Raccoon Files: NextGen 1

Well, Sheri,

You are on a roll so far. Who knows?

In the mean time, I have been thinking about trying to get a pic of the little cuties. Just waiting a bit so as not to frighten them. Waiting for them to get comfortable around me. Like I said, this was only about the 4th visit for them.

It truly was a sweet experience, giving the kits cookie pieces and having them embrace my hand ever so gently in the process. :-)

Hope everyone had a fabulous holiday weekend!!!

I'm so glad that BirdieBlue sent you such a lovely b-day wish! To have the kits be so familiar at such an early stage is remarkable & exciting & bodes very well for the future! What a wonderful experience!
Hope you had a wonderful b-day!

Thanks, Liz!

It was nice. Actually, I did a lot of cleaning - but the kitchen floor sure looks nice now. LOL. I did enjoy my short visit with the kits last night though. That was quite amazing how they clasped my hand in their tiny hands and took the cookie with their mouths. I really would not have expected that to happen so soon - or to go so well. Thanks again.

No such luck tonight. We are in the middle of a nasty electrical storm which began around the time Desi usually drops by. I went to the door and called her anyhow, even with all of the lightning flashing around me. A small raccoon which could have been her - or Commander as they look quite similar - came to me immediately. Not sure if it was Desi sans kits or who. I guess Desi might have left the kits at home due to the storm. Then again, I'm not even sure if it's possible for her to leave them home at this age, or if they will follow her regardless.

I went to the door again several times checking to see if Desi and/or kits ever showed up. Once or twice I called Desi - even though a Desi-like raccoon was already out there eating in the rain. The last time I did this, she gave me this look that so clearly said, "Don't you see me right here in front of you eating my dinner?" At that point I actually began to think that really was Desi - maybe.

No other Desi has shown up so far tonight, nor have any kits.

The thunder might just have had the kits to frightened to come out from under their hiding bushes, especialy is there was lightning too.

Sheri,

I hadn't thought of that, but you might be right. I did check quite a few times thinking they might come out once I went back inside, but I didn't consider they might be afraid of the thunder & lightening. (Don't know why I thought they might be hiding from me, not after they had taken cookies from my hands the day before.) There was the almost unending rumble of thunder, and it was that kind of lighting with lots of static discharge such that the sky stays almost always lit, just with constantly flashing, flickering lights - so, yes, there was lightning, lots of it, in addition to the thunder.

On the other hand, it would seem unlikely that all 3 of the kits stayed hidden the whole time. In every litter, there is always the one very brave & outgoing kit plus the one extra shy kit. The brave one probably would have ventured out at some point to eat a bit.

Also, one would think that thunder & lightening would be very ordinary to this particular group of kits, since we have been having daily storms all their lives. There is a pressure system over the area which has been in place since some time in June. Due to this system, which forecasters say shows no sign of leaving anytime soon, we have had rain & overcast skies every single day since early June and Tstorms most days, as well. By now I would think thunder might be a lullaby for these kits.

Then again, who knows. That the kits might have been afraid of the storm is as good an idea as any. It's certainly possible.

Maybe I missed something, but why is Widget's pretty face on this thread instead of a raccoon. I pray you can get a good pic of Desi standing up looking into your kitchen with hands raised high....in her plane runway flag waving signal mode.
Oh how I hope that Desi is the next Heidi!

Sheri,

I can totally understand your confusion. If you look more closely, you will see that the cover photo for this thread is actually the pic of Desi standing upright at the patio door & looking in at me. The picture of Widget which you are currently seeing all over the thread is my avatar (for the moment). I used a pic of Desi as a kit for my avatar for a while but then changed it to Widget more recently. Someday when I have the time and energy, I will no doubt change my avatar pic again, most likely to a clip art type character or something floral. Unfortunately, whatever avatar one is wearing at the moment is by design the same across all parts of DG, so I don't have the option to 'wear' a raccoon in this thread, a cat in that thread, and so on. You do know about the avatars, right? (or did you miss that site upgrade - maybe it occurred while you were out sick?)

*** PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT!!! ***

You should be seeing a banner message at the top of your DG home page and also at the top of each the main 'contents' page for each forum (but not on individual thread pages like this one). The banner message should tell you about a DG event, a fair, I think, with a photo submission deadline of Sept 8.

Due to a system error (which they are working on), not everyone is receiving the message, which is the purpose for this announcement. If you do not see the banner message (very small) at the top of your home page, you can either log out temporarily (and select "home" from the menu) to see the banner or go to the Dave's Garden Forum to see the Thread announcing the event. (I think it's a country fair or something like that.)

Just curious. If you DO NOT see the banner described in the above post, would you please post here to let me know. Just in case & to avoid an unexpected onslaught, let's agree to stop after the 1st 10 such responses. I'm guessing there won't be that many people, but just to be on the safe side...so I don't come back later and find 4 pages of "me, too" posts. :-)

Thanks for your assistance!

Sheri,

OMG! If only you had gotten your 2nd wish - that video camera. You would all be laughing so hard right now you would be crying! (Hey, how about a 24/7 webcam? Then you could keep a check on the situation when you wanted to tune in. Either way you would have been rolling on the floor tonight for sure!)

I must be honest with you folks, for some time now I have been fairly certain that the best days at the buffet were surely behind us. It just seemed like everything had been seen & done already. And now Heidi is gone, to boot. The very best we have to hope for now is just days described with ditto marks, right?

...Not EVEN CLOSE!!! ROTFLMAO!

Tonight as I headed to the door to check for the raccoons, I hadn't seen them for several days, not since my birthday. Desi doesn't seem to wait long for me to show up, so I only have a very narrow window just after dark, and some nights I get busy with other things and forget to be there at just the right moment. When I do check, it's maybe 30min to an hour later, and they are not to be found. Subsequent trips to check on them are to no avail, nor are those trips I make a little too early, before dark, and thus nights go by before we manage to meet up once more.

Tonight as I headed toward the door I heard strange sounds which seemed to be coming from the patio, sounds I could not make out. They were scratchy sort of sounds and the sound of something falling. Not any sound normally associated with raccoons which as you know by now are very quiet, ninja-like creatures. Not kits calling mom or mom answering back. Not raccoons bickering over resources.

As I arrived at the patio door even as I stood in the dark room looking out toward the dark patio I could already tell there was something out there, something right up against the glass, something I now assumed to be Desi and her kits. The exact order of the things that happened next is a little hazy in my mind.

I turned on the patio light to get a better look at my visitors. It was Desi and the little ones alright, but the moment I turned on the light two of the more assertive kits were pressed up against the door desperately trying to get in. One grabbed hold of the one of the wooden bars that separate the glass panes and in minutes was dangling from it by one hand.

I think this is the point at which I tried to tell them I would be right back with goodies and then ran off to gather cat food, watermelon, and cookies. I returned to find the two kits trying to climb up the door using the bars around the glass panels as their ladder. Before I could reach the door, one kit had made it up to the door knob, and the other was right behind him.

Now you might recall the words with which I have always admonished you - that raccoons when frightened will always move away if at all possible. I would now like to amend that admonishment, if you don't mind. It seems this is true except and unless said raccoons are hungry kits whose last memory of you involves vanilla sandwich cookies.

...more soon...

So there I stood, hands full of food items, the very same food items the kits were seeking, and I wanted to open the door and go out to feed them, except that at that moment two of the kits were on there way up the door and had already reached the level of the door knob. What to do? What to do? This scenario was not yet in my 'what to do when' book of raccoon etiquette.

I decided to try opening the door just an inch or so. Surely this would unnerve the kits and send them plummeting to the patio floor. If not the sight of the human then surely the realization that their climbing platform was now in motion would unnerve the little 'demons'. But I was wrong. When calculating the probably outcome, I had failed to consider that when last the little fellas & I had met at that very same door, I had thrust a hand out to offer them sweetest and most delicious treats they had ever tasted, the coveted vanilla s/w cookies!

I opened the door a bit and 8 paws came inside, wrapping around the side of the door. Not knowing what else once should do at this moment, I opened it a little more - and 1st one and then another tiny, ring eyed, pointy nosed heads popped through the opening where they sat staring at me as if to say, "Where are our cookies?!!!"

Some of what transpired next is a blur. I remember dropping some of the cat food as I juggled food and grappled with my circumstances. I think this is the point when the kits dropped from the door, landing in the 5-6in gap between door and frame, the moment when I was almost certain I was going to end up with at least those 2 raccoons in the kitchen as they were were still doggedly determined to find cookies and I was afraid to close the door lest I hurt one of them. Oh, and they were apparently totally unafraid of me. I was the cookie lady, after all.

As I say, the exact order of events at that point are something of a blur in my head, but somehow the kits ended up on the floor and I managed to get the door open and get outside w/o them ending up inside. Whew! It had been a harrowing few minutes there for certain, with all those tiny furbaby heads and hands reaching in the door at me, my mind racing at once with thoughts about how adorable and fluffy they were and how I needed to try to get them down and not let them inside. It had been one heck of a dilemma, and while I'm sure it was over in minutes, to live it seemed like much longer.

With everything at last under control, I headed out onto the patio food in hand. It was clear from the actions of the kits around my feet that they were not afraid of me but rather excited to finally find me home (after having missed me several nights before). They huddled close around me as I put the cat food down followed by the chunks of watermelon which I placed directly on the patio floor. With Heidi now gone, watermelon juice had ceased to be the hot commodity it once was, so there was no longer any need to put out the watermelon shell (bowl).

The kits were already gobbling up watermelon chunks when I began breaking cookies into pieces and handing them out. The kits showed no fear as they huddled around me or as they reached to take the cookies from my hand. I sat down on a seat near them. It all seemed so easy and so perfect that I should sit and hang out with them this time. The kits continued to huddle around me, and I regret to admit that in my excitement I ended up letting them talk me out of more cookies than I had planned. All and all it was like a fabulous, impromptu picnic under the stars. I ate a few cookies myself, and it was clear Desi and the kits had a great time.

Bummer. This was a lot more fun back in the old days when you folks used to 'live' here. After such an exciting evening with the kits, I was eager to share it with you guys in real time, excited to hear your thoughts and reactions to such a crazy, unexpected turn of events. I hate waiting days for you to find this latest installment - but then I guess maybe you hate having to wait days for the installments to show up, as well.

Oh, well, off to do some of the many other things I really should be doing.

Sheri,

I forgot to mention that the pic of Desi at the door is not likely to ever get any better or clearer. Desi only stands up that way when she sees me inside and gets excited to make sure I've also seen her. Once I step outside, she remains on all 4's, unlike Heidi who that one year actually started walking backward on hind legs, arms waving in front of me as I stepped across the patio. Each has her own individual behaviors, and Desi's don't include standing upright when I'm outside with her.

Also, now that the kits are accompanying her Desi no longer arrives before dark, this no doubt to avoid putting the kits in greater danger. Thus she won't be standing outside the door in daylight as she sometimes did earlier in the year. Plus from this point on, the days will only be getting shorter making a daylight arrival all the more unlikely with each passing day. I do need to wash the door, but at this point even that won't improve the chances of getting a good, daylight pic of her standing outside the door. Maybe next year.

In my excitement last night when I came to write my post immediately after my time with the raccoons, I question if I adequately articulated the situation. I thought I would add a few words here in an attempt to further clarify.

The moment of greatest excitement when the whole thing might have made a good sitcom episode - at once both hilarious and fraught with peril - came when I arrived back at the door, food & treats in hand, to find two of the kits climbing up the door, using the wooden bars that frame the small panes as their ladder to scale the glass-paned door.

One kit had reached the level of the bolt lock & door knob. The other kit was right below the 1st. Initially, the 2 kits were side by side on the door, albeit at different heights, but once I opened the door a few inches, both raccoons quickly moved towards the opening. This put them in a single vertical line on the door with the one just below the other.

Although at the time I didn't understand the dynamics of the situation at all, in hindsight I now realize that the act of opening the door a few inches, something I perceived at the time as a quasi-threatening move that would cause the kits to get down from the door, served as a further catalyst for things. Just 4 days earlier I had reached my hands out the gap in that same door to offer the kits their first ever taste of sugary cookies. They were climbing the door to start with in a misplaced effort to get more cookies. When I opened the door a few inches, they expected a hand with cookies to emerge from it as had happened before. Thus, not only were they not frightened enough to get down as I had hoped they would do, but they actually scrambled toward the opening, shoving 1st their paws and then their heads through the gap.

As some of you might recall, I'm a mere 5'2" in height. That puts the door knob at about the level of my diaphragm, the area just below the chest/lungs and above the waist. Thus the two kits were in line along the edge of the door at about my chest level. At the time, I was up close to the door, my hand on the door knob. When the kits stuck their hands and heads through the door in an effort to reach for cookies, they were at my chest level on the door, the one only maybe an inch from my hand, if that.

It was a heady moment and one I can never fully articulate, seeing all those adorable little hands and feet and semi-upside down, pointy faces poke through the door towards me. It was at once both a panic-inspiring tragedy in the making and a heart-melting moment as I stood there watching the little fellas on the door so close to me - and for once at a height up near my face rather than my feet.

That moment of seeing their little heads come through the door opening, still up high on the door and so close to my hands and face is permanently seared into my memory. Even now I can still see those adorable little faces, their eyes looking up at me not in fear but with the same look of longing one sees on the face of any child anticipating a yummy treat.

It really was a sitcom moment. I didn't know what to do to get them down from the door and keep them from coming inside - and, trust me, at that moment, vanilla s/w cookies in their little minds, they were determined to come inside. My brain juggled with the adoration of the moment and the eminent dilemma of keeping them (& me) out of harm's way

ROTFLMAO. Where oh where is a video camera when you need one. You could have had a You Tube sensation! Thank you for starting my day with a laugh. Seems I don't get many of those lately.

Hi slvrwilo,

I do so wish you guys could have seen that on video. It was one of those once in a lifetime moments - I hope. Thank you for stopping by to share a laugh with me.

You put a big smile on my face! As you said, just when you think you've seen it all, things move to a whole different level. How are you going to keep these kits out of your house? LOL!

Hi, Liz,

Well, for starters I'm never going to hand out cookies from the door again! I tell you what, there were a few moments last night when I thought it was over as far as keeping them out of the house. They dropped from the door right into that open gap and looked for all the world like they were coming in. I'm not sure just what changed there little minds. I'm just thanking my good luck for that one. And no more shoving cookies out through the door gap for me!

I'm a little anxious about tonight. Hoping that door climbing thing won't become a new standard for kit behavior. As a single event it was cute, but...

Hi!

I did just burst out laughing at the last post. I've been awol this week, trying to stAy abreast of my own zoo chores and house sitting for friends.

As said before, not slighted in th least over the thread change mid-Rita but thanks for your assurances. I must have originals for TH images you've mentioned, if you will send me your email address perhaps I can send originals to you directly?

I have an art background so I understand your concerns about composition and angles and light/dark. Those circle thingees could really distort the scale of a portrait if painted at a certain angle. I'm really more impressed to know you make time for and are somehow able to even think about painting. The critters have ensured that nothing is safe in th house. I don't do crafts much anymore as I can't leave anything out. Anywhere. Ever.

What medium would you try? Just thinking about it for a second, with her coloring I think watercolors would be fun, but only in a vague impressionistic way. I would be a lot of work to try to use them for TH kind of detail you're after.

Any who. Gotta run. I'll check back in later.
Glad you had a grand birthday. I am thinking about kits swimming in the wheelbarrow. Thanks. ;)

xox
A.

Ps the picture of Rita on the girl's back is me a couple of summers ago. Please overlook the exposed waist, I can't see what's going on back there, especially with an iguana on my back. ;)

OMG, Amanda!

That girl is you? No Way. What are you 15?! I'm going to have to be more careful with my words around here - what with minors on the thread. I went back and looked at that picture again to see if, armed with this new knowledge I might be able to see a grown woman in that pic, but the best I can do is 10-13, 15 at most! Talk about looking young. Wow! You go, girl!

As to changing threads, I'm sure glad you didn't take that wrong. For days, weeks even, I had been telling myself that I absolutely had to change threads. That one was just WAY over the top, around 300 if I recall correctly, a new record for me. When I saw the kits, I knew I had to change threads ASAP. It was just the perfect place to begin a new chapter. I was eager to share the news about the kits, but I did not want to do so w/o changing threads 1st. So that is why I changed threads at that particular moment.

As I mentioned before, when I made the new thread and started the process, you had only posted the 1st set of Rita's pics to which I had responded. Then the Tstorm we were experiencing took out my power. I was w/o power all night and thus completely unaware that you had posted additional pics or that others had posted in response. That night while in darkness, I typed up the the end post, added pics etc, all of which I could do on my laptop since I already had the DG page loaded. I just couldn't send it. I think I also typed a post on the new thread, added the links to each, etc.

Then I closed my laptop & waited until the next morning when the power was restored to complete the transfer by 'sending' the pages which I had already completed. It was only after I did this that I saw the additional posts on the old thread - saw them while making a quick check of both the old & new thread links and such to make sure I had done everything correctly. When I did the 'send' that officially closed the old thread I distinctly recall that I did not get one of those red messages at the top of the page like I normally do to warn me that new posts have been added since I last updated. That message should have warned me to stop and check posts before continuing, but it wasn't there. I now wonder if that feature may have been 'lost' in the recent site updates.

Anyhow, however ill conceived my timing, it was not intentional, more like foolhardy. Being an engineer, you can expect that I am somewhat lacking in social graces - not a total social misfit but not a social butterfly either. I had expected that we could all just continue all of our conversation streams on the new thread as we have always done. It was never my intention to stop any part of the conversation. The raccoons don't show up so often as to fill up this thread or use up all the imaginary pages we are allocated, so I figured we would have plenty of virtual pages upon which to continue both conversations. (Note to all those who wish to discuss iguanas, it's ok, really.)

About the painting, I was thinking either oil or soft pastel, most likely pastel. I have a background in both oil and pastel, having sold works in both in the years before I went to college to become an engineer. In recent years (but before the economy went up in smoke), I've acquired substantial materials for watercolor and acrylic and have been studying them. I would like to eventually be comfortable with all of these mediums. Still, while I have many dozens of sold works in oil & pastel behind me, in watercolor I have so far only done some practice work, nothing worthy of sale.

Most of my prior works were of wildlife, something which appealed to the animal lover in me and which was a big hit with all of the hunters in the area where I lived at the time some 30mi outside of Charleston. My work has always been very detailed, something my buyers, friends, and fans all seemed to love about my work. In the future, however, I hope to do some things differently. I'm older and freer now, and my interests have changed somewhat. I want to loosen up a bit, experiment, and do impressionistic landscapes and florals. I also want to experiment with pushing color to various levels up to and including the extremes. I want to use more pinks, purples, reds, & blues as apposed to the more drab nature colors in my earlier work.

That said, I will probably always also do some work in the more realistic style of my youth, especially when I paint wildlife. My plans for the portrait of Rita are to keep it realistic which is why I asked for higher res pics to get greater detail. I will probably push the color to deepen the greens in her skin (and any other color I am able to perceive however vaguely), but I do not plan to push the color beyond what would be realistic. Am I correct that her true color is a shade of green? Are there any other colors on her which you can see however muted they may be but which may not be apparent in the pics? If you describe them to me, color and location, I can add them to the portrait for more color notes.

I know all too well that feeling that a specific medium and style would be absolutely perfect for a particular picture, so much so that it sometimes seems no other medium could possibly do it justice. I have that sometimes with the numerous as yet unpainted pictures in my mind, thinking this one just begs for acrylic, that one watercolor, while another could only be done properly in oil. These notions, of course, however strongly felt, are incorrect, as any picture can be done well in any medium. In fact, depending on the techniques employed it is often nearly impossible to tell from even the most detailed, professional photograph what medium was used for a painting. I've seen pastels and even colored-pencil works I would swear were oil. Likewise, I've seen watercolors that looked just like oils and oils that looked like watercolors. I've even done (and sold) several pics in oil on canvas using thin, translucent paint and watercolor-like techniques.

It occurred to me only a few days ago that, duh, you could just email me the pics and thus avoid posting them to any other sight where they might become property of some web company complements of the fine print in their user agreement. I will dmail you my email info.

Amanda,

As to how I can do so many different things, I'm just WAY behind on everything. That's how. I have been both gifted with & tortured by my many abilities and interests. So often that which is a virtue is also a source of problems, depending on perspective. So it has been for me with my myriad interests.

I have friends who have only one true interests and thus with their singular almost laser-like focus in pursuit of that one thing they cannot help but succeed. I, on the other hand, have come to realize that I may never be the best that I could possibly be in any one of my many areas of interest but must be content to simply do my best work in whatever I am doing at any given time. I'm a writer, a poet, an artist, an engineer, a software developer, a physicist, a naturalist, gardener, and animal lover, an academian and many other things. I guess if I were a man, I would be a Renaissance man, equally at home calculating the gravitational pull between planetary bodies and discussing the many worlds theory as painting a work in oil on canvas. My X-fiance was a scientist/engineer ONLY. He had no other interests. His work was his hobby. I often envied him the simplicity and power of that singular focus even as jealously as I at other times appreciate my own multitude of interests and talents.

Friday & Sat nights I had a blast with the kits. I've just not found time to write about it yet. On Friday night I took my camera out with me and tried really hard to get some good pics. Sadly, while I did get some pics, all of the really adorable moments alluded me. Either I didn't get the camera up in time or the shutter was too slow to close or the camera messed up entirely either over or under exposing what might otherwise have been a keeper.

It's much harder than it sounds to both interact with the kits and photograph them at the same time. They move quickly. They don't pose and wait for me to shoot. There are 3 of them, 4 if you count the mom, and they all want everything at the same time. If I give one a cookie, I can't just sit there taking pics as she eats it, I have to pass out cookies to all of the others. They are children, after all. By the time I do all of that, I've missed the shot. Then I see something else, but before I can swing the camera around and wake it up, argh, missed another shot. And so it goes.

None of the pics I got were at all special. Here is one showing 2 of the kits, 3 if you count the ears in back. The one looking up at me is the really shy one having finally come forward. They are right beside me, closer than they appear, so close that my own right leg presented a major obstacle to camera placement. Camera tricks have expanded the gap so that it appears larger, but there were only maybe 4in between my leg and the wheel barrow, the light colored thing to the right. The wheel barrow is an off-white color which also wreaked havoc with my efforts to take pics at that close angle. The 2nd pic is a kit thoroughly engrossed in his enjoyment of sugar (a cookie).

Amanda,

I should add that from your posts I assume that you are also like me, a person with more interests and talents than time.

I also have many interests which have gone largely undeveloped. These include music, photography, medicine especially virology, and even law. Each of these was a major interests when I was younger but one which went undeveloped for one reason or other. My parents were unwilling to entertain my interest in music. I wanted to learn to play the piano and the guitar but they were not willing to chauffeur me to lessons or listen to me practice. That interest ultimately atrophied. My interest in photography also atrophied for lack of a camera. I have the camera now but only rudimentary skills - if that.

I'm not sure what happened to my interest in law. Except for reading a little business law in my 20s, that too atrophied. My interest in medicine remains active. At the age of 10 I climbed up onto a ladder and pulled a heavy text called "The RH factor" off the library shelf. It was about 4in thick, but I took it home and read it, learning about the history and theory of vaccines and such. Over the years I've continued to read medical texts and literature. I even went to MUSC to talk with someone about admission there, but took the engineering route for fear I would not be able to afford to stay in school long enough to attain a medical degree - no doubt one of my many, erroneous life choices. Professors at MUSC later sought me out upon my graduation from college, not for medicine but rather for biometry and another field the name of which eludes me now. The choices we make and the roads we take...

Oh, and I left my lifelong love of horses off my list. I've spent countless hours studying dressage and jumping, right up to the accident which damaged my knee some years back.

These are just the things I've been driven to do and to learn about throughout my life. There is really almost nothing about which I am completely uninterested. But like the proverbial jack of all trades, I know a decent amount about just about everything, and am truly master of none. Oh, to be one of those lucky souls with a singular focus! :-)

Ok, that's it for the Cheryl story for now, Folks. Back to raccoons (and iguanas).

The good news is that the kits are now so tame that when I sat down on my little garden buddy near where they were eating on Sat night, they actually left their kibble and came over to stand up at my knee/leg no doubt searching for more cookies. It is amazing how quickly I was able to win those little guys over through the magic of cookies. I guess that explains why the bad guys hand out candy. Children of all species seem to be very much the same.

So much fun to be reading frequent updates - not that I'm pressuring you to keep it up - I know you have a life! Seeing how quickly the kits have warmed up to you, I wonder if Desi isn't old & wise enough to instill more sense of trepidation about you, a human - sure seems like Heidi had more of a "leash" on her kits. Love the pics! You can really see how different the face shape is among the kits - more pointed, right?

Now that we know the thread is "active" again we can all be looking eagerly for updates.

Haha, Cheryl. No on has accused me of looming like a teen for many years. That picture was taken in 2009 or 2010. I do try to maintain a childlike wonder. Having a giant iguana on one's back is something akin to comical. It probably happened as she likes to climb to the high spot, being arboreal. For a gal with thick curly hair (well it USED to be) having a creature with long talons clinging to my head is really a fearful experience. More than once, face came in contact with talons. Not very cool. It's always then, as I've probably already said, that Court reminds me that I am uninsured. :)

Right down to your "Jack of all trades, master of none" comment, above, I've spit those words out verbatim.

Which is why I am now earning a master's degree! Irony is that I still dont feel much of a master. Maybe when I have degree in hand (next spring?!) I will feel more confident. I only know that my trial experience is becoming so distant that it's less and less relevant, so I can't go back.

Not to worry, too much stress and th long long hours left me with virtually no home life, and not much of a garden.

About Rita' s coloring. As mentioned, being an arboreal creature, she is a prey animal on the ground, so her coloring from above is darker. Her color can change with the temperature or her temperament. Her skin becomes very pale when she is very hot. Her head darkens to a slate/blue-gray when she is aggravated. She turns a bright orange/red/Brown when she is stressed. Her "normal" colors are sort of a turquoise green/blue around her face and head. Her dewlap is that slate-gray. What's even better are the colors on her underside. If she were in a tree, a predator looking up would hardly be able to see her because her belly really is a brilliant mix of blue and green and white to blend in with the sky and trees. :)


Just like TH raccoons with their night time burglar masks make the perfect disguise.

Very very happy with the news of desi and kits. Particularly with the chaos at the end of the Heidi Chronicles.

I will put those photos together. Just let me know when you're ready. I don't have any expectation of privacy on 're web. It's a nice delusion, but I post my photos anyway.

Good night all! Picked up a new set of products for my old lady hair, and I am determined to "repair a year's damage in one use." Will let you know how it goes. :D
A.

** ALERT **

This just in. FDA has recvd some 89 reports of people getting sick after eating Chiobani yogurt!!! Chiobani says that numerous containers of yogurt were pulled from stock at one of their factories due to mold contamination. They were under the opinion that they got it all. It is unknown if these reports stem from containers of mold contaminated yogurt that slipped through the system or if it is something else. Also, FDA has not verified that the validity of these reports; however, it seems most improbable that such a large number of people would suddenly be reporting the same thing if there weren't something to it. Just fyi, while some types of mold will only cause GI upset and other relatively minor effects, other can be quite deadly.

!!!

Thanks for the alert.

Don't say I didn't warn you. I'ld suggest starting on the raccoon annex soon!!



Please sketch the of
memory of those dear tiny hands then sweet pointed noses and beady little eyes looking practically nose to nose at you, before it fades from you're memory. I think I can guarantee at least 20 or 30 orders!!

You are very welcome, Amanda,

I realize that most of you probably know these things already, but I figure it doesn't hurt to broadcast them anyhow just in case. If I'm on my laptop when I hear a warning, I usually pass it along.

you??

I'm waiting to learn if the window climbing event is going to become a frequent happening. Oh how cute those little hands must have been and then the shiny pointed black noses. I can only imagine how magical (and nerve wracking) that moment must have been. I am fully expecting a report of the all crawling up onto your lap to have a real party. Surely they would not see any other human as a sw cookie dispenser.
I am so hoping your are busy sketching away that precious memory before it fades into all the rest.

Sheri,

I wrote you a response (to the post about sketching that scene) a few days ago. When I came here this morning I was momentarily confused when I didn't see that post. Then I remembered that, duh, I never actually 'Sent' it. Argh! Seems I'm doing this more and more lately. A bad habit I need to stop.

These 'unsent' posts occur when in the course of a longish post I stop for something. When I return to the computer some time later having forgotten that I was in the middle of a post, I just launch another window and go on my merry way. The post I didn't send remains on my laptop, somewhere amidst the dozens of other open browser windows, but doesn't get sent until I run across it again - sometimes by the time I find it again, it's so outdated that I end up tossing it, other times I will complete and send. Bad, bad human.

I have a long todo list for today but will try to remember to finish & send that post today on one of my breaks.

Sheri,

Thank you. Below is the post I wrote earlier but failed to send:

That is a good idea - the drawing and the annex. And if you think that sketch would be a winner, imagine this one...

As is often the case, there is one kit that is very timid, so much so that it hangs back behind all of the others and doesn't get as much to eat. As a result, the timid one isn't growing at the same pace has its siblings.

On Friday night, the night immediately following the door climbing incident, Desi met me at the door with the kits - and, thankfully, this time they didn't climb the door. I sat on my garden buddy seat beside them as they ate kibble. Later passed out cookies. I usually try to remember to toss treats to the shy one who hides in a back corner somewhere, but on this particular night I had taken my camera along and I soon became so caught up in the thrill of feeding the other 2 kits who were at my knee and so engrossed in my efforts to get pics of them that, most regrettably, I forgot all about the shy one hiding back behind the wheel barrow.

At one point when I stopped for a breather, I looked up to see the shy one off by herself as usual. I was a sitting close beside a wheelbarrow, and she was on the other side of that wheelbarrow. She stood upright & looked up at me very clearly asking for a cookie. It was the 1st time I had ever seen her attempt to communicate with me, but sadly I was out of cookies, having used them all up in my effort to get a good pic of the others (a failed effort, I might add).

I was just about to get up to go for more cookies, so that I could give some to the timid kit, when all of a sudden a movement on the other side of the wheelbarrow caught my eye. I turned my head to see two tiny sets of fingers grip the side of the wheelbarrow opposite from me, and a moment later a tiny face appeared chin-up style between the 2 hands and above the rim of the wheelbarrow. Just 2 tiny hands, fingers really, and her tiny face, that's all I saw above the side of the wheelbarrow as the timid kit peeked over the rim at me. It was one of THE most adorable poses I've seen, one that was like a living version of that 'Hang in there, baby' poster that was so popular many years ago. What was especially adorable was the sheepish look on her face as she looked up at me like any shy toddler trolling for treats. Sadly, it was all too fleeting a moment, and she dropped back down again before I could even get my camera into position.

I did get her a few cookies, btw, after which Desi told them all it was time to leave, and they were gone.

Tomorrow I'm going to work on some very quick sketches of both scenes, just to preserve the image. Thanks for the idea.

Liz,

I don't know if the kit's heads are actually more pointed. I think they might be proportionally shorter (overall, nose included), and that may make their pointy noses stand out more. I do know that those little pointy heads/faces were hilarious looking the night they climbed up the door and poked their heads in through the gap. They had to turn their heads 180 degrees to look at me (otherwise, the bottom of the jaw would have been toward me.). Like cats, they can turn their heads around backwards this way. The odd position made their heads/faces look all the more hilarious as they appeared to be looking at me upside down. You really had to be there. It was a most adorable moment I shall not soon forget.

You perspective on Desi is quite astute, especially since you have not been privy to some of the things I've notice more recently. Over the past few visits I have begun to come to the conclusion that my earlier assessment of Desi as a good mom was more wishful thinking than reality. I was impressed that she didn't seem to have the kits running along 30ft or more behind her trying to keep up the way Deva did in years past. Now I realize I really never saw Desi with her kits when they were that young. They are clearly still kits now but are old enough to keep up on their own. For all I know, she may well have left them straggling behind her when they were very young just as Deva did.

One thing I've started to notice recently - and dislike - is that she growls at the kits and even body slams them when they get too close to her and encroach on what she sees as her food. Heidi had THE best behaved kits of any of the raccoons, yet she was always kind and gentle in her treatment of them. I can't recall ever seeing any of the other raccoons growl at their kits. I know for sure Heidi did not do so and she certainly didn't body slam them or otherwise reprimand them for eating from her dish.

Remember all those pics of her and that one kit (name eludes me now) both eating from the same watermelon? Heidi never even argued with her kits over the watermelon, one of her favorite treats. I have been most dismayed to see how Desi growls when a kit, usually the shy one, gets to close to her when she is eating and how she uses her body to push him/her away.

Desi growls at the kits a lot, pretty much any time they get close to her. It seems like she is growing frustrated with them, perhaps tired of having them shadow her constantly, gobbling up all of 'her' food, etc. I've been giving them food each night, cat/dog food plus any leftovers I might have (although the latter are rare), but while I used to give Desi enough food to live on, I haven't been able to provide enough for all 4 of them. Right now those kits are growing in leaps and bounds, and they are gobbling up food at an amazing rate. Both they and Desi appear to be pretty hungry. For whatever reason, Desi does not appear to be finding enough food for them in the forest, probably because she herself did not get good training last year with all that was going on at the time. With all this contention for food, I fear that Desi may cut the kits loose soon.

The kits have picked up Desi's growling and body slamming behavior and now can be seen pushing and shoving and growling with each other throughout their meal. By comparison, Heidi's kits were so much sweeter and so well behaved. Heidi's kits behaved like little 'ladies' and 'gents' whereas these are quickly becoming hooligans.

One of the kits actually growled at me the night of the door climbing incident. I didn't report it at the time because, well, I was just SO shocked to ever see a tiny kit growl at me. I thought perhaps I had misinterpreted things. Now I realize I had it right to begin with. The kit was not afraid of me. It growled at me over the cookie. A piece of cookie had been dropped onto the outside mat while I was handing them cookies through the door gap. When I stepped out onto the mat, I got between them and that fallen cookie. The one kit moved away from me as expected, but the other stood her (teeny, tiny, little) ground there on the mat and growled at me momentarily before deciding to follow her sibling. That was somewhere between chutzpah and crazy. It was a 1st for me after all these years to be growled at by such a tiny, baby. Heck, even the adult raccoons don't growl at me. Clearly, this is a bad habit which the kits learned from how their mom dealt with them.

Amanda,

I'm happy for you - and a bit envious (RE going back to college). I love school. I could have just stayed in school forever. That would have been my perfect avocation, except that, as jobs go, it doesn't pay all that well.

What discipline will you be pursuing? Have you started classes yet?

Green with envy.