Happy New Year!

I wish a very happy new year to all of you and hope that it´ll turn out to be a good one for all of us!

Lola, my new flatmate

Unfortunately my gorgeous dsungarian dwarf hamster (aka winter white russian dwarf hamster - Phodopus sungorus) had to be put to sleep, after weeks of trying to treat her inflammation of the eyes without success.
Browsing some websites it seems to me that this is a very common ailment in this species. I´ll try to dig deeper, once I can find the time.

As I really like those little guys * the search began for another Hamster.
(*Probably cause I sometimes can be a bit of a mugwump, too - Soulmates?).
As pet shops and "breeders" were not an option and the closest hamsters in a shelter were 120 km away I tried the internet.

With the help from "Cati" and "FairyLy" from the Rattenforum, to whom I´ll be forever grateful, Lola from the "Tierhilfe Jülich" arrived here safely on the 23rd of December.
So, here she is:The photo doesnt´do her justice, I didn´t want to use a flash and scare her, so I had to use Iso 1600.
She´s a self confident, fearless and very curious character, excellent!

Winter has arrived

Mustard - Sinapis

is cultivated in Winter as green manure

Snoopy

Hoarfrost

Wild geese and swans payed us a visit when the river Ems once again flooded this corn field

Quotes & Pics

Tame birds have longings. Wild birds fly!

If it just was always that easy..
Sitting alone in an aeroplane, on the way to a new destination with new people, work and experiences is way up on my "best moments in life" list. And one I have treaetd and will treat myself to as often as possible.

Life is a flower and love is its nectar.

Corn field:

This corn field close to my home was flooded when the river Ems burst its banks for a couple of days. Gulls, ducks, swans and passing geese discovered their new playground instantly.

Race horses!
These two guys are rather friendly and often race Heiko along the fence. I love to go for walks here - all pictures where taken only 10 minutes by foot from home.

Heiko

Mad dog :)

One of my Landlords two dogs, a German Longhaired Pointer + Large Munsterlander-Mix (Deutsch-Langhaar + Großer Münsterländer-Mischling). .
Their owner is a hunter and Heiko is going to be trained as a gundog.
He´s another example for the rule that dogs, which are used for work and not for showing-off, don´t have to be "pure-bred".
You can see the same with Livestock guarding dogs in Eastern Europe, Stockdogs in Australia and even Sled dogs in the North - as long as they "function" breed doesn´t matter. Individual differences do, though.
Of cause it ususally doesn´t make much sense to try to train a Collie-kelpie-mix as a gundog and Heiko highly probably wouldn´t make good Herder - but if the breeds in the mix have the same "job" mixes appear to work as good as pure-breds. If you think about Hybrids, the Heterosis-effect and the health problems some dog breeds develop they might even often be the better option.

In any case - Heiko is still a puppy and great fun to be with! I take him for walks as often as I can.

My photos...

...can be found scattered on the net, here are my fotocommunity accounts:
Anne Linow
Anne Linow1
Enna Wonil

cheerio, Anne

Build bridges, not walls

Piglet Photo session

Wanted: New home for 3 pigs and 5 piglets : www.tierfreunde-lingen.de

It´s official...

...I´m an idiot. I bought a huge fish tank on e-bay, it took a lot of effort to get it here - and while I was trying to refurbish it, I broke one of the panes.

Impressions from Apenheul

Site of the dutch "zoo" which focuses on keeping primates: http://www.apenheul.com/.
The subtitles to the photos are preliminary, I´ll update them asap, thanks for your patience.
Gorilla

Fuchsmanguste - Cynictis penicillata - Yellow mongoose


Haubenlangur
Berberaffe - Barbary macaque
Gundi
Gundi enclosure
Kapuziner - Capuchin
Brüllaffe - Howler

Kronensifaka


Klammeraffe

Red bellied lemurs





Orang Utan



Capybara
Capybara
Totenkopfäffchen - Squirrel monkey- Saimiri boliviensis
Hylobates leucogenys - White cheeked Gibbon - bit confused about this one, thaught they were concolor...I´ll look it up.
Zwergseidenäffchen
Woolly monkey