Heidi Chronicles: And Baby Makes 5

LOL, see why I stopped dating?

Yep, KyWoods, I know just what you mean!

However, that one just turned 30 last week - and as a bday gift I gave him a pack of those claw type hair clips since he keeps stealing the ones from my desk every time he stops by to talk; seems they give him something to do with his hands - as Ruth was saying one day in a discussion of the differences between HRH and Trouble, sometimes they need to grow up a bit to become properly seasoned, that and [again as with the case of HRH and Trouble] properly trained by the girls in their lives. Trouble, incidentally, has already become much, much better behaved such that I now have real hope that in a year or 2 he could become as amiable a gent as our beloved HRH - and Cissy, Blondie, and Heidi are determined to whip the tar out that boy until he does so. : )

About the issue of raccoons cleaning up, it's a lot like watching tv. You know how a character can fall in the pool and get soaked or have heaven knows what poured over them or whatever and in the very next scene they are all cleaned up and neatly dressed again? Well, strangely enough, that's how raccoons are. No matter how many times you see them get into and out of the pool, even when the water gets green, and no matter how much frosting, syrup, peanut butter, yogurt, milkshake, jelly, overripe melon, egg, and rotten collards (Dennis playing in the compost pail last summer) they may get on them one moment, in the very next scene they always reappear all clean and well dressed even though you never witness the cleanup. I think some of this may be due to the manner in which their coats shed everything instead of soaking it up. The rest is just plain 'a mystery'.

Very few people understand the concept of giving without expecting something in return.

And I just met a whole bunch of great people who filled my trunk with plants, even though I had nothing to offer in exchange. It was my first DG roundup. Gardeners are the nicest people!

nanny,

I think we spend most of our lives so focused on the need to be loved that we are unable to see that the greater need is actually, as I have had the somewhat unpleasant opportunity to learn, the need to give love, the need to love someone or something outside ourselves - for to care and care deeply about the needs of another or others is the only way to feel the joys and pains that make one truly alive. I believe it is what we are here for, hear to learn, and that everything else, all the buying and selling and collecting, the pursuit of status and such is but a huge and colorful distraction.

...ok, don't let me get started...but I know all of you parents out there no what I mean, because [most] parents love their children fiercely, protect them with their lives if necessary, and make sacrifices for them routinely, and all they want in return is the child's happiness. Well, at least, that's true of the good parents.

On the other hand, most of us have had the opportunity to know those people who are doted on by parents and spouse, catered to by siblings, loved by their children and yet they are unable to care about anyone or anything except themselves. Despite the love of everyone around them, these are always shallow, empty, lifeless, and very unhappy people. Nope, being loved is but frosting on the cake, loving is what makes one truly alive.

Well said. I have said that if I should ever end up in a vegetative state, that if I can no longer love, it's time to pull the plug. Thougt about putting that in my living will, too.

Oh, how wonderful, KyWoods!

The roundup sounds fabulous. (I wish we had them. sob.sob. maybe someday I'll be able to go to the national one.) So happy for you (and for them) to hear about all the plants you got from the wonderful people there. I'm feeling all tingly just thinking about all that good will.

I'm inclined to agree with you about gardeners. I think you wouldn't find a lot of gardeners among most prison populations, for instance. Gardening is largely a selfless endeavor at the heart of which is the love and joy of nature. If we just wanted food, flowers, and/or landscaping we would buy them and/or hire someone else to do it for us. I do think that gardeners are generally good and caring people - but, of course, being a gardener, I am not unbiased.

Oops! KyWoods,

We cross posted. "Oh, how wonderful" is not my response to your living will. Oops.
Your living will instructions are perfectly aligned with my own definition of the ability to love as a necessary part of what it means to be alive.

You don't have a roundup in your area? And here I was thinking everyone had one...maybe you could organize one if there are enough DGers in the general area. Some of the folks that came to ours were from a couple hours away and more.

Edit: LOL, yep, I knew you were talking about the roundup!

This message was edited Jun 7, 2008 10:38 PM

Tonight we had quite a nice buffet. Heidi had a well rounded meal of cat food, egg, and watermelon. She didn't actually eat the egg. It was just more food than she could eat. She likes each of those items, so it gave her a choice of entrees for a change. Everyone else, well, most of them, had some combination of bing cherries (only took out a handful), grapes, and cat food. I gave an egg to Blondie since she is also a nursing mom and one to Fraidy when she finally arrived. Dennis enjoyed a strawberry yogurt and some grapes. Tonight he was incredibly well behaved. Even though he arrived hungry (as observed from the way he scarfed down cat food instead of playing around), when I called him over and offered him a couple of grapes, he ate them and promptly left to go and eat cat food when I didn't offer more, this despite the fact that I had a stem of grapes and a yogurt beside me on the chair. Later, after he had eaten a good serving of cat food, I called him over again and gave him the remaining handful of grapes and the yogurt. But he's still not perfect. Stuffed to the gills by the time he got close to the bottom of the yogurt, he left the bottom 1/4 cup and walked away. Then when I called Cissy and tossed the cup toward her, he immediately turned around and rushed back to snap at Cissy and grab the yogurt. Even though he had been too full to eat it, he was not willing to share. He stuffed the rest of the yogurt down and left. Little brat. ;-)

After I take care of some other things, I'm going to try to talk myself into posting a video and photo or two, but don't hold me to that.

LOL, my dogs used to do that!

Those images of Dennis butchering the steal, and bursting an egg all over himself, are just priceless! I suspect you're right, Cheryl; with his obvious ADHD, he probably skipped a lot of really important lessons. Heaven help the poor boy if he's that inept at courting when he reaches that age...

Love the pictures of the new babies! My computer has been in the shop so I'm playing catchup as fast I can! LOL Glad to hear you're feeling better, Cheryl and getting a " newer" vehicle. We went from drowning in heavy rains here, to nasty storms to hotter than the hinges of you know where all in a 2 week period. Whew!!!

LOL, Ruth,

I doubt the ladies will be as patient with his 'training' as I have been. Those little pops on the head might seem like love taps after he sees how the ladies handle unwanted behavior. Then again, the kind of instantaneous training methods they use will probably very effecting with his ADHD - no time to get bored, loose his attention, etc. Poor fella.

You should have been there to see him trying to do the steal. I hate to keep alluding to the old cartoons but the other night every time he tried to do the steal I sounded like this dog I remember from old cartoons. Don't recall his name or the name of the cartoon, but the dog was known to laugh/snicker under his breath a lot. I keep thinking Deputy Dog but don't recall if he really is the one that did the laughing thing.

Yesterday, after Heidi had left and some of the previously ousted 'others' had arrived, I was watching one of them executing the steal. Before that I had been extremely confused trying to figure out where Dennis got the idea that he should rock back on his hips in the 'crunch' position - and lie down. Since Dennis skips the scooting backward step I figured he was erroneously substituting the crunches for the scooting, but that didn't really seem to make a lot of sense to me. Yesterday when I paid more attention to a pro execution of the steal with this question in mind, I saw that their is a very brief moment in the steal after the raccoon has scooted back to and up against the object he is stealing when he then rocks back just a little onto the object before spinning around quickly to take over. That part happens pretty quickly, so I had previously overlooked the rocking back part; however, the pros are rocking back onto the item the want and only for a second before spinning around to grab it. Naturally, the pros don't lie down on their backs like babies 2 feet away from the object de desire.

When the raccoon did the steal yesterday he started by sitting down just maybe 8in from the target. He sat there for a few minutes with his back to the target looking as though he were just minding his own business, just resting a bit. Then shifting his weight onto his front feet a bit while still sitting, he scooted his butt back, his back feet 'walking' slightly under his sitting butt to achieve this move. This scooting continued until his back touched the dish on the side 90 deg from the position of the mark (other raccoon). Then he rocked back, spun around, and voila (feeling very French for some reason this AM). The other raccoon ran over to the pool for a drink leaving the 'stealer' with the dish. Steal complete.

But the proper starting distance for the steal differs for each situation. I have seen the same raccoon (above) start his efforts by sitting down as much as 3 ft away when attempting the very dangerous execution of the steal against Heidi. In that case he sat around for a longer time and at a suitably safe distance. Heidi kept a very watchful eye on him. When he started to scoot back even the tiniest bit, Heidi issued a stern warning at which point the offender parked it immediately. Being quite hungry, he continued to sit there apparently still hoping for a chance at her food. Heidi continued to watch him and issue the occasional warning. He never completed the effort. Thankfully, he also didn't lie down on his back so close to Heidi's dinner as that may have gotten bloody.

As you can see, I find this 'steal' thing most fascinating. To be honest, I'm not even quite sure why it works. It almost looks to me as though it works purely by convention as though its just understood somehow in 'polite' raccoon society that when the steal is executed the mark should hand over the food. I'm starting to think it is merely a convention intended to permit a seriously hungry raccoon to 'legally' take food from another while avoiding bloodshed. It works about 95% of the time. Heidi and one of the others that I suspect is Juliet's girl are the only ones I recall seeing resist the steal. In both cases they issued stern warning to let the offender know they weren't going for it and/or launched an immediate mock attack on the offender. Heidi has permitted both HRH and Trouble to 'steal' her food before. The other day, she sent Trouble running when he tried it. Whether or not Heidi accepts the terms of the 'steal' contract on a particular occasion seems to depend on who the 'stealer' is and how hungry she is. I have only seen her permit 'her' guys to steal from her.

Another interesting note on this matter: it seems more than just coincidental to me that so far, while Dennis is clearly just practicing/learning, he has only attempted his practice steal with big brother Trouble. I have never seen Trouble be 'mean' to Dennis even when Dennis is being bad. I suspect these familial connections play more of a role than I had previously realized.

Oh, and lastly, when I saw Dennis rock back on his hanches, move into the crunch position, and finally lie down while trying out his steal the other day, I couldn't help but remember that day not so long ago when he was trying to get me to give him more grapes. At the time he was sitting at my foot. He had tried rubbing my pants leg with his hands. I didn't have any more grapes, so I didn't give him any. Then he sat beside and on the edge of my foot. Interestingly, when he sat on the edge of my foot, his body was oriented at about a 90 deg angle with mine - so he was not facing me but facing away from me. Then he started to rock back into the crunch position and finally lay down on his back at my feet. At the time, I thought his behavior was so cute and so humorous that I gave him some grapes (think I had to go and get some more from the house). Now, after seeing his malformed attempt at the steal and its similarity to that thing Dennis did at my feet when he wanted the grapes, I am actually inclined to think that he was [in raccoon language] trying to communicate to me his intent to 'politely' and 'legally' take the grapes. If true, that has numerous ramifications. First, it would seem that he tried to tell me he was going to take the food, and I just didn't understand his language. Based on what I've seen with Heidi and the others, if I wanted to rebuff his attempt at the steal, I should have signaled such at that time by 'growling' at him and/or launching some kind of mock attack. By not doing so, I was by default accepting the terms of the steal. Second, it would also seem to indicate that he is viewing me in some respects like one of them, attempting to communicate as such. How cool - I think - also scary since I don't know the language and that can get me in a lot of trouble.

Hi doccat,

So nice to have you back with us. That weather sounds really rough. Glad to hear that you've survived it intact.

Seems like the weather has been atrocious around much of the country this year, especially the heartland and tornado alley area. There is a path from Texas up through the center of the country where there seems to be one or more weather emergency almost daily. News reports from that area have just been unbelievable for months now with an almost endless stream of floods and tornadoes. I just can't imagine what that must be like.

Here it is just hot, hot, hot - and dry. I have an automatic sprinkler system which I really only use to supplement rain where needed since we normally get some 51in or more of rain per year. It has 7 zones. Yesterday, around 9AM I ran a program that waters the front and side zones for 30min each and the back zones for 1hr each, a total of 5hrs of watering which would have ended around 2PM. Around 5PM I went out back and was shocked to find that it was bone DRY back there and all of the hydrangeas were severely wilted. I was starting to think maybe something had prevented the sprinkler from running in that area until i noticed that the daylily blooms had sunburn spots on them where the water had hit them and burned off in the heat/sun and their was some evidence of moisture in one of the lower corners of the yard. Still, I found it amazing to realize that all that water had managed to dry so fast. I ran a shorter program again right away just to give those poor hydrangeas some relief. Around 7PM I looked out to see Heidi walking around her spot in the feeding area with water dripping off her as the sprinklers ran in her zone; she didn't look very amused. She was waiting for dinner to be served.

I couldn't post last night, had such a coughing fit from chocking on my coffee while reading about Dennis and his attack/food stealing antics.

Was just too darn funny. Laughed on and off with a sore throat and nose from coffe choke but was worth it for the images of him in my head.

Have the coffee cup put down and glad I do cuz am laughign my head off again at the image of you Cheryl out there doing the bump with Dennis to signal a no way to him. Hahahahahhaha

I haven't had rian wate rin over amonth and everythign burning an dyding. even with watering twice a day things a bone dry. Gotta go see what I can try and move to shade and make shad ein other areas.

becareful in that heat and sun everybody.

ROTFLMHO, starlight!

Now you have me choking on my drink. Just came in from a walk around the garden just to see what's going on and get a few pics -very few since most of what is out there is looking pretty sad about now. Again, I didn't do any work, just strolled around the garden and took a few pics. The whole front of my tank top is soaked as is much of my hair. Whew! is it ever rough out there!

It is awfully dry here, too, starlight, although I do think we have had some rain in the last month. Can't imagine how dry it must be there.

Speaking of heat, I've been trying for some time now to tell people that it is really quite hot here. I find that most people aren't inclined to associate Charleston, SC with really scorching temps. Yesterday I was looking at a new Zone map for gardening, not sure the name of this one. It had quite a few more zones than the one we normally use (which is really only for cold temps). This one groups areas based on both high and low temps year round and puts us in what they called the 'Gulf Coast, Norther FL up through Charleston' Zone, a narrow strip along the Gulf and lower East coasts encompassing everything along a line from Corpus Christie, TX through Houston, New Orleans, Mobile, AL, Jacksonville, FL, and Savannah ending at Charleston, SC. So there you have it. It's hot as Hades here. But from what I hear on the news, looks like it's hot everywhere about now, at least in the midwest, east, and southeast. I took a couple of photos of that plastic container that melted and warped outside last summer. Will post that when I get to the other laptop, where the pics are.

That was hilarious, starlight. You be careful out there, too. I'm going to work inside and go back out around 5 or so to mow the lawn, clean the pool, etc. I know Heidi won't mind. : )

LOL, I guess we shouldn't "drink and read".
I wonder if you are the first person to observe "the steal" manuever...perhaps you should get a degree in wildlife behavior, if there is such a degree. And write a lengthy paper to be published in some professional biologist journal. Very cool.
lt's been in the 90's here in northern KY. I gotta get out there and plant all my treasures from the Roundup!

Finally got a few videos loaded and loading. Of what is loaded, here is one from a few days before Dennis' humorous attempts at the steal with Trouble. On this day he appeared to also be practicing. He was doing better on this day. He didn't make me laugh, but he isn't really doing it correctly. Wish I could show you one of the pros doing it right, but they don't come out in the day time so often.

This starts with Dennis coming up between the other 2 raccoons. Cissy is the one on the right. Dennis gets a drink from the scoot, then sits down, again probably a bit far away. He leans back too far, scoots back a little, then turns around too soon when he's still too far away from the target. Still, Cissy, who at 1st seems unsure, decides to let him have it. All in all he didn't do such a bad job that time. Note that he is seen leaving the food minutes later which fits with my assessment that he is just practicing, not really hungry. At the end of this video I call Cissy. Note that she is no where to be seen when I start calling, and that she then comes out of the brush, goes around the area where her prior dish is now unattended and comes over to me. She really does understand when I am calling her, and she usually comes to me - hoping for a treat, no doubt. Note also, that no one else comes when I call Cissy.

Oh, yeah, the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCw4wo9lMxU

Here from the same day is Dennis trying the steal with Blondie. Here again he doesn't do it at all well, but Blondie does acquiesce. I'm starting to think that Heidi gave everyone the heads up to be nice to Dennis while he's practicing. This attempt, again, was no where near as bad as the one with Trouble. Perhaps with Trouble he was afraid of being clobbered. Note, however, that this one starts out with Dennis trying to take things off the chair. See how he leaves right away when I tell him "no"? Then he goes off to bother Blondie, who at the moment is a young nursing mom with minimal patience, so I'm surprised she handled this so well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn7hGITgQ3U

KyWoods,

Hmm, that's an interesting question. Don't know. Hadn't really thought about it but I guess it may be possible considering [it seems] only males do it and there may not be a lot of people observing males eating in group interactions, esp in the wild or at least in wild raccoons.

Just in case anyone wants to see, here is Heidi showing the, ehem, milk parts. (ok, Ruth, stop laughing) I named it, appropriately, Got Milk 2? This is a side view which gives you a better glimpse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsAv71S84q0

Admittedly it may be time to clean up the buffet area - but it may have to wait until Oct, too hot.

Anyhow, here is The Shove. I was shooting Heidi in foreground when this action broke out in the background. Not knowing how long it would last and not wanting to miss the action while rebooting the [broken] camera, I went ahead and shot the footage even though it was slightly out of focus (camera focused for foreground action). This is the thing I've mentioned before where 2 raccoons have a shoving match over food, the thing that I liken to 2 kits trying to sit in the same chair. I'm pretty sure that is Dennis back there eating from Heidi's spot when the other raccoon comes up and tries to take his food. They have a scuffle after which Dennis starts trying to defend his space by pushing the other raccoon away. The other raccoon is bigger than Dennis. Note how he turns almost sideways at times trying to hold his own against the larger raccoon. There is another video, The Shove 2, that is a continuation of this which seems to be endless. Eventually, the other raccoon wins - while I'm rebooting to try to get closer on the action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7YcQbR_Dcw

Edited to say that I STILL can't watch this one without laughing. Aren't raccoons hilarious? And Cool?
Edited again to add that I don't seem to know where The Shove 2 is right now. The Shove 3 is the footage I got after the whole thing was over. The Shove 2 must be part of one of the others (because I definitely saw that footage earlier when I was previewing the videos before I started loading them, or it may be the one that didn't load.

This message was edited Jun 9, 2008 1:18 AM

This message was edited Jun 9, 2008 1:41 AM

Thanks so much, Cheryl, I now also have old cartoon characters running through my head in an endless loop. I think the snickering dog was Deputy Dawg's sidekick, but the name is eluding me. For some reason, Snidely comes to mind, but doesn't sound quite right.

The videos are great, as always, but the first and last should not be viewed while drinking. If that's one of Dennis' better attempts, the poor boy needs to keep working on it - seriously. Could he be more obvious, or check over his shoulder more often to see how close he's getting? And the shoving match is just hysterical. I keep imagining Dennis applying his trial-and-error learning methods to courtship; the poor boy could find himself neutered. And HRH would probably die laughing....

ROTFLMAO, Ruth!

Oh, his efforts the other day with Trouble were off the scale worse. I'm wondering if Trouble or HRH may have pulled him aside between the 1st day (the videos) and the 2nd and given him some (snicker, snicker, wink, wink) 'tips' to improve his technique - just so they could laugh at his efforts and even more so when he gets 'whooped' by the girls for doing it wrong. The other day when he was SO pathetic, he was starting his efforts so far away from the target that he just looked like he was sitting down to rest. Oh, and at least he didn't lie down on his back during his steal attempts with Cissy and Blondie, esp since Blondie might have hurt him.

Did you notice in the one with Cissy how he 1st sat down up against the tractor scoot, then looked back and apparently realized he was too far away, got up, moved back and sat down again? Also, the "rock back and spin around" part is supposed to be split-second fast and he's supposed to wind up standing in front of the food as though he owned it. If you watch Dennis, in both videos when he gets up and sl-o-w-ly turns around he is always still too far away from the target. He's not in front of it. In fact, he then has to take a step or two over to the dish to get there. That part is SO amateurish because the whole point is to pretend you aren't interested and then spin around and be standing in front of the food as though it was yours all along, so that you 'own' the dish before the mark has a chance to react. The whole point is to avoid walking up and getting slapped. I still think his family is letting him 'win' because they feel it's there job to help him learn, that or Heidi made them. ; )

That Shove thing, believe it or not, is another thing they do from time to time. That again seems to be a guy thing. I've even seen HRH and Trouble do that one, although while still funny, with them its over in a minute or so. I've never seen anyone hang in there as long or try as hard as Dennis - or be as funny - before loosing. Just wish I'd been able to get the close up on that. When I finally decided (after they kept it up for so long) that I had plenty of time to reboot and get focused on them, I missed the ending.

You know, the strange thing about my allusions to cartoons is that I was never all that fond of cartoons as a kid. I think that's why I don't really recall a lot of the details, names, etc. But in those days we only had a few channels and often the cartoons were the only thing on for kids, that and, of course, my brother just had to watch them, so I ended up watching them a lot by default. I think they come to mind often when describing the raccoons because the raccoons are so comical by nature. I didn't think it was Deputy Dawg because I though he was a good guy and the one that did the 'snide' laugh was sort of a rouge, I think. Snidey seems to fit quite well.

I know Dennis seems to be the 'star' of most of my videos, but that's because he's the one that does most of the funny stuff.

To those who don't have immediate or frequent access to broadband to view the videos, I believe I also have some still shots of HRH and Trouble doing the shove, a series of shots trying to capture the action, i think. I'll try to find those this week and get them edited and posted.

Oh, when you have a chance to view that one of Dennis and Cissy (steal) again, check out the raccoon on the left. There is a shot near the end (while I'm calling Cissy I think) when he stands up to drink from the scoot again. See how unique his (actually I think it's probably a she) color is? He/she is a pale liver color, almost white around the legs and tummy. In the dark, he looks pretty much like the others. I only noticed the unique coloring when he started coming out in the daylight. The tail on this one is a med liver brown striped with pale sand to off-white. His facial coloring is also quite unusual. Chocolate brown mask on sand. Very pretty. No black or dark colors at all on this one. Also he is very lanky, reminds me of that one breed of cats associated with the ancient Greeks and, I think, Ramses or maybe Tut. That really tall, lanky, ultra short haired, regal variety.

I'm still trying to work out who is who with some of these 'others'. I think this one may be one of Juliet's. He/she is quite the little spitfire. That's for sure. There is another one with the same hue of coloring as this one, that liver color. The other one is more of a med liver shad. The other one is a bit on the homely side, I'm afraid, reminds me of a hyena. The mask on that one is all wrong somehow, starts to low on the face and extends down so that it almost covers the entire bottom of the face. The contrast color on the face is only a shade or so lighter, still a dirty liver shade. The face lacks the usual contrast.

Lastly, there is the long haired one. That's the one that was scrapping with Dennis in The Shove. From his behavior, that one is probably a male. He is very, very pretty - in my opinion. I love the long, flowing hair on that one. He is very unique. His coat has a lot of gold and red in it. That's the one that for the longest time wasn't allowed in the yard. Everyone chased him away. For a while just because of the behavior, I thought he might be Fraidy - even though he didn't look the part. Now, I actually think he may be Rupert. I'm curious to hear what everyone else thinks about this. Am open to opinions, suggestions.

Here is why I think this. He is by far the most unusual of the group, and we believe Diva came from outside the group. If I recall, I believe Diva had slightly longish fur. He has the black feet (but so does the light liver colored one although this one's feet are the darkest). As for his coloring, recall that we never saw Diva in daylight plus Rupert would have HRH's genes mixed in. Probably in part because he was an outsider, Heidi and the others always treated Rupert like an outcast and he was always a bit timid. He is very pretty, sort of fancy, and Rupert was the most photogenic of the kits. he stand upright a lot like Diva used to do. He goes in to a comical frenzy when given watermelon (like Diva's reaction to mm's). The other day when I gave him watermelon, he got into that very same position as Diva with the mm in that pic everyone like, the one standing up part way with hands outstretched in front of her. You can see him in several of the new videos, mostly the ones marked "just for ID purposes...". Oh, and lately, he has started to come into the yard more and more - instead of staying at the fence.

Chuckling away this morning. Was reading when I had a thought. I wonder if Dennis needs /____O--O___ ? my version of a pair of glasses.

I have a prism factor and I know even with my glasse son when I hae to judge any distance for a straight line I always miss judge or start out straight and go crooked.

Poor Dennis, but who knows, maybe he just gonan be a charmer all his life. Can ya imagine him grown up and with a family teachign the kits the boot scoot boggie and the watermelon dance. LOL

LOL, starlight!

Love the glasses and

You know Dennis will always be special to me. : )
Last night he was waiting at the house when I went out. I fed everybody and gave him a handful of dog candies. I didn't stay out there. He followed me back to the house, so I got a small stem of grapes and went back out. Handed out grapes to everybody, and left again. About 2 hours later when I let Widget out, Dennis was still out there hanging around in the yard.

Edited to add: Dennis doesn't seem to have any problem when reaching for something as small as a grape held in the air.

This message was edited Jun 9, 2008 7:53 AM

Found the Shove 2. Here is a video of the end of someone doing the steal with Heidi. As you can see, she was not as cooperative as some marks. Then when she walks away you can hear her coughing a bit. Oh, and the stealer wasn't Dennis this time, because as the camera pans back you can see him back there still working on the Shove.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLMhle65wAo

Cheryl -- approximately how long did the "shove" go on??
it almost seems like a stand off.

that is funny how they all do that... the shove and the steal.

and just think how this goes on in the wild and no body sees it... 'cept for you that is.

you really need video cams set up.... you can do your own documentary.
sorta like that Bear guy.... Grizzley Adams.... only you'd be Auntie Cheryl and the Coon Crew.

Terese,

I'm not sure. It seemed to last forever. Looking at the time on the video clips and adding another minute between each for camera reboot and such, I'd say 5min or longer which is a long time for 2 raccoons to have their horns locked.

From what I've been able to determine, I think only the males do these things. I'm more sure with the steal, less so with the shove - just need more observation time. I'm sure that I've never seen any of the known females doing the steal. There are a few of the others whose gender remains somewhat uncertain. At this point, I'm beginning to make gender assumptions based on this behavior. In other words, if one of the others whose gender is undetermined does the steal I figure it's a good chance that one is a male. I don't recall seeing any of the known females doing the shove but can't say for sure about that one.

Mostly, if the females want something badly enough they just walk up and try to take it and fight if necessary, or, as with the incident with Diva, if they are trying to get something from a male they may try sweet talking 1st to see if that works. Unlike the females, the adult males don't usually just walk up and try to take something risking a fight. The younger males will do so as with Trouble's behavior at the beginning of the season, but not the adults. The adults play these 'games' like the steal and the shove when they want to take something. My guess is this is a way for the large and 'dangerous' males to have mock fights over things while minimizing the risk of serious injury. I would imagine that they do these same things in the wild, especially if I'm right. My guess is they may have real fights in encounters with outsiders and use these mock fights within the local community/society as a way to resolve the little daily disputes while minimizing the risk of injury.

Funny that you mention Grizzly Adams. That's what/who I always remind myself of - well, except that I don't have a grizzly bear, but I think he had some raccoon friends, too. I still recall that my parents told me "that's just tv; it's not really possible to have that kind of relationship with wild animals". Little did they know.
'

Terese,

Have you had a chance to see my notes about the long haired one and how I'm wondering if he might be Fraidy? Have you had a chance to view the videos of him to see what you think? I do think this one is likely a male. You can see him doing the shove with Dennis (females usually deal with Dennis the way that Blondie does in the link below). I believe I've also seen him doing the steal with some of the other 'others'. If you have time, check out the video below. Around the 50sec mark or shortly thereafter he adopts a Diva-like posture very briefly. As for the coloring, remember that we've always seen him in the dark. In the dark they all look pretty much the same. This may not be Rupert, but this one is, in my opinion, the most attractive and the most unique of the group. As I was saying recently, I find that the raccoons make the biggest changes in the period between the end of the 1st summer when they are just big kids and the beginning of the following season when they come back as yearlings. During that time I don't see them as often. In very early spring Heidi tends to run many of them off, etc. When I see them again it's hard to tell who is who. Dennis was easy because he never stopped hanging around me daily. Cissy was also easy because she and Dennis were practically Siamese twins for the longest time and still seem to have a special bond even though they argue a lot now.

Just curious what you think. If you don't think that could be Rupert, what about the other one, the liver colored one? I have 3 (maybe 4) 'spare' raccoons out there out of which I figure 1 should be Rupert, 2 Juliet's kids. None look as I would have expected them to look but all are comfortable around me making it seem likely that they are 'ours'.

Edited because, oops, forgot to include the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOQtCd1qEGs

Eager to hear everyone's opinion, BTW, but I know you were very fond of Rupert so I figured you might be able to pick him out of the crowd.

This message was edited Jun 9, 2008 9:58 AM

Yes -- Cheryl - i did read the comments above... and he certainly does have the Diva mannerisms.

and he is quite handsome. It very well could be lil Rupert all grown up. wouldn't that be wonderful.

I just viewed all 3 "Id'ing purposes" clips
and in the "Just eating" boy that surely looks like his face. As a kit, he was quite the stunner, just like Cissy is. Very photogenic.

This message was edited Jun 9, 2008 9:13 AM

There was one video, not sure which now, may be the 'Just eating' one in which I paused quite by accident at a point where (in profile) his nose looked quite large. I stepped forward a few frames and his nose looked like a giant licorice gum drop stuck on the end of his face. If I hadn't trashed that laptop's installation (to get rid of it someday, hopefully soon) I would have exported the frames to post them.

Here are a few shots of that plastic container that melted/warped when left out in the garden last summer. I'm not sure if this is a plant saucer (deep on for hanging pots) or a food container. I know that I had it under a potted plant in placed along the arbor path, a partially shaded portion of the garden.

Side view

another side

yet another top view.
This is what happens to my head when I go out in the garden any time between July 1 and Sept 1. Except for any time before 5AM and after 10PM.

Edited to add that I really wish I had a pic of that plastic/disposable mechanical pencil that I left on the dash of my car one summer and came back to find it bent into a semi circle - still worked though.

This message was edited Jun 9, 2008 4:22 PM