Wildlife: Heidi Chronicles: The Kids Grow Up So Fast, 1 by DreamOfSpring

DreamOfSpring wrote:
As I stated earlier, to night was pretty much a bust. I even took out the strawberry fluff and served it on graham crackers. Everybody had it all over them. They seemed to enjoy it though not as much as frosting and cool whip - surprisingly.

The big news of the night came when all that 'mewing' and I've been hearing night after night from the forest finally yielded forth 2 little black kits, Dennis' two, still surprisingly small. In the end I had to conclude that Dennis is not really cut out for this motherhood thing. She had been in the yard for a while when one tiny kit, still so small it had to stretch to walk on top of the pointy fence, finally made showed its self. As the kit walked up and down the fence bewildered and crying for its mom, Dennis paid no attention at all, never even bothered to look up. One of the other adults picked a shouting match with the little tyke up on the fence while leaving. The little guy looked terrified and still quite ungainly up there on the fence. Still no reaction from Dennis. I was even starting to question my ID of the kit as hers despite the fact that, like her, and like the kits I'd seen her with that night so long ago, the one atop the fence was as dark as night.

Finally, the adult got around the kit on the fence and left. Then another kit joined the 1st one. The wandered around up there crying out and huddling together. I called and called to them and threw peanuts and fluff covered graham crackers up against the fence to try and coax them down. After a few failed, half-hearted and aborted attempts, one finally waddled down the fence post and grabbed a chicken thigh I had tossed back there mostly for Snowball and Puddle and Co. The little fella seemed most pleased with his find, however, and even though it was almost as big as he was, tried to drag it back up the fence. Naturally, that didn't work out. In the end, he stayed down on the slope gnawing on the chicken and was quickly joined by the other sibbling. I tossed some cat food up there on the slope along with the chicken, peanuts, and cookies. It was at that point that Dennis finally looked up from her dinner to survey the situation, but still she did not go to them. Maybe 15 or 20 minutes later Dennis finally meandered up there to join them.

For the bond we shared, Dennis will forever hold a special place in my heart, but I don't think she's got the motherhood gene. Still, it is amazing to see that somehow the little tykes have managed to survive inspite of how the deck seems stacked against them. For a very long time now, they have been but a voice crying out in the darkness, and at times I had begun to doubt their continued existance, but they have muddled through somehow.

Both of them look just like their mom. Here is a pic (very distant shot in the dark) of the 1st kit being accosted by the adult on the fence.