The late kits out back.

Well I'm not the only one taking care of kits late in the season! I had been seeing a coonie make regular visits during the day.....and now I know why! Here she is bringing her new gang out to hang with the rest of the crew out there. I think there are 4 of them so she's got her hands full! I was never quite sure who she was....but if I had to venture a guess, it would be Whitey....Ringer & Belle's sister. I haven't seen her in a while but she looks very similar and although she wouldn't let me get too close, she tolerated my presence without going into a total panic and taking off....so she knows me.

The fact that she's started bringing them out also explains why I haven't seen her during the day any more in a while. Very cute! It also explains all the noise last night when I went out to visit. I kept hearing a lot of chattering like little kits calling mom but thought there had to be another reason....all the kits are older! Well here's the explanation in black & white! It WAS the chattering of little kits calling mom!

Ran into Red, Silly, Brownie, Popeye, Fuzz and various other older kits willing to come just close enough to grab a few treats thrown to them.

The little kids are doing great. Charger is dealing with a bout of diarrhea, but we're working on it! Poor Outlaw misses his brother and sister so much! Here he is saying Hi. They miss him too!

Button finally sees me as the mom now, not just that big, scary animal bringing me food! She was skittish and needed coaxing to get her to come out at first, but now she's running out the door and into my lap for her bottle. And she loves to play and hang out with me after.

No problems gettin' into the bowl and crunching some chow!




The favorite toy! Thanks to Auntie Joann for getting it....they love it!

The very un-shy little Button again....she is just sooooo damn cute!! Pictures do not do these guys justice!!





Was pretty bummed when I paid a visit to Mary's last night....of my 11 only Meeko came out to visit me. Mary & Laurie's 2 were there also. In fact they have been hanging out and terrorizing her all the time!! he he

Out back here at home only ran into Silly and some shy kits watching from the surrounding trees, probably hers. Maybe I'll have more luck tonight!

To my furry kids.......

You entered my life near the end of your own,

Long without mother you were just skin and bones.

Nights without sleep and days without end,

Feedings and cleanings and teaching to fend.

I'll keep you safe as long as I can,

Sheltered from sickness, injury and man.

Attached I will grow, giving my all,

Dreading good buys that are due in the fall.

But go you must, you were born to be free,

Living in nature, climbing in trees.

Be safe, be strong, stay ever alert,

Leaving no trace, nor print in the dirt.

Later I'll visit where I saw you last,

In hopes of a glimpse of ringtail or mask.

A prayer I will say for your safety and health,

As you roam the woods in darkness and stealth.

And to those who have gone and those who will go,

Remember I love you like one of my own.

DMG/Rascal Rescue

Outlaw, Charger & Button

They are officially named and settled in. Here we have Outlaw. Poor guy, I feel horrible having him separated from his brother and sister...and so does he! But it's for a good reason and it won't be too long before they should be able to be reunited.

His brother Charger. As soon as the cage door opens he charges right onto my lap and demands his bottle!

And last but not least, Button....because she is just as cute as a button!! She is so little compared to her brothers and what a sweetheart!

They are all doing great and taking their bottles like pros!

Just when I thought it was over!

Well here are the new kids! No you did not sleep through the winter and wake up at the beginning of the new baby season. These guys are late babies!! About 5-6 weeks old, 2 boys and a girl. The boys are both almost 2lbs, and the little girl is about half their size but twice the attitude to make up for it!

One little boy had an abscess from a possible bite wound, so I had to separate him from his siblings (much to their dismay). He needs to be quarantined alone for a couple weeks just in case rabies rears it's ugly head. Don't want to put the other 2 at risk in case he has it and they don't...he could give it to them if starts showing signs and bites them. I'm calling him Outlaw...hopefully he won't be in "jail" alone for long!

OMG they are just absolutely adorable! TFC to be exact!! The boys took the bottle last night, I gave up on the girl! But this morning all 3 had the hang of it and what appetites they have!!

Brief update.

Over at Mary's last night (in the pouring rain I might add!) ran into Teddy, Sugar, Buster, Clover, Winny & Bear. The rest were smart enough to stay out of the rain! (unlike myself!)

Out back at my house ran into Feisty, Brownie, Ringer, Silly, Popeye, Fuzzball and Red. Red's jowels are pretty much back to normal now. Wonder what the heck that was all about!

Poor Rollo's ear was so swollen it sealed up his ear canal. I thought it was going to pop! So Laurie came over and stuck a syringe in there and drained out most of the blood to make him a little more comfortable! If I remember correctly she got at least 12 cc's out of there! He was a trooper through it all though! He let me restrain him and kept his head still for the procedure and I guarantee he is a lot more comfortable now. Hopefully it will not continue to overfill like that and will just start to resolve itself.....keeping my eye on it with fingers crossed!! With my luck he'll have to have some sort of strange and unusual surgery to fix it!! ha!

Funny looking Rollo!

Well here's poor Rollo with his hematoma! He's starting to look more like a puppy dog than a raccoon! Haha! It sure makes it easy to pick him out in the crowd!

This would have been the CUTEST picture of Quinny.....if Tosser hadn't foiled it by sticking his paw in front of the camera!

A new and exciting tree was added to the pen also! The kids are THRILLED!!! Tosser had to be the first to give it a test drive.

I can't call him my "little" Toto anymore! He's looking like a big boy now!

But he loves to play with the baby of the family, Quinny! Those 2 are quite a pair!

Had to work until 2am last night so I didn't get a chance to head over to Mary's to check on the released gang. But Laurie did and she gave me the play by play. She said there were raccoon's everywhere and was able to ID Sugar, Clover, Buster, Seeker and Roxy for sure.

The great release!

The gang is out and loving life and what a great week they have for it. Nothing but sunny weather predicted for a week! I'm so happy for them and so worried for them at the same time. I can't protect them from everything anymore!!

Here are some pics of the day they were released and finally got to climb those big trees next to the pen they had been longing to climb! It got dark fast so unfortunately the camera was useless for most of their play that night.

The next day I stopped by to see who was about. Early afternoon I discovered some sleepy coonies in the den box out in a tree in the woods. Clover and Oakey gave me a lazy hello and poked their heads out briefly.





I discovered Meeko in one of the den boxes on the release pen all by her lonesome.


I returned around 6pm because I knew they would begin stirring soon. More and more heads started popping out of the den box in the woods! Every time I looked another head poked out! Oakey up top and Growler pokes her head out.


Then Stormy tries to get past Growler....

Stormy....


Growler....

Then suddenly there's Buster pushing Growler out of the way!

Oakey chills outside the den box while Growler debate on gettin' up.

Finally everyone decides to get up for the night! Turns out Clover, Oakey, Stormy, Growler and Buster were in the den box.

Winny hears the commotion and comes out to say HI to her mom!

Buster makes the trek down the ladder from the den box.

Seeker and Tugger appeared at the release pen. I think they were sleeping in the big den box in the pen. They joined Meeko (Meeko and Seeker below) out on top of the pen.

Tugger heads right for the food!

Bear come in to say Hi!

Oakey helps himself to some water.

And once again it got too dark for more very cute pics as the rest of the gang came in to visit. In all we ran into 11 of the 15. Thunder and Huffer didn't come in and probably won't. They were the very shy one's not used to people initially in my pen with my crew. They never came out with the others at Mary's either when we were cleaning up. Of my original group, Teddy is the only one I didn't see and Laurie's Sugar didn't come in either.

So Buster, Seeker, Tugger, Growler, Clover, Roxy, Meeko & Stormy from my crew,safe and sound and accounted for after their first night on their great adventure! As well as Mary's Bear & Winny, and Laurie's Oakey.