Monday 9 December 2013

Two more rehomings

I am pleased to say that two more baboons have been happily rehomed.

The first to arrive went to our friend Ralphy (@RalphyRua2).  Ruben arrived quite quickly as he didn't have too far to go.


When Reuben arrived he peered out of his package to check out his new environment.  He obviously liked it because he came out and met Ralphy.


They seem to be getting on well.  Is it me or is there a similarity there?  Two handsome chaps anyway!

Then he met Ralphy's friend Ducky.  They seem to be getting on well too.


Well it looks as though Reuben is happy in his new home and surrounded by friends.

The other baboon to arrive in his new home joined already re-homed baboon Jens, in Germany.  Per (named after the famous Arsenal and Germany defender) arrived with treats.


That assured him a warm welcome!  Jens seems to be happy with the jaffa cakes, but then who wouldn't be?

I hear Jens and Per are getting on very well and getting up to mischief.

I am glad these baboons arrived in their new homes by Christmas.  There are other baboons here at baboon HQ, looking for homes, so if anyone is keen to re-home a baboon (or another baboon to keep your existing baboon company), let me know, either here on the blog or by DM on Twitter.

Thank you for reading.  HUGS HUGS HUGS, Kolo!

Wednesday 20 November 2013

Re-homings and update

Hi everyone, I have been a bit busier on the blog lately because we have constant updates.  Firstly, there have been two more successful rehomings.

The first to arrive went to Florida to live with our friends D. Cunningham (@Skye613).  You can see that this little chap Harry B Tunes (Harry) is making new friends aleady.


I'm sure Harry will be very happy in his new home. 

The next one to arrive went to one of my very first friends on Twitter, Tuffy the Cat (@TuffyCat) who I have known since I joined Twitter in 2009, and whose family I met in LA this summer.



Tuffy and Jeremiah are clearly hanging out together like old friends.  Tuffy tells me that Jeremiah is as mischievous as he is and they have mischief planned.  They look like good friends.

Then we come to the culmination of the story about the little baboon.  As I explained in my last entry he has gone to live with Redinald (@Reddy1408).  Well he arrived on Monday and has already had his surgery performed by Crispy T Dog (@Trustgp). 



See how handsome he looks.  I said he looked so handsome he was as handsome as George Clooney.  Next thing I know they had decided to call him George.  So here is George post surgery and looking very well.  Thank you so much for your interest in him and specially to those who performed the surgery and are giving him a happy home.

Thank you to everyone who rehomes baboons and who is interested in them.  We have two more definite rehomings underway and one possible one, so watch this space.

Thank you so much for reading.  HUGS HUGS HUGS!!

Friday 15 November 2013

Update on the little baboon

Hi everyone, remember this little chap?


Last Sunday I asked whether there was anyone who could help the little fewllo, as he needs a new nostril.  We think it will help his breathing as well as his confidence.

We had a wonderful response from friends who wanted to help him or who loved him as he was.  It was very hard for me to decide what to do because so many of you were so kind.  In the end I decided that the best thing to do would be to send him to a friend who was able to help him surgically, as well as offer him a home.  There were two of those and it was very hard to choose.  I decided that the only fair way to make the decision was to send him to the first friend who offered him surgery and a home.  The first offer came from our good friend Redinald.  Who offered surgery, nursing care and a permanent home.

The little fellow will be joining Reddy's baboon Vincent, who has settled into his new home well and is a very good baker.  He has been with Reddy for about a year now.


I am sure Reddy will keep us up to date with his medical progress and how he is settling in. 

Thank you to everyone who offered help I really appreciated the offers and would have loved to have sent him to all of you, as I know you would all have done a good surgical job and given him a great home.  Now I know how many talented surgeons there are out there and what their particular talents are I will keep an eye out for baboons needing surgical treatment and new homes, as now I know we can help them.

Thank you to all of you for your offers and kindness and I am sorry I couldn't send him to all of you.

HUGS HUGS HUGS

Sunday 10 November 2013

Can anyone help this baboon?

Calling all our pals that can sew.  Can anyone help this little baboon?


I have a little baboon here who needs some help.  He is a young baboon who arrived at Baboon HQ to be rehomed.  He would dearly love a new home and I am sure somebody would love to have him he is a real sweety.  However, before he is rehomed he needs a little bit of medical attention from somebody who is good at sewing.

Although my person's mother was a needlewoman by profession my person is absolutely hopeless at sewing so she is not competent to help this little baboon.



As you can see this little chap is missing a nostril, and this needs to be sorted out.

So, if anyone can sew and would be happy to help this little chap, please let me know.  You might want to help him and adopt him or you might want to help him and then return him to me so he can be adopted.

If you would like to adopt him it doesn't matter if you already have a baboon, this one is very friendly.

If you would like to help him please let me know and then let me know whether you want to adopt him or return him to me.

I would be grateful for anyone who can help.

Thank you for reading.

Sunday 27 October 2013

Chilli Tweet-up

Hi everyone, many of you will know that there was a big tweet-up in London yesterday.  I went along with my cousin Freddy.  We had to start out early so I had a snooze on the train on the way.


Freddy didn't seem tired but I was, we had to run from the hovercraft around to the harbour station, instead of getting the bus, because the roads were closed off for the Great South Run.  We had to go round a long way and only just caught the train.  Phew!! We just made!!

When we got to London we wanted to get pictures of the lovely food at Borough Market, but it was so packed we couldn't even see most of the stalls (my people are not very tall)!  So we made our way down to Bankside to meet our pals.

 

We all met up at Pizza Express (well who doesn't like a pizza).  Here I am with TourGuideTed, BooBooBearGreen, Chilli_Bear, WilliamSheep, @boderpup's bear friend and other pals.  You may spot a couple of rehomed baboons there.  It is such a treat to meet up with the rehomed baboons.

 

Here they are, in front of me in the middle is Nuriah the belly dancing baboon of WigglePawty fame, who lives with @dogstoyevsky.  Then the lighter coloured baboon is Tony (after Tony Adams), who lives with @BooBooBearGreen and then we have little Bob who lives with @TourGuideTed.  We caught up on what they have been up to in their homes.  They all seem very happy.


Of course we caught up with BooBoo, our fellow Arsenal fan.  Look at the great Arsenal rucksack he gave me.  Its just the right size for Mini-Kolo.  It also had an Arsenal ball inside and sunglasses.  We had lots of presents.  So much chocolate from everyone.  Thank you so much everyone.

Notice BooBoo's lovely T-shirt, @TourGuideTed got T-shirts and bandanas for the Tweet-up.  Mini-Kolo was a little chubby for the T-shirt but he loves the bandana.

 
 
 
We caught up with Chilli as well in his T-shirt, what nice chap he is.  I am a little concerned that Mini-Kolo is misrepresenting me here.  Our pal @BerniceBlu'Jae says he looks like a hippie, I am more concerned he looks like a gangster!  Oh well he didn't misbehave so I guess he is OK.
 
We loved meeting everyone, sadly we couldn't go on the river or the London Eye as the others did, because we had to get back for the ferries.  We also are sorry that we didn't get to chat with everyone so much.
 
Thank you everyone for the chocolates and presents.  We really enjoyed BooBoo's cooking, he made cup cakes with Bailey's topping, Yummy!!!!!
 
I hope Chilli has a good rest of the holiday, I wish the weather was a bit less wild, autumn is usually a bit calmer here.
 
Thank you for reading. HUGS HUGS HUGS

Monday 21 October 2013

Update from Baboon HQ

I haven't blogged for a few weeks.  That doesn't mean that nothing has been happening at Baboon HQ, just that its been busy, busy, busy!  I have a few things to update you on.

Firstly we had our 81st rehoming.  Our dear friend Breeze (@kittehboi) agreed to give a home to a baboon and he arrived in late September.



Toby, because of his fine toes, is a relation of @Bertie_Junior's Arty.  He can be seen wrassling with Breeze and also climbing the bookshleves to satisfy his desires for climbing and reading.  Thank you Breeze for giving Toby the right happy home for him.

82nd rehoming is underway, with a baboon on his way to LA.  More about that when he arrives.  Funny how there is no shortage of baboons volunteering to go to California!!

We have also had a couple of new arrivals at Baboon HQ.  Now this was not planned as Baboon HQ is full to the ceilings.  However, these two were definitely meant to stay here.

 

Meet Ozil!  Guess why he chose that name!  Ozil came for rehoming.  However, he needed a wash and after his adventure in the washing machine he needed to sit on the Baboon HQ radiators to get dry and, like other permanent residents of Baboon HQ, during this time we bonded with him.  Don't you just love his outfit!!

 

This is Chesney.  He is named after the Arsenal goalkeeper but with an easier spelling.  We were fascinated by him because he looks like a lot of the baboons here, but he is so much lighter coloured and he has a handsome tummy button that you can see.  We couldn't resist him because we were so fascinated by a baboon who looked like us but was so much lighter coloured.  He is the same size as Roko and the other smaller baboons who look like me, bigger than Minio-Kolo and Lukasz.  We chose his name because of his big goalkeeper hands.

Then on Thursday Mini-Kolo met up with @MarthaBBear for dinner, we first met at the picnic in July and Martha was here on my island again.

 


We went to the Steamer Inn in Shanklin as they do scampi and chips.  Martha's adopted baboon, Barney, was keen to share my scampie and chips.

 

Matha brought along Barney and Chris the Leicester City penguin, we had a fun evening with lots of chatting.  Hope to see you next time you are here Martha.  We did miss TourGuideTed because he wanted to be there too, but we had fun anyway.

Next big adventure next weekend, I will blog after the big London Tweet-up!!

Thank you for reading. HUGS HUGS HUGS!

Friday 13 September 2013

Freddy visits the monkeys

Mini-Kolo had a long holiday and a lot of adventures so he is quite tired.  When there is an opportunity for a day out we always have a willing volunteer in Freddy.  Freddy started his day out by visiting the Quay Arts Centre in Newport.  Sadly there was no art in the galleries as they were setting up a new exhibition.  However, they cafe was in full working order and Freddy had lunch.


He had a panini with aged cheddar (it didn't seem to bother him how old it was), pickled red onions and crisps.  Freddy enjoyed that and it gave him the energy he needed to visit the monkeys.  Freddy visited the Owl and Monkey Haven which is near Newport, on the road to Ryde.  http://www.owlandmonkeyhaven.co.uk/

He visited all the monkeys.  He started by visiting Martin and Lulu with their new baby, Malou who was born in May this year.

 
This is Martin, the father, who is a white-throated capuchin.
 


Here are Luly and the baby Malou.  Freddy moved on to visit the Lar Gibbons, Somer and Rasmaya, these are fun primates they are always swinging around and having a good time.

 
 
 
There was a bit of wrestling going on here.  Freddy moved on to visit the Javan langurs, we lost dear Fudge this year, but the community goes on.  The red furred chap is Wheat and the darker ones are the females, Treacle, Makazive and Tonka.  These are lively primates who like to have a good time.
 
 
 


These are really handsome primates.  Next Freddy visited the ring tailed Lemurs, Crotched and Tornado.

 

Freddy visited the red tailed guenon Djebra.  He has had a sad history in the past but he looked much more interested in his dinner than that.


What a sweet face he has.  Next Freddy moved on to visit the Muller's gibbons Bono and Kajan and the siamangs Bog and Xhabu.  I am not sure who is who and most of them were far more interested in eating than in chatting to Freddy but one was friendly.


The next visit was to the Colobus monkeys, Tirana, Sana and young Praia.  This is Praia.


How cute is that!  The adults were more active swinging around and arguing with their neighbours.


The neighbours in question were the Rhesus macaques, they were a fun bunch.  The adults are Hobo, Dray and Tammy and the children are Spock and Minka.  They were all full of fun, arguing with the Colobus monkeys, swinging and playing.  Minka was particularly funny using the end of a pinapple as a plaything and sticking it to her face.  I wish we could have got a photo of that.

 
Little Minka is in the corner there.
 
 
 
Freddy visited the smaller primates.
 
 
 



Marmosets.


Cotton-top tamarins.


Red-belly tamarin, when we did get a glimps of his tummy it was red.

Freddy also visited the owls. Understandably most of them were sleepy in the middle of the day and were in the back of their cages.  The snowy owls were very sweet though.


We are very excited that the Haven will be getting some Barbary macaques soon and we will go back to visit them.  They are the wonderful apes that you can see in Gibralta.  We are excited to meet them when they arrive.

Freddy had a great day at the Haven and will be back soon.  They are getting more and more monkeys there all the time and doing wonderful work.  To find out more about the monkeys and owls or to read about the work the Haven does see http://www.owlandmonkeyhaven.co.uk/ for further information.

Monday 9 September 2013

Mini-Kolo in Boston

After a good flight on Alaskan Airlines Mini-Kolo and our people arrived in Boston.  They booked into the hotel and got a great view from the window.


They were on the 10th floor so they could see the Charles River.  More excitingly they were right behind Mass General Hospital, so there was plenty going on.  The night skyline was exciting with neon and plenty of activity.  Being behind the hospital, everytime they went out they saw lots of people in medical scrubs, carrying large mugs of coffee.

Mini-Kolo has been to Boston before so he knew exactly where to go to get a good pizza.  This gets a good baboon rating.


That made him feel at home.  An early night was needed after getting up at 4.30 am for the flight to Boston so in the morning he was keen for breakfast.  They went to Panificio in Charles Street for pancakes.


This cafe does get a high baboon rating, however, there were no bananas on the menu!!

They did quite a lot of exploring that day, including walking down Commonwealth Avenue and Boston Common.  Mini-Kolo met Mr Washington and was keen to show him that he was supporting the Red Sox.


Lunchtime, and a visit to Durgin Park resturant was called for!!  This resturant is a Boston institution and they do lovely fish cakes.


Mini-Kolo decided to try Boston baked beans with his fish cakes.  This was all very tasty and gets a really good baboon rating.

There was more exploring in the afternoon to walk off the fishcakes and fries.  Mini-Kolo managed to find the Charles River.


The next day Mini-Kolo explored Boston Harbour.  He enjoyed the sunshine looking out at the boats.


He also wants it to be known that he walked the Freedom Trail and a trail around South Boston.  He feels that justifies all the eating he did.  However, there is no photographic evidence of this.

In the evening Mini-Kolo met up with Michelle (@grrlysquirrel75).  This also gave him the chance to catch up with another re-homed baboon, Barrett.  They went to the north end where there is lovely Italian food.

 
This picture was taken before he managed to fall off his chair and out of the open window onto the sidewalk.  Fortunately our manpeson rescued him, although Mini-Kolo maintains that it was our manperson who caused him to do that in the first place.  Anyway, alls well that ends well.  He demanded a gelato to help him get over his injuries, but actually he didn't have any injuries, so sorry Mini-Kolo no gelato. 
 
They had lovely Italian food in the north end of Boston
 
The next morning Mini-Kolo went to Quincey Market for breakfast, he bought coffee and a red pepper scone (which sounds unusual to me).
 
 
He also spotted these yummy toffee apples, they looked very colourful, although we think there might have been too many E numbers in them to be good for Mini-Kolo.
 
 
With all that coffee on the streets and in the cafes I wonder why Boston is talked about in terms of tea!  Well historically we do all know what that was about but as a British baboon I will say no more!!
 
That day was supposed to be their last day in Boston, so after a bit more strolling and shopping they made their way to Logan airport in time for their flight.
 
So, why did they wake up here the next morning?
 
 
This is the highly expensive Fairmont Hotel in Boston.  Why were they there instead of at home in Baboon HQ?  Well you would need to ask British Airways about that!  They didn't spend long there as they got there at 1 am, but there were breakfast pancakes.  It would all have been very nice but they wanted to be back at Baboon HQ.
 
However, not to miss out on making the best of things Mini-Kolo found a farmers' market to shop in.
 
 
The market was in the square opposite to the hotel and it does look good.


There were fantastic baked goods and fruit.  Mini-Kolo decided that, rather than having lunch in the hotel, he would buy something from the market.


He bought golden raspberries which were yummy, some spinach and mushroom bread, pumpkin bread and, how could he resist? Banana bread.

Well eventually they had to return to Logan airport to go through all the check-in and security checks again.  Once he got through Mini-Kolo managed to find a comfortable seat.


Yes this is a much more comfortable seat than you usually find at airports and it made the 5 hour wait much more enjoyable.  Especially when he could watch planes taking off and landing.


It was a good job he was there because somebody needed to find the plane, nobody else was telling them where it was.  You do get a good view from Logan of nice homes and sailing boats on the sound.

Well they did get home eventually, more than 24 hours late and rather tired, grumpy and disorientated.  It was a good trip and they are happy they went, but the travel disruption was tiring and frustrating.
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