25 March 2008
A man stopped by our house yesterday and said he had a baby black monkey that he wanted to give us – would we take it? Of course I said yes, not because I like monkeys. In fact I dislike monkeys and primates in general! Mostly because they are mean spirited (probably a result of mistreatment), you can’t look them in the eye without feeling like they are going to jump on you. And I have a couple of little scars on my arms from their lovely long fangs. Mickey, our gibbon has now narrowed the people he likes to just me and Amelie. He developed a grudge against Ben after he escaped when we had guests over. In trying to protect our guests, we had to wave a stick around at him. Mickey didn’t like that although he placed all the blame on Ben – even though I was waving around the stick just as much as Ben. Since then, he has had it in for Ben. If he does get out, I am the only one who can catch him. Great. Back to the baby monkey, I said yes because I was so surprised that this man wanted to give him to us. I was caught off guard I guess. It not very unusual for people to want to give away animals. Even if they don’t like them and can’t look after them. They would rather have the animal die than give it away. So having this man offer the monkey was strange. He had bought him off kids in Chi Ouk village and brought him to us. Now it is like having a newborn. He screams all the time and wants to be held. He is drinking milk and some food. He weighs about half a kilo (I should go weigh him) and should be with his mother. But now I am stuck with this little dependent. Amelie is thrilled. She named him Chips.
We caught a chicken yesterday. Ben killed it to eat for lunch today so it is cooking now (in the pressure cooker because it is a tough one). I am making curried chicken with Basil and coconut. We have too many chickens. Only 3 roosters (as we had a cull on the roosters a few months ago) but about 20 or 30 hens. They eat a lot of rice and there is no more rice in Rovieng until the next harvest which is in about 7 months. So they are importing it at exorbitant prices. Unhusked rice is about double the price it was last year. Incredible.
The wooly necked stork flew back for a visit on Sunday for a day. We raised him and his 2 brothers (or sisters) way back in 2002. As normally happens, they flew off one by one. But this one has managed to stay alive and comes back about once a year in the dry season when food is scarce. Unfortunately the fish was scarce here too so we only had 3 tiny catfish to give him. And so he flew off again to greener pastures I hope.
Amelie has been praying daily for a pony. A medium sized brown pony. Here is a picture of her on a pony at The Happy Ranch, in Siem Reap.
A man stopped by our house yesterday and said he had a baby black monkey that he wanted to give us – would we take it? Of course I said yes, not because I like monkeys. In fact I dislike monkeys and primates in general! Mostly because they are mean spirited (probably a result of mistreatment), you can’t look them in the eye without feeling like they are going to jump on you. And I have a couple of little scars on my arms from their lovely long fangs. Mickey, our gibbon has now narrowed the people he likes to just me and Amelie. He developed a grudge against Ben after he escaped when we had guests over. In trying to protect our guests, we had to wave a stick around at him. Mickey didn’t like that although he placed all the blame on Ben – even though I was waving around the stick just as much as Ben. Since then, he has had it in for Ben. If he does get out, I am the only one who can catch him. Great. Back to the baby monkey, I said yes because I was so surprised that this man wanted to give him to us. I was caught off guard I guess. It not very unusual for people to want to give away animals. Even if they don’t like them and can’t look after them. They would rather have the animal die than give it away. So having this man offer the monkey was strange. He had bought him off kids in Chi Ouk village and brought him to us. Now it is like having a newborn. He screams all the time and wants to be held. He is drinking milk and some food. He weighs about half a kilo (I should go weigh him) and should be with his mother. But now I am stuck with this little dependent. Amelie is thrilled. She named him Chips.
We caught a chicken yesterday. Ben killed it to eat for lunch today so it is cooking now (in the pressure cooker because it is a tough one). I am making curried chicken with Basil and coconut. We have too many chickens. Only 3 roosters (as we had a cull on the roosters a few months ago) but about 20 or 30 hens. They eat a lot of rice and there is no more rice in Rovieng until the next harvest which is in about 7 months. So they are importing it at exorbitant prices. Unhusked rice is about double the price it was last year. Incredible.
The wooly necked stork flew back for a visit on Sunday for a day. We raised him and his 2 brothers (or sisters) way back in 2002. As normally happens, they flew off one by one. But this one has managed to stay alive and comes back about once a year in the dry season when food is scarce. Unfortunately the fish was scarce here too so we only had 3 tiny catfish to give him. And so he flew off again to greener pastures I hope.
Amelie has been praying daily for a pony. A medium sized brown pony. Here is a picture of her on a pony at The Happy Ranch, in Siem Reap.
