Heidi Chronicles: And Baby Makes 5

Wow, I'm impressed and relieved that you weren't hurt when accidentally stepping on Dennis' tail. That could have gotten ugly fast, and I'm so glad it didn't.

HRH is probably off courting a lovely masked lady somewhere in the forest; sure hope so. Must confess I would miss him almost as much as Heidi if he disappeared from your chronicles.

Ah, I hope he's home babysitting, but he's handsome enough to be a real Romeo is our HRH. Hopefully he'll show up soon. :)

Dennis is a big flirt!!!!!! I think he got a crush on you. LOL Think if it would have been any body else that had got him by the tail he probably would have scratched and fought.

Wanting to be hand feed. Remind sme of what was it egyptian days when women used to feed grapes to lounging men. Seems Denis wants the same kingly treatment. he has you mesmorized with his eyes and good looks and antics. heheheheheh

Sure wish the others would straighten up so that heidi would bring the kits back around. It like she teasing all of us anxiously waiting.

Poor Fraidy... Glad she getting more comfortable aroudn you and maybe she wil be able to get a bit more food.

Terese,

I wish you could see Dennis. After his recent training now he sits at my feet, sometimes with all 4's on the ground and sometimes sitting upright like in that 'steal with Cissy' video. He is no longer allowed to ask for treats by reaching - because little reaches soon grown into big reaches and then grabs; so now he puts one hand on either side of my calf and rubs up and down on my pants leg with the soft pads of his paws to say please - reminds me of rubbing a genie bottle or lamp.

I think the liver colored one is Juliet's from 07. He/she is the same size as the other 07 yearlings. I think that is Juliet's girl. For quite a while that one kept its distance from me but after watching Dennis and the others come close and get treats without getting hurt, he/she is now coming much closer. There is another one, slightly larger, also liver colored but less attractive, the one the reminds me of a hyena. These 2 have similiar coloring and are comfortable around each other. I think they are probably Juliet's 2 kids from 07. That liver colored one is quite the hellion which, if you recall, fits Juliet quite well.

I'm not sure why Heidi gave her food up to that one last night (before I chased him/her away). It may have been some combination of the fact that Heidi was having a lot of wheezing and coughing problems which undoubtedly makes it impossible to fight well, and the fact that the other raccoon was trying to claim the dish from the start (as opposed to taking it after Heidi already had ownership). Heidi has firm rules about ownership. She will usually defend what it hers, but she goes with the possession = ownership rule. For instance, even if she walks away to get a drink of water and someone else takes her food while she's gone, she won't usually fight to get it back. Since the other raccoon had his face in the dish from the moment I started pouring she may have seen it as 'legally' belonging to him.

Liver may seem an odd description, but it is such a perfect description of his base color which is a brown with blue undertones, so not a warm, chocolate brown but a cool, steel-toned brown. In horse lingo we have a liver chestnut, and that is his color.

Maybe you only stepped on the hairs of his tail, and didn't cause him pain? That's happened to me with my dog before.

KyWoods,

That is very possible. Also, I was wearing those original design crocs with the thick foam soles that they describe as being like marshmallows, so even if I did step on the tip of the actual tail that probably have helped to soften the blow just because of the manner in which those shoes flex. But either way it still would have pulled his hair (ouch, ouch) when he tried to free himself which brings me to the biggest problem of all which is the fact that for a brief time I had him trapped, something I am always careful not to do. Unlike our pets, being trapped (as in someone holding them by the tail) would be quite threatening and terrifying to a wild animal. Even now I am not inclined to try and take hold of Dennis' tail even though I can pet him all day long.

BTW, that reminds me of something I've been wanting to share. Upon watching the video of me petting Dennis, one of the guys at work asked if I can pet his head, since I didn't do that in the video. Yes, I can pet his head. I could do that a long time ago. He was comfortable with me touching his head long before he was willing to have his back touched. For a wild animal, I think that makes a lot of sense. The back, back of the neck, etc are more vulnerable areas - that's where the dogs grab them, for instance. Also, since the head can bite, I think they feel less vulnerable there. I didn't pet his head in the video because of the difficulty - much greater than is evident - of trying to hold and focus the camera with one hand/eye while petting him with the other hand, and all without loosing the focus. If you notice they way he stands with his back humped up in the air like a camel, it's a long way down to get to his head. I couldn't reach down that far and still look through the eye thingy to be sure the camera stayed in place - my arms aren't that long.

Actually, in addition to petting his head I can message the back of his neck. The other day I tried curving my fingers around under his tummy a little. He picked his head up and looked around at me as if to say, "Now just what do you think you are doing under there?" But he didn't get upset, move away, or anything.

Ruth, doscan,

I sure hope you are right and HRH is out with that special masked lady - picturing a masquerade ball here, perhaps the ones in Venice or at Mardi Gras. He is a gorgeous fella - or maybe I'm biased.

I, too, would find it most difficult to part with the big guy. He is quite unique and irreplaceable. Even now when he hopefully just out cavorting around, I miss his presence.

starlight,

Dennis gets the grape treatment, too. : )
I just figured a wild animal would only be interested in getting the food not in special treatment. But I guess special treatment helps to reassure him that he will get the best treats. Maybe. He's a big baby about 80% of the time - and a menace the rest of the time.

Yeah, I wish Heidi would hurry up and bring those kits, too. I suspect that Ruth is right and she will bring then when she is ready and will make a way when that time comes. My guess is the combination of the traumatic events of the 1st near-visit and my bad behavior calling them that 2nd day caused her to decide to hold off a bit. Someone, I think it might have been you, mentioned that she probably needs to feel in control of the situation. I think there is a lot of truth to that. She probably felt threatened when they responded to my voice and tried to come to me, probably decided they needed more lessons in listening to mom and avoiding humans before returning to the buffet. Once they learn to fear humans in general, she can slowly show them that I am ok.

I think Fraidy is actually more wary of the other raccoons than of me. Although it took a day or so for us to get re-acquainted, she used to sit right up against my bench like a little child to eat her food. She felt protected there because back then none of the others would come that close. Back then they wouldn't let her come into the yard; they would chase her away ruthlessly. Then she figured out that she could sneak around through the brush in the veggie patch and run that last 2 or 3 feet to slide into my bench like home plate, and there she would be safe from harm. Nowadays when she sneaks out of the brush, grabs something, and runs back in there to eat it she's not running from me. She's taking it over there away from the others.

In a way, Fraidy was the original Dennis.

Today I served Bing cherries dipped (deep) into vanilla frosting, and, oh, yes, that was quite the hit. I had planned on serving a pkg of the 100 cal shortbread cookies dipped in frosting along with cherries, but the cookies ran out long before the craving for frosting was satiated forcing me to improvise and use the cherries as a vehicle for the frosting.

Late this afternoon but before dusk, I took Widget out. As soon as Heidi saw me she came down the tree (without waiting to be called). I picked Widget up and started for the house with Heidi in tow. I looked back at her once. She had the most obvious look of confusion on her face as if to say, "Where are you going and where is my dinner?" She followed us all the way to the door. Unlike Dennis, she didn't try to come inside, just stood there looking bewildered at my bizarre behavior.

When I reemerged (sans the dog), she was still waiting on the far corner of the patio. I served up her food in the usual area. Tonight, oddly enough, the liver colored one fought with and chased Cissy away so that he/she could eat at my feet - clearly not holding a grudge over being chased away from Heidi's spot last night. I guess it doesn't take long for them to learn where the good stuff originates. Dennis wasn't there at the time. He arrived much later.

A bit later, Heidi again left her dish and came over to eat in the area around my bench. She did this despite the fact that there was very little food left in my area (on the ground or in the dishes) and she had left a considerable amount of food behind in her area. At one point she had words with one of the yearlings over a dish nearby. For a brief moment it looked as though she might be getting into the steal position. She didn't follow through with it, and so far I've always seen the ladies just walk up and fight for what they want, but am keeping an open mind and eye on this issue.

Recalling how Heidi liked the frosted cookies the last time, I opened the can and broke out the cookies. There are very few sweets and junk food items that Heidi will eat, but clearly she loves frosting. She sat about 1.5ft from me and I fed her about 2/3 of the cookies, each dipped into the frosting and withdrawn with a glob 3 times the size of the nickle sized cookie. She sat there fussing at any of the others that dared come anywhere near me and the cookies/frosting. After she had eaten a few cookies, I held on out to her -- and she came up, sat back, reached out with her hands as though to grasp it, and then changed her mind, and took it oh, so gently with her mouth. It was the 1st time that Heidi had ever trusted me enough to take food from my hand.

Naturally, I gave cookies and cherries to all of the others as well. The cookies ran out long before Heidi had had her frosting fix. She walked around to the side of my bench and stood there sniffing the ground and looking up at me, clearly expressing her desire for more. Improvising, I grabbed the plastic top from another container and used it like a giant chip to scoop out a large glob of frosting which I dropped plastic lid and all on the ground before her. That was roughly 1/4 cup of the thick, sweet, gooey stuff, more than enough I figured, but she licked it clean and stood requesting more STILL.

Cissy, Blondie, Rupert, and the others were all standing in the background asking for more in their own way while eating cat food and keeping a watchful eye out for any flying cookies that might come their way. That's when I got the idea to serve frosting on cherries. Most were quite fond of cherries anyhow, so cherries with a big blob of frosting turned out to be quite a hit. Heidi doesn't normally eat cherries but once I slathered frosting on them, yum, yum, she ate them right down.

By the time poor Dennis finally arrived, Heidi was finishing up and there was only about 1/3 can of frosting left - and only 1 cherry. I gave him the one cherry with frosting. Naturally, that didn't last long. While I was holding the can of yummy frosting - and with no way left to serve it - Dennis was impatient to get on with it but was amazingly well behaved. He stood up at my knee once to reach, but quickly got back down when I said, "no". With so little frosting left, I figured it was safe to use the plastic lid from the can as a serving container, so I scooped up a big blob of frosting on it and gave it to Dennis.

About that time Cissy rounded the corner to assert her desire for more frosting. I looked at the can of frosting now almost empty, looked at Dennis licking the giant blob of frosting from the lid, looked at Cissy, and new what I had to do. So I reached down and gently nudged Dennis away from the lid, took it back, and quickly replaced it with the [plastic] can, then tossed the lid, blob still attached, to Cissy. Dennis, after all had just arrived while the others had been eating treats for some time. Dennis didn't react at all when I took back the frosting covered lid, except to ask for more. It was just like taking something from Widget.

Although I think I failed to mention it, I did toss numerous [frosting-free] cherries to the liver colored one during the time [early in the evening] when he/she was eating under the chair beside me. He/she never, ever eats sweets but loves fruit.

The can of frosting was only about 2/3 full when I went out. When I came back in it had only about an inch or less left in it. And they ate a few pounds of cherries (except for the ones I ate while waiting). I also put out a 1/2 container of potato salad which didn't get much interest while I was out there but which I'm sure will be gone by morning.

As to Heidi taking the one cookie from my hand today, I don't think I ever mentioned this but HRH took a few items from my hand some time back. I only offered him items that were large enough to give both of us some spare room, like those rabbit shaped peeps that were about 3.5in long, for instance, and the peanut butter sandwich. I only did that may 3 times. Each time the big guy took the item as gently and politely as one would expect for such a amiable and well mannered fella. Sometimes when he wanted a treat, he would come and stand near me, maybe 1-2 feet away, and look at me for a few minutes to see if I might offer him a treat. Once I looked up at him and acknowledged him, he would go back to his dish if not offered a treat.

Sometimes I intentionally pet Dennis when one of the others is nearby and looking. Their expressions are priceless. Often their eyes get huge as though terrified for poor Dennis and later perplexed to see that nothing is happening. Cissy used to run into the brush and hide when I would do this as though she feared that after I 'killed' Dennis, she would be next. Then after a few minutes she would peek back out of the brush to see Dennis still eating quietly and safely at my feet. Blondie's eyes get big and then she just looks like "Oh, well, I didn't like him that much anyhow." Heidi doesn't react. I'm sure she has seen it all already. My hope is that as they see me pet Dennis without hurting him they will learn to be less fearful of me.

I hope that HRH is just out giving the other ladies a chance. It would be hard to lose him.

Dennis is quite the guy. He is the perennial class clown. I wonder if the others know that he is not "all there" and that is why they cut him some slack. Maybe he is as amusing to them as he is to us.

Your descriptions of Cissy and Blondie with regard to petting Dennis are great. Especially the look that says "oh well I did not like him that much anyway" as though trying to cover up after figuring out it was not dangerous.

This message was edited Jun 12, 2008 10:05 PM

ROTFLOL, tetleytuna,

'not all there' LOL. Maybe. I'm never sure if Dennis is a little 'slow' or just a genius in disguise. I do sometimes joke to myself that they are all trying to help him out with his technique, overlooking his deficiencies, etc.

As for HRH, I keep trying to remind myself that over the years he has always come and gone, that he was never one to boast 100% attendance at the buffet, and that he will likely show up again one day when I least expect him - and I'll have the granola waiting. As I mentioned, for a few months now I've been feeding as early as 5PM during which time there was no food left by dark. He probably got out of the habit of coming by to check for dinner, esp with all of the summer 'produce' that must be available in the forest these days. Even now, I've only been out there after dark a few nights recently and have only seen Trouble a handful of times in the past few months.

Oh my: bing cherries with vanilla frosting. I may have to try that myself next time I have an urgent craving for sweet.

I'm totally impressed at the fact that now both Heidi and HRH have taken food from your hand. That is in an entirely different category from the kits and yearlings, and is truly amazing.

Love the image of a masquerade ball in the forest; can just imagine HRH, wearing his best Clark Gable expression, asking the lady of the hour if she'd care to, ahem, waltz....

A few pounds a bing cherries???? I was going to get some, but at almost $4 a pound here, I had to pass on those!

Ruth,

An image made all the more lovely by your additions.

I must admit that the first time HRH took a peep from my hand I was probably at least as nervous about the whole thing as he was, him being such a large and powerful fella, but he accepted the treat with manners befitting his gentlemanly ways. Like Heidi, he declined the 1st few items I offered him from time to time (this spanned days if not weeks), each time stretching his neck to put his nose right up to the item and then backing away quickly as though repulsed by the sent of my (human) hand. The day he 1st took a peep from my hand, he was helped along considerably by competition from Dennis who was right there trying to get every last peep.

Nothing like a little competition to keep a fella on his toes.........LOL Love the idea of the cherries and frosting......bet there were raccoons bouncing off the trees later on! LOL

nanny,

I think the bag of cherries was on sale for around $3.50/lb. I actually bought them for me but didn't eat them - until I took them out to the raccoons - because they weren't really to my liking. Half or more of them were too soft and/or tasteless. While I was sitting with the raccoons I picked out many of the better looking ones, tasted them, and tossed them on the ground if not deemed suitable. Most of the raccoons were more than eager to finish the 'bad' ones off for me, Juliet, however, when tossed one of my rejects, cast a glance my way that seemed to say, "If you don't want it, what makes you think I do" and went on eating her kibble.

I guess I've been more than a bit accommodating in my purchases both for me and for the raccoons for some time now. However, with all that is going on, cars, AC units, and now a leak over the LR, not to mention ever rising gas and food prices, I may have to get us both on a budget. We will still have treats but maybe fewer expensive ones.

Edited to add that some years back I gave myself permission to pay the seemingly high prices for fresh fruits and vegetables, including such things as asparagus, rainier cherries, etc. I had previously been reluctant to be so 'extravagant' until I realized that I never think twice about paying $4 for a hamburger, $6 for a HB meal, ditto the cost of a variety of other harmful fast foods as well as cookies, candy, cakes, pies, you name it. That's when I realized that a $6 bag of cherries or grapes or bunch of asparagus, etc was actually a good buy in comparison. From the HB, fries, and coke I get saturated fat, cholesterol, salt, preservatives, and the risk of mad cow to name a few, while the cherries are rich in natural vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants some of which may be as yet undiscovered. Now don't those cherries sound like a sound investment, after all?

This message was edited Jun 14, 2008 4:12 AM

Here is a pic of Blondie's bare butt. Not a great pic but I thought I'd post it now while I have it 'in hand'. As mentioned, Blondie had 2 med sized spots, one on either size of her tail. The one on the other side is more prominent but hopefully this will get the idea across for now.

Hahahahahah Great shot with my morning coffee. ; ) bet after all that frostoing and the sugar from the cherries all them racoons wa sup partying in the woods all night boucning off the trees and forest floors.

Is that little goldfish in the pool? My eyes dont seem to want to focus yet.

Sounds like a good investment to me. Ya can always use the excuse i ate healthy when ya get the burger craving coming on ya.

besides the fruits, do they eat other vegatables?

starlight,

Last night we had peanuts for a treat - to get them all back down from the forest ceiling.

No goldfish. Poor dears would not last a day in this heat. The water in the pool was actually on the hot side when I changed it recently (and that was around 5PM). It the goldfish didn't get sun stroke they would end up gently simmered. Those are peanut hulls. That pic is from 5/22/08. The raccoons love to eat almost anything out of the pool, so I frequently toss some peanuts, cat food, dog food, grapes, etc into the pool. Now if you were asking about goldfish thinking maybe I added some just for a little sushi at the buffet, no, I'm sure if the pool contained live fishes, Blondie would be in more of an action pose. They go berzerk for those live bait fish, probably more for the thrill of the chase than the taste of the fish.

I can't really think of hand of a single vegetable that I've seen the raccoons eat at all, much less show real interest in. I have seen those who are not allowed in the yard run down and grab and ear of corn, but that is about it, and I think in that case their interest in the corn is prompted more by the fact that they can grab it and run. Otherwise, even corn on the cob sits around uneaten while I am there. Make no mistake, by morning everything I put out that is remotely edible will be gone, and that includes vegetables, even partially rotted raw sweet potatoes and rutabaga from the compost pile. But I don't know for sure if the raccoons are eating these things or if it's the possums and maybe even rats (from the forest). I only know that while i am watching them, I never see the raccoons eat any vegetables, except maybe a little corn on the cob - and I believe I saw Heidi eat some steamed asparagus once.

Ok, exception to the veggie thing. I do see them eat and apparently enjoy such things as: mashed potatoes, cooked legumes, potato casseroles, and sweet potato casseroles. That sweet potato souffle with brown sugar, marshmallows, and pecans on top was a big hit.

Cissy sitting down to eat a peanut.

Rupert (until we know better at least) fetching peanuts from the pool (last night)

I feel so bad, I went to change the water in my new raccoon pool, and there was a poor little mouse in the bottom! I don't know if he fell in and drowned, or if he was a coon's prey that got left behind. You wouldn't think they'd forget their dinner, would you? I'm fine with the coons eating them, as that's just nature, but I don't wanna be an animal murderer! Guess I'll put a rock in it so small critters can climb out.

Boy it storming to beat all get out all aroudn me and I I get to hear is the thunder.

Kywoods. Let them little mice drown. Ya don't want them to live cu two little mice wil make 100's oin no time at all and be in your house and udner things and chewing yoru wires up.

I all for savign critters, but there some that are hazardous to health and home and meices happens to be one of them, plus they carry bunch of disease if they happen to bite one of yoru coons or possoms.

Better to have them die in th epool and they already dead when ya go out then to have to dig nests and kill tons of babies all at once to protect your home and animals. Sounds cruel, but have seen what just a coupel mice can do especially to the inside of a wall and the wiring.

I knwo ya got alot going on now, but that maybe somethign to think abotu fo rthe future. getting a small fish tank and just keeping goldfish in it and when it cools off a bit at night puttign some out for them and the kits to play with. Ya could scoop em from inside tank to container and turn loose in pool.

Thanks for the pics Cheryl... LOL it always funny to see them eating and sitting. It like they got so much fur and tummy that they got a beer belly and with their legs so short they stick out to the side so tiny ya cna ahrdly see them. : )

Starlight, I can't go around drowning meeces, 'cause then what will the poor little snakies have to eat??
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KyWoods,

I'm afraid I'm going to have to side with starlight on this one. When the rats (yes, I know mice are cuter but same outcome) were attracted to the bird feeders outside a few years back, I honestly just could not bring myself to harm them. I rationalized that as long as they were outside it wasn't SO bad, after all, they weren't hurting anyone. Soon, Mr Copperhead showed up in my garden and even at my back door to snack on the rats. Still, as there was no evidence of rats inside the house or garage, I ignored the situation. Then one chilly holiday weekend in late fall when I left my car sitting unused in the driveway for 3 days, a rat built a nest under the hood and did some $600 in damage - and from everything I've heard I got off light.

Around that same time I saw a program on either Nat Geographic channel or one of the Discovery channels (very interesting and informative if you've not seen it) in which they discussed mice and rats from a very objective point of view, even expressing considerable respect for their abilities. That program made several things quite clear to me. One is what starlight said about how quickly they multiply. I believe that program said a single breeding pair would become > 2000 mice/rats in one year without intervention, and once they reach that level it's almost impossible to fully eradicate them.

Here are a few of the others: Due to the incredible rate at which their teeth grow, they have to keep constantly gnawing on things to file their teeth down or else those teeth would quickly penetrate the roof of their mouths. The like to chew on electrical wires (to fulfill their need to constantly gnaw on something). Given time they are capable of chewing through anything including metal. By design they also need to continually investigate things and look for new food sources and places to roam - regardless of how much space and food they already have; so if they remain in the area long enough they will eventually find (or create) a way into the house just to explore. Once they start gnawing on the wires in a house this will inevitably lead to either (1) the need for expensive rewiring or (2) an electrical fire.

After I took the day off from work to have the car rewired and its computer replaced and my dog walked on the Copperhead at the back door I decided to trap them. It wasn't easy, but by that time I knew it was them or me. (Soon after I started trapping them, Snowball learned of this great source of free food. He started waiting on the back fence for the familiar sound of the trap closing and then coming to steal the rat which made cleanup easy for me and helped me to feel a little better that at least I was helping to feed the opossums.)

KyWoods, I'm with the others on the mice/rat issue, though they do make great food for the resident snakes. I've seen rats chew their way into metal commercial dumpsters (and you know how heavy those are), completely destroy a car's engine in no time at all, and cause major electrical fires in homes by gnawing on the wiring. Mice are much cuter, but do the same damage; it just takes them a bit longer, and at the rate they reproduce, that's a minimal difference. And they are a major vector for some nasty diseases: bubonic plague, for example, has never gone away, it is simply less prevalent because we do better at controlling rodent populations than they did in medieval times.

I've found a couple deceased field mice in the house this spring, deceased because my youngest cat apparently mistook them for a more exciting version of his toy mice and played them to death. The first time it was a bit shocking, since he'd left it on my bed and I almost picked it up and tossed it for him to play fetch with, as usual, when something made me pause and think, "that doesn't look quite right." Nope, this mouse was real. I am sorry that their end wasn't as quick as it might have been; but having seen what they can do in a house, I'm frankly glad he's on the job (or, in his mind, good at the game).

It's so adorable how cats show their devotion by bringing us dead stuff. ; )

---

The cutest part of tonight by far was watching everybody 'wear' the empty but sticky frosting can. I missed all of the best shots, the ones that had me falling off my bench laughing, but here is my shot of the day. I call this one "sure is dark in here. yummy, but dark"

I went out fairly early tonight and had considerable time with Heidi alone. She ate cat food and drank watermelon juice as though it were one of those big, fruity, iced party drinks. Later I broke out the mini cookies and the rest of that can of frosting from the other day. She came over by me and ate 1.5 bags cookies dipped in frosting by herself. When Cissy and some of the others arrived she ran them off from around me not wanting to share the treats.

Oddly enough, when Dennis arrived she didn't say anything at all to him. After Heidi left I gave the rest of the bag of mini cookies to Dennis and the others (these were those single serving, 100 cal bags). After that I broke out the granola and started dipping granola chunks in frosting. Dennis was especially well behaved. Even though he loves frosting, he sat down when I told him "no". When I held the tiny cookies coated in a dollop of frosting out to him, instead of gently taking each in his mouth or hands as he usually does, he held his mouth open and waited for me to drop the cookie in before closing it. Over and over he did this, almost as though afraid he might otherwise get confused as to where the frosting ended and the fingers began - and apparently not wanting to get into anymore trouble by making such a mistake; so for each frosting coated cookie he insisted that I drop it into his mouth just to be sure. He was so funny sitting there with his mouth agape I had to laugh out loud at his antics.

Later I tossed granola about the area to everybody and tossed several handfuls into the pool where Dennis spent much of the evening fishing them out.

When I ran out of granola, I gave Dennis the can which by that time had only the tiniest wisps of frosting left in it. In no time flat he had his head jammed so far into the can that, glued to his fur by the sugary treat, it would not come off right away. As he stood upright to withdraw his head from the can, the can (plastic) went right along with him. His eyes blinded by the can, he put his hands up to the bottom of the can, and stood on tippy toes looking like the cat from 'Puss and Boots' or the cat version of the 3 musketeers) as he walked around the yard trying to free himself. He was hilarious and I wasn't too worried as I knew the can would eventually fall off of its own accord, after I'd had a good laugh. Soon he had his nose pointing up at the stars, frosting can still stuck on his face, hands still grasping the end of the can, and still walking around in circles in front of me. Of all the time for the blasted camera to flash the "Out of memory" sign! Of course, holding his nose up into the air only prolonged the 'agony' since, otherwise, gravity would have assisted in removing the can, but eventually he managed to get it off his head, whereupon he looked around a bit with his vanilla frosted face before shoving his head right back into the thing and repeating the whole process all over again.

Later in the evening, the one seen in the pic above got a hold of the can. By that time I had managed to dump some pics to regain some camera memory. Right after I snapped the above pic, that raccoon (one of the others), jammed his head in the can and pranced around for a minute or so, nose pointing at the stars, wearing the can - and against a million to one odds, once again the camera said "Out of Memory". Arg! At that point I gave up. (That raccoon managed to free himself much faster than Dennis and did not repeat the sweet 'mistake'. More on 'that raccoon' later.)

Edited to add: or maybe Dennis didn't want to get into trouble for 'grabbing' things after I had already said 'no' earlier, so he figured he would only eat what I dropped into his mouth, that way he couldn't get into trouble.

This message was edited Jun 15, 2008 1:39 AM

Odd, that someone usually as uninterested in sweets as Heidi would eat a bag and a half of frosted cookies. Guess we all get a sugar jones from time to time.

The photo is priceless, as are the descriptions of the various players wearing the frosting jar.

Wish HRH had been there to share the granola; that's his favorite, no?

That last is photo is very sweet and funny!

It's actually useless to kill the rodents out here, as we are surrounded by over thirty acres of woods here. There's a never-ending supply of them, lol. They have tons of places to nest out here, so they don't bother with our cars. Maybe we've just been lucky! Guess that's the price we pay for living in this beautiful place.

I hear you, KyWoods: guess the best you can do is encourage the neighborhood wild snakes to make themselves at home on your property.

Thanks, nanny! Wish i hadn't missed the pics and videos of them with heads stuck (momentarily) in the can and noses in the air.

You might be right, KyWoods. Hope so. Now that I think of it all those years I spent growing up in a rural setting, I had never heard of such a thing as a rat nesting under a car hood - until I moved to the 'city'.

I started writing a post of last night's events but never finished it. No sign of those kits. Yesterday, Heidi was paying a lot of attention to that area maybe 20ft or so down the fence where she puts them sometimes while she is eating. I left before she finished eating so don't know if she brought them later. I think we have one other 'mommy' besides Blondie. There is another raccoon, not sure who she is exactly. She is tiny, about the size of Fraidy. Except for her size she looks almost identical to Heidi. My best guess is that she is the other small one from the 06 litter. The one that was a little shy back then but refused to stay at the fence like Fraidy. The other day I saw nipples hanging down on her, so I figure she has kits somewhere, too. Since I noticed that I've been trying to give her extra treats and such. For now I have nick named her Feisty, need I say more? You might recall at one time in spring I mentioned that the guys were following Cissy around and freaking her out. I now think it was actually Feisty they were following that day - a case of mistaken ID. She has similar coloring and such to Cissy, so in the dark it would be an easy enough mistake. She is smaller than Cissy now, but would have been about the right size then. As small as she is I'm hoping she only has one kit to support.

Just wanted to take a moment to say that my thoughts and prayers are with those of you in the weather beaten and flood ravaged mid west as well as those in areas ravaged by fire. As I hear the daily news reports coming from these areas I think about those of you who might live in the effected regions. Hopefully, none of you are directly effected. If you are, I wish you a speedy recovery.

If I can help in any way, PLMK. (dmail me) This includes both those who post and those who do not.

Terese, if you are out there, please let us know if you are ok. We haven't heard from you lately and yesterday on the news I heard that your state has also taken quite a beating.

tetleytuna, I know that your area is also prone to floods. If you get a chance, let us know if you are ok.

Thanks Cheryl ... as you know, when i'm up here in Wisc [dells area, where the lake emptied and homes washed away] sometimes internet is spotty... but i'm up at the club house where we have wireless, and it's working today.

heading home tomorrow, but will also have to go to a "wake" in Milwaukee, which will take us about 2 hrs out of our way, as our neighbor up here passed away on Saturday.

but ... we are fine actually... and back in IL, i guess the flooding is along the Mississippi river.... i saw Quincey getting hit along with other towns/cities near the river. OH and Iowa!! how horrible.

but mostly up here... all is drying out and the major highways are open again...

any sign of "pooh bear" yet?

That is so sweet of you, Cheryl! Oh, poor Iowa, and last I heard, more rain was on the way there. The pictures on the news looked just like New Orleans did after Katrina.
Sorry to hear about your neighbor, tcs. Glad you are safe from any flooding.

Cheryl, thank you for checking up on me! For the past couple of months we have seldom seen a day without rain. We are very fortunate in that there has been no flooding around here though. Took the dogs out for their last walk of the night a few minutes ago. It is actually chilly out there. The weather is just not right this year. I should be worrying about how hot it is and I almost need a sweater.

Has HRH checked in yet?? Starting to worry about our old bear.

It's cool out here, tonight, too. Supposed to be in the 50's this week at night!

Ruth,

Oops. About that post I mentioned this morning, the one I started but never finished. Oops. Turns out it was my response to your post. Here it is.

While it is true that Heidi eschews most sweets and, in fact, most forms of junk food, she actually does have a sweet tooth. She is extremely fond of watermelon. I think it is the only thing to date that I've seen her eat with her meal instead of after her meal. She also goes bonkers over hummingbird nectar. Remember last summer I used to take her a container of the stuff made 2x strength and she would drink it all - and that one time when she drank so much nectar that she had to run back over the fence to [apparently] relieve herself before returning to finish her dinner? Until now, nectar and watermelon have been the only 2 sugary treats she liked (that I knew of), but it looks like I will now have to add frosting to the list.

When I say 1.5 'bags' of cookies, I'm referring to those single serving, 100cal packs that only hold a handful of very tiny cookies. These were smaller than a postage stamp, so small I couldn't dip them in frosting and keep my fingers clean. Still, it is 'new' to see Heidi show such interest in something of this sort. I wish the camera hadn't been 'out of memory' as I would have loved to get a video of how she ever so gently lifted each heavily frosted cookie out of the dish or off the ground with her hands. Often the weight of the blob of frosting would cause the thing to land frosting-down. Heidi would try to scoop it up as 'cleanly' as possible to keep the thing in tact. If frosting got on the dish, she would lick that clean. Sometimes, despite her best efforts, that blob of frosting would pick up a bunch of cat food and she would have a new 'treat', the frosted cookie rolled in kibble. (Might try that at my next party.)

HRH is the granola fan. Still no sign of him, but I have another box of granola with which to celebrate the big guy's return.