The new pen is up and running!

Well it's official! The new pen is officially full! A little emergency situation sort of forced us to spend all day Monday working on it. I got home Sunday night, after Laurie and I spent the day running around to old release sites collecting the den boxes, feeders etc., to find that 3 of Laurie's crew escaped their pen. Tenacious little buggers found a way out! I managed to catch them, but once they learned how,  there was no delaying the inevitable.
It's not totally finished, but it's secured and able to be occupied. Some exterior stuff still needs to be done, and the inside needs a lot more decor etc., but Laurie's 12 and Sweetie's group of 14 seem perfectly thrilled with it! As well they should be with a 10x24 foot pen to run around like maniacs in!! :)

I'm happy to say that both groups got along great....like they were friends all along....with the exception of Sweetie, who was a total contradiction to her name!

Whew...what a relief to have the room!
Many thanks go out to some wonderful friends and family who gave up weekend days to help build it for us! Ted (designer extraordinaire!) , John S., John M., Sue, Jim,Dad, Ernie, Mike and Mark. And of course all of you, our wonderful supporters, whose donations covered what the NWRA grant didn't. It takes a village............ours is the best!! 

On a sadder note.....this adorable little guy came in while we were finishing up the pen. A very late baby! He was found on the ground under a tree. It had been at least a couple of days, though the finder did attempt to feed him. He was a little cold and had some respiratory sounds, but seemed in fairly good shape otherwise.  I was very saddened and surprised to find him dead first thing in the morning. I have a feeling pneumonia, aspiration or due to being cold too long, may have been the issue and it was just too much for his little body to handle. Rest easy little man. :(

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

Our third annual Flatbread fundraiser this past Tuesday night was incredible!! Thanks to Stephanie and the crew at Flatbread for hosting us again.

We can't thank everyone enough for our most successful fundraiser yet!! Thank you all so very much for your continued support, we could never do it without you all!! (Especially Kristen who started it all 3 years ago!). We have had an especially busy year so far, requiring us to expand caging and purchase record amounts of formula and food, all of which would not be possible without all of YOU!!

It was great seeing you all again! I apologize for only having a few pictures to show off, not many were very clear....lots of great blurry photos though! The darn auto focus is not working on the camera so I had to rely on my eyesight.....epic fail! LOL. Passing the camera off didn't help much either, apparently we are all vision impaired now!

We had a great time though tand it was great visiting with you all once again....

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!

The littlest ones.

The last of the inside kids! The very adorable Rowley 4, Rikki, Tikki, Tavi, and now, rejoined by Digger and Itty Bitty. It was like they were never gone and their siblings happily welcomed them right back. They are pretty attached to each other and stick close together.

This whole gang is pretty small.Itty and Digger are definitely going to be overwintering, and the rest remains to be seen. There is also a good chance that Munchkin and Muffin from Sweeties group may stay as well which means a raccoon shuffle is in the future. For now, enjoy the cuteness!!

 Tavi is pretty small too and will probably be staying also...

 MINE!!! ALL MINE!!

 Itty Bitty may be underdeveloped and funny looking, but he's quite the carnivore! I was totally shocked when I introduced mice and chicken wings....he was the only one to devour the mice and no problem digging right in to the chicken! Luckily they were just little "popcorn" mice because I think he ate them all!

Ringer pays a visit.

My #1 girl Ringer paid another visit the other night....this time she wasn't alone! It was time to parade the kids in front of grandma...... as she has every year since being released in 2006! She has 4 big, beautiful babies. They are almost as big as her (she is on the right)! One was pretty bold, the rest were shy. I finally managed to get 3 of them to pose momentarily, but #4 was having none of it, grandma or not, and stayed under the shed until the coast was clear. Stay safe little ones.....