Heidi Chronicles: Nursery Rhymes

that is funny Cheryl.

but i can tell ya... kids just wanna make an extra few bucks... it has nothing to do with age.
but the fact you were sitting on a huge tractor in your yard.... maybe he did think you were over burdened.

Hi Terese,

I thought you were gone. (The torrential rains just started and drove me in, BTW)

Yeah, I know kids just want to make some money. Understanding that, in the past I've hired quite a few of them to help me out both with the lawn and other chores. Unfortunately, it never quite works out so well. Invariably, sooner or later and more likely sooner, they start acting like kids. I always pay them well, usually if they are going to do the same job as the adults, I pay them the same, but they never seem to recognize and appreciate that fact.

Because I'm busy, I used to pay the teen next door as soon as I saw him out there (so he wouldn't have to chase me down when he finished and/or interrupt whatever I might be doing at that time). After a while, he started collecting the money and then running off with his girlfriend without doing the actual work. Naturally, I had to fire him. Another kid next door who was using my mower, managed to destroy a perfectly good, 2yr old mower in like new condition. I have no idea how he managed this but now the engine is hanging off of it. You can't pull the cord to start it because the engine goes with the cord. I used to pay him $35 just to mow the postage stamp sized square of grass in front of my house (It's maybe 1.5 Civic lengths x 2.5 Civic lengths - that's a new unit of measure I'm trying to establish for lawns) and the two very narrow (length of lawn tractor wide) strips down the sides. He was supposed to edge but never did so. Most of the time he also forgot to blow the grass clippings off the driveway. After my knee surgeries I put benches on either side of the house and one in front. He would put the bench and chair from the front yard on the walkway so I couldn't get out the house and put the side benches in the neighbor's yards and then leave them all there. Sometimes it might take me a day or 2 to realize that my lawn furniture was way over in the neighbor's yard. When I asked him not to do that, he found a solution. He just started putting the benches in the flower beds along the foundation - on top of the iris, roses, etc and, of course, he left them all there since that space is 'empty' anyhow.Scream!

On top of all of this, whenever the kids had more interesting things to do, they would forget to mow my lawn at all. With the housing markets getting tighter, our HOA has become more strict in enforcing the rules. I can't afford to have my front yard looking bad, so now I have a couple of very capable and responsible adults who take care of all of that stuff. The adults show up reliably on a schedule, do an excellent job - even pull weeds sometimes when they notice them around shrubs, roses, etc. They move the furniture over a few feet, mow past it, and put it back where it belongs, usually even straighter and lined up better than they found it. They cut wonderful edges around beds, sidewalks, driveway, etc that far exceed the ones I used to do and clean up leaving everything looking wonderful. They also put fertilize 2x year and apply pre and post emergent weed control (front only). And the adults do all of this for $40/visit or $5 more than I paid the kid to mow only.

Oh, mostly I wanted to say that I wasn't upset if the kid did think I was too old or too female or whatever to mow the lawn. I just thought it was so darned ludicrous. I mean, if I had been pushing a mower I would have been happy to pay him to do it for me - but a riding mower? Actually, I was kind of enjoying myself, like riding a 4 wheeler or something. It's not a tractor as in farm equipment, BTW, but it's not really a traditional riding mower either as it is much larger. I used to have a riding mower a long time ago that I really liked. I wish this were that size. I could step onto that one. I have to climb onto this one.

Ok, enough about my lawn drama. ;-)

Yea -- I'm still gone. be home tomorrow.

Too bad kids get lazy and sloppy.

I'm coming back later this afternoon to respond to your posts. Right now I'm trying to procrastinate over my garden chores because it's very hot and humid outside. Anyhow, here is a pic of Cissy having just retrieved a fruit slice (a recent shower gift) from the lawn.

Oh, and here is a particularly interesting pic. Why you ask, is the top of a raccoon's head so interesting? Well, this little fella has been showing up lately. He/she has a face that is very distinct and very familiar to me - like when you just know that you should know that person but can't figure it out. He/she is quite small, has hair like a dog (sound familiar), is absolutely not one of the 07 kits, yet is sufficiently confortable around me to come up and eat from Dennis' dish beside me.

I'm actually beginning to think this may be Fraidy. She's been around a few times lately. I have several pics of her from other days. She is eating only about 8in from me, yet is not frightened away even when I move around, reach over her head to grasp noisy, crinkly packages of treats, etc. Perhaps the only thing that isn't an exact match is that she has become a little more fiesty in standing up to the others, but I guess it's possible that to survive Fraidy may have had to 'Man up' a bit.

Cissy with another fruit slice.

ok, i just find this interesting because it shows you more what life around the gang is really like - not just one at a time. here we have one raccoon climbing on the tractor scoot to drink from the tool tray, another climbing out of the pan of drinking water, and Cissy looking on.

Touble who rarely eats treats (except maybe cupcakes) eating a red fruit slice in the pool

Dennis playing with the food canister. As you recall, he likes to play more than eat; to get him to eat you need to offer him some play to go along with it - like a kid who has to have a kid's meal toy with his burger.

Cissy enjoying yet another fruit slice

Now, Folks, we also received some practice golf balls, and i must tell you that I had no idea what a hit those would be. They may be the perfect raccoon toy. The other night when I didn't have a camera Dennis played in the pool with one until I swore he would shrivel like a prune. (More on this later.) But here, my friends, is something I thought for sure I would never, ever see. On her way out, Heidi stopped by the pool for a drink and ended up batting that ball around. As i scrambled to get the camera in position to capture that moment, I got this pic of her trying to eat the thing! Now with all of her experience I know that Heidi couldn't possibly have thought the ball was food, so my take on this is that when she caught herself playing like a school girl in front of everybody, she did this as a quick cover for that embarrasing moment for better to be seen trying to eat a rock than acting like a silly kid at her age and in front of the kids at that.

This message was edited Apr 6, 2008 2:45 PM

great photos Cheryl!!

and wouldnt that be awesome if that was Fraidy?!

yes.. i'm home now... though i'm quite ticked at myself for forgetting my purse/wallet in Wisc!!
not gonna be back there for at least 10 days ... may have the gal up there express mail it back to me.

Looks like the fruit slices and golf balls were well recieved! Thanks for the great pics!

Hi Ruth,

Sorry for the delay in responding, I seem to be falling behind - badly. I think I may be sleeping a bit much again. Need to double check that I am following my prescribed regimen properly (as I know that I have been back sliding a bit lately).

LOL at the gator thing. I guess that was a bit of a stretch. I think you guys have convinced me about the dog.

Love the story about your cat. I see that you do understand perfectly how Heidi could 'tell' me to change that water. That particular night she just kept walking back and forth from one water container to the other, sniffing it, turning her nose up in the air, looking at me, and walking away without drinking. Once per dish would have made sense, but for Heidi to make repeated trips over to water that she already knew was not to her liking only made sense if it was to make a point. I 'fixed' the water, and she hasn't done that since.

I gave Echinacea to everyone, BTW. Because they tend to take tiny bites of things, I was afraid a whole pill would get dropped, so I emptied a few capsules into some pb, stirred in some sugar and syrup and made some more sandwiches. I have a new pic of 'Juliet' (I actually now think it may be Blondie, more on that later). Need to review them up close, but think the area is looking considerably better now. They are rugged animals for sure.

Terese,

No, only one blue dog. It's stuffed so it gets wet a lot and stays wet sometimes for days. Ichy! But the raccoons appear to like it anyhow. Every time I pick it up they pull it back out again. There is also a stuffed (brown) hedgehog (also soggy) and a Lost Soles toy shoe (vinyl) in some of the pics but they don't pop out at you like that bright blue.

doscan,

You guys have convinced me about the dog. The wound is looking better now I think.

I don't have a problem with needles, thankfully. I have small and well hidden veins. When drawing blood they often have to stick me 2 or 3 times, sometimes in the back of the hand, the wrist, you name it. Some have to move the needle around in a circle (in my arm) to chase the vein down. If I were queasy about needles, they would never get to draw my blood.

Also, I've received numerous cortisone shots in my ankle, the bottom of my heel and arch, and right through the cartilage of my knee (you can hear that one). Because cortisone is thick it takes a big needle, too. It doesn't feel great, makes me wince a bit, but wasn't half as bad as the Dr made it out to be or anywhere near as bad as many things we ladies have to deal with in the normal course of things.

Janis,

I haven't had a chance to read the threads yet. Have just been so busy. Can't seem to get caught up. Did you use the link on your homepage to show threads you started to look for them? You can filter by Wildlife, Pets, or wherever you might have put them.

Great photos, Cheryl! It would be awesome if Fraidy is still around. I was actually a bit surprised that Heidi chased her away; if we're right in our suspicions that Fraidy will never be able to reproduce, she'll never be a threat. And the photo of Heidi with the golf ball is priceless; I think your read on her behavior is quite correct, matrons and matriarchs should never appear foolish to the children and subjects. The practice golf balls were an inspired idea: makes perfect sense that they'd love them, when you think about it. Ping pong balls could also be fun in the pool; it would frustrate the guys that they're virtually impossible to pick up, but that in itself could be entertaining for you and challenging for them.

Dumping the echinacea caps sounds like a great plan, especially when incorporated into sticky sweet pb sandwiches. Glad to hear everyone got a bit; it's good for all of them, and probably worth repeating while that wound is healing. It's a pretty benign herb: larger doses do no harm.

goldfinch,

You are very welcome! Thank you! Sorry I haven't had time to read the link yet, but I will. I look forward to a story with a happy ending!

Ruth,

I'm pretty much convinced that it is Fraidy. She has come out several times and always eats beside me. She's too small to be a normal adult, but is definitely not one of the 07 kits. The 1st day she came back (have pics) I just kept staring at her and thinking "I KNOW that face, who is that?" I just absolutely knew that I knew her, and I knew that she wasn't one of the 07 group. And since she comes up beside me to eat from Dennis' dish, obviously she knows me, too.

Aside from my reaction to the face, which I know is not one of the 07 kits, Dennis and Cissy are the only 07 kits who would eat that close to me and never flinch even when I reach over their head to get crinkly plastic bags and such. And it is definitely not Cissy.

BTW, I think that is Cissy in the pic at the top of the thread, not Rupert. I've been meaning to mention that. Every time i see it, I just know it isn't Rupert. It's Cissy. Furthermore, I think the pg one with the wound is actually Blondie not Juliet. I'd been wondering about that for a while but in the dark the color didn't look right. Now I have a pic (have to look at it again. will post) that shows the wounded one and in the light of the flash she looks almost like HRH in color. I also remember seeing some evidence of Blondie being 'frisky' a good while back. Where I'm going with all of this is except for Fraidy, and the 2 guys, Heidi and company have run everyone else away - or at least sent them to the late shift. Now each night only Heidi, Trouble, HRH, and the 07 kits show up each night, except for Fraidy that is. So it really makes sense that the 'Rupert' above is actually Cissy and 'Juliet' is actually Blondie, otherwise, Heidi would not be so friendly to them.

Oh, about those practice golf balls, I can't take credit for that one. That was a shower gift. I would never have thought of that idea, but the raccoons seem to love them. I can't wait to see the new kits play with them. More on this later, though. I'll have to get some ping pong balls, too.

You're right, Cissy's presence would make more sense than Rupert's. If Rupert really is a male, and since we know he's not from Heidi's lineage, he would be regarded as a potential threat to her kits. And Juliet was such a pain the behind last year, it would be surprising for her to be allowed to remain for another year; Blondie makes much more sense. Sorry to hear it's Blondie with the wound, though; first pregnancies are hard enough, without that to deal with!

goldfinch,

Thank you for the compliment on the pastel painting. It is practically an antique now; it's so old. You can see a crease down the right side of the paper. I didn't offer it for sale because I didn't consider it a finished work, not properly set up on the picture plane, doesn't have a good background, etc. It was just a prep for another piece.

I did this and all of my other works a very long time ago. At that time I sold everything just about as fast as I could paint them. I was very young then, and it never occurred to me to take photos of any of the paintings. When I stopped, I had one painting left over other than that one practice pic. I kept it for years and years. Then a few years ago I used my scanner to get a pic of it to put on the web for sale. A gallery bought it which is quite unusual as galleries usually take art works on consignment. Clearly, they felt they would be able to sell it for much more than they paid.

I've been trying to get started painting again, would like to retire to art as was my plan all along, but am having trouble find the time and energy. When I made that plan I didn't know how tired I'd be at this age. LOL!

If I ever do manage to produce another painting, you can bet that I will go OT to show it to all of you!

Thanks again for the encouragement. BTW, having lots of interests and possibly a bit of raw talent in several areas is both a gift and a problem in that it keeps one from focusing all of ones time and efforts in a single direction. Throughout my life I've had more interests than time and have been all over the 'map' trying to do them all.

Ok, now I totally must get to bed. Sorry, as I really had hoped to respond to all of the posts tonight. I will finish them tomorrow if at all possible though.

BTW, something incredible happened again tonight - and this time I got a picture or two! Tonight I just sat there thinking to myself, "O.M.G! I just can't believe it but I REALLY am seeing things right here in my little yard that apparently no one knows about - yet!" It is so surreal, but somehow despite not being a specialist in this area, I seem to have been chosen to see potentially ground-breaking things. Wow! I am so humbled by the incredible opportunity that has been bestowed upon me.

Will tell you, show you ASAP, but must get to sleep now as morning always comes way too early.

Ok, have a few minutes while waiting for something so will try to do the Reader Digest version.

Tonight HRH came 1st followed by Dennis. They were there for a while when Trouble showed up. Still now sign of Heidi. Then HRH left. Dennis and Trouble stuck around playing and eating and such. I asked them where their Mom was, but now answer (go figure). Then finally Heidi arrived. Trouble left, and it was just Heidi and Dennis.

Heidi is a slow eater, and Dennis had already been there for quite a long time before she arrived. He played with the canister, ate from 3 different dishes, took a few dips in the pool, and finally I looked at him and realized that, frankly, he was pooped. Yet he didn't leave. He wandered about rather aimlessly for a while, eyes glazed over. Then, I kid you not and I think I got this on 'film', he actually stopped by the pool and lay his head down on the edge as if to take a nap. He was so funny looking, looked like a cartoon character.

After napping on the side of the pool for a minute or so he walked over to the fence where he stood for a while. Then he sat down by the post. It was about then that I noticed the similarity between his behavior and that of HRH that night when he had stayed with Heidi. Dennis sat by the post for a while and then, sure enough, he lay down, and curled up for a nap - right there at the top of the farm and beside the fence post. All the while, Heidi continued to eat. Finally satiated, she eventually left. As soon as Heidi reached the top of the fence, Dennis rose from his slumber and even as Heidi's tail was disappearing into the forest, Dennis started up the fence post and himself disappeared into the forest.

Dennis had waited for Heidi! There was no mistaking that. They were still protecting her. That made me think. I had noticed how late Heidi was in arriving tonight, so late that I had feared she would not make it. She had shown up shortly after HRH left. Had he gone back to watch those babies while she came to eat? Was that what took her so long? Waiting for Papa to get back to watch the kids? Now I'm not including this in my "wow, I can't believe what I'm seeing" thing, since it's just a hypothesis, but after all that I've seen, I honestly believe that's how it went down. Still, just to see Dennis (with ADHD no less) wasting time while waiting for his mom and even taking a snooze or two, was in itself incredible. And while I haven't had a chance to look at the pics and hope they actually 'came out', I have this on 'film'.

Ok, now I really must get my butt to bed, but when I saw this I just had to show you. Here is Dennis, moments after I noticed him wandering about aimlessly, clearly pooped. ROTFLOL. Is he cute, or what?

I'm calling this pic "Mo-o-m, please hurry up! I'm sleepy!"

Cheryl, that photo is hysterical; and the stuff you're witnessing really is ground-breaking. Wish there were some way to bring it to the attention of folks who work with raccoons, without risking getting you and the kids in trouble for the absence of vaccinations and rehabbing license. Granted, you are not "harboring" wildlife, just feeding them; but you'd still get a mammoth earfull from the authorities, I'm afraid. Still, they really ought to know this stuff!

OH Cheryl!! that is precious!!

and... if your hypothesis is correct.... WOW!! who would have ever thought that, in the wild, family members would watch over babies .... though it does happen with some 'creatures' i guess .... but raccoons? truly amazing how they 'work together'. absolutely fascinating.

Poor little guy was all tuckered out wasn't he!! LOL

That photo is priceless! It would be amazing to be able to confirm that is what is happening. Imagine the theories that would have to be re-evaluated!

What a totally AWESOME pic. That one to tak eand blow up and make a giant poster of. That one of them one in a million shots. How very lucky to have been able to catch it.

Yopur hypothesis definately is one that should be expanded upon. You got yoru hypothesis and some initital research, keep monitoring it and maybe you can write a scientific journal about it to go alogn with that book. You'll have your name in print yet. : )

I LOVE the photo. How totally cute is that and the caption certainly fits! Great stuff, Cheryl!!

Thanks, 'guys'!

When I saw Dennis flop his head down there on the side of the pool, I couldn't believe my eyes. Then I thought for sure he would move before I could get the clunky camera into position to capture that once in a lifetime shot. So Glad to have gotten that one.

At 1st my theory about the babies may seem a little, well sappy, but think about it. If those guys watch over Heidi this well, who could imagine that they would leave helpless babies alone. It also seems interesting to me that Heidi was so very late last night and that she arrived shortly after HRH's departure. I'm going to keep an eye out for who is and isn't there when Heidi is eating from now on to see if there is a pattern.

After he got up from his nap in the pool, Dennis went over to the fence and sat down. Here is the 1st pic of him sitting by the fence post. (He reminds me of any teen/youngster that has been assigned a task that involves lots of waiting around - which he hates to do.)

Still waiting.

Give up and decides to take a nap. Obviously, it's going to be a while.

Here, from earlier the same night is HRH eating a pb sandwich (whole grain bread, of course). This time I gave him the whole thing. Well, most of it. If the background looks 'new' that's because he took it back across the yard closer to the house and out of range of the others to enjoy his meal.

I thought I'd do healthy snacks last night. Didn't want to give them too much candy every day. Dennis, BTW, was not at all amused by this turn of events. He searched me up and down for candy. Seems he just couldn't imagine that I had come out without at least bringing him a morsel of something sweet.

I notice that pic is pretty large. Here's a low res version. For those with high speed I think you will get more detail if you wait for the 1st one. For those on dial up, LMK, does this help?

those are absolutely precious!!

you can just see it in his eyes... like "gosh mom, will ya hurry up already?"
Or even... why do I have to do this ??

LOL... can i have a cupcake while I wait ???
Oh guess i'll just take a lil snooze while i wait.

OH and regarding the slow images.. seems Dave is working on the site... so things are going to be slow for everyone, dial-up or not.

Oh, that explains it. Thanks for letting me know. I was having difficulty uploading the pics and at times even getting on the site.

i'm been 'working' here all morning....

click a link.... flip over and do more work on the spreadsheet
finally read thread / view images
click a link ... go back to spreadsheet....

you get the picture.

when ever it's REALLY bad here on Daves, i head to the Daves Forum to see if there is recent chatter about it being slow and Dave popped in and said something about working and servers, and an hour or so .... so we shall see.. hopefully by this afternoon.

when lil Dennis was loading ever so slowly [and i know you tend to optimize them] I was actually going to check the properties to see the file size... LOL but the darn thing took too long to load.

OK, back to my spreadsheet....

...seems to be back to normal now... the HUGE one i've been reading in the Cottage Garden forum is loading much faster now....