BS: Wallaby Sun dancing

Subject: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Joybell
Date: 23 Dec 11 - 07:04 PM

I have to share this image.
Lilly-of-the-West, Lilly for short, is a little Wallaby we've been raising. Her mother was killed on the road when she was tiny and still pouch-bound. Now she's about up to my knees.

A few days back I watched from behind as she stood in the middle of the kitchen in a patch of sunlight. Slowly and carefully, like a dancer, she was catching dust motes in alternate paws and stuffing them thoughtfully in her mouth.
Life with a Wallaby is such a delight.
Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 Dec 11 - 07:57 PM

Oh, how lovely and precious! Thanks for sharing. Would love to see a picture.

Lucky Lilly!

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: JennieG
Date: 23 Dec 11 - 08:23 PM

How gorgeous, Joy....what a lovely picture that conjures up!

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Little Hawk
Date: 23 Dec 11 - 11:56 PM

THAT'S what I want! My very own Wallaby.

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Janie
Date: 24 Dec 11 - 12:39 AM

What a lovely image Joybell - a gift from Lily, to you, and through your willingness to share, all of us who open this thread.

(btw, Max or clones, I've tried 3 times already to get a post to "take" to this thread. Have retyped it every time. Now have refreshed the page from my browser, not Mudcat. Is 4th time the charm?)

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Janie
Date: 24 Dec 11 - 12:40 AM

Yes!

Happy Holidays!

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Joybell
Date: 24 Dec 11 - 12:45 AM

Mind pictures are all we got, sadly. We were too afraid to move. The camera is at the ready now for the next cute moment.
Little Hawk come over and become a Wallaby minder. Plenty to go around. It's a big commitment even caring for one. My friend has 20 baby Kangaroos and Wallabies, along with other animals. I can't even begin to imagine.
Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 24 Dec 11 - 09:13 AM

Joy asked me to post this link to the Wildwood Wildlife Shelter site.

Joy helps them by caring for injured animals - if I could find the card she sent me last year you could see a pic of the magpie she was looking after or rather it was looking after her!

sandra

wikipedia on Australian Magpie

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Joybell
Date: 24 Dec 11 - 07:34 PM

Thank you Sandra. We have one last Magpie in care from this season. Due to be released soon.
She was a tiny nestling blown from her nest. She's called Scruffy. Named by the little boy who found her on the path on his way home from school. He carefully placed her in his school bag and carried her home. His mother said it was best to pass him on to a Wildlife carer because there was no one to care for her during the day. The little boy visited her daily, for a week, to make sure she was alright. Then Scruffy came to us and he and his mother came out here to see her new home. I showed them around and they went home happy that Scruffy was safe well.
Isn't that a lovely story.
Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 24 Dec 11 - 09:37 PM

Aaaw!

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: katlaughing
Date: 24 Dec 11 - 11:09 PM

I spent over an hour on that site reading all of the stories and looking at the photos. Thanks for posting the link. It is wonderful to know there are such caring folks to help the critters. Most times I love critters more than I do folks (Mudcatters excepted).:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: ranger1
Date: 24 Dec 11 - 11:16 PM

Me, too, Kat. I've always been fascinated by Australian fauna.

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Joybell
Date: 25 Dec 11 - 02:08 AM

It is a great site, Kat isn't it. Pam will be so pleased you've been visiting.
Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 25 Dec 11 - 08:35 AM

what lovely animals!

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Joybell
Date: 30 Dec 11 - 07:48 PM

Just got up to find Lilly on the kitchen bench. Can't imagine how she jumped her solid 3.5 kgm self that high. She was trying to find out how to open an egg. Just as well she isn't an "Agile Wallaby"
:-)
Scruffy is free and playing with her wild friends. She has that funny habit that young Magpies sometimes have -- of begging loudly at her food before grabbing it in her beak. It happens between begging at Mother and feeding themselves.
Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 30 Dec 11 - 09:24 PM

I love you and your wallaby!

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 30 Dec 11 - 09:39 PM

Wallaby sitting out a flood on a hay bale

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: JennieG
Date: 30 Dec 11 - 10:24 PM

A member of my online quilting group has sent me next year's calendar for this organisation.....wombats, lots of wombats! She also sent a copy of this year's calendar which, because she bought the last 2012 calendar, the lady gave her for free.

Wombats!!

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 31 Dec 11 - 11:46 AM

so cute! love that tiny slightly hairy wombat - it is almost new born?

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: JennieG
Date: 31 Dec 11 - 05:39 PM

Not very old, certainly. Several years ago at Birdland animal park in Batemans Bay (NSW south coast) I was lucky enough to meet George, a baby wombat being hand-raised after his mum was killed on the road. He was ugly/cute, nearly hairless with big ears. I have the pics to prove it.

Wombat doesn't mean waste of money, brains and time, you know.....despite what some people say.

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Gurney
Date: 31 Dec 11 - 11:18 PM

LH, what you want is a wallaby. If you spell it with a capital, it's a large rugby footballer. ;-)


Oh, er....

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 01 Jan 12 - 08:49 PM

Google images of baby wombats

9 baby wombats + 1 possum (so its not the 10 cutest baby wombats!)

swimming baby wombat

Measuring a baby Southern hairy nosed wombat (sooooo tiny)

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: ranger1
Date: 01 Jan 12 - 09:15 PM

Quolls are the animals that really fascinate me. Those and whatever those cute little marsupial mousie critters are called. And wombats are adorable. Some day I will make it to Australia!

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: JennieG
Date: 01 Jan 12 - 10:26 PM

Tami, on our recent holiday Himself and I visited a wildlife park, the quolls were fed while we were there......I'm sure they could be quite vicious if they tried! They are attractive animals, their coat is a lovely reddish-brown with large white spots. The little mousie critters are called Antechinus.

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: ranger1
Date: 02 Jan 12 - 10:46 AM

Jennie, thanks for the link and the reminder of the name. Sandra sent me a beautiful book with lots of photos one year and I treasure it. However, it was currently under a pile of other books on the coffee table and I didn't dare disturb the strata (don't ask!) to find it.

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 02 Jan 12 - 08:54 PM

nothing wrong with piles of stuff!

I still need to find stuff that is under other stuff (I hope)

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Jan 12 - 05:26 PM

There are a lot of people in australia called WOMBATS ( EATS ROOTS AND LEAVES)

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Joybell
Date: 06 Jan 12 - 06:57 PM

Ah yes! But that joke doesn't work in American.

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: ranger1
Date: 06 Jan 12 - 07:01 PM

No, it doesn't, and this American is very confused.

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: JennieG
Date: 07 Jan 12 - 12:26 AM

Um....Tami, in Oz 'root' is a euphemism for the act of sexual congress. Apparently Shakespeare used the word (in "Merry Wives of Windsor") to mean the male member, and Ozzies have taken the meaning a step further.

This is why an Ozzie who hears Americans talking about "rooting for their home team" may start to giggle.

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 07 Jan 12 - 01:15 AM

& why we support the home team using other words words

we barrack for our teams!

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: ranger1
Date: 07 Jan 12 - 08:51 PM

Aha! Gotcha. Won't be able to sing "Take me out to the ball park" any more with out giggling. Oh, wait, I never did like that song anyway. Now I can giggle while others sing it, lol.

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: JennieG
Date: 07 Jan 12 - 09:52 PM

As do we.......

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Janie
Date: 08 Jan 12 - 12:17 AM

Going back to the links, your Oz possums are cuter than our North American possums.

They may not be cute but are pretty remarkable creatures.

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 08 Jan 12 - 12:56 AM

For Janie -

Google search on sugar glider possums (such cute little things, awwww)

Google search on possums australia

google search on possums north america - not as cute as ours!

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: My guru always said
Date: 08 Jan 12 - 05:08 AM

You've given more joy with your Lilly story, Joy. Thanks! Had a browse through the website too, good work! Love the Scruffy story too...

So, that's a Wombat!

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: ranger1
Date: 08 Jan 12 - 12:35 PM

North American possums may look like really big rats, but they do have the most teeth of any North American mammal. Forty-four, in case anyone was interested. There was a family of them living under our apartment building and my landlord caught several of the young ones in a Hav-a-Hart trap. I had to explain to the landlady that no, they weren't some strange species of weasel, just baby possums. They were released back under the house because they weren't the woodchucks that the landlord was trying to catch.

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Janie
Date: 08 Jan 12 - 02:09 PM

Had a client years ago who had his finger mangled by a possum. Had to be amputated. Stuck his hand down in a hole in the ground before considering it might be inhabited.


Almost as long ago, was sitting with a neighbor on my front porch when her 5 year old daughter wandered up onto the porch saying, "Look at the puppy I found." She was cuddling a baby possum up under her chin. It was playing possum.

Those Aussie possums really are just as cute appearing as can be. How many species of possum ya'll got?

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Joybell
Date: 08 Jan 12 - 03:57 PM

Janie -- there are quite a few. They're all cute. Some can fit in your hand -- Pygmy Possums. Have to look into it but the main ones encountered by city folk are Ringtails and Brushy-tails. We raised an orphan Brushy-tail and have released several Ringtails at our place. Our Possum was named Meliodora -- Dora for short. The tree Eucalyptus meliodora has the common name of "yellow box". True-love found Dora in a yellow box of papers. He accidently frightened her mother while taking the box off a high shelf. Dora's mother didn't return for her. Usually they do. Dora should have been in her mother's pouch but was almost at the back-riding stage. For years Dora brought her own babies to us as she begged for apple. Most of our "children" eventually become wild.
Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 08 Jan 12 - 07:22 PM

70 small to medium-sized species native to Australia, New Guinea & Sulawesi

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Janie
Date: 08 Jan 12 - 10:35 PM

Wow!


If I ever win the "trip to anywhere" drawing during my local public radio station fund drive, I'm definitely headed to Oz. I expect a week in Australia is rather like a week in the USA and there is much and varied territory we would not be able to see in such short time - not enough time at all to get any real sense of the whole continent. But hey, I'd take what I could get.

(As far as a real sense of the whole continent, I haven't seen most of my own continent!)

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 09 Jan 12 - 03:13 AM

Tourists come to Australia thinking they can see places like Sydney, Uluru national park, Great barrier Reef, Kakadu National Park, the outback etc. in their annual holiday

Check out Google maps for distances from Sydney! It would take around 32 hours to drive the 2800km non-stop to Uluru, it's around 2000 km to Townsville in the middle of the Barrier Reef & about 4000km to Kakadu.

Even flying it would be a very exhausting & expensive week.

Maybe you can give up on winning the annual draw & reply to one of those emails from generous billionaires with money to share!

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: JennieG
Date: 09 Jan 12 - 05:04 AM

Several years ago Himself was amused by a bloke at his work.....Ali and his family were fairly newly arrived in Oz from Iran, and when asked what his plans were for the mandatory 3-week Christmas/New Year shutdown he said "to drive around Australia". I believe they made it from Sydney to Cairns, 2,500 kms, and back, another 2,500 kms, and decided that was enough!

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Joybell
Date: 09 Jan 12 - 03:20 PM

Janie it would be a hard decision about where to visit here. There's always a bed here in Western Victoria though. Sandra is right. You'd have to decide which chunk of Australia you wanted to see. It's easier in America. We've driven out from LA three times and been through so many different types of country in 6 weeks. We dislike flying and anyway we like to see the ground-level things -- and visit friends. In Australia it's a long way between different areas.
Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: GUEST,Psychomorris
Date: 10 Jan 12 - 05:50 AM

Amazing this thread has been going for a while yet no mention of wallaby stew. Isn't keeping a wallaby a bit like keeping a turkey for thanks giving? Plenty of recipes available. Love Oz for its wildlife. Tasty Ha Ha

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 11 Jan 12 - 01:25 AM

Wouldn't want this wallaby stew, tho I've had this one at my folk Club

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Jan 12 - 05:18 AM

Are not all stews, either a preferred or aquired taste? Very individualised. With some you just take to it or leave it. I leave the reader as to the decision on this one. One thing that I noticed on my trip down under, was how little road kill I saw. Sure the locals grabbed it first. Ha Ha. Saw possums every night in the rural areas. kangaroos in the garden every day near MT Buller. Lots of koala signs. Still not convinced that outside of parks and zoos they exist.Not until you are there though, that you really understand the concept of distance.You also realise how crowded England is.

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: JennieG
Date: 11 Jan 12 - 05:31 AM

Koalas do exist outside parks and zoos. Late last year Himself and I holidayed at Port Macquarie (NSW mid north coast) where koalas are quite active - relatively speaking, because they don't do much at all! The camp ground where we stayed had several resident koalas, definitely not tame. A large tree just near our caravan was a favoured spot; late in the afternoon a koala would appear to take up residence for the night. We also heard them growling at night - males warning other males to keep away, and also telling the girls "I'm much more fantastic that he is, come and mate with me".

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Joybell
Date: 12 Jan 12 - 06:01 PM

My bush band was called Wallaby Stew -- back in the 1970s. Before we were given our Wallabies a friend suggested calling one "Stew". We didn't know whether we were getting males or females at first. We agreed to take the next two that needed us. As it turned out we got two little girls. I often name my wild children after songs so they became, "Lucy Long" and Lilly-of-the-West. Sadly Lucy didn't make it in spite of all our care. No matter how many wild critters we care for we still mourn the ones that die. And for ever it seems.
Joy

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: JennieG
Date: 12 Jan 12 - 11:34 PM

We have seen a wallaby on the hill just above our place - last time was at Christmas. We don't see it for a while,then it appears again just to let us know it's still there.

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: Wallaby Sun dancing
From: Joybell
Date: 13 Jan 12 - 06:00 PM

They're much more secretive than Kangaroos, aren't they Jennie. They frequent bushland rather than open grasslands. Their personalities are different from Kangaroos too. We've learned a lot from Lilly. Sad we won't be raising any more joeys. It's too demanding for us now that we are getting older. We'll continue to take in birds and reptiles, bats, small mammals and such.
Cheers, Joy