Heidi Chronicles: Enjoying the Antics of the Kids!

OH--just noticed--Happy Birthday, Cheryl! Are you gonna let the coons share your birthday cake? Bet they'd love it!

Good call, Ky; I never check birthdays. Here's to the best birthday yet for our favorite raccoon caregiver!

Hi, Everyone!

KyWoods, Ruth -- Thanks for the birthday wishes!

Every now and then I try watching birthdays during which time I never see anyone I know so I loose interest and stop.

It was a very nice day - although exceedingly wet, so much so that I sank in the ground around the "pool" when I went out there to feed the raccoons last night (sat). (Did you ever get any rain, Ruth? We are under flood warning again through tomorrow night with rain expected through the entire holiday weekend.)

I left work early on Friday and went shopping. Then went back out this morning for some more shopping. Now that I have energy again I feel like doing things again. Yay! So, when I realize I'm out of something I don't have to just do without until my next outing. Yay, again! I stocked up on grapes, peanuts, and marshmallows and picked up a package of mini-cupcakes for the raccoons. Just wish I had thought to take the cupcakes out so my masked friends could help me celebrate. I hadn't seen Heidi or several days so I was very happy when she brought the kids to see me for my birthday party. In fact, everyone but HRH joined in the celebration, but I understand that such a studly guy may have a very full social calendar.

Hi Ruth,

I guess you are right about HRH's facial wound. I guess you can imagine how awful I felt when I thought he might have gotten cut on the pie pan -- but even then I thought it odd that neither Snowball nor Fraidy had managed to injure themselves while eating from it. I was so relieved when I conducted my experiments and discovered that I couldn't even scratch myself with it no matter how I tried. I would have felt so, so awful if I had been responsible for that nasty cut. (I don't see any signs of contrition from Diva, however.)

Thanks RE the mountain lion reference. With his blond coloring, ample musculature, and bold stance atop the fence HRH, his masked face and striped tail lost in the darkness, often looks just like a cougar waiting there to pounce on some unsuspecting victim. He really is a beautiful example of his species, not to mention that I really enjoy watching him sit around in his favorite slouchy position popping kibble in his mouth like popcorn.

Hi Terese,

Rupert is a cutie. And once again, he stars in tonight's edition of the Heidi saga - to come.

I haven't seen any sign of Karen for about a month now. In fact, I kept meaning to ask that same question, but always thought of it when away from the computer. I do hope she is ok. Lately, due to some health issues she had been disappearing for a while and then popping in again. Hopefully, she'll be back soon. (Karen, if you're out there, please let us know. We're concerned about you.)

Hi Floridian,

Thank you very much for the wonderful compliment. It is so nice to hear that you are enjoying the thread.

Hi KyWoods,

I changed the caption under the picture. (I think that's the one most people will read.) Sorry, but I can't change "history"; that might cause a ripple in the space-time continium and wreak havoc with the present. ;-)

Hi starlight,

LOL at the pig porn!

I've read that the life expectancy for wild raccoons is 7yrs. Heidi 1st appeared in my yard 4-6yrs ago so she is getting "old" by wild raccoon standards. (I moved here in Oct 2001. Heidi appeared sometime within the 1st 2 years I was here.) I worry about her sometimes because of her age. I sure hope the extra nutrition and the fact that she doesn't have to wander so far in search of food will help her to live longer and stay healthier longer. She is very special to me, and I would hate to see anything happen to her.

"Our" group of raccoons cannot be hunted. The land they are on is within city limits where it is illegal to discharge a fire arm and where it would be difficult to get away with it. It's 18miles and a large river to the nearest place where raccoon hunting is legal. We don't have large predators like bears, wolves, mountain lions, etc. Any dogs off leash will be picked up promptly by Animal Services so they don't face that risk. We do have a number of alligators in the local ponds though. Within the community we drive very careful and are respectful of our wildlife, but I do sometimes see dead raccoons on the highway, so that could be a threat if they wander that far.

Now that I'm feeling better, I'm starting to collect the material for my manuscript but it will be a while before it's ready for prime time. I am very lucky in that I have an excellent job which affords me the opportunity to share with the wildlife - and now that I am feeling better and able to stay awake at work I have a much better chance of keeping that job. ; )

Somewhere warmer? LOL, that would have to be Hades. I don't know where or why the raccoons leave in late fall, but it can't be about temperature. To put it briefly, the last time I wore a coat was on my trip to NY in Dec 96. I had the AC running the past 2 New Years days. I have a large split leaf philadendron (Zone 10 or 11) that has been growing year round in a pot on my driveway for 6 years. Here we say that winter is the last 2 weeks of Jan and the first 2 weeks of Feb. There are flowers blooming here year round. Need I say more? They can't be leaving to escape the cold. It would make more sense if the left in summer to escape the oppressive heat.

Friday night there wasn't a lot going on. Juliet dropped by with her kids. The highlight of the evening was when they ran ahead of her, got to the dish first, started eating together very peacefully, and then when Juliet arrived at the dish one of the kits snapped at her! I thought I would die laughing. I thought, "Well, you taught them that behavior Missy."

After that Juliet foraged about on the grass for a while until the kids desserted the dish for a dip in the pool at which point she grabbed it. I was able to coax the kids to venture out onto the lawn area in front of the pool to eat. I had some Pounce treats with me so I tossed those to them.

While at the grocery store that evening I had picked up a new toy which I promptly put in the pool. Every kid that came by, including Rupert and Juliet's kids, played with it as soon as they saw it. By morning it had made it's way out onto the lawn.

Heidi didn't show up. Since I hadn't seen or fed her for 2 days, I went back out there around midnight to check on her when I let the dog out. I didn't see Heidi, but while I was sitting there little Snowball waddled out from the weeds, looked at me and the dog for a minute or so and then disappeared back into the weeds. I had to think that he knew we were there and that he was hoping for some food, so I tossed him a few handfuls of the food I had with me (in case Heidi showed up).

Saturday night everybody (almost) showed up. (It was wet and nasty out so I hadn't bothered to drag out the camera or any treats.)

Shortly after I sat down, a face appeared above the fence. These days I'm getting pretty good at recognizing the regulars. Even in the dark and at that distance, even seeing only the face, I knew it was Diva. I called to her, and she climbed up so that her front feet were on the fence with her back end behind it. Then a tiny face appeared above her back - little Rupert peering over at me from behind his mom.

As usual, when they came down to eat, Diva would not share her dish with him, but Rupert didn't seem to care too much since his 1st stop was the pool. Without Heidi or Juliet around, the pool was all his. As I watched him, he reminded me of any toddler or small child. He ate a bite or two, then was off again, playing, climbing into the pool, climbing out of the pool, eating another bite, back into the pool, and on and on with the endless energy of a child and the inability to concentrate on anything for more than a few brief minutes.

The cutest moment of the evening was when Rupert was on the lawn eating. A small moth flitted about near him hovering about 5-6in off the ground apparently interested in the remains of a cantaloupe I'd put there earlier. In the very manner I've seen in drawings and always thought to be a figment of human imagination, Rupert put his nose up toward the moth and began following it, zigging and zagging a bit here and there, walking with it, his nose always about 1in from this tiny flying wonder that had captured his interest. Led by curiosity, Rupert followed the moth for almost 2 feet before it flitted away and he returned to his dish. I could hardly believe my eyes. I knew that I had been lucky indeed to be a spectator at such a rare moment.

Soon, Juliet showed up with her crew and Diva and Rupert left...

...At that point, there were any number of dishes from which to eat. Two kits came out onto the lawn to rummage about, then ate from the other dishes, got in and out of the pool, etc - the usual small child thing; but one kit stayed over there to wrestle with Juliet for her dish. Oddly, and for the 1st time since I'd seen her with her kits, Juliet did not snap at him or head butt him out of the way. This time she tried wrestling, and it soon became another 3 stooges moment with Juliet trying frantically to cover the entire surface area of the 10x6" dish with her head and arms while the kit wrestled to poke his head in to eat through various gaps. Juliet kept shifting her body parts in a vane attempt to secure the food supply. As the kit would find another hole in her defenses through which to poke his nose, Juliet would nudge him with her nose and redirect a limb to plug the hole, even as his head darted to take advantage of the new hold left by the move. This frantic wrestling match which continued for a few minutes during which no one ate finally resulted in an overturned dish with kibble flying in all directions.

Then, Heidi showed up with her kits. Heidi's kids being accustomed to having full ownership of the pool and all facilities, just hopped right into the pool and spread out all over the place much to Juliet's consternation. One of Heidi's kids in particular was most curious about these squatters. He stood with his front paws on the rim of the pool and stretched his nose as far as it would reach to sniff at Juliet who was now digging her dinner out of the grass where she had spilled it earlier in her greedy attempt to keep her child from eating any. Juliet clearly did not appreciate this other kit sticking HIS nose into the mix. In an instant, and apparently without thinking it through very well, she lunged and snapped at the kit who jumped back with that same innocent look HRH does so well when he gets into trouble.

Oddly, Heidi did not do or say anything that was visible or audible to me - although she was cloaked in darkened shadows which might have concealed all manner of dirty looks and gestures; still, and quickly, Juliet packed up her bunch and made for the fence.

Then it was just Heidi and her 3 - I mean 4 - kits. Great, she had apparently brought the 4th one along this time. I had put an extra dish near Heidi's dish with food for the kids. They huddled together, some eating from Heidi's dish, some eating together from the 2nd dish. They climbed into the pool, all 4 of them, and frolicked about. About that time Heidi got into the pool, and I was most surprised to hear her growl at one of the kids. Heidi has a whole range of growls each of which clearly vocalizes something different. This was not the serious "butt-kicking" growl she uses with wayward adult raccoons, but a softer, grandmotherly warning growl meant to teach the young. None the less, I was surprised as I had never heard her growl at any of her kids, and I really couldn't understand what the kit had done to provoke this.

The reprimanded kit promptly hopped out of the pool. Moments later as the other kits got out and returned to the dishes to eat, I noticed a distinct difference in their body language and attitude toward the recently disciplined kit. The other 3 huddled together at the dish, and even growled at the 4th when he tried to return to the dish. The less assertive kits hid behind the others looking almost as though they were now afraid of this 4th kit with whom they had all been playing and eating only moments before. Upon closer inspection I saw that the 4th kit's face was clearly different from the other 3 all of whom looked very much the same. Suddenly it was one of those "which of these doesn't belong" quizzes, and the answer was obviously the 4th one. This was not Heidi's kit. She had growled at him to let him know that he had not been invited to play with her kids. It was interesting to see that Heidi's kids had been all to willing to accept the outside as one of them until their mother pointed out that he was not welcome at which point they had turned on him, pushing him out and even acting as though afraid of him.

The spurned kit was rather nonplussed by the treatment. He rummaged about the lawn eating kibble from the grass - but whose was he? And where was his mom? I didn't hear the now familiar "whoop, whoop!" sound of a mother calling her missing baby. Was this Rupert, left behind earlier perhaps? After all, Juliet didn't usually leave her babies like this. But no, although I can't say why or how, I knew that was not Rupert's face. (I'm staring more and more to just know the way you know your friends and family apart from others.) That was Juliet's baby, but why on earth had she left him? She'd been gone for a while. And why was the deserted kit so calm about the whole matter?

I had barely gotten the thoughts out good when Juliet crept back around the corner, sneaking back over to her dish in search of food. Heidi didn't mess with her. Juliet and her kit nibbled food from the lawn for a few minutes and then left for good. It seems that earlier when I'd thought her gone she and her other kit had been hiding in the perennials and weeds some distance away.

I had not planned for so many visitors. Fraidy had also been there. Soon the food ran out, and Heidi and the kids left.

We have finally gotten a bit of rain, Cheryl; thanks for asking. We're nowhere close to making up our deficit, but at least my moisture-loving plants aren't looking like the vegetative version of overheated dogs panting with tongues hanging out.... And it's cooling off a bit, which also helps.

The image of Rupert and the moth is just charming, and a unique moment in youth: an older coon probably would've snatched the moth for the bit of protein... Also loved the image of Juliet's kid snapping at her: as you sow, so shall you reap.. and all that stuff.

Now that's fascinating: Juliet clearly wasn't about to get into the space of Heidi or her kids to retrieve her wayward youngster. Why am I not surprised? The story of Juliet guarding the dish from her own kit is hysterical; but what a b....ch. Serves her right to have to scrabble in the grass for her food after that little interlude.

I'm not at all surprised that Heidi's kids accepted Juliet's until mama Heidi warned him/her off. Rehabbers routinely combine orphans from separate litters, to ensure that all are socialized with other youngsters; but this of course is in the absence of mothers. Mothers feel very differently...

Oh, I am soooo glad Heidi finally made an appearance! I was concerned, since you said you hadn't seen her in a while. I think this is my favorite story yet, with the moth-watching kit; Juliet spilling the food after trying so hard to keep her own child from getting any; Heidi chasing off the neighbor's kid, and his mom finally coming back to get him. It's like Juliet sneaked off, leaving Heidi to babysit, which she did not appreciate--LOL. Like some humans I've known!

"Rupert followed the moth for almost 2 feet before it flitted away and he returned to his dish. I could hardly believe my eyes. I knew that I had been lucky indeed to be a spectator at such a rare moment."

That had to be soooo cute!!!

Hi Ruth,

Glad that you got some rain. Wish you could get more, specifically, once again, I'd like to give you some of ours. We've been vascilating between dust bowl and deluge. Right now we're expecting 2-4" per hour during repeated t-storms for another day.

Loved your comments on and characterization of Juliet. LOL.
The contrast between Diva and Juliet on the one hand and Heidi on the other is extreme. Last year I did not realize what a great mom Heidi was until I had the chance to observe the others this year.

KyWoods,

I hadn't thought of it that way - Juliet leaving her kid with Heidi for free baby sitting. That's funny. Some things do seem to transcend species don't they.

I had a cousin who, when she wanted to go shopping, would call around to various family members in search of someone to accompany her. If you fell for it and went with her, she would hand you the baby as soon as you got into the car. Then you were her captive baby sitter for the duration of the trip.

Hi nanny_56,

It truly was such an incredible moment that at first I thought it must have been just a coincidence that he just happened to be standing there with his nose pointed up toward and just an inch from the hovering moth, but then as the moth made its way ever so slowly across the lawn with Rupert in tow, I was amazed to see that he was, indeed, actually mesmerized by and following the moth. It was like a moment cut from some animated Disney classic yet there it was unfolding on my lawn. An unbelievable opportunity.

Tonight, BTW, there was yet another very special Rupert moment. (to come)

Tonight I went out early - while it was still light out, but it was a bit noisy out, the air punctuated her and there by kids shouting from the street and dogs barking. I was tempted to wonder if anyone would show up tonight. The mosquitos were horrendous, but I had 4 packets of DEET laced wipes, and ultimately I ended up using them all, a move that freed me entirely from the need to worry about mosquitos but which also caused the raccoons to reject for a time my offerings of figs, grapes, and marshmallows as apparently the chemical smell and residue had been transfered from my hands to the treats. The stuff worked great, BTW, to keep me mosquito free, but guess I need to be careful to keep it off my hands.

Juliet was 1st out tonight, but she did not bring the kids - bor-ing. Diva and Rupert showed up next. Much better. Diva came over beside me to eat at Fraidy's spot. As I was rifling through my things in search of food and treats to toss behind her for Rupert, I became aware of movement in my peripheral vision, at ground level just to my left. Shifting my gaze slightly, I was astonished to see Rupert's head sticking out from under the tractor scoot beside me. He was sniffing around near my feet.

Rupert had never come this close to me nor been so undaunted by my presence, but his mom was eating a scant foot from my bench. That she seemed unconcerned must have enboldened him. I took a handful of kibble and dropped it down right where his nose was sticking out from under the scoot. I fully expected the presence of my hand just above his head to send him scurrying for cover, but instead he began calmly eating the food I had dropped. I gave him a few more handfuls of dog food along with some grapes, kadota figs, and a marshmallow.

As soon as Rupert found the marshmallow, that really did the trick. He walked forward out from under the scoot to eat marshmallows at my feet...at least that is until Heidi showed up and took exception to having him there in such close proximity to her kids.

Below is Rupert. I left the photo uncropped to show the edge of the tractor scoot seat on the left and my plastic food container on the right. In the photo he is so close that I was unable to take a decent photo of him.

I wish that you could watch Diva after she has eaten a marshmallow. She is like a drunk. She flips out, looses her mind, and goes on some kind of crazy sugar high after her 1st mm. Then she stands upright and starts acting like the annoying drunk at parties. She wants more mm's, lots more, and she'll do anything no matter how ridiculous to attract attention to herself to get them. It's almost impossible to adequately describe her behavior on mm's. It's the sort of thing you would have to see.

Having forgotten this, I made the mistake of tossing her one. Heidi and the kids were there at the time. In fact, all 3 of Heidi's kids were at my feet arguing over their marshmallows and grapes. Meanwhile, Diva who was just over my left shoulder kept making noises (which I cannot even characterize) to let me know she wanted another mm and another and another. I was trying to concentrate my attention on the kids at my feet. I was having enough difficulty trying to keep up with the 3 of them, but every minute or so I could hear Diva standing on hind legs and carrying on to my left and i had to toss her another mm to calm her down - or at least to keep her occupied.

Apparently I wasn't getting the mm to her fast enough, so Diva came around the tractor scoot to my left, still dancing around on her hind legs, salivating, and begging for another mm. Heidi's kids were just to the right and in front of my feet, so she was not at all happy to see the crazed and drunken Diva "wearing the lampshade hat" and dancing around acting silly so close to her progeny. Heidi let out a growl to warn Diva that her behavior was getting over the line. Diva cut it out - for a minute, then popped up somewhere else in the area still with the goofy look on her face, still dancing around wearing the lampshade making a ____ of herself and still begging for more mm's. I'm telling you. It's very strange how she reacts to mm's. I mean, the "girl's" not wrapped too tight to start with, but give her one mm and ...

Below is "Diva's brain on marshmallows"

Diva after a few more drinks, er, I mean marshmallows. I think this says it all.

One of Heidi's kits. It seems that 'how one eats his mm' is as unique as how one eats an oreo. Some hold it in both hands and nibble at it. Others try to stuff the whole thing in their mouths at once. This little guy licks the sugar off his 1st.

Heidi and kid

Heidi and kid again

Here's Sugar trying having just put the whole mm in her mouth at once. She ended up taking it out and trying a different method - after a few failed attempts to chew with all that in her mouth.

Juliet takes a moment to really savor a dog food nugget by licking it a bit before eating it.

Heidi's kit eats a Kadota fig

Speak no evil

Heidi's kit in front of me. (My leg and red shoe at bottom.)

Well, that just figures for Diva, doesn't it? Lousy mother, party girl to the max, obnoxious egocentric drunk. Britney really does fit her, but so does Diva. But funny: really truly funny, and must have been priceless to watch.

Great photos, as always, Cheryl.

Hi Ruth,

Brittaney is a perfect name for her. If only I hadn't already spent so much time getting accustomed to calling her Diva. Change is so difficult at this point. I do, however, still consider both names, her given name and her nick name, synonymous when speaking of Ms Brittaney Diva, or is that Diva Brittaney, oh, whatever.

When she behaves that way, it is interesting to watch the crazed behavior in utter disbelief. At the same time the whole display is a bit disturbing and even annoying, very much like the analogy of the party drunk. When the drunk is elsewhere bothering others you can't help looking and you can't believe anyone would behave that way; when the drunk comes around your way you are annoyed by the needless disruptions of this person who is so obviously out of control.

Out of control seems to fit Diva's behavior after she gets one marshmallow. I don't really think she is "high". I think you hit it on the head, so to speak, in that she really likes the sweet, puffy food, and it is just her nature to get so obsessed by what she wants as to forget all protocol, all rules of polite behavior, and to have no concern for anyone or anything else, even her own child. It's as though her singular focus becomes her own hedonistic desire for another taste, and this desire drives her to behave is such a ridiculous and highly animated manner as to seem both laughable and potentially hazardous to others.

If she could speak she'd be saying, "gimme, gimme! I just have to have another one!" as she is dancing around on hind legs like a begging dog. Even when Heidi reprimands her for this hideous display of "drunken" behavior, it is as though she is just barely able to control herself long enough to stop momentarily, and relocate herself before resuming the frantic search for more marshmallows.

Not surprisingly, shortly after I took the last photo above (the one where she has that demonic look), Heidi found it necessary to ask Diva politely to leave the party altogether.

This message was edited Sep 3, 2007 4:02 PM

snicker..snicker..snicker.. LOL Sure hoep she don't try and get that car you have and drive herself home. ; )

ROFL--you, Cheryl, as the bartender, have a responsibility to cut her off when she gets that way! I changed my mind, THIS is my favorite story so far...

Cheryl,

great story!! I'm sure it was another wonderful evening in Heidi Land.
I'll check out all the pics when i get home tomorrow.

sugar.... (mm;s) what a wonderful invention. Diva gettin' such a sugar buzz.
too funny.

Good one, starlight; I can just see Heidi making a citizen's arrest for driving tractor scoot while under the influence... And of course Heidi got Diva to leave the party; can't see her tolerating that kind of nonsense, especially around her babies. Every night is a new adventure in your yard these days, Cheryl!

LOL, starlight, you're killing me!

Luckily, I took the car away from them a few days ago and forgot to return it. They have no wheels. Well, except, as Ruth points out, they still have the tractor scoot, but I don't think they know how to drive that yet.

KyWoods, she gets violent when I try to cut her off. I don't have any bouncers, so I have to give her another drink, I mean marshmallow, to keep her from destroying the bar, er, that is buffet. Um, are there any laws about contributing to the delinquency of wildlife? Anybody know?

LOL, Ruth, at Heidi making a citizen's arrest. I believe Heidi threatened to take her out behind the fence for a good "talking to".

Hi, Terese, great to have you home again. Hope you had a good holiday trip.

FOTFLOL at all of you guys. This is turning into Over The Hedge 2.

Well, of course you have a bouncer: her name is Heidi. Who needs muscle when you have experience, common sense, and brainpower?

Don't know of any laws about contributing to the delinquency of wildlife. And in any case, Diva is already a delinquent; so I wouldn't worry.

Well, folks, last night was a bit disturbing. I didn't have time to write about it, I preferred to sleep on it first, and, frankly, I didn't want to put a damper on the jovial atmosphere here. Now that I've taken some time to process it, I feel a little better about things.

I can't recall who was there 1st, but ultimately both Juliet and Heidi ended up at dinner at the same time along with their kids. I had taken out a package of mini cupcakes from the deli along with a bag of peanuts which almost no one wanted after tasting cupcakes. The kids loved the cupcakes, and things were going incredibly well. (Incidentally, Diva did not show up - hangover perhaps?)

Heidi was on one side, Juliet on the other. The kits were all over the place, in and out of the pool, all over the lawn, sandbox, straw bale, etc. Suddenly, Heidi realized that the kit snuggled up next to her eating nose to nose with her was one of Juliet's kids. I had already noticed this, BTW. I'm proud to be able to say that I can now spot the difference even in the dark. Anyhow, I guess maybe Heidi had reached her limit for babysitting Juliet's kids or maybe she's just tired of Juliet snapping at her kids. At any rate, she got pretty angry. She and the kit had something of a spat - no blood, no crying or anything like that.

Then, perhaps to keep from hurting the kid, Heidi loped over a few steps and jumped into the pool -- and started coughing -- really, really bad. It's almost as if she has asthma because this seems to happen when she is stressed. When she stopped coughing and caught her breath again, she got out of the pool, called once to her kids, and went straight to the fence post under the branch of the Heidi tree. But the kids, who are now getting a bit older and harder to control, were busy enjoying a cornucopia of raw eggs, cup cakes, dog food, and peanuts. They did not follow her.

Heidi did not call them again, nor did she climb the post. She just stood there at the fence looking back at us, and her kids went on slurping up eggs and licking frosting off cupcakes. After a time, I tried to convince her to come back and rejoin the party. I figured maybe she had just gotten upset about all of the mixing of kids and now that she was over it maybe she could come back and let the kids enjoy their treats.

I called to her a few times, and she came back, but she didn't come back to her dish by the pool - where her kids were. She went around on the path where Diva and Rupert often eat. Just as I was wondering what the heck she was doing over there, she started coughing again and wheezing pretty bad. Then she left and climbed up into the tree. She didn't call to the kids, and they didn't follow her as they were still very much absorbed in all the yummy treats.

After a little while, Heidi came back, collected her kids and left. I was distressed by the events because she was coughing again and perhaps worse than ever and because of her odd behavior. It looked to me as though she was ill, too ill even to deal with the kids, at least for a little while there. To leave the kids that way was so unlike her. In retrospect, I think when she started coughing and wheezing she wanted some fresh water. After all of the rain, the ground in the vicinity is to soft for me to walk on it so I haven't been able to clean it or change the water. I think when she came up the path where Diva eats, she was looking from the garden scoot because they often drink the rainwater that collects in it. So maybe she wasn't quite as sick as I thought but needed to find some water to settle her throat/cough. Anyhow, after Heidi left that way, the party was over.

Yes, that's disturbing but I wouldn't panic about it. She could well have asthma and/or bad allergies; heaven knows your humid climate must be allergy heaven. We've known for some time that Heidi can have coughing/wheezing spells, but she's still thriving and reproducing in spite of it. Guess my philosophy is that you're doing all you can and more to help; no point worrying about something you really can do nothing about.

And from Heidi's point of view, she really needs to discourage someone else's kit from hanging around her; she doesn't want him following her off into the forest, after all. And if she's more than a bit sick of babysitting, who can blame her? She raised the mother of that kit, after all; that should have been quite enough!

Heidi and the kids were back tonight - no coughing. Juliet arrived 1st with her kids. I had taken out the handful of marshmallows left over from the other night. I gave a few to Juliet's kids and kept the rest hoping to give them to Heidi's kids. Diva and Rupert showed up on the path to my right. I threw 1 mm to Rupert being careful to drop it on the opposite side far away from Diva.

Then Heidi arrived followed by her bunch. As the kids approached the pool with Heidi on one side and Juliet on the other they seemed genuinely confused about which was their mom. One reached out his nose to sniff Juliet and she promptly swatted him. Yes, Ruth, you are right. What a b__ch. I fussed at her, and she packed her kids and left. This time she took them all.

One of Heidi's kits - obviously this year's Trouble Squared - waltzed up to me and sniffed my leg. Then he wandered around snifing everything around me as if looking for treats. I dropped him a marshmallow. When he had finished that one, he came back over to sniff my leg to which I offered him yet another marshmallow which he gladly took. At that point, I had no more marshmallows but he continued repeatedly coming over to sniff my leg and sniff around my feet as if to say, "I think this is the way to get marshmallows". It worked twice. Apparently, you sniff the leg then sniff around the feet, and poof a marshmallow appears. He tried the routine several more times. I offered him peanuts but he wasn't interested.

Eventually, he gave up on me and the mm. He caught sight of Rupert on the path to my right eating peanuts next to his mother, and then much to my surprise, he crept over there, head to the ground, all stealthy like, threatened Rupert and took Rupert's food. When threatened, dispite the fact that he was standing beside his mom Diva, Rupert backed away and tried to hide behind Diva. Then as Heidi's kit continued to advance into Rupert's spot and eat the peanuts, Diva backed away and she and Rupert left.

Except for that display of Bravado, it was an enjoyable evening. I'm starting to think that marshmallows make any meal festive.

I was happy to see Heidi appearing to be in better health tonigh and not coughing/wheezing.

Oh, BTW, although I still couldn't get back there to change to water in the pool, I took out a large dish of clean water which I put next to Heidi's dish. Unfortunately, since Juliet and her crew got there 1st, they consumed every drop of the fresh water before Heidi arrived. Heidi's kids kept going to the empty fresh water dish trying to get water. Tomorrow, if I still can't change the pool water, I'll take out a large cooler of water. As soon as it dries enough back there, I'll change the water.