From tiny bugs to big Turkey Vulchers, from chipmunks to deer, we have a little of everything here in our little spot in Oklahoma / Black …
From tiny bugs to big Turkey Vulchers, from chipmunks to deer, we have a little of everything here in our little spot in Oklahoma / Black Widow Spider / / Bruce and some sort of flying beetle / / Red Bellied Woodpeckers / / Red Ear Turtles / / Dragonflies / / Damselflies / / Of course Squirrels / / Bullfrogs / / / Hummingbirds / / White Tail Deer / There will be more…...
I really appreciate being noticed by the moderators of Bits and pieces…being featured twice is a great honor! “Park critter” and “Natu…
I really appreciate being noticed by the moderators of Bits and pieces…being featured twice is a great honor! “Park critter” and “Nature’s power” were both given featured on the group site, I am very pleased… Park critter / Nature’s power /
About a month ago, I was laying bundled up on the couch sick. All of a sudden I see this little critter go in Leo’s bowl. Well, it was …
About a month ago, I was laying bundled up on the couch sick. All of a sudden I see this little critter go in Leo’s bowl. Well, it was a good thing my two little pekes were in bed- I don’t believe they would have been happy. I tried to go quietly over and catch it to put outside. It took off under the entertainment center. Now I am sitting up watching and listening. Not wanting to have it come crawling across me. That surge of bravery I felt left very quickly along with the brief bit of strength I was given at that moment. / / My husband was in bed asleep, therefore he wasn’t any help. I decided to just let it be and went to bed, hoping it wouldn’t come in the bedroom. After a while I remembered that there was fruit in a bowl on the table and various other sundries that this little mouse might get into. I got up and quickly put everything in containers and jars. With everything safely encased – or so I thought- I went back to bed. The next morning, I tell my husband and he told me he would get some traps. Here I was home all day with my two Pekes and a Mouse somewhere in our house. It turns out that the mouse had gotten out of the house but not until after he messed some things up. Apparently, he got into my flatware drawer. That meant sterilizing everything in there as there were mouse droppings all over. Thank goodness for dishwashers! It really came in handy. I am so happy that I requested a dishwasher for this move. / Well, it is weeks later and there is still a mouse in our house. I am hopeful that I got rid of it today. The mouse never bothered the traps(they look like hockey pucks). On friday night it was in the cabinet under the kitchen sink. What a racket it was making. On Saturday, I poured out mothballs in the sink cabinet. / Oh! My! How they smelled! I bought the wrong ones. Alas, they were better than nothing. / Now it is saturday night. Everyone is in bed accept me-I am on mouse patrol. All of a sudden there comes a racket from the cabinet under the kitchen sink! The MOUSE! is trying to get the door open! He keeps crashing into it. It was going nuts! Cleaning bottles, soap, etc all getting knocked down. This went on for about an hour. Then all was quiet. I was not brave enough to open the door as I didn’t want the mouse coming out into the rest of the house. / Today, I went to the store and bought some poison. I know-but I don’t have a cat and this mouse has been with us at night for about a month. It is time for it to leave permanently. I filled the gap around the pipes with steel wool. That should keep him from getting back in. I then set the wedge box with the poison next to the pipe. This evening we heard it trying to get back in but all has been quiet. / Hopefully, the Mouse will find another place to hang it’s hat in the frigid cold of the night. / I don’t blame the mouse for wanting to come in out of the cold. However, it needs to understand that I don’t try to go live in it’s house and it needs to have the same regard for me and not invite itself in uninvited. Now don’t misunderstand, I would not invite a mouse into my house not on purpose. / We have been pondering how it got in, in the first place. It was on a snowy day about a month ago and the temps were down around 10 at night. My husband went out the front door and the mouse must have come walking in. It was probably half frozen. You see why I don’t blame it? The only thing is we have a few outbuildings. One of these buildings is our office. I have no problem with it going and moving itself into the office. I don’t work out of that office. My office is in my house. So, It wouldn’t bother me. After all, he seems to be an after hours mouse. / Well this little mouse managed to get under the kitchen sink and must have found its way out of the house and then after that has been able to come and go every night. He no longer needs the front door. / I hope tonight he moves a little down the road. I really don’t want him to freeze but I don’t want him in my house. / Tonight …...”Not a creature is stirring not even a mouse.” Update: / The mouse has left our house! Since, I put steel wool in the little gaps around the pipes he hasn’t been able to get back in. We also watch the floor on the way in and out the door. Just in case he tries to come back in that way.
If you have read my previous entry about my kitty family, you know that I am the ‘Crazy Cat Lady’ who feeds & cares for the strays. M…
If you have read my previous entry about my kitty family, you know that I am the ‘Crazy Cat Lady’ who feeds & cares for the strays. My first friend has not been coming around too much lately, which wasn’t of too much concern until yesterday. The other night, I heard him meow quite loudly as if he was in a fight. I was already in bed, so I didn’t get up to check. Besides, it’s best to leave animal fights to the animals – especially when you don’t possess the weapons they do. I knew he wasn’t fighting another cat, because I only heard him. I didn’t think too much of it, as the fights are quite common in my back yard. Honestly, I think he got into a scuffle with one of the possums that has been skulking around here. They are quite large – picture the ROUS’s from The Princess Bride. Yes, possums like that… Yesterday, Smokey came to get some food & I just could have died from horror. He had scratches & dried blood on both of his ears and a VERY large chunk of flesh missing from the inside of his front left leg with a smaller less menacing chunk missing from the opposite side. The inner chunk (or lack thereof) looked yellow and infected. It would explain why he hasn’t had much of an appetite of late. I am worried that he is not going to survive it. If he would let me, I would be more than willing to doctor it for him. However, he barely ‘allows’ me to pet him – let alone help him to heal anything. Mama had a nasty cut on her back paw, but she is much more trusting. Not that I had the ability to doctor it properly, but after some thinking about how I could sneakily attempt to help her at least a bit – I did a half-&-half mixture of water and peroxide and then dumped it on her paw. She did not like getting wet but did not hold it against me either. It’s been a couple of days since then & her paw is looking better. The kittens are getting so very big. I noticed today that Mama is truly trying to wean them. Caramel was adamantly trying to nurse & Mama kept swatting her. Personally, I’m not sure why she hasn’t weaned them before now. I mean – they have had full-fledged teeth for quite some time!!!!! Ouchi! No one particularly cared for the ham I set out – I think because of the spices I used in it. Oh well. At least I attempted to give them a Christmas gift! My heart goes out to brave Smokey. Either way, I hope he doesn’t have to suffer too much longer.
If you are then join me in an exciting new group just launched and hosted by myself and KimberlyNic for Bug Game Hunters. Called Bug Hunt…
If you are then join me in an exciting new group just launched and hosted by myself and KimberlyNic for Bug Game Hunters. Called Bug Hunt – that is the idea, you have to have found the bug yourself, the skill of the hunt and the thrill of the chase is the objective! Butterfly Farms are beautiful but a butterfly photographed there is not a hunted butterfly…. / If you have some great images of bugs you have found in your Gallery, join Bug Hunt and upload them so all those bug hunters out there can see them. My bugs have names in my garden, I hunt them every day to see if they are still there….and usually they are! / Here is my work ‘A Day In The Life of Big Lady’ which was Featured in THE SISTERHOOD. Join Big Lady and myself at Bug Hunt and see some bugs your eyes will not believe! / Well, there is not much there right now but give it some time…... BUG HUNT Thanks, Vanessa :o)
Earlier this morning, I was watching a small chipmunk in my garden, as he went from place to place finding and eating the food I left out…
Earlier this morning, I was watching a small chipmunk in my garden, as he went from place to place finding and eating the food I left out for the baby squirrel family, Masaman, Roon and Mo. It has been raining for the better part of this week, and I hadn’t seen Masaman for four days. I won’t lie, I was very worried about him. As I was watching the chipmunk, something made me look over toward the edge of the flower bed… and there, blended in with the soil, lay Masaman, face down in the relentless rain. He was soaked to the bone. I gasped and ran outside and scooped him up. / He lay limp in my hand. I began to cry immediately, in fear of what was to come next. He was shivering from the cold, his little hairless body shiny with rain, cold and exhausted. I wrapped him in a towel and stimulated him with short rubs while drying him off. I was trying to keep him alert and help the blood circulate. I got the hair dryer and set it on low and aimed it at my open fingers, that I left hovering over his towel-wrapped body. It took a lot longer than it should have because I simply could not see through my own tears. I begged God not to take him. He was as close to death as I have ever seen any animal. Once he was dry and warm, I offered him some peanut butter. He was mildly interested, and tried to suckle the butter from the spoon, but as it was chunky peanut butter, the small pieces of peanut were preventing him from being able to get a good vacuum seal with his little mouth. I then realized that the new jar of peanut butter I bought a few days ago was the creamy variety. That worked better. But then he began to struggle with the stickiness. So, I carved out the fleshy center of a grape, and offered it to him on the end of my finger. It was then, his little paw reached out to rest on my finger for leverage and he began to eat the grape with a little more enthusiasm. He had very little jaw strength, so smaller pieces were a must. Within just minutes, he was fervently taking the grape bits from my hand… and suddenly he became very agitated.. and wanted more and more. It was then that she realized he was being handled by a human, and tried to sit up and let me know he was not ‘vulnerable’. I thanked God… and I decided to put him in a towel-lined pet crate, with a cupful of shredded paper to nest in, and a bowl of diced strawberries and grapes. Each time I checked on him, he was sitting upright, although wobbly, and he has made huge progress on the bowl of fruit. I am cooking him some carrots now, cooked in coconut cream. It was the Masaman Curry he enjoyed when I first saw him, that made me think he might enjoy these. I hope he does. Please pray for Masaman, as I know he is not out of the woods yet. He is unmercifully tiny, and has not shown signs of getting any more fur… things that will need to be rectified if he is ever to survive in the wild. Please let me know to do the right things to help this tiniest of God’s creatures, to become strong and healthy. LavenderMoon~
I don’t know why I always do this. I always think I can somehow make a difference… make something better…assist nature. After another…
I don’t know why I always do this. I always think I can somehow make a difference… make something better…assist nature. After another frantic, heartwrenching session of trying to revive him, my sweet little Masaman lost his long battle at 6:10 this morning. He was just too tiny, too frail. He died in my hand. He seemed fine at bedtime, midnight. With the exception of some additional whimpering, which he usually did when he was missing his siblings. He had been held a lot yesterday, because he seemed to be demanding that. And although he had six Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast, he didn’t eat as much as I would have liked him to throughout the day. He enjoyed the cantaloupe most, and a grape… a few more Cheerios. He wouldn’t eat the peanuts I had provided for some additional fat. He was quite active all day, but kept calling out for attention, so I held him frequently and it was the only time he seemed completely content. It has always bothered me that he had no fur and zero body fat, his skin stretched over his tiny little frame, every bone on his body visible through his furless flesh. Job one was to fatten him up. I keep telling myself that I did the right thing, scooping him up out of the rain on June 5, 2009. He was so near death, I never expected to see him come back so full of life. From the first day I saw him, on May 11, 2009, he has had my heart. So, when he fell, lifeless and cold in my garden, I intervened… wanted to make a difference, give him a fighting chance. But God never provided this adorable little man with some of the basic things he needed to survive this world. He was vulnerable to far too much and armed against nothing. I will never understand why God will bring a creature in to this world, let it fight and suffer for a time, only to remove it again. The process itself indicates insane cruelty. Masaman had only his instincts to work with when he was brought in to this life… and they failed him once. I tried to bridge the gaps where nature had so cruelly let him down. I thank all of you who tried your best to help me with this little guy. He brought me a lot of joy and happiness in the days he was in my life. I had prayed and hoped for many more. My heart is completely broken. I have never cried harder over a wild animal than I have for the loss of my little Masaman. It should never have happened this way. He deserved so much more… Below is a poem written just for Masaman by Panda65. Even across miles and miles of ocean, Masaman touched hearts in this world, and there are few writers that understand the loss of a precious pet, wild or tame, than Panda: Journey’s end / / Brief days are most precious: / How we love them all. / While we stay / Bones articulate the will / And skin will bravely cover, / But hairless flesh is prey / To slouching predators / Or the death that lies within. / / Still in folds of earth / A lid will mimic sleep, / Deep in remembrance of a happy day. / A picture keeps a ray of joy / Unending, / Mixed as it is with tears. / / Does the rain speak of God’s lost impulse, / Or is rain all we know? / Love and the work of loving hands / Remain, / Where fickle deities come and go. / / / / For little Masaman, Spring 2009
If you haven’t been following along, it is probably best to get a wee bit of background first. For this, please go here: / “_I’m Confused…
If you haven’t been following along, it is probably best to get a wee bit of background first. For this, please go here: / I’m Confused – What are the rules again? This is going to be dreadfully long. You may want to get yourself a nice cup of tea or coffee & perhaps if you are sensitive, like myself, a nearby box of tissues. I always have many things going on in my life. I realize I largely bring this upon myself as a life-long caretaker. However, it seems that Karma chooses to inundate me with an over-abundance of challenges in marathon-style fashion & with cyclical order so that my head rarely has a chance to stop spinning before it needs to pick up the next wild turn. There are times when I am able to advance upon these challenge with vigor, composure, grace, skill, and unquestionable victory. Since Newton’s Third Law applies to me as equally as the rest of the universe, you can guess what the other times are like. Possession The activity of managing or exerting control over anything owned. Charge Custody or care of any person or thing performed due to a sense of duty. As a caretaker, one of the hardest things to deal with is to be told by an outside force what you can and cannot do with regard to your charges. It is made even more difficult to deal with when you feel you must oblige or at least attempt to oblige those rules. When I talk about the Critter Watch, it is really an all-encompassing term used to describe any living being in the world of my back yard (such as it is). I even name some of the other beings. However, it began with the feral cats – specifically with one cat ~ Smokey. Gradually, this grew into a feral cat colony consisting of Smokey (the dominant male) and Mama (the dominant female). Mama had 2 litters of kittens which contained Lefty and Speedy (1st) and Pumpkin and Caramel (2nd). Lefty was run over by a car approximately 3-4 months ago & found up by our apartment complex’s dumpster. I do not know if that is where he was found or if someone moved him there. Speedy was not seen at all shortly after Mama weaned them, so I do not know what happened to him. “We must protect the forests for our children, grandchildren and children yet to be born. We must protect the forests for those who can’t speak for themselves such as the birds, animals, fish and trees.” – Qwatsinas (Hereditary Chief Edward Moody), Nuxalk Nation There is forest land in several places on the property owned by the managers (hereafter referred to as the powers that be) of the apartment complex where I live. But it is blatantly defiled. I have discussed numerous times with the previous manager and also a few times with the current manager the extent to which this is a problem to no avail. You cannot walk 2 feet in any direction within the trees without seeing and/or stepping upon some type of trash. Some places are much worse than others & it would seem that some people mistook the forest for their own personal landfill with several full garbage bags, couches, satellite dishes, dirty diapers, chemical bottles, and seemingly infinite spots of alcoholic dump sites sporting cans and bottles of every type. The majority of this waste does not break down. It does not enrich the soil. It does not have some sort of magickal end that makes the means to that end in any way justifiable. There was a pack of dogs, 3 black dogs and 1 brown dog, who had been in the forest since at least February of 2006. Especially in the summer evenings, you could hear them howling. I knew even then that they were wild dogs – even without seeing them & I never saw them. Not until January of 2009. They were practically on my porch that night. They were very large in stature. They were not vicious. They were scavenging for food. The next day I called the apartment office in my usual caretaker manner. I asked quite specifically if they would put out a notice to the community that there was a pack of wild dogs and people should be very careful. I wanted to make sure children knew not to approach them. They are wild & are not to be played with. Children would not understand & neither would the dogs. We have all seen this situation play out. A child gets bitten. The dog is killed. Never mind any of the surrounding facts. The dog would be killed. Nothing was done. A few weeks later, they were out again. I called the office again only to be told they would call Animal Control, as they apparently had done previously when other residents had complained about the presence of the dogs. I shuddered at the thought of Animal Control & remained angry that no notice was going out to the community. To this day, no notice of these dogs or any other wild animals has ever gone out to the apartment community. And this is really when the worst of it happened. The office of the apartment complex likes to slide notices in the doors of the residents for communications. I won’t even pretend to remember what the date was, because I don’t. It was probably in February or March. In any case, a notice was slipped in my door. The long & short of it was that I was to stop all contact with my feral cat colony (actually with any cats at all). This is all it said. There was no explanation. I was horrified. I had been working very hard on many aspects of working with the cats. I had finally come across a spay(neuter) & release program; however, I needed quite a bit of time for that as their waiting list was 11 months & I had to remain a feeding station in order for them to help me & I wasn’t even sure if I was “in their area” so to speak. I tried for a little while to continue feeding the cats but then felt as if I could not do that because it was selfish of me to risk my husband & I’s place to live for the cats. I did not feed my cats for approximately 1 week. During this time, the colony broke apart. Smokey left with Caramel & I have not seen them since then. It is possible that this may have happened as a natural progression of the colony, but given the strange progression of events I will never know. Pumpkin came to the porch every day & sat in his usual spot. Every day I watched him become more ragged & emaciated. He cried for me out on the porch & I cried & cried to hear him cry. My heart was so broken. It was horrible & it ate at me every day. I could not push it out of my mind &, most importantly, I absolutely could not push it out of my heart. One thing kept playing over & over in my mind. Raymond Buckland once said, “If an animal, a bird, a plant, or a tree is sick then it is your duty to try to aid it.” It is my duty as a Wiccan, as a caretaker, & as the ‘Mom’ who had previously committed to them to ensure they are well cared for. I had been caring for them for at least 1-1/2 years. So, I went up to the apartment office & discussed it with the manager. The powers that be had decided that I was – in conjunction with my feral cat colony – (along with some other feral cats who did not belong to my colony) committing the most vile crime against the NEOCONS of inhibiting business. Apparently, some people had come to look at an apartment, saw the cats on/around my porch, and refused to rent because of the cats. Supposedly, this one incident was the sole purpose for the giant purple smack down of wrath upon my defenseless kitties. I outlined to the manager (in much more respectful terms of course) just how retarded the logic of the powers that be was ~ whose quintessential argument by the way remained If I would just stop feeding the cats, they would go away I explained these cats are feral & innately territorial. As long as this remains their territory, they will stay whether I feed them or not. Furthermore, I expressed to her my belief that the powers that be did not have an adequate understanding of the appropriate defined problems of which there are two: disease and population. These cats require vaccinations to stop the spread of diseases amongst themselves and potentially to humans (although much less likely) & they require sterilization in order to control the population. This would be a much more effective method of getting them to ‘go away’ than to simply stop feeding them. Even then, there will always be irresponsible pet owners which could start the process all over again. In addition, a healthy diet allows these cats to remain much more healthy on a day-to-day basis which clearly fits better in the pro column rather than that of the con column. After speaking with the manager some more, we agreed that I would go into the forest to continue caring for the cats. It would take some time to re-socialize the cats to that area but it could be done. This allowed me to continue to care for the cats & made an attempt to keep them away from the building & from highly unintelligent & arrogant people who just don’t like cats (my words). The manager did this despite the powers that be having a made final decision that no one was to have any contact whatsoever with the feral cats. I am quite fortunate to have such a diplomatic manager & so are my precious kitties. So, that is what I did. I went out & bought some flannel shirts, what turned out to be absolutely worthless bug spray (Off Deep Forest—don’t buy it – it doesn’t work!!!), some hiking boots, a backpack, and began walking Mama & Pumpkin out to the forest every day. The biodiversity is still fairly good in the forest despite the people across the way cutting half of it down & it being trashed by the people who live here. There are ants, fire ants, carpenter ants, ticks, several different species of spiders, a plethora of other insects I could not even begin to identify, bees, wasps, dozens of species of birds, the squirrels, ‘Frenchie’ (my name for snails with shells), ‘Mini-Frenchie’ (my name for snails without shells), mushrooms and other fungi, etc. The 1st day I ventured into the forest, I was vexatiously heckled by Mr. Squirrel. Actually, I laughed my ass off but I may have felt very differently had I known what he was saying. I truly wish I had a translator that day because he sat there & chattered at me for a full 15 minutes without stopping. It was quite clear that he didn’t want me invading HIS forest & how dare I & (probably) with CATS nonetheless!! He chatters at me quite frequently while I am in there & I always say hello. I always call the squirrel Mr. Squirrel – when in all actuality; it may well be a different squirrel every time. About 1 week before Mama had her kittens, I heard a dog bark. It was on a Saturday morning. The night before, I had heard a dog bark loudly like that & when I went out to check, it turned out to be a sweet little boxer – a dog one of the neighbor’s visitors had. She is just a lovable little thing but her bark sounded very low in pitch & loud. So naturally, when I heard the bark Saturday morning, I didn’t think much of it. However, Mama had been a little sketchy & began growling. Yes, my Mama girl growls & she’s damn good at it too! I heard some rustling in the woods behind me & when I turned around, there were the 3 black dogs. Mama had been on my lap, so I put her down, wheeled around to face them, & stood up. One was about 5 feet from me and advancing slowly, the next was 2 feet behind that one, and the last was about 3 feet behind that one. I spoke firmly but I did not have to yell at them. I simply said, “You go.” I had to say it individually to all 3 of them, but they seemed to respect that it was my territory & that I was protecting “my pack.” Each one turned around in succession & walked away. That was the last time I saw the wild dogs. That week I spent quite a bit of time tracking down a phone number to the appropriate department in the Forest Service, wanting to get someone out to relocate them. Again, I was worried about what would happen in a dog-human interaction. It is clear that the dogs were becoming desperate for food or they would not be leaving the woods so frequently to scavenge for food. After all, it is not their fault that the humans destroyed their habits & limited the biodiversity that had previously sustained them. Somehow, I don’t think that’s how the people will look at it, do you? I was told by the lady who answered the phone that they do not consider dogs wild animals. I was truly so disgusted I could hardly see straight. I mean, normally I would agree. Perhaps if it were only 1 dog. However, it was a pack of dogs – the very phrase makes the animals wild in and of itself. Big Momma (my Grandma) nearly had a heart attack when I told her I was considering attempting to load them up in the back of my truck to relocate them! I had to promise her I would not do that. All I can do is hope they are doing well. I hope they have found a peaceful place to live where they do not have to interact with such ignorant people. / I spent my week during the week of Earth Day cleaning up the portion of the forest that I go into with the cats. It was truly horrible & I thought it was a very small gift I could give to Lady Gaia for commemoration of the holiday. Now the dynamics of the colony have changed yet again. Mama is still the dominant female. She has 4 kittens. We have named 2 of them. I have named the gray one Gandalf, because ‘he’ is such a little entertainer already & hubby named the unique one of the bunch Spackle. (He wanted to name ‘her’ Mut but I told him that wasn’t a good name for a kitty!) I am putting the little marks around ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘him’, and ‘her’ in reference to the kittens until such a time that I can make an appropriate determination as to the sex of each kitty. I learned this the hard way with Pumpkin & Caramel. Lol – So, these are all just tentative he, she, him, her references for now. There is a newbie whom I have seen a few times & he is purely feral at this point. I have named him Tony (like the Soprano) because he (as my darling hubby put it) looks like a bruiser. He has been the source of many, many fights of late. Mama tolerates him on the porch sometimes & seems to fight equally with him & Pumpkin. Therefore, I think there is currently a power struggle going on between Pumpkin & Tony for the role of the dominant male in the colony. Juniper has been spotty, being sighted here & there. He used to let me pet him but now will not even get close. Mama keeps a pretty tight rein on her territory when it comes to Juniper & despite several different attempts to feed him – I have been unsuccessful in doing so. All of this would remain a wonderful blessing to me if the sand in the glass remained on the table undisturbed. Instead, it has been violently overthrown. Hubby has been given orders to be re-stationed. We have to leave on July 15, 2009 (yes – that is in approximately 5 weeks). I have been brainstorming ever since the military started mentioning the possibility of orders, which really wasn’t that long ago either. The reality is that I have to try to get these cats placed somewhere before I leave. The ‘pound’ is absolutely a drastic, desperate-measure, very last resort. However, I realize with the events of late that the human problem I have here poses far too great of a risk to leave the cats here. Humans whose love for money is so very great: Cree Prophecy / When all the trees have been cut down, / When all the animals have been hunted, / When all the waters are polluted, / When all the air is unsafe to breathe, / Only then will you discover you cannot eat money. Humans who are so arrogant to think that animals are so insignificant and so easily cast by the wayside like an imaginary friend who has no thoughts or feelings. These humans who love their precious Animal Control so synonymous with death & murder. My precious kitties, who are very much like my children now – my very own family whom I love & adore as I love & adore myself, will not stand a chance when I have to go because of this. I cannot take them with me. I would if I could. Hubby keeps telling me I’m only 1 person & I can’t save them all. That breaks my heart even more, because for every 1 I do save, I know there are countless more in its place who will die. Problems like these don’t become imaginary because you imagine them out of your sight & out of your mind. My cats feel true hunger, true thirst, and true pain. They show me true love. Mama shows me true loyalty. She is the most loyal animal I have ever had & she is not my possession; she is my charge. To add to my anxiety in this dilemma, we only saw the kittens on the 5th & 6th & have not seen them since. I cannot possibly socialize them in time to place them with Mama keeping them hidden again. They do not yet respond to my calls – only to Mama’s & so I am worried I will not be able to help them at all. Tony & Juniper are a whole other story altogether. If you’ve gotten all the way to the end of this, I thank you for your patience, endurance, & wish you blessings! These things, among others, are the reasons for my long absence & for the huge gap in Critter Watch entries. They have been weighing so heavily upon my heart & soul. I just couldn’t bring myself to pour them out onto the page for so very long. Thank you for being so patient with me! If you have any suggestions or ideas, please send them my way! My babies need all the help they can get. Beannacht, Lu “What is this you call property? It cannot be the earth, for the land is our mother, nourishing all her children, beasts, birds, fish and all men. The woods, the streams, everything on it belongs to everybody and is for the use of all. How can one man say it belongs only to him?” – Massasoit P.S. I will post Part II of this after hubby & I reach our new city & get settled which will probably be in mid August. I hope to have more good news than bad about the fate of my little angels.
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Decided to make a list of birds and other wild critters I’ve seen down here, as a reference for future photographic trips. Those with in…
Decided to make a list of birds and other wild critters I’ve seen down here, as a reference for future photographic trips. Those with in italics are non-native species. The Geelong Field Naturalists Club has more extensive records, of course. Please feel free to add your own Balyang observations below. Balyang Birds / Australian Darter / Australian Magpie / Australian Pelican / Australian White Ibis / Australian Wood Duck / Black-fronted Dotterel / Black-winged Stilt / Chestnut Teal (duck) / Common Myna / Dusky Moorhen / Eurasian Coot / Grey Teal (duck) / Little Black Cormorant / Little Pied Cormorant / Little Raven / Magpie-Lark / Masked Lapwing / Nankeen Night Heron / Pacific Black Duck / Purple Swamphen / Rainbow Lorikeet / Red Wattlebird / Royal Spoonbill / Silver Gull / Spotted Pardalote / Spotted Turtle-dove / Sulphur-crested Cockatoo / Thornbill (which?) / Welcome Swallow / White-faced Heron / White-plumed Honeyeater / Willie Wagtail Insects / Dragonflies ~ both red and blue ones, species unknown Frogs / Eastern Common Froglet
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