Instalment 30 Friday 6 May 2011

I spent the day organising hospital things and once that all got done, I was able to concentrate on regular things. Filling in the hospital forms proved to be a very time consuming exercise and I was glad when I finally could do no more for today, at least.

The possums are all well, but Tamigotchi acted finicky towards his food today. He does this every now and then and I haven't really worked out why, yet. I'm not sure if it is the syringe, or the teat, or the taste of the milk, or if he doesn't feel himself. Well, people have off days, don't they? So, why can't possums?

I just have to persist with him. I manage to get him to eat all his food most of the time. There's been a couple of times where I have thought he'd finished and I cuddled and put him to bed and then, when I've gone to clean up everything, discovered that he'd left a half a ml or more. He can be a tricky little munchkin.

Saori continues to be herself. She has this cute routine. As soon as I remove the rubber band from her pouch she scampers out into my hands and then she climbs all around the outside of the pouch, biting and clamping down. She knows the routine and I let her do her stuff for a little while and then it is time to go to the toilet. She always goes to the toilet for me. She's a good little poppet. Once that is done, I wrap a towel around her and settle her into position and from then on, she loves to suckle until all the milk is gone.

She is the most beautiful baby. My heart just fills with love with these two babies.

Once Saori finishes her formula, I try to mop up under her chin and then she scampers up under my chin and burrows down under my shirt where she sits and preens herself and then snuggles in for a nap. She loves snuggling into my chest under my shirt where she feels very safe.

After Tamigotchi finishes feeding, I wrap both my hands around him securely and lift him up near my face and I pat the top of his head with either my finger or my cheek. He loves this and it sends him to sleep straight away. He feels secure snuggled up like this.

Instalment 26 Monday 2 May 2011

I told Ian my plan for the trees and where I'd like to plant them and he kindly got busy fencing the area off from the horses. He did a really great job and now we have a great place to plant the trees. It really will be like a possum playground when we are finished.

While Ian fenced, I began using the hoe to dig up holes for the trees. The ground is lovely and soft from all the rain we've been having. It made digging the holes much easier. I managed to dig four out of the six holes by the time Ian finished fencing. Our neighbour Frank brought us over some worm fertiliser to put in the bottom of the trees holes. Frank manufactures worm tea, using Jossy's horse poo. Frank always brings us some of the finished product and it is amazing stuff. The plants love it and are all doing really well since we've begun using it.

Ian came and gave me a hand digging the last two holes, and then he dug one more for my new replacement frangipani tree. The builders destroyed my last frangipani tree when we were renovating. They leant an old fence against our back fence and it fell over and squished my old frangipani tree to the ground.

While Ian dug holes, I began to plant out the trees. The heaviest part of the whole process was breaking down the clods of clay and dirt so that it could be added to soil additive to make a nice mix for the trees.

Finally all the trees were planted and already they looked great. When the trees mature, it will be an awesome food source for the possums.

I weighed Tamigotchi and he now weighs just under 100 grams, so the new technique is working. He still doesn't seem to be enjoying his dinner, but he does get through it all. I tried introducing him to some leaves and he loved nibbling on them.

During the day, I mustn't have banded Saori's pouch well enough and she managed to squeeze her way out of the bag and then she sat herself in the basket, inside the cupboard. She didn't try to escape or go anywhere and she was very happy to see me when it was time for dinner.

Instalment 25 Sunday 1 May 2011

Last night we attended a friend's 40th surprise birthday party and because I knew we would be there for a number of hours, I had to take the possums. I fed them before we arrived and I left them in the car till I had to feed them about 9:30pm.

The party was great and when it was time to go and feed the babies, I invited one of my friends and a little girl, Kristen, who is 12 years old to join me. I taught Kristen back when she was in Prep and now she is very interested in wild life, so she was very excited. Her mum thinks she might become a vet in the future.

It was lovely to watch my friends' faces light up when they saw the babies. After I fed Saori, I let Kristen hold her. Saori cuddled up in her pouch and went straight to sleep. Kristen enjoyed holding Saori, while I fed Tamigotchi, who was very slow to eat. I had to persist with him. I then let Joy have a hold of him, after he finally finished eating.

Some young children at the party heard about what I was doing and snuck over to the car to watch. Ian was with us as well, so he was able to help keep things quiet so that the babies didn't stress.

I settled the babies back down after my friends had their cuddles and we all returned to the party. I have to be creative when I am out with the possums and they need feeding.

Today was relatively quiet. Towards the end of the day, I gathered up the list of trees that Gillian had compiled for me and I drove to Bunnings to see if they had some for sale.

I ended up buying six new trees, including: about three varieties of myrtles, a grevillea and two callistemons. So I know what I will be doing tomorrow. I kind of got very excited buying the trees because in my head I've been designing an area in our yard to make like a possum playground. I want to encourage them down the middle to back part of our garden because we live on a very busy road.

Instalment 24 Saturday 30 April 2011

Well it seems our new technique is working. Saori has jumped to 65 grams and is happy enough to lay back and suck on her new teat.

That's one positive.

Tamigotchi on the other hand, has gradually lost his fur from his chin and along his tummy. What is left is his bare young skin! I'm a little devo at this, especially finding little bits of his fur in his pouch. He really has had a reaction to the formula. Saori seems to have missed out on this, as well as the urinary infection that Tamigotchi got. Maybe Tamigotchi is a little more sensitive?

Along with this, Tamigotchi is not all that interested in his food. I ended up getting him to drink it, but he is definitely reluctant. Wow, looking after possums certainly has its ups and downs. It's all worth it, but just when you think things are going along well, a change comes along. I guess too, it depends on their little personalities. I hope Tamigotchi is going to be okay. I worry about him sometimes.

I will just continue to be in charge and even if I have to force him to eat, that will be better than him fading away to a shadow. I've just got to keep doing what I am doing and we'll get through this.

Instalment 23 Friday 29 April 2011

It was another early start for me today. I awoke at 4:30am to feed my babies and then I had to drive Ian to work. He'd gone out after work the night before to have a dinner with a couple of mates and the designated driver drove him home, while his motorbike stayed safely tucked away at work. I thought I might have a rest when I got home, but decided to keep on keeping on once I got home.

Since my visit to Gillian's yesterday, I tried to adapt to a new feeding technique which was slow going but I knew with practice I would get better. Well, I hoped I'd get better. I found feeding Saori very hard going with the drip by drip process, so I tried a new teat and I made a very small hold in the end with a safety pin. This seemed to work and by the end of today, Saori's weight had gone from 57 grams to 63 grams. It seemed things were now starting to work.

Instalment 19 Monday 25 April 2011

Kimmy and I both wanted to get up and go to a dawn service and we'd decided that we would, but because Sunday ended up being such a big day, and what with me having to keep getting up to feed the possums through the night, I made an executive decision not to do it this year. Kimmy was also feeling the bite, and so we made a pact to do it next year.

I was up at 4:30am anyway...with baby possums, up to my ears in syringes and milky products. I watched the dawn service in the comfort of my telly room and cheered the diggers on.

I send a prayer to all diggers and their families...may God bless them and keep them and I give thanks to them for the undeniable freedom that I enjoy. Amen.

Anzac Day is such a special, reflective time for all Australians and New Zealanders everywhere. It's only a few short years to the centenary celebration - 100 years already! Wow...time goes so quickly.

Both possums are going well. I did a quick update with Gillian to keep her in the loop. Tamigotchi finishes his medicine tomorrow, so I am hoping we get a positive reaction when he comes off everything.

Aww...just how cute can a possum get? So beautiful.

Instalment 16 Friday 22 April 2011

I've had Tamigotchi for three weeks and Saori for one week now. It feels like longer, but in a positive way. They both continue to get used to me and their new situation. Tamigotchi did not have any more incidences or toileting issues and they both continue to eat well.

I'm sure Saori is growing a teeny bit bigger.

Instalment 15 Thursday 21 April 2011

After Tamigotchi received his antibiotic injection and we started him on a course of Nilstat, things looked brighter this morning. He is doing well and there is no sour odour in his fur and he came out of his pouch all warm and dry.

During the day, Tamigotchi continued to do well at feeding time, but at the first of the evening feeds, I noticed he was quite wet again. This was a little disappointing. I dried him off and again, I managed to get him to go to the toilet.

I guess these things take time. Tamigotchi fed well during the night and there were no other incidents of wetness.

Saori continues to be happy and well adjusted. She is a dream to take care of. I have separated them and I keep all feeding implements completely separate and sterilised. I have to be careful not to accidentally infect Saori with any germs.

Instalment 13 Tuesday 19 April 2011

It's the school holidays for me and so I try to dedicate some of this time to catch up with friends that I might not normally have much to do with during a school term. Sometimes too, I like to catch up with friends who I teach with because, with the busyness of the term, I  don't always get many opportunities to catch up socially. Holidays are the perfect time to do this. And so today, I was due to meet up with some of my mates from school - fellow teachers.

When I woke up this morning I didn't feel too sporty and I was due to meet everyone at 9:30am. I found it very hard to get myself going. I was extremely tired and I think the late nights and four-hourly feeding sessions through the night were beginning to take their toll on me.

After I fed the babies, I took a shower and that helped a little. I really wanted to make an effort to catch up with everyone, so even though I missed meeting everyone at school for the carpool, I managed to get to Flute about a half hour late; but I made it.

It was great seeing everyone. Because the word was out about the babies, the topic of conversation featured a lot of questions about them and how it was all going. I only stayed for about 45 minutes because I really was very tired and the time was getting close to the babies next feed.

Even though it was a short visit, it was great.

Tamigotchi seemed to be a little wet along his tummy and legs when I went to feed him in the afternoon. He usually is very fluffy and warm, but this afternoon, he was really quite wet. He had obviously pee-ed himself.

I try to toilet both possums after each feed, however, they won't always oblige me. Maybe this was a time when I'd missed and he really had to go. I changed his pouch after feeding and drying him off. Accidents happen.

It is strange but in the time that I've been looking after these two gorgeous possums I've never actually seen them do a number two! I've since been told by my mentor that sometimes the possums will 'take care of that department'. So, I guess that's what they are doing.

Saori is still such a little darling. She has decided that she likes to stand up and hold my hands to eat. She doesn't want to be wrapped up in a blankie anymore! She reckons she's a big girl now. She is still the tiniest little poppet. She has also discovered a great hidey-hole at the top of my shirts and tops. She gallops up my front once she has eaten and next thing I know she's buried herself down my front. She finds a comfy position and settles down quickly and begins to preen herself. She is so funny to watch. She also loves me showering her with kisses.

She now officially has a favourite place to curl up in. I have to wait until she falls asleep so I can gently lift her out of there and place her in her little sleeping pouch. Saori, we've discovered loves the feel of skin, rather than the material of the pouches.

Instalment 12 Monday 18 April 2011

Again another regular day. Today it is raining and really quite a good day to be curled up in bed with a good book, or in my case, a couple of possums.

Both possums continue to do well. They are fine in the larger pouch together, however, they don't seem to do too much cuddling up with each other. I think there is a healthy respect there in the bag.

I feel like a pig in mud taking care of these babies.

My friend Linda and I were due to meet up today for coffee at Hawkins, but because of the rain we decided to have a catch up at my house. Linda got a chance to see the babies feeding. She too got 'sucked in' by their gorgeous little personalities.

Instalment 11 Sunday 17 April 2011

Both possums doing well and we seem to be settling into a pretty good routine. Nothing much out of the ordinary to report today.

Saori continues to win our hearts and is proving to be a very inquisitive young lady. I call her my little princess. She is such a pet. Oh, boy...does she love her cuddles. She is getting to know me very well and I am happy with the way she has adopted us as her family as well.

Instalment 9 Friday 15 April 2011

Yesterday I received a call from Gillian. She told me she had a new baby girl possum as a mate for Tamigotchi, who was an orphan and had been found at Cleveland. The vets phoned Gillian and she went and collected her, looked her over and rang me.

So this afternoon I went and collected her from Gillian. Ian got busy thinking up names and came up with Saori. Sounds so weird. Here we are raising Australian native wildlife and all the little Aussie possums we are raising have Japanese names. Go figure. Oh well, no harm done.

I weighed Tamigotchi before I went over to Gillian's and he weighed in at 74 grams, so he is putting on weight. As of yesterday, Thursday, I've had Tamigotchi for one week (7 days) and he was 59 grams. Now after a week, he has grown to 74 grams. I think that is a pretty good gain. I took Tamigotchi along for the ride so Gillian could take another look at him just to make sure he was doing well.

Little Saori is just a delight. She is very tiny but not a pinky. She looks a little smaller than what Tamigotchi was when I found him. Saori likes to cuddle in and she is very delicate and extremely cute.

We tried to put them together but decided, in the end that they might just need a little more time to get used to one another.

When I got them both home, I settled Tamigotchi down and then I spent time cuddling and getting to know Saori. She is an absolute delight and already I can see a huge difference in their personalities.

Saori settled in very quickly, though she didn't seem too interested in eating very much. She is a very social creature as opposed to Tamigotchi, who is really very shy.

Instalment 8 Thursday 14 April 2011

Tamigotchi is thriving and continues to eat well. I don't really have too much to report today, except that I found Tamigotchi seven days ago, so he has been with us one whole week now.

I continue to love him and enjoy the quiet times where we just get to sit and cuddle. He is a beautiful little boy.

Instalment 7 Wednesday 13 April 2011

Tamigotchi has an appetite. He loves his food. He eats regularly every four hours. This can be quite tricky for me if I have to go out somewhere. I find myself trying to fit things in that need doing around four hourly increments of time. This is fine when I'm hanging around the house doing jobs, but if I am meeting up with friends, etc, it can prove quite challenging.

I remember after Kimmy was born, she attended her first birthday party when she was four days old. I've never been one to sit on my haunches, so today was quite busy in that I fed Tamigotchi before heading off to a doctor's appointment. When I got home from the doctor's appointment, I did a few things, fed Tamigotchi again and then a friend called over to pick me up.

We drove across to Kedron, which is northside of Brisbane, to Edsco, an educational resource centre and spent time browsing, dreaming and yes, buying resources. Then we came back home. I fed Tamigotchi his next feed and then my friend and I headed to Gumdale to have lunch together and meet up with another friend for coffee. Everything went smoothly and Tamigotchi happily ate regularly. It's amazing what you can fit into your day once you set your mind to it.

Later on, after I'd returned home and my friend had left, I fed Tamigotchi again, did a few more jobs so that I could be on time for some IT/Pronto training at church. The volunteers who work in the Resource Centre were to come at 5:30pm for more training on the cash registers and the Pronto program for sales, etc. Someone was coming from Hillsong Sydney, a guru in the Pronto system to help bring us all up to speed.

After training, I left to drive over to Milton where I was to meet Ian. We had been invited out to dinner. Tonight would prove to be interesting because Tamigotchi would be due for a feed at 9:30pm - probably just after dessert. This meant that he would travel with me in the car and I had had to pack a thermos and everything he would need for his feeding time.

I parked the car in McDougall Road, Milton, (just off Park Road), where we were eating at the restaurant. We met up with our friends and Ian's son, 'Pud' and we went to Embers, because they cook great steaks there.

Sure enough, soon as I'd finished dessert, it was time to go back to the car to feed Tamigotchi. Well, I didn't think too much about this as I walked to the car, but then a scenario began to unfold into a surreal image. Picture this: (not all things are as they seem)

A woman - alone, walks the semi-deserted street and turns down a dark road that leads to a car. She flicks the remote to unlock the doors. She opens the back door, reaches in and pulls out a basket that is covered with a towel. She shuts the door and walks around to the passenger side of the car, opens the door and climbs into the darkness.

She rests the basket on the driver's side seat and reaches up to push on the overhead reading light. A small light spills into the dark space. The woman sits for a moment and begins to extract utensils from a plastic bag; a thermos, a cup, a syringe and heats up the contents in the syringe. She reaches over and gently lifts out a small pouch from the basket and unloops the rubber band from the top of the pouch. She lifts out the small bundle of fur and positions the syringe, while the little furball begins to suck happily.

This all seems innocent enough when you actually know what is happening. But as the woman, (namely me) sat doing all those things, I suddenly became very conscious of what this all might look like to an outside observer who could only see part of the picture. It made me feel quite uncomfortable and a tad 'guilty'. It was the weirdest feeling because I was, in reality, doing something very innocent, but the situation of where I was doing it and the impression of what I may have been doing, made me feel really weird. It is something I had never even thought about until I was actually in the situation. It is hilarious to think this, for those who know me, but when I got back to the restaurant and shared this weird 'experience' with my friends, they all saw the funny side and had a bit of laugh about it. Crazy times.

However, even for the dodgy part of the night, we all had a wonderful time sharing a tasty dinner with good company. And, everything worked out well. Tamigotchi enjoyed his dinner and we did too. No one missed out anything. And I didn't get 'busted' for doing what could have looked like to any passerby - 'drugs'. I just think I've got a wild imagination, that's all.

Instalment 6 Tuesday 12 April 2011

Tamigotchi continues to eat well and is really quite a shy little fellow. Ian says we don't know what his circumstances are. He may have suffered a big fall before I found him. His mother may have booted him out of the pouch, or a larger sibling may have bullied him. Who knows what his story is? We can only guess at what he endured before coming to live with us. There could be all sorts of reasons why he is so shy and sensitive, besides the obvious that he is in a very 'scary' place right now, trying to come to terms with who all these strange people are and all the strange smells that are in the air.

When he is out of his pouch, he sniffs the air trying to get a grip on his new surroundings, but probably feels overwhelmed with all the changes he has faced during the last few days.

I understand this only too well, but the difference for Tamigotchi between the choice of
a) having to endure these changes or, b) being left to fend for himself and certain death is very clear for me. Option b) was never ever going to be an option once I found him.

So, we've been making the best of the situation and the result is hopefully, that Tamigotchi gets a second chance at a life that eventually will include playing in his future favourite trees here at Willow Pond, and eventually having his own little family.

He feels secure in his little pouch but doesn't like to venture out too much. I lift him out and cradle him securely to feed him and then I attempt to toilet him by using some tissue. This practice emulates the mother possum and helps to keep the possum's pouch clean. It is important to do this after every feed. He seems quite comfortable with me handling him and never makes too big of a fuss. As soon a he is fed, been to the 'bathroom' and had long, delicious cuddles, he readily snuggles into the dark, warmed confined space of his pouch to sleep away the daylight hours.

He's been with us five days now and we seemed to have worked out our routines quite well. I still seem to be coping with the broken sleep patterns, though I guess, time will tell.

Instalment 5 Monday 11 April 2011

Tamigotchi was very sleepy when I went to give him his first morning feed. He took a little while to stir. It initially made me a little worried, but I gradually relaxed when I realised he was just sleepy after all and was indeed, okay. I remembered I'd earlier heard him making his clucking noise inside his pouch, so my common sense should have kicked in. But it is really hard not to worry.

After he ate, I spent some time cuddling him. My maternal instincts took over and I felt the need to nurture him and let him know that he was not alone. It's most important that he doesn't feel alone because he needs a community to survive. He snuggled into my nightie, yes, you guessed it - near my chest, and fell asleep after his breakfast, and I was happy for him to be there.

Last night I gave Gillian, my mentor a courtesy call to let her know how things were progressing. I gave her an update on our little guy. We made an appointment to meet up on Tuesday, about 2 pm, so she could check him out and see for herself how he was doing.

I spent most of the night, well, up to 2:30am putting together all my students' entries to a couple of major poetry and short story competitions. I couldn't go any longer past 2:30am. I was exhausted.

I fed Tamigotchi and climbed into bed - exhausted and knowing that the alarm was set for 6:30am. Some sleep-in.

Instalment 4 Sunday 10 April 2011

I continued my night time feeding plan and discovered that getting up through the night wasn't really too bad, but I knew deep down I was probably kidding myself and I would pay sometime down the track.

This morning proved to be my first challenge of this whole new experience of keeping a possum. I was rostered on in the Resource Centre at church and had to be there by 8:15am. I had to time Tamigotchi's feeding so that he would not be left longer than the four hourly feed routine. I fed him at 7:30am, tucked him in his pouch, strapped him inside my bra and wallah...off we went. I decided to take him with me to church to keep him safe and warm. He would be able to hear my heartbeat. And, if he was with me I knew he would be safe and I wouldn't fret.

I arrived on time and set up everything that needed doing, ready for our first customers. Tim was visiting from Hillsong Sydney and he popped in to see how things were doing in our Resource Centre. He chatted away to me as we tried to help each other out with some further setting up, meanwhile the whole time little Tamigotchi slept on, unknown to anyone. He was my little secret.

Luckily for me, he slept very well and snuggled in tight. I potentially could have received a few curious glances if there was massive movement down there. But for my immediate self esteem, I just hoped it didn't look like I had a third boob down there. I didn't get any strange stares from customers, that I noticed anyway, so I think my secret was safe.

Church was very busy and when it was time to go into the service I found my friend who I normally sit with and squeezed in beside her during praise and worship. When it came time to greet each other, I whispered to my friend, as a joke, that I'd had a boob job and asked her what she thought. I was seriously met with a very surprised face and I burst out laughing.

I asked her, "Seriously? You have known me for how long? And you seriously think I'd be the type to go in for a boob job?"

She giggled once she knew I was joking, but the surprised look on her face returned when I whispered what I did have in there.

I've never really thought about how loud praise and worship music is until that morning. Everyone was seriously in the moment and all I could think about was Tamigotchi's little tiny ears and hoped that he was not traumatised.

Tamigotchi survived his first visit to church, as did I. No one knew, except for my friend. He happily ate after we arrived home.

This little guy has lots of attitude though. He bites me when he wants to let me know he's annoyed with me. He certainly lets me know exactly what he wants me to do, or not to do.
His attitude is a good thing. It shows me he has spirit. He has survived to date and I'm sure this has a lot to do with his will, or spirit.