The Heidi Chronicles: The Story Continues

George, that's horrible! Poor kid--good way to keep him from learning. How could you resist saying anything? But then, she woulda screamed at you...Yep, most animals are more tame than humans! Or at least they have practical reasons for their behavior.

George, Parents like that keep the therapists in business - and the jails, unfortunately.

When I think about Heidi (last year) with 5 kits, I'm amazed at the skill and patience it must take to keep up with all of them 24/7. I never heard her raise her voice or even growl at them.

The photo of the day. That big old teddy bear HRH gets comfy.

HRH again. The Winnie The Pooh look.

Heidi. taken earlier tonight as were the prior HRH pics.

Diva and baby in the pool

Diva and baby in pool

Juliet slouching a bit. Hey, it was a hot, sultry night. Everybody was slouching.

Oh, I soooo want to scratch that HRH's belly! I love all of them, though. They are beautiful creatures.

Oh Heavens is HRH a cutie... very Winnie the Pooh-ish

in the pic of baby climbing the edge... it's like he;s lookin' at mom wondering if he gonna get yelled at.

LOL, tcs, I was thinking the same thing!

Me, too; that's a baby looking at mom more in apprehension than adoration. Baby looks a LOT like Diva, and Diva truly looks like she could care less. The HRH photos are pure "awwwww;" think we've all gotten to love the big studmuffin.

Maybe Heidi's babies are too darn fat to negotiate the fence... Just kidding, of course; at that age they are pure calorie-burners putting everything into growth. I'd guess that any time from three months old on would be when we can hope to meet them, but that's purely a guess. We don't have photos of the '06 crowd when they first started raiding the bird feeder with mama Heidi, so it's hard to guess how old they were at the time.

Considering Diva's lack of parenting abilities, maybe she should be re-named?








I suggest Brittney......


*ducking and running*

mg

Good one, mornin

Ohhhh, I almost snorted coffee out my nose on that one....ohhh that was good....too good!

Debbie

ROFLMBO!!!!!!! Glad I finished my coffee!

Just catching up here. The bay pics are sooooooooo cute!!!!!! Glad you were able to get some of them. What ya gonan name Divas baby?

I wonder when Heidi brings her babies if this new little one wil hang aroudn with them and Heidi more. Do racoons take care of others young at all , like a suragate mother?

Those shots of HRH sure do make ya wanna giv e hima tummy rub, but think if he ever got one, he'd not stop there, he'd be wanting back rubs and facials and maicures and pedicures before long. LOL

Oh, mg, that is the perfect name for her! I don't like to change established names, but that is too good to ignore; so her new name will be Britaney, and Diva will be her nick name. Diva = Britaney and Britaney = Diva.

That was just plain precious. ; )

Terese, that was very observant of you - baby afraid of being yelled at. I believe she had actually growled at him a little earlier in the evening when he tried to get into the pool with her. She's clearly not concerned about him slipping, falling, drowning, or otherwise getting hurt; she just doesn't want to share the peanuts. Isn't that awful?

After you mentioned this, I went back and checked that photo and then the others from the same night, and another disturbing behavior emerged. If you look at the prior pool photo you'll see that Britaney has backed up so far (away from the kid) that her butt is over the pool edge. Below is a frame by frame series from that night. Check out her orientation with respect to baby. (Sorry, a few of the 1st ones are pretty bad as I was having trouble getting them in the dark so far away.)

hi, starlight, I was typing while you were posting.

Oh, and hi to everybody. I really enjoyed reading (and laughing at!) all of your comments above. BTW, Last night was a wash, no pun intented, due to storms. Juliet was out a bit before the downpour. Didn't see the others.

Ok, now continuing the series of pics of mom and baby. It's not like one pic alone is problematic. It's the trend seen in the series that says so much.

When they 1st showed up I was SO eager to get a photo just in case they left quickly. I was having a lot of difficulty due to distance and darkness - couldn't tell when I had them in the view finder. This is one of the worst but I show it as part of the series. Baby is circled because he is so difficult to see in the grass (tail points right).

starlight, forgot to mention: haven't decided on name yet. I usually wait for something to "click" with me. Heidi does not seem too fond of baby. She gave him her fairly harmless grumble when he got too close to her stuff; she was there that night.

Here the kit actually looks like he may be giving her the concerned look again - and backing away. Just not great body language.

Here they are closer, but notice her body language - how she is turning to the side away from him.

ok, just had to sneak this in (baby)

the "full" pic

keep in mind that in most of these pics the raccoon in the pool is Juliet who has already snarled at the baby a few times.

next frame

Up to now you may be thinking it's just a coincidence, but look at this next frame from the series

Even the baby's body language is interesting

more

Now this says a lot. (And note Juliet far left looking angry and Fraidy is back right) Look how the poor baby is backed up as far as possible against the pool edge as if to get away from mom. And that look mom gives him - I can't quite charaterize it, but it's odd.

Now here is Britaney in the pool eating with the nasty tempered Juliet on the left, baby outside pool - he couldn't back up any farther w/o getting out - and Fraidy back right.

The next frame in the series would be the one way up above - where the baby is getting into the pool with her. Here is the frame that follows that one.

(man she sure took a lot of photos)

I wasn't sure how they would turn out and was determined to get at least one pic of that kid!

No racoons in my yard, but plenty of squirrels, deer, possum, chipmunks, various birds, and one very large groundhog living under the garden cottage.

In my last home, a young male moved into the attic space over the master bedrm, and I had to trap him and get him out of there before my landlord poisoned him....he was not the spitting, viscious, nasty, growling critter everyone said he'd be, he was calm and sweet and didn't give me any trouble at all. I'll never forget his soft brown eyes.

In this one I think she is seeing hrh coming up the path beside me. That's fraidy on the right.

Hi, Bhavana, actually I read about your experiences with him on the thread about how to trap a raccoon. I understand what you mean. I always thought they would be mean but have found them to be very sweet and friendly creatures.

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Ok, guys (and dolls), check out Fraidy on the right in this one (while you are looking at mom and baby, of course)

Here's the little fella getting scared because the big raccoon (fraidy) is getting close and he no doubt recalls having Juliet growl and snarl at him in the past.

Britaney leaving baby behind

baby in pool by himself (no longer hugging the edge)