The Heidi Chronicles: They're Here at Last!

Abe the Beaver?? I missed somethin'...who's he?

He saws logs. :-)

Ky -- there is that commercial for insomnia, a guy that can't sleep and and "abe" and a beaver keep telling the guy they miss him, and they are playing cards... they must do that when the guy dreams... but with insomnia, he is not dreaming, so they "miss him".

Cheryl mentioned at the end of Post #3884877 that she was off to see Abe and the Hedgehog/Beaver.

My mind is going. I meant Trouble and I said Rascal.

Rascal is a great name though... if it's a male.

Hi George,

I'm not sure if that was Diva or her kit in the pic; they look so much alike.

I knew you meant Trouble; hey, sometimes it's difficult to keep track of the names and the players without a program. ; )

Last night the little fella came over to me like he allways does, but I had the mosquito candle at my feet in a desperate attempt to keep the "piranah" at bay. When he got to within a few inches of the candle he turned around and left - without hugging my foot. I wasn't thinking about him when I put the candle there. I was just trying to cut down on my pain and suffering a bit.

Hi Ruth,

I was worried about Juliet, too. At times when Heidi was looking a bit ragged, I feared that the younger Juliet would take over. Silly me. Heidi had things under control all along.

Yes, I agree - many human Mom's would do well to study Heidi's mothering skills.

I'm surprised to see that she brings them back most nights to play long after all of the food is long gone, but it warms my heart to know that, with help and suggestions from you and all those who have offered ideas, I've been able to provide a place that she/they would enjoy enough to visit it for reasons other than food. That's just beyond my wildest expectation. (LOL at the idea that even raccoon Mom's need a way to entertain the babies sometime so they can rest.) I'm hoping that sometime in the early AM when no one is around maybe sometimes Heidi and the kids play together out there in the moonlight - with their toys and sandbox and the pool.

BTW, lately they've begun digging up the yard. Oh, yeah. We aren't getting the daily onslaught of rain lately so now it's dry here, too. The kits have been digging holes and trenches all around under the flower pots - but I don't care. If they get some joy from that I'm happy for them. It's just dirt, and it will still be there when they grow up and no longer play (in public, at least).

Hi Judy,

Thank you! Thank you for the wonderful compliment, and thank you for being there. I am so glad to hear that you are enjoying the thread. : D

No, I've never tried story telling at the hospitals, etc. That's a wonderful idea! I'm afraid that Terese is right that I don't have time right now, but I love the idea and will keep it in mind for the future. Surely, I won't always be so busy.

This is such a wonderfully creative group with so many great ideas.

Thanks again!

KyWoods,

Now that I'm feeling better and can hopefully stay awake more, I should be able to get started on that book. : )

Terese,

Maybe one day - story telling and puppets, but you are right that I don't have time now. Still, who knows what the future brings.

Sorry about the confusion about Abe and the beaver, Everyone, but, Terese, you sure do a great and very thorough job of explaning things - with references, links, etc. Very professional. : )

Last night, Heidi was 1st out, but she did not bring the kits. She ate quickly, and left early.

Almost immediately, Diva and her baby arrived. Diva came up beside me - cautiously - to eat from Fraidy's dish. That was a big surprise since Diva is still uncertain about whether to trust me. Her baby came over there, too, but stayed back a little ways behind her and closer to the safety of the veggie patch. I had taken an egg out with me. Since Heidi had already left, I figured I might as well give it to Diva's kit; for all I knew, they might be the only one's I'd see for the rest of the night.

I chipped the end of the egg and rolled it gently toward the kit. It was a good "throw". The egg came to rest just in front of the baby - and Diva spun around on her haunches to scoop it up right from his feet! I was hoping that she might at least share it with him and use it to teach him egg eating skill, but, no, she picked it up and turned her back to him while she ate it.

Throughout the time they were there, Diva's baby kept going back to the veggie patch to hide, and he frequently is seen some distance away from Diva, so a little while later when I saw him over by the pool, I wasn't surprised at all -- at least, not until I turned back to see him ALSO standing beside Diva to my left!

Whoa! I did a double take. We had too many kits all of a sudden. Who was this new kit - alone at the pool? Did Diva have another kit? Surely this wasn't a lost kit. Then on the fence I saw more kits...and...was that Juliet?

Even as I was trying to figure this out, Heidi and her kits started coming down another part of the fence. Wow! Information overload. Diva and her kit were beside me. Heidi and her 4 kits were approaching the pool. There was a "spare" kit at the pool, and 2 or more extra kits on the fence. They had to be Juliet's.

Heidi and her kits took both dishes, Heidi's and the one that Juliet usually uses. Heidi growled at the spare kit by the pool and sent him heading back over to the fence where Juliet stood with her other babies. Juliet and the rest of her kids came down the fence, and the group made its way over to the area between the pool and the fence. They huddled there just beyond Juliet's usual dish (now taken by Heidi's kits) looking almost uncomfortable.

I felt sorry for Juliet and her babies standing there near the fence hungry but not allowed to eat. Much like human children, I figured the kids wouldn't understand why there was food but none for them. Juliet was behaving. She wasn't threatening Heidi's kids;she just wanted to feed hers. I tossed the remaining few handfuls of dog food and numerous handfuls of peanuts up onto the berm where they stood.

About that time, I "felt" something to my right and looked to see Fraidy over there; so I tossed her peanuts, too. After that, I spent the rest of the evening trying to toss food fast enough to keep everybody's plate full. I was tossing food to Diva and her kit on my let, Fraidy on my right, Juliet and her babies in front of me some distance away at the fence, and onto the lawn in front of me so that heidi's kits would get peanuts, too.

There was some tension, and the kids never actually played together, but there were no fights. All in all everyone managed to share the space. (I got some pics - also missed a lot because I felt it more important to make sure Juliet's kids got to eat, too - rather than having to stand around and watch the others eat. I'll post them soon.

Here is Diva's baby one more time.

More babies? How exciting!!! More names to think of, too...

Hi KyWoods,

Yes, so far we have 4 Heidi babies, 3 Juliet babies, and 1 from Diva. 8 babies, and there could be more since last year Fraidy didn't show up until much later than the others.

It's great to have so many babies. However, when they are all there at once, it gets a little crowded. I get better photo ops with 3 kits than with 8 kits and 3 moms - then I just get pics of backs and tails. When all of them are present, the moms get nervous. That negative energy gets transfered to the kids. They get hyper, don't play very much, etc. But maybe in time they will become more comfortable around each other.

The pic below shows Heid and her kits on the left (front), Diva on the right, and Juliets bunch in the background - box heighlighted around Juliet's kits to lighten them and make them easier to see. If I try to lighten the whole pic enough to see the kits in back, the ones in front will be over exposed and washed out, so I did it this way as a compromise.

Diva and her baby seem to be getting along a little better, but she still has a long, long way to go. She's taking food from him again. Two nights ago I had the large Carmel rice cakes. If you recall, the 1st time I saw her kit, I picked up a rice cake and she snatched it from him and ate it. This time they were up close and to my right, in a location that should have made for a great photo.

With camera read and in hand, I tossed him a rice cake - already dreaming of that adorable photo of a baby raccoon holding a rice cake almost as big as he. He was standing beside his mom when the thing dropped at his feet. OMG, he snatched that thing up blindingly fast and ran off to sit down and eat it. Well, now one thing I can say about her parenting style - the kid is certainly learning to fend for himself in a hurry! (But I didn't get the picture!)

When he finished that one and came back up by his mom and me, I prepared to toss him another one. This time I pointed the camera at him, activated the auto focus, and only then did I toss the rice cake while pushing the button. Again, he grabbed it and was gone so fast that by the time the shutter closed I had a poorly focused pic of his tail as he fled!

As previously mentioned, last night she stole the egg I tried to give him - grabbed from his feet. After that, I tried repeatedly to give him a grape but for a while no matter what I did I couldn't seem to toss them fast enough to get one to him before she could grab it. Even if I had 2 grapes in my hand and tossed one to her and the other immediately to him, she would manage to get them both. Finally, I had to toss her a small bunch of grapes to keep her occupied so that I could give a few to the poor kit.

Tonight Diva and her kit were here 1st. Then Heidi showed up, alone at 1st. A little while later when Juliet and her kits arrived, Diva got upset and ran away - fast, once again leaving the kit behind. When the kit realized she was gone, he tried to go to the fence. By that time Juliet and her kits were on him. He stepped out of the weeds just as Juliet was rounding the corner. She threatened him and he ran back into the weeds. A few minutes later he came out again and started looking around for his mom.

When either Heidi or Juliet "loose" a kit that gets left behind somehow, they sit in the tree and call to it with that "Whee-ooop!" sound; but Diva was not calling to her kit and there was no evidence that she was even around. The kit went over and tried to sniff Heidi as if to see if she was his Mom. Eventually he climbed the fence at the Heidi tree. He sat in the tree crying and calling his Mom with the Wee-ooop sound for a while. I was starting to get pretty worried about him. Eventually he stopped so I guess she must have come back for him. What an airhead! The name Britaney seems more appropriate by the day.

Below is Diva's kit with that rice cake. He's some 12ft or more away from her and hiding behind my garden seat to eat his rice cake where his Momma can't steal it.

Edited to fix the name confusion as pointed out by Terese. Now we know who's paying attention ;-)

This message was edited Aug 25, 2007 10:51 AM

I never got the rice cake photo I was hoping for, but later in the night I got this one (Diva's kit) which is close.

Here is Diva's kit from earlier tonight when she left him alone. He's looking for his Mom who has been gone for a few (long) minutes. Here he is checking Heidi out almost as if to see if she is his Mom.

Here's Diva eating the egg which I rolled over to the feet of the baby - and she snatched from him.

close up

Diva's baby again. Here he's wearing the clown nose.

Oh how cute :) well, all the pictures are cute, but that one went on my desktop

Wow! Three litters in the yard at once and no fights: that is impressive! I'm glad to hear that Juliet didn't wreak havoc when she brought her kids, and that you were able to get food to them as well. Diva really is a Mommie Dearest: the poor kid's stress level must go through the roof when she abandons him. But as you said, it really is teaching him smart survival skills.

Heidi must be teaching Grub-Hunting 101 these days, hence all the holes in your yard; clearly the kids have no idea yet where to look. Oh well, if your yard is like ours, there are plenty of weeds they're welcome to uproot at their leisure.

Hi Hyblaean,

Thank you! So glad to hear that you like it. Cute little nose in that one, no?

Hi Ruth,

Grub hunting? I hadn't thought of that. Oh, you know I've got my share of weeds back there, and right now it's too hot out there to do any weeding, mowing, etc until October. Luckily they aren't digging random holes all over the "lawn" or, heaven forbid, digging up the perrenials. They are digging all around the edges of the flower pots between the 2. The flower pots are falling over though, lol, because they are digging the dirt out from under them. (Oh, so Heidi is teaching them how to dig the lawn up at a later time - when they grow up.)

Thank you, Terese!

That was a test to see if you guys were paying attention. ;-)
You did GOOD. (Did you see the editor's note for the correction?)

Just kidding. Actually, I am, quite ironically, having some difficulty writing my Heidi posts now that my illness has been diagnosed and is being treated. Before, I was wide awake and ready to go from 10PM till 3AM and after (great time to write the day's recap) - but a slug all day. Now I wake up each morning ready to greet the day, am awake and functioning all day, but by 10PM (when I would usually write up the days events at the backyard diner), I'm really, really winding down fast and falling asleep on the laptop. When I get the wrinkles ironed out of my new schedule, I'll probably have to find a different time to write.

Edited to add: Thanks again, Terese, for pointing that out so that I could correct it!

This message was edited Aug 25, 2007 11:05 AM

Here is Diva's kit leaving (to try to find his mom who ran away some time earlier). This was taken just after the pic a few posts above where the kit was "sniffing" Heidi as if to see if she was his mom. Note that in this pic as he is leaving to search for Diva, Heidi is watching him. She hasn't been willing to help him, take him under her wing, etc but in this pic she seems "concerned" enough to watch.

(Again in this pic I have lightened the area containing the kit to make him easier to see back there in the dark.)

I would love to find a way to become a "morning person", as all of the jobs in the field I'm studying (paralegal) start bright and early. I've always been a natural night owl.

Yep, all our gardens have been destroyed by little grub hunters this year--they like the soft soil, as opposed to the hard, rocky, clay soil where the weeds are. Thus the weeds prosper, and the gardens fail. LOL Perhaps if I go to the trouble of preparing a patch of soft soil just for the grub hunters, with no flowers in it???

Love the "Mommy Dearest" reference. Diva could have another nickname, along with Britney. LOL I can't believe how horrible she is, taking food from her own baby!

Hi KyWoods,

The Grub "mommies" don't lay their eggs on hard, clay soil. They prefer lawn grass, mowed short, and kept wet. Naturally, the foragers looking for grubs need to look "where the grubs are". Bottom line, sorry, since a patch of soft, unused, soil isn't likely to be tempting to the beetles, it's not going to attract the foragers either.

What will help: Treat the areas where your flowers are with either Milky Spore or Beneficial Nemetodes both of which kill grubs - but you need to know what type of grubs you have since Milky Spore doesn't work for all types. Neither are harmful to the environment, pets, wildlife, etc. They are not inexpensive and don't work overnight; however, unlike chemical pesticides these biologicals work 24/7 until the job is done and they reproduce and multiply to make more of the product over time.

Luckily, the Japanese Beetles in my yard prefer to deposit their young in the small lawn portion of the backyard garden and the grass covered paths. As a result, Heidi, Snowball, and the others limit their grub digging to those areas and have never bothered the flowers. (Do you have a patch of lawn grass for them? Maybe that's the ticket.)

Joan Crawford was one of the people whose names I considered for Diva.

I knew that idea was too simple to be of any use...LOL nope, no grass here, only woods and rocks. We use containers for our gardening, and the containers are what they dig in. Tried stinky sprays, hot pepper, the works. The sprays might work if I use them more often. One of the bottles said it was good for a month, which turned out not to be true....
What if I planted grubs in a homemade patch of soil...? LOL

Wow!! More babies!!! I just feel so sorry for Diva's kit. Wondering if it will be able to learn all the necesary 'life lessons' it will need to survive.

That photo of Heidi watching Diva's kit leave should have thought bubble for Heidi reading, "Some females just should not reproduce...".

Cheryl, have you ever tried Cutter Advanced spray to protect yourself from the mosquitos? I picked up a bottle recently at Home Depot because it was inexpensive, has no DEET, and I'm tired of being eaten alive. Wasn't expecting much: most such products I've tried don't work, irritate my absurdly sensitive skin, or both. But this works!...and doesn't bother my skin, which is bothered by simple detergents.

Ky, have you tried Ropel spray as a repellent? Doesn't harm the critters, and lasts a long time outdoors. It's a taste repellent; tastes truly disgusting, as I discovered to my chagrin after dipping bulbs and then lighting a cigarette before washing thoroughly. Since I've started using it, I can almost enjoy seeing chipmunks again..

I use Skin so Soft from Avon on myself and the kids....no mosquitos at all! They hate the stuff...and it does leave a soft feeling. LOL DH hates the smell, but if we are walking out in the woods, he will use that over his regular spray....it does work better.

Love the thought bubble idea....how funny and true!

Debbie

Hi nanny,

I feel sure Diva's baby will survive. He won't likely be as well equiped as Heidi's kids, but like his human counterparts he'll survive. He is lucky in that he's in a good location. Winter temps here are very mild. (I have a tropical houseplant in a pot on the driveway that has been outside for 6 years.) We have a very long, virtually year round growing season so food is plentiful. There are few if any large predators - we have bobcats which probably don't come this close to people and alligators, and the closest place where raccoon's can be hunted is 18 miles and a large river away. So, his challenges are already minimized.

He's learning to act just like Diva. Not good, but she survives. I think being an only child further limits his options for learning. With siblings he would learn social skills and would have someone to play with which would improve his skills for fighting and such.

I won't be worried then!!! We had a momma & her 4 kits cominfor awhile then they seemed stopped showing up (at least when we were up to watch) and I was taling about them this morning. Sure enough when I took our dog for his last walk a few minutes ago there they wer all climbing on the neighbors porch and wood pile!!!!

I felt sooo much better!! I know our big male did get hit by a car a few weeks back though.

Hi Ruth,

Love the bubble quote idea! That really fits.

I just never think of mosquito spray when I'm at the store. Last year I stocked up. At the beginning of this year I had a nice collection of wipes, stickon disks, spray, etc. The only reason I have the candles is because Publix had them prominently displayed at the entrance for the 4th. For that few brief seconds, I thought "oh, I have to get some spray, too, when I get to that aisle" only to forget again immediately thereafter. I'm going to make plans to stop by Lowe's on the way home from work tomorrow to get some.

I'm almost out of candles. They weren't working so well. Then 2 nights ago I "engineered" a solution. The wicks were burning out leaving 2/3 of the wax behind, so I made my own wick by leaning matches in a teepee formation in the wax. The resulting bonfire burned the wax a lot faster thus dispersing citronella at a much higher rate. Result: not a single bite for 3 days; however, it's a little hot out for a campfire - makes me sweat, and I'm surprised the glass holder hasn't shattered from the abuse. At the end of the evening the glass is too hot to touch much less carry back to the house so I've just been leaving it on the seat of the tractor scoot to cool overnight. (Way to wet out there to worry about starting a fire by accident.)

Yep, spray would work much better.

Oh, nanny, so sorry to hear about the male getting hit by a car. Every time i see a dead raccoon on the road anywhere near my house I worry about Heidi and the others and am always happy to see them again afterward. Glad to hear that the mom and baby are still coming around.

Hi, Debbie,

I haven't been horseback riding since I hurt my knee a few years back, but we always kept a stick of the Skin So Soft solid in the tack room so we could rub ourselves down before trail rides.

Tonight Heidi brought the kids (3 of them). I had taken out 3 new toys: a stuffed dog (seen in photo below. note location of dog where I put it when I arrived), a rubber chicken that Widget would never have anything to do with, and a Pet Stages treat dispenser with fabric straps and balls attached.

The kids were especially playful, and there were several adorable moments. Sadly, as I was so busy trying to make sure noone ran out of cat food, peanuts, or teddy grahams.

Photo below shows Juliet on far left with Heidi and 3 kids right and center (Note the location of the dog.)

One of Heidi's kits ran over, grabbed the dog - which was almost as big as he was - and started tumbling and wresting with it as though it were an opponent. I struggled to put the treats down, grab the camera, and get that photo, but...too late. I got this photo instead. Although I missed the action, you can see that the dog has been relocated.

A little while later i looked up to see one of the kits in the pool playing with the rubber chicken. He was holding its body between his "hands" while tugging on its head with his mouth, stretching the thin neck of the chicken a good 6-8". I could not believe my eyes. It was too hilarious to see him stretching the chicken that way. Again, I fumbled for the camera only to miss the shot. Not my night for pictures.

I wish I'd gotten a pic of the chicken at least. It looks like a plucked bird and is made of very stretchy rubber or silicone or something that feels almost like flesh. It's filled with sand or something similiar.

A bit later, one of the kits again grabbed the stuffed dog. Quickly, he dragged it over to the pool and with some difficulty managed to hoist it over the edge and into the pool. When he tugged it into the air holding the top of its head in his mouth, he smacked Heidi in the head with it where she stood eating from her dish by the pool. For a few moments there they both struggled, the kit trying to wrestle the thing - now wedged up against heidi's head - past her and over the edge of the pool, and Heidi trying to maintain her footing and get disentangled from the toy. No one ever said motherhood was easy.

Once he got the thing past Heidi and into the pool, the kit wrestled and dragged it across the length of the pool and over the other side. And once again, I got there just in time to get the photo below in which the kit is seen on the other side of the pool. He has the dog down on the ground where it is hidden behind the pool; however, you at least see that the dog is no longer in its prior position.