Heidi Chronicles: Brrrr!

This is the ongoing story of Heidi and friends, raccoons and the occasional opossum that frequent my backyard buffet. It is now officially winter. It's cold out, perhaps not by the standards of some in northern lattitudes but cold for us. Winter here seems to run from Jan15 to Feb 15 at which time the daffodils start to bloom and spring goes into fast forward x32.

prior thread: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/942048/
original thread that started it all: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/603944


Below is a close up of Heidi eating peanuts. The 08 kits appear to be on their own now, and Heidi is enjoying that very brief part of each year when she has a little time for herself between litters.

tetleytuna,

Speaking of 'Brrrr!', funny thing about how Amazon's search engines work; ever since I the other day when I searched for all of those 'hand warmer' links now my Amazon homepage is all confused. When I log on it is recommending all manner of snow and ice related items for me: snow blowers, ice cleats for my shoes, snow ball makers, etc.
LOL since I won't have much use for any of those things around here. (Still wishing for a little snow.)

It is funny the way they "know" things now.... does seem 'someone' is watching your search habits.

balmy 23° here

Terese,

23 sounds positively warm after some of the readings you've posted in the past week.

I shop at Amazon a lot because I am a confirmed book-a-holic. I dream of getting built in, wall to wall, celing to floor, bookshelves in one room of my house. Someday. Anyhow, I did that 'hand warmer' search on the Amazon site where I was logged in to my account. The Amazon software automatically adjusts the pages/items it offers you based on your prior purchases and recent searches. Usually, that works out well, so that when I go to Amazon, my home page shows me things that match my interests. This time, however, would be an example of how software still can't think like a human. Presenting someone in my zone with a page full of snow and ice related equipment was just way off the mark.

Great shot of Heidi enjoying one of her favorite snacks! Looks like she might have a tick down in her right ear; most raccoons have at least a few such travelers in their coats. Guess that's one disadvantage of your warmer climate; you don't get the hard freezes that kill those little buggers off until spring.

Spartacusaby, I though of you not 15 min. ago as I had a raccoon finishing the left over cat food and when I went out to get a closer look it snarled at me and stood up on its hind leg, so I rushed in the house. Lee

Well, that doesn't sound like fun at all, Lee! Must have been a really hungry raccoon who wasn't willing to risk losing that cat food. You did the wise thing by retreating to the house.

You know spartacus, the thing that concerns me about raccoons, bats, foxes is their ability to carry rabies. That is why we keep the cats vaccinated yearly.

I hear you, Lee, and that's always an important and valid concern; and it's a great reason why it's essential to keep pets' vaccinations up to date. One thing I learned, though, working in animal control, is that animals infected with rabies usually look and act terribly ill. The disease progresses through several stages, and aggression typically happens only at one stage of the disease's course. At all stages, rabies produces intense ongoing pain while it destroys the animal's central nervous system. The aggression often observed is thought to be a reaction to the pain; if an external target is not available, the animal will sometimes attack its own body, producing severe self-mutilation. Imagine your nerves firing constantly, randomly, producing intense pain with no external cause, and you'll have an idea what someone infected with rabies experiences. Toward the end, the disease produces gradually increasing paralysis, usually beginning with the reflex that allows swallowing: hence the drooling or "foaming at the mouth," because the animal can't swallow its own saliva. Coma and death follow quickly, and it's a mercy since the disease is preventable but not curable once it hits the central nervous system.

All of this is not meant to suggest that there is not a need for extreme caution when dealing with any animal, especially of a high-risk species, who is acting abnormally: caution is essential, and avoidance is the very best course of action. All I'm saying is that an animal in the aggressive stage of rabies usually acts and looks very "wrong" and very ill: your instincts send up red flags all over the place. If the raccoon you encountered was accustomed to eating leftover pet food in that spot, and you surprised him, it is normal for him or her to try to call your bluff by snarling and trying to scare you off. There simply is no way to know if an animal is rabid without testing brain tissue, and this cannot be done to a living animal; the behavior of the animal you ran into could be the result of rabies, extreme hunger, or simply a policy of "nothing ventured, nothing gained." You did absolutely the right thing by backing off, because safety is always the best policy; and I always recommend keeping pet indoors for so many reasons, but particularly when there are concerns with wildlife who may fight them for food. I'm just suggesting that it may not be time to panic; the height of rabies season is in summer, and in winter there are many other possible causes for the behavior you observed, including simple hunger because many normal food sources may be unavailable in winter. The bottom line is that you did exactly the right thing: backing off from any wild animal who is acting threatening is the only safe and sane course of action.

Scutler...

01/15/09 at 21:05:14 Four of Heidi's country cousins - backs turned and busy digging for kernels of corn.

We never see raccoons during the day time but do see lots of tracks. We'd been wondering what was making holes in the ground and had been blaming it on birds scratching and feral hogs digging into the soil looking for lost kernels of corn...now we know who's been mining for gold :o)

~ Cat

8 seconds later...

Heida's country cousins posed for the game camera and want to say hello :o)

~ Cat

ps....and no, we don't hunt - we just like feeding the deer, feral hogs, rabbits, birds and now it seems lots of country raccoons :o)

This message was edited Jan 18, 2009 9:07 PM

Oh... and they also make their way to the pond - which is naturally stocked with frogs. Here's one of the country bumpkins wading through the water at 2:40 one morning - guess they sleep all day and prowl around all night! I checked the photos of the other game cams that indicate the date and time and temperature - it was 37 degrees on that day and that time.

~ Cat

This message was edited Jan 18, 2009 9:14 PM

Great photos, Cat: especially like the guy frog-hunting by moonlight!

LOL Cat... That one of them "surprise yoru on candid camera" shots.

Ruth,

I didn't even notice that tick. Went back after reading your post, and sure enough it does look like she has a hitchhiker in there. Good catch. That pic was taken last week before we had those couple of days where the temps dropped to the mid to upper 20's. But I guess the warmth from Heidi's body would have kept the tick going through the cold, right?

The year round warm temps are a problem with all kinds of insects that would normally be killed off in winter elsewhere - like fleas.

You want me to ask her nicely if I can pull the tick off? ;-)

Hi Cat!

Thanks for showing us the pics. Great to see Heidi's country cousins. They sure look big and well fed - and adorable. Yes, raccoons normally sleep in the day time and are active at night; however, just as we will sometimes make a run to the kitchen for a midnight snack, raccoons will sometimes run out for a snack in the morning or afternoon.

Do you have any alligators there, Cat? We have lots of ponds in the community along with marsh and a river. I've always wondered if our raccoons ever venture to such bodies of water since, while I know raccoons love water, we have alligators all over the place, even in the community ponds. Seems like that would be a dangerous sport around here.

Oh, and about those holes they dig...While Heidi and company do not normally dig holes in the yard, a few weeks ago when I gave them all those raw eggs and they were all going crazy over the eggs, they dug holes under the spots where the eggs had been, apparently trying to get to the last bit of egg-ness. Those holes were maybe 8 to 10 in deep and wide. The next night when I went out to feed them, I almost broke my fool neck walking out there in the dark, falling in holes, staggering around trying to catch my balance. I had to laugh. It was as though they had set a trap for me.

Great photos!

We don't get alligators at our pond...just frogs...lots of frogs...lots and lots of frogs...sometimes no frog in sight after the midnight raids...then the frogs show up again and again. Nice cycle of life.

There are a couple of huge indigo snakes that show up around the pond - that little watering hole is the only one within about 200 acres...so most animals eventually show up there or they go to neighboring water troughs and ponds. We've had coyotes and bobcats show up as well as several birds of prey like the great horned owl, barn owl and caracaras (Mexican eagle). Am assuming an adult raccoon can hold its own in a scuffle.

Have noticed the deer show up on the game cams...then you can see them prick up their ears and look around...then they disappear. A little while later feral hogs or coyotes or the bobcat will show up in the game cam. Same thing for the raccoons and rabbits - they all seem to take turns showing up to feed.

I guess that's what the country raccoons were doing...digging and digging to get the kernels of corn that keep rolling deeper each time they dig :o)

I can only imagine how like 'a kid in a candy store' Heidi and company acted when presented with raw eggs!!! I guess the country cousins raid the quail and dove nests out in the wild as well.

~ Cat

Cat,

I think raccoons eat baby snakes, too. I think I read on a fed gov site somewhere that raccoons are a top predator of some of our pit vipers. That really surprised me.

Love the pics of the TX coons. Looks like you grow them big down there. Have not seen very many around here this year. When I do though, they have nice thick fur coats this time of year and kind of waddle rather than walk.

Well, Folks,

It seems the party is over. : (
Tomorrow is day 1 of my new job. Now make no mistake. I am happy to have a new job, just not to be starting it tomorrow. And it seems I have already managed to get into trouble. Looks like I will spend my 1st day in the principal's office for failing to fill out my paperwork. (Did anyone see Office Space? LOL) Yep, checked my email today. Found that my new employer had been sending me lots of correspondence marked 'URGENT!' all during my vacation. Some of it said that I had better fill out my papers ASAP. Oops! Well, clearly these people do not understand the concepts of vacation, unemployment, and work/life balance. Oh, well, seems I am not going to make the Dean's List this semester. ; )

As to the raccoons, Heidi skipped the 2 coldest nights. One kit showed up on the 2nd of the 2 cold nights. Seeing that my vacation was slipping through my fingers, I skipped last night. Tonight it's around 50F which suddenly feels quite warm. Heidi was out there waiting for me and came right up to me, grumbling and muttering all the way, mind you, while I filled her dish. I gave her the kitten food since I really do think she looks pregnant. Then I gave regular dog food to the others.

Trouble arrived after Heidi had eaten about 1/2 of her food. He ran straight over to her and took her dish. She was the only one with a dish (which is always highly prized) and the only one with kitten food which he could probably smell. Although she argued with him, she did not put up a fight. Even though she is getting to be quite a whopper herself lately, she is still no match for Trouble in terms of size. When they stand near each other, she is about the same in girth, but he is a few inches taller and about 1/2 raccoon again in overall body length and that is not to mention the very noticeable muscle definition on him compared to the girls. So, ill mannered chap that he is, he took Heidi's dish and ate every bit of the food.

I had one large stem of red grapes with me plus a few handfuls of spare grapes in the bottom of the bag. After Trouble took her dish Heidi actually came straight over to me apparently looking for more of the kitten food. I was very flattered that she did so; however, when I tried to offer her some grapes she looked distrustful, apparetly not recognizing them in the dark, and walked away.

While Heidi was scrounging around for food, I put a few handfuls of kitten food in front of me as far forward as I could reach without either scattering the food or getting up and possibly scaring the raccoons. I called her and put a few grapes on the pile of kitten food. Immediately, she came right over to me and started eating. She ate the 2 grapes 1st, so I handed her the big stem of grapes which seemed to make her very happy. She sat and ate every single one of them, pulling them off the stem one by one just as a person might.

As Heidi was eating her grapes, I tossed the remaining grapes to the kits. Everyone loved the grapes. They were the hit of the party. At the time Trouble still had his head buried in Heidi's dish.

I also passed out mini cup cakes. The kits enjoyed them as did Trouble. Heidi didn't want any. She ate all of the grapes I had given her, looked at me questioningly for more, then went around the area to see if she could find any of the ones that the kits might have missed. She did find a few. Finally, she came back, ate a bit more kitten food, and then left for the evening.

After Trouble finished Heidi's food, he started walking away, headed away from the dish and away from where I was sitting. I called his name, and just like that he stopped short and turned to look at me. I held out a cupcake, and he came over. Heidi had already left by then, so he sat down at my feet and took the cupcake every so gently with his mouth. He ate a total of 3 cupcakes while sitting there. Each time he reached for one I noticed that he was very careful about not biting down on the wrong thing. He dropped the 1st 2 cupcakes and had to pick them up again. He would reach his mouth around the tiny cupcake but each time was hesitant to bite down on it. I think he was actually concerned about not biting any fingers, probably for fear of provoking a fight.

That was about it. I gave the kits 2 cupcakes each. One kit took his 2nd cupcake into the pool to dunk it in the dirty water. Uumm, umm, good!

tetleytuna,

Cat's Texas coons do look quite large, don't they? I was surprised to see that since I've always read that they are smaller (like mine) in warmer regions and larger (like yours probably are) in colder areas. I always enjoy pics of the raccoons from really, really cold areas like Canada. Those 'guys' are huge and have such thick and luxurious coats. Cat's raccoons look pretty large and appear to have very nice coats though.

Oh, forgot to mention that we are supposed to have snow flurries tomorrow between 6AM and 2PM. Darn it, wouldn't you just know that I will be at work most of that time and will probably miss them. I will be SO mad if we have snow and I don't get to see any of it, I mean if it doesn't stick and/or melts. Then again, if it does stick and there is more than say .00001in of the stuff, I will have to take the rest of the day off since I can't drive if there are snow flakes around.

Hopefully, I will get to see a few of the snow flakes on my way to work. Well, I'm out of here as I must get up very early tomorrow.

Nice that you have ended your vacation with Trouble trusting and interacting with you, too. That is quite special and thrilling.

Have a good first day of work. Hope you get out of the principal's office in time to visit with Heidi and the kits. Principals are notorious for keeping "kids" late.

Cat, with all those predators about, I'm surprised you have such a big population of frogs (even temporarily). Guess the adult frogs must keep very busy "making hay while the sun shines," no?

Best of luck with the new job, Cheryl: have no doubt you'll win your way out of the principal's office in no time. Don't you find it annoying when people are so obsessive about paperwork, especially on your time?

Sorry your vacation is over, but hope ya have a good day and that ya got yoru paper work caught up to turn in. Hope ya make some new friends. Especially ones that liek racoons.

Ya knwo it funny. trouble can grumble and growl and get his way wthHeidi and he sure don't know how to treta the ladies, but he still knew even though it been awhile to treat you with racoon kid gloves. LOL

Ya we may even see soem snow flirries today too. Too dang cold for the south. Weathe rman said between jan 10 and 21 is the coldest days of January. hope that means a warm up coming. Got three mor edays of bitter single didget nights and then wil be back up in the 40's. Hope it comes fast and soon.

Hope you have a good first day on the new job...and get out of trouble!!

Cheryl -- yes -- good luck on your first day.

Sheesh, Cheryl... I thought you were just supposed to expect the spend the first day of a new job filling out paperwork. Either they have a project they need your help on NOW!! (isn't it nice to be appreciated?) or they have a very impatient hr department. I'm glad you spent your vacation enjoying yourself instead of filling out reams of paperwork! I hope your first day went well. :-)

LOL, Sharran,

Yes, but only in secondary schools. At work the principal is as eager to go home as everyone else.

Ruth,

Exactly! I really was annoyed that this company had the nerve to try to coerce me into doing all of that paperwork on my time. That is precisely why I didn't do it, that and I had better plans for my time off. It has taken me a long time to learn that "just because you type it, write it, email it, and/or put it on a sign" does not mean that I have to abide by it 'or else'.

For me, this accumulated wisdom and resultant attitude is one of those few benefits of age. I figure if everyone starts agreeing to do all of that 1st day paperwork on their own time, pretty soon it WILL be the norm and we WILL be expected to do it or else - so I didn't. I decided to enjoy my time off and test the'or else' clause.

>>this accumulated wisdom and resultant attitude is one of those few benefits of age

LOL -- did you let them know this??

how did your time in the principles office go?
how does it feel getting back to work?

Terese

starlight,

After I got out of the principal's office, I had a good time - for work anyhow. Didn't meet any new friends yet. I spent the day in the dreaded Orientation with a group of people I will likely never see again as we will be dispersed hither and yon after today, but they were all quite friendly. The one guy from my other job, what did I call him? Ralph - he was there today, too, as he was also starting the same job and will be working with me. Since we already know each other and are, as he put it, family now, we sat together, and he took me to lunch with was nice.

The way I read Trouble, he is comfortable enough around me to be willing to sit at my feet and take food from my hand and even to be petted. When I stand up to walk around or leave, he doesn't run away as most of them do, so he is relatively comfortable with me, but he is still not completely sure that I won't hurt him if he acts up, bites me, or otherwise makes me angry - and he doesn't want to find out. I figure given his size he knows he can hold his own with Heidi and the ladies, but I am much bigger than he is, so he isn't so sure he wants to get into a showdown with me. Given his attitude with the ladies, I figure it is best he stay just a little unsure about me.

Well, I still have not seen the 1st snow flake yet, darn it. On the way to work all I saw was a fine mist of water on my windshield. Orientation was held in a room with lots of windows, and we kept a keen eye out for any sign of the white stuff, but all we got was the occasional drizzle. The temp is going down fast now though, and the clouds are still thick overhead. We now have a weather advisory and the weather channel is calling for about 1in of accumulated snow overnight. I just came in from walking the dog, however, and still not a flake or ice crystal in sight.

Terese,

Actually, the day that I was presented with the giant mountain of paper that absolutely, positively had to be done over the next few days (early Jan), I told them how I felt about it. You know, I am rather proud of myself on this issue. I did not do the paperwork on my time, and the sky did not fall. : )

They did 2 things I found annoying and refused to accept. Aside from the 'you must do the paperwork now and on your time' thing, the day I picked up the paperwork to begin with, they had called me in to sign my offer letter. When I arrived HR insisted that I absolutely, positively had to sign 2 other paper right then on the spot before I could leave. Right! Well, one of those papers was a multipage document written in legaleze which spelled out terms underwhich I would forfeit my rights to copyrights for all manner of documents, drawing, software, etc.

It is standard practice in industry to have one sign such a document so that the company retains rights to those things which are developed on company time and believed to be the right of the company. I don't mind giving them the rights to company related documents and such, but was not about to sign such a document w/o careful scrutiny to insure that I was not signing away rights to my artwork, writings, etc done outside of work and which have no connection to work matters.

That day I refused to sign the document and flatly insisted on taking it with me for more rigourous review. I thought HR was going to faint. When they realized I was not going to budge on signing that document on the spot, they insisted it had to be back the very next day. Yeah, right. As I was not working on anything company related (not even paperwork) on my time off, I could not see why they had to have that document right away. That was the one they were having fits about. I did eventually read it, determine that it met with my approval, sign it, and return it to them after a week or so - and the world is still turning, sun still rises and sets daily.

There were maybe 10 people in orientation, and every one except me had been good little worker bees and filled out all of their documents ahead of time as requested. Ralph laughed at me when HR came to get the documents and learned that I didn't have mine. There were, BTW, tons of extra docs I was supposed to download from the net and fill out, too. I hadn't even gone to the site or even downloaded them. Ralph said "There were 3 documents they wouldn't even let me leave here w/o signing a month ago when I came by..." He was shocked to hear that I had left w/o signing those either. I think we are becoming a society of sheeple.

When HR picked up the papers they were agast to learn that I had not filled mine out - and hadn't even bothered to download the extra ones from the net and print them out. OMG! So they 'took my name'. Wooooo!

We spent 2/3 of the day watching boring ppt slides and movies about the same stuff we've already heard a million times over: ethics, how to behave, benefits, blah, blah, blah. In the end, HR ended up bringing all of the papers to me all nicely laid out so that I could fill them out during the presentation - on company time. Yay! I was right! The sun still rises in the East...although this may be why we are 'threatened' with snow.

As for how it feels to be back at work, I greatly prefer to continue living like a teen w/o parents as I have the past few weeks, just doing whatever I pleased. Ahhhh. It was so restful. But, since I am not independantly wealthy, I'd rather be back at work than unemployed.

Oh, and my new customer has agreed to get me another MacBook Pro! Yippee! I was afraid he might cringe at the cost and the Mac thing, but, no, he's going to let me pick it out to be sure he gets the right one. For now they gave me a Sony Vio (or however, you spell that), so as of this afternoon, I have a laptop again! Haven't taken it out of the box yet, though. To much to do right now.

Thanks, nanny!

I determined that while HR was annoyed with me, no one else really seemed to care. I think they were just going through the motions of pretending to care to make HR happy.

Marylyn,

Thank you. I thought perhaps the world had all gone mad and I was the only one who expected to do all of that company paperwork on their time. Apparently, it is company policy that everyone must have all of this paperwork done before orientation - or else. I really think it is a 'time grab' on the part of the company, and if they get away with it, others will likely follow. I did my part to just say 'no' politely but firmly. Hope others will also wake up and smell the coffee, so to speak.

As for feeling needed, well, they do need us, Ralph and me, and others if they can find more, ASAP, but, frankly, that is beginning to give me the hebe-gebe's as I fear I may be jumping back into the fire if you know what I mean. This software thing has gotten out of hand. To win multi-million and billion dollar contracts companies have taken to making ever increasing levels of promises that can't be kept, and we the developers get caught in the cross fire. I'm going to work on approaching that problem the same way I approached the paperwork that absolutely had to be done...

Well, now I'm off to get a few things done before bed time. Need to go out and disconnect the hoses from the external faucets and wrap those things (faucets) so they don't freeze. Normally, I am terrified to go out there and do such things in the dark for fear of running into Mr Copperhead or some of his buddies, but with these temps (heading for the mid 20's as we speak), I doubt Mr C will be out running around much - or that he will be very threatening if he is out there in this cold.

Wish me luck. I'm heading out into the blizzard.

Ok, I've been robbed. The sky is clear. The stars are all out. And no snow. Not one flake. Not one. It is painfully cold out, but now we have 0% chance of precip, and they've taken down the weather warnings. No snow. Bummer. It's going back up to 70 by Friday, and that is when the precipitation is coming back. Argh! I just wanted a few snowflakes. Could someone send me a jar of snow, please?

It is, however, brutally cold out there. I just came back from taking out the recyclables and thought I would perish on the way back from the curb. Surely, this is the coldest it has ever been anywhere on the planet. Ok, just kidding - but how do you people stand it out there in places where it has been near and even below 0. OMG, it is only 28, 23 with wind chill, and I'm barely able to function. You people in the cold areas are really rugged, for sure. You have my total respect and admiration.

Amazingly, Heidi and some 4 or 5 kits showed up tonight despite the cold. I still think Heidi must be pregnant as she is getting rounder by the day. I hope that unexpected cold spell we had in fall didn't confuse her. If she is 'with raccoon' as makj says, I hope she doesn't drop them until mid Feb or after as that is when the weather should begin to warm up again.

When I 1st got out there, one of Heidi's kits showed up alone. I think this one may also be pregnant. She is not as big as Heidi but close behind. She was there alone with me for a while. I didn't have anymore grapes but had taken out a partial bag of cherries - my cherries. They were very good cherries, very dark, firm, and sweet. The kit ran about chasing the cherries which rolled as I tried to toss them to her.

I also had 3 mini cupcakes left. I held one out at arms length and called to her (saying "here, come here" as she is currently w/o a name although I believe this may be Calvin). I hadn't actually expected her to come to me, esp when she was alone with me that way, but she did. She came right over and took the cupcake from my hand. Thinking she might be the only visitor on such a cold night, I ended up giving her all 3 of them before the others arrived.

When Heidi arrived I stood up, spoke to her, and approached her to put food in her dish. She didn't run away. Heidi didn't care for the cherries, but the kits all loved them, so I tossed the rest of the bag around to the various kits. Heidi stayed for quite a while and ate and ate and ate - another possible sign?

That's about it for tonight, but as Heidi came out tonight I think that answers the question of whether cold (or at least our kind of cold) will keep them 'at home'. This is about as cold as it gets around here, colder actually.

Glad to hear your first day went well, Cheryl, and that HR somehow managed to survive your insubordination. Right... I agree that we're becoming a race of sheep, and it has dangerous implications. And so glad to hear you'll be getting a laptop of your choice!

It really is sounding like Heidi might be pregnant again; poor girl didn't get much of a break this year from kits. I share your hope that the new brood will wait until mid-February or so to arrive. Guess the bright side is that you'll have more time to get to know the kits this year, assuming you're spared another mob scene like last year's.

Sheeple...I love that!! lol

Not sure when it happened but HR Depts. at some point developed the idea that they are the "GODS THAT RULE" ....NOT!!!! They need to be reminded occasionally I think.

Sorry you didn't get any snow...we got about 3 inches last wednesday and a couple more little dusting over the weekend. So we do have snow on the ground. My little Buddy HATES to walk in snow. lol

Poor Heidi, if she is....would be nice if she could just take a little break and enjoy life a bit!

For real. Seems liek litter after liter would rob her body of stamina and it has to be playign heck on her bones. Thinkof all the calcium she using up. I doubt without yoru intervention Cheryl that she would have mad eit this long and thankfully all her kits have been healthy and hope it continues that way.