All day I sat and listened as the disaster unfolded not that far to the north of me. As I worked on the laptop and made phone calls. When I took a bucket to my neighbour because her roof was leaking. As I cooked and ate and managed the teen. As I tried to get a photograph that represented the soggy city two things were constant - the reassuring and knowledgeable voices of ABC radio announcers and my dog. While the ABC was in my ear, Rumple was either on my lap or at my feet or being carried on my shoulder and occasionally wrapped around my head on the pillow. Rumple isn't just a pet. He's a family member and he's my baby and a mate. While many think (know) I'm nuts about my dog, the fact is I am not the lone ranger in this regard. Indeed, one of the things that came in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the US, was that evacuation centres had to be able to accept pets. We still don't have that in Australia and we must. I'm
not sorry to say, that if push came to shove and we ever had to be evacuated I would not be going without Rumple. To quote Lilo Stich
'Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten'. Come on Australia, We seem only to ready to follow the US's lead in just about everything else, good, bad and very often ugly. This one is a worthy change for every man and his dog.
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