My New Puppy!

Ok, well, I did what it said to do to upload the picture. I'm not too convinced that you can see it.

But anyway, I'm getting a new puppy! Her name is Fiona and she's a Colorado Mountain Dog. If you want to know what they are and what their history is, go to www.coloradomountaindogs.com

I haven't picked her up yet but I can hardly wait! This pic is her at barely 8 weeks. They're quite large dogs but also very docile and polite. They're 3/4 Great Pyrenese and 1/4 Anatolian Shepherd. Since I'm hoping to relocate to Colorado full time, I will be needing a dog like her, because the area I'm going has a problem with mountain lions, and these dogs are a great deterrent. Once I've raised Fiona and moved to Colorado, then I'll get a second dog as a companion for Fiona and because two large dogs have a better chance at safety if confronted w/ a mountain lion. The point is, though, to scare the lions off of your property in the first place. When Wendy moved to Colorado, a mountain lion ate all her goats and was still crouched in her barn one morning when she went out to feed her horses. She was hugging her stallion when the lion leaped over them and ran over to hide in the gulch next to their house. And the lion would NOT leave. Very scary. So she looked into dogs and discovered this breed. These dogs are dream dogs as family dogs and are soo good with other animals!

That's a huge reason I chose this breed! I need a dog that's not going to eat my hamsters, or if I were to get another research permit and be able to do another immersion study with another owl, the dog would not go after the owl. These puppies were raised with chicks, chickens, kittens, and cats and all they do is gently lick them! THAT's my kind of dog!

I hope the photo came through!

Your letters and stories

I feel so touched by your posts and letters. It's amazing to me how many of you are concerned about my health, for example (which is up and down, but is certainly better than it was in the early years), and how many of you really "get it" about the deep relationship we can have with an animal! THANK YOU for sharing so much with me!

I think that if we are looking and listening, it's possible that we can be reached by an animal on a deep level. We're all connected, and that includes animals. After all, we're all made of the same "stuff" and have minds, hearts, souls, and bodies. I'm not surprised when I hear about a particular animal appearing to you over and over again to comfort you, especially after losing a loved one! There's so much we don't know! Science is one way that we explore and try to understand how things work, but it's just scratching the surface. We don't really know how it all works!

I think that before we had language we must have used a form of telepathy to communicate, and science is showing that animals still do. If that's true, then there is possibly a way to reach out to animals with our hearts and minds after all.

If you haven't already, read Grayson, by Lynne Cox. She's a champion cold water swimmer who was doing her normal workout in the Pacific ocean when she was approached by a lost baby gray whale looking for his mother. She stayed with him the entire time while looking for his mom! She and the baby tried every possible way to find the mother and to call the mother to no avail. After hours of this, Lynne dove down and then thought with all her might, sending a thought message to the mother, "Your baby is HERE! Come HERE! Your baby is HERE!" and sure enough, here came the mother. She had about a hundred or more witnesses to this because the Long Beach pier had filled up with people as the coast guard and other boating people had pulled up to her out in the water asking why she wasn't coming in to shore and she told them what was going on.

When the mother came back, she nudged Lynne over and over again and the baby grunted a sort of thank you to her. What an AMAZING story!

She contacted me after reading about how I used a similar method to communicate with Wesley. The book, Grayson, is just magical. It reads like a fairy tale, only we know it's true. It's the kind of story that would be turned into a myth if there hadn't been so many eyewitnesses!

PS: I still need questions from you and ideas about what you'd want to hear about in the next book about Wesley - what do you want to know about him that you don't already know, if anything?

Bitten by a Black Widow Spider

Remember in the book how I was talking about biologists being sort of "proud" of their encounters w/ animals that resulted in scars/bites? Well I wasn't thinking about venomous animals. No, those are not to be joked about and I never thought about being bit by a venomous animal.

My Dad was bitten by a rattlesnake when he was about 16, but he had smuggled it into his room and was keeping it as a pet, unbeknownst to his parents! He had tamed it pretty well and, as 16 year old kids will do, he got a little careless and it bit him. Did he run to his parents and tell them? Noooooo! That would be too easy. His parents were very kind and permissive so it's not like he would have gotten in big trouble but he just shrugged and went to bed that night. The next morning his arm was swollen to twice or three times its size and some of the tissue was dying. He almost had to have the arm amputated, but they used a new treatment and were able to save it. Sheesh!

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, I guess. I wasn't keeping a black widow as a pet, but the spider was living in the piano, right next to my bed (I didn't know it though). I woke up one morning about 3 weeks ago and could barely get out of bed, I was sooo dizzy. I had to hold on to the walls to walk. Did I go running to the doctor? No. I mentioned it to Cait on the phone but when you've had an illness w/ lots of strange symptoms you tend to say to yourself, "Well, this is a new symptom but it's probably more of the same stuff I deal with anyway." and it never occurs to you that this could be a NEW problem!

So for 2 or 3 days I was pretty much bedridden from being too dizzy to get up. Then when I was able to get up, I felt like I'd been in the house too much so I went over to my Mom's house and we went to dinner. Only I still felt horrible and my eyes were running so much that it looked like I was crying my eyes out - only I wasn't. I told my mom I had a "cold". I was too tired to go home so I slept on her couch. Next morning I got up to go home and fell right back to sleep on her couch and didn't wake up until she got home from work that evening! I still felt bone tired.

Oh. And I had this huge itchy burning round rash thing on my chest right below my throat, and in the center the skin kept dissolving and sloughing off! Over and over again! It was like a flesh eating bacteria or something, so I kept putting iodine on it and such.

Geez you'd think I'd get a clue!

Finally, I went back home and was in bed and felt something crawling on me. I smacked it and turned on the light and there was the black widow!

Suddenly it all fell into place. DUH! I had been bitten by a black widow spider! I called my doctor and he said that it sounded like I'd been through the worst of it and there wasn't much else to do now but just ride it out. So that's why I haven't been online in AGES!

I'm starting to feel like myself again.

I hadn't realized that black widows were quite THAT venomous, but I've since learned that people have died from black widow spider bites. Gosh, we have them everywhere in California. My garage is full of them!

If there's a next time (God forbid), I'll pay more attention and go to the doctor. ;-)

On another subject, Wendy has THREE litters of her champion Ragdoll cats. They are so cuddly and sweet and pliant - hence the name ragdoll. Some of them play fetch like a dog! They are the most awesome cats!

I was visiting Wendy last September and was sleeping on a mattress on the floor. She had put all the many cats in their room but I asked for at least one to stay out with me and sleep w/ me so she left Crem-Broullette (spelling?) out w/ me. Well, I had Wesley flashbacks all night as the kitty kept catching mice and putting them gently into my hand as I slept! I kept waking up to her little gifts, which I put in the trash. Just like Wesley! So considerate! ;-)

-Stacey
copyright Wesley the Owl, Inc. 2009

Thank you for your letters!

I just wanted to let you know that I DO receive your letters. Those of you who have sent letters via Free Press/Simon and Schuster, be assured that they have passed them on to me and I've really been touched by your stories, pictures, and everything else you've sent. You've all been very kind and I never expected this - to actually hear from people and for people to share their stories with me, about their animals or their experiences w/ an owl, or about grieving over an animal, or a myriad of other shared experiences. I really appreciate everyone who has written in the comments section or has written me via my publisher. It's just amazing!

I'm barely keeping up w/ my email at all, so I haven't been able to write back to anyone, but please accept my sincerest thank yous for the lovely letters and for all that you've shared. It's an amazing journey so far!!

Sincerely,
Stacey O'Brien

PS: I got my Wesley plushie and he REALLY has Wesley's little attitude. Wendy was amazing in her ability to capture Wesley's personality in soft sculpture - but she's such a genius at all that she does! Anyway, my Wesley plushie sleeps with me and then sits up by the bed during the day. It's almost as if Wesley himself were here. It's amazing to have a plushie of my own little Wesley!

@2009 Wesley the Owl, Inc.

The Amazon/Parasite and Spider Guy got back in touch w/ me!

Hi All!

If you've read the book, you must remember the guy at Caltech who had all those parasites in him because of his work in the Amazon. And you probably remember the guy who had so many spiders that his office was full of petri dishes w/ spiders living in them and his house was overgrown with spider webs outside and had petri dishes w/ spiders in them all over the inside of the house. Well, there were TWO such spider guys, actually, so I wrote about them separately, but the Amazon guy was ALSO a spider guy, if you follow. He studied both monkeys AND jumping spiders.

Anyway, he DID get married and his wife wrote to me and we're all back in touch now! How fun is that? She says that when she first met him, she was instructed that when she went up the walkway to the door of his house, she was to keep her arms close to her body and stay in the middle of the path so as not to disturb the spiders' webs! And then, once inside, she observed all these petri dishes full of spiders on the counters, tables, shelves. But she was not put off and they are happily married.

We are planning to get together soon, along with a primatologist who I knew back then. This is SOME ADVENTURE!

And, in answer to a question from one of you, there were guys who loved Wesley. Guy Ritter absolutely adored Wesley and was very patient with him and spent a lot of time w/ him, to the point where Wesley trusted him more than he had ever trusted a man. Guy has a way with animals and always has. He would have been very happy to have Wesley as a "son", but it didn't work out for us. He is happily married w/ kids and we still keep in touch though! I even went to his wedding!

Sincerely,
Stacey O'Brien
@Wesley the Owl, Inc.

Wesley the Owl being published worldwide!

Hi All!

Wesley the Owl is being published in quite a few countries, soon. In fact, it is already out in Brazil! I know it's coming out in China, in both languages, Taiwan, S. Korea, Brazil, the U.K., Italy, and in Spanish, also in Germany and Poland. I may be missing a few but you get the idea. I'm THRILLED!!! The title may be slightly different depending on the language - at least the subtitle.

There was a very good review in O Globo recently. O Globo is the main newspaper in Brazil.

I don't know how to set this blog up to allow separate sections. If any of you knows, maybe you could tell me how by writing it in the comments? But without that, I do want to let readers know that if you are following the blog but don't feel comfortable writing in English, I do read Portuguese and Spanish. I may not be quite so hot at writing in those languages but I can read your comments at least! It's easier to read/understand a language than it is to write/speak it, I've always found.

If I can figure out a way to have a Spanish section and a Portuguese section, and if there are readers who want that, I'll try to figure out how to do it.

I don't speak/read the other languages the book is being published in, unfortunately.

As always, thank you all SO MUCH for your comments and stories! I am always inspired by hearing from you! It means a lot to me that you are sharing a love of Wesley with me. I am still grieving over him even after 4 years! I haven't really even gone into the room that he and I lived in, except for when absolutely necessary, because of the grief involved. But there is total joy in sharing him with you and seeing how he is still touching people even after his life on earth is over. In fact, he is still bringing light and joy into my life because of the book and those of you who are sharing my love for him! It's such an amazing, joyous, fantastic, miraculous turn of events! WOW!

Sincerely,
Stacey O'Brien
@Wesley the Owl, Inc.

Freedom, the Bald Eagle, and his human friend

Someone sent me this story. I don't know where it really came from and I have been unsuccessful at loading the picture. Suffice it to say that the eagle had his head down and seems to be resting its forehead on the man's chest. I have seen many people snuggled up to their unreleasable bird of prey. In fact, when people (rehabbers and owl keepers) ask me whats the best enrichment they could provide their owl, I say, "AFFECTION!" They are almost always surprised. But owls are very affectionate w/ their mates in the wild and they spend hours grooming each other. It's very soothing to them, and to live their entire lives without it would make them nervous and irritable and sad. So, if they are truly never going to be released, tame them and give them the afffection they crave and would have received in the wild!

This guy's story is very similar to mine, and to many other peoples' stories about how their animals sensed when they were sick, or how their animals played a huge role in their healing. Animals are here for a reason. They are not some big accident. They have personalities and they can teach us so much. We are not the end all of all things. The glory of this world is the magnificent diversity of life, color, personality, song, movement....and much of that comes from animals, not people. The earth fairly bursts with joyful life if we don't mess it up. That's why I prefer to be in the wilderness whenever possible!

Sincerely, Stacey O'Brien @2009 Stacey O'Brien (above)

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Here's his story:

Not many people get a picture of this proud bird snuggled up next to them.Freedom and JeffFreedom and I have been together 10 years this summer. She came in as a baby in 1998 with two broken wings. Her left wing doesn't open all the way even after surgery, it was broken in 4 places . She's my baby.When Freedom came in she could not stand and both wings were broken. She was emaciated and covered in lice. We made the decision to give her a chance at life, so I took her to the vets office. From then on, I was always around her. We had her in a huge dog carrier with the top off, and it was loaded up with shredded newspaper for her to lay in. I used to sit and talk to her, urging her to live, to fight; and she would lay there looking at me with those big brown eyes. We also had to tube feed her for weeks.This went on for 4-6 weeks, and by then she still couldn't stand. It got to the point where the decision was made to euthanize her if she couldn't stand in a week. You know you don't want to cross that line between torture and rehab, and it looked like death was winning. She was going to be put down that Friday, and I was supposed to come in on that Thursday afternoon. I didn't want to go to the center that Thursday, because I couldn't bear the thought of her being euthanized; but I went anyway, and when I walked in everyone was grinning from ear to ear. I went immediately back to her cage; and there she was, standing on her own, a big beautiful eagle. She was ready to live. I was just about in tears by then. That was a very good day.We knew she could never fly, so the director asked me to glove train her. I got her used to the glove, and then to jesses, and we started doing education programs for schools in western Washington . We wound up in the newspapers, radio (believe it or not) and some TV . Miracle P ets even did a show about us.In the spring of 2000, I was diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma. I had stage 3, which is not good (one major organ plus everywhere), so I wound up doing 8 months of chemo. Lost the hair - the whole bit. I missed a lot of work. When I felt good enough, I would go to Sarvey and take Freedom out for walks. Freedom would also come to me in my dreams and help me fight the cancer. This happened time and time again.Fast forward to November 2000, the day after Thanksgiving, I went in for my last checkup. I was told that if the cancer was not all gone after 8 rounds of chemo, then my last option was a stem cell transplant. Anyway, they did the tests; and I had to come back Monday for the results. I went in Monday, and I wa s told that all the cancer was gone.So the first thing I did was get up to Sarvey and take the big girl out for a walk. It was misty and cold. I went to her flight and jessed her up, and we went out front to the top of the hill. I hadn't said a word to Freedom, but somehow she knew. She looked at me and wrapped both her wings around me to where I could feel them pressing in on my back (I was engulfed in eagle wings), and she touched my nose with her beak and stared into my eyes, and we just stood there like that for I don't know how long. That was a magic moment. We have been soul mates ever since she came in. This is a very special bird.On a side note: I have had people who were sick come up to us when we are out, and Freedom has some kind of hold on them. I once had a guy who was terminal come up to us and I let him hold her. His knees just about buckled and he swore he could feel her power coarse through his body. I have so many stories like that.I never forget the honor I have of being so close to such a magnificent spirit as Freedoms.Hope you enjoy this.Jeff