Heidi Chronicles: Episode #9064 - ish

Today people are ragging me about wondering what else I have 'in there' - as if I have some kind of storage vault with various lunch items and what have you...

Thanks Debbies Daisy! I don't know why mine wouldn't load. Actually that picture was a chance shot....I tried to get a picture in the dark of her standing and cut off her head. I didn't notice until I downloaded it what I had taken a picture of. She looks too little to have babies. Maybe I should put out some eggs more often as she is the first one out there to get anything good. I got to watch her dunk cookies in water the other night.

Thanks Starlight for the encouragement to type away!

Judy

Judy,

The teats only show like that when they are nursing, so, yes, she is definitely nursing. If you look at the picture of Echo above, that's what the tummy area looks like otherwise.

To me she looks healthy, not underweight or anything like that. She's probably very hungry these days though. As for her size, even Heidi isn't very large - except in the latter weeks of pregnancy that is. From what I've read, raccoons are 15-20lbs larger in the far northern areas where heavy snow is the norm in winter. Our raccoons are relatively small, and I suspect that yours are as well. I would estimate that ours are roughly the size of a large house cat, maybe a tad larger.

Nothing of interest going on right now. It seems as though a terrible hush has fallen over the buffet - as we await some sign of things to come.

And no sign of babies lately, not even a whimper.

oh my, what are they waiting for?? :((

You are right on about their size here. My Puddy Tat is only a bit smaller than the female. I got quite a few pictures last night. The female came first as usual then what I expect is a male,he is really full and beautiful. His tail is awesome whereas hers is a bit worn looking. I wanted to get some good face shots of both of them to see if I could detect recognizable differences in them. I still have to study them but at this point the size and beauty of the fur makes it easy. There was a third one that I didn't see in the dark until it made a run for the woods.

Then again the first raccoon I saw here we named Ricky as he would come up in the yard often and in day light. Of course we kept our distance but a few months later Angel alerted me that he was in the yard but when I looked out "Ricky"was out there with 4 large kits. Ricky was much larger than the ones in the back now.

This is the probable male

This is the little mama

Judy

Sorry for the bad photo,he was only about 5 feet from me whereas she was about 20 feet away at the time. Lets see if I have a better one of her.

Here is a picture showing both of them.

Judy

Just FYI I have concluded, the popularity of frozen peas and blueberries not withstanding, that ordinary, boxed frozen dinners make a very handy ice pack when the usual options fail you. Of frozen peas and frozen entrees, each has its uses, while the former molds readily to fit irregular surfaces, the latter is much more likely to be found in the office freezer when an impromptu need arises (try not to steal someone else's) and is actually preferable for back and hip pain - smushing a bag of rapidly thawing frozen peas between your body and any part of your office chair is just a catastrophe in the making. Fortified and reinforced with plastic dishes and cardboard boxes, frozen dinners hold up much better under such circumstances - as my own experience demonstrates.

Just a little tidbit from what I learned this week - before we move on with the subject at hand.

Susan,

I just don't know what those kids are waiting for, but we could sure use some fluffy, furry visitors about now. There is just something about babies - of any kind. Aside from their obvious purpose of keeping the species going, much like spring time, they serve to breath life back into everything and remind of of the circle of life and a better day ahead.

I have no doubt they will be showing up any day now. There is quite a crowd out there right now and that may not be helping matters. Heidi has been known to bring her kits after hours a time or two before introducing them to the buffet during normal hours.

They will come. Any day now, when we least expect them, undoubtedly on a day when I do not have my camera with me.

Judy,

I really enjoyed your pictures. The one of the [supposed] male is positively adorable. I love the pose. As your experience with Ricky and my analogous dealings with Dennis demonstrate all too well, about the only definitive way to tell male from female is to wait for 'him' to show up with kits. ; )

I have had some success detecting males among a group where the numbers make it a little easier to see the distinctions. When looking at just two or three raccoons at a time it is much more difficult to make such an assessment. After you've seen a number of raccoons over time you begin to notice that yearling females, who are quite capable of reproduction, are noticeably smaller and different in shape from their more mature counterparts - much like the difference in appearance between [human] teens and say 30-somethings. (Hence the fact that Ruth and I both thought the one raccoon in Terese's pic looked rather young.) Anyhow, when comparing two adult raccoons, if one is noticeably larger than the other it may just be that one is yearling while the other is a more mature adult - or they could be male and female. It's just harder to say when looking at only two.

I have found that - and again I can't over stress that you need a group to see this reliably - once they reach reproductive maturity, in addition to being larger than the females, males have a noticeably larger and 'heavier looking' head and a broader forehead. When I look at the males (HRH, Trouble) standing next to the females, the male's head is always visibly larger with greater distance between his ears (and his eyes) as compared with hers. Before they young ones reach sexual maturity, there doesn't appear to be a way to tell male from female, at least not one that I have found yet, other than the obvious - and i'm not about to try to hold a raccoons' backside up by the tail to check that out.

Time will tell who is who. Either way, they are very cute.

It's pouring rain right now, and I hear thunder in the background, so I rather doubt that we will be seeing babies tonight. : (

I know, I know. I need to change threads. As soon as I get out the other laptop and find a cover shot...

Ah soot Cheryl.. Ya just go up, say excus e me there adn pic up tail and take good long peek. heheheheh Good ya see the e xpressions Heidi would have gave ya if you had ever trie d that. Can just imagine the indignat look on her face. LOL

before or after she clobbers me? LOL, starlight

I don't think I will try to distinguish male from female if it means I need a group of 20 plus raccoons to do it effectively. LOL I would rather live vicariously through your stories. :)
Thanks for the info though.

ROFLOL, Judy!

I didn't say 20. 5 or 10 might work.

I don't really want 20 either, but I haven't been able to get anyone to agree to take delivery of any of the extra ones.

Cheryl needs to start handing out birth control fro raccoons!

Have a good nights sleep, I will check back in the morning....too much activity and need to get some sleep myself.

Debbie

OMG...Sheryl I laughed so hard about your lunch ice pack ordeal my daughter Bekki thought I had lost my mind...hope your back gets to feeling better soon...are you still going to the pain managment Dr?

Bekki keeps asking me " Mama are you still reading that raccoon book" and I try to explain to her that this is a ongoing story...I thought that was cute

I was supposed to be leaving Texas on July 1st But Trinnie (my granbaby) started crying when I told her I only had couple more days and I gave in ...So I will be staying until the 14th now...so now Im wondering how I am going to beable to leave on the 14th without her crying ..it just breaks my heart when she crys

sorry I went OT there for a min

I will check in tomorrow to see if heidi has grace us with the presence of the babies...I know they got to be coming sooooooooon.

Below is a pic of me and trinnie

edited to say This is not a very good pic of me and I hope I havent scared anyone off...expecially heidi and the gang if there still reading the threads...LOL



This message was edited Jun 28, 2009 1:09 AM

Debbie,

Now that's an idea. Do you think it might help if I start crumbling "the pill" on their dinner? I have a few packs lying around. Not sure how I'll explain the need for 20 or so packs a month though.

I hope you got a good night's rest. I spent the whole night tossing and turning in pain in that semi-sleep state, the one where your body and mind want to sleep but your brain is registering a constant, moderately severe pain signal that is keeping it aware enough that you can't really call it sleep. Trying not to take pain meds. That's the trouble with pain meds, you can't take them all of the time forever. Anyhow, that's why I'm awake now to write posts. After an entire night with the imaginary spear through my hip, I just couldn't take it any more. I finally got up to take 1/2 pill. Need some relief.

Hi Jeani,

Trinnie is adorable, and I see considerable resemblance between you 2. Have you noticed that?

(Sorry, I started typing your response early this morning when I was up, but then had to lie back down before I could finish. Finishing now...)

When I read that Trinnie cried when you were leaving, so you decided to stay a little longer, my 1st thought was, "LOL, with that logic you will never leave." I see you have come to a similar conclusion noting that you aren't quite sure what you will do if she cries when it is time for you to leave again.

I haven't been to the pain doctor since that day after the extreme pain incident, the incident where I could not walk. The next day when I saw him I had no pain and could walk fine. He said with these new symptoms, intermittent bouts of pain and weakness in the leg, he suspects sciatic nerve involvement. He suspects a herniated disk but since the initial event was over in 24hrs said it might also have been an extreme muscle spasm in the area around the sciatic nerve pinching the nerve. Because I was fine the next day, he wanted to wait to see if the problem returned - which it has almost daily since then - if it returns, as it has, and lasts longer than 24hrs at a time, which it has, that would point to the herniated disk and he would want to do another MRI. Although I called his office to let them know that I am having problems and to get more meds, I have not been back yet. I have to try to schedule work somewhere between all of the Dr's visits, and I was hoping against hope that this was just some kind of muscle strain due to the 'raccoon kicking event'. I was hoping if I waited it would get better on its own, but that doesn't seem to be working. Now I'm thinking about getting a 2nd opinion. The back and leg are very important, perhaps too important to leave to 1 Dr's opinions.

While it may seem hard to believe today (given today's posts), I'm really trying to keep my whining out of the thread for so many reasons including the fact that it's just not what I want to be remembered for. Right now though it is effecting my ability to sleep, get work done around the house, and even to write posts as often (like this morning) the leg will begin to ache severely after only a short time sitting upright, and I will end up lying down again in an effort to relieve the discomfort.

In addition to typing my responses I had wanted to say a few words about last night, but each time I had tried I had ended up giving up before I got it done.

Still no sign of babies. I haven't seen Dennis in several days. If you recall it appeared to be her babies who were trilling in the trees just above the fence recently. I don't know if she is gone for the season, but last summer she was run off right after she pulled that stunt of bringing her babies out when they were way too young to be out of their cribs. Not sure if she has been ousted once more.

Last night I didn't get to go out until almost midnight due to hours and hours of intense rain and very active T-storms. Heidi never comes out in T-storms, so I did not expect her to bring the kits out last night even when it was finally over. She does not take any risks with the kits.

Hope you enjoy your extra time there with your DD and Trinnie.

I couldn't believe you thought that was a bad pic. I thought it was very nice. I think we all think that about pictures of ourselves.

Last night I didn't get out until around midnight due to storms. By that time the crowd was very large, including both 1st and 2nd string. Fraidy was there and was able to eat peacefully until the others ran out of food - which really didn't take very long for such a large crowd.

Once the crowd ran out of food they soon realized that only Heidi and Fraidy had food remaining. Heidi had no difficulty defending herself, but that left Fraidy as a sitting duck. For a while I was able to hold them back with my water bottle, but I soon found that even I was out gunned this time. Soon they were coming at her from all sides. As soon as I backed one up another practically waiting in line for a turn. With this repeated on both her right and left as well as straight on, I found myself pumping the trigger as fast as I could with no chance to rest as they descended on 'us' one after another in an endless succession. They just would not quit. They were hungry and determined. As fast as I would turn one around it seemed as though that one would just get back in the back of the line to try again. My arms were aching, and I was running low on water when Fraidy herself finally realized that even with my help it was hopeless. She left, and the hungry mob descended on her remaining food. It was gone in minutes.

The only 'up' moment last night occurred when Heidi decided she wanted to drink some of that fresh rain water from my 'chair'. I was sitting on the garden scoot which collect a good amount of water under the seat. Dennis used to drink from it all the time with me sitting there. Heidi had thought about it a few times but had always turned away at the last moment to drink from the pool. Last night she decided it was time. She went around behind me to drink from the back of the thing. I felt the barely there touch of her nose just a hair's breadth from my backside and thought, "please don't bite me, please don't bite me!" as I tried to remain relaxed. A minute or so later I peeked over my opposite shoulder to see her drinking.

Well, as they say in the cartoons, "That's All Folks!"

Actually, that's all for this thread which has grown exceptionally long now. I have created a new thread here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1008359/

I look forward to seeing you there!

Please don't forget to mark the new thread. We don't want to loose anyone.