Baboon HQ business

Hi everyone I want to update you on the news at baboon HQ.

Firstly, following the wonderful #BaboonPawty on 2 June (thank you very much to the organisers of that), a few more baboons did find new homes.

Mr Pie won a baboon re-homing in the Jubilee competition and his baboon Chester arrived and is settling in well with Mr Pie.

Mr Pie has posted some great pictures of them getting on well and you can see that they are good friends already.

A little baboon who hasn't got a name yet set out on a long journey to Canada to live with Oatuling.  Baboons take ages to get to Canada (there are two there already but they took ages to arrive, so we hope he will arrive soon.  I know that when he does Oatuling will be a great pal for him.

Another baboon who travelled a long long way is Banjo who went to Australia, the second baboon to go to Australia.  Banjo just arrived in his new home with JessieJaney and is sleeping off his jet lag.

As you can see they are getting to know each other but Banjo is sleepy after his journey.

The other baboon to be rehomed in June was little Arthur who took a short journey to another part of the south of England to live with Terence the Terrier, he is also settling in well to a rural environment and meeting his neighbours.

There will be another rehoming after the Euro 2012 competition which will be drawn on 30 June and I have one further baboon to rehome.

I keep up with all the baboons who have been rehome and the families send me lots of pictures.  I can assure you that all the baboons are having a lot of fun in their new homes and are very happy.  I was hoping to meet Paco and Marco this weekend but we have had to delay that. We will meet them soon.

Well now more news of Baboon HQ.  It is not confirmed yet but it seems likely that Baboon HQ will be moving.  If all goes to plan we will move about 10 minutes walk from where we live now.  Our current home is lovely but we want a more baboon friendly garden.  We will miss our views desperately but a house with a garden, rather than just a roof terrace, will be fun and more private for us baboons.  Also it will be nearer the beach and who can complain about that!!!

Of course this move, if it happens, will mean a lot of disruption and hard work as well as expense.  For this reason the baboon rehoming will have to be slowed down for a while.  It will not stop but there may be a gap and a slower pace of rehoming for a while as we are getting settled.

Other than that we are looking forward to a holiday in the US in August/September and hope to be meeting some anipals are rehomed baboons while we are there.

We will keep you up to date on events and will let people know where the new Baboon HQ will be by private messages.

HUGS HUGS HUGS

Love from Kolo

Sunshine award

Yesterday I had a great suprise, our dear Pandafur let me know that she had selected me on her list for a sunshine award.

Wow, an award, baboons don't often get awards so that was a big surprise!!

This means I have to do two things, both of these things are very difficult.  The first one is to answer soem questions, yes I can do that so lets do the easier bit first.

1. My favourite number - Oh dear this is difficult it often changes but I think I'd have to say 4 just because I think and count in fours always, don't now why its just a nice little chunk to think in and I like numbers that are multiples of 4.  Yeah weird I know but hey I'm a baboon!
2. My favourite non-alcoholic drink - oh now that is easy, banana smoothie or banana milkshake. I can't choose between those two so I just have to give both.
3. Do I prefer Facebook or Twitter - that's really easy I don't do Facebook so its Twitter all the way, but I do also so Can Be Social that is SnuffyNorton's social networking site and that is great too.
4. My passion - oh dear do I have to choose just one, there is football especially Arsenal, but also I am passionate about pizza.  However the main thing I am passionate about is making sure all baboons have loving homes.
5. My favourite pattern - ummm never thought of that one, I like things to be symmetrical my doodles are usually curved and symmetrical.  Will that do as an answer?
6. My favourite day of the week is definitely Saturday, I love all my days but on Saturday my people are home with me all day.
7. My favourite flowers are red flowers, geraniums or other red flowers but mainly simple, wild poppies.

Now for the really hard bit.  I have to pass on the award to 10 of my friends.  No it wasn't hard to find 10 it was hard to narrow it down to 10.  I have decided to give the award to different friends to Pandafur so although Pumpkinpuddy's  and Marley and Lola's and some other blogs would have been on my list as they got the award the same time as me I will pass them by.  Hope you don't mind guys!

I read so many blogs and love them all so this is really really really hard.  However I am hoping to draw some attention to some blogs that I love but are not so well known as others.  However, I also include some very popular ones.

In no particular order these are the 10.

1. Bordoggy Terrier - Barnie's Blog
2. Eldritch the Dragon's blog - Introducing
3. The Teddy Bear Diaries written by Teddy
4. Michelle Stringer - The best me that I can be
5. Ellie and Edmond's blog about animals they visit
6. BearDBear's Love Always Bear
7. Mariodacat's Mario's Mewsings
8. Mario's mum's blog - Shuffling along
9. The Shenanigans of Shawnee the Shepherd
10. Blind Maximus' Adventures of a Blind Dog in a Big World

This was hard, can I do this all over again please there are so many wonderful blogs out there that I read and love. Some of these are fun and some are inspiring.  Oh dear so many pals write great blogs!  What can I say.

Winners of the Sunshine Award proudly display your award on your blog, and then please pass on the award to your ten favorite bloggers. And don't forget to answer the questions!

Euro 2012 Competition

If you did not win the Jubilee competition never fear, the whole thing will be done again with the draw on the weekend of the Euro 2012 football competition at the beginning of July.

It doesn matter if you do not like football or don't live in Europe baboon competitions are inclusive anyone can enter.

 If you entered the Jubilee competition there is no need to enter this one as you are automatically carried forward.  If you didn't but would like to enter this one I will tell you how to in a minute.


First the prizes

1. A mug or T-shirt from the bunny sanctuary. http://www.hasenfarm.com/pages/de/motive/kaninchenrettung.php
2. A monkey or owl adoption from the Owl and Monkey Haven on Kolo Island. http://www.owlandmonkeyhaven.co.uk/
3. A lovely handmade guinea pig called Polly made and donated as a prize  by @fuzzyFreya's mum.

This is Polly - she is very excited to find out where her new home will be as she is an adventurous guinea pig!

 I am sure you will agree that she is beautiful and that Freya's mum is very clever.

4. A baboon related mystery prize.

If you would like to win one of these prizes and did not enter the Jubilee competition you can either:

1. Leave a comment on this blog
2. Send me a DM on Twitter
3. Leave a message on Can Be Social

Good luck everyone and hope you all win!

May baboons update

Hi everyone, I thought with the baboon pawty coming up this evening, and as all the re-homed baboons so far have arrived, it would be a good time to catch up on the baboons who were re-homed in May.

May was a particularly busy month at baboon HQ as we re-homed the graduates of the last hugging class before the summer break.  A total fo 12 baboons were re-homed in May.

The first to leave was a baboon called Jerome who went to live with PetietheCat.  Petie's mum has been very busy with the new kittens so she has not had time for photos of Jerome but we know he is settling in well and getting used to the kitties.  He is an expert hugger and is the twin brother of PepiSmartDog and Rupert's new baboon Steve Furwin.

Steve started blogging with the family as soon as he arrived.

To find out more about Steve's arrival read Pepi's blog http://pepismartdog.com/?p=1939

At the same time Kipawa (known as Kip) left to go and live with @gabby_da_tabby.  Kip is settling in well and loving Gabby's garden.

You can see that he and Gabby are getting to know each other.  See Gabby's photostream on Twitter for more pictures of Kip in Gabby's beautiful garden.

A big sister and little brother baboon family needed to find a new home and they went to live with Lillian - @icypinklemonade, their names are Keisha and Runako and you can see they are enjoying swinging on Lillian's furniture!

A very fashion concious baboon with ambitions to be a model left for Canada to go and live with @SnuffyNorton, he is hoping to work in the House of Bearmani.  He has decided that his name is Minikolo but he is keeping away from the camera until the release of his modelling career.  Tweak was worried he would eat his treats but I don't think he will be doing that if he wants to be a model.

The next baboon went to live with TinyPearl Cat, his name is Bertie and he is a very cute baboon with great writing skills.

Her and Pearl are getting on well and bonding over a book.

Bertie's twin brother Kevin has stayed in England but travelled up north to live with @BordoggyTerrier (Barnie).

You can read more about Kevin's arrived with Barnie on Barnie's blog http://www.bordoggyterrier-barniesdogblog.com/2012/05/bordoggyterriertails-our-new-family.html

The next baboon to leave went to live with dear JinJin and Pixel, we were very sorry that JinJin went OTRB while he was travelling, but we are very honored that he was named AJ after Angel JinJin.  He looks like a fun guy and I am sure he is getting on well with Pixel and the family.

Yes, that is a MariodaCat fridge magnet he has there.

One of AJ's brothers stayed in England and went west to Devon to live with @DiamondBertie, he is called Felix and he is on top of the world!!

Another brother stayed in England and went north to live with GrowlyPanda2011, they called him Boom Boom and he looks happy in his new home.

What a sweet picture, I think BoomBoom was very tired when he arrived.

Another baboon that travelled north and stayed in England was a book loving baboon Alfred who went to live with TeddyToes (Theodore) to share books and read together.

Finally another baboon left for Texas to live with Cheshire Kitten.  I am so glad that she arrived in time for baboon pawty that Cheshire helped to organise. Her name is Amani which is lovely because it is Swahili for Peace.  She is obviously artistic as she has taken to Robin's markers very quickly!

I understand a beautiful portrait of her is being painted and I can't wait to see it.
Well if a baboon hasn't knocked on your door yet don't worry they may well do.  We are stopping over the summer as people are away and making plans so posting becomes complicated.  There will be one more re-homing this month after the prize draw of the lastest competition (see previous entry on this blog), it will be drawn today.  But in the autumn the re-homing programme will start again.

I will keep up to date with all the baboons and pass on news of them when I get it.

Thank you to all the families who have offered their home to a baboon.

Prize winners and new competition

Hi all, firstly I was going to announce the prize winners at #baboonpawty but my Twitter link was so unreliable last night that I thought I would leave it till today so I would be sure of completing it.

Before I announce the prize winners I want to say that everyone who didn't win a prize will be carried over to my next competition for the football tournament Euro 2012, you do not need to enter again, but new entrants can join.  More about that in a minute!

A record 70 people entered this competition, thank you all for entering and if you didn't win good luck in the next competition.

The winners were drawn by my brother Edward.  We gave him a pin and he stuck it in the list four times to find the four winners. I will notify the winners via Twitter and/or CBS as well.

The winners are:

1. Ellie and Edmond from Twitter, they win the bunny T-shirt or mug, whichever they prefer.  Ellie and Edmund please look at this link http://www.hasenfarm.com/pages/us/overview.php and let me know whether you want a mug or a T-shirt, what colour and if its a T-shirt what size.  Send me a DM on Twitter to let me know. Congratulations!
2. SpencerTeddy from Twitter and his baboon Morse - Spencer you win one of the monkey adoptions.  I am doing your one so please look at http://www.owlandmonkeyhaven.co.uk/adoption.aspx and let me know which monkey or owl you would like to adopt.  Send me a DM on Twitter to let me know.  Congratulations!
3. Dusty and Hurley (Justanothertrend) on Twitter and their baboon Boise - you two win the monkey adoption kindly donated by @BlindMaximus.  I will pass this link to you and Maximus http://www.owlandmonkeyhaven.co.uk/adoption.aspx please look at the link and decide which monkey or owl you would like to adopt and let Maximus know by DM (I'm also always interested in what monkey or owl you choose but Maximus is the one who needs to know and he needs to know where to get your adoption pack sent to.
4. Mr_Pie from Twitter - Mr Pie you win the baboon mystery prize.  You get to adopt a baboon and he will bring a special mug with him for your mum or dad to use.

Congratulations to all the winners.

If you did not win never fear, the whole thing will be done again with the draw at the end of June, with a slight difference to the prizes, as below and if you did not enter the Jubilee competition you can enter now for the Euro 2012 competition, you don't have to be in Europe and you can be a previous winner.

Prizes - difference to prize number 3

1. As above - a mug or T-shirt from the bunny sanctuary.
2. As above - a monkey or owl adoption from the Owl and Monkey Haven on Kolo Island.
3. A lovely handmade guinea pig called Polly made by @fuzzyFreya's mum.
4. As above - a baboon related mystery prize.

Jubilee Competition

Can you imagine being in the same job for 60 years.  My person once managed 12 years in the same job and that was enough for her and that is only one fifth of the length of time our Queen has been in her job and she was training for it for years before that.  Well it doesn't matter what you think about royalty it is impressive.  So, in Britain and many other countries there will be great celebrations this year.  Well baboons never miss out on a celebration whatever it is about.  So the Diamond Jubilee is a good excuse for a competition.

We are very lucky because there will be four prizes this time.  Our dear friend @BlindMaximus has donated a second monkey donation prize so two pals will get the opportunity to adopt a monkey or an owl.

We also have the priviledge of launching the possibility of a modelling career for one of our most stylish anipals @OllyTed

The Prizes

1. Two chances to adopted a primate or owl from the Owl and Monkey haven near my home on the island http://www.owlandmonkeyhaven.co.uk/.  I will promise to visit your monkey or owl and get pictures.
2. A T-shirt of the colour of your choice from Kaninchenretterin to help our dear friend Miriam with the work she does to rescue rabbits http://www.kaninchenrettung.de/.  T-shirts come in all sizes from Teddy size to adult, you can see how stylish it is if you look at our friend Olly modelling his prize from the last competition.  If you feel that T-shirts are not for you, you can choose a mug from the sanctuary website instead.

3.   An amazing baboon mystery prizes that will really surprise you.
               

There are three ways to enter this competition.

1. Leave a comment on this blog saying that you wish to enter.
2. Send me a DM to @Kolo_Martin on Twitter. If you find I do not follow you please send me a message so you can DM me.
3. For my friends on Can Be Social, if you are not on Twitter please leave a message on my CBS wall.

I don't ask my dear anipals to do anything to enter the competition as I could never judge between their entries. Please enter just be sending me a message in one of the ways listed above.

After the great success of Monty Baboon's prize draw I have decided to ask different re-homed baboons to draw the competitions each time.  This time, after much deliberation I decided that the baboon to do the draw this time must be our own re-homed baboon, Edward Baboon-Martin who inspired the entire re-homing programme and because of whom over 40 baboons have been re-homed, with more to come in the Autumn.

Well as you know I always hope that all of my anipals could win the competition but you have four chances of a prize so come on have a go!!

Good luck to all of you.

April baboons

April was another busy month at Baboon HQ with a great surprise at the end.  We re-homed six baboons plus the one who came to live with us.

The first two to leave in April were Mandi a boy baboon who went to live with @TigerBoyTheCat, and Mandi's twin sister Buffy who's new family are @MrBearandRocky.

Tiger has sent us some lovely pictures.  My favourite is this one that shows what good friends Mandi and Tiger are and how wonderfully Tiger has welcomed Mandi to his home.  What handsome pair they are.

Buffy got her name because Mr Bear and Rocky felt that she had been so brave to travel all the way to California on her own, so they named her after Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Buffy has been on lots of adventures already, she is having a wonderful time like all the baboons.  As with Tiger and Mandi it has been hard to choose which picture to feature, but here is a great one.

Yes brave Buffy and Rocky are at an avocado festival and riding on the back of a waggon.  Buffy has already had lots of adventures and she only left England on 2 April! What a girl!

Buffy is also being well looked after in terms of her diet.

Buffy was so hungry when she arrived that she ate six of those.  Now she is eating normally.  But all baboons just love bananas.

Fuzzy Bear (@i_am_fuzzy) won the baboon mystery prize in the Easter competition drawn by dear Monty.

Fuzzy Bear's baboon, who is now called Perry brought a baboon mug with him as part of hte prize.  Fuzzy has welcomed Perry with open arms and they have had lots of fun including chariot races, which Perry's team won.

Perry's twin sister, Nuriyah, who wanted a Morrocan name went to live with Lexis (@dogstoyevsky), she has not had her picture taken yet as she seems to enjoy hanging around on high shelves.  Lexie cannot work out why that is. I expect to hear that Nuriyah has started belly dancing, any minute.

@FreshOtis has also adopted a baboon, a cousin of Buffy and Mandi, he took a long time to arrive and we were very relieved to hear that he had got there finally.  He has not had time for pictures yet. 

Finally @grrrsquirrel57 (Michelle) adopted a little baboon called Barrett, he will be having a great time in Boston and we hope to meet with him and little Petie who lives not far from there, in September.  That will be fun.

Like most of the baboon adopters Michelle was very wise and made sure she had lots of bananas ready for Barrett when he arrived.

Barrett looks very happy to be there and to be well fed.

Four May baboons left yesterday and three more will be leaving this morning.  I have one more to post after the bank holiday.  After that I will have four baboons to re-home and then the programme will have a summer break. We love re-homing baboons but it has been hard work for all of us with the teaching programme, packing up baboons and taking trips to the post, we feel that we and are humans need to take a break.  Things will be happening at Baboon HQ during the summer possibly even a move, as well as a trip to the US so we feel it is necessary to have a break.  However, in the autumn we will resume the programme.

Enjoy the pictures and stories about the April baboons.  I will update about the May baboons when they have all arrived.