???

Why can't everybody be so happy with a chew bone huh? Wow, life would be so much easier. Have an issue, here, chew on this, have a think about it for a while *lol*. But this little addition is making me move, that is for sure. But she is settling in well. She obviously didn't get any attention or love where she was so is craving that. Bella, well she appears to be happy one minute but when her tennis ball is taken by Indy, she becomes downright disgusted. Mental note to buy more tennis balls. Speaking of tennis, cannot believe the Australian open ends tomorrow. Last nights match was just incredible. Right, wombats, puppies, more wombats while Madam J sleeps. Then to watch tennis:).

New addition arriving shortly

Not feeling great. Went to get antibiotics today and spending over an hour on dirt roads when you need the toilet is not my idea of fun!!! Heaven knows what went on under the house last night as all hell broke out at about 2am. Yes, was up, watching Daphne eat. Shocking sleep night. Darling daughter only went to sleep around midnight. Wait, payback will happen when she is older:). New addition arriving on Thursday. Another German Shepherd puppy. Just beautiful she is. She is not in a good home, needs to be moved asap. Thankfully a friend picked her up today and we collect her half way on Thursday. Indi is her name. Will see if it suits her when she arrives. Just because life isn't busy enough here but hey, Bella will be happy I think. She is now 14 months and will have a 3 month old puppy with her. Off to feed wombats. Also have to move some wombats on the weekend, must organise that.

Movement under the house....

Hmmm, it appears that a wombat has moved in under the house. And it is Veg, very strange. She has more than one burrow but there will be a reason as to why she is under the house. She is there sleeping now so will see what time she wakes up and have a look at her.

Weekend gone again....

Why do weekends go so quickly and Mondays are so long? Did spraying today, brush cutting, house work, wombats, daughter inbetween each of those and managed to have a nap so that I can watch the tennis tonight, quite happy with that. Also got a beautiful contribution today, a gorgeous framed photograph which has been enlarged of darling Molly from K and J. Thank you so much guys. It will be treasured, you know that.

Have just finished enclosures and walking Silo, now about to go and do Buzz's ear. It seems like something has burst, not sure what yet, about to go and have a good look and clean it out. His body is still fighting infection so have to help him all we can. He is still eating well which is great but his balance has been off and this might be the cause hopefully. Should have been a vet mom:). 

Faithful four legged friend

If you ever want the most incredible dog in the world, get a german shepherd. Bella is turning into the most amazing dog. She now even prompts my moves each day. She knows what I'm going to do and knows my schedule. She is about 15 months old now and just wonderful. Full of love and has the most amazing temperament. If ever you want a good all round dog, contact her breeders at Monsimbee and Karen is the lady to speak to. I am so tempted to get another one but for now I reckon I have enough on my plate ha ha ha. Sat and watched Daphne around midnight last night. Couldn't sleep again. She was wet from the rain but not bothered by it, quite relaxed. The storms passed after dark yesterday. They are building up now again.

Miss G is forgetting where her enclosure is at night and has spent today in Mia's one with Mia. We will have to move her later on back into hers. Miss G escaped one night and came back 2 days later screaming and with heat exhaustion. She doesn't have the brain capacity to find a burrow it seems. She is a 'slow' wombat and sometimes it looks like nobody is home in her eyes. But Miss G is Miss G and does her own thing. Just have to teach her to find her own enclosure at night somehow.  She has her daily routine and if you introduce anything new it has to be very very slowly for her to put it into her schedule, then she can adjust. Buzz, I'm not sure what is happening with him. Something tells me in my gut that he is a very old wombat somehow. He is still progressing slowly but has lost a lot of weight, as they do when they are sick. Wombats can drop weight very quickly. His wounds are healing well still but they are still a long way off healing completely. Some of the wounds from the attack were right into the muscle with some muscles in his shoulder torn. I am feeding him at night to ensure he gets extra nutrition but he is still eating a lot of grass and drinking water on his own which is good. It will be a slow process for him to recover which will take his body time to heal.

Storms galore

Wow, we are just surrounded by the most incredible storms this evening. None have hit us so to speak but all around us, the most amazing lightning shows and thunder that is rattling the windows. And harvested our first crop of home grown carrots this afternoon. Most are fantastic, however there are the odd few that were planted too close and you just have a knot of carrots, almost like a carrot ball of 5 or so grown around each other. Doesn't matter, they will taste just as good. Still waiting for the tomatoes. Amazing how we have had none yet. Hmmm, all the kangaroos have moved into the valley in the last 10min, that must mean we are about to get hit by one of the storms. Going outside to have a look from the verandah and watch mother natures show further.

And then to watch the Australian Open tennis, just absolutely loving it, bring it on:). Nadal plays tonight, excellent. 

More mayhem!

Apologies, apparently I have forgotten how to spell tomatoes. So, last night was again a very interesting one while we all slept. Apparently Veg doesn't like the fact there are other female wombats around and decided to make a very good attempt to dig to get to the other two juvenile wombats. She almost succeed. So, this morning started with more digging, modifications, etc. Did you know a wombat can go through a chicken wire fence no problem? They chew their way through it. So yes, fence fixing as well was included. Who knows what tonight will entail! But its not quite how you envisage starting your day with a BANG like that. Life is busy enough here:).

Tomatoes not growing

It has been such a mild summer here so far that the tomatoes have not even grown yet! I need my tomatoes, home grown are so much better than bought ones in the shop. We even had a fire going last week and they say it is summer in Australia - might have to rethink that one and makes me wonder what Winter is going to be like this year. We also need some more rain, things have dried out oh so much. Australia is one country where the weather is always changing. You can really have all four seasons in one week.

Mayhem in the night hours

So Miss G decided to get out of her enclosure last night, with Soldier out as well. I can only imagine. Then we had Boney Bum and Vegemite having contact through the new enclosure fencing at Dawn and Willow. Just to watch this behaviour is interesting as wombats are highly territorial. Phil encountered Veg after midnight, said she was very cranky as she would be. We expect this behaviour. Buzz is still with us, eating each day, very slow in his movements  but his wounds are improving a lot so we are hopeful with him. Then big Daph also had an altercation with Veg at the feed station and Daphne eventually left, normally it is Veg. Maybe Veg is starting to assert herself as a dominant female, who knows. Had another younger wombat around but who is very skittish so you only get a glimpse of her bum as she is bolting off at a 100 miles an hour. Will go down to the creek later and see what activity there has been.

Molly Bats last day

It is with great sadness that I have found out that one of the dearest wombats I have ever met, who went to live out her short life with two of the kindest people I know, has passed away quietly. We believe she had a stroke. Molly was a wombat who was 'different' from the day she came into care and we recognised this. She was never able to be released but taught us so much in terms of behaviour and to look harder at each individual wombat when they come into care. Sometimes they come into care for a reason more than being orphaned. This little girl brought a smile to our faces and gave the best wombat cuddles to be had when she was little. Rest in peace dear Molly bat, you will be missed by all.

Wombat update

Well, Buzz is still going and doing well. Eating like a champion and hopefully he will begin to put on some weight and condition again. It will of course depend on his age. It is very difficult to age a wombat. Our pregnant female Daphne is visiting the feed station each night so we are able to watch her tummy grow. She has become very protective and where she would normally tolerate one of the other females around, now she screams like a banshee at them. A female wombat is very protective of their young and not a mother you would want to cross on a bad day I would imagine. One of our males is almost ready to be released. We are just monitoring his night time activities for a while longer. The summer here has not been the normal harsh Australian summer so it is cool enough to release. I went for a drive on the ride on yesterday checking out burrow activity along the creek. There have been some wonderful modifications made with the wet weather. But also saw all the thistles which will need to be sprayed arrrrrggggghhhhhhh!!! Work on a property never ends, that is the absolute beauty of it:).

On leave for 2 days...

Wow, I have 2 days leave from work. Do I go and mow, brushcut, read my book, potter in the garden, go into town and get things done or just sit? Cannot make up my mind. That is half my problem, I cannot sit still most of the time. I very rarely have a problem sleeping which is a good thing - wonder why huh? 

Buzz is doing brilliantly. His wounds are looking much better, he is eating but interestingly enough its always during the day and he sleeps at night - total opposite to what a wombat normally does. This is because when a wombat is injured or sick, they tend to come out during the day to feed. This prevents them from being attacked further at night when the other wombats are out. What I have found interesting is that he is continuing this natural instinct, even though he is in care currently and is safe. It just shows you how strong their instinct to survive is.

We also finished an extension to one of the enclosures and it is probably the best one we have now. It enables the younger wombats in rehab to come out and explore within the safe boundaries of the fence (modified of course for wombats) and at the same time, they get interaction with the wild wombats who come up at night to sniff and see who is about. I believe this teaches the younger ones in rehabilitation about what sounds to listen for as potential threats, they get an idea of what a wild wombat smells like, the noises it will make before trying to attack, etc. So far our release success rate has been I would say about 95% and this is a very important element for wombats in care to learn about. Rocks, have to get more rocks this afternoon, have made mental note of that:).

A good news day yesterday

Yay, one of my customers has lost 2kg since starting on one of the weight loss programs on 2 Jan and is feeling heaps more energetic. Buzz has also 'turned a corner' and has started to eat so well on his own, drink water, and is looking better in his eyes:). Good day.

Photos of Buzz in the Wombat Information page

I have put up some photos to show the extent of Buzz's injuries. I will be working on this to try and educate people about wombat attacks on their own species. He is not as strong this morning. It will break my heart to lose another one to a wombat attack but when a wombat gives up, it defies you and nature to save it. I hope he has not gotten to this point. Back to syringe feeding him every few hours. If only I could share the strength of these animals with people, then it would give people a slight idea of just how strong they are and what they endure to get to this point. No human would even come close. Back later.

Back finally...

After being flattened by a bug for almost a week, I am finally starting to feel normal again, whatever normal is for me:). For those following on Buzz's condition, he is I believe starting to improve. His wounds, although very severe are starting to heal very slowly, he is eating copious amounts of grass each night now on his own and drinking water on his own. I have also managed to figure out how to start the wombat information page so this is where I will put information on these amazing creatures and what they have taught me.

For now though, it will be catching up on life for me. Its amazing with today's techno world how much things build up. Emails, work emails, facebook, blah blah. Heavens, surely life was easier in my Grandmother's days:). No wonder she never wanted me to teach her about the internet and email *lol*. You were clever there Gran. 

Oh so so hot.....

Stinking hot here today. Another day to veg in Js pool from her Gran:). Buzz is still going and I managed to get lots of fluid into him yesterday. As a result, he drank on his own last night - improvement so holding thumbs for him.

Happy New Year, may 2012 be the year for you to thrive;)

Have named the new male wombat Buzz. Why - because of all the flies buzzing around him when he was found. I am not sure that he is going to pull through but I am trying my best. These animals are so so unbelievably strong and when you see one trying to hold on, you cannot imagine the strength it must take them. No human being would be able to cope with what they cope with. Maybe that is where my admiration for the species comes from, I don't know. Still no sign of Barney either. I see some of the females every night but not Barney sadly. Hopefully he will show his furry face soon. I do worry when I have not seen recently released ones for a while, although they do come back to the house if they need help - so damn clever they are.

Well, Madam J and I spent most of the day in or under water *lol* after having a sleep in. The little human alarm only woke up at 8:35am - completely unheard of!!! Although she did have me up at 4am. Once she went back to sleep, I went and swopped wombats, knowing it was going to be a very hot day, had some milo and then went back to bed, expecting to be woken up in the next hour:).

It was a stinker out here and will be again tomorrow. It reached 34 degrees in the shade this afternoon. So we both paddled away in her pool on the verandah, was just great. She is now sound asleep after her day. We also went into town, got some things, and I did a heap of mowing this evening once it had cooled down a bit. I'm getting the creek area back, it is fantastic and the grass that is now coming through is wonderful to see. Its hard work now but once its done, it will just be a matter of maintaining the area.  Going to go and think about dinner....