Some of the coonies neighbors.

Spring is officially here and the raccoons are not the only ones taking care of their new kids. Here are some of their neighbors on the pond. Warning....the cuteness factor if off the scale!!



This is my friend Hissy and his family. He started coming around last year and would come over whenever he saw me filling the food buckets. Now he's a regular visitor....sometimes waiting for me right outside the release cage door when he knows I'm in there cleaning and feeding! Now the whole family comes to visit! Just keep them away from the coonie's Hissy!

Seeing Red!

Well I ran into Red when I went out back to feed the overwinters. There is a big storage container out there with all their treats etc. in it and while I was in the pen Red must have heard me and came over to check things out. She scared the crap out of me when I heard something rummaging in the container. Luckily it was just her helping me out! She is still in the very clingy mood she has developed within the past couple months. (she wasn't like this initially after her release).

This is unusual for them once they are free....they usually do not want to be handled once they are released....but will tolerate my presence if I run into them. Yet once again she just jumped into my arms and wanted to be held. I was getting some serious coonie hugs this night, much to my surprise. I think she is pregnant and her maternal hormones are at work here and it will ware off soon as she prepares to have her kits. Right now she's just happy to see mom and say Hi when she gets the chance.

I also feel better knowing this is specific to me and she's not like this towards other humans. The last time I ran into her and she was like this, Laurie came by to feed the overwinters. When she came towards me and Red, Red immediately took off and even my presence didn't prevent it. I teach them to fear other humans before releasing them, and I feel better witnessing that behavior in action so I know it was reinforced enough to make her dissappear even if I am around.

Dandy is doing great. She is healing well, eating fine and keeping the wound clean. She is taking her antibiotics and worming meds without a problem and being an excellent patient. I know she is restless and just wants out so she can return to her home in the wild. I feel bad keeping her penned up but it is for her greater good and it will be great to see her go free again when I am sure she is healed completely and ready to go.

I'm sure Siren misses her too since the two of them were always hanging out together. It will be nice when and if they can reunite depending on their "maternal situations" this spring.

Home Sweet Home!

What a terrible night of travel! After getting on our delayed flight, we proceeded out onto the tarmac only to sit for another hour waiting in line to take off! Instead of getting home at the reasonable hour of 10:30pm, we dragged our asses into the house at about 1am!

This is pretty much how I felt by then.......

It wasn't over there! We still had to trudge out back and take care of the overwinters in some very windy, cold weather. Some of the released gang was out there too. Red was there in her usual "I wanna play, give me some attention!" mood. What a great coonie.

No sign of Paleface in the den box since I returned. She must have just needed a temporary place to hole up for a while.

The overwinters were happy enough to have us back to poke their heads out for a visit before the wind drove them back into the warmth of their den boxes. Don't let the sun fool ya....it was cold, windy and miserable.

Red wants to play!

I don't know if it was the warm weather or maybe Red is going into heat, or maybe she just missed mom....but she was VERY happy to see me last night! She came running down the path to the feeding station, chattering away when she heard me there. She got up on the platform and when I walked over to her she literally ran over and jumped into my arms! She wanted to play and be cuddled back like when she was a kit. Pretty unusual for the releases. They do remember me and usually tolerate me being around and giving them treats to check them out, but never a display like this. They never want to be held once they've been released back into the wild.

Belle was out there also. At least I'm pretty sure it was Belle. She came over to check me out briefly then went right to the feeding bucket so I didn't have a good enough look to be positive. Belle was on of the quads from my first release and they all looked alike. I know it definitely wasn't Ringer, and Brownie tends to be a bitch to most other coonies out there and she tolerated Red. Based on her attitude, It was most likely Belle. She just hung out and ate while Red was there eating in front.

So I finally had to sneak away from the area. I was afraid Red was going to follow me back up to the house because of the way she was acting. I waited for her to take a trip down to the waters edge and snuck back up the path wondering what had come over her!

I saw no sign of Paleface in the den box. She didn't poke her head out and I wasn't about to disturb her if she was in there by poking my head in there!

Digging out!

Just when all the snow from the last storm had finally disappeared....we get another 9 inches! I just spent the morning digging out the entrances to the pens and the feeding stations! What a pain in the butt. Luckily the woods are thick enough that it did not pile up as bad as in the more open areas, so digging out the actual pens wasn't too bad.

Don't think I'll be running into anyone out in the woods for a little while! Not until the snow melts down a little or it gets hard enough for the coonies to walk on top of.