In the garden

The first close encounter with a hedgehog that I remember vividly - except seeing them as roadkill :-( - was many years ago at our local zoo, the "Tierpark" in Göppingen. It was winter and I was mucking out the wallaby stable. Of course in the winter there is even more hay in there than during the summer to keep our little Bennetts warm. So I was there mucking along, sticking my fork into the pile of hay in the corner when the pile suddenly moved.
Of course you already know what it was, but I didn't. I have been jumped at by rats before and automatically jumped back. But instead of a rat I saw a hedgehog, quite a big fellow too. No wonder the wallabies had stayed in the front part of the stable!
We decided to make him a new nest somewhere where he wouldn't be disturbed all the time.
I can't be sure, but I like to think it was him who came back many years to spend winter at the zoo.

Then of course there was the little fellow that was brought up by Frieda, the good soul of the zoo for many, many years. When he (or she? I don't remember) was stronger, he broke out of his box every night and wreaked havoc in the kitchen. Such a small creature, but so full of energy. She must fed him well indeed!

In my sister's garden there also used to be hedgehogs every, now and then. They scared the cats sometimes when they started grunting loudly. Served the cats right, you don't disturb a couple in intimate moments, even if cats think they're allowed to intrude anywhere and anytime.

A very close encounter with a hedgehog was when we had to "rescue" one. My sister and my mother walked me home one night and there he was sitting in the middle of the street. Sis and I both have soft hearts and we were sure he was going to get himself run over. I didn't have gloves on me of course, but at last he was sitting in a garden next to the road (I was so glad nobody came out to ask what I was doing in their garden!), probably a little confused what had happened to him now.

Yesterday a dear Plurk friend who loves hedgehogs as well, wondered if I could make an ornament from wire. This was a challenge I could not resist.
I used gunmetal and ivory colored copper wire. The problem was that the ivory colored one is coated differently which means working with it is tougher. The wire also feels not as bendable as the gunmetal one. Listening to a concert of Max Raabe and his orchestra on TV helped to keep me relaxed enough to finish it.
Today I decided to try it in a different way and with bronze wire instead of the ivory one. The bronze wire also is not as smooth as my beloved copper wire and also I used smaller hooks, so it took somewhat longer, but in the end I was quite happy with the design. I think I was inspired by my Steiff hedgehogs.
I guess I'm not done experimenting yet. I need a good way to put ears and feet on there. And then there was the idea to make some farm animals .... hmm .......

Here you see them together in their little patch of (artificial) grass and flowers.

Meet the babies!!

Take a look at those sweeties, six week old serval babies from our local zoo, the Tierpark Göppingen. It's a boy and a girl and this was their first big photo session. Looks like baby girl doesn't like to be a model.
They don't have names yet because we might have a naming event for them at our summer fest. If you have any suggestions, go ahead and I will enter them for you! ;-)
Oh, and for those who don't know what servals are - they are medium-sized African wild cats.

Mr. Baby Serval thinking how boring all of this is ... *sigh*


His sister thinking how annoying humans can be ... "Leave me alone, I am big, strong and dangerous!"

Behind the scenes

We have a little zoo in Göppingen, I have mentioned that before. And we have a very big zoological/botanical garden not far from us, about 25 miles, the Wilhelma in Stuttgart. Our club president has connections to the Wilhelma as we are sometimes coached by them, the vet has helped us out with medical treatment when ordinary vets in the area couldn't help anymore and so on.
So today we were taken behind the scences by one of the curators. Unfortunately he didn't have much time, so we could not go where the animals are. No cuddling the baby chimps or the tigers! ;-) We saw and heard about the technical side, though. It was very interesting and he is a good story teller. For example I hadn't known that the Wilhelma has the world's largest collection of zoo posters in their food preparing area. He said they hadn't known, either, but when one of the seasons of a zoo show was shot there, the TV people were amazed about all those posters that come from all over the world and had somebody from the Guinness Book check it out. Shhh, just between us - I would have loved to take some of those posters home, especially the old Stuttgart ones.
After a while he had to go to supervise an arriving animal transport and "released" us. We split up in two groups, the adventurous one wanting to see as much as possible and the one I initiated, the slow one checking out only a few things (I had been there a short while ago and love to sit in front of an enclosure and just watch, my favorite are the Keas). As always when I visit a zoo, I had to buy a t-shirt and it's a real cool one, too. It has a big lizard on it. To work I usually wear my animal t-shirts, it's my trade mark.
It was very humid, the kind of weather I can't stand very well. Also I only had four hours of sleep (thanks, Ponder, grrr), so I am tired now and will probably meet my old pal Morpheus as soon as my head hits a pillow.
I was not all unproductive today, though.

One idea I had for our zoo, I only have to make some more samples, is to sell my animal pendants there and split earnings between the club and me.
Today I made another kitty and because a nice lady from SJA recommended a Siamese, I gave it a try. Here is the picture I took in a hurry (as you see, complimentary real cat hair is included ...). Pictures of the other critters will follow as soon as I have a bunch together. By the way, suggestions for possible pieces are still welcome!