Back to Life in my Forties

Have gone off on a tangent lately with the animals but will try to get back on track for a little bit any way.

My eldest daughter Jess has announced that her and her partner are getting married and hope to be having a child soon, given her health history of late, I am over the moon and am hoping things go right for them both for a change. On another side I am working part time and so is Steve, so the question arises how on earth are we going to help pay for the wedding. I am already working six days a week and finances are starting to get tight, with the economic climate as it stands at the moment I am worried.

I thought that when I reached my forties I would be at least be moderately well off considering I have worked most of my life but (Life) sometimes throws you some curve balls. For example divorce, bankruptcy, redundancy, bills etc.

Just hope it all works out. But my ex husband has informed our daughters that he is retiring next year so hopefully he will pay for a change. O My God how bad does that sound (bitter and twisted) . Sorry.

Maybe I should return to writing about my animals at least I get enjoyment from them with their antics and won't come across as getting just plain old and a whiner.

Oh to be happy, young and CAREFREE like my baby animals, they get cleaned and fed and will be released back out into the wild, maybe I should come back as one of them. God that sounds good. No bills, no work, no housework, no stress and no worries.

Do people really care.

I have not written much lately, Life in my forties has had a lot of side tracks. I have come to realise that there are some important things happening aside from being forty. Apart from being tired all the time from working 6 days a week. Many of the wildlife we are getting into care are dying which is not healthy for the environment and I have come to the realisation that progress in the human sense is killing them. My last blog entry was about Hamish a baby brushtail a dog attack since then we have had a female ringtail with baby twins in her pouch all died also due to domestic dog attack. Another brushtail unknown reasons but found with dogs. Several birds some dog and some cat attacks. But one of our latest was human, a snare causing a broken front leg and major damage to his upper front leg resulting in gangrene and having to be put down.

He is in so much pain and scared.

You can see the snare marks around his ankles.

The vet we got him from said he just needed some care for a couple of weeks and could be released. They did not tell us he had a broken leg or give us medication for his wound.

On a brighter note we have little Terry who we have had since Christmas Eve. His injuries were his front leg unknown cause. He is growing and is a pig loves his food and lots of attention. He should be ready for release in a couple of months.

He likes to sit on peoples head just like mum's back only our skulls are not as tough so can be quite painful. Head massage with needles would be an apt description.

His claws are very sharp. But he is oh so adorable.

Hamish R.I.P.

After such a good start my baby Hamish had a rupture in is bladder from the dog attack. After the Vet examined him and Hamish my little boy took a swipe at him (for examining him) I had to leave him to be sedated and checked and hopefully drained so he did not get renal problems. My last visual contact of the little tyke was him looking up at me with his big brown eyes and giving me a lick on the chin and cuddling into my chest. He died on the operating table. Very sad and lots of tears but a least he did not suffer. (God life is hard and unforgiving sometimes)

May my little boy rest in peace.

I love being a wildlife carer but some times it can be very emotionally draining. My next one will hopefully have a better start in this world and a better future. I live in hope of all the animals we get into care.

A day in the life of young Hamish the Brushtail Possum

My Name is Hamish am I cute or what.

Hi my name is Hamish I weigh 300 grams. What a day and night I fell off Mums back and I don't know where she is, she has lost me. After wandering around on the ground for a while these two things which were much bigger than me, huge actually decided they wanted to have a game with me as their toy, I was shaken, stirred and thrown. They had big teeth which I am still wearing the marks of and healing from, then this huge creature even bigger than the two furry four legged creatures picked me up (Oh my god I was so scared). They wrapped me up in a nice soft fluffy thing and took me in this big metal contraption that made lots of noise to a place even further away from my Mum (will she ever find me again, I doubt it?). The new place had lots of new smells, nothing like what I was used to, then after being handled by many of these two legged creatures I was put in a cage so I could finally sleep. When I woke up some new two legged things took me in another metal contraption (Oh boy when is this nightmare going to end?).

This is me thinking about what to write next. Boy is it hard.

Since then which seems ages ago but has only been three days I have lived in a small square basket and have been given lots of milk and some yummy fruit like grated apple and watermelon and strawberries and this horrible foul tasting stuff which I have heard this two legged creatures refer to as medicine and all it does is make me poop lots. But I am feeling so much better my holes in my back are getting better and I don't feel so stiff and I am getting lots of sleep in this nice warm bed.

This is my bed till I get bigger.

I still miss my Mum but I don't think I will ever see her again but my new Foster Mum and Dad are great. They are looking after me.

Painful Weekend

This weekend has been interesting and painful, a friend of Steve's is doing Myopractic (Myopractic is deep muscle techniques and structural integration of the muscles). He visited us on Saturday as I had mentioned to him I was having problems with my neck and sleeping etc. So after a couple of coffees he checked out my aches and pains. He started on the neck and shoulders and found my problem to be a bit more than anticipated, several years ago I was getting out of our car and got my foot hooked in my handbag and fell onto my knee quite heavily bruising the top of my thigh and knee and twisting my back. I had to wait for everyone to stop laughing before they helped me up and even in my pain everyone still thought it was hilarious bottom line I did do some major damage (hence this entry) Tony found so many muscles that I have stopped using that I was nearly in tears with every one that he touched. So for a neck ache he found the muscles in my gluteus maximus (the bum) were tense and sore causing my neck problems.

So after and hour of working on all my muscles (front and back) I have been in pain all weekend and am looking forward (not) to his next visit. (All done for the price of a coffee). What are friends for???

Seriously I am looking forward to his next visit so I can get a full nights sleep with no pain.

So beware what you think is just a minor fall can cause some major issues later. Oh to be getting old and what to look forward to. :)

Native Animal Bus

Being a carer for our native animals I am finding at the moment is very tiring and daunting, but also would not swap it for anything.

On the weekend we became a wildlife bus picking up at different spots and dropping off and getting assessed different animals in our care, in total our car had 12 boxes with 18 animals ready to be moved and assessed. Our co-ordinator Natasja is just wonderful, as we started unpacking our car she just took it in her stride, but on saying that I have seen bigger loads of animals being brought into care at her place. I take my hat off to her ( I think I would go stir crazy) her house is an open house for carers and animals. I can't remember the last time I visited her that it was quiet.

Today we got the delivery of three new ringtails and three bantams (they are so cute) for a short stay while their carer moves house. We also did a fodder run. Not far from where we live is a park where the council has set aside some land for wildlife carers to grow trees, so that you can feed the animals in care. It is a great idea and better than stripping your neighbours trees and all up the street and parkland in order to feed your animals. Not that we do that we usually visit relies and strip their trees. :)