Heidi Chronicles: Brrrr!

>>will most certainly go out back one day and scoop up some more acorns.

I can just see you out there... rake in hand with a dust pan and a bucket for collecting acorns on your lunch break.
Your new employer will think you have truly lost it.

Glad to hear Heidi showed up -- I'm sure she has forgiven you.

and when you were telling the story the other night... i was expecting the end to say that she walked over to you expecting you to take it out of her hair.... now that would have been something.

Forgot to ask, do ya think they woudl liek hickory nuts. I have hickory and all kinds of oak trees here. It bad cuz ya walk for months nad months either on rolling nuts or on th eshells from the squirrels.

If they wil eat when the nuts come in will send ya bunches for treats.

the mice sound so cute...but no doubt there's more than 2!!

We lived in an old farm house when our kids were very young. In the winter it was invaded by field mice. If you opened a drawer or cabinet door there was a good chance there would be on in there!!

We would sit in the front room with the lights low and watch them as they would come out and start running around. Nice family entertainment!! LOL

We moved to a farmhouse that had a huge population of mice...until my dad asked everyone at church to call him if they saw a black snake. He put one in the attic that had to be over 6 feet long. There were blacksnakes in the well house, blacksnakes in the sheds, under the house, in the barn, the grove of trees by the pig pen, he went to everyone's place to get them and he got rid of all of the mice on our place and then took them to the neighbors barns to do the same for them. He told us about a raccoon that he had as a kid that took care of that problem for his Mom, but that our Mom would not allow one in her attic, so he used the snakes. About 15 years later I was visiting a friend that owned the place and I asked him about the field mice, he said that he never had seen even one!

When you said Heidi hadn't appeared, I figured she was in the maternity ward!

I think, as with the past few years... Heidi will start "coughing" the last few weeks before delivery ....
and i'm sure, like always, Cheryl will voice her concern for the 'health' of the matriarch, Heidi.

I specifically recall last year she was due around the end of Feb, since that was when i was going on my cruise....

I was reading the older posts from last Mid-Feb to early March....

looks like the 2008 kits were born on March 9th.

Spartacusaby, the chestnut oak grows in the mountains, so similar to the swamp oak you can hardly tell the difference. But we only had the chestnut oak in the Appalachians of SE KY.

Hey, Cheryl, just tell your employer that you are experimenting with recipes using acorns, lol: http://www.wisegeek.com/can-people-eat-acorns.htm

This morning I awoke with a Lay's potato chip craving, so I ran out for a quick shopping spree.

A little background before we proceed. The sciatic is back and is killing me! Scream. I've been on steroids and intermittent pain meds. Friday the thing was off the scale. The doc says the next step is a steroid injection into the back, but in case I failed to mention this additional wrinkle, I have jury duty again starting tomorrow - so the injections has to wait.

The pain is like a daggar through the hip and radiates down the leg. At times even effecting my ability to put weight on that leg.

So I told you all of that to explain that today at the grocery store I had to use one of those motorized carts as walking any distance is excruciatingly painful. I had run out of many of the raccoons' treats and decided to stock up while I was out. When you start trying to put a couple loaves of bread, 1/2 dozen cans of frosting, several huge bags of peanuts, bags of dog food, bags of cookies, grapes, and all that stuff in one of those motorized carts, that basket fills up fast - and I did need a few things for me, too. It quickly became obvious that I would need to make 2 trips through the register taking the loot out to the car in between.

I went to the same register for both trips. If you've never been to Publix, the workers there are your instant new bff. You can not be incognito at Publix. So naturally the cashier remembered me, and another cashier came over to ask why I didn't get any xyz (something I usually get). When they dragged the large bag of dog food out of the cart on my 2nd trip, one of the cashiers said "didn't you get dog food in your 1st trip?" apparently thinking I had made a mistake. "Yes" I responded, "But I need a lot of dog food."

"How many dogs do you have?" she asked. "Oh no, not again", I thought to myself. This question sure comes up often in my life these days, and I never know quite what to say. The folks at Publix aren't trying to be nosey. I gather they are trained to treat us like friends as part of the whole idea of making your shopping trip enjoyable, tranquil, and spa-like - at least until you get the bill. I'm not good at thinking on my feet, so I just have to stick with the truth. "I only have one small Maltese", I said, "But he doesn't eat this kind of food."

They both looked at me most quizically, looking almost afraid to ask what they were thinking. So once again I ended up telling them that I feed the raccoons in my backyard. Luckily, this group was much more 'sane'. No one freaked out. In fact, they seemed curious about raccoons.

One day when I have some spare time I really must think up a good answer to this "how many cats/dogs do you have" question as I'm sure to hear it again.

Just carry a small photo album containing the most adorable of the racoon pics! They'll love it.

Cheryl, tell them you donate to a local shelter in need....that might hold them off.

I hope your back is better soon...the cold is not helping I am sure.

Debbie

Tonight we had red grapes, a big hit this time of year, and a few vanilla s/w cookies. The kits were coming up to me. Some will actually take grapes and cookies from my hand. Others will come all the way up to my feet to pick up the treats as long as I put them on the ground; they appear to be afraid of the hand still.

The kits enjoyed the cookies. I really, really should have taken that camera out with me as they were so adorable sitting upright, holding a cookie between their hands just like a little child, and taking bites off of it. They like the cookies, but they went bezerk over the grapes. I guess you just can't find grapes in the forest in January. With the cookies they were a little more laid back. With the grapes, while I was handing a small sprig to the kit on my right, the one on my left would be about to climb my chair - or at least it seemed so.

Then Heidi arrived. She tried to keep her distance. I guess I'm still in the dog house with her. It may take her a while to forget that marshmallow glue snafu. Like any good 'pusher', er, I mean salesperson , I tossed her a couple of sample grapes which she quickly ate. Then I held up a large clump of grapes offering them to her. She ignored me and went on eating her dog food. I can tell when she 'sees' me and 'hears' me and is simply ignoring me. She has a very expressive face which at such times just cries out "don't look at her, ignore her, maybe she will go away".

But I am very pleased to announce that I have finally learned how to push one of Heidi's buttons, and that's no small feat as she is a tough nut to crack. I took off a small section of grapes and held them out to her. She wandered around looking for more grapes on the ground - and perhaps hoping that I would toss her some more. She looked up at the grapes I was holding out to her and continued trying to ignore me. I tossed them about 1/3 of the distance between us. One of the kits saw the grapes and broke from the pool to make a run for them. This was part of my new ace in the hole. I had learned that even Heidi will yield to the pressure of competition. She wanted those grapes, darn it all, and in a flash she was 2/3 of the way closer to me as she came to pick those grapes up off the ground and eat them. : )

But I can do better than that now. I'm telling you, I am very pleased with myself that I have figured Heidi out - at least this one part of Heidi. So after she ate the small section of maybe 6 or so grapes, I held a large grapefruit sized clump of grapes out to her, but she stubbornly walked away. This time, as if to assert that she was no longer even interested in grapes, she went back and sunk her head in the bowl of dog food. But I wasn't ready to give up yet...

You see, Heidi is sneaky. She pretends to be eating her dog food, ignoring me, and disinterested in grapes, but all the while she is watching that clump of grapes like a hawk. That is one of the things I've finally figured out - like when she appears to be paying no attention but manages to reach out and snag the frosting can as it sails by when I toss it to one of the kits. So while Heidi was eating her dog food, head buried in the bowl, ignoring me, I took a tiny stem of some 4 grapes off the side of that clump I had been offering her and held it out to the kit nearby. The kit came right over to get the grapes...and in a flash, Heidi was standing in front of me to get the rest of that clump before I had a chance to give it all to the kits. : )

I can't tell you how thrilled I was to have finally figured out how to 'work' Heidi - in a good way, of course. She is just such a rock, such an enigma, and I have the utmost respect for her. It was like beating a chess champ you've admired for years.

And then it got even better. She reached out with her hands wide apart as though to say "it was this big", but instead of grabbing the grapes, her hands came together on either side of my hand very gently and very briefly before opening again. It was as though she were a mechanical creature with paws that closed and sensors that caused her paws to open again as soon as they touched something. In that brief moment when her hands closed around mine I felt the soft velvety pads of her paws for the 1st time ever. It was such a wonderful fealing.

I spoke to her saying "it's ok" fearing she might now back away w/o taking the grapes, but she reached forward again this time grasping the cluster of grapes in her hands. She sat down in that very spot to eat the grapes holding the clump on the ground with one hand and pulling the off the individual grapes off the stem one at a time to pop each in her mouth just like you or I might eat them. As she chewed she looked up at me. Sometimes I made eye contact with her. Other times I looked around the area so as not to make her uncomfortable with constant eye contact. It took her a while to finish such a large cluster of grapes. Shortly after that, she left.

KyWoods,

Because some of the folks there ask me about them from time to time, especially this one very nice man who takes my groceries out, I have been thinking about doing just that. I don't actually have any hard copy photos of 'my babies'. I think when time allows I will load some up to the web on a private site and get photos made. I once ordered flower photos via Webshots and thought they did a fabulous job at a decent price. Also the other day I saw where I can get a bunch of prints for free for setting up an account with CVS. I figured I would do the cute pics, the ones we've identified as the better ones.

Then maybe I'll pick a favorite and get a coffee mug made for my desk.

Awwww, apparently, you are forgiven for the marshmallow incident! Wonderful encounter!

Thanks, Debbie,

It's actually warm again here. Short sleeve weather by day now. That's how it goes here. Cold weather rarely lasts more than a few days at a time which is nice. In fact, the last few nights the mosquitos have actually been buzzing about out there. Can you believe we have mosquitoes in January? I don't know how they lived through those few cold days.

That is a very good idea. I'm going to remember that for times when I get caught off guard and really don't want to go into the raccoon thing. I'm always buying multiple bags of cat and dog food. I like to stock up and keep a supply on hand. Can't afford to run out and disappoint all those little masked faces. As a result it has become almost amusing how often I get asked just how many cats or dogs I have. That is a great response.

I've actually done that before although not recently. Once the local ASPCA shelter ran out of funds for food, so they made a plea on the local news for people to bring them dry dog and cat food, saying that otherwise they would be forced to put all of the dogs and cats to sleep by the end of the week. We took them 400lbs of dog food and 100lbs of cat food, the good stuff from a pet store, along with assorted treats. When we got there we found a veritable caravan of people like us driving into the shelter parking lot and unloading massive quantities of food. I don't know how much food they were expecting or hoping for but they raked in tons of the stuff just while we were there unloading. That felt so good that we left there and made a 2nd run to take food to the local pet helpers.

KyWoods,

LOL, I think I am forgiven, but I'm not sure I am trusted not to do anything similarly stupid again. That might take a while. I think she now views me like she does the youngsters, lacking the maturity, good sense, and training not to do stupid stuff.

Ruth,

While I was researching acorns to find out what kind we had at work, I found that the literature indicated roughly the same thing that Sharran said. Apparently, the Swamp Chestnut Oak and the Chestnut Oak were once classified as the same plant, and even now are so similiar that even experts often have difficulty telling them apart. It seems location is the one true way to tell which is which for certain. If it grows in wetlands, it is a Swamp...if it grows on dry slopes and in the mountains, it is a Chestnut...

Both have acorns up to 1.5in long. Both are white oaks. The Chestnut Oak appears to grow more slowly and may thus be a better and stronger tree. It's wood is harder than other oaks. Both are considered excellent food souces for wildlife. One thing, though. If you still have the trees you described as carpetting the ground with acorns, you may already have a Chestnut Oak as that is how the trees at work are begaving.

Edited to add wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chestnut_oak

This message was edited Jan 26, 2009 1:22 AM

starlight,

I know what you mean about the mice/rats. I am pretty frustrated with whatever is ripping insulation out of the house (not to mention digging up the front lawn). That's why I've been putting the traps out again, but so far they aren't biting. I'll have to try some different locations, different pb, different foods, and some other traps. I have a squirrel/rat sized cage trap. I figure on trying that, too. I'm hoping the raccoons won't go in there since it should be too small for them to turn around in - if they can even get all the way in.

But that said, those little mice were too cute the other night and looked just like something out of a pixar flick. No harm in enjoying the show.

P.S. I forgot to tell you guys about the time (diffent night) when one of the mice scurried across the fence and sneaked over to grab a whole, large marshmallow that I had tossed near the fence for the raccoons (who werent' there yet). To see that tiny mouse (and they are smaller than I said), grab that huge marshmallow in his mouth and run off with it was 'to die for'! It was bigger than he was. If only I had gotten that on video. Even though I don't like mice/rats, I must admit that I was rooting for him to make it home with that mm.

Terese,

Now as you probably know by now, I don't care if they think I'm certifiable. LOL. However, the bldg I'm in now is humungous with 1000's of people and a gazillion external entrances. The chance of anyone I know being out back at the same time I am out there collecting acorns is pretty slim. Most people don't go out that door anyhow.

If anyone (I don't know) asks what I'm doing, I'll pretend to be conducting tests for the DNR.
Everyone who knows me, already knows I'm kookoo.

starlight,

According to what I read online raccoons do eat hickory nuts - and aparently the bark as well. When they (and the acorns) are in season, that would be great, but please be sure to leave enough for your local wildlife as i'm sure they depend on those nuts for their food. I'm only going to pick up a pint or 2 of the nut from work. I don't think that will make much of a dent in the supply. From the looks of things there appear to be more nuts than wildlife at this site.

nanny,

I haven't seen any sign of them in the house yet and am hoping to get rid of them before they do get inside. They are cute outside, but I'm going to really start freaking out if they show up inside.

JuneyBug,

While I have no doubt a rat snake would be quite capable of getting rid of the mice/rats, I think I'll try a few other things 1st. The rat snake would also probably get rid of me if I ever found him/her in the living portion of the house.

Audrey,

Although Heidi looks pregnant to me, she doesn't look at all ready to have kits. She usually gets to looking like an overinflated beach ball in the last week or so of pregnancy. Then she looks miserable, has difficulty climbing the fence, and grumbles a lot. LOL at that last part. I hate to see her looking so uncomfortable, but all the grumbling along with the waddling around can be amusing at times.

ROTFLMAO, Terese!!!

I have read your acount of the last 2 weeks at least twice now and I laugh out loud every time, the fact that Heidi will be coughing a lot and that Cheryl will start expressing concerns over 'the matriarch's' health. LOL

You know, she has started coughing a bit just recently when she gets in arguments with the others, like the other night when Trouble took her food. She tried to argue with him at first, then she started coughing and had to give up. It happened another night recently when she was arguing with a kit that isn't hers. The coughing is fairly light right now though and doesn't last very long, so I'd say we still have some time to go.

LOL - again - at how, instead of cm dialation, we go by amount and duration of cough.

KyWoods,

When i was researching acorns to id the tree, I even found a substantial number of acorn recipes out there. Who knew? It's good to know they are edible in case things get really bad. Still I have mixed feelings between the part of me that thinks it would be nice to know how to live off the land more and the part of me that thinks it would be wrong to take the acorns because the 'belong' to all the little animals who depend on them. (If I were starving I might see things differently though.)

My actual employer isn't there anyhow, only the customer who has contracted my services and 2 of my fellow employees. Chances of either of them seeing me is slim.

Terese,

The acorns are so huge and there are so many of them - like Ruth's description, they form a carpet covering the ground - that I should be able to scoop up a pint by just running the container along the ground as though I were filling it with water. There are that many of them in the back of the building. I had to walk very, very deliberately. It was like trying to walk on a layer or two of marbles. I think I can get by w/o the rake. : )

What a great anecdote about Heidi and the grapes. Seems like you're learning her ways as well as she's learning yours: interesting experiment on both sides in modifying behavior with positive conditioning... And having her grasp your hand with her paws, however briefly, is huge.

Thanks to all for the info on the Chestnut Oak; I'll have to see what I can learn about the tree, beginning with the Latin name in case we decide to plant one. [I've learned the hard way never to shop for plants by common name; you can get something very different than the plant you were anticipating, lol.] We have several venerable old oaks on the property that provided the carpet of acorns this fall. We were told when we moved in that they were mostly pin oaks, with one or two white oaks. The acorns are "normal" size, however, definitely less than an inch in length; sadly, I don't know enough about oaks to make a definite ID. They're lovely old shade trees, and delight the squirrels every fall; their only less-than-endearing habit is their tendency to hold onto the dead leaves long after every other tree has dropped theirs. This area is known for high winds, often lasting for days at a time; after every wind spree, we're buried in leaves once again, and this goes on all winter. Eventually you just give up and decide to deal with it in spring....

LOL... Maybe Heidi was makignsure your hands were clean and not sticky again before getting them grapes. Either that or it was her way of sayign it ok, I forgive ya for turnign my coat in to a mess and don't let it happen happen again. LOL

I wouldn't wait to long to get them nuts, soon the mowers will be out and mowign grass and scoopignthem all up into their machines to be dumped. A real waste of good nuts.

You could always say the dog and cat food for the feral animals in the neighborhood that ya tryign to keep them healthy. They just don't have to know it coons instea dof cats and dogs.

Oh man. Hate to hear yoru back is acting up again. Sinc eyou in pain and on pain meds, you could probably get out of jury duty . Especially since sittignthere would make ya in worse pain and not able to think clearly when all cna do is concentrate on how bad ya feel.

Not good that it starting up too again when ya just starting yoru new job. Hope ya cna get the shots soon and at least get a small measure of relief.

My DH has had good results from the shots into different areas of his back. Some of them only lasted a month or 2, but with the surgeon directing where the pain clinic doc. put the shots, he has a very physically active life that would have been crippled without them.
I have had sciatica since I was in diapers and am quite the chicken when it comes to folks putting things in that area. I've had great success with phys. therapy and traction. Laying on your lower belly on an exercise ball may take the pressure off the nerve and give you some relief. I sometimes just watch TV leaning over the kitchen bar with the countertop pressing backwards on my spine in that spot. It helps a lot.
Best wishes and prayers

Oh man, I was just catching up on a few days worth of posts here at work. I got to the marshmallow/Heidi story and just burst out laughing. I laughed so hard tears were running down my face. If any of the people I work with ever suspected I was crazy, I think I removed all doubt today. What a great story!!! Glad to hear she still loves you....

I know it bad, cuz evrytime i see a bag of marshmellows in the store, gonan think of Cheryl flingignthem and beign stuck to Heidi and gona bust out laughing and folks not gonan know what little tidbit of a story I have in going on in my head at the time.

I would just tell anyone who asks, that I have a few friends that come around, and I feed them! They don't have to know what KIND of friends!

Don't remmebr have ya tried to give Heidi the generic tubs of cool whip. Had thought so fyou psrayign a whip cream can into he rmouth an dmissing, and then wondered if she havignbabies if the cool whip has calcium for her bones.

The Latin name for the chestnut oak that grows along ridgetops is Quercus prinus,
also it often goes by its older name, Quercus montana.

There is no difference in the two names. I have been looking for one too, but am in flat country here, not swampy, just flat. Lots of them where I grew up, just not here.

Sweet, Heidi touching your hands, I am glad nothing startled her while that was transpiring.

Today I was seated on an actual jury, so I MUST get to bed ASAP as I cannot afford to be late tomorrow - and I think we all know by now that I am not a morning person. Thank goodness for Clocky, the clock I bought a while back that jumps off the nightstand and runs around on the floor making all manner of noises like an arcade with a European police car going through it. With Clocky, you get one chance to hit the sleep snooze - for a 60sec snooze, that is - after that you have to get out of bed to chase it down to make the noise stop.

Hopefully, we won't be sequestered, but if you don't hear from me for a while it will probably be something related to court. For obvious reasons, of course, we won't be discussing court, but I did want to warn you in the ulikely event I get 'detained' or am otherwise unable to use the web.

As for the raccoons, word must have gotten out that I had gone to the store. Tonight there were 12, yes twelve, raccoons out there at one time - and it wasn't pretty. This is not a good sign for what summer may be like. The kits were all arguing and scrapping. I had a large bag of peanuts and 1/2 bag of the vanilla cookies, but with 12 raccoons that didn't go very far.

The real bright spot in the whole night was Jerry. I do believe Jerry is the 1st raccoon with whom I have formed this sort of bond from a distance - well, except for maybe Fraidy who didn't start coming close to me until the 2nd year but whom I took care of the 1st year by tossing food back by the fence. Tonight in that sea of raccoons it was hard to tell who was who. I could ID Heidi and one of Blondie's kits, and that was about it.

In the beginning, I was taking care to pass the peanuts out in a fair manner. By the time everyone got there I could no longer tell who had been eating peanuts for a while and who had just arrived. The way the kits were milling around, fighting and such, I couldn't even keep track of them well enough to pass out a single round of peanuts making sure to give one to each raccoon. Furthermore, the bag was running low. At that point, I held the rest of the peanuts back for Heidi - who had arrived late.

All 11 kits were milling about looking for peanuts. Heidi was eating the last few I had tossed to her. Suddenly, one youngster stood upright almost as straight as a human and as tall as she could stand. She stood there by the pool looking at me, and I knew in an instant that was Jerry. "Jerry!" I said. She was just going back down on all 4's and as I called her name she went back up into the air again. I tossed her a peanut and she ran out of the crowd to eat it off by herself.

After that, between trying to keep the peanuts flowing for Heidi and tossing cookies to a few of the kits, I lost track of Jerry. So I just called out into that group of 12 raccoons, "Jerry! Jerry!" A moment later little Jerry popped up out of the crowd to stand upright and look at me, the excitement of knowing I was going to give her something written all over her face. I tossed her a cookie. She grabbed it just in the nick of time before another kit could steal it and then ran back to the fence to eat it. In all I guess I probably gave Jerry some 3 cookies, each time calling her name and waiting for her to stand up in the crowd. I have always taken great delight any time I could communicate with an animal be it cat, dog, horse, or raccoon. Tonight Jerry and I were communicating in our own special way, and that communication allowed her to reveal herself to me in a group of 12 raccoons crammed in to a very small area.

I would be thrilled also if I had a "Jerry" responding to me calling her name. It is wonderful that of the 12 there you could communicate with her and I bet she was one happy girl also getting that special attention(not to mention treats)from you.

Judy

Hi Judy,

It really is exciting to have that kind of personal relationship with one of the raccoons. With 12 raccoons in a 15-20ft D area to be able to call a name and have one and only one raccoon stand up is incredible, and to be able to repeat that several times with the same result is all the more so.

There is yet another reason why I enjoy these opportunities to give treats to Jerry. Jerry is a bit timid, not as much as Fraidy used to be, but timid enough that she often ends up on the periphery where she is pushed around by more aggressive raccoons and misses out on the better treats. Like I said though, she's not as timid as Fraidy. When I tossed her the 1st cookie, it landed by her but rolled toward another kit before coming to rest. I had called Jerry's name just before throwing the cookie, so she knew it was her cookie. She ran over there and risked a 'beating' to grab it. Thankfully, she did get the cookie - and no beating. Jerry is sweet, well behaved, and bright. I take delight in these opportunities to make sure she gets treats.

On a related note, at one point when the kits were all pushing and shoving in search of peanuts and poor Heidi was in the middle of all that trying to enjoy a few peanuts in peace - and we all know what it is like to be an adult caught in the middle of a room full of rowdy kids, I called her name and held out a peanut, and she came over. She put her nose past the peanut to sniff my hand but didn't actually take the peanut from my hand. I dropped it at her feet where she stayed a while to eat it and other peanuts I had saved for her.

What fun! How cute that she does that every time you call her name!

KyWoods,

Yes, she does it so reliably that I can use it to locate her in the crowd - just like calling out to a friend in a crowd and having them hold a hand up and wave to you. If you recall that one cover pic a few threads back with Jerry standing up beside the pool, she doesn't just stand up in the normal raccoon manner. She stands up as straight as a board. I didn't even know raccoons could do that, but she does. (Widget does that, too, btw, and I also didn't know dogs could do it.) And I wish you could see her face when I call her and she stands up. The look on her face absolutely shouts, "Here I am! Over here!" It is so adorable.

Yes, they have me very well trained.

Thanks so much, Sharran, for the Latin name of the chestnut oak. I don't recall seeing either of those oak names at the local nurseries; will have to look further afield for that one. Somewhere with a more extensive listing; hmmm, maybe Forest Farm has it. But thanks to you, I now know what to look for!

Cheryl, I'm not sure congratulations are in order for your jury selection, especially with the sciatica flaring up; sitting must not be pleasant. Hope the trial will be of short duration; and that you won't be sequestered, so you can at least get your internet fix.

Too cute the story of finding Jerry in such a crowd! She's clearly a smart youngster, though I'm a bit surprised that others haven't caught on that when you call "Jerry," a treat comes flying. Hope the luck holds. Does bring up an amusing future image of an enormously pregnant Jerry trying to hoist the belly upright for a treat when she's older... Where there's a will there's a way, right?