Friday, June 10, 2011

Fish, Glorious Fish



Hi! I’m Hansel!
Hi! I’m Gretel!
We’re the fabulous Otter babies!
In case you’ve been living under a rock or haven’t been payin attention to the fan page, we are the most important rehab Kindra will do this year! ‘Cuz it’s us! And we are fabulous! And we are hungry! We need fish! Lots and lots of fish! And other things that hang out in the water where we will eventually get to live. Once Kindra gets done doing her mama otter impression and teaching us all the stuff we have to know we will get to go back to nature and do our otter thang. We’re sure teaching you humans about how wonderful we are is a noble calling, but we don’t hear that phone ringing! As soon as we can catch our own dinner we are so outta here! In the meantime, apparently mama otter Kindra needs help getting us fish. Remember we are growing otter babies…which means we can eat a LOT. To inspire you, we’ve been working on a song. Our scribe would like us to apologize to the people of the musical Oliver! since we “borrowed” the song from their movie. So sing our song to the tune of “Food, Glorious, Food” and have fun…
We hope you enjoy it.

Fish, Glorious, Fish….by Hansel and Gretel Otter

Is it worth the waiting for?
If we live 'til eighty four
All we ever get is formula!
Ev'ry day we ask our mom --
Will she change the food we’re on?
Still we get the same old formula!
We have tried to explain without being too shrill,
Growing otters need ‘em for munchin!
But there's nothing to stop us from getting a thrill
When we all close our eyes and imag...ine

Fish, glorious fish!
So yummy and smelly!
While we're making a wish --
Any fish but a Jelly!
Pike, Minnows, and Big Mouth Bass!
How about some Crappy?
Catch‘em sitting on yerass --
and make us happy!

Fish, glorious fish!
We're anxious to try it.
Six banquets a day --
Our favorite diet!

Just picture a big Catfish --
Fresh caught in our dish.
Oh, fish,
Wonderful fish,
Marvelous fish,
Glorious fish.

Fish, glorious fish!
What is there that’s better?
Raw, whole is delish --
Just hold on the butter!
What is it we dream about?
What brings on a sigh?
Heaps of Carp, Minnows and Trout
Stacked six feet high!

Fish, glorious fish!
Eat right through the menu.
Our fave is Catfish
Do you have some on you?
Worked up a new appetite.
And so we must wish –
for fish,
Once again, fish
Fabulous fish,
Glorious fish.

Fish, glorious fish!
Don't care who catches it --
Red, yellow, or blueish!
Don't care who donates it.
Just thinking of growing fat --
Our senses go reeling
One moment of knowing that
Full-up feeling!

Fish, glorious fish!
What wouldn't we give for
That extra bit more --
That's all that we live for
Why should we be fated to
Do nothing but wish
for fish,
Magical fish,
Wonderful fish,
Marvelous fish,
Fabulous fish,

[HANSEL]
Beautiful fish,

[GRETEL]
Glorious fish

Thursday, June 2, 2011

DIRTY LAUNDRY!! (A glance into the daily life of CLAWS)



The title of this blog might sound rather boring but when you add two very cute baby otters running wildly through the CLAWS kitchen to jump into their green turtle shaped kiddy pool it gets more exciting! Splashing and tumbling in the water to get the best pool toys first, Hansel and Gretel are quite the tag team! Hansel manages to get that best pool toy (which happens to be a bottle cap!) before his sister has a chance! Gretel jumps on his back trying to wrestle ALL the toys from Hansel and water drenches the floor AND our feet. Hansel refuses to lose his cap so he grabs it in his mouth and jumps out of the pool to run for the safety of the corner of the kitchen where his human mom (Mrs. Claws) sits watching. The floor has been covered with at least a dozen or so towels for them to slither on to dry off however Mrs. Claws’ jeans are preferable at the moment! The two lose interest in the bottle cap only to tumble around on the towels, scoot and slither to dry off a bit more before chasing each other back into the pool to start all over again!! This is just a small window into life at CLAWS where laundry is not a weekly task but a daily one that the two baby otters have upped by 1.5 loads/day all by themselves!

When doing my research on how much it costs to do laundry (detergent- TIDE with bleach, water, electricity for both washer and dryer) I found this really neat website for calculating costs http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/laundry.html If you ONLY count laundry for the two baby otters (averaging ~11 loads of laundry per week) CLAWS pays approximately $83 a month for ONLY the otter babies!!!! Again, that does NOT include the many other rehab babies being raised at CLAWS OR the permanent educational animals that live with CLAWS. Hence my blog!

When thinking of CLAWS expenses the ones that immediately come to mind are things like food- (formula & solids) as well as medical care. Surely these are the first and most expensive part of saving these wonderful animals in need, but there are day to day expenses that we the general public, volunteers and fans rarely think of….like the expense of feeding utensils (baby bottles and nipples- the otter babies do not suck, they chew!!), paper towels, dish detergent, electricity and LAUNDRY all add up quickly in the monthly budget!! So the next time you are grumbling about doing laundry (something I personally grumble about often!) think about CLAWS! AND if you are like me and you don’t want to DO their laundry, think about donating some TIDE with bleach and maybe sending them a little extra cash this month towards baby otter laundry!! Remember, all donations go straight towards the care of the animals. No one at CLAWS is paid. And to reward you for reading my “dirty laundry” blog, check out these adorable baby otter pool photos!! Thank you CLAWS for all you do for wildlife!