‘You are feeling coooold. You need a warm furrrrry thiiiiing in your bedddd….’
Otis, I notice
Likes sleeping on beds
And sometimes enjoys
Curling up by my head
She’ll come in the dark hours
And prod me to show
It’s time to move over
And share my pillow
She’ll tap me quite gently
With padded wee paws
But if I don’t wake up
She’ll put out her claws Continue reading
Slowly, positive changes are happening, thanks to Lek, the wonderful founder of Elephant Nature Park.
Save Elephant Foundation’s Sangduen “Lek” Chailert, along with a group of volunteers, recently freed five elephants from Sai Yok elephant camp. Their new home is at Erawan Paradise, located in Kanchanaburi, in midwestern Thailand.
Located approximately 50 kilometers from Kanchanaburi, Thailand, the Erawan Elephant Retirement Park is the newest project sponsored by the Save Elephant Foundation. The first five elephants to call the park home arrived in early July, 2013. All the resident elephants are former tourism elephants, rescued from trekking camps, street-begging or performance shows.
Spread over 50 acres, the facility operates similarly to Elephant Nature Park and volunteers will help maintain the retirement property, as well as assist the mahouts with the elephants.
Watch the movie via the link below – it’s fantastic to see this stuff happening.
Sometimes when she’s washing she’ll leave her wee tongue peeping out of her mouth, which really looks dumb!
Otis, I notice
Likes to be clean
But you’ll never see her
In a washing machine
She uses her tongue
To comb out her fur
It’s got brushy bits on
For getting out burrs
Sometimes when she’s washing
She’ll leave her wee tongue
Peeping out of her mouth
Which really looks dumb! Continue reading
The axis of evil…
Otis, I notice
Likes a good laugh
And acts like a kitten
When I’m in the bath
She crouches in secret
Awaiting her prey
And takes swipes at me
When I’m turned away Continue reading
I really want to touch you but you’re icky and sticky…
Otis, I notice
Is quite into bugs
She’ll chase after wetas
And follow the slugs
She’ll poke at their feelers
With tentative paws
And sniff at the slime trails
Crossing the floors
The wetas will poke back
With big spiny legs
And cling to her fur
Like ugly clothes pegs Continue reading
She watched as he slunk by, her eyes growing round…
Otis, I noticed
Was washing her paw
When Burma sneaked over
(The cat from next door)
She watched as he slunk by
Her eyes growing round
Her fur rose in hackles
She leapt to the ground Continue reading
In which Otis hunts for food, and finds the source…
Otis, I notice
Is lumbered with greed
She never has learned
That there’s time between feeds
She’ll sit round and meow
Like a beggar instead
And pretend to my friends
That she never gets fed Continue reading
And she also has stripes on one leg at the back… Otis, Queen of the house – apparently.
Otis was a friend that I lived with for 16 years. We moved many times, from the forest to beside the highways and many places in between, and she was always there, somewhere in the background, usually no more than 12 feet away from me. She wasn’t a lap cat, nor a smoochy cat, but we had a very special friendship and I miss her very much. I truly hope I see her again some day. This is the first installment of my 8-part tribute to her. Continue reading
Evil personified! This one took a jandal hostage and wouldn’t give it back until lots of food was thrown at it. Bundi, Rajasthan.
You hear the term ‘Bucket List’ bandied about quite often, yes? I was fortunate enough to cotton on at an early age that the world is a fascinating place and I had started a list of countries and things I wanted to see by the time I was 12. Tibet, the Pyramids, Bedouins in Arabia, Castles in England, Frogs in the Amazon, Iguanas in Galapagos, the usual run-of-the-mill stuff.
I’m not entirely sure where the ‘Bucket List’ term originated, but since I’m about to turn 50 and inherit my license for eccentricity, I’ve decided that I shall have a Pooh List. I know – I’m such a grown-up. And I’ve already ticked off several of the items on it: Continue reading
I am guilty. And I was ignorant. I didn’t know.
This baby is so hungry she tried to latch onto a passing elephant she didn’t know to suckle.
Photo by Lek Chailert
I went to India four times before I saw my first real live elephant. At about 2 o’clock in the morning, in Pahar Ganj, a place bustling with people and traffic and street dogs and rubbish. I was so thrilled to finally see one that I didn’t stop to think that the poor thing was probably stressed out by the noise and traffic, and also probably just hanging out to get off the hard tarmac and go to bed. Continue reading
raveburbleblog 