As the weather turns cold and winter approaches, we add layers of clothes and turn up the heat. What do animals do to prepare for the cold?

Adapt:
Some animals prepare for cold weather by gathering food and storing it for the upcoming winter when it will be harder to find. Can you think of any animals that do this?
Other animals are able to find food through the winter and grow thicker layers of fur. Can you think of any animals that do this?

Hibernate:
Some animals go into a deep sleep over the winter. They usually will eat lots of food in the fall then go to sleep in a den or a deep burrow. A true hibernating animal’s breathing slows way down and its body temperature drops.
Some animals sleep heavily for long periods but will wake up every occasionally to eat.

Migrate:
Seeing birds flying south in the fall is common. They are not only flying to warmer climates for warmth but to be able to find food that is more readily available. They usually follow the same routes every year. Some animals learn the routes by following other animals (mother?) but other animals seem to know where to go by instinct. Scientists aren’t sure how the animals know how, when, or where to go.
Birds are not the only animals that migrate to warmer weather during their winters. Can you think of any other animals that go south for the winter? Do you know any people who go south for the winter? Where do they go?
Not all migrations have to do with warmer weather. Some animals migrate as part of their life cycle. Life cycle migrations may take place every year and similar animals may gather in special spots to find mates or to have babies.
Other animals might migrate only when giving birth or to lay eggs in a specific location (where they were hatched).

Websites of interest:
ParkWise (Alaska National Parks’ e-classroom): Migration: http://www.nps.gov/akso/parkwise/Students/ReferenceLibrary/general/MigrationBasics.htm
Tracking animals. Sometimes scientists put satellite collars on animals so they can track their movements. This helps us to understand how, where, and when animals move around the earth. Here are some sites where you can follow various animals:
WhaleNet: (tracks seals & whales) http://whale.wheelock.edu/whalenet-stuff/stop_cover.html
SeaTurtle.org: (tracks sea turtles) http://www.seaturtle.org/tagging/
Journey North: (tracks whooping cranes, hummingbirds, monarchs and other animals) http://www.learner.org/jnorth/
Alaska Seal Life Center: (tracks seals) http://www.alaskasealife.org/New/rehabilitation/index.php?page=rehab-tracking.php
Wild Tracks: (manatees) http://www.wildtracks.org/Florida/home.html

Ideas for experiential learning:
Keep a wildlife journal for one week. Identify what animals you see and what they are doing. Do you think they are getting ready for winter? Do you see any signs of animals even though you might not see the animals themselves?
• Bird feathers
• Chewed pinecones
• Chewed acorns or nuts
• Scat (droppings)
• Animal tracks
• Bones
What are some ways that humans prepare for cold weather? How do the clothes we wear change with the seasons? Why?
Do we eat any foods now that we might not eat during the hot summer? What foods and why?
In the book, Whistling Wings, the young tundra swan flies about 1,000 miles without stopping to rest or eat.
• Look at a map and figure out how far 1,000 miles is from where you live. Could you walk there without stopping to sleep or eat?
• If the swan flew for ten days, about how many miles a day did he fly?
• If you and your family travelled 1,000 by car, and averaged 60 miles an hour, how many hours would it take you to drive the 1,000 miles? Have you ever driven that far? Did you stop to rest, eat, or go to the bathroom?

Here is a one-week code to access Sylvan Dell’s related titles as auto-flip, auto-read, 3D-page-curling, and selectable English and Spanish text and audio eBooks:
Temporary eBook Viewing Code: FE0Q4Y
Code expiration date: 12/06/2009
Please click on the following link: http://www.sylvandellpublishing.com/ebooktrials.php?e=FE0Q4Y
Read the following books and see if you can find the answers to the questions in either the story or the For Creative Minds’ section. Can you figure out if the animals use adaptation, hibernation, migration, or more than one? If they migrate, do they migrate every year seasonally or as part of their life cycle?
Loon Chase Where do loons spend their summers and why? Where do they spend their winters?
Moose and Magpie Where do moose go in the fall and why?
Ocean Seasons What do humpback whales do during the winter and why? What do salmon do during the fall and why?
One Wolf Howls What do wolves do during the cold weather?
Turtle Summer: A Journal for my Daughter when & why do female sea turtles come ashore?
Turtles in my Sandbox What do diamondback terrapins in the wild do in the winter?
Whistling Wings How does each of the animals survive the winter?

You can access the For Creative Minds section for all the books here (in English and Spanish): http://sylvandellpublishing.com/ForCreativeMinds.htm and the free, 20-40 pages of teaching activities here: http://sylvandellpublishing.com/TeachingActivitiesPage.htm

diamondback terrapin
eagles
humpback whales
loons
moose
muskrats
raccoons
salmon
sea turtles (loggerheads)
tundra swan
wolves

I’m astounded that we have reached Thanksgiving already. Tucker has now been here a year, and Birdie 4.5 months. We are all rolling along, and on a daily basis I think there is nothing to report,but a backward look shows there have been changes.

I’m changing Leo’s name to Leo the Lodger. He shows up at random times, sometimes disappearing for a few days, then make sup for it. One day he was here in a 24 hours period. He lays in wait for me, hollers and hisses when I go out the door but comes to me and wraps around me. I put his food down, he eats, most of it, and then leaves.

The nights are getting cold, down to freezing. I have a chaise on the deck, with an old “snuggly” on it and he sleeps in there as he waits.

The raccons were back, tearing up the plants on the deck, breaking a flower pot and generally getting themselves on my “bad kitty” list. I threw some water on them, and haven’t seen them since – about 2 weeks ago.

No new or strange animals, I guess the coatamundi migrated back to Central America.
Tucker is changing. I often say, “I love gray kitties.” Darned if he isn’t becoming one. The tan parts of his coat are leaving, and the remainder is mostly gray. He is starting to remind me of Bear. He still likes to “help” by laying by the computer keyboard and trying to nibble on my flying fingers.

He has suddenly found catnip; I broughth some fresh, from Sun Harvest, and it was on the counter. I came out to find Tucker sitting on the floor, looking up at the counter, then back at me, then back at the counter. And rolling in it when I put some on the large scratching board that he tries to use. (Birdie got into the act by jumping on his back and trying to nibble his ear!)

He sleeps besides me most of most nights, and now when I wake up, he is laying close by. As soon as he senses I am awake, he begins his morning head bonks, pushing his forehead into my forehead, then into my eyeball sockets, then into my nose. Guess I have bad breath because he stops there. (Well, come on, it’s morning!)

He still gobbles his food too fast, but is highly allergic to something. Neither cat will eat “fancy” canned cat food, but they love the junk food. However, it is wet! which seems to be important because he never throws that up. So hey get about 3/4 of a can a day now, and supplement with the kitty crack dry food.

He is doing well on Instinct Rabbit. I tried adding the new Evo low cal for Birdie’s benefit, and he proceeded to vomit 6 times that day, even though it was maybe 1/4 of the dry food. So I’ve saved the Evo and we play “Hunt Bugs”; I throw the little pieces around the living room and make them run and get them which slows down his gobbling considerably, and he doesn’t throw it up. (Sighs in frustration.)

Tucker also has decided it’s OK to walk in front of me and then abruptly stop. I liked this part better when he was afraid of me. He sat behind me the other night when I was at the counter; I backed up…and stepped on him. The next night, he was right behind me again as I prepared their “din-din.”

Unfortunately, Tucker still disappears down any rabbit hole the second he hears anyone outside the house..and especially if anyone is inside the house.

Most of the news is about Birdie. And, this is the biggest and most confounding news. Birdie was not feeling well. Fortunately, she was huddling back in the far corner of the closet. I got the carrier and then gave that to her as the only out and she tried to get past me by heading for the carrier door. She promptly stopped with 2 feet and her head inside. I tried to hold the carrier down while pushing her into it. She is a strong little thing. But I got her in; and stood there breathing deeply until I stopped shaking, thankful that I was able to get her in without any more trauma than that.

At the vet, she let them handle her any which way. Her butt, which I literally can’t see unless I pull her tail up (which she won’t let me do) was all red. I had noticed both of them were licking their butts a lot. She had really licked a lot of hair off and it was pink, inflammed and swollen all under the tail. (Why can’t I see under her tail?….Every other cat I’ve ever had, when they turn their back on me, I can see everything!…with her, her tail is always tightly tucked.) Anyway, she got a shot of super cortisone and penicillin and we came home.

It was evident that she was feeling better within a few hours. And she got very active, moving her 12! lb. bowling ball frame around, up and over the furniture. She came and jumped on my lap, pressed against my tummy, and curled up and went to sleep. Which was the first and–so far– last time!

I threw out the litter, and both stopped licking…unfortunately I’m not sure which lityer, but I think it was Tidy Cat and I think it was MultiCat. One of those “unscented” litters that drive me crazy from the smell.

After I had started using that litter, (I keep 3 pans, all with different litters, and of course, the sand ones that I hate are the ones they prefer, but I keep hoping they will like the others. ) Anyway, I would be sitting in the living room and smell little wisps of something that smelled like fabric softener, which drives my sinuses crazy. So I don’t use it. So what the heck was the smell coming from? This went on for days. Then, I awoke to find Tucker trying to lick my face…and smelled the “fabric softener” on him! And knew he had just crawled out of the cat box and the smell was from the “unscented” litter.

I threw that box out, and …no more frantic licking of butts. I’ve added psyllium to Birdie’s food, though I don’t want to add too much; but her poop is still really soft, and she ends up with poop on her rear. When I try to hold her with one hand and pry up her tail to get a look and clean it, she bites at me. This is a 3-handed project and I didn’t grow an extra one.
Since the vet episode, she has been much better about being in the living room or office, wherever I am. She has come, sometimes 2 or 3 times in an evening to sit on my lap, and even sat there for over 2 hours one night.

I never catch them playing with each other but I think they are. I will hear the thundering of paws, or the swinging of the cat door, or find one of them lurking but no sight of the other one, just an innocent look from whichever one I can see.

Birdie gets half the wet food of Tucker, but he still finishes and tries to scarf hers up, even with the L-Lysine in it. Her eye rarely streams any more, though she does squint every few days or so, and then she stops..maybe at this point it is habit, but it also really happens when she is under stress and he eye begins watering again.

We had the roof replaced and the roofers were in my little storage shed borrowing some of my things. Yesterday, two weeks later, I was trying to put everything back together as they left the wheelbarrow outside and other stuff. And I found the very empty Andro Fire Ant treatment bag, the big kind that has enough for a golf course in it. Empty. Not sure if it was the possums or the outside rats that might be around, or the raccoons. But the thing had been $30 full and was now totally empty with many gnaw holes on the bag;no dead bodies that I could see. I hope it wasn’t one of the neighborhood cats or possies that got it.

So, to summarize, Birdie had her first vet visit since I got her. (As I was bringing her back in the door, I wondered if that was the first time she had ever been in a carrier and been returned to her home instead of being given away again (3 owners, 2 trips to sit in cages at Animal Shelter for weeks, and a couple of foster homes before coming here and she’s only around 2 years old. ) She is relaxing, periodically running around the house like a real cat, and now usually sleeps in the bedroom, though not on my bed, at night, and gets very demanding that she get a treat when Tucker does (well, of course she will!) I also found her actually playing with the Turbo toy after I demonstrated it to her about a hundred times. Unfortunately, she would sit in the middle, her butt would hang over part of the channel, and so the ball would only go part way around, :lol)

Tucker is relaxing, getting demanding, becoming “Bear-like,”( a former cat that was he epitome of nonchalant) not threatening or threatened by Birdie anymore, possibly playing with her.

Leo shows up usually multiple times a day or doesn’t show up at all–he has an interesting schedule.

Spot, Stripe and Bear, the possums, are still coming around as evidenced by the food disappearing, though I don’t see them much…they seem to take turns, one arriving early one night, another the next. Hopefully the raccoons have moved on.
Birdie had a vet trip and told me every way she could that she was glad to be back home afterward.
I’m hoping I can filch some leftover turkey today for my kitties to have a bit, and turkey bones to put out for the Wild Ones tonight.
Hope you share your turkey with all the 4-pays at your home. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

"Come One, Come All and Don't Be Late!" *82

My critters have grown very impatient with me over the last few weeks because I’ve not been feeling very well. Now it’s the start of the Holiday Season and they need to know all will be well ….. Soo… the party is on! Yes, we are having the Pre-Thanksgiving Day party on my patio to start as soon as the sunsets. The word is out…. always tell a rabbit first and it will spread far and wide…. not that they gossip or anything… it’s just that there are so darn many of ‘em! It will be a very busy day today…. it will start soon as the sunrise is not far off. For the critters will be pulling out and putting on their happy pants and dancing shoes! Oh yes, there will be fun and lots of dancing to great music and as always plenty of food for all the different critters. Lets see….. our new raccoon family is still around Little Momma, Benny, June and Bebe. Tater and Tot and Rocco are also around. Then the opossum gang… now consists of Billy Bob, Pinky and her guy pal Tony…oh and can’t forget that rowdy little JoBo! A host of squirrels and one that needs some behavior modification from time to time…. that would be none other than Mr. Double Trouble The Super Squirrel who is a little upstart juvenile that might not make it through his first full season if he doesn’t learn form his mistakes. But I digress…. moving on now…. we have snakes, turtles, lizards, field mice and tons of rabbits as I have mentioned earlier. And birds! Lots and lots of birds. The ones that are here year around and that includes the Red-shouldered Hawks…. oh yeah the ”for hire” Turkey Vultures{they better be careful since its turkey day… and some folks been having hard times…hehehe..}. Our feathered friends…. yes for this short time we still have a few of our summer friends here and some of our returning wintering friends too! It is so nice to have all of them together… well as many as we can as some have left and not all are here yet. By Christmas the full change over will be in place. For now we will enjoy one and all as we party the night away. We will have that fire going. Some of the critters will get a poker game or two going but for the most part we will be dancing! We will be hoppin’ and boppin’ to our man Bob Seger and the new CD by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Some of Hank Jr. too! Led Zep, CCR, Blackfoot, 38. Special, Stones,Bonnie Raitt, Chris Berardo & The DesBerardos, Josh Turner and some ZZ Top Too! We like a mix of tunes…lol…. and there will be others….. the critters make a cool play list. And yes I will be out there too. I need a good party….. I’m gonna get my alien skin cow poke boots out of the attic…. it’s been raining and they can get down right pissy if they get wet so I haven’t been able to take them out much….. so they were making a lot of noise that upset the critters so I had to put them in the attic to calm down. I think it is safe enough now for me to bring them down and take them out of the Debbie Myers zip-lock green bag. So once I shake ‘em out and let them adjust to the temp change…. they should be just right for a real long night of wild dancing…… we both need that to get the Holidays off to a good start! So just what will all of you out there gonna be doing? If ya are close…. just stop on by…. you’ll know when ya find us…lol…we party like none other….. just bring your dancing shoes and your happy pants if ya got some and shake a leg with us….. eat, drink and be very, very merry! Be happy, love and share until our paths cross again….. Lila and all the gang!

PS: THE CRITTERS HAVE MADE A SPECIAL REQUEST THAT SARAH PALIN IS NOT INVITED!

PPS: For any of my new readers please know that when we have our parties and during the Super Bowl all the critters agree to not try and eat any of the other critters…lol… some times I do have to remind the Red Shouldered Hawks that the other smaller critters are NOT part of the snacks….. and so far so good!

Some consider them the biggest pests but, we don’t have to overlook the fact that the man was the first that entered within the cute’s mammals habitat. As the photos below demonstrates, however, raccoons are far from the violent thieves image that people have created over time about them. We are sure that these photos will bring a smile on your face.

From the beginning, I was lured by woods. As a child on our 50-acre farm east of Oklahoma City, I followed the creek south from the house, crawled under a barbed wire fence and slipped into the woods my father rented for firewood and to graze his milk cows—80 acres of oaks, hickories, willows, cottonwoods, persimmons, meadow and swamp. To a boy of seven, an 80-acre forest is infinity. I knew the eighty’s orientation to the sun, where the land inclined, where the soil was boggy or dry, where groves of various trees grew, when and where to find ripe persimmons and why to avoid those that are not.

American persimmon tree

I knew the trails made by cows and men, but a boy of seven can follow trails of smaller animals too, and gradually I sketched ever-finer details on my mental map. I found the tracks of raccoons and possums and deer, sometimes following, sometimes intersecting the more predictable foot-wide paths of cows. On hands and knees, I followed the lower, narrower trails. Some tracks I didn’t know, but I followed them all, ever deeper into brambles and underbrush. I found where the possum crawled into his hollow hickory log. I knew the tall cottonwood in whose rotting trunk the raccoon lived. I found the limb on which he dined, saw where he dropped his waste, and learned what fruits and creatures he ate. Following trails expanded my universe of mammals and birds.

But nature herself is not a fan of trails. Decades before I read Rabelais’ observation that “nature abhors a vacuum,” I found it true. The height and width of each trail was no greater than that of the largest animal that regularly passed. A few large animals, moose for example, are equipped to keep trails wide, and deer help maintain trails by browsing brush. But of all the animals in the woods, only man carries nippers or saws to efficiently counter nature’s tendency to close trails. I am such a man.

There are rational reasons for trails. They provide access to otherwise forbidden places and to fallen firewood trees. They allow fuller access to the woods, whether by foot or on skis. And on the Missouri River bluff, where eastern red cedars are invading every square foot not otherwise occupied, trail blazing keeps remnants of native prairie alive and exposed to sun. So when fall rolls around, I take to the woods to make or maintain trails. That has been my occupation this fine November week. The result is a pair of new cross-country ski trails, the longest a quarter-mile run from bluff to river bottom.

But truthfully, all the logical reasons for trail maintenance are on some level rationalization for being in the woods. Perhaps my personal motive is not so different from that of the hunter who carries a gun instead of a saw, and whose object is deer rather than firewood or fun. Given the ingrained work ethic of our culture, we seem to need an excuse for frittering away an afternoon in the woods.

Trail maker that I am, I admit there is a problem with trails. Once constructed, whether by cows or coons or men, one may follow them without asking why. And perhaps that, in the end, is the attraction of cutting a new trail to find what lies in a tangle I have yet to explore. So do I face an inescapable conundrum—the paradox that in seeking adventure I tame the very wilderness I love? Probably not, recalling nature’s efficient way of countering our every move—and that we live amidst cedar trees, one of her most efficient tools.

––Jerry

A while back, my friend and I got bored. This is never a good thing. She came over to pick me up, told me I was driving, then we took off for Russiaville. From Russiaville we ended up in Burlington (where we noticed they did not have a McDonald’s and therefore should be deleted off the map). We continued driving down the road not really caring where we went as long as it wasn’t back home.

We kept driving, and driving….and driving. Finally, we ended up in Logansport! Now, the last time we took a random road-trip we ended up 7 miles from Logansport before we realized we were running low on gas and needed to get home. This time, we kept going and ended up about 10 minutes outside of Logansport (still hadn’t come across a McDonald’s and I was quickly becoming angry. I was starving dang it!).

Before we could go any further from Logansport, Sierra (my friend) felt vibration under her foot in the passenger seat and had me pull over on a side road. She got out and looked under the car. I got out and checked under the car as well and we saw that a piece of the car was coming off! Naturally we decided it was time to get back home. We piled back into the car and headed back to K-Town where we hung out in my garage until she had to get home.

Oh! Forgot to mention that before we headed to Logansport, we stopped off to explore Burlington/Russiaville and ended up on a bridge. We took some pics, saw some coons (raccoons for you non-southern folk), and had deer attempt to kill us. The deer trying to kill us is nothing new. They try that all the time. I’m telling you there’s a deer conspiracy going on. I know there is!!!

We’re hoping once her car gets fixed, or I manage to get a job and able to buy a car; that we can go on another random road-trip. We miss ‘em. Who knows, maybe our friends will tag along.

Last stop on the pub crawl.

[Link via email: Tip o' the tarboosh to Fritz.]

One week ago, we were on our way to the airport. This morning I am sitting in the quiet at 5:30 PDT and typing in the dark. The girls remain sleeping on the air mattress (bless their hearts for giving up their bed) on the other side of the couch, and I sit computing in the dark. I can do that with Pufferpoo’s lighted Mac keyboard. Cool, eh?

We’ve been busy, even when we’ve been not busy. To wit: yesterday was an unplanned day as both girls had to work and study all day. That left Cuppa and I to our own devices, and we opted to walk the circumference of Stanley Park — around the seawall. We ambled around for much of the day, timing our return to coincide with sunset.

At sunset, we’ve more than once found ourselves sitting on, oddly enough, Sunset Beach, which is just outside their front door. We watch as Old Sol quenches his light into the cool Pacific. Of course, we’ve taken photos of this and everything else, but I won’t be posting be posting any until I get home. However, I couldn’t resist popping in to talk to y’all for a minute since I am up early this morn.

What I really wanted to focus on, although it’s taken me three paragraphs to get here, is yesterdays rather unnerving encounter with the local raccoons.

Cuppa and I had been enjoying a snack at Prospect Point in Stanley Park around supper time yesterday. We had finished our munchies and remained in place for some time looking out at the ocean and across to the mountains. When it was time to get up to begin the long trek back to the apartment, we decided to remove some left over food items from our bag to deposit into the nearby trash container.

That was when were were swarmed by four, yes four, bold and frightening raccoons who were desperate to snatch our leavings. Their movements were incredibly bold and more than a touch alarming, let me tell you, especially in light of our experience on the previous night.

We had been sitting in the living room conversing about nothing of consequence when we heard a dog yelping a rather frantic and continuous yelp. When we sprang to the window in alarm, we beheld a large raccoon chasing a woman and her small dog. Really. She fell in the street and was in danger of being struck by a car, but the raccoon was relentless in his aggressive pursuit. Fortunately, she and her dog were able to escape into the apartment building, and the raccoon disappeared into the bushes.

So, you see, when we were swarmed by four of the blighters the very next day, we had every reason to be just a tad alarmed. In retrospect, I don’t think they would have actually assaulted us, but I assure you that we were in no frame of mind to test that theory, and we both made haste to leave the rascals behind.

For those who haven’t seen it, I leave you with our raccoon encounter of two years past when we last visited Vancouver and Stanley Park. While I’m sure that most locals live here for years without such encounters, we short term visitors seem to attract the blighters. I wonder if anyone captured this latest episode, for there seemed to be some cameras trained on us? In fact, bystanders seemed to think it was pretty funny.

This one was shot on a Sony Handycam powered by luck.

DEATHBOX IT!
-Matt

Written by poet Eve Merriam and illustrated by Pam Paparone, Low Song is a rhythmic ode to all things small and low.   The narrator sings the praises of dachshunds, a cow’s tongue licking clover, sleeping giraffes, and baby raccoons.  With an eye to seasonal changes, such as the falling of leaves and snow, and the beauty of the natural world, the illustrations abound with passion for life.

What veg parents, aunties, and friends need to know, however, is that the illustrations show a milkman delivering to a house and a seal playing with a ball, presumably in an aquarium.  Until the soy dairies make home deliveries and balls grow in the ocean, those images are hard to reconcile with a vegan outlook on life.  It’s too bad too because this book is otherwise a gem.

Ages 4-8.

My mother sent myself and some brothers and sisters a few pictures from home two weeks ago, e-mail-ily. She wrote:

“For those who haven’t seen the house this fall. These are both from the back deck…Today most of the leaves are biting the dust–windy and rainy.”

***

These pictures look like the house is in a goshdurn woodland glen, untouched by the hand of manfolk!

It is on a quiet neighborhood street, however. There are people.

We also have  ourselves a woodpile back there.

***

Here is a story involving the woodpile. A few years ago, a raccoon got into the chimney atop my parents’ home, and skittered down inside, landing on a small ledge within. For the duration of this story–a story which I re-verified with my parents, via telephone–I would like for you to disabuse yourself of the idea that what you see below was the sort of raccoon my Pa would be tangling with over the ensuing 48 hour period:

Rather, keep the following in your mind’s eye:

Ha ha ha! J/K. I think. Dad?

DAD: There are caps you can put on top of your chimney, but we didn’t have one.

Anyway, they discovered the advent of the squirrel the morning after his arrival, because they went into the living room and discovered that the curtains had been ripped apart, “and other things”, quoth my mother. This is because the raccoon, like any raccoon worth its salt, had weighed the odds mathematically, and tried to launch itself  directly through the plate-glass windows in a bid for escape to the lawn below. Raccoons: Perhaps they are more the creative type?

My dad looked up the chimney, but he couldn’t glimpse the raccoon. However, my dad is a gambling man ["The Gambler" we call him, and also "Papa John Sunday", a bizarre nickname whose antecedents I am long since unable to recall] and so he climbed atop the roof–he is sort of up there a lot anyway, to put up our annual Christmas wreath, which measures the width of the Baltic Sea–and looked DOWN the chimney, whereupon he saw this:

Ai!

What to do? The raccoon appeared to be comfortably ensconced inside the chimney for life. Enter my brother Benjamin, who–according to my father–was “either 10 or 8″ at the time of this story.

BENJAMIN, WHO WAS EITHER 10 OR 8: Why don’t we smoke him out?

Now, before you jump to the conclusion that my father immediately built a roaring bonfire in order to procure the makings of a salade du raton laveur  ["raccoon salad"] for his kitchen, understand that my father did not want the raccoon to die;  he wanted to take pains in order to ensure that the raccoon would not, in fact, die, but would dislike the ticklish position of a smoky chimbley, and see himself out of the roof end without further unpleasantness for all parties concerned. Are we clear? I’m so glad!

A fire was accordingly built. My father climbed back out onto the roof–again, to ensure that the raccoon was, in fact, heaving-ho himself, and not dead. The raccoon poked its head out from the chimney-top, but wavered about making a run for it.

The neighbors gathered to watch from the driveway and lawn.

The raccoon wavered. Waverer!

And then!

!

The raccoon clambered out of the chimney, ran across the roof and onto a tree branch, and made good his escape.

Below, everyone cheered.

***

MY DAD: That day, or the next day, I put that cap on the chimney.

***

Something else. The 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, of course.

Hoorah, I say. I SAY HOORAH.

Learning to Read

She stepped from her deck to the strand
of beach to stand
where she could read
the sky. The lead

pelican dropping like a brick.
The ocean thick
with living things.
A chevron’s wings

rigid on easy thermals in
the heat. The din
of gulls. Their loud
lament a shroud.

Pheve Davidson

If it can drag itself into my yard I’ll feed it.  Even people. I really hit the jackpot when my husband and I moved here 20 years ago or so. There is no limit to hungry mouths around here.  Since I feed the birds every winter, there is already a ready supply of food around to attract critters. Most of them show up after dusk. I call them the Night Crew and they are always hungry.

First, and perhaps my favorites are the raccoons. We have a raccoon family and the kids are almost indistinguishable from Momma these days. My niece named one Robby and the name stuck… we now call all our raccoons Robby, boy or girl, adult or young. A few days ago, when I went out to the back porch after dark to bring in my feeders, I was greeted by Robby

Young raccoon enjoying a backporch treat.

deftly removing peanut suet from its cage. She took one look at me and disappeared up the tree and climbed up on to the roof and kept right on going until she was sitting way up on the peak of the house like some sort of decoration.   Last night I forgot an old pitcher with some black oil sunflower seeds and I turned the light on in time to see Robby with the thing on her head like a hat, helping herself to the seeds.  Last week my husband spotted one sniffing my barn shoes. The inside of my barn shoes. Too funny.  I often leave a little fresh water for them to drink and to poke around in. They love to dunk food in water if possible. They are fun to watch.

I don't see a possum, do you?

The opossum comes a little later in the evening but isn’t bothered at all by Robby and they forage a few feet apart. The possum will come on the porch as well, if there is something worth his while to munch.

Our skunks are all marked differently and I’ve counted three seperate individuals so far. They mostly stay off the porch but close enough so we’ve gotten into the habit of always turning on outside lights and searching out there before opening the door. No one has gotten ’skunked’ yet, thank heavens. No decent pics, either… I am a chicken to get close enough for photography.

The largest and by far scariest critters that visit are bears. We had a Momma and two cubs

Momma and baby bear.

come by for two years in a row and they are really the reason that I bring my feeders in at dusk.  They are destructive to feeders which sometimes dissappear entirely. The bears in the picture are a Momma and one baby taken last year with my game camera. It’s set up about 300 feet from the house and sometime soon I will do a post on all the critter pics from that site.  The other two pics are one of Momma and one of one of the cubs. We haven’t seen them yet this year and I hope that the lack of feeders to raid will discourage them from coming right up to the house again. We will see, though. There is some time before they settle down into their dens for the winter. Actually, the cubs may have struck out on their own this year. I don’t know how far from Momma they go, but go they do after spending two seasons with her.

Critters, critters, critters… all hungry, all welcome at the table. Except the bears, I’d much rather they don’t come on the porch banging around and wreaking havoc with my feeders. But they too are welcome to browse the day’s leftovers.

You’d be welcome for a friendly meal too, if you show up.  Supper’s on… see ya soon.

-Nancy

Update: updated for format; sorry about the last pic, I struggled to make it fit.

An Update on all the animals:

1. The duck pond is now almost a small lake thanks to lots of rain this past 6 weeks and the city dredging out the surrounding area. I counted 10 ducks the other day, but could only find 2 geese out fo the 8 or so that used to be there. There was, of all things, an egret there, way off base from his coastal home,..at least 75 miles away as the egret flies.

2. The raccoons. Little Bit, who was fist-size early this summer when we captured him, is now a heft 9 lbs. and ready for release to a new home with lots of trees and brush and year round water, on some land owed by my friend Amy.

There are 3 possums here, all looking like teen-agers. Spot is out munching on some leftover cat food as I write, underneath an incredible full moon that is giving off, literally enough light to read by, as long as it’s not small print. Stripe and Spot seem to take turns showing up; there is another one a bit smaller who also comes by almost nightly. I rarely put anything stinky in the garbage, the possies eat almost everything edible except veggies..they really don’t like green veggies–except their delicious avocados.

3) There is a raccoon which comes by, very confrontational, refuses to back off. As they can be dangerous to possums and to cats, and to people with tooth and nail as well as diseases, I threw a glass of water on him and haven’t seen him since. Felt like scrooge.

4) The house has a new roof and some new flooring and counters. The cats were very stressed, so was their mum, but now it all looks so pretty, and the noise and the saws and pounding and people are all gone. Is good.

5) After a crisis, Leo is back and behaving. He is truly a “wild” cat who has never known human contact before. How he has kept himself alive all these years I will never know. He was getting a bad habit of coming toward the door when I came out with food, and because of the porch configuration, I would be backed into a corner. He doesn’t seem to know the difference between a meow and a hiss. Carol says that he is just warning me, even as he is very grateful to see me. I told him though her that if he didn’t stop hissing I would stop giving him his cream, which he adores, even if it’s 1/2 and 1/2 or milk. And he disappeared, and didn’t come back for 5 days. So I called her again, and had her explain that “cream” didn’t mean “food”, that I would always feed him, but he was scaring me. He was back at his next evening feeding time, has figured out to stay a bit aways and has, almost, stopped hissing.
To make up for the 5 days he missed, he now comes morning, noon and night, :lol
It’s getting colder at night, into the 50’s, and that’s when he started coming in the morning. He lays on the bench and waits for me. When he sees that I see him, he gets up and comes to the door, sitting there as I open the door to bring his food out. His enthusiasm for his food and his regularity in coming, show his gratitude as far as I am concerned.

6. Birdie has now been here 4 months. Her watery eye almost has disappeared–dry for days and days. It’s obviously very stress related. I was getting very concerned because, after a period of being mostly in the house, she began ostracizing us and spent about 22 hours a day in the garage, coming out a bit in the evening and at meals. She slept almost all the time. She didn’t seem ill, but didn’t make any attempt to interact.
During the time the repairmen were here, I made some grabs for her to get her into the bedroom where I put both cats as repairman, I’m sure now, have a “never shut the door if you can help it” gene. I sort of grabbed her under the arms and “walked” her into the bedroom, a distance of maybe 6 feet. She would panic after about 2 foot. I really don’t want to have to fight her into the carrier, though it may come to that if she starts acting ill.
But, I finally put some “reliv”, a nutritional supplement that I had given to another cat when he became clinically depressed after I adopted another cat.
By the second day, she spent some time in the house with us; by the third day, she spent most of the day, by the 4th, she was actually playing with a little mouse and some tinfoil balls. She is now sleeping in he house at night, usually in the bedroom in the cat tree. She sits on my lap several times a day/night, even sharing it with Tucker. She has been tearing around chasing flies, will do anything for her treats, and stays in the same room as Tucker or I. When all the reconstruction commotion was going on, she actually came out at times when the repairman were on the roof, not likely to come inside, and I let them out of the bedroom. Tonight a neighbor came over, ..Birdie ran away when she came, but then popped out a few minutes later, showing much braveness.
We finally got 5 of her nails cut…5 to go. She is chubby, bowling ball with legs still, yet I rarely see her eating. Now that she is not so reclusive, I’m hoping she will skinny up a bit. She never even cleans the little bit of wet food I put in her bowl 2X a day, and Tucker usually lurks around waiting for her to finish, then cleans up the remains.

#7. Tucker is doing wonderfully. The beige in his coat has changed to a gray tone and he is gorgeous. Despite the recent photo of “Beer Belly”–from the way he was sitting, he has lost a little over 1/2 lb. (I thought it was more, so it is that he lost the fat and gained muscle. ) He is much more energetic than when he first came to live here one year ago. He recovered nicely from his 2-tooth surgery. Occasionally, he lurks, waiting for Birdie so he can scare her and then chase her, very benignly.
He usually sleeps with me, though never wakes me up. When he knows I am awake, he makes a beeline from the foot of the bed to come up and nuzzle my nose and pet my face and loves it when I pet him all over, especially under the chin.
Both cats come when I call them–Birdie almost 100%, Tucker most of the time, and 100% when the call is accompanied by the rattle of the foil sack around some treats.
He still throws up fairly often. They each get about 1/3 of a 5 oz. can of moist cat food a day, though I’ve, (aghast!) resorted to Friskies, etc., after I threw out about $30. worth of the “good stuff” because they wouldn’t eat it. The good stuff feels very dry and gummy, even when I add water, so I cant’ say I blame them–it doesn’t have any of that pungent animal leftover smell either. They also get kitty kibble/krack of Origin and a Wellness brand to eat “at will.” However, I learned that 6 mos ago, Wellness sold out to…a financial company. As profit will be the ultimate goal, I doubt that I will trust that brand again….IAMS used to be THE! cat food until Proctor and Gamble bought them out years ago…the quality suffered, IMO, as evidenced by the observable changes–dryness, more shedding, dander,– in my cats’ coats. The internet was rampant with testimony and pictures of the animal abuse as P&G tried to develop cheaper products, or so I read and was told by some of the small retail pet companies.
Tucker still runs when company comes, and is not seen until after they leave. The good news is, he comes out after 15 mins. or so, instead of 5 hours later, once he considers the coast clear.

#8. And finally! in addition to some playing between the cats, Tucker feeling much better and getting svelte (Birdie and I are now the only fatties in the house), Leo doing good about faithfully showing up on time for meals, the possums fed, the raccoons gone, the ducks afloat, the plants and weeds growing for the first time six months, I even managed to get 5 of Bridie’s claws cut! All is good.

It’s November? Seriously? Grrrr.

Sorry, I’m just not ready for October to be over. It’s my favorite month of the year and it got sucked into the whirlpool that is my life just now and flushed down the drain.

Maybe I’m a wee bit cranky because my horse is still ouchy.

On the plus side of things we did get the living room painted a lovely rich shade of red. Photos to follow just as soon as we pack away the drop clothes.

Yes, I spent the weekend painting the house and soaking Now Voyager’s hoof. Are you jealous?

NV also got trace clipped by Charlotte on Sunday. I need to take a photo of that for you as well. My words cannot do justice. Here’s what last year’s clip job looked like…it’s pretty similar…

Note, the light hair is clipped and the dark hair is his winter coat. We do this so that when they sweat in the cold winter months their hair doesn’t hold all the wetness and make them cold(er). We leave the winter coat on the legs and back for warmth.

We’re in the midst of a burst of Indian Summer weather. 75 degree days and peacefully still warm nights. Great for running. Now I see why you triathletes and runners live in areas with temperate weather.

Because of the paint fumes and warm weather we left the back door open last night. This morning we were awakened by crashing about. The culprit? A family of raccoons having their way with a big bag of Zinger’s cat food.

We intervened and when we thought they were all gone we closed the sliding glass door. Then a youngster came out of nowhere and bounced off the glass door. He/she took refuge under the couch and it took quite a bit of coaxing to get her to try again – this time with the door open.

They were back again tonight for dinner.

Posted: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 12:00 am | These stories amaze me!

PORTER COUNTY, Northwest Indiana | It was not a good weekend for two local residents trying to get rid of pesky raccoons.

On the 18th of October,  at the wildlife center, I mostly spent the time doing data entry, but it still had some deep experiences. I can’t adequately put these into words. I am not that gifted a writer, and even if I were, I still could not put into words what I saw today, and who I communed with.

I made eye contact with several owls, hawks, opossums, a domestic rabbit, raccoons, squirrels, 2 snakes, a fox, a skunk, an albino scub jay, and a raven.

Some of the animals I just checked on and observed briefly, some I was in closer contact with.

I held the King Snake for awhile. I visited with the raven and looked into the eyes of a great horned owl just a foot away from me. I went into the enclosure where the fox lives, and kneeled down on the other side of the door of the skunk’s room and let him smell my hand.

The great horned owl is a recent addition to our temporary family. It has a damaged wing, but will likely be releasable eventually, and not a non-releasable resident animal that lives at the center. We already have 2 great horned owls, and are not allowed to keep any more of that type. If we ever get any more that are non-releasable, they will be placed elsewhere -in a zoo or other nature facility.

When animals are first brought in, if they have an injury, they are treated, then placed in a very small indoor cage so they won’t move around much and re-injure themselves. Once they are better, but not quite ready to be released, they are moved to the outdoor enclosures.

The great horned owl I matched eyes with today was just brought in earlier this week, and is in an indoor cage. I knelt down and looked through the bars at it – right at eye level. I believe it is impossible to win a staring contest with a great horned owl. They have the most intense gaze, and not at all friendly!

There was a picnic for the staff on Saturday, and we of course talked a lot about animals. The lady who gives the nature talks at schools said great horned owls are the most vicious of all the owls out here. Great horns will eat other birds, including other owls, even those larger than themselves. They will go after all kinds of rodents, and even stray cats. I know from experience that they attack humans as well.

The eyes of the great horned owl – kind of like looking into the eyes of a god. It’s not that I felt subservient, I could easily kill the owl if I wanted to, and yet looking into that owl’s eyes was a rather humbling experience. It was like looking into the eyes of something ancient. Ancient, angry, contemptuous.. A little scary even. That’s how it felt.

Also amazing… again, beyond words. Most people don’t even see owls in the wild, and when they do, the owls are far away, usually. I got to stare right into the eyes of a great horned owl just a foot away.

The eyes of snakes? Wise, not evil, but very smart, there is a deeper intelligence there as well. Clever, and purposeful.

The raccoons.. I’ve been checking in on those critters and watching them for awhile. We were able to release most of our raccoons but still have several at the center in their special area. They are not afraid to make eye contact. I’ve been thinking about how to describe what they convey with their eyes.  They often look a little sad to me. Even though they have plenty of room to play, I don’t think they like captivity, and because of their stripes, look like convicts in prisons who don’t deserve to be there and are sad about it. And, they still very much have an untamed look in their eyes. Sad, patient, lively, wild, and mischievous..even a little dangerous.

The domestic rabbit – just looked sweet and lonely and sad. Sometimes people bring in domestic animals and we find homes for them. This rabbit has been with us for over a month. I would take it, except I am no longer allowed rabbits where I live – due to them pooping all over the rocks in our rock garden here at home – we don’t have grass in our backyard. Also, I gave away my rabbit cage and hutch to some people who live out in the country who adopted the rabbits and ducks I used to have. I pet the rabbit for a little while, and I hope someone can adopt it.

The opossums – looking into their eyes – they don’t look like they are very bright animals – kind of a lazy look to the adults, and the juvenile opossums – kind of like looking into the eyes of active but semi-stoned teenagers.

The young red tail hawks don’t have a smart look to them either – they have sort of a startled, stupid expression in their eyes. They remind me a tiny bit of cows – kind of dumb expressions, and brown and white speckled feathers, like brown and white cows. The look of deep animal intelligence comes with age. We have an adult non-releasable red tail hawk, and that old and powerful and smart and slightly mad look is there. The red tails awaiting release are not full adults yet.

There is one red tail hawk that is smaller and younger than the rest. That one we raised from the time it was newly hatched, and it has become habituated but not imprinted. This means the hawk is used to people, but doesn’t crave our attention. When one of us walks into the hawk cage, it won’t fly to the other side of the cage, but will stay perched right by us. However, it won’t move nearer to us either. That little one has the look of a smart young kid. I think it is female, but I don’t know why I think this. It is too young for me to tell.

We have red shoulder hawks housed with the red tail hawks. Even though the red shoulder hawks are somewhat smaller than the red tails, they get along well together. The red shoulder hawks have darker eyes, and they look intently at us. They can look really angry. For months we had 14 hawks in the main hawk cage. They had plenty of room to fly above our heads inside the enclosure – it is very large. The only hawk that came after me with talons out was a red shoulder hawk. It looked pissed off – most of them do.

The skunk – I couldn’t make clear eye contact with the skunk, because we were separated by a thick screen door that is not transparent – just has lots of little circles within the metal so I can see what is on the other side of the door. The skunk looks and acts lonely – he likes people, and seems desperate for attention. When  I talk to him on the other side of the door, he rapidly paces the length of the door and makes smelling noises – really wants to smell me.

The fox. I am not supposed to spend time with the fox, since I have not been vaccinated, a preventive series of 3 vaccines being necessary for safe contact with mammals we have that are not rodents. However, I wanted to visit with the red fox, who really likes people, and get a clear look at her, so I went in her room. She is tame, and to be safe, I was careful not to try and pet her.

She was ecstatic to see me! She still acts like a puppy somewhat, and makes high pitched noises and wags her tail a lot, and stands on her hind legs and puts her front paws on me like dogs do. However, even though she is tame, she certainly did not look like a dog. Not at all the same look in her eyes. The eyes of a fox are different and unique to foxes – it’s hard to explain, but she has a definite wild look to her and something that just is the essence of a fox. I somehow understood a fox for the first time – not fully understand of course, but somehow see into what a fox is. This was somewhat startling.. I was expecting her to have more a look in her eyes like a dog, but noooo. Definitely a fox.

The barn owl – the one who lives at the center. (Actually, we have 2 non-releasable barn owls – one is tame, and the other we are allowed to keep because she is an excellent surrogate parent for baby barn owls which are brought in each spring and summer. The surrogate parent barn owl is mean!)  The tame barn owl was happy enough to see me today – made little chirpy noises when I said hello to him. He tends to have the look of a smarter being that is just tolerating us. This is his more sleepy look – sort of a deeply wise old man that is not overly fond of children, but is ok with us. That’s how he looked at me today.

When I first saw him some years ago, it was quite different – he looked right at me for awhile, and quite intently, like he could see into me somehow. He looked like a very wild animal and sort of like looking into the eyes of a powerful wizard. I could somehow tell that he chose to accept me.

The picture of the barn owl I have as my banner for the blog is the tame one that lives at the center. Tame, and yet, still wild.

The great horned owl I have as my gravatar picture for use when I make comments is a wild owl that stayed with us for awhile, but was eventually released.

The little burrowing owl – has a permanently startled look to his eyes – and sometimes indignant, especially when I walk into his cage Once on my glove though, he doesn’t look as indignant, but still startled. He looks around a lot when he sits on my hand. I didn’t hold him today, though. This may sound strange, but he has sort of a stuffy, British look to him – like a bald head butler who looks down on people.

The albino scrub jay – all white, pinkish beak, red eyes, looks like a very clever bird. He is not friendly – try to pet him and get pecked or bit! A very sneaky bird. He has started to make singing-like noises though – jays are not songbirds, so I was surprised to hear him attempt to sing. Jays belong to the corvid family – the other corvids in North America are magpies, crows, and ravens. This jay was once released, but flew back the next day, and was pecking at our front door, so we kept him. Albino animals tend to have trouble in the wild, and he seems happy enough in his big cage.

Our non-releasable crow is a very sweet but somewhat forlorn looking fellow. He had been fed improperly as a young crow, before he was brought into the center, and therefore his feathers never grew in right and look ragged, and he is small for a crow. He is very nice, and likes to be petted. There is no look of a wild animal in his eyes anymore – just a shadow of how a crow would appear if you saw one in a field somewhere. Our crow is kept in a large cage in our lobby, and gets lots of attention from the staff. He is a great doorbell too. If somebody comes into the lobby, he makes a lot of noise.

The raven – smart and tricky. I am always wary when I pet him. He let me pet him today, but didn’t duck his head down much at all, so I really had to be careful. But then, whenever he lets me pet him, I feel I have to be careful. What was great about visiting the raven today was that we carried on more of a conversation. I stood quite close to his long wood perch, and he hopped right over and stood close to me. He made little noises, and then I’d talk to him, and he made much more eye contact with me than usual – paid much more attention to me – which was great! He’s non-releasable, and has been in our care for years, and yet still, a wild bird, as if he had just been brought in, and would soon be leaving. That very very smart wild intelligence.. again, it’s a humbling experience to be in the presence of these animals and look into their eyes.

Before leaving, I had to have one last quick peak at the red shoulder hawk in an indoor treatment cage, and then kneel down at eye level with the great horned owl and just look at it, into its eyes for a little while. After a few seconds, it stopped clicking its beak at me and settled down a bit, but still, that look..

I’ve never gotten a truer look into these feathered or 4 legged beings before. They posses an intelligence and reality that is deep, and beyond us and in their own way greater than us. I am incredibly fortunate to have made eye contact with them.

by Kimberlee Nancekivell

September 24^th, 2009

The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources has begun dropping a new bait to curb rabies.

ONRAB, developed in Ontario in 2006, was dropped for the first time along the 1000 Islands corridor and Niagara Falls last week.

“We’re [dropping bait] proactively in case raccoon rabies tries to get across the St. Lawrence River,” said Rick Rosatte, a senior research scientist for the ministry.

Though raccoon rabies is no longer a problem in Ontario – it was eliminated in the province as of 2005 – the disease remains in New York State and Quebec.

The bait, which the ministry hopes to license through Artemis laboratory in Guelph, will also be dropped along ravines and in other wildlife locales in an effort to eliminate fox and skunk rabies, which are still present on a small scale in Ontario.

These bait drops have replaced previous methods such as the ministry’s trap-vaccinate-release programs, that deliver vaccinations orally when the animals eat them. The ministry’s vaccine-bait identification fact sheet describes the bait as a small packet containing what is essentially “watered down” rabies, and the vaccine, that is coated in fats, wax, icing sugar, and vegetable oil artificially flavoured to attract animals. The flavour of choice is marshmallow.

Though rabies is no longer a concern for Ontario, with fewer than 100 cases a year, compared to 2,000 cases in the 1980s, the situation is grave on a global scale. According to a fact sheet published by the World Health Organization in 2008, the incurable disease kills 55, 000 people a year. Rosatte suggested this figure could be applicable to India alone.

“Many people die of rabies in developing countries such as India and it’s just not reported,” he said. “They just die, and they don’t do post-mortems, and it’s probably rabies but they don’t determine that explicitly.”

Over the past 40 years the ministry has come to be known all over the world as the go-to authority for help in designing rabies control programs, said Rosatte, but they are not the only organization looking to eliminate rabies in the developing world.

Veterinarians without Borders has launched rabies control programs in countries such as Guatemala, Cambodia, Nepal, and Malawi that focus on  more interactive ways of solving the problem. The VWB’s approach is to “go in and…work closely with the community to figure out solutions that will be long term,” said Jessica Kennedy, the organization’s communications manager.

VWB also runs a month-long fundraiser that ends on Sept. 28, also known as World Rabies Day. They invite individual organizations to host their own World Rabies Day events, donating all proceeds to the VWB.

Bloorcourt Veterinary Clinic in Toronto is hosting its annual fundraiser throughout the month of September, donating all proceeds from pet vaccinations to VWB for use toward rabies prevention in developing countries.

For more information on World Rabies Day events in your area, visit http://www.worldrabiesday.org/.

-30-

I am 100%, absolutely positively head-over-heels in love with the retro-modern giclée prints created by the lovely Ms. Jenn Ski, available in her Etsy shop. Coincidentally, her creations nicely fit my current alphabet fetish.

Check out Jenn Ski’s blog HERE, and follow her on Twitter HERE.

Oh, and PS) Just found out via @Jenn_Ski that she was featured in the lifestyle section of Boston.com today! Read the article and catch some glimpses of her mod-style home HERE.

“Where were you when Stephen Gately died?”

Old people yap on about ‘ooh, I remember when they landed on the moon’. Or, ‘ooh, the end of the war’. They think that we’ll never experience such important events. Events that stop the world in its axis and make everyone drop to their knees and shout at the sky in euphoria/despair.

Seriously, what do they know, the toothless old fools?

As if Michael Jackson faking his own death overdosing on meds just months ago wasn’t brutal enough for the annals of 2009, last night, another musical heavyweight was lost to the murky shadows of Hades. One fifth of Boyzone was snatched from us – just when they were about to make a comeback! Oh the injustice of it all! [a total cunt might say "1 down, 4 to go"]

But, life goes on. Stephen would have wanted that. He knew the game, he’d been in the West End. “The show must go on!” he would have squeaked, his soft Irish tone reverbing weakly from his ever wet looking mouth that horizontally bookended his simian face with a pair of curtains last seen on a teenage boy circa 1996. Perhaps he’d be doing jazz hands at the same time. Or a box step whilst holding a cane and wearing a top hat and tails. But I digress.

Now, stop crying just long enough to listen to a song so epic, so powerful, so overlooked it’s criminal… It’ll transport you back in time. To the Evergreen Forest, quiet, peaceful… serene. You know the rest!

Get ready to Run With Us, ‘cos this week’s Silly Sunday track is none other than…

THE THEME FROM THE RACCOONS

Smash it!

Kara Simsek

Hey, I actually made some progress today – feels good! You know how sometimes, despite best intentions, time just flitters away? Well, today I managed to make use of every minute – profitably even. The printer has been in communication and apart from getting the title of Joe’s book wrong on the spine, she seems to be doing a reasonably good job. We’re not quite there yet but the finishing post is in sight. Then there will another book to be dealt with but with less involvement from me as it is in Hungarian. It’s the story of Joe’s early life of terrible poverty in Budapest in the late 30s and during the war. My job will be lay-out and embedding pictures. Sneaky things, pictures. They drift away when you’re not looking and bury their captions under piles of text. Actually I’m going to take the whole text and dump it into MS Publisher where it will be more controllable. Sorry for the techie stuff.

Although the weather was rather dreich (good Scots word) again today but we went for a walk in the woods. Charlie was with us as usual but we got him ever so confused by walking the wrong way round the loop we usually take. We were pretty well at the halfway point when I noticed, strolling towards us, a big fat porcupine. He certainly didn’t look particularly alarmed by our presence but Charlie saw him and immediately bushed right up like a Hallowe’en cat and I thought we might be in for trouble. Wanting to save our kitty from a painful injection of porcupine spines, and ourselves from a painful vet bill for removing them, we further confused the cat by reversing our direction and leaving the porcupine to go about its leisurely business. No wonder so many get squished on the road, they go so slowly.

Our pricky pal, Pete, the Porc

It was a busy day around the Bradford/Winsor Nature Zoo. Two pretty deer were in the garden this morning, chomping apples again. Ginger/Oliver turned up for dinner this evening and as I reliably always do, I laid out a fine repast for him at which he launched himself enthusiastically. I guess I gave him too much and he left some on his plate for later there was a hell of a racket just outside the living-room window. I knew Charlie was outside so I wondered what he’d got himself into and hurried to find three raccoons in the porch fighting over Ginger/Oliver’s leavings. I despatched them rapidly so no time for cameras and cute raccoon shots. Have you seentheir fingernails? Also they have a nasty habit of pooping while they eat. Not this time, I’m glad to see.

The evening has been spent working out menus for the Thanksgiving weekend. Planning is necessary when you can’t just pop to the store for something you forgot. Jamie, Angela, Deklin and Magnus the Golden come on Friday. First visit for the new baby. I’m excited

The raptor cages were cleaned before I got there, so I have nothing dramatic to report. I did data entry for hours, then went to visit the raven. I sang to him and the other animals, and they liked it! The raven even let me pet him. This is always risky. He’ll let us pet him then nip here and there, and a raven’s beaky bite can hurt! He has a way of showing us he wants to be petted. We stand to the side of his long perch, and he hops over to us, and bends his head way down. As I was petting him, he kept raising his head up somewhat, making me nervous. But still, it was great to pet him. Nice thick and soft feathers. I love ravens. We don’t have any around here. I don’t know what part of California this one came from.

Several hawks were released today at various places, and 19 of our 26 raccoons were legally released into a national forest several hours drive from here. The remaining hawks are almost all back in their large flight cage, and I am very grateful for that! No more hawks in the flight cage mainly used for owls. One thing I’m not stoked about is two hawks in a small enclosure. Those two are still getting over avian pox. I am guessing they were not put into the empty owl flight cage because there have been no birds in there with avian pox. I am hoping that is the reason, it is the only one that makes sense. But then, many things over there don’t make sense to me. We have one Red Shoulder hawk in a small indoor cage, because it is not doing well. The hawk was taken to a good vet, but the vet could not tell what was wrong. Could be arthritis. I didn’t know hawks got arthritis. If the hawk does have this problem, it will have to be put down next week. It’s a beautiful bird… but some birds brought in don’t make it, no matter how beautiful.

One of my favorite parts of the job is holding the tame barn owl. He had good thick jesses that he always wore, and it was fairly easy to get him strapped to my glove and take him outside his cage.  A month or so ago, the head boss replaced the owl’s good jesses with much thinner ones that he can easily remove. It is difficult to put jesses on the birds, they don’t like having them put on. The jesses are strung through the anklets, which the tame birds have on all the time They don’t tend to mind wearing the jesses once they are on, which is good.  I can’t even find one of the barn owl’s jesses. Once I find both, it will be tough to put them on him, and then he”ll remove one or both of them again.. and repeat.. so I haven’t held him in over a week and I am not happy about this. I talked to him for a little while at least, and he acknowledged my presence with his usual hello hiss, which is good, but no happy chirpy noises today. I guess he is not in the best of moods.

We are in our slow season now, and hardly any animals are brought in during the week, compared to many animals being brought in each day throughout part of Spring and Summer. Lately, we’ve just taken in a few pigeons and ducks. Not very exciting, but I like all the animals we get (until they attack me, then I am not so pleased), and am happy we can help any animal.

A cool guy came in today with two pigeons. He also made a donation and said he is thinking of volunteering at the center.  And the AWP people are still working really hard and doing a good job.

That’s the animal news for today.

It’s been pretty noisy in our house lately. I think Autumn makes my cat sad and frustrated, so she walks around 12 hrs a day meowing and letting everyone know that she’s pissed off and not ready for another winter.

I can tell when my kids are stressed out by how much noise they make when they’re sleeping. My eldest will sleep walk and talk when things are tough at school, and my youngest will yell and grit her teeth like a little sawmill if she’s stressed out. Last night at midnight, she woke me up with her noise, even though i wasn’t sure what the noise was. I thought something was in our house… which leads me to another noise that woke me up…

The other morning around 6, I woke up to the sound of my cat going to town on something in the kitchen. Immediately, I thought she’d caught a mouse, which in theory is good, but not in my cat’s case, because when she catches a mouse, she’ll play it for an hour, eat its head, then leave the remaining bits for me to clean up. So usually, I try to get the mouse outside so it can live another day…

Walking into the kitchen, I didn’t do a double take when I passed the cat in the hallway. She was looking at me like something was really wrong. The noise was still happening in the kitchen. It was a loud crunching sound, but I was too tired to really wonder about what it was.
Coming around the corner, I came face to face with a raccoon, who was eating the cat food. It stood up on its hind legs and waved its paws at me. I ran back into the bedroom, wondering what to do.
I found a board and put my shoes on before going back into the kitchen. The raccoon didn’t budge, even when I swung the board at it. It just ducked and kept on eating, and eating, finishing the bowl of kibbles before leaving and going downstairs and exiting through the cat door…

Lots of noises!