Heidi Chronicles: Growing Up

This is the on-going tale of Heidi and friends a group of raccoons who frequent my backyard wildlife buffet. This year it seems like all of the 'ladies' have babies, and now the buffet is more of a daycare center than anything else - and we are certainly enjoying our time with the little furballs.

Prior thread in the series: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/890083/
Original thread that started it all: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/603944

Below is a picture of Mink named for her golden brown coat. Mink is Cissy's kit, a 1st and, for now, only child. Cissy, BTW, is Heidi's daughter from the 2007 litter. Here she is seen drinking from the small birdbath only moments before she turned it over splashing water on her mom.

Cheryl, yes, communicating with and trying to educate the people was much more difficult than communicating with the animals. Animals may not have verbal language, at least that we can readily understand, but they are also free of the phobias, illogic, and BS that characterize so much human interaction. And I'm with you on wondering how our society got so messed up to allow us to believe that we own pieces of the planet, and can evict any with whom we do not care to share it. The Native Americans had an altogether more sensible world view and approach to the land and their fellow creatures; which no doubt goes far to explain why the Europeans did their best to exterminate them, since they were different after all.

Love the story about your degree, and the determination it exemplifies. I can get equally determined, but only on issues about which I care passionately. Since I'm no longer working with animals, I don't find myself getting that involved - and I do miss it. I have no doubt that if your determination is engaged, you will in fact write a great book or two, and that they will be published. You go, girl!

And I also grew up on the Black Stallion books, and loved every one of them.

another Black Stallion fan club member here too! I devoured them.

I loved the Black Stallion books, too. :-) Did you keep a list of those of us who pre-ordered first editions of your books, Cheryl? ^_^

Good to see there are so many members in the Black Stallion fan club. We seem to have more and more in common each day.

Marylyn -- I wasn't smart enough to make the list in real time, but when we started the tagging system here at DG I went back through the threads from day one to tag things I thought might be important. At that time I added a tag for "Heidi book requests" (signed 1st editions, of course) or something along those lines. I was working my way through the threads sequentially. If your link isn't on there don't worry as I didn't finish. One lazy day when I'm looking for something to do while lounging around, I'll go back and work on that project some more. Worst case, I'm sure to see them when as I work my way through the text in making the book itself.

For anyone who isn't currently on the list, you can also add yourself (to the existing tag please) either by tagging your original request if you know where that is (right!) or by adding a new on here and tagging it. I will use the 'global' list so anything you add will be there when I access it. If anyone wants to do this and needs help, LMK.

I read them all, too, and dog books! Every one I could find! My Friend Flicka!

And Man O War and Misty of 'however you spell that island starting with Chi' LOL.

Cheryl, please add me to the Heidi book request list. Thanks!

Margureite Henry's books...all the horse ones! I only had pleasure horses, but I could dream...

Oh, yes, I want a signed book too!

A signed book! How marvelous! Me, too!

I want an autographed copy of your book, Scutler!! Hint, hint :)

Please add me to your list Cheryl. I would love to own a signed copy of your best seller!!!!!!!

Judy

Oh yes!!! Me too!!
Susan
=^..^=

Oh, not sure if I understand the above, but when ya get that book for sale, I want to get my copy personally autographed too, please. : )

Just don't get disappointed. It may take going through lots of publishers before ya get the first one accepted. But consider doing maybe just a short story for some of the wildlife journals and magazines. That wil get your name out there too. Don't give em the good stuff, just a real good teaser. ; )

Ok, I tagged everybody above this post. (If you had already tagged yours, it won't matter.) Thanks for all of your requests!

Judy -- Bestseller already? I like the sound of that. When I really get stirred up about something, I do believe in shooting for the stars or in the immortal words of Robert Browning, "...a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for..." It is one of my favorite passages. When I applied to grad school to study artificial intelligence, I applied to the top 5 schools (in that area) in the country and refused to even consider applying to other schools as well. On my application to MIT it asked how much money I had to put towards my education, I said $0. (which is essentially like saying, "I'm homeless and would like you to house me, feed me, and educate me.") When they called me to ask if that was a typo, I said "no". When they said they were only taking 30 people in my chosen field and asked if I would consider a different specialty within my major, I said "no". (LOL at my hubris) Aim high! I doesn't cost any more. ; ) ...Thanks!

melody -- I've never been one to pay attention to authors names, especially when I was a kid.(Bad, bad me not noticing authors. lol) I think I remembered Walter Farley just because after reading all of those Black Stallion books it finally sunk in. I had to google M. Henry. The name absolutely looked familiar, but I had no idea why. I loved the books in the 'Misty of Chincoteague' (sp? whatever) line and OMG King of the Wind was one of my all time favorites! I used to think I wanted to live out in the desert with an Arabian horse of my own. Ahh the wondrous, naivitee of youth.

Audrey -- For some reason I don't think I ever got around to reading My Friend Flicka although I did see the movie, tv show, etc and enjoyed them very much. I think I just never ran across that book. I read pretty much every book I could find on horses.

starlight -- That's a very good idea. I'll keep it in mind. Perhaps after I right the book, I could pull out a chapter (with minor changes) or partial chapter and offer it up as an article along with a plug for the book at the end.

Tremendous thanks to all of you!!! Thanks for all of your support and encouragement in this endeavor - and for thinking up the idea in the 1st place!

Edited to correctly attribute the quote "man's reach should exceed his grasp" to Browning. Oops

This message was edited Aug 29, 2008 9:18 AM

Ruth,

I should clarify to say that except for the determination part, I don't claim much responsibility for the endless array of serendipitous events that got me through college with neither family nor job for support. I still look back on that period with a sense of awe at how the entire universe seemed to rally behind me once I made my mind up to do it. I didn't know how I would do it, but I was at the same time almost powerless not to. It was a bit like heading out for somewhere in Northern Canada without a map, having no clue how to get there but just driving north. I figured I had $5000 and I would go to school one day at a time always trying to stay as long as possible, and if/when I could no longer go, I'd deal with that at the time. Luckily, that moment never arrived.

I don't always have that kind of determination, and regrettably it isn't something that I can turn on and off at will; otherwise, I'm sure I would have gone much farther in life. I think the lesson I've taken from the college incident and other such times when I have been possessed of such unyielding determination is that knowing what you want to do or accomplish is the hard part. Finding the thing about which you are that passionate is the challenge, but if you can find the thing about which you are so passionate that you simply cannot fail to do it, then everything else will fall into place. I'm not quite sure how to express this concept, but I've come to believe that the mere act of being so determined that you already view the thing as having happened is itself a sufficient force to eliminate obstacles and propel you forward through what might otherwise have seemed the impossible.

Oops, there I go being philosophical again.

Is there perhaps some animal related cause or activity that you might get involved in that would feed your inner need without commanding so much of your time?

Last night I didn't feed the raccoons. I was super busy trying to get the house in order for my Terminix inspection today.

Tonight Bast was waiting for me at the door, and when I opened it, much like Dennis, she wanted to invite herself in. It was a very pleasant, calm night. Cruel was again unable to attend. Everyone got along well. Ursula was there with her 3 kits all of which were incredibly peaceful. Dennis even came out early for a change. She ate a few frosting finger sandwiches, then ate food from my overturned bucket, and left.

It was one of those storybook kind of nights, the kind where I really did need a critter cam to capture all that sweetness, order, and good will. Even as Dennis was standing at my feet eating, Mink came up to get her sandwich, and Dennis didn't even growl. Cissy came up on the other side for hers. Soon bunches of kits were walking up in front of me for a treat, one at a time. To have all those adults and kits from different litters coming up in turn in such an orderly manner without arguing was amazing. I felt like Snow White or one of those other fantasy characters. Everyone knows these things don't work in real life. Right? But somehow tonight it did.

Later in the night there was a moment when 2 groups of kits - 2 different litters - had squared off in the pool. One group was in the pool, the other outside but clearly wanting to get in. They were arguing over the edge, nothing too serious, just posturing and such. Heidi had been standing nearby with a couple of her kits eating frosting sandwiches when suddenly her head flew up, she look over at the arguing kits, none of which were hers, BTW. Then she marched right over there, stood up with her front paws on the rim of the pool, looked right at them, and grumbled something that looked and 'sounded' like "you kids knock it off over here". The argument ended immediately, and Heidi went on about her business. It was clear that she had gone over there specifically to break up the argument, and it had worked. You could easily have yanked all the raccoons out of that scene and replaced them with humans, and it would have looked exactly the same.

With the big Labor Day weekend coming up, just in case some of you may be leaving early to go away for the weekend, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a great weekend!

Cheryl, I keep looking for an animal organization I can really "relate to" and for whom I could volunteer. Haven't found it yet, primarily because we're in such a rural area and the cost of gas prohibits traveling far to volunteer; but the search is ongoing.

Please make sure I'm also on that list for autographed first edition, okay? Thanks!

I can just picture Heidi breaking up the kits' quarrel in the pool! Well, heck, they're probably her grandkits, and she is supermom.

Ruth,

You were one of the one's I had tagged earlier, so, yes, you are on the list.

I hadn't considered that Heidi most likely is the grandma of most of the other kits.

Ah, yes, the cost of gas seems to factor into so many things these days. I think when the time is right the cause will find you.

Last night as I got into bed and pulled the covers up around me all snug and such, I realized with dismay that I had erred in attributing the above quote to Wordsworth for those were, in fact, the words of Robert Browning. Still, as I found myself in the most perfect snuggly spot, even the knowledge that some of you would surely catch my faux pas and call me on it even before I could finish my morning toast was not enough to rouse me from my bed. Knowing as I do that DG is chock full of brilliant and well educated people - whether formally or through life experience - I was sure my 'inbox' would 'runneth over' by now with 'corrections'.

I've fixed it now. Although Wordsworth did not pen the words about exceeding one's grasp, he was one of my favorites of the era. If I'm not again mistaken I believe it was he who wrote The Eolian Harp a tome the words of which never fail to send shivers through my body as I ponder the beauty of ...

"And what if all of animated nature
Be but organic harps diversely framed,
That tremble into thought, as o'er them sweeps
Plastic and vast, one intellectual breeze,
At once the soul of each, and God of all?"

You'll be happy to note that the above just about depletes my que of quotations from poetry, well except perhaps for a bit of Keats here and there. In an Electrical Engineering curriculum there is little time for such matters as it is the job of the staff to stuff as much math and physics into the student as can possibly be contained in a mere 4 years.

I think I should be on the list for a signed book..but want to be for sure!!

I too would love to find an organization that benifits animals or wildlife in some manner but location (and gas prices now) are a definite deterrent. So, I do what I can in my own little space. Feed birds, put fruit and extras in the woods for assorted critters, pick up trash that could be dangerous.

nanny,

I added your last post just to be sure. I haven't gotten all of the earlier requests tagged yet.

I think what you are doing is perhaps the most important form of activism for if each of us took care of the wildlife around us there might be no need for the larger umbrella organizations at all. : )

Oh , well thank you...I just feel that at least in some small way we all should leave things a little better..or at least no worse...then when we got here.

We had a severe storm come through last night with heavy winds and rain. There was supposed to be hail up to quarter in size but I don't know if we got that. When I got up to go to work this morning we had a lot of branches and a tree down. It landed just a couple of feet away from the building where the racoons and feral kitties live. I have accounted for the kitties and will keep an eye out for the racoon family this evening. Did not notice any damage other than that. When it first started I went out to make sure vehicle windows were rolled up and cannot remember the last time the wind was that powerful. Off to check on the racoon family............

tetleytuna,

Are you OK? How about the raccoons? Hope the tree (and other storm related damage) didn't cause serious property damage for you. When time allows, please let us know of you and the critters are ok.

Oh, wow, interesting bit of trivia. Remember the the area (campus) we discussed some time back as a possible place to relocate wayward raccoons if need be, the place that includes a huge area spanning multiple municipalities that I referred to as a wilderness of sorts? I was just looking at a map and discovered that an entire road of considerable length within the area (which is closed to the public) is named for raccoons. To protect the innocent, we'll call it Raccoon Lane. Also, a substantial portion (like a gazillion acres or so) of the area is blacked out on the map as a wildlife reserve. See? It is raccoon friendly. Oh, and much as I suspected a network of waterways criss crosses the area, so they would not lack for water to drink or play in. Hopefully, it will never come to this, of course, but that place has to be 2nd only to Heidi Land (lol) as a raccoon paradise.

I knew from what I had seen and heard that the area looked like the perfect wildlife sanctuary - even if that wasn't the original intent. I do believe the governing bodies take the needs of the area wildlife into account, at least as a secondary agenda, a way extracting multiple use from the land. Totally OT and out of context here but when I saw that the area was sliced in half (almost) by Raccoon Lane (where I presume the raccoons all live), I just had to tell you.

Tetleytuna I am glad the damage was kept to a minimum at least at your place and hope to hear good news about the kits.

Cheryl that is a very interesting bit of trivia you have discovered. It is wonderful that there is such a large amount of "heaven"for the wildlife there and that if need be you could utilize it for the saftey and well being of you and your family group of raccoons. I also hope it doesn't come to that but at least now you know there is a place for the "meanies"if it comes to that.

OH heck -- Cheryl, ,so glad i clicked the Wildlife Forum to see this new thread.

I'll be home hopefully on Wed, and i'll be able to catch up on all the critter chatter.

Terese,

Did we loose you over on the other thread? Sorry about that. You said you would be absent for a while so I just figured you were away and busy. I need to go back to putting those little raccoon tushies with the 'The End' sign on them at the end of the threads. I started that as a joke, but it really seemed to work as it grabbed attention better than the link. The other night I was in a big hurry as it was the wee hours of the morning so didn't have time to look for an appropriate 'end' pic.

'See' you soon!

Cheryl -- i do pop into Daves a bit but with your threads being so long, i usually wait til i get home to read them. So the other thread did show up in my Thread Watcher, but i hadn't checked it in a few days.

I'll catch up on Wed.

Hope all is well in Heidi Land.

Terese,

Right now I know that all eyes are on hurricane Gustav and the Gulf coast region and with good reason. That is surely ruining the holiday weekend for so many people. I've been there - sitting in stalled traffic wondering if you will run out of gas or the car will run hot while you try to flee the storm and wondering what you will come home to and/or waking up to find everything around you overturned as though it were a war zone - so my heart goes out to all of you who are effected by this. I hope you and your family and friends will be safe during this unfortunate event, and that you will be able to get your lives back on track as quickly as possible afterward.

For a while I was in denial, hoping this hurricane would somehow manage to miss all of you. Then I realized that, unlike East Coast hurricanes where we can hold out hope for them to head out into the ocean without making landfall anywhere, once the enter the Gulf it looks as though they are bound to hit land one way or another.

With Gustav expected to make landfall within the next 24 hours, little is being said right now about Hanna who seems poised out there looking ominously our way. The latest on Hanna indicates that she is expected to make landfall somewhere along FL, GA, and SC as a catagory 3 the end of next week. Hugo was a cat 3 or 4 depending on who you ask, and it beat the stuffing out of us. With help for numerous other states it took 8 weeks to rebuild the power lines and restore power to everyone. I went without power for 6 weeks in the aftermath: Cold showers, dressing in the dark, no blower drier, cold food from cans and boxes, no tv, no computer, reading by lamplight as they did a few hundred years ago. I worked for the govt then, and they fed us military MRE's. At work we were without power for maybe 4 weeks during which we sat around semi-dark offices with only limited backup generator power doing odd jobs just to stay employed. Fun!

Right now the most likely track shows Hanna landing on the SC/GA border or slightly south of it. If it comes that close we may have to evacuate just in case. I have this picture in my mind of me on the freeway in a convertible with Heidi and Blondie, Cissy and Dennis, Bast and Reba, and all of their countless kids hanging off the sides of the car as we make our way out of town...oh, and HRH and Trouble, of course.

Not funny, but I have to laugh at the picture I have in my mind of that evacuation! And Widget right in the middle of all of course!!

Susan
=^..^=

Wait...who will make the frosting sandwiches for the trip?

I sure hope it doesn't do what they are saying, it is a scary situation all the way around.

Debbie

Susan,

It is a humorous image though, isn't it? Oh, yes, we must take Widget, too. Can't you just see him and Dennis arguing with Heidi in the middle telling them to behave? I'll have to be sure to put one in the front seat and one in the back, but I'm sure Dennis will 'pick' at him over the back seat just the same.

It's not as if I'm not a little worried, but I figure whatever is going to happen will happen just the same whether we laugh and have some fun or not. Might as well try to see the humor in the situation.

Can you just imagine when we show up at the hotel? BTW, what is the convention here? I mean, is it ok, in polite society, for the raccoons to ride on the luggage cart? And by "ride on" I mean to include climbing and hanging off of the poles between the upper and lower levels, of course. If so, how much should they tip?

Forget the luggage cart what about the room service bill?? Ya know those chillen are used to only having only the best. The poor hotel would be out of grapes, frosting and watermelon in no time.

The hurricane warnings are not looking good for LA. Best hopes and wishes to everyone down on the Gulf. And Cheryl, sure hope that next one changes course and avoids your area - though the evacuation images are priceless!

Debbie,

Oh, I almost forgot about the frosting finger sandwiches. I'd better make up a batch now just in case. I'll have to pack an extra suitcase just for the cat food, peanuts, frosting, bread, marshmallows... Can you just see me calling room service? "Ah, yes, I'll need 6 bowls of dry cat food, some peanuts in the shell, marshmallows, a yogurt, 6 raw eggs, a platter of finger sandwiches made with strawberry and vanilla frosting as filling and a large bowl of watermelon balls. Oh, and a punch bowl full of water please...and anything left from the other guest's plates. Thanks"

Most hurricanes that come up the Atlantic end up aiming right at us at one point or another. 99 times out of 100 they turn at the last minute and pass us by, but it's that one renegade storm I'm worried about. Historically we get one big one every 20yrs. Hugo happened 19yrs ago, so naturally with that 20yr anniversary coming up, I'm getting a little nervous about now. And right now Africa is pitching them at us faster than we can catch them. There are 2 more unnamed depressions in the water behind Hanna and I heard on the news only minutes ago that it looks like another one may have just spawned off the coast of Africa. It's a lot like playing dodge ball this time of year. We usually wear ourselves out with preparations and the occasional evacuations even if we are lucky enough to evade the actual storms.

LOL, tetleytuna,

We cross-posted, but it is true that brilliant minds think alike. I forgot about the grapes. Fruit bowls for the house.