Caught In The Act!

Yes I see you!

So, the bird feeder I have outside my office window, was quickly discovered by one of our many local Squirrels.

I watched him for a while, I didn't have the heart to shoo him away, he was having such a lovely time with all the bird food.  It was amazing how much this little guy could eat, he was emptying the feeder faster than 50 finches,  meanwhile all the little birds were keeping their distance.  

After about 10 minutes of watching him I decided enough was enough, I shooed him away before he could completely empty the feeder. Within seconds of his departure all the little finches that had been eagerly waiting in the surrounding trees were able to return and continue with their breakfast.

The wildlife here isn't as amazing as in the jungles of Panama, but I am still in love with all the lovely little wild creatures, no matter where or what.

The Birds

This lovely house we now live in, has many many birds, and I really love the birds.  We have the fabulous red cardinals, blue tits, blue jays, finches and so many more.  It's so lovely to just sit and watch them all.

So today I went to Lowes and bought some bird feeders and food, and tonight I put the feeders in the trees outside my office, so when I work I can watch the birds.  Yeah, Simple pleasures!

 I do love where we live now, but I have to admit the Gypsy in me is alive and kicking, I am really looking forward to all the traveling ahead this summer, and moving Daisy up the coast to explore other countries later in the year...

Right now after 12 hours of horse laundry, house painting, bathing muddy horses and cleaning bathrooms I'm pooped... need a drink, food and sleep, OH yummy sleep... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I have a Date!

Thank you so much to everyone who has continued to follow my random posts while I've been back on dry land.

I finally have a set date for return to Daisy,  June 9th.    I will be making my way back to Panama for more adventures and much more nonsense.

Bob is currently doing all sorts of maintenance and other boat related stuff on Daisy in Panama, while I'm still here doing the house (on dry land) thing, but I'm excited to be returning for more adventures, and exploration of other countries in June.

My summer schedule looks like a lot of fun, I have a trip to South Africa, with a Safari, followed by 6 weeks in Europe, then back to the USA for a couple of months before returning to Daisy and sailing on up to Costa Rica...

All this traveling should give me plenty to write about, I have to say I am struggling more than a little to find interesting material for good stories here in Ohio.

Please keep checking my blog for up dates...

Love Daisy :o)

More about Oscar

So, to cut a long story short, Oscar totally thrived under my care, and grew to become a very healthy, glossy coated, happy little raccoon, while I became very much his adopted Mother.  I would let him out of his cage every morning so he could run around and play, always hoping that he would find his brothers and sisters in the woods.  I had decided to keep him locked in his cage at night while he was very young, for his own protection.

Oscar followed me everywhere I went, and played happily in the yard while I planted and weeded.  His climbing skills had developed remarkably, and he had become a proficient climber.  I discovered his love of water, and often filled a bowl or the garbage can lid with water placing it somewhere in the garden for him to discover, then he would play like a small child, running and jumping in it, splashing around, thoroughly soaking himself, then run dripping everywhere to climb on my back soaking me and pull my ponytail. 

I sadly realized that I could not keep Oscar indefinitely as a pet, he was very much a wild animal, and often demonstrated his aggression with anyone outside my family, with us he was loving and very tame, but with strangers he was cautious, aggressive and spiteful.

I tried to interest zoo's, and even local petting farms, but no one was interested.  I became quite concerned about his future, we had our house on the market and were planning to move onto our boat in the Caribbean, Oscar would definitely not find a suitable home with us there. I had no idea what I could do with him.

At 6 months old, I started leaving his cage door open at night, hoping this would encourage him to develop his night skills and gradually revert back to the wild.  During the first couple of weeks of letting Oscar out at night, I had many sleepless nights worrying about his safety, and whether I was doing the right thing,  but no one could give me any advise, or tell me how or what I should be doing, so I just went on what I thought would be right, and kept my fingers crossed. 

After a couple of months of his night-time freedom, Oscar would often not be in the barn on a morning when I went up, but as soon as I called him he would quickly appear, scampering excitedly from the woods to climb up onto my shoulder and nibble at my ponytail.

Obviously he was starting to explore his territory a little more, and familiarize himself with his natural surroundings and other wild creatures, but he was still very attached to me, and continued to follow me everywhere.  He would climb around inside the garage and get up into the engines of the cars which really worried me.  We had to start putting all the cars in the garage at night and locking it, for fear of Oscar curling up asleep inside one of the engines without us knowing he was there.

When Oscar was about 10 months old, we had to go away for a weekend, and I was worried about leaving him alone, he was completely free of his cage now, but usually stayed relatively close to the barn, I was still feeding him once a day,  really just to check that he was OK, but otherwise he was totally on his own.

I asked my neighbor if she would come and check on him while I was away, but  I couldn't help worrying about him the entire weekend I was gone. I had a bad feeling about leaving him, it was almost as if I knew something was about to happen.

I couldn't wait to get home after the trip, and immediately went out to the barn to check on Oscar.    My friend said that when she had called at the barn to check on him the first day after I left he had come out, but hissed aggressively at her, and then ran back into the woods, she went back for the next 2 days but didn't see him again.

When I arrived home after the weekend, I searched the woods, every day for a week, but I never saw Oscar again.  We moved a month later...

blog delay!

Back next week...

 Moving house this weekend... Finally

Have a great weekend everyone

:o)

Oscar

Feeding the baby raccoon turned into a full time occupation, for the first 2 weeks I was feeding every 4 hours, day and night.  Each time I went back to the tack room I expected to find him lifeless in his tiny shoe box bed, instead I found him sleeping soundly between the two hot water bottles, he was obviously a fighter.

At the start of the 3rd week I stopped the night feeds. I had decided to name him Oscar, he was crawling now, and making squealing sounds each time he heard me enter the room. At feeding time he would grab the feeding bottle with gusto, always demonstrating his healthy appetite. I was increasing his feed gradually, following the instructions from the Internet, but it never seemed to be enough, and when he had finished the bottle he would start squealing again. His coat was slowly starting to grow in and he already had the start of a lovely furry tail.

I decided to make him a cage, somewhere he would be safe, he was crawling everywhere now, and his eyes were open so he was curious and wanted to explore, I was frightened that he might escape and other wild animals would harm him.  I also needed to make sure Danni's Border Terrier didn't find him.

I used the transport cage that we used to bring our English Pointer from England to the USA, it was easily large enough, and sturdy so other animals couldn't break into it, or Oscar break out.  It had a metal caged front, perfect as Oscar's new home.  I made a little wooden box with a hole in the front, and attached it to the top of a short thick branch that I placed in the cage, this gave Oscar something to climb on and reach his nest box at the top, I filled the box with soft hay, and the base of the cage, just incase he fell out the box, his climbing skills were still far from perfect.

At 6 weeks old Oscar's round little face was starting to look more raccoon like by becoming a little more pointy. He was also becoming more and more playful, and would squeal loudly each time I entered the barn.  I was becoming more and more attached to this little guy.  

Raccoon Rescue (attempt)

Six years ago, I owned a small horse farm in Ohio, we only had 5.5 acres, but it was beautiful land that was totally private, and surrounded by woodland.
One Spring day I was out in my yard gardening with my son Edi and his friend Steve.  It was an unusually hot day for the time of year (March), almost 90 degrees,  when Steve called me, he had spotted a baby raccoon in the grass.  The poor little thing couldn't have been more than 24 hours old, it still had part of the placenta stuck to it.  It was very dehydrated, and struggling to breathe.  Obviously it was going to die if we left it there under the blazing hot sun, so I carefully picked it up, placed it gently in a shoebox filled with hay, and put it in my air conditioned tack room in the barn.
I immediately called the raccoon rescue, only to be told that they were full, and that I should put it back where I found it, I was not allowed to touch it as it may have rabies. "Horse shit" I thought, there was no way I was putting the poor little thing back to roast and die in the heat.
My next idea was to drive to the local veterinary office, I thought that they would probably know what I should do . Danni came with me, and the two of us drove around for about an hour.  We went from office to office, but we had no luck, no one could help, or even offer advice, they were apparently not allowed (by law) to do so.  Everyone told me I had to put it back where I found it.  I knew if I did, that it would die for sure within an hour in the intense heat, if it hadn't died already.  So we returned home, and much to our surprise the little raccoon was still alive, and sleeping soundly in his little hay bed in the shoe box.

I had absolutely no idea what to do, but I thought it kinder to let the poor little creature die in peace, quietly, than roast or be torn apart by other wild animals out in the yard.  So I got on the Internet and researched raccoon rescue.  What I learnt was that baby raccoons almost always die in captivity.  But I also learnt what to do, and how to do it, in this hopeless situation.  I needed a kitten milk formula, and a tiny, tiny feeding bottle. So the next trip was to my local Pet Smart store to buy the necessary equipment.

My husband told me that the raccoon would probably die, but if it didn't I would have a baby to take care of that would take up a great deal of my time, and was that what I was prepared to do?  I honestly didn't feel as though I had any choice, and I was almost certain, having read about them on the Internet that the baby would die in a day or so anyway, my main goal was to limit it's suffering.

So I carefully made up the first feed, and with no expectations attempted to feed the little creature.  I wrapped it in a clean hand towel, and put the teat close to it's mouth, at first it squirmed and moved its head away, so I carefully squeezed some of the kitten milk out of the teat and dropped it onto the raccoons mouth, it almost instantly grabbed the teat and started feeding.
When all the feed was gone I put the baby back in the shoe box. I then filled 2 small water bottles with warm water, put each one into a sock,  then placed them either side of the little raccoon.  The hot water bottles would help the blind baby think it was laying with it's brothers and sisters, and it worked because within a couple of minutes the little baby was sleeping soundly again.
At this point in time I had absolutely no idea what I had let myself in for...

More to follow...

Cultural Differences

Funny thing, people that is, since living in the US I've noticed many cultural differences between the Americans and the British, but mostly the in the language, we both speak English,  sometimes it's hard to believe its the same language.  

When I first moved to America from England, I lived in Tennessee, now there's one huge cultural difference for you, you have your "good ole boys" running around in their trucks with the dog in the back and the rifle on the front seat, I couldn't understand a word they said, it may as well have been Chinese.  

I couldn't believe you could walk into a supermarket and buy a gun.  The first time I was shopping with my Mum (yes I said Mum, not Mom) in Tennessee, we were pushing our carts (trolley's in English) down the isles, when we came to the gun section right next to the soft toys!!! I remember us looking wide eyed in horror at each other and saying "OMG, where have we moved, what kind of place is this?"

As it turned out Tennessee was the most friendly place on the planet, the people were so warm and genuine, no one locks their cars, or their houses, the crime rate in the town we lived in was practically zero, well actually there was some crime, but it was 99% driving offences.  This was the other shocking thing for us as new Brits in America, children are allowed to drive at 15, this blew my mind, particularly when I had to take the driving test, which consisted of simply driving around the block, driving licenses are handed out willy nilly.  I don't think I ever drove anywhere without seeing an accident, it was truly scary.

To get a drivers license in England is not easy, you have to be 18, you have to know your highway code inside out and back to front, and you have to complete a difficult driving test that lasts about an hour, demonstrating your ability to safely control a vehicle, before you are given a license and allowed to drive alone, many people have to take the test several times before they pass and are issued a licence.

We were also baffled by the drinking rule, you have to be 21 before you can have a beer, and yet you can join the armed forces, fight in wars, and fire a gun at 16.  This makes no sense to me at all.  We found there were far more drink related problems in American than there are in Europe, and I think it's because of the stigma attached to drinking, it's such a big thing to kids here,  they all drink in secret, then get blind drunk, too drunk to walk so they would drive home!!!  

In Europe, because alcohol is allowed at 18, its no big deal, there is no need to sneak around, and smuggle beer, and kids in general seem much more responsible with it.

Another mind blowing experience for us Brits was the discovery of "moonshine" a very big thing in the back hills and mountain forests of Tennessee.  One has to be very careful driving through those places, at times I thought I had stumbled onto the set of "The Dukes of Hazard", OH boy, will that stuff ever make your hair curl, "rocket fuel" is the description my husband gave it.  We had the opportunity to try it once, but never again, I love my liver too much.

One of the other major differences between the Brits and the Americans I've noticed over the years is that, Americans never say goodbye, why is that?  I'm constantly trying to extract a farewell greeting from people here, but without any success. Maybe this is just something I should simply not say anymore!

In England we're big on saying goodbye, and we have many, strange and different ways of saying it. For example:  cheerio, Te rah, Tatah, toodooloo,  ciao (Italian I know but we still use it) byeeeeee, good-day, see ya, to name just a few, but here in America its just not used, the closest I have come to finding Americans who will say goodbye, was in Tennessee where, without exception they all say on parting "ya'all come back ya hear."

Which is best?

So, while I'm here idling away the time waiting to move, I've been entertaining myself through my blog, posting different topics to see which gets the most readers.

The results are:

The most hits ever on one of my post's was back in January this year  "men in thongs, no, no, no",  which tells me that most of my readers seem to enjoy my wicked sense of humor.

Then on a totally different, and very serious subject,  all the posts following the investigation of the murder of poor Don North. A horrible tragedy that I followed closely with my blog, not only because I was very interested in the outcome, but because I was there at the time, and what happened affected all the boaters in that area, especially those that knew Don.

My third most popular posts are the ones that include my recipe's, which is really good to know, as I plan on publishing my book "NO FIXED ADDRESS" later this year and it contains many of my favorite recipe's.

My posts on the horses have had mixed responses, some posts attracted hundreds of readers, and others only a few, I can't quite work out yet why some are more popular than others.

Anyway it's probably obvious to anyone reading this right now that I am a little strapped for good material to write about, so for the next few weeks, or until I return to Daisy again, I will probably stick to my recipe's.

Thank you all so much for supporting my blog :o)

Always on the move!

Travis

The most reliably, honest, sweetest little horse ever.  A Thoroughbred, off the track, who raced only once in his life and won.  Travis has a huge heart, he takes care of his rider, and always gives everything he has in competition. We have had the honor of owning this special horse for 11 years, and will probably own him for the rest of his life.

Danni has tried to sell him a couple of times, because she really doesn't have the time to give him that he deserves now she's in college.

He has been leased twice in the last 2 years, and both times it turned out to be a bit of a disaster.  Leasing we have discovered is a major no, no.   It really didn't help that the people we initially thought were so nice, turned out out to be not nice at all.

As it is we're all really happy that these people didn't end up buying Travis, in fact Bob has since said that he wouldn't sell him to them now for any amount of money.

This special little horse is part of our family, and if we were ever to sell him, it would have to be to a very special home, with genuinely nice, honest, people.

I think we will have him for life...