MiniBreeze at Fishbourne

Today we took @Kittehboi's #MiniBreeze for a local walk.  We walked from home to Fishbourne, where the car ferry comes in.  #MiniBreeze saw some interesting things.

This is Holy Cross church in the village of Binstead which is just outside Ryde, where we live.  The church is 13th century.  We couldn't go inside because it was Sunday morning and there was a service going on.  It is an interesting little church.

We got to the next village Quarr, where there is a Benedictine abbey.  #MiniBreeze saw the ruins of the old medieval abbey that was destroyed when King Henry VIII (the one who had six wives) dissolved all of the monasteries in England.  We walked on to where the new abbey is, we didn't go right up to it because, being Sunday, the monks were worshiping and we respected that.  We will take #MiniBreeze another day.

We did visit the abbey farm, where #MiniBreeze met lambs and piglets.

We walked on to Fishbourne where the car ferry comes in.  #MiniBreeze saw the car ferry first from a distance, just disappearing behind the trees.

We went down to the waterfront at Fishbourne, you can see the mainland from here but the spring mist always makes it difficult to photograph.

Then of course we let #MiniBreeze have a look at the car ferry.  I am sure we will take him on this if he is allowed to stay long enough.

Then we walked back the same way and had lunch.

#MiniBreeze meets Henry and another couple of things

Hi, as most of you know, we have @kittehboi's double #MiniBreeze visiting us.  Yesterday he got the chance to meet @Henryandfriends.

To meet Henry #MiniBreeze had to go to work, at the university, with my person.  #MiniBreeze didn't really show much interest in the university, why would he?  But he did enjoy the park that the university library is in.

He found some bluebells in the park and he climbed a tree to smell the blossom.

Eventually they had to go to the office, where #MiniBreeze decided that the working life is not for him.

He liked the idea of lunchtime though and he met @Henryandfriends for lunch.

He and Henry chatted a lot.  #Mini-Breeze need to choose from the menu.  He debated between a tuna sandwich and a fish finger sandwich.  He had never tried fish fingers.  I am not sure whether they have them in the US, so he decided that he would try them.

He seemed to like them!!  Henry had a sausage sandwich and #MiniBreeze also tried that.  I am sure Henry will show you that.

Now!  When I was going through my pictures I realised that there was an outing that we had not showed you.  Little Tony from Baboon HQ went for coffee with @MarthaBBear and her adopted baboon Barney.  Little Tony is like me but much smaller.  I am nearly two feet tall and Tony is only 7 inches..  He had a fun time but unlike Mini-Kolo he did not get into the coffee habit.

Like all Baboon HQ baboons Little Tony is a great hugger and so is Barney.  Little Tony gave Barney a big hug.

Little Tony was happy to meet Martha and they did a lot of chatting.  Martha has Isla with her, the little bear she is hugging.  She is called Isla because she is from the Isle of Wight.

Sorry this blog is a bit mixed we forgot to post these pictures and have just come across them.

MiniBreeze 1

Mini Breeze arrived to visit us this week, from @Kittehboi.  He is fun to have around and we have already Tweeted pictures of him meeting us and watching the big game yesterday.  Today we took him for his first outing.

Warning for Mini-Kolo, my person said MiniBreeze was much more co-operative for photos.  Mini-Kolo you need to shape up.

When MiniBreeze first arrived we were surprised that he kept asking for books.  We have never had a visitor who read quite so many books.  Now we see why, he was using them to stand on to see out of the window.  MiniBreeze likes the outside.

Before going out this morning he checked out the weather and enjoyed some sunpuddles.  We took him to Bembridge, a seaside village at the eastern end of the island.  There is a lovely part of the coastal path there. We used to walk it a lot but in 2010 it was closed because it was dangerous.  They promised to work on it and reopen in January 2011, it reopened this month! We have missed it.

MiniBreeze looked at the sea from the cliff path.  The tide was out so he could see lots of beach.

They went along a wooded path at the top of the cliffs.  Cats have quite a lot in common with baboons because they both enjoy climbing trees.

When he came down MiniBreeze tried to hide in the primroses.  He almost managed it.

There was a break in the trees as we approached Whitecliff Bay.  MiniBreeze wanted to have a look.

He got a better view from the other side of the bay.

They climbed up to the gate.  After this there is a step path up onto the downs.  They often walk it, but not today.

On the way back MiniBreeze got the chance to join Her Majesty's Coastguard.  What a privilege!

Briefly back to Mini-Kolo, he came across some flowers for you on Easter Monday but forgot to show them.

Anyway I think MiniBreeze had a good day out, he will get another trip out next week end.

Rehomings and spring flowers

Hello everyone.  There were two more rehomings in March and they have both arrived and are settling in.  They are both in England.

The first one to arrive was Brodie who has gone to live in a secret location, at Spy HQ, with @secretbear007.

Brodie met the family and made new friends:

Brodie wasted no time in settling in and showing off his reading skills and eating bananas!

Brodie started his spy training very quickly:

Yes he needed rescuing, but it was just the start.  He has already got to the level of having high level talks with @TangoMango9.

It looks as though things are going well there.

The other rehomed baboon is Bea, who has gone to live with @Rosiebear90

It looks as though Bea and Rosie are getting on well.

Thank you to both rehomers for giving baboons new loving homes.

Now, Mini-Kolo promised you more spring flowers.  He went out and saw lots, but he didn't remember to take the camera with him!!  So we sent him out again.  Unfortunately it was a week later and he went somewhere different.

He looked hard for spring flowers, it was not easy.  He has missed the snowdrops but was looking for daffodils and primroses.

He was disappointed, when he manged to find one primrose alone:

and one daffodil!!

He realised that, having missed so many opportunities the previous week, this was not enough.  Imagine his relief when he found these:

Phew, he managed it!  Next time he will take the camera at the appropriate time and get all the flowers.  However, we can remind you about snowdrops, because young George found them last year.

Well done George you dug us out of a spot there!!

Thank you for reading!! HUGS HUGS HUGS!!

Another day off!!

My people had another Friday off this week.  Sadly the last one for my person for quite a while.  However, we were very lucky because, like last week, the weather has been beautiful.  Baboon HQ decided to take advantage of this.

We started with breakfast.  Manperson makes great pancakes.  We had them with Canadian maple syrup and coffee out of our Zack Rabbit mug.  That was a Canadian start to the day.

Then Mini-Kolo set out.  He had the people drive him to the west of the island again, but this time the north coast rather than the Downs.  He started in Yarmouth, and walked along the seafront to Victoria Country Park.

Victoria Country Park is a wooded area on the north coast just west of Yarmouth.  There is a fort there (Fort Victoria),  with a tea shop but the tea shop was closed until 28 March, so no coffee there!

Mini-Kolo walked through the park until he got to the end of the wood.

From there he could see the sea.  This is Hurst Castle that we showed you from the Downs last week.  Behind that is Dorset.

Kolo walked on until he found a useful fence for a rest, where he could look back on where he had been.

He is looking across the fields, back towards Yarmouth.

Not much further on Mini-Kolo could see the Needles.

You can just about see them through the branches, just off the end of the landmass.  You are right you cannot see Mini-Kolo!  That is because he was in the way of the Needles when he sat on the hedge.  He also had some grumble about spikey bits of the hedge sticking into him but I'm not sure what that was all about.  It is a constant complaint of his!

The Needles are chalk stacks off the far west end of the island.  It is thought that they are the remainder of where the island used to be joined to the mainland.  Over in Dorset there are other chalk stacks called Old Harry rocks and it is thought that those, used to join with the Needles to join the island the mainland.  They are made of chalk so the sea would have eroded them.

Mini-Kolo carried on to the little town of Freshwater, which is separated from Freshwater Bay, that he visited last week.  The combination of hunger and a convenient tea shop led to a stop here.  You all know about Mini-Kolo's coffee habit!

Yes he had coffee.  He also had a hot raspberry crumble muffin.  He gave the Sugarloaf tea shop in Freshwater town a high baboon rating for food, coffee and service.

Mini-Kolo carried on past the cafe he visited for lunch last week, the End of the Line (yes, he did manage to pass it).  He reached the causeway at Freshwater.

This is a lovely place on the island with ducks and swans, a nice church and a pub.  There were no ducklings yet.

Mini-Kolo turned his attention towards Yarmouth.  He was to walk along the disused railway next to the East Yar river to Yarmouth and lunch.

Mini-Kolo has often posted pictures of this path.  It is very beautiful.  He was keen to get to Yarmouth this time.  Why?

He wanted to get a good table at the Gossips Cafe in Yarmouth.  A good table at the Gosspis is one with a sea view.  You can see the mainland from here but the low cloud over there makes it a bit difficult to see in this picture.  However, he got a good table.  Mission accomplished!

A cheese and pineapple melt with salad and coleslaw!!  Not sure why manperson looks as though he is falling off his chair here but you can't always make out what humans are doing.

Mini-Kolo had a good day but there was one disappointment.  We wanted to get pictures of snowdrops and primroses for you.  Now Mini-Kolo did see some of each, but getting pictures would have involved him climbing into peoples' gardens.  We know Mini-Kolo is quite capable of climbing, no fence of gate is too much for him, so why didn't he?

Well this is a ethical issue.  Baboon HQ is not just a law abiding organization, it is also an ethical one.  Our code of ethics involves not invading other peoples' property.  It was be embarrassing to have Mini-Kolo arrested for trespass, whilst on Baboon HQ business, but equally disturbing would be the breaking of our code of ethics.  Sometimes Mini-Kolo has to be reminded of this, but it is only because of his enthusiasm to give the readers of the blog everything he can.

We will try to find some of these flowers on Sunday.

Thank you for reading.

Springtime walk

Yesterday my person had a day off work.  We have noticed some Spring flowers around Ryde so we decided to send Mini-Kolo out to look for signs of  Spring.  He may not have chosen the absolutely best part of the island to investigate.  We have seen flowers around here in the sheltered east of the island but Mini-Kolo went west where it is more exposed.  He had a great day though.

He asked our people to drive him to Freshwater and he started by climbing (aka being carried) up a steep hill.  From there he could look on one direction and see Freshwater Bay and in the other direction he could see the Downs and Freshwater town.

Next Mini-Kolo 'climbed' Tennyson Down, named after the Victorian Poet Laureate, Alfred Lord Tennyson, who had a house in Freshwater and walked the downs regularly.  This was  long slow climb.

On the way he stopped to look at the mainland.  This picture looks towards Hurst Castle which is joined to the mainland by a sand-spit.

He looked over at Dorset and waved to our pals Lillie and Archie and Chalky and Cuddles and their baboons Hairy Harry, Truffles Ruffles, Cocoa Bean and Joe Baboonosa.  Sadly is was a misty day as it often is in Spring.  But he could see the mainland.

Finally he got to the top.  We know it is the top because this is the Tennyson Memorial, set up to commemorate Tennyson.

After reaching the top we climbed down the other side towards the Needles. You can't see the Needles on this walk but the white chalk at the end of the land mass is just above the Needles.

He also looked towards the north where we could see Headon Warren, the down opposite to Tennyson Down.  It is covered with heather.

He had not seen any flowers yet, apart from flowering gorse, but we did see some caterpillars.  Mini-Kolo stopped and made friends with one of them.

He carried on towards the Needles where he came across a staircase in the downs.  You make think this is unusual, and you would be right.  These steps lead down into the Needles Old Battery, which is below and guarded the entrance to the Solent from Napoleon.  The National Trust look after it and you can pay to go in, but not by these steps.

At the end Mini-Kolo turned around and came back, greeting his caterpillar friend on the way.  He couldn't quite remember how far it was so he climbed a tree to see where he had got to.

Actually he did know where he was but he is a baboon and climbing is second nature.

Eventually he left the Needles Downs and got to the bottom of Tennyson Down.

Yes Mini-Kolo you did have to 'climb' back up.

Back at Freshwater Mini-Kolo had cheese scones and set out for home.  He did see Spring flowers on the way but couldn't stop on the narrow roads for all of them.  However at Chale Green he was able to pull in and have a look.

From his vantage point in a tree he could see what he was looking for.

So he went to have a look - crocuses

and daffodils.  Happy St David's day to all of our Welsh friends!!

We will look for snowdrops and primroses that we can photograph tomorrow.