Some short tales

COCK FIGHT AT DAWN
See this rooster?

He's my nemesis. Every morning as I walk to the food prep area, I stop at the enclosure that holds many birds, including 2 big beautiful macaws that I feed peanuts to. But while I'm focused on them, this rooster sneaks up behind me and attacks me. I scream at it, charge it, and wave my arms wildly--but it continues to attack. I have a fairly good sized wound on my leg where it caught me from behind one day.

One day I saw Marieta at the same time and yelled to her, "This rooster is trying to kill me!" She said, "RUN!" So I did--and bloody thing chased me halfway home. I could hear Marieta's laugh all the way. With all the dangerous animals here, it would be a shame if I was most wounded by a rooster. Pathetic

INTERSPECIES FRIENDSHIP

In the morning, I open the little kitchen where I prepare my bottles for various babies, and greet Willem, a baby duiker that was orphaned. He's sleeping under a table on a blanket--so cute. Soon after, a 6-8 month old puppy, Alaska, enters and goes immediately to Willem, curls up next to him and starts to lick him. She's a natural mother (she also grooms the puppy I showed in an earlier post). The two of them often go nose to nose, and sometimes wander the garden area together while I work. I keep an eye on them through the window, and  Alaska is like a nanny--following Willem everywhere and making sure he doesn't get hurt. It's adorable.

MY NEIGHBORS

Outside my front door you can find a variety of animals. Five cheetahs live across the road, but you might see baboons, goats, mongooses, cats, dogs wandering around. One pair that is almost always about are ostriches--a male and a female. I give them wide berth because I remember that they can only kick in one direction--a powerful kick--but I can't remember if it's forward or backward. They get fairly close, though, and sometimes I have to wave my arms and shoo them away.

Did you know that the females are brown because they sit on the nest during the day, so they blend in with the dirt. And the males are black because they sit on the nest at night. Fascinating. This one today, a male, looks like he was smiling at me, but I doubt his intentions were friendly.

FINALLY, AN UPDATE

Here is the picture I didn't have before of the baboon Ollie grooming me on our baboon walk.

Unfortunately, I have bad news about Ollie. First let me tell you about her. She loves grabbing the sides of your face and staring into your eyes. We think she's looking at her reflection in them because she does the same thing with sunglasses. Then she makes funny faces, especially wagging her tongue back and forth as if to amuse herself. She's special.

She's been sick a lot. They figured out she had liver disease and was occasionally taken to Windhoek to be treated. This past week the vet said that he thinks she has cancer. She's having surgery later this week to verify, and then Marieta will have to make a hard decision about her.

Beginnings and endings--they are ever present here at Harnas.