Wildlife: The Heidi Chronicles: They're Here at Last!, 1 by DreamOfSpring

DreamOfSpring wrote:
Tonight Heidi and Juliet showed up as usual but no kits, nor did I see any sign of them in the trees. As you might recall, last night 2 of the kits insisted on staying after Heidi left, for a while ignoring repeated calls by their mother. Since they were not allowed back tonight, I wonder if they may be on restriction for their failure to listen to Mom. When she 1st left last night I tried to tell them that they had better go, but after they made it clear that they were staying I resumed feeding them grapes thereby further undermining Heidi's attempts to impose discipline. Hmm, maybe I'm being punished; maybe the kits will be brought out later.

Diva came by with her baby. As the baby was climbing down the fence, Juliet ran over there to threaten the kit. Both Heidi and Diva reprimanded Juliet. for her attrocious behavior. While Juliet was away threatening babies, Heidi stole Juliet's dish and refused to permit Juliet to return to it. Normally, Juliet would just have taken Heidi's food instead but tonight she just turned and quietly returned to the forest, once again confirming Heidi's superior status and showing that Juliet accepts that Heidi's ownership of the dish over by the sandbox and play area.

To stay well clear of Heidi's area, Diva and baby came around beside me - though not so near as Fraidy does; they stayed about 5ft away. Since they used that spot a few times before, I had put some food over there. I also put out a whole roasted chicken, cut into quarters with kitchen shears near there for Snowball. When Diva's baby found the chicken he was more than a little excited. Despite his diminutive size, he snatched up one hind quarter of the chicken - apparently prefering dark meat - and carried it a distance away to sit eating it. Between them, he and Diva ended up eating 3/4 of the chicken.

Except for a brief appearance by HRH after the ladies left, that was it. I sat in the dark a lone a little while after he left, but on one else showed up leading me to wonder if Heidi is driving the others away. I saw Fraidy a few nights ago but haven't seen Sugar or Panda or any of the others for a little while now. Normally they would have come out as soon as Heidi left. Around 3:30AM I took the dog out and noticed that the chicken was still out there along with the cherries and the watermelon indicating that even Snowball had kept his distance and that the others had not shown up later after I left. Heidi may now be taking care of the population problem on her own.

Below is Diva with her baby.

Edited to fix glitch in grammar ; )

This message was edited Aug 21, 2007 4:30 AM