Here is my little 8:30 AM visitor. As I mentioned, I was trimming roses and such. Hence the clippings on the ground. As you can see, it was bright daylight.
Heidi Chronicles: Nursing The Next Generation
Goodness, I'm glad nobody got hurt in the altercation with the yearling!
That bites that your beautiful, expensive rose tree got scalped--yep, I'd definitely educate that guy about that! (and maybe get some free work out of him for it?)
Your 1' rose tree reminds me of the time, about 3 years ago, when a friends husband cut off a 5" diameter Ornimental Cherry branch when he was instucted to simply trim all the weedy honeysuckle vines off of the fence. Argh! It was a very full branch that I had planned on tieing a rope swing to.
I am so glad to hear your excitement at feeling independant and ablt to pursue your beloved gardening. I have a kneeling bench that is wonderful. one way it is a kneeling bench and then by turning it upside sown it is a comfy seat. (folds up too)
Gutsy yearling there, huh!! Very handsome young chap though.
Sheri
Grapes I grow in the backyard garden for the wildlife. I've never eaten even one grape. I grow several varieties. This one is a white/green grape, so the color doesn't signify lack of ripeness. I don't think these are quite ripe yet but getting close. This was a much bigger bunch when i 1st saw it a few days ago. If you look closely, you can see where a number of grapes have already been sampled. Over the past few years I've not been able to tend to the garden due to my injuries. I'm sure the grapes would produce more if I were able to take care of them. The past few days I've been out there working a few hours most days and am making good progress. Maybe I'll be able to take better care of things in the future.
As you know the raccoons are quite fond of grapes. I think the birds like them, too.
I had almost forgotten I even had a fig tree out there. It was so hidden under the weeds and over growth back there. I think it would do better if it got more light and also if I kept the weeds off of it and fertilized it occasionally. Maybe now that I'm doing better. Here again, as with the grapes, I don't eat the figs. I tasted one the 1st year, back when the tree, now 6ft+, was under a foot tall. This one bears small, black figs which are very sweet.
I don't know about the other animals, but I do know that the raccoons eat these when they get ripe.
I'm getting strawberries for the first time, this year - planted them last year. But the raccoons are eating them, as soon as they start turning red. Oh well... at least they're not eating my veggies. I bet they love those sweet figs!
Liz
Wow, that's great news that Bast has returned and is nursing a litter. That mangled foot is still very sad and the toe probably is infected without the claw to protect it, but I agree that antibiotics are risky at best - and probably quite dangerous while she's nursing. Her attitude toward Heidi is a bit disturbing, but it sounds like you have the situation well in hand - as usual. Glad to hear you're able to get garden work done again; hope that progress continues!
hey Cheryl... finally got a chance to get on line.
working too many days, [lousy teen-aged held] and crappy internet has kept me off line for 4-5 days.
even if i'm not posting... i'm trying to read.
Liz,
I had strawberries for several years, too. Mine finally succumbed to neglect and overgrowth of other plants. I was rarely able to get a ripe strawberry either. Something used to run around taking a bite out of every large strawberry in my garden. I suspected it was birds. I've found that once you invite wildlife to share your yard, you can't expect to harvest fruit there - unless you can grow enough for them and you.
Those grapes in the picture are almost 1/2 gone now. The other day I picked a single grape, washed it, and took a bite. Even before I bit into it, I could tell it was not ripe as it was too small and rock hard. The taste was as sour as a lemon, definitely not ripe. That something is out there eating those grapes and has already managed to eat over half of them (other bunches are gone completely now) just goes to show the impossible problem you are up against when trying to pick fruit before the critters eat it. They must be pretty hungry to eat those unripe grapes.
Hi Ruth!
The swelling is gone from Bast's toe now, at least for the moment. It has been back to normal in size since a few days after that photo was taken. I suspect the toe probably flares up from time to time, perhaps when she is forced to do too much walking in search of food. Since she has been back, the toe has been looking normal and she has put on weight. You can no longer see the feint ripple of ribs under her fur as shown in one of the pics above. She now walks and even runs w/o limping. All in all she looks much better than I would have expected for what she went through. I've not seen her kits, but the low hanging mammary glands suggest she has some.
I don't understand Bast's behavior with respect to Heidi. If she keeps it up I fear that Heidi will bounce her from the buffet which would not be to Bast's benefit at all. That Heidi continues to allow Bast to share the buffet seems a testimant to Heidi's benevolence as a ruler and her tolerance. I should add that Bast never tries to take Heidi's food or her spot once Heidi has claimed it. Bast isn't totally crazy. She tries to rush in to claim it 1st. Heidi lives by a fairly strict code of rules that prevent her from fighting to defend food to which she has not yet laid claim. Once Heidi claims the spot and the food, no one is foolish enough to even try to take it - well, except for her adolescent kids in late summer who will 'sneak' in a grab an egg or something. Today I tossed a marshmallow and it landed about 18" from Heidi. Heidi doesn't eat marshmallows. Neither does Bast, but Bast wanted to see what it was. She tried to sneak in close enough to sniff it, but Heidi growled at her, and Bast quickly retreated back to her food. She doesn't mess with Heidi once Heidi 'owns' the spot.
Ruth, we haven't seen the 1st kit. Then I read your post today and...
Hi Terese!
Good to know you are with us.
Yesterday, I went out around 7PM after the big t-storm. You would think that might have cooled things down a bit, but it just seemed to increase the suffocating humidity. It was miserable out there and I was planning to go back in every second or so but was hoping Heidi would show up 1st. Heidi never comes out in t-storms, so that's probably why she was running late.
Raccoons kept arriving. Every few minutes a bush along the fence line would jiggle, and a raccoon face would soon appear. I was starting to run low on food. Heidi finally showed up. Then a very sweet little yearling came right up so close beside me she was partially hidden by my leg. That one is as comfortable around me as a pet. Reminds me of Dennis - in comfort level, not behavior. I'm not certain, but I believe that's the kit that Freida used to leave with me when she would go gallivanting around the forest last summer leaving me to baby sit the 'lost' kit. I gave her the last of the food I had with me and later went back to get her some more (and a few marshmallows) because she is just too sweet, that one.
About that time a small sapling started to sway and jiggle. I looked up to see who was coming to dinner now. For a moment my sun baked brain was foggy trying to figure out where all those tiny 'yearlings' came from when all of a sudden I realized that I was looking at the 1st kits of the 2010 season. A total of 3 adorable little youngsters climbed up the tree and sat watching us. I was reminded of the very 1st day I saw Heidi's 06 kits sitting in that same sapling and how they had looked for all the world like Koalas sitting upright on the tiny limbs.
Heidi turned to look at the kits and calmly resumed her meal. After a few minutes the kits climbed back down the tree and were not seen again. I've no idea whose kits they were but would be very surprised if they were Heidi's. She is usually much more careful with her kits. For starters, she would have left them on a sturdy limb of a larger tree where they would be safe, not down on the ground as these must have been when not climbing the small sapling.
At any rate, I've always found that once the 1st kits show up, it's game on. There will soon be kits everywhere. I'll try to make sure I take the camera with me henceforth.
I'm sure you're right, Cheryl, in thinking that Bast's toe swells when she has to walk more. The pressure on that toe without the claw to protect it must be unnatural and painful; her survival and high level of functioning is quite remarkable. I'm glad to hear that she obeys the society's "rules" as far as not challenging Heidi once Heidi "owns" an area; but still suspect, like you, that the constant challenges will eventually result in her ousting; when the kits arrive, if not before. Not a wise survival move on her part, and thus surprising.
What's with the teaser about kits?? More info, please!
Yes indeed, "game on." Like you, I suspect that those kits were not Heidi's as I can't imagine her having that "que sera" attitude about her own kits. But hopefully this signals that hers will soon appear also...
Ruth,
I saw those same 3 kits again the next day. I got a distant, grainy pic of them. I'll post it in the new thread. I also believe I've discovered the ID of the mother which I will also reveal in the new thread, link below.
As this thread is now getting quite long, I've started a new thread which will be easier to load especially for those on dial up. The new thread is: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1109447/
THE END (of this thread)
Please post subsequent comments at: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1109447/
