Heidi Chronicles: Mark My Word, There Will Be Trouble!

Sharran,

Isn't it uncanny how similar our opossum tales are, in the beginning at least? All except the part about not knowing what we are doing, of course. A cat or cats, a room off the garage, noise, a growling opossum that got in via an open back door. Cats that are scared of him. Hmm. Maybe this is normal MO for opossums - sneaking in the back door to the utility room to scare the cats and take their food.

Bet she comes to the back door today too lookign to see if ya aroudn and tell ya feed me so I cna go back to my nice warm home and sleep

I guess I could go ahead and get a head start on tonight's post now. Let's see...

Trekked out across the frozen tundra trying not to slip on the perma frost. Helped one unsuspecting kit free his tongue from the ice block that was the pool. The creaking sounds of Heidi's and my arthritic joints made a haunting duet. Tried to pour dog food into her dish, but on the way to the buffet it had become flash-frozen to the bottom of the bucket. Pried out the whole block of dog food and left it sitting in front of a bewildered Heidi. Headed back across the ice for the warmth of the house...

LOL, starlight,

Maybe I should put the food out early tonight - or maybe even today while it is above freezing.

I've got a possum story that will fit right in.

When I first got married, we purchased an older mobile home...and it was, ummmm...not tightly built.

I had a cat at the time that lived inside. Lucy had her bowls in the kitchen where we fed her..(can you see where this is headed???) It seemed that she was eating a huge amount of food. Every time I went by her bowl, she was begging and hungry. I obliged her and filled her bowl..only to be scolded in a rather short amount of time that it was empty once more.

One night we were watching TV and I heard 'crunch, crunch, crunch' from the kitchen. I told my husband...'that cat is eating again'

About that time I looked over and there was Lucy sitting on the arm of the couch glaring angrily into the kitchen.

There was a little possum helping himself to the cat food! He had come in behind the dryer and found the buffet.

We caught 3 of those possums over a week in a live trap (baited with cat food) We released them about 5 miles away in a wooded area.

3 possums and a cat can go through a ton of food!

Hahahahaha and don't forget abotu the nice juicy eggs that ya tired to roll across the ground and turned into bowlign balls from beign frozen as they hit the ground knockign down some of the coons. an you say only 9 pin left standing. heheheheh

Oh, melody,

That is too funny! As I was reading along, I was afraid this was going to end with you standing on a chair or table top screaming. I think that might have been my 1st reaction to finding an opossum in the house.

I am starting to see a definite trend here with cats, cat food, homes, and opossums.

ROTF, starlight

I hadn't thought of bowling for raccoons!

I guess I had better leave the eggs inside until it gets warmer. I can just see the poor dears trying to 'crack and sip' frozen eggs - after the bowling match is over, that is.

Being an old country gal, there's not much that fazes me wildlife-wise.

Me, too, Melody.....not much fazes me, but possoms.....well, if I had found one in my kitchen, you better believe I would have been up on the top of the fridge.

BTW, Melody, we just hit 14 up here in the northern tundra, what about you wayyy down south?

Scutler, I dunno........ if you have an outside outlet or a long extension cord, take an electric blanket out for you and Heidi tonight. ;o)

It is a toasty 15 as about 30 minutes ago.

(For those of you who don't know, we're about 12 miles apart...and I'm south of her...HA!)

Should I tell them the rest of the story or should you, Mel?

Just don't forget I was only 12.

*snort*...

Yeah, you can tell it this time...I told it the last time.

This is a short version of a full circle story....

When I first moved to this end of the state in the mid 70s Melody and her husband were seniors and were both in my classes that year. Mel in art and Keith in French. Great kids, both of them, and the kind that one never forgets.

I always remembered her, and her artistic ability, as well as the fun of just knowing her....then not so long ago before I retired, I had her nephew in another class. Now 30 years had passed, and suddenly I heard from her again. Small area here but we had not crossed paths during that time.

We picked up where we left off, no longer as teacher/student but as friends. According to her stories, I was her teacher, but was only 12 at the time.

By the way, she led me to DG, too.

I taught her well.

Are you two anywhere near Greenup KY? I had a friend who lived there? Lee

Lee, we are in the far western reaches of the state. There is a Greenup County, I think in extreme eastern KY, but I don't know of a town around here with that name. I'll check, tho.

Thanks Sharran. My friend Becky Savage, said it was close to Ohio. Lee

Greenup, KY is in Greenup County, all the way across the state, so it is close to Ohio. We are much closer to Missouri or to Illinois on this western end. Probably about 460 miles away from here, but that's just a guess. But that is close to where I grew up in SE KY.

thanks sharran. Lee

Cheryl, thank you so much for taking the time to get those links together for me for the hand warmers. I have had frostbite on the tips of my fingers so they crack easily and are very sore right now. It would be wonderful to have some of those in my pockets when I take the pups out for their morning constitutional since they always feel obligated to select "just the right spot" before accomplishing their mission.

The raccoon bowling image is just hilarious as is the accidental skater image. I can just see the looks on the faces of the babies as they try to jump in and slide of the opposite end and the long suffering look of Heidi. As in, "how did I possibly raise such a group of idiot children, must be the HRH genes coming through" Kind of like that country song that is titled "your'e the reason our kids are ugly" LOL

Its really cold here in VA. also. Down to 10 right now........burrr.

Cheryl I don't think your raccoons would mind frozen eggs. I boiled some for a salad and put them in the freezer to "cool off" the other day. Wouldn't you know my old mind forgot about them and that night when I found them I put them out with the raccoon feed. It didn't get warm enough for them to thaw out but the next morning nothing was left but some of the shells. I think they were happy to have any kind of egg.....boiled and frozen seemed to be just as good as fresh and raw. Kinda like an egg icicle pop.

Wonder if Cheryl went out and got froze herself. Hope ya staying warm.

eggcicle pop. That is too funny.

Cheryl, you're right in seeing a trend with opossums, open doors, and theft of pet food. Though raccoons have been known to do so also, possums are infamous for making use of pet doors or open doors to gain access to pet food. They are not the brightest bulbs in the wildlife sphere, but they are omnivores and superb at finding food! And Sharran, there really is something endearing about them, though not the one in your story. Possums, vultures, manatees, etc.: all of nature's creatures are cute in their own way, it's just that some fall into a category labeled "so ugly they make you chuckle =cute."

Lee, sorry for the delay in answering your question about Ropel; haven't been online for a night or so. I've not found any problem with Ropel and birds, though of course I wouldn't spray plants when the flowers are going to seed if birds like to eat them. I typically spray plants within a month after they break dormancy in spring; the bunnies love fresh greens, and that's when they'll munch things to the death here. That way, the spray doesn't affect the flowers or seed heads. We also encourage birds and butterflies to enjoy the garden, and neither the songbirds, the hummers, or the butterflies are deterred from enjoying the flowers of plants that were sprayed in early spring. You should try a small bottle and see how it works for you; if your results are like ours or those of many friends who have tried it, you'll be well pleased. Given my background, I certainly don't want to harm any wild creature; I'd just prefer that they dig for their grubs, or eat their salad, in the more-or-less lawn rather than in the garden beds. We don't use pesticides or weed killer as a rule, so they have lots of yummy clover throughout the "lawn" to munch (lol).

Thanks spartacus, will get some Ropel the next time I'm out and agbout. Lee

Good luck, Lee; hope you're happy with the results. I can't find Ropel at the big box hardwares in this area; if you have the same problem, try www.nixalite.com.
Ruth

Ruth, I went to the site you were kind enough to post and read up on it and I would feel comfortable using it. Will look for it the next time I'm in Tupelo or Florence/Muscle Shoals. Thanks, Lee

tetleytuna,

That was such a cute image, the kits sliding across the icy pond. In my mind the were sliding on the tushies like in some Disney animation. And I just loved Heidi's thoughts. I have seen her give the kits that look once or twice; the time when the 07 group kept making noice with those 'jiggle' balls comes to mind.

If you are planning to use hand warmers for relatively short duration things like walking the dogs, you might want to take that into consideration when selecting the type. The disposable, use-once variety are the simplest to use since you don't have to do anything to heat them up or 'recharge' them, but they last for 8hr or more, so you would be 'loosing' a lot of heating time. Then again, I guess you could just keep a warm set in your pockets all day on the really cold days, so they will always be ready when you get ready to go outside for anything. The gel filled ones you warm in the microwave might also be good for dog walking, if you don't mind zapping them each time before you leave the house. The one I had 1st recomended, the re-usable one heats when you flex it, will require you to dip it in hot water in between each outing (again you could use the microwave); I had forgotten about needing to 'reset' it that way.

If you can get around those small issues, it sounds like they would be great for you. After looking them up for you, I was thinking maybe I should get some of the ones they make for feet to use on the really cold nights out at the buffet. The rest of me does ok, but for some reason even w/2 pairs of socks my feet get painfully cold after 30 min or so out there at 43F or less.

starlight,

You won the bet last night, BTW! Not a raccoon in sight anywhere when I went out there. I went out just after dark to see if Heidi might drop by, although I really didn't expect her to. I went out again just before 10PM, but no one was there. Even though I managed to stay out there for almost 30min (at 19F or so), the only creatures to show up were Puddle and a mouse, both of whom amazed me with their ability to withstand such low temps, Puddle because opossum fur looks pretty sparse to me with lots of skin showing all around and the mouse because it is hard to image how such a tiny creature could generate enough heat to keep from freezing solid or at least getting frost bit on those teensie toes.

I did see the branch jiggling once in a manner that suggested a kit either climbing up or climbing back down. Unless that was also Puddle - note that I have never seen the opossums enter in that manner or jiggle the limbs - it seems like one raccoon must have been out and about, but it must have been one that was afraid to come out around me alone.

Puddle (and the other opossums) always appears down on the far end of the fence. I never see them climbing up or down. Last night, Puddle waddled along across the top of the fence from one end to the other. When he was more or less in front of me, I tossed an egg towards the fence. Naturally, he didn't come down to eat it while I was there, but I figured he would come back to get it once I left, so I tossed another one there, as well, along with a handful of dog food. From my observations, it seems that opossums are especially fond of egg and chicken.

Although the raccoons and opossums used to mingle and eat together in prior years, lately, especially since Heidi ran everyone off at the end of summer, I have found that any time the opossums show up it is a good indication that the raccoons in the area and will not be around anytime soon. I'm not sure how the opossums know these things, but so far that has been consistently true.

Forgot to mention that last night while I was waiting I checked the pool and was surprised to find that the water was not only not frozen but there was not even the thinnest bit of ice forming on top. It was after 10PM and I was breathing 'smoke', but I didn't actually stop to check the temperature.

The forecast had indicated it would be 19F at 10PM. I had a feeling it was not that cold out. If you recall, days ago I told you it would probably not be colder than around 28F. I've just seen this too many times. Well, just now I checked with the weather channel and, sure enough, they now say the lowest temp recorded here for last night was 26F - and they usually get their reading from the airport which is in North Charleston which is a bit farther from the coast.

Like I said, I was out there for a good 30 min and my toes were not cold, so I knew something wasn't right with that 19F thing. I wore two layers of fleece (that stuff is amazingly warm) over my tank top and was fine. I wore a fleece jacket topped off with my old, fleece ruanna (one that is washable and better suited to that environment than the wool one). While waiting out there, I wrapped the front ends of the ruanna up around my face and over opposite shoulders. That worked great to keep my cheeks from freezing.

I probably made a mistake by going out at dusk last night. If Heidi did drop by between 9:30 and 10, she might have smelled my scent, realized that I had already been there, and left thinking she was too late. The low tonight is expected to be a mere 33 which somehow sounds warm compared to last night's forecast and all of the temps I hear from you guys. (That your day time temps were below our forecasted night time low for yesterday did not ellude me, BTW.)

So, anyhow, now that we are having this heat wave - 33F - I guess I will go back out tonight between 9:30 and 10 to see if anyone shows.

Just noticed that the thread is getting a bit long for folks on dial up, so I've started a new thread at: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/943931/

Hope to see you there!