Nuh and His Ark

Nuh? No I didn't misspell his name. Nuh or Noah as he is known in the western world is a biblical figure most of the world is familiar with. Bet what many don't know is that we as Muslims revere him as well. Yep believe it or not he is one of our prophets too. Did you know that many faiths have a Noah figure in their histories? Most cultures have a man who took animals with his family aboard a boat and sailed off into the sunrise after a flood wiped the earth clean of all the woes of mankind. He took two of every kind of animal and his family and waited til the coast was clear then opened the doors and let animals and his family re habit the earth.  Well if you wanted the long version of the stories there are plenty of books on the subjects.

Me and the kids well most of us have always loved animals. Being my family was military most of my early life we had few animals. We were always moving and we always had to give up that pet cause it wasn't fair to the animal to be lugged across the country in a small car with screaming, crying kids. I think it just made it easier on mom. One less mouth to feed or need to go pee at the wrong time. Well after I got older I wanted animals. I remember having some bunnies and keeping them in the backyard. We even managed to get a hutch for them and the ground under it took years before I could plant anything again there. But they were just the beginning. Along came birds. I had a few fish but I went to the hospital to have Fatimah and came home to dead fish cause someone had put seashells in the water. They were from the ocean and full of salt and who knows what else and well you don't put unwashed sea shells in fresh water fish tanks. So for awhile I gave up on animals. First I feel kids should be old enough to properly care for pets. You have to have space for them was one thing dad always told us. Animals should be able to run and have clean homes and proper food. Well it took a few years and finally we started getting birds. Those who know us or read some of my older posts know we started collecting birds. Seems like once you have one even if you have males you will somehow acquire more. Some of the birds we got we bought others came to us are refugees or orphans. Owners who could no longer take care of them for one reason or another. But like the notorious cat ladies they can add up and surprise you at times then you have to either give some away or find a way to feed all those extra mouths.

Sadly we had to leave them all behind when we moved here and Taher was able to find good homes for them. But once we settled into routine here we began to feel the loneliness setting in that not having a pet does. So like Nuh and his ark we are on a new patch of ground and we don't have two of everything yet lol but we hope to find a happy ground between food supply animals and pets. Things are different here, there are no laws for animals and except for what is written in holy books people will do what they please when it comes to tending animals. Good or bad we have to adjust to things here and slowly we can show better ways to provide care. I'm not saying people don't take care of animals here. Don't misunderstand me, when someone has done something certain ways for centuries how do you tell them there is a better way. You can't but you can start by raising your own animals and letting others see the benefits of better care. So I started a new blog page called http://libyaswildlife.blogspot.com/ I hope to get the girls to join in and let them tell the stories of our pets and animals. See the animals through the eyes of the animals as told by us humans. The girls are good storytellers so it could be something fun. But for now its a way to document our life here.