Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Meta-blogging, rat funerals, volcanoes

You start a blog. At first, you are really embarrassed about having done something so juvenile. The self-exposure doesn't come easily either. The initial shock wears off. Then, you think no-one reads you. You worry about that some. A while on, you realise, to your delight, some people do read you. You worry about that some more (is this stuff they'd like to read? will I want someone to read this? will they like it? will they not?). You develop bloggers' block. Silly? Quite. But it seems to afflict other people, too, not just me. I have found many other bloggers, from time to time, writing blog entries about writing blog entries.

It is for my own sake I repeat my own blog-goal: I want to write because I want to write. (I shouldn't have a counter, I really shouldn't.)

My rockery has turned into the place where young rats go to die. Today's head count: three young ones (in the rockery), one parental generation (in the ti plant hedge). I buried the youngsters where they lay. It was awful. I slung the adult rat over to the vacant lot next door. That wasn't very nice either. I remembered how, as a girl, I used to bury the various rodents and birds my first cat caught. I had a special place between two tall pine trees. I planted some woodland pansies on at least one grave. As I grew, I stopped caring so much. My mum used to shovel the dead things onto a big ant hill. They got rid of the wee bodies in a couple of days. My cat was cool, though, black and wild and intelligent. He used to suck his tail.

I've kept an eye on the developments at Mount Merapi. I live on an active volcano, too. Happily for Hawai'i, Kilauea is a shield volcano, not a cone, so it just dribbles lava, rather than erupting explosively. I wish the people in Indonesia would leave the area, though. I worry about them.

© 2006 Anna MR

3 comments:

nmj said...

...you are brave brave brave to deal with those rat corpses, really! & i love image of your cat, black, wild & intelligent, sucking his tail, he will stay in my head today . . .i still miss my first cat tho she's been dead for 25 years...

Michelle said...

BFDS ~ Blogging Fodder Deficit Syndrome I like to call it. I'm afflicted by it weekly. No one else seems to be so it does my heart good to know that other's fret about their traffic and if you're pleasing them.

This may not help after that last statement, but I enjoy your blog. :)

Anna MR said...

Thank you for you support in both my problem areas, ladies...