Heidi Chronicles: Dreaming of Spring

here is the kitchen 'back door' the one we normally go out. with heavy snows, I prefer to go out the garage, as then me and buddy can 'de-snow' before we enter the house.

and i shoveled all that snow so we could get out, shoveled a path for Bud, he can walk in semi deep snow, but since his knee surgeries... i dont want him too. Plus, he did get stuck as this time it's just too deep. most of the back yard had 3-4' drifts, Bud's legs are not that long... he could probably handle a foot.

DH snow blowed the back yard -- a path for buddy and cleared the patio. there is no way i could have shoveled it all.
grrrrrrrrrrrrr - the images are on my PC upstairs. BRB. two more i want to post.

Terese,

Do you have any pics that are a little 'clearer' than the one attached to your last post?

here is the back yard at 6am, so it's a bit dark still.

Terese,

I was being silly. I know, I know. I crack me up. Your last post (before mine) started with "here is the kitchen 'back door'...", but I could not see the picture (none there), so I asked for a 'clearer' one. What can I say. Everyone's a comic.

Your real photos are quite clear - even on the Mac. ;-)
I haven't had a chance to view the last 2 you posted yet. Will return later. Thanks very much for posting the pics and explaining snow to me (serious, not sarcastic).

Edited to add: Oh, now I see. in the post where I was being facetious, I should have used the wink thing. I'll try to remember that.

This message was edited Feb 2, 2011 2:26 PM

Terese,

I couldn't resist looking now. I'm a little confused by the 1st (of the 2 new ones) picture. That's a sliding glass door, right? Is the snow up some 2ft or so on the bottom portion of the door? For some reason it 'reads' to me as though the bottom of the door starts just above the snow, but I know that must be wrong. Buddy helps to convey how high the snow is.

I LOVE that last pic. It is SO dreamy, so romantic. Like a postcard - or a Disney movie. I really want to walk through there with some birds singing on the sides, a little deer following along, and maybe a butterfly or two.

That last pic also does a good job of showing how high the drifts are. On mid left, is that a large window I see with snow nearing the bottom?

Great snow pics. Thanks for sharing them. So, are you guys going out to 'play' in the snow?

BION, it's actually getting hot in here. If it gets much hotter I may have turn the A/C on for a little while. Strange weather and such a contrast. A large swath of the country in a state of emergency due to ice and snow - and here it's hot.

Ok. Now I'm going to actually close my DG browser window. I have some important work to do. You know, stuff like working on my resume and submitting it and so forth. Because I can't 'behave', I'm going to have to loose the DG window altogether until I finish working. I'll be back tonight.

Oh, man, this is SO painful (referring to the effort to close the DG window).

from the kitchen, it's about a 6" step down onto the stoop, then one more 6" step down, then 6" more onto the patio. So the door is about 18" above the patio. the drifts were at least 3.5' to 4.5'.

the driveway - thankfully we did not really have drifts. it went from a few inches at the garage door out to easy 4' at the end of the drive - compliments of the snow plows.

>>here is the kitchen 'back door' the one we normally go out. with heavy snows,

Ahhhhh i get it. the pic was not clear. Still getting over this cold - the brain is not fully working yet.. i really need a nap today.

My cousin just left Dayton Beach, FL and is now in Savanna, GA where the weather is warmer than it had been the whole time that she was in FL. Odd that she had to go north to get warm. Weird weather.
DIL called for a snowplow service to come do the mile-long driveway and was told that the highway that she lives off of will not be cleared until "sometime later" and that he would come out to do the driveway as soon as the road was cleared. They live near Lake of the Ozarks and got at least 2 feet of snow.
Wasn't I whining about wanting a really deep snowfall just last month....I almost take that back!

Just to put things into perspective (weather wise), last night it was 42F here. While nothing compared to the temps seen in other areas, 42 is miles away from the 70F of the previous night. That was just plain strange for a winter night.

I haven't seen the raccoons in 2 days - and not intentionally. Another thing that menopause effects is sleep cycles. For the past few days I've been on a new and unusual sleep schedule in which I get extremely sleepy and unable to stay awake very early in the evening. As a result, I've been sleeping through the time when the raccoons would normally be out there looking for me. I wake up again around 12:30-1:30 and am up for a few hours before I can get back to sleep. I check for the raccoons during this time, but they appear to have given up on me by then. Hopefully, I'll get back to a more 'normal' sleep cycle soon.

Tonight I managed to stay awake - trying to get back on my normal schedule. The raccoons showed up early. I was in the kitchen cooking when I heard Kitty at the door growling and knew even before I saw them the raccoons were out there.

While I was scooping up kibble, Kitty stayed at the door hissing at them. I had already gone to the door to speak to the raccoons, and they knew I was fixing their food. Apparently not wanting to argue with Kitty, they retired to one side of the door to wait for me - but I enjoy seeing those little faces looking over the kick plate at me while I fix the meal. Now there was just blackness and 'empty' glass, just the back of Kitty's head and the sound of her hissing. I missed those cute faces.

I didn't think about it. I just heard my voice, "Heidi!" and saw Heidi's face appear almost instantly above the door bottom, the look on her face an obvious question, "yes?" And then I was happy again. Kitty continued to hiss, and after a minute or so Heidi's face disappeared once more...until I called her name again, "Heidi". I guess I probably called her name a total of 3 times. Each time she appeared quickly if not instantly, her face looking in at me over the bottom of the door. Each time Kitty would hiss at her and in few minutes Heidi would disappear again.

This is something I think you need to see to totally comprehend the way Heidi responds so quickly and consistently when her name is called and to see how her face clearly says, "Here I am. Did you want something?" I may see if I can capture one of these moments on video - since she responds quite consistently now to her name, always showing up to look in at me over the bottom of the door. I'm not sure if it will work though since the video has no associated flash. If I turn the inside light up enough to get the video, it may not be possible to see them outside. I'll just have to try it and see what happens.

Your shared experiences with Heidi and her family are so very special. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! ;-D

Yeah! TY!

You are very welcome, Sheri!

Thank you.

Thank you, June!

A few minutes ago I thought I heard a sound outside. I figured it was probably the raccoons, so I went to check. Sure enough there at the door was Heidi and that one brave youngster. I put out the usual 5 little piles of food, and came back inside to watch as they argued a bit until all but the that one smaller one, the one that isn't Heidi's had found a spot and settled down to eat.

The 5th pile was a short distance across the patio from the others, so it took that last youngster a while to figure it out. When I left, she was trying to figure a way to get food from the others and had just aimed her butt toward Heidi hoping to try that Steel move. I knew that wasn't going to work, not with Heidi, not with that youngster. Just as I figured, Heidi blew her off right away. I turned the light out and went to the kitchen for a couple of minutes hoping a little more time would allow her to figure it out.

Success, for a moment anyhow. I returned to find that 5th raccoon, the small one eating at the spot across from the others. 5 raccoons at 5 stations. Everybody eating. And then from the corner of my eye I caught sight of a 6th raccoon, another youngster hiding behind the garden cart and trying desperately to sneak a bite from one of the piles. I hated to disturb them all, but I had to go back out there and add the 6th pile - so everyone could eat.

The appearance of this 6th one now after the number has been constant for so long tells me that the 'others' are probably starting to find there way back now for spring. I'll probably need to move the operation back out to the buffet area soon.

When I left everyone was eating peacefully.

It seems unusual for Heidi to allow the little ones to stay with her all winter; I wonder if that supervised burn in the forest, and resulting shortage of food, is the reason. Will be interesting to see how she handles their presence when mating season rolls around again, which sounds like it will be soon.

Last night I made a bunch of 'raccoon food' and learned a valuable lesson which I'd like to pass on to you now. I didn't set out to make raccoon food. The plan was to quickly make some rice so that I could get the crock pot going with stuffed cabbage before bed in order to have [fast] food ready for the next day. In theory it would take 20min to make the rice, and I would be in bed shortly thereafter. Of course, that's not how it actually worked out.

You see, the recipe called for white rice. I only had brown rice remaining in the pantry. Given that rice is fairly inexpensive, on my last shopping trip, knowing that I would be making this dish, I had decided to pick up a bag of white rice - so long as it really was fairly cheap. At the store, I had stood before the shelves thinking "white rice is white rice, right?" and picked up the store brand to save money. I do know about basmati, jasmine, and other premium rices, btw. My comment that 'rice is rice' was an intended comparison of various brands of plain old basic, long grain white rice; however, it was VERY much incorrect.

Rice, oddly enough, is one of the few things I can usually cook quite well & with little effort, ending with fairly perfect, whole, and separate, al dente kernels (when cooking regular white rice, that is). When the pot of rice was done last night - the 1st pot, that is - I was momentarily distracted such that I let it cook an extra minute or two. Still, I was surprised when I opened the pot to find a gooey mess of sticky, split, over cooked rice that simply would not do.

Frustrated with myself for wasting food at a time when I could ill afford to do so, I nonetheless packaged the rice up for a raccoon meal, washed the pot, and started another one. This time I would be more careful. I double checked the pkg instructions. 20min just as I thought. So, already quite tired, I stayed up 20 MORE minutes during which time I concentrated on separating and steaming cabbage leaves, a delicate operation for sure. Just to be sure, this time I had set the timer for 18min. Better to under cook than over cook especially since it would be cooking more in the crockpot anyhow.

I got all my cabbage leaves done, and all the other ingredients ready to go as the timer sounded and the rice came off the stove - STICKY AGAIN! Argh! I really was very tired and sleepy by this time, but there was no way I could use that horrible rice. I was tempted to go to bed and deal with it all in the morning - except that now I had some 12 steamed cabbage leaves lying around, trying not to tear. With nowhere to put all those cabbage leaves, I resolved to stick it out and make one more pot of rice.

By now I had packed 6c of rice in the fridge in the 'raccoon container' - except for the 1/2c or so Widget begged for and ate. Having NEVER had so much trouble making rice in my entire life, I was beginning to suspect the rice itself. Eager to get to bed, this time, the 3rd time, I made 2 pots of rice, 1 pot of brown rice (which I knew was good) and 1 small pot (just 1c total this time) of the white rice. The brown rice needed to cook 30min, but this time I set the timer for 12min. This time I was going to check that white rice 8min early to see if I could 'catch' it before it went 'round the bend'. When the 12 min timer expired and I opened the pot to find that the white rice was ALREADY sticky and overdone, my suspicions were confirmed. It had been the rice all along.

I made the stuffed cabbage with the brown rice - which I like better anyhow - and it turned out fine. The 7th cup of sticky white rice went in the raccoon container where it will make some youngster(s) very happy. I guess I will have to cook up the rest of that bag of rice for the raccoons (and Widget), too. It was after 2:30AM when I finally got out of the kitchen and got to bed.

The moral is don't buy cheap rice! I would say don't buy store brand rice, but it's not that simple. All store brands are not created equal. The store brands at high end grocery stores are often quite good (although I haven't tried the rice). I like some of them better than name brands, Publix yogart and Harris Teeter's ice cream being 2 examples. Store brands at the cheaper grocery stores...not so much. That's where I got the rice, the cheap grocery store.

Recently, I also learned, btw, that all 'regular' oatmeal is also not created equal. Seen side by side, there is a huge difference between the cheap store brand vs Quaker. The oats in the former box are all crushed and broken, apparently the refuse left over when making the good stuff. The oats in the Quaker box are all whole, firm, and round. The former cooks up to a sticky, gooey, pot of glue - not unlike their rice. The latter cooks up with firm but tender individual grains - ah, like the better rice.

So now I have lots of raccoon food, not necessarily nutritious food but food just the same, calories to fill their stomachs and provide energy - to carry them through the forest in search of real food. Now I also have these great tips to pass on to you - and I know what NOT to buy to save money. Oh, and when I finally got around to whipping up that pot of stuffed cabbage last night, in my exhaustion, I left out the egg that holds the meat/rice mixture together. Argh! I realized my mistake after I had painstakingly wrapped all the packets and poured the sauce over the top. I did a quick, mental check to see if I could fix the problem (i.e., somehow get the egg in the packets after the fact) - yeah, right! - and then put the top on and "let'r rip". It's still edible although it would clearly have been better with the egg. See the problems cheap rice can cause? Please, don't let this happen to you.

Edited to fix typo.

This message was edited Feb 8, 2011 2:04 PM

Ruth,

Hmm. That is an interesting theory. I hadn't thought of that. Actually and based in part on little things I've seen year to year, I'm inclined to think that she does this every year, although I'm not sure if it's something she did all along of another change she made due to the presence of the buffet. One benefit of letting the youngster stick around is that while they get more training time, she has them around to help her fend off outsiders - and I've seen the nearly grown yearlings do this.

There's a point in their development when she pushes them away encouraging them to be more independent. I'm thinking maybe at that time they get their own limb or den near but not in hers so that they live separately but close by. As they become more independent, she seems to let them hang out with or near her. Just my theory. No way to prove it.

If the youngsters are living/sleeping near her but not in her home or on her limb, it shouldn't be a problem in spring when she and they are all carrying the next generation although they probably need more space between them once the little ones show up.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines Day! I just had to tell you that Spring is no longer a dream! Well its still pretty chilly out there but I know Spring is in the air! This morning around 8 I was looking out at the woods and saw some forms on a tree limb some distance away. Got out the binoculars out and could see the two were Ummm well anyway he was working really hard. I wasn't sure but they looked larger than squirrels. I couldn't see coloring so well as the sun was coming up and they looked like black silhouettes on the branch. I did take a picture but as I say it was a distance. I don't know how long they were up there before I saw them but at 9:30 I looked back out and both of them were cleaning themselves up and the sun had moved so I saw the ringed tails. Yep,I even walked out further and got some pictures of them. Course my camera is not a great one but hopefully some will come out. I should have put some food out back so they could have a mid morning snack after all that exertion.

Judy

ROTF, Judy!

Thanks for that 'spring' report! I needed something to give me a smile this morning - really, I did. So raccoons do their 'work' in the trees, huh? Interesting. And, yes, a after 'work' snack would have been much appreciated, I should think. I look forward to seeing some photos!

As for signs of spring, I may have mentioned this on the other thread (cats). Sometimes I get confused over what I said where (when it comes to my OT stuff, that is). Anyhow, spring is pretty much here now. We are having nights in the 40's and 50s, days in the 70s. Daffodils are up and getting ready to bloom. Other plants are showing signs of waking up. Spring is definitely here, so for those in colder areas, it can't be that far away for you either.

Well I hope this comes through! I am not good at this but I have the photos in photobucket. Here is the link .......I hope!

http://s150.photobucket.com/albums/s109/froggygal_2007/Raccoon%20love%20is%20in%20the%20air/

It looks like it worked.....do the slide show for better viewing. She looks like she took quite a beating on her forehead. I saw her staying very still but he kept getting frustrated and biting at her. Oh,what females have to put up with just to procreate.

Judy

Even though I've check many times, I've not seen any sign of the raccoons for a while now. Spring has arrived here. The daffodil blooms were fully open yesterday. My best guess is that they have managed to find something to eat in the forest, perhaps some tender young shoots of a favorite plant somewhere.

Last night for the 1st time in a week or so Widget alerted me to the presence of 2 raccoons on the patio. It wasn't Heidi's gang though. There are 2 other youngsters that show up out there on rare occasion. These 2 don't appear to be welcome when Heidi's group is around, so that probably had a limiting effect on their visits. I've fed them probably about 1/2 dozen times over the winter although I don't think I mention it most of the time.

I do recognize these 2 as a sibling pair from one of Heidi's daughters. At the moment I don't recall the daughter's name but could find it if I looked back at last year's info. I remember these 2 because they were very friendly with me early on in summer when they 1st showed up. Later Heidi ran them off along with everyone else so there would be more for her kits. One of these 2 is more assertive as is always the case and the other a bit timid. When they were small, the assertive one used to pick on the timid one often chasing her away from me to keep her from eating treats. Even now when they are nearly grown, they continue to behave in a similar manner. Although they are hanging around together and even eat from piles of food that are only maybe 10in apart, the one still picks on the other chasing her away a time or two before allowing her to eat. It is easy to recognize them from their antics. As was the case when they were babies, the more assertive one is comfortable coming right up to me while the timid one is less so, being both uncertain about me and concerned about an attack from the sibling.

It shouldn't be long now before bellies start to swell with 2011 kits.

A point of interest I should add is that Widget seems able to differentiate between these 2 kits and Heidi's group. His method of indicating their arrival is sufficiently different that I can tell which is which even before I see them. He seems to have accepted Heidi's group to some degree. When they are on the patio he lets me know but does so without barking (unless I'm in another room in which case he needs to bark to get my attention). His signal for Heidi's group is very much the same as that for the cats, there again making it seem as though he accepts them as part of the family.

Even when I'm in bed and he needs to bark to let me know Heidi's group (or the cats) is out there, it's a different kind of bark, a signal bark, not a warning bark. It's like he's calling me not like he's upset. When those other 2 raccoons are on the patio though, Widget barks angrily and in a defensive manner as though trying to attack and eat them through the door, something he never does with Heidi's group.

Just thought I'd mention that as it's probably the 1st time I've realized that he can tell the raccoons apart.

Cool info! Dogs do amaze me sometimes at how well they understand what is going on and communicate to their master.

At least one of my Poodles (many years ago) barked to notify me of someone at our door. I was told , however that she did not bark if I wasn't home. Hopefully she was not always turned onto 'silent mode' in my absence. I liked to think of her awesome 4 lbs as a good watch dog!! LOL

NOW I know what's going on with the raccoons! Now I've got it.

Tonight, right at dusk when it was still quite light out, sort of semi-dark, semi-light, 50:50, I was in the kitchen when I suddenly saw eyes at the back door. I went over and turned the light on to find Heidi sitting there waiting for me - alone. She was 'dirty', wet, kind of nasty looking as though she had spent the past week or so trekking through a swamp. I went out and gave her some kibble.

When I opened the door to go out, she hurried over to the other side of the camellia shrubs where she likes to go for cover and security. I called her, just called her name the one time, and she came back onto the patio. I poured her some food and left. I was tempted to pour 5 piles of food figuring I would end up having to go back out there to pour the others anyhow, but in the interest of saving food, I decided against it. I didn't see any sign of the others anywhere around in the distance, so I just gave Heidi the one pile of food and came back inside. I checked a few times to be sure the others hadn't shown up, but each time she was still out there alone.

Finally, I got it. It hit me very suddenly, and then I understood. The raccoons had been missing for a few weeks because Heidi (and maybe the others as well) had been out dating and partying. Now, the party over, she had returned to my door hungry and alone. She had parted ways with the kids as soon as she got in that partying mood and thus had returned alone. She would be alone now until the new kits arrived. About 9wks from now she would disappear again for a week or two to give birth. Another 2 months from then, she would arrive one day with a bunch of furry babies.

The cycle has begun again.

Well, that answers the question of what she'd do with last year's kits when mating season came around again. Sounds like the season was "down and dirty" this year, lol.

Poor Heidi, you'd think she'd be worn out after all these litters. What's the total for her that you know of?

Susan (lincoln),

2011 will be the 6th year and litter since I started following them, but I knew Heidi for several years before that. I've lost track now, but I've known her for some 8 to 10 yrs. She was an adult when I 1st met her, so she would have to be older still, but I have no idea how old. Based on my observations, the females here have their 1st litter as yearlings and then have one litter per year thereafter. Thus she must have had no less than 8 to 10 litters now and probably more.

According to Ruth, she must continue to have a litter each year to stay in power. That makes sense as I've seen considerable evidence that pregnant and nursing females have all the clout in their society. Actually, while it must be hard on her body, I believe Heidi enjoys raising her family each year. I say this because of my observations of her and of her interactions with them. I honestly think she would be sad and feel a loss of self esteem without them. It's like that thing about dogs (and people) needing a job to do so they feel useful. Raising kits is her most important job and one on which she appears to pride herself in a job well done. I'm speaking for her, of course, and I could be wrong, but I don't think so.

We are hoping Heidi will start having smaller litters as apposed to none at all. If she just had 2 kits she could retain her position as leader and her job as Mom with much less wear and tear on her body. 2, I've learned, is much easier on both mom and babies than 1, so I'm not wishing for any 'only kit' scenarios. The only kit has no one to play with (ever) except his mom, no one from whom to learn social skills except his mom, no one to hang out with as a teen, and no one to act as quasi-babysitter when mom is away. It's just bad all the way around - even for ME, as just seeing only kits now tears at my heart strings.

But smaller litters would be good for Heidi, and 2 would be ideal, I think.

Just FYI, and I say this in hopes of giving hope to the snowbound among us, the daffodil blooms opened big and proud 2 days ago, and it has begun to get pretty toasty now by day such that I may soon have to use the A/C a bit. Spring is most definitely here which means it will be there soon.

OOOOh boy!! Babies on the way!!

Ruth,

Granted, that would seem to be the case, except...BION tonight when I looked out there she had a youngster with her. To be fair, just because they were both out there at the same time doesn't really mean they arrived together or were traveling together. The patio has become a sort of Buffet Lite these days.

I'm not sure who the 2nd one was. I'll need to pay closer attention next time. It was definitely a youngster. It wasn't Petey; that's for sure. It was up by the door with her and was willing to come to its food and eat while I was still out there, so it may have been that same one seen in the photos at the door.

One difference I did notice is that she was very clear that the youngster MUST NOT come anywhere near her and her food. She made her go all the way around the patio to get to her food instead of cutting across in front of Heidi like the youngster wanted to do. The youngster made several attempts to walk past Heidi, but each time Heidi repeated her "don't even think about it" threat until the other finally went the long way around.

I looked out a few times to check on them. I had only given them 2 small piles of food and wanted to be sure the other 3 didn't show up and find that they had been left out. Each time I looked out, the 2 were eating quietly and alone. I forgot to mention that I put their food on separate sides of the garden cart even though they had been hanging around together at the door w/o issues. Anyhow, no sign of the others.

Some 20 minutes later when I passed the kitchen, I looked out one more time just in case. Now I'm REALLY confused. Both appeared gone, and both had left substantial food behind. I would have expected them to be very hungry. The qty I gave them was not too much for a summer meal, but maybe I'm confusing nursing with pregnancy. Heidi ate considerably more of hers. The youngster left quite a bit.

When they were at the door they seemed especially hungry, or at least Heidi did. She was not so laid back as she had been in earlier photos but was quite animated. Standing semi-upright and peering in the door at me the entire time I fixed the food, she almost seemed to be peering over a narrow pair of spectacles worn low on her nose and reminded me of an odd little man or maybe a garden gnome. It appeared as though she were out their calling plays, "...she opening the BAG! Two scoops. Three. She's putting the kibble in. Getting up. Coming toward the door..."

After all of that, I was surprised to see that she had left food behind. She left some behind last night, too, although I don't know how much. Last night when I double checked I found Puddle out there 'clearing tables'.

Who knows. It could be that this particular youngster is her pick of the group. You know how she always seems to have the one that she trusts the most, the one that hangs around closest at her side, the one that often serves as 2nd Lieutenant for the coming season getting special training while helping her to chase unwanted guests from the buffet while raising the next generation.

Hey, Sheri,

Well, I think so. The timing is about right.

I guess maybe Petey has been ousted since he is a male and breeding time is near??
Heidi is such an excellent leader and teacher. Se does always keep one at her side each year, perhaps in training to be sure her command remains for years to come in one way or another. (eeeuuuu, I hated to think that)

Sheri,

Since I always believed Petey to be a boy, I've been expecting that he would not be around much if at all beyond spring of 2011 when, as a yearling male, he would be sent packing. This after all, is a breeding colony and is thus female only. Although I know I saw that tally whacker a few times, I'm hoping, as with Dennis, I made some kind of mistake. I'm hoping Petey will one day bring a couple of babies to my feet as Dennis did. I'm hoping he will turn out to be a female after all. I definitely saw the goods - but there is room for hope that I may have gotten them confused and maybe saw it on another. Fingers crossed. Hey, it could happen.

As for Heidi, anything is possible.

Seriously, who would want a teenage male hanging around, asking dumb questions and being an adolescent, during mating season?? It would be great if Petey turned out to be a female, but it seems unlikely; you've gotten much more accurate at gender-spotting since that first year with Dennis, lol.

Ruth,

You really do make a good point. LOL. (about the benefits of having teen males around now)

As for Petey vs Dennis. With Dennis I saw the proof in a photo I was developing. I used to take many dozens of photos on a single night out there. Kits are especially difficult to ID, so by the time I got back inside, 'developed' the photos, cropped that one to 'zoom' in, and saw the goods, I may have been confused about which kit it was - or I may have misread the photo. With Petey, on the other hand, I saw things in real time, not in photos. He was always sitting around at my feet in that Winnie the Pooh position with everything hanging out like HRH used to do. There is less chance that I mixed that one up.

Sorry, Ruth. I wrote this yesterday and thought that I had 'sent' it. I guess something must have interrupted me and/or called me away. I found it just now still on the computer and with the last sentence or so unfinished. Thus I am sending it now.

Last night Heidi was back again with that same youngster at her side, and ONLY that one. It does appear to be the same one that always used to be hanging around with her at the door (while in the past the other 3 always hung back some distance elsewhere on or near the patio).

Last night in addition to kibble I gave them a 2cup pot of chicken & rice pilaf (boxed mix) I had cooked for them. I had found the box in the back of the pantry. It had a 2002 best by date (long expired). It had looked and smelled ok, but upon inspection I had found 1 very tiny 'bug' in the boxed rice. I was about to toss it when it occurred to me that if I went ahead and cooked it, the raccoons and opossums might be happy to have it, insect included. The insect didn't appear to have been in the box long and it hadn't done a lot of damage or left a lot of refuse behind. I had to overcome the obvious yuck factor to cook the rice despite the almost microscopic bug. Anyhow, last night I dumped that pot of rice into a dish for the raccoons/opossums. Later when I checked, every morsel of food both rice and kibble was gone.

I haven't seen the raccoons tonight, but I've been asleep. Today I had a 2hr technical interview. Between time spent reviewing my technical life in prep for the interview and time spent in the interview, afterward I was spent and went to bed early. Widget just woke me a little while ago for his midnight walk.