Heidi: The New Family 07

How about putting it in the kitten food bag? Dotti

dott -- lemme tell ya... she's still forget it. LOL

sorry Cheryl, couldn't help myself... but you know its true.!!

LOL at you guys!

Dotti, your idea made me chuckle out loud, but Terese is right, I could probably scoop food out of the bag all around the camera and STILL forget it...
...but this one time she's wrong because I did get some pictures. Yay!

:-)

Last night I went out for a midnight shopping event, and tonight I spent a rather long time outside with the raccoons. I wrote up both the events of last night and tonight in Word - for cut and paste, and I did get a number of pictures last night. However, in the interest of time right now and for reasons that may be more obvious later, I am going to relay tonight's events 1st. Later tonight or tomorrow, I will back up a bit to post the events of the night before (Friday) along with the pictures.

Here then are the events of tonight:

Tonight really didn't start out all that well. Last night I had made a midnight run to the 24hr WalMart for several large bags of cat food and [finally] a pool. I had been putting that off for so long. When Karen got hers I could stand it no longer, so I forced myself to get out there and get that done. (Thanks, Karen) Late this afternoon I went out, set the pool up and filled it. (I think it's around 5ftD) Remembering Ruth's suggestions about small fish and about cereal, I took out 2 apples and a bag of red grapes. Not knowing how long it would take for the raccoons to show up, I wanted to use items that would be water resistant. A bit later when I went out to set up for the evening feeding, I lotoked at that big purple plastic thing and realized that it might look suspicious, even scarey, to the raccoons.

I filled all the dishes, put the apples and a handful of grapes into the pool and sat down to await there arrival. While I was waiting I ate a few grapes, and started tossing many of the others into the pool, hoping the sound and visuals would help to reassure any raccons that might be hiding near by, hoping it would allow them to see that the big scarey things was just water. After a handful of grapes landed in the pool with a plunk and a splash, I saw movement in the leaves high up overhead in an area along the path that Fraidy always takes on her way down from her treehouse. As soon as the raccoon came into view I was surprised to see that it was not Fraidy, but Heidi. Even some 30ft up there I recognized her instantly. I was not accustomed to seeing Hieid up there, and I couldn't imagine what she was doing up there, but I knew it was her.

She paused, looking down at the feeding area below, looking down, I gather, at that large, mysterious purple thing right in the middle of the feeding area only a few feet from her dish. I called to her, hoping to reassure her that everything was safe and to coax her down.She reacted to my voice, looked over at me, then resumed her descent. When she reached the trunk of the Heidi tree she again stopped and sat looking at the area with concern. Again I called to her trying to make my voice portray both comfort and a slightly uplifting tone. The former in an attempt to allay her fears about the pool, the latter as a subtle attempt to shift the mood from one of fear to one of happiness, a toned down version of the voice you use when you see your dog after an absence. It worked, and she again resumed the descent. She would stop 2 more times, one at the top of the branch leading down to the fence, another at the top of the fence. Each time I called to her. Convincing her to actually come down from the top of the fence was the most difficult of all. It was, after all, still light out, and she was more than a little concerned about the presence of that unidentified foreign object so close to the fence.

When Heidi finally came down she walked cautiously and in an arc away from the object. From time to time as she ate she would stretch her neck in the direction of the pool trying to figure it out. I had been so excited to finally get the pool. I had been eager to get it set up before they arrived, eager to show it to them and to see their excitement. This was not at all what I had planned for. The pool had become a deterrent. Even as Heidi ate it was clear that she was uncomfortable with the pool nearby.

Then she heard a sound next door in the yard where the pit bull lives. With that she bolted into the trees and refused to return. I suspect that she is aware of the pit bulls presence over there. Minor sounds from that direction send her running. That plus the stress of the strange purple thing was too much for her, and she was gone.

As I sat alone for what seemed an eternity tossing grapes into the water and wondering if any of the others would even show up at all, I amused myself thinking that back when I had WANTED to keep the raccoons out of the yard I had not known that a kid's wading pool would do it.

Finally when it had become quite dark, a raccoon which I could not identify in the darkness, descended the fence, and stood there motionless, apparently trying to decide if it was safe to walk past the pool. Throughout the night this behavior, this fear of the new blob that had shown up in the feeding area was played out over and over with each raccoon. Each showed it in a different way. Some were afraid to come down the fence. Others, like Heidi when she returned, took odd new routes around the perimiter of the yard to avoid the pool. Everyone was weary of the strange new thing.

I'm not sure who actually started it. I actually believe it was little Fraidy who first crept slowly up to the thing, sniffed it cautiously, then standing on her hind feet reached over the edge for a floating apple. I guess the apple must have been too far away, or maybe while reaching over she became convinced that this was not such a scarey thing after all. At any rate, she climbed in, grabbed the apple, ate a bite, dunked it, ate another...and it had begun.

From that moment on activity in the pool was so voluminous that I am at a loss to even begin to relay it blow by blow. Suddenly, the pool was such an incredible hit that they all but forgot about their dishes of kitten food. Everybody wanted to fish stuff out of the pool, and anything in the pool tasted great, even those dog biscuits they haven't wanted for months now. Even the stern and businesslike Heidi spent more time in the pool than out. While in the pool she fished for and ate grapes, dispite the fact that she had not touched the stem of grapes I'd placed by her dish. Similarly, Fraidy ignored the pile of grapes I'd put by her dish when she was eating beside me, only to find nirvana fishing the same grapes out of the water in the pool. As the night wore on I ended up scooping the grapes up from the ground beside me and tossing them across the lawn and into the pool, where they were eaten with gusto by any raccoon who could get pool time.

Pool time became the new controversy. No longer were they squabbling over food. Now they were bickering over use of the pool. Activity in and around the pool was off the charts. They were in and out of the pool like a bunch of kids on Florida vacation. From the moment Fraidy 1st stepped into the pool until I left for the evening the pool was rarely empty for more than a few minutes. I had not begun to imagine that an $8 pool would be such a hit. The bickering over the pool was so intense early on that around the time that Heidi stepped in to claim the thing - after all, it's her territory so naturally any covetted new resources should be hers - I started thinking I would need to buy another one for Fraidy and another one for...then I was trying to picture the small section of lawn that I call my backyard covered with large, multi-colored, water filled dots.

When it came to the pool, Heidi amazed me most of all. She stood in the middle of it and drank. She fished for grapes. For a time she stood in the center growling manacingly at anyone who even walked BY the pool. It was a while before she would allow the others to use the pool without a fight. Fraidy also surprised me. She fell in LOVE with the pool, so much so that no one could keep her away from the thing. She and Juliet hooked up over the pool and had such a prolonged and vicous sounding brawl that Heidi actually went across the yard to yell at both of them. I have no idea why Heidi did this, but she managed to break it up momentarily.

A few minutes later when Fraidy was trying to sneak back into the pool, Juliet ran her down and again attacked her viciously. I was afraid that Fraidy would give up and leave altogether, but she did not. Despite the size difference between her and Juliet, Fraidy stood her ground, and refused to leave. Amazingly, Juliet finally grabbed an apple from the pool and left the yard herself. Fraidy jumped in and out of the pool and fished endlessly for apples and grapes and dog biscuits. At some point she was even seen GROWLING at the others when they tried to join her in the pool!

Eventually one by one everyone had their fill and left. Finally only one raccoon remained. There she was alone with several dishes of kitten food, yet she spent most of her time in the pool fishing out the remaining dog biscuits. For the rest of the night, she was in and out of the pool. She'd get out and walk around in a 2ft circle back to the pool. Her preoccupation with and apparent inability to stay out of the pool caused me both to worry that she might end up all shrivelled like a prune and to think she might need an SSRI for her OCD.

When I left, there was still kitten food in a few dishes, and she was still in the pool.

Yep! The pool was an awesome hit!

One final observation, I had gone out expecting to watch with humor as they scrambled about chasing wet fruit as it continually slipped from their grasp. I was surprised to see the dexterity with which they reached out and grabbed an apple or a grape, capturing it quickly and securely with a single attempt. They were obviously in their element.

I laughed so hard that I had tears streaming down my face.

Thank you, George!

I stayed out much longer than usual tonight. They were an absolute riot, and I didn't dare miss a moment of the fun. In my attempts to put it on "paper", I was concerned that the mood of the moment might be lost in the translation. Thanks for letting me know that perhaps it was not.

Way to go Fraidy!

Cheryl,

it's awesome that it was Fraidy who was the first one it, (she being the brave one!!) and it really seems she has "grown" that evening as her tussle with Juilet and how she stood her ground!! must have been very cool to witness.

I'll be very excited to see the images later today.

Terese

Hi tetleytuna and Terese,

A little while ago I tried to post a response to tetleytuna along with a photo but it timed out. At that point I decided to start a new thread (haven't completed construction yet, however).

Fraidy's reaction to the pool was incredible. The 2 prior nights she had already begun to stand her ground when Juliet tried to block from reaching my bench; but that pool really seemed to be just just the thing to get her to stand tall. Back when we were all hoping that she would get some backbone, who knew that all she needed was an addiction (anyone know of a good 12 step program for pool addicts?).

I noticed her make 2 very impressive stands last night. Most of the squabbles between the various raccoons are just quick spats, but at one point last night Fraidy and Juliet had such a prolonged and horrific sounding battle that Heidi was prompted to go over there and get involved, It wasn't just a bite or a slap. They went tumbling and screaming like cats for a few minutes. If Fraidy had given in and run back to the fence as she used to do, the brawl would never have lasted that long. I was very surprised to see her hang in there with Juliet that long. No sooner had that fight ended than Juliet and 2 other raccoons tag teamed Fraidy, all trying to run her back to the fence. That was the point where I thought that she would surely give up and leave, but instead of letting them chase her to the fence, she ran around the yard and hopped right back into the pool. It was awesome.

At one point they did manage to send her back over the fence. Then seconds later her little head popped out from under the foliage on the fence right in front of the pool. Minutes later she was on her way back down and into the water.

I'm still amazed at how much they all enjjoyed the pool, but Fraidy's insistence on staying in the thing until she shriveled was truly amazing. It just seemed like the 1st thing that ever got her excited enough to fight.

Below is Fraidy in her tree house. I know it's a really bad photo, but even when it's still light in the yard it's pretty dark in the canopy up there. The combination of darkness and distance means I probably can't do much better without a telephoto lens - which I have but can't attach because lens cover is stuck.

Edited to add: Even though she's some 40ft up in the trees and some distance away from me, you can clearly see that she is looking at me standing down there in the garden.

This message was edited Jun 10, 2007 10:19 AM

Another bad pic of Fraidy in the trees

In the interest of keeping the thread from growing beyond that which can reasonably be loaded by those with dialup, I've started a new thread located here: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/733354/. I will be posting the photos from Friday night along with the details of that evening on the new thread.

As alwasy, hope to see you all there!

Great pictures even when dark. Cute little bandit. Thanks

Thank you, MsMaati, I was hoping the photos would help you to see some of what I see. Glad you enjoyed them. Little Fraidy is so adorable. To have made such sweet and irresistible creatures and then to have saddled them with such an untouchable disease seems a cruel joke of nature. Still I am very thankful for the opportunity to enjoy them even from a distance.

lol when you were talking about snowball eating all the leftovers all I could was ...snowball leaning up against the fence on his back with his stomach in the air with his hand on stomach catching some zzzzzs...

tcs...when you spoke of the

Hi Jeani,

What adorable images! Now I can see them, too.