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. :)

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.