O dear.
I will try not to worry.
Are you getting this rain too Cheryl?
We're very soggy here in NC. Maybe she doesn't like going out in the rain.
Will keep her safe in my thoughts, dear girl.
xox
Heidi Chronicles 2012 - A New Chapter Begins?
Me, too, Debbie,
Me too. (Hope she's ok.)
Just returned from checking the door. Nothing. For these past few days, I've really missed that faint outline of Heidi's face in the bottom pane of the door. There have been raccoons out there - and lots of kits - and I've fed them each night, but no sign of Heidi.
Hi Amanda,
'This' rain? We've had daily soakings for several weeks now, often replete with tstorm sound effects. Is that the rain to which you refer? We are definitely wet, very wet. Basically, it's the monsoon season here.
As for Heidi, we are talking about raccoons here. They love water and enjoy being wet. Back when I kept the pool full in the backyard, they would almost always get into the pool to drink, even though they could easily have reached over the rim to drink from dry land. They would even get in the pool (and stay in there for a while) on cold, winter nights when it was in the 30'sF. Also, they enjoy eating soggy kibble in the pool much more than eating on solid ground. I used to pepper the pool with handfuls of kibble for them to eat, and as many as a dozen adult raccoons would pack into the pool to eat (looked like college students packing a phone booth or VW bug/bus in the old days). I've gone out there in the driving rain to feed Heidi in the past, and she would always be right there, even when the rain was coming down so hard I could barely see.
However, Heidi IS afraid of thunder/lightening. Over the many years that I've been feeding them, Heidi has always been absent any time a tstorm was on the way. A few times the storm would be so far away that I could only see a faint flash far off in the distance, but still Heidi would not come to dinner. Many of the other raccoons will show up no matter the weather, but Heidi is older, wiser, and more cautious than that. She will also not show up if the wind is whipping the trees about violently. Unlike some of the younger raccoons, she seems to know that falling limbs/trees are very dangerous at such times.
We have been experiencing a LOT of thunder storms lately, almost daily. Lots of thunder and high winds, especially at night. It's possible that may have kept Heidi away some nights, and I may just have missed her other nights by arriving at different times. I haven't paid much attention to the storms, so while I know they are pretty much a nightly occurrence, I don't know how they correlate with Heidi's missed visits. I was about to say that I didn't think there had been a storm yet tonight, but then I recalled having to reassure Cocoa a time or two in earlier this evening due to thunder.
I would feel better if I went to the door and saw her face at the bottom pane, but I'm not going to get too worried yet. I've worried a lot in the past, and she has always shown up again. I'm going to wait until I'm sure it's time to worry.
Just saw that that this weekend is the best time to view the Perseid Meteor showers, basically a lot of space rocks and such raining down on us and burning up in earth's atmosphere. We are passing through this bunch of space junk as we do each year, and those that get to close get sucked in by earth's atmosphere, causing them to shower down towards us. At time you may see as many as 50 or so 'falling stars' as the debris falls towards us, burning up along the way.
Friday, Sat, & Sunday are said to be the best viewing nights. Maybe THAT's why Heidi hasn't been around. Maybe she's out in a high tree somewhere waiting to show the kits the awesome Perseid showers. Can't you see them now, sitting at the top of a very tall tree and quietly watching the night sky, until suddenly one of the kits calls out, "Mom! Mom! There it is Mom!"
Cheryl, that reminds me of the "ooooooo and ahhhhh" of the kids at the fireworks shows. I am sure thats what they are doing.
:-)
You will totally never beLIEVE this. I don't even believe it myself - and I was THERE. I would be even more excited about it were it not overshadowed by the bad news that Heidi was absent yet again. Tomorrow I'm going to try to remember to get out there at dusk. That's when she used to come by with her kits. I want to see if she is coming early and then leaving due to the overcrowding. There have been quite a few raccoons out there lately. 4-6 adults and 8 or more kits.
Heidi doesn't like to have her kits around a big crowd, especially if it's a rambunctious crowd. Even back when the pool and buffet were open at the back of the yard, Heidi would gather her kits and leave if the crowd got to large or too rowdy for her to feel safe having her little ones in the midst of it. She has always been extremely careful with her kits. That may have been the reason she left early w/o eating all her food those last 2 nights she was here and then came back again later after the others had finished/left. (Even then she was arriving at dusk ahead of the crowd and then leaving once the crowd got too large for her comfort.)
So, back to the 'you won't believe it' part. The past few nights, even w/o Heidi out there, there has been this one kit that looks and acts just like the one in that 'smiling' pic, the kit looking up with the grin on his face. I almost certain this is that same kit. The other kits are fearful of me and stay close to their moms, but this one almost follows me around the patio. Earlier I thought it was Heidi's kit, but now I don't know. The kit stays off to itself a lot, making it difficult to know who the mom is. Anyhow, it has been here the past few nights even though Heidi has not.
Last night when I went out there stood some 8in from my shoe and on my left side the whole time I was out there - even though ALL of the other raccoons, adults & kits, were farther off to my right. Get that? Instead of staying away from me and with his mom and siblings, this little fella chooses to stand on the opposite side of me (opposite where the other are) and follows me around at close range. I've been carrying a couple cookies out with me each night, each broken into several smaller, kit-sized pieces. I toss them around to all of the kits, but I have to confess that I dropped an extra one or two off to my left side for little Desi. I told you early on he was my boy/girl, you know. :-)
He/she reminds me very much of Dennis, except that so far he doesn't show any sign of Dennis' rascal behavior - other than the fact that even now at such a very young age he's so very independent (not staying with his family). Before I continue, I'd like to say that I've decided to name him/her Desperado. I'll call him Desi for short. Like Dennis, I realize that 'he' is probably a girl, and I hope so, as that way he will be with us another year, at least. Now back to the story.
Tonight when I opened the door, I had a handful of broken animal cookie pieces, and was prepared to toss cookies out to the kits as I had done on prior nights. Little Desi was on the door facing and had his hands on the door itself such that as I opened the door he kind of leaned way inward with the door, making no attempt to get down from the facing or let go of the door. I quickly tossed cookie pieces to all of the kits (as they tend to be up near the door at that time). The others were mostly clueless still, standing around and letting the adults come up and snatch the cookies off their feet or from under their tummies. Desi grabbed his cookie as soon as it hit the door facing. It was at that point that he got down on the patio floor to eat it.
I stepped out and handed out kibble, sprinkling it about liberally to make it easier for so many raccoons to eat in close proximity. I felt something touch my shoe and looked down. I was standing upright on the patio, mind you, and I looked down to find little Desi literally sitting on my foot, not just standing there haphazardly. No, he was entirely on top of the instep of my croc and was clinging to it with both hands as though he were on a lifeboat in rough water.
I looked down, amazed at this tiny little ball of fluff hanging on to my shoe as though on an amusement park ride. And then I just acted, no thinking. I just did what felt right at that moment. I reached down and touched his back gingerly. I totally expected him to leap away as though I had zapped him with a cattle prod, but he didn't move at all, just continued hanging on to my shoe. I put a cookie piece down by my shoe for him, and when he got off my shoe and began eating it, still right there beside me shoe, I reached down again, this time petting him just as one might pet the back of a kitten. Again, he showed no sign of distress whatsoever, didn't move away, didn't even flinch.
When he finished the cookie piece, I reached down and gave him another, this time holding it near his mouth and allowing him to take it directly from my hand, which he did very gently. After that, I had to go out to my car to get the last bag of food from the trunk, as there was not enough out there for all of them. On my return to the patio with more food, I took 2 broken vanilla s/w cookies with me. As soon as I got out there, little Desi came right back to me, this time standing in front of me. I gave him a piece of the s/w cookie from my hand, and then distributed additional cookies and food to all. Before leaving, I reached down, petted little Desi one last time and handed him the last piece of s/w cookie.
Even now I cannot believe it myself. In years past, it took me days, weeks even, at an hour or more a day to get some of the kits comfortable enough to come close enough to take a cookie from me - and back then I was sitting down on a very low, garden scoot (10-12in high), which made me seem much less threatening than when standing upright. AND even so I could never pet any of those kits - except Dennis. Given the constraints of the patio, the fact that I'm standing upright and moving around (both of which make me more threatening) and the fact that I'm only out there for 10min or less each night, I really didn't think there was any chance that I would even be able to hand feed any of the kits, much less PET one. I am totally amazed!
I have no idea where little Desi gets his smarts or his moxie, but he is not only cute as bug but really smart. Even at such a young age, while the others were standing around looking clueless while adults stole the cookies I tossed them, Desi caught on almost immediately to the fact that I was handing out goodies - I think you can see that on his face in that one 'grinning' pic above, and that was taken before I bought the cookies. Even before he had the chance to taste sugar, he seemed to appreciate that each night I emerged bearing kibble and sometime watermelon - oh, and that chunk of carrot cake I gave him the one night.
Gotta go check the door again in case Heidi shows up.
Darn it all. No sign of Heidi still.
There was one raccoon out there with 3 kits. I turned the light on to look out, and one of the kits walked right up to the door, alone, walked all the way up and stepped up onto the door facing with his two front feet, then stood there looking up at me. Looks like at least one more kit may be starting to figure out about where the cookies come from. I figured once the others saw me handing cookies to Desi - and no harm coming to him - they would soon be coming over to me, too.
Seeing that the Mom & her kits were searching all about the patio for any stray bits of kibble, I scooped up a little more and took it out to them along with another cookie, this one broken even smaller. I gave 2 tiny pieces to each kit, and even though I gave the Mom a piece, too, she actually reached over and grabbed one out of her kit's hands. I had tossed it to the kit. It landed between the kit's front paws. The Mom and the kit reached for it at roughly the same time. Both had their hands on it. The kit leg go, and the mother took it (from in front of the kit) and ate it. Man, that is low. Taking candy from a baby is one thing, but taking it from your own baby...now that is rough.
Folks, sorry, but I've let this thread grow WAY to long. I've made a new thread where we can continue our discussion about the raccoons. Hope to see you there.
New thread: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1275226/
THE END!
Oh candy from a baby. What's the world coming to . . .?
Sounds like you are having a lot of fun with baby Desi. I hope that Heidi has just decided to evade the crowds and she and her kits will return soon.
Thanks for sharing. I am only a little jealous of your shoes and accessories. :D
xox
Thanks, Amanda,
I do have the coolest new shoe ornament now, don't I? To bad I didn't have the camera with me as that would have made a great pic.
About Heidi, I'm hoping the same. Keeping my fingers crossed that she will show up again soon, and I'll feel silly for worrying, as has happened so many times before. One of the nights when she was here very recently, one of her kits climbed up onto the table on the patio and, how shall we say, soiled it. It rained heavily that night. By morning all that remained was a pile of some kind of seeds or berries, so apparently she has found a good source of natural food somewhere in the forest. She may be taking the kits around to teach them important lessons in foraging.
At any rate, I believe we cross posted. I had just posted my "The End, please move to the new thread" post. I'll repeat it now, since I need for it to be the last post; otherwise, people will miss it. Make sure you mark the new thread to stay with us.
I've made a new thread where we can continue our discussion about the raccoons. Please be sure to 'watch' the new thread, so we won't loose you. Hope to see you there.
New thread: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1275226/
THE END!
No adorable face in the bottom door pane tonight either, just 3 adults, one with kits. I'm afraid I'm going to have to worry now. All that other stuff, the plethora of logical excuses for Heidi's absence, that was me trying to convince myself, but now, now I'm going to have to go ahead and start worrying.
Edited to add: bummer. used the wrong thread by mistake. I'll 'fix' it tomorrow. Try to keep using the new thread in the mean time. tks
This message was edited Aug 13, 2012 11:23 PM