This is the blog of a Norwegian (Marianne, aka 'M') who moved to Australia in 2007 to be with Roger (aka R) and feels lucky to have escaped a comparatively communistic country with ridiculous weather!

My drawings page has been dormant for over a year, because I don't really draw anymore. I have however mastered Photoshop in the last couple months, and I'm always creating digital stuff these days. So it has been updated with some of the stuff I've done, and I'll be adding to it quite regularly I expect.

:)

R has something weird happening to his elbow today. When he woke up this morning he complained that his elbow hurt. Within an hour or 2, it had swollen to an abnormal size. It was very painful. It was really warm, and R put some frozen peas on it to reduce the swelling, but it did nothing. It didn't change the temperature of the swollen area at all, even tho the skin around it got really cold. It's really weird:/

R didn't go to sleep at all last night, because his elbow was too painful and he didn't wanna risk rolling onto it in his sleep. So he stayed up all night. I got up at 6 am just to check on him, and he was in a lotta pain. I suggested he take some ibuprofen, them being anti-inflammatory, and they seemed to work quite well yesterday. R then announced he was going to go and see a doctor today.

R always refuses to see a doctor for anything, even when he's completely crippled for days with back pain or when he couldn't sleep for 4 days because of RLS. So him going to a doctor without me having to nag says a lot about how much pain he musta been in.

The doctor diagnosed him with Olecranon Bursitis, and prescribed antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and painkillers. Should be gone in a week.

Here's what it looked like early this morning:

"It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. And finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination."

- from R's quotes page -

A lot of people claim that cats can't see red light, because in their eyes they only have the cones which are sensitive to blue and green light.

Some laser pointers send out red light only.

Have a look at these videos.

Now tell me cats can't see red light.

My sis Camilla is 18 years old today. Happy b-day sis:D

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Ever since I started chatting with R over 4 years ago, he has been telling me he wants a mobile phone that does nothing except receive and make calls. Up till last night he had an LG chocolate phone, which is very kewl. Last night he went and bought the most basic and cheapest phone he could find. It's some kind of crappy French brand. I actually think it's very sexy that he doesn't need the latest kewlest phone to make himself feel like a man:D

Yesterday I was commenting in this blog. She was basically saying that she envies cats for their short pregnancies and their need to purr obsessively throughout giving birth. She also said she thinks it's 'the right thing to do' to let cats have at least one litter of kittens before they're spayed. I told her there are no medical reasons for doing that, and that cats don't care if they never experience motherhood. Her reply was 'maybe there are no medical reasons, but I still think it's the right thing to do'. But provided no reasons as to why she thought that. When I asked her she told me her blog was the wrong place to discuss it and to find a forum. She then disabled comments.

So let's clear a few things up. Cats are pregnant for 61 - 69 days, which compared to human pregnancy is a very short time. However, it's still just as hard on the cat. Cats get moody and experience morning sickness just like humans. They also get extremely tired and get backaches at the end of their pregnancies.

Giving birth is also equally painful for a cat. The reason she purrs isn't because she's enjoying herself. It's because she's in pain. When a cat purrs, its body releases endorphins, the body's own painkiller. This is the same thing that happens when a human laughs (or gives birth). A cat will also purr if it breaks a leg or sustains other serious injuries. The vibrations from purring has been proven to have a healing effect on injuries.

So how do you justify deliberately letting your cat get pregnant? There is a mass slaughter of kittens every spring and summer in Norway. We are talking 1000s of kittens dumped, drowned or killed in some other inhumane way.

Even if you are one of the lucky ones, and manage to give away all of your cat's kittens, you have no idea if they get a good home. In Norway, a  lot of people get a cat after the summer holiday. Then next year before they go on holiday, the cat becomes an inconvenience, so they either have it put to sleep or dump it (dumping usually means a slow and painful death from either dehydration or starvation). And what do they do when they get back from their holiday? They get a new a cat. And repeat it. Over and over.

And even if you give away all of your kittens to good homes, there are now 4-5 kittens that won't be getting that good home because you took it from them. That's 4 or 5 kittens that will get killed or dumped, because you thought it was a good idea to let your cat have kittens.

So imagine the 1000s of stray cats that manage to survive for more than a year after they've been dumped. That's 1000s of cats too many. According to Violent Dream, they should all have a litter of kittens before they can be spayed. So say you had 1000 extra cats with no homes. 500 of them would be female. Each of them would have 4 kittens. You now have 2500 cats too many. And they can't be spayed before they've each had 4 kittens. So after 2 generations, you have 6500 cats too many. See where I'm going with this?

More realistically tho, those stray cats will never be spayed, and will each have about 10 kittens every year. So dumped cats produce stray cats, who will constantly have to fight for their lives, battling dehydration, starvation, diseases and wild animals. They will usually only live a year or 2. But of course each of them won't die until it's produced another 20 stray cats.

Not only do stray cats have very difficult lives, they are also a problem to humans. I've lived in an area with a lot of stray cats. Someone kept feeding them, and they kept having kittens every year. Unneutered male cats will spray their urine on houses and cars to mark their territory. Which stinks of course. There are heaps of cat fights just outside your house, usually during the night when you're trying to sleep, cats being nocturnal. They'll use your flower beds or your kids' sand box for a toilet.

If you need more reasons, here's what PETA says, and here's my list of reasons to have your cat spayed or neutered.

So how do you justify letting your cat get pregnant? I would really like to know.

The RSPCA is government funded. That means that it's in the governments best interest to educate people on spaying and neutering their cats and dogs, so that the RSPCA will get fewer dumped/stray cats and dogs to take care of. RSPCA has ads on tv, telling people to spay and neuter and to take care of their pets.

Consequently, nearly all kittens are spayed at an early age here. That means fewer kittens are born, which in turn means that people will buy their kittens. Having to pay for a cat raises the cat's status.

But there are always a few bastards in every country, and the RSPCA does get some kittens. These kittens are already spayed/neutered and vaccinated when they are put up for adoption. And they are free. Donations pay for spaying/neutering and everything else the cat needs.

In Norway, the government does nothing to educate people. Probably because the Norwegian equivalent of the RSCPA, Dyrebeskyttelsen, receives donations only.

If they receive government funding, it must be a bare minimum to keep them going. Dyrebeskyttelsen is flooded with dumped cats, especially in the spring and summer. Nothing is done in Norway to raise the cat's status or people's awareness.

I'm ashamed of Norway's attitude towards cats. They are still considered worthless by too many people, and are simply viewed as an advanced form of ornament that you can throw out when you're sick of it. In Australia cats are seen as family members, and are nearly all spayed/neutered at an early age. Most of them never have kittens. No cats are dumped just so its family can go on holiday.

If Dyrebeskyttelsen was government funded, the government would have to educate people to keep it from devouring all their money. And Dyrebeskyttelsen would have the extra money they need to put up posters and run tv ads.

R stayed up till about 6 am this morning to make some changes to my blog (awwww how sweet is he:)).

Instead of the entire blog being private, I can now make individual entries private. Click the link and enter the password to read private entries. The password hasn't changed, and if you don't have the password, feel free to request it:)

According to scientists, life started out as one-celled organisms. In the human body, these organisms have joined together. So each of those one-celled organisms have sacrificed everything for the greater good - keeping the body alive. We have formed a symbiosis with these organisms - we feed them, they do what we want - and at the same time, we are these organisms. Fascinating.