Charlie is still Growing!

Charlie is still growing! When he arrived on 23 August he weighed 49g and measured 22cm (including his tail). He is currently tipping the scale at 168g and is now 36cm in length. Apparently their average size is in the region of 35-40cm and 150g when fully grown so I recon he's just about there. Here is a photo of him having his bottle. Is he not the cutest little thing - smelly but cute!

Charlie Goes to School

Charlie went to school yesterday for a “show and tell” session. The kids all prepared questions about Charlie and bush babies in general and I had to know my story to answer them all. Luckily Charlie was very well behaved and enjoyed all the attention. The kids had an opportunity to touch his fur and hands/feet. We also did Charlie’s weekly weigh-in as part of the activity. He has grown 2cm in length in the past week and is up from 49g last week to 66g this week. Thanks to Joanne, Jane and all the kids for having us. We enjoyed the visit very much.

Who is Charlie?

Charlie is an abandoned infant busy baby. Andy Groenewald found him on the ground under a tree. Andy and Sue took Charlie in for the first few days but they both work so it became difficult for them to care for him properly. Charlie is therefore now staying with me. The photo on the right is Sue holding Charlie. He currently weighs 49g and is 9cm long (22cm including his tail). We’re estimating his age at somewhere between one and two weeks old. Piérre suggested I give Charlie a small teddy bear to cling to and he just loves his teddy. Below is a photo of Charlie sleeping on his teddy’s head, clutching the one ear. I feed Charlie a blend of full cream cow’s milk, egg yolk, honey and yoghurt with a syringe. He sometimes drinks up to 6ml during a feed. Hopefully I’ll soon be able to get hold of a small baby or doll’s bottle and a baby hair brush. That would make it much easier to take care of him. Charlie is doing as well as can be expected and at present is really a very good baby. He sleeps all day and night (thank goodness) and only wakes up for feeds. I’m sure that will soon change and he’ll become quite a hand full!!! We’re hoping to eventually release Charlie into the bush.

Off to Joburg

I'm off to Joburg tomorrow for my six monthly shopping expedition, hair appointment, etc, etc - important and exciting stuff when you live in the middle of the bush with not much available in the line of retail therapy and pampering sessions. Pierre is probably already nervous about the bank balance taking a knock. Unfortunately that's the way it is - have to do some extra shopping for Christmas too because his parents are coming up for a visit December and I cannot let them have a boring Christmas - sal moet uithaal en wys! Anyway I only spend money twice a year so he cannot really complain. Also really looking forward to seeing the "Ou Mense" again (that's my Dad, Tannie Alba and Pierre's parents) - haven't seen them since we were last in Joburg in March. Bye now - be good!

My Backyard

Mel surprised me the other day with these stunning photos she took of my back yard as viewed from her house. They were taken early morning with the sun just rising over the bush behind our houses and it being dry season, quite a bit of dust in the air. We're all longing for the rains to start - we're having a hard time watering the gardens with our laundry/bath water as we're on strict water restrictions.