the cat piss trail on our pavings and washed my hands, even using soap and hot water. I’m a weird cunt I know but I don’t like the smell of cat piss, especially on me all day.

I had a few more laughs later on too though because it’s also quite fun to gently caress your first wife’s face later on in the evening after she forgot what occurred earlier but to then make sue she remembers and then tell her that its the same hands touching her face that were only a short time ago full of cat piss.

Next day is vet visit day and I know our previous cat carrier thing had been thrown out so I took some wines out of a wine box I had and poked and cut holes in it.

Pudding had earlier been fed by me and was sleeping on our bed like the queen all cats think they are. I grabbed her ever so gently and put her in the box before she realised I was up to something. She wasn’t particularly happy and I imagine our little cat piss catching incident we pulled off together the day before confirmed that I’m even more mental than a dog.

I managed to get her in the car but she was pretty persistent and kept poking her head out through the top meowing ‘What the fuck cunt?’. I may take the piss (pun intended) but do love my cat so although I was tempted to play that carnival game of banging the clowns heads down when they pop up, I didn’t. I’d gently push it back in again and again and again.

Initial cat box

My first wife came for the ride and even with her trying to hold the top down we didn’t make it to the end of our street before she convinced me to buy another cat box.

Quickest pet shop visit ever and $70 later I scored a decent one that did the trick and away we go again.

New cat box

I guess I could’ve gone to a local vet but I like the Animal Welfare scene and where’s the fun in that right. Nah, I much prefer long drives in peak hour traffic with a cat doing meow yells that without a word of a lie translated to…

‘You’re a cunt!’

‘Oh, you are so fucked now, cunt!’

‘So ya think this is funny do ya, cunt?’

‘I’ll piss on your clothes again, cunt!’

‘Fuck you, cunthead.’

I actually like to remember this trip like that olden days Kentucky Fried Chicken cartoon television ad. You know the one ‘Hugo said you go and I said no you go’, with the happy family bouncing along together in a perfect fake world. Maybe only Kiwis know that ad, and old ones at that.

So we arrived late but had warned them on the way so all good. With cat piss coffee cup in one hand and Pudding inside her cage in the other, I introduce Pudding and my first wife to the vet sheila who was lovely but whose name I can’t recall sorry.

I explained our situation with Marjana having cancer, our life changes, Pudding previously pissing on my clothes, the possibility of her having a urine infection etc.

During our consultation the vet notices I’m probably not like most people and wasn’t really drinking from the coffee cup and raised the question about what’s in the cup.

‘Oh, that’s Pudding’s piss’, I said.

The ol’ first wife identified this was an ideal time to distance herself from me telling her I’m disgusting and shit.

I interrupted and explained that the sheila I spoke to yesterday told me to try and get a sample of Pudding’s piss, although she said ‘urine’ and not ‘piss’ and that’s exactly what I did.

‘Really? That would be very difficult to do actually. How on earth did you manage that?’, asked the vet sheila.

So I briefly relived my cat piss catching experience saying I reached under her and caught it etc.

She was rather impressed to be honest, even if Marjana kept telling her we’re going to throw out the cup and I kept saying no we ain’t.

The vet asked for the cup and I do admit she had a bit of a confused look on her face when she looked inside and saw that it looked more brown than yellow and had floaties and shit inside it. Not shit, as in actual shit, but dirt and shit, I think.

‘It looks kind of um..,’

Knowing where she was going with this line of questioning I explained to her that I had been gardening and that it was probably dirty from my hands.

She looked up from the cup directly at me and only then realised that I used my hands to catch Pudding’s cat piss and not the actual cup.

I then value added to the initial story I previously told her so she could get the full picture. I must say if she was impressed before, she was now absolutely enthralled at my dedication and the sacrifice I’d made.

She commented how much my cat must trust me to even allow that to happen and said ‘wow’ and ‘impressive’ more than once, but also mentioned because it had like my DNA and garden soil and shit they would still do a urine sample although it might not be accurate.

Marjana hadn’t asked for a divorce but made it quite obvious that she and I held different views on how one should obtain cat piss samples and which vessel to hold it in.

The vet sheila left to do the initial urine sample test and told all her workmates about this spastic cunt who captured cat piss in his hand and brought it to them in a coffee cup infused with garden soil and human DNA.

As dirty as the cat piss was and as unorthodox as the collection method was, the sample was good and the piss test came back with a positive result to a urine infection.

We had to keep her in for the day for them to obtain a clean sample for good measure which, again I might add, came back with the same result as my garden soil cat piss variant.

When we came to pick Pudding up later that afternoon, the vet sheila admitted that she was so impressed with my skills and cat piss collection technique that she shared the experience with all her colleagues.

Anyway, Pudding is back home being tricked into having antibiotics twice daily by her evil slave feeder (that’s me by the way).

So if ever you’re in the Animal Welfare League vet and you hear mention about some spastic and a cat piss catching tale that would be me and that would also be a very true story.

The end.

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