Feelings

Everyone has them, feelings that is but how many people appreciate that, not many I think. They are ignored, trampled on, put on the back burner etc. Why is that, is it because so many people are so busy they forget about them or what. People everywhere have feelings, how many people take the time to think of others and their feelings????? My post is not about bitching as such but it has made me realise just how little people regard other people lately. Christmas is always a time of thought for me and what the year has been like, this year I am totally over being trampled on and ignored, sad thing is I don't know how to fix the problem. (Because I find it hard to speak my mind).

I work in the retail industry and I have so many customers that I have seen for years, stoping for a short hello and how are you is not a problem I love the interaction but I have found on a personal level that a lot of friends and family don't have the same respect.

On a different level of feelings tonight I made the cut with my baby it was sad.

Golum when he first came into care weighing in at 110grams.

Golum at 1.3 kg and ready for release.

I have mixed emotions with every animal that comes into care, some are easy and some not so, but I will never say never. I wish people were easier to deal with sometimes.

Almost Christmas

Almost Christmas, this time last year Steve and I were getting ready for our big holiday in England and Europe. No such luck this year or any time soon for any holiday anywhere. At this point in time my life revolves around work, bills and animals and keeping Steve's temper in check refer to Steve's Blog and laptop (He really needs to get out there and do some house work or gardening. ) :)

On a brighter note my eldest daughter has just bought her first home and my youngest is moving back home for a short time. (She is living with druggos who love to smash windows and punch walls etc.) So thank god she has had the sense to move home and find a better environment later on.

Am really hoping that 2009 brings a few more happier moments in our lives as well as everyone else out there in blogger land. I think that at the end of every year everyone thinks back on the good and the bad and hopes for better in the following year.

My new year wishes are for a better job and a better body :) (mine not Steve's)

Hope everyone out there has a great Christmas and a very safe New Year.

Home Alone and Then Not

After months of Steve and I being on our own apart from our animals. Well what can I say MY PARENTS ARE COMING TO STAY THE NIGHT. Don't get me wrong I love my parents my dads one request was though was that he didn't have to sleep with a possum, so apart from doing a major overall on the cleaning we have had to find new rooms for many of our animals as they take up a huge part of our lives so having a possum per room etc you can get the drift. Lots of shuffling and not many happy campers. Just hope the dog and cat don't scratch on our bedroom door where my parents are sleeping wanting to come in.

Tawny Frogmouths

The last couple of months have been pretty full on with work and wildlife. We have had so many birds come in and out of our care it is scary. At the moment it is the bird season or what we call the silly season. Steve and I are very involved with the wildlife and the organisation that we are affiliated with which is called BARN (Brisbane Area Rescue Network). It takes up a huge chunk of our lives but I feel it is worth it and we get great satisfaction out of releasing an injured or baby animal that has come into care, back into its native environment. I have previewed many animals in my blog that we have had in care and that have been successfully released back out into the wild. This coming weekend we are going to release one of our long term possums, he is a big boy and is very healthy now.

Our latest birds in care people often mistake for owls but they are Tawny Frogmouths. I feel it will be a big leaning experience for both Steve and myself as we have to teach them to hunt for wild game such as mice etc. should be fun (I think).

Tawny Frogmouths

As well as caring and rehabilating baby and injured animals we take the rescue phone over once a month and have recently published a calendar of some of the animals that have come into care to help raise money for our organisation to help carers buy cages and necessary equipment and food for the care of the animals.

I am just starting to grasp the enormity of how many of our wildlife is brought into care due to human development of our native wildlife habitate areas and the impact it holds over our future generations and our survival. It is quite scary, I fear for future generations and what they will face due to the impacts of urban developers who are encroaching and destroying the natural environment of so many animals.

Gloria the Cockatoo

Last week we took into care a cockatoo that had been clipped by a car. No major damage to the car I have been told and no major damage to the cockatoo which we have named Gloria. She is a beautiful bird but she has a beak which can crack walnuts and fingers so I found out on my first encounter with this beauty. I silly me was very game and decided to remove her from the vets cage and put her into ours with just a pair of gloves and a towel. Not a good idea I think to even go near a cockatoo and their beak without a suit of armour is a stupid move. Gloria came close to totally deadening any nerves I have in my finger. She got hold and was not going to let go. The swelling and bruising is now starting to ease after a week.

Steve and I have decided big parrots are not our calling. We have had to get Gloria out every day to treat her wing and let her have some exercise and we have learnt how to do this with out ever touching her. Never again will I handle a cockatoo with out welding gloves and a sheet of metal between us.

Gloria telling and showing us who is boss. She is.

Oh What A Day

Today I had a moment when I wished the ground would have opened up and swallowed me. Have you ever had a day when you have things go from hectic to stupid.

All my life I have been brought up around cars and the mechanics of them. My Dad is an ex cabbie who did all the maintenance on his cabs for the 25 years he was an owner driver and I used to love hanging out in the garage watching and helping when I could and Dad taught me well. I knew just about everything to look for when something happened to one of my cars and how to fix it.

Well today after a an extremely hectic day at work I went down to the car I am borrowing at the moment as Steve is away and has ours and it wouldn't start, all thought process went out the window, I presumed I had a flat battery as that was the symbol on the dash, so I rang my daughters partner who is part owner of the car with her I am borrowing and checked a few details and found they were part of the RACQ our road service here and they were. So I called and a lovely man from RACQ came out and checked the battery which he said was fine, then he got into the car and turned to me and said it would normally start if you put into park. At that moment I wished for the ground to open and swallow me.

I then came home to find my tilt-a-door wire broken and not being able to open it.

Oh what a day.

Home Alone

For many years now there has always been someone living at home and now the house is bare. I think the old saying empty nest is coming into play for me at the moment. My youngest has left home and now there is just Steve and I (and Steve is in Armidale for UNI residential so there is just me) god it is lonely. But I still have our five possums, four lorikeets, four chickens, a dog and cat to keep me company and busy (but none of them can hold a decent conversation). I have listened to music (Steve took all the good stuff to Armidale) so even that is running low with what is left and TV is so boring. So after a long time of not writing in my blog because I have been so busy I now find I have time.

I have taken some pictures of our little darlings. Below is a picture of Pinky who weighed 100 grams on entering this home and is now well over 200 grams ( and no is she not eating a worm it is a part of a leaf as she is vegetarian) and the little head is Yoda who came into care weighing 50 grams there is another photo below of him and he now weighs over 160 grams.






Gollum above is my problem possum not wanting to eat but not wanting to give up and neither will I.


This is Yoda was 50 grams now budda. Previous photos in my blog show just how little he was. He is doing really well.

I have had so many ups and downs lately I look to the future and pray that it is brighter. Who ever said that life in your forties is great needs to be ArGGGGGhhhhh, ( shot) maybe some days are good and some not. I suppose that is life whether it is your forties or when ever.

Our Freezer is full

Sad to say but our freezer is full. Why you might ask is that sad, usually people have food in their freezer so if it full it is usually a good thing but sad to say our freezer is filled with dead birds waiting for burial. Our past weekend was not good on the wildlife front we did a couple of rescues and the fate of the ones up for rescue was not a happy one.

Steve and I take the good with the bad and try to deal with it as best we can. But never the less our freezer at this point is full.

Dreaming

I feel like I never had six months off to study. I am back to working in my locked office with no windows. I enjoy the work the days fly by but I would ultimately love to be working in the environment and with animals, maybe that day will come. I am sure everyone has dreams of their dream job but reality is you need to earn the almighty dollar to survive and the job you have is better than none.

As wildlife carers I get to dabble in my dreams. Our babies and some of our rescues.

Gollum brushtail 100grams in our care.

Pelican rescue

Duckling rescue

Our ringtails in our care.

All our animals in care hopefully will survive and be returned to the wild.

Three new babies

This week Steve and I have become the proud foster parents of three new little ringtails. One is a little boy that weighs in at 60grams and two little girls. The little boy we have called Yoda and the two little girls are called Pinky and Perky. The girls weigh in at 80grams and 100grams.

This is Yoda he is very adventurous and so tiny . He is also butt ugly but we love him. Once he gets bigger he will look like the little girls he just needs more hair and to fill out .


This is Pinky who is very shy and bites like crazy and is always pulling her blanket over her head.

Acute Pancreatitis

Well the last couple of days have not been much fun. On Thursday night after dinner with my eldest daughter, her boyfriend and Steve, I was sitting on our back patio talking to my daughter when I started to get this pain, within about 10 minutes I was in extreme agony I could not get comfortable and the pain wasn't showing any sign of easing. So after trying every possible position to get comfortable and the pain getting worse my family decided to call an ambulance. The ambulance guys were wonderful and gave me this green tube to suck on so by the time we got to the hospital the pain had eased.

Emergency was really busy so I was there for some time before I saw a doctor but the bottom line is after three blood tests and a CT scan it was shown that I had acute pancreatitis which they said can be quite serious. The blood test shows a thing called the lipase, for a normal lipase it should be under 70 my reading was 1750 so they were quite worried. When I was discharged today my reading was 84 so they said I was improving and was right to come home.

I am extremely grateful to my family as I was in so much pain I could not think straight let alone get myself to the hospital.

When I got home today I did a google search on acute pancreatitis and below is what I found.

Acute pancreatitis usually begins with pain in the upper abdomen that may last for a few days. The pain may be severe and may become constant—just in the abdomen—or it may reach to the back and other areas. It may be sudden and intense or begin as a mild pain that gets worse when food is eaten. Someone with acute pancreatitis often looks and feels very sick. Other symptoms may include

• swollen and tender abdomen
• nausea
• vomiting
• fever
• rapid pulse

Severe cases may cause dehydration and low blood pressure. The heart, lungs, or kidneys may fail. If bleeding occurs in the pancreas, shock and sometimes even death follow.

I don't particularly like the last two sentences.

I have passed

May not be able to read this but I did pass J is for Joy and a pass, M is for Misery and a fail I have no m's

I received my results for my Certificate 111 in conservation and land management and I have passed all my subjects I am so thrilled I have achieved something that I didn't think I was going to be able to do. I just need to move forward in the job arena. Yahooooo!!!!!!!! Thirty years out of school and so many new things and I have successfully completed my course.

Back to Work

After six months of enjoying the outside I now have to return to my old job for at least the next six months. Steve finishes his job on Wednesday. What will happen with him after that is anyone's guess, hopefully he will find a new job in the not to distance future.

I am hoping once everything settles down I may go back to study and get a job in the environmental field. Will just have to wait and see. Meanwhile my old job back in the office starts this week. I am working nearly everyday either in the office or on checkouts which will make a change.

On a different note we soft released our two ringtails on Friday night and they are having a ball in the trees around our house but one of them still comes home every morning and sleeps in their drey.

He has had a busy night and is very tired.

Not happy about being woken in the middle of the day.

Almost at the finishing line

I have one more day or I should say half a day at Tafe to go and I will be all finished. It has been fun and I have passed everything so far just a couple of more assignments and I will have my cert 111 in Conservation and Land Management. One month ago I was ready to throw it all in but I have now almost completed the course and am quietly confident that I have passed. Yahoo.

On a different note I have gone back to working for my old company to help the finances along but the only thing available at the moment is check out chick. I feel I have stepped back in time. It has been seven years since I worked on checkouts and so many of my old customers have come through my register and said where have you been and so help me, now we have our name displayed on the register if another person says oh look its Madonna and makes some smart comment I will scream.

Governments

I don't have much time for politics but when it came to my back door I sat up and took notice. The State Government has decided (against our council) to secure 300 hectares of land in our shire for low cost housing. As the Redlands has one of the largest (although dying out) koala populations you have to ask why. There is not much land available for the koalas to actually call home anymore so again I ask why?

The infrastructure in the area they wish to do this is also not great, the transport, schools and facilities available are not the best. Does the Government want to create the slums of the future if so why here?

I know people need housing but surely the Government could knock down Anna Blighs home and the surrounding area and build there. Instead of signing the death warrant for hundreds of koalas and other animals that live in the area.

Bionic Beagle

Two blogs in one day I am doing well.

Steve and I own an 11 year old beagle. Two years ago she was chasing a cat around the shed and tore her back left ligament resulting in her having a pin put in. Guess what she did her right ligament two weeks ago, so she has had a pin put in her right leg now. We now fondly call her the bionic beagle. She nearly costs as much as the bionic man now as well.

She hates us at the moment except when she needs to go to the toilet as we have 15 steps she needs to be carried up and down stairs, by the way she ways 17kgs so this is not much fun at the moment for her or us. Steve and I are going to end up with biceps on our biceps or bad backs (I think it will be the bad backs).

Our girl Xena

She has eight stitches

Steve is a softy

I haven't had much time lately to do any blog entries because of tafe but I am nearly finished and so far have passed all my assignments only about 5 to go thank God.

The reason for my title is because several weeks ago we released our long term inmate Lucky the brush tail possum and Steve is always saying don't get to friendly to them as they have to be feral to be released but Lucky was with us for so long that even Steve had a big soft spot for him because of all his issues. So I couldn't resist posting this photo of Steve's farewell to our beautiful boy.

Not long to go

There is not long to go and tafe will be finished and I have to go back to working in my old job. I am going to miss all the people I have encountered in the last couple of months. I don't think I will miss the assignments which I still have about 7 to do and five weeks to do them but I am determined to get them done.

A week at tafe at the moment consists of Monday we had chalk and talk in the morning an a mapping exam all afternoon. Tuesday start 11am chalk and talk and then planting trees all afternoon besides a creek in the Redlands. Wednesday off and Thursday an all day first aid course. Friday a new module was introduced in the morning and we then spent the afternoon setting quadrants out in the field counting plants. One of the nicest things about Friday was sitting under a tree outside the classroom having lunch with a koala just above us. Koalas are becoming an extinct animal in the Redlands so it was nice to see one for a change.

The latest research shows that in ten to fifteen years there will be no koalas left in the Redlands one of its main habitats.

Work Experience Week Two

Day one lush green weeds.

Day two looking a bit barer.

Day three almost cleared our small patch.Day four not much left.

We finally reached the river that runs beside the property. Yahoo.

What a week. The place that we did work experience needs to be napalmed. It was full of weeds, there were hardly any natives if any, it was dreadful. Our first day most of us wished that we could breath, the pollen, spores and dust were awful. It was like working in a jungle, the heat and humidity were intense. We all left on the Friday feeling very disheartened, the Trust that owns the land are not going revegetate as the land is cleared, consequently the weeds we just removed will be back in 6 months time.

Needless to say I have not had a very educational or moving experience in the field I thought was for me.

I have decided that working with animals and their habitats is where I want to be. I will finish my course and hopefully pass then I will move on.

Work Experience

This week I had the experience of working in the environmental industry. Oh what a shock I spent the week mulching a park full of hundred of year old fig trees. It was back breaking work. We had 19 trees to mulch around the park, the first day was pretty easy as we had the assistance from a posy cat (it was like a small bobcat) then it broke down, after that we had to do every thing by hand. In the photos it shows the park and just one of the mounds of mulch (we had seven like that). We had to pitch fork the mulch into wheelbarrows and spread and rake it around the trees and the surrounding area (most days we had 6 people). It was hot and sweaty work but I did enjoy it, I just don't know whether I am capable of doing that sort of work on a full time basis. I am still trying to grasp what I actually learnt from this experience though, I already have learnt through age and time hard work, humility, working as a team etc. and I already know about mulching, I have done that for years so maybe I have learnt that the council gets lots of free labour from volunteers and work experience idiots like me.

Pain

Last night I decided to silly me, weigh our new ringtail possums even though we have had them for several weeks, now I understand why we have not tried this before. I walked away with a bleeding finger to the point I have not been able to move it for most of today and bruises and scratches all up my arm.(Oh and it peed all over me). Next time I try this I will wear full body armour. Although there won't be a next time real soon unless Steve does it and I don' think that will happen.

On a sadder note we have a few local possums that visit our yard and tonight we had one come onto our patio (not a usual thing)it had an eye that was red and inflamed, it needed attention but it moved on before we could look at it properly. I am quite worried about the implications of this as we have several baby possums in care, if it has a disease it could spread to them.

On a brighter note I have spent the week in the field weeding and revegetating and I have had so much fun. Today though was animal day so we went out to some migratory bird watching shelters and observed the birds, some of which will leave our shores in the next couple of weeks and move onto Alaska via Japan to breed then back here. What a journey to just have some kids (we as humans don't realise how easy our lives are). Imagine flying thousands of kilometres to give birth leave your babies and fly back and then a couple of weeks later the babies fly all the way to find you. The mind boggles.

Oh what a time

I have had the day from hell trying to get my assessments done I understand the questions but putting them in my own words ohhh boy. Give me a cheque book and a pile of receipts no problem ask me about a laboratory analysis on QA,QC,accuracy,blanks and control and I am lost. I know what they do but to put that in my words is proving to be difficult to say the least.
I said to my husband why did I give up my job I am starting to wish for the mind numbing boredom (not really) but it does go through your head when you have to do assessments. Bottom line is I am enjoying what I am learning and I am still just hoping I pass everything.

Getting past that our new possums are doing well. We still have Lucky but hopefully for not much longer he is well over due to be released and I mean well overdue. I worry about him going out into the wild because he has been with us for so long and he is such a big boy now and he so horny (I feel for the boy he can smell the females that come into our yard and he calls for them) he won't be successful though because he is in a cage. (I think it would be hard to have sex through a mesh of wire "don't you").

Hopefully he will move on soon, we need more release sites around where we live. But we also need more people to take these poor orphans on or become members so that we have the finances to help.

It has been awhile

Well where can I start I have had such a full on four weeks since I started tafe. I have learn't so much I don't whether I have taken much in but it has been fun. Apart from all the riparian zones and the benthic zones and lots more I have done, ( how should I put this) I have met an interesting other side of me. That is how I am feeling. The first day I met a fellow student, we found we have so much in common it is scary. Now I think we could be really connected some how. She is around my age hasn't studied for the same amount of time, has two sons the same age as my two girls, has been separated and divorced the same amount of time, is living with a guy just like my Steve and so so many other little things, don't laugh but even our teeth have a similar story. Apart from all that she is she is a lovely lady and I am enjoying getting to know her and what else we may have in common. Funny thing is I have yet to ask her when her birthday is.

Getting away from that, the other day we had our first of many field trips where we got to rip out weeds etc. This trip consisted of us walking out to a small island off Wellington Point and digging up prickly pear. It is a 20minute walk (take into account we had wheel barrows, digging equipment, a roll of fencing wire, buckets, bags for rubbish and black plastic) and we were set. There was no water (except what you bought with you and no toilets). Did I mention it was in the middle of the day. Apart from all that when we finished I felt we had done something significant for the environment. We are all still picking out prickles out of our clothes, gloves etc one guy said he found one in his beard.

On my days off from tafe I have been working in my old job. Such a day was today, I honestly don't miss my old job and am looking to the future in the hope I get a job in what I am learning. I was quite down after today and really look forward to my days at tafe at the moment. I think I was never destined to be in a cage.

On a brighter note we have new babies, we have three new possums two ringtails and a brushtail (don't tell Steve but Sarah and I just got Clive our brushtail out and he escaped SSSHHHHHHH.) We caught him again but still we were very bad to get him in the first place but he is just sooooo cute. Hopefully I will get some pics soon. I promise I won't get him out again. That was for Steve as he will read this. Love you babe.

First Week in Tafe

This week was my first week back in the scary world of studying and learning. I have five assignments and I don't know where to start. My first day I was terrified about who would be in my class and what the teachers would be like now I am just worried I won't be able to pass. I just hope I can take it all in and walk away with a certificate.

My class is a good mixture of ages and sexes which is great. I have met some really nice people. The teachers though all seem to be stale so to speak I think they are wishing they were some place else. Given what they are teaching it is understandable. I think they want to be out in the field doing the revegetating instead of teaching it.

My first assignment I have decided to do Lyngbya an algae that smothers the vegetation in Moreton Bay thus killing off the food supply to some of our native wildlife in the bay. I have to really get my head around it all. But on an up note I get lots of day trips around the Redlands and we have to assess and revegetate a few plots in the area so that in years to come we can go back and say we did that.

I can't believe that two weeks ago I was in England and now I am back to reality with a bump. I even went to work today for 3 hours and I have to work next week. Oh God to be on holidays again.

Our Trip

Steve and Terry (Steve's cousin) who picked us up from the airport and showed us the sites around Dorset.

Steve in a heated room (doesn't he look happy). The start of our holiday.

Steve and I at Swanage (it was freezing)

Steve with his apendage (his camera never a long distance away).

Our Chickens

We decided to move our girls to a new spot in the backyard on the weekend because they had been in the same spot for months. What fun that turned out to be, each of the girls got really lost come bed time as their roost had been moved, so Steve and I for the first time in ages had to round them up and put them into their new position (as quick as we caught one and put her into the pen she would escape while we were catching the others, talk about running around like chooks with their heads cut off, sorry about the pun couldn't resist but that was what we would have looked like).

While doing this one of the girls decided to roost under some lemon grass that we have growing, when I moved the grass aside and picked her up much to my surprise we found that she had been using that site for quite some time because we found 12 eggs two broken and the rest we are going to check for freshness. So while we have been complaining that one of the girls has not been laying, she has in fact been laying outside of the nest.

So I now have to check out all their little hiding spots that they disappear to and see if there are any more eggs in the backyard.

Back in Aussie

We are back from the United Kingdom and Europe. What can I say, it was fantastic. Enjoying all the sites and the people was an eye opener. The welcome home was great. I am really looking forward to sleeping at this point (in my own bed). Have spent 48 hours travelling but I don't feel tired. I have to go to tafe tomorrow to register for my course I hope I don't fall asleep. I now have the bug to explore more countries but don't have the money so will have to save like crazy to explore more of our great world out there.

If you are into travel and have the money lucky you.

Overseas

Well we are overseas and a lot of fun it has been. I have seen so many different places and it has been great, but it has been really cold. We have had some fine days which has been good, the bad weather seems to be a couple of days behind us (thank god). I have seen so many places that I have only previously seen in movies or on the news. There is so much history over here it is amazing. Listing everything I have seen would take pages and pages so I won't bore you hopefully when I get back I will post some photos. (And bore you then)

We are in Rome at the moment and have free internet hence the blog entry. Went on a bus tour today costing 15 Euro ($23 Aus) each and saw most of Rome, the ticket is valid until tomorrow lunch time so we are hoping to see the Trevi Fountain (one thing I want to see from all the old movies I used to watch).

We are here until Saturday in the hope Steve will be feeling better as he has head cold. I am over mine his seems to be hanging on and on and on.

Ciao from Rome